Lao Ban Soya Beancurd

The soya beancurd seems to have evolved a bit. There are now 'pudding' and the preparation has evolved to satisfy the ever changing food habits of locals.

Recently I was 'stopped' by some students on some fund raising campaign. 50% of the time, I will gently decline, but this is the 50% that I stopped. I saw that they were selling Lao Ban Soya Beancurd. (permission granted to laugh at me)

I actually forgot how much I paid or what the fund raising was for, I was just interested in getting my hands on the soya beancurd without queuing at the Old Airport Road Food Centre or Maxwell Food Centre. 


A container that fits nicely in the palm of my hand.
Lao Ban means old companion in Chinese. 

Old romantics (maybe young ones too) should eat this. May you have it and grow old together.
Even when there's no teeth left, you can still eat this stuff.


Oh... the beancurd is different from the usual ones.

There are no dark or clear syrup on the beancurd when you open the container. They have added the sweetener in the preparation process.

Come to think of it, it saves them time too ya? Shorter queue, and you need less manpower for preparation. It's hard to employ people to work in the food industry nowadays right? 

Note: If you don't take sugar or sweet stuff, then this is not for you. You should take the traditional type and ask for no syrup.


The mouthfeel is like pudding or a solidified creme brulee.  It's quite pleasing to the mouth.
Now I know why some people will buy 10 or more containers and they are willing to queue for it.

I bought 2 and one was given to my office mate. We always buy food and an extra portion to pass to the office mate.

Lao Ban Soya Beancurd 老伴豆花 51 Old Airport Road, #01-127 Old Airport Road Food Centre, Singapore 390051 Tel: +65 8181 2201 Hours: Tue–Sat: 11.30am – 8pm / Sun: 1pm – 8pm 1 Kadayanallur Street, #01-91 Maxwell Food Centre, Singapore 069184 Tel: +65 8299 8211 Hours: Tue–Sun: 11.30am – 2pm

Skyve Elementary Bistro & Bar @ Winstedt Road

Turning old buildings into something modern and contemporary. That is what is happening to many old places in Singapore. Dempsey, Telok Ayer Conservation Area, etc are some examples. Monk's Hill Secondary School is probably the latest to join in.

Skyve Elementary Bistro & Bar, located at Winstedt Road was the previous Monk's Hill Secondary School. One friend of ours, AromaCookery was once a student at this school and she said coincidentally, Skyve is located in the building where the school canteen was! The school canteen never looked so nice!

What an interesting name right? Skyve. Anyone visiting could be caught skyving!
I was skvying (invited skyving) with AromaCookery and Camemberu together with TheHungryCow.


The owners of this place previously operated Table66. I like the feel and look of this place, a bit school like in the furniture, yet chic and contemporary at the same time. I love the light you see in the photo above!



Looking like a bound thesis ready for submission, they are the menus!
Keeping with the school theme it seems.

It reminded me of a recent discovery. I was searching for something at my parent's place and I found that mum kept my primary school report book!



Bread rolls here though not baked on the premises, is baked offsite with the chef's recipe.



Skyve Sous Vide Egg Benedict ($12) 
*Available for breakfast and weekend brunch. A dinner version available at $18.

What you see is a soft poached egg on top a grilled portobello. The soft poached egg was actually sous vide at 52.5C for about an hour! If you are an egg person, especially a runny egg yolk person, try this!

I really liked the confit of cherry tomato too. Look how shiny it is!


Skyvefella Oyster ($30- 1/2 dozen, $56- 1 dozen) 
*Available for dinner and bar snacks

The oysters are from Coffin Bay Australia. For those who do not like the taste of raw oysters, order the Skyvefella Oysters. It's partially heated, slighty grilled so it does not taste so raw. The chives sauce, iberico ham and parmesan biscuit makes it quite tasty!

You can easily gulp down 1 dozen of these!



Skyve Seared Beef Tartare ($22)

Not everyone I know like beef tartare, but if you a fan of raw beef done this way, try their version here.
Look at the egg yolk. It's truffle miso infused creamy egg yolk on a bed of chopped spring onions.

The light strip is light wasabi mayo. Served with crouton.


I like the way it was done. Not heavily seasoned with salt or pepper. Gives you the raw taste of beef, but with the egg yolk and spring onions, it cuts through the rawness. If you want more kick, mix in the light wasabi mayo.

Mixed it all up like what you see above.


Served on croutons. I know it's either yummy yummy or yukky yukky.



Char Grilled Beet Burger ($30)

The grilled burger comes with beeT or beeF. Yup, for those who do not eat meat, the chef has cleverly make the patty from beet root. What I found interesting was how the patty has texture that is similar to minced beef. I wonder how long the chef experimented to get this right.

 
Served with melted aged cheddar cheese, lettuce, gherkins and sliced tomatoes.

On the sides were truffle frites!
I personally wish they have a stronger taste of truffles in the truffles frites. LOL



Sous Vide Crispy Pork Belly $34
 
Pork belly that has been braised and the skin roasted till its crackling. I like the pork!
The sauce was prune sauce which kind of cut through the fat and crackling skin. I suggest you share this with someone to share the calories!

Served with it was potato and apple gratin. A combination that somehow gives a slightly nice texture in the bite. The fennel salad was nice too, I don't prepare fennel at home because I think I have to waste so much leaves just to eat the middle part it!



Sous Vide Spring Chicken ($32)

Tender spring chicken that had been marinated with lemon myrtle spice. Served with cream corn and brocollini. Served with chicken jus reduction.

If you appreciate sous vide method of cooking meat, it's tender. I think after sous vide it has been grilled to give such a nice colour. 



Confit of Duck Leg ($34)

Crispy duck leg that is so tempting. I have a soft spot for crispy ducks.
From the photo you can just imagine how crunchy it is right? I like the sweet tamarind sauce that goes with it too.
 


Ricotta Hot Cakes ($12) 
*Available for breakfast and weekend brunch.

These ricotta hot cakes reminds me of ricotta hot cakes at Bills in Sydney. Not really the same style of pancakes, but their version is not too shabby. That's passionfruit butter and it's topped with caramelized almond flakes.



Homemade Maple Ice Cream ($12)

See the wafer between the maple ice cream, it's to create something 'local' in this previous school canteen! Something old school that has been jazzed up with caramelized apple infused with cinnamon and fleur de sel.

Something very tempting! Look at the caramelized apple!

For those who love to skyve, their Skyving Hours are....
Weekdays 8.30am-8pm; Weekends 10am-8pm and they have:
- $5 half pints Hoegaarden and Stella Artois on tap
- 1-for-1 housepour wines and champagne by the glass 

Skyve Elementary Bistro and Bar No.10 Winstedt Road Block E, #01-17 Singapore 227977 Tel: +65 6225 6690 Web: http://www.skyve.sg Facebook: www.facebook.com/SkyveEBB Hours: Tuesday to Friday: 8:30am to Midnight Saturday and Sunday: 10am to Midnight Public Holidays: 10am to Midnight (Monday closed till further notice)

Paul Singapore @ Ngee Ann City

This was one of the rare times we made appointment with our friend, Lady Di to meet for 'tea' at 9:30pm! KopiKosongGirl and I wanted to celebrate Lady Di's birthday. She just wanted a slice of cake.  One of the few places that open till late is surprisingly PAUL. Lady Di wanted to try out PAUL so we were here.


Millefeuille chocolate ($6.40)
Their famous Napoleon with chocolate creme patissiere filling. It was very chocolatey. Layers of puff pastry and creme patissiere that makes you feel guilty eating it past 9 pm!


I was told on Facebook when I loaded the photo that their Millefeuille nature  (Plain Napoleon) is better. So which is your favourite?

Oh Lady Di drink was Hot Chocolate so it was like double dose of chocolate goodness.



Tartelette Fraises ($6.40)
Creme patissiere and strawberries.  This looked very pretty and the ladies wanted to try it.
I was quite pleased as the strawberries were sweet and not tart like other places. It was not just because of the glace over it.

I had the "Ice Tea of the moment" and when I was ordering, I asked what's the tea for the moment, the service staff said, it's Peach Tea for the moment and also any other moments and we all laughed together.



Mushrooms and Potato Pancakes.
Oh, we realise Lady Di was so busy at church that night, she did not have dinner yet, so we thought we would order something other than cakes/desserts. We had the Mushrooms and Potato Pancakes. The mushrooms were very good. It's something that KKG and I can eat lots and lots of it. That was quite a fair bit of mushrooms that has shrunk from their original size. We prepare this at home, so we know before cooking, it must had been quite a bit.

Looks like when you dine in, the are many meal dishes to go as well. It did not take us long to get a table, probably because it was 9:30pm. The service staff all seems quite busy and sometimes lost. We had one that was quite friendly. The table beside us seemed a little unhappy though, probably because they asked for water after their sweet drinks and it did not arrive. We did not ask for it and it was served to us. (We think our water was their order. haha)

Paul Singapore 391 Orchard Road #03-16/17 Ngee Ann City Singapore 238872