StarHub - Hubalicious with Emmanuel Stroobant

Heard of Hubalicious? If you a foodie who watch lots of food channels on TV, you would have seen the advertisement on TV about this event. It's the 3rd year that StarHub is organising Hubalicious!

I attended the very first Hubalicious event in 2010, featuring one of my favourite Vietnamese TV personality Luke Nyugen. Comparing the 2010 event to this year's that I attended over the weekend, the event is now so much bigger with so many more people attending!

This year there are 4 celebrity TV chefs that's hubbing with viewers. If you always wished that television could transit smell and flavours to you, this might be the interim solution till someone invents it!

The 4 are:
- Food Channel Asia's Aarti Sequeira,
- TLC's Bob Blumer,
- Asian Food Channel's Emmanuel Stroobant and
- BBC Lifestyle's Rachel Allen.

I attended Chef Emmanuel Stroobant's because I have been to his restaurants and  always wanted to see how he's like in person!

Another reason I chose Chef Emmanuel's event was I wanted to visit the spanking new W Singapore!


Held at the W Hotel Singapore ballroom, there were around 18 tables! Gulp, so many hungry people around! haha...

Don't you love the metallic shoe on the centre of the table as a show piece? So W Hotels!

If you are trying to see what's on the menu, it's available at the StarHub's website http://www.starhub.com/hubalicious even before you attend. ;-)



While we waited for the event to start, we were nibbling bread!
We were pampered with nice warm bread. I particularly like the small round sour dough bread.


Finally when Chef Emmanuel appeared at the ballroom, the hungry fans all cheered!

Not in his trademark black, he was in a very tight fitting blue shirt that showed off his muscles. The MC for the night, Lavinia Tan was teasing Chef about his muscles. How many other chefs has muscles all over?

Chef Emmanuel went on stage and explained his first dish. It's Grey Shrimp that he grew up eating while in his hometown Belgium. He shared about his time growing up and how he finally ended up in Singapore.

The theme of this year's event is The Heritage Trail. The different chefs will be sharing about what they eat growing up. Tonight's menu is what Chef grew up eating in Belgium.


Tomato Grey Shrimp


I want to buy this glass container and serve food like this at home!!


This starter has such an interesting taste. The dressing gave the shrimps a salty and slightly sweet taste. You can see they are quite plump. The tomatoes I think it was momotaro tomatoes. The shrimps reminds me of very hydrated 'hae bee'.



The night was like a "show and eat" similar to 'show and tell' but with food you can eat after!

The 2nd time Chef Emmanuel went on stage, it was with this man in black. It was Chef Emmanuel's 'everything also can do' assistant Tim Ong.

Reflecting on it now, it was a very entertaining night. The 3 persons you see on the photo above, they were like presenting a stand up comedy! OK, they have potential to be great, but not that great yet, but very entertaining though.


Pan-Fried Haloumi with Caramelised Watermelon

I have not tried Haloumi before so it was interesting that they served this. A very interesting texture I would say. (It kinds of squeaks when you bite it! So fun!!)

When Chef and his assistant was pan-frying the Haloumi, the ballroom smell so good! Ah, like watching TV, but this time with the smell coming though!

The preparation of the watermelon was most interesting. Even if you did not attend, let me share with you how it was caramelised. Cubed Watermelon was pan fried with soy sauce and butter mix! Can't imagine the taste right? Turns out quite well! Try it! (a bit of soy is enough, if you are trying it at home)




Slow-Cooked Salmon in a Rice Cooker

This was another interesting dish. Salmon that has been slow-cooked in a rice cooker!
It's time to put your rice cooker to good use! (You need one that has a Keep Warm function).


Want to make your dishes a bit classy, that black streak was squid ink painted on the plate before putting the salmon on it.


You need sashimi grade salmon and you roll them into a shape of a tube with heat-safe cling foil. It's then submerge in water that has been on keep warm mode. Leave it for around 20 minutes. The salmon will slowly cook and turn out like the above.

What you get is salmon that is cooked enough and don't have the whitish marks that appears and pale orange in colour when you cook it at home. This was so soft and delicious!

Yup, for those who cooks, this is like sous vide! Just approximate temperature that's good enough to try it at home without the expensive equipments!

If you want the recipe, the MC announced it would be available on the FOOD.I.Y app soon. You can download it on your iPhone, iPad or Andriod devices now and wait for the recipe to appear. ;-)
 


Beef Tenderloin En Croute with Sauteed Wild Mushrooms

Beef tenderloin wrapped in pastry. Quite a big piece too!
For those who were hungry, this was a delicious filler to our tummy!

Every dish was paired with a different wine. We had 4 different wines that night and we had a Ms Pretty (yup, that's her family name) from Lindeman's explaining to us how to pair and explained how they paired that evening's dinner wines.


Marzipan

The dessert was Marzipan! Chef Emmanuel said they only had this during Christmas when he was growing up in Belgium. They are only allowed to have this during Christmas, where they can play with their food and then eat it!

Both Chef Emmanuel and assistant Tim was on stage showing how they craft mini figurines out. Impressive! It's like playing with edible Play-Doh! So fun!

The diners were to make their down dessert and the following are what people on the table I was on made. Yup, the more creative people!


This was done by a writer by profession. Cute eh?


Someone else was making a chicken and mooncakes!


There's the Hubalicious event with TLC's Bob Blumer tonight.(3 October 2012)
I checked, it's Sold Out!
(Next time, read interesting news at GrapeVine.Sg first if you missed out.)

But if you are a fan of BBC Lifestyle's Rachel Allen, there are still tickets available for the 6 October (Sat) event. Book your tickets with SISTIC.

For more information:
Click on to: http://www.starhub.com/hubalicious

(a note of thanks to StarHub for the invitation to this event)

Putien Codfish Specialty House @ Phoenix Road

For those who like Heng Hwa dishes, this can be a new addition to the places you can go for dishes originating from the Putien region in China. My aunt who is Heng Hwa discovered this place by chance and found the quite good and authentic.

Our cousin who took a liking for the food here calls it the 'up the hill' place. It's located on a slope high up near Phoenix LRT on Choa Chu Kang Road. People living this area seems to call it the 'hill' too, though it's not really that high. (found out after I posted a few photos of this place on Instagram and people responded saying the 'hill') It's on a row of shop houses and it's the last shop and there's a 'tent' at the end of the road with tables that people prefer to sit rather than inside the shop.

This place is known for their codfish steamboat, but we were not having steamboat but ordered different dishes instead. Here's what we had.


This was the salt-baked chicken wings. It's soy sauce that has been wrapped in paper and baked in a mountain of salt. I personally don't find it that special. It's tasty though. It seems it's one of the specialty dishes and limited packs are available daily.


The cold meats. Drunken Pork Trotters thinly sliced. Some people might like it, but I found it too cold, too fatty. Aunt likes it, I guess I am not a Heng Hwa to enjoy this. LOL!


Clams in Soup. This innocent looking dish has been spiked with cili, probably cili padi! It's very addictive though! Not overcooked, the clams are still soft and tender and you keep picking one after another to enjoy the natural sweetness of it.

Try the soup and you get hit by this spicy 'bite' in your tongue, but you will somehow keep wanting to continue drinking it.


The Heng Hwa Lor Mee. A dish that I won't get tired having it. A mix of seafood and other ingredients in a semi-starchy broth.


Instead of the usual Heng Hwa Bee Hoon, aunt ordered the Pork Leg Bee Hoon instead.

Some of you grew up eating stew pork leg noodles, and have eaten Heng Hwa Bee Hoon, this dish is like a mix of both, only wetter. It's delicious.

(Their Heng Hwa Bee Hoon's good too, we 'tapow' a pack home for eat!)


This was an unusual vegetable dish. It's fat plump beans that has been deep fried and coated with cereal. Instead of the usual cereal prawns or crayfish, this is vegetable style.

It sure was addictive, the many pairs of chopsticks were all picking bean by bean from the plate!


The salted vegetable duck soup. It was a huge duck drumstick in a big claypot. I can't remember the taste to describe it. Go try it and let me know. ;-)


A yummy dish of sambal kangkong. Definitely not a Heng Hwa dish, but it's on part of the menu that has local dishes. So we ordered it because someone who had eaten it before said it tasted good!

An alternative place to go for some Heng Hwa food that's worth going back. There are many other dishes to try. For Heng Hwas who miss dishes like Mee Sua Hu, Fried Mee Sua, Fried Yam, good old simple Fried Fish, they have it here.

Oh, the boss is a quirky funny man. He speaks nonsense at times. If you speak the Heng Hwa dialect he will talk to you in it and confuse everyone else who don't speak it. When you go early and it's not so busy yet, he will prepare some of the more homely dishes, I can't remember what aunt wanted to order, I don't understand the dialect!


Putien Codfish Specialty House
2 Phoenix Road
Singapore 668156

Hours: 11am to 11pm
Tel: 8163 4477 / 6875 0577

Flavours of Thai @ PARKROYAL on Beach Road

Recently, the wife and I (plus a group of bloggers) were invited to the Flavours of Thai buffet at PARKROYAL on Beach Road by the Marketing Communications Manager.

Since then, KopiKosongGirl has been nudging me to go back with her again for a meal, the next time paying from our own pockets because it's quite decently priced. We would not say it's the best Thai buffet around, but there are enough things that is nice plus some non-Thai items that has been staple in their buffet menu (like their very fresh sashimi, sio bak, drunken prawns, braised sea cucumber and soft shell crabs) that makes the wife wants to go back.

Here are some items that we had, we eat a little more usual that we usually do, but not stuffed ourselves silly.

As it was kind of a 'media' tasting, some of the food's served to our tables rather than from the buffet line. We checked, they were all looking the same at the buffet line except without these nicer serving plates and bowls.


Unlike most people, both of us like veggies and we love the Thai Papaya Salad.
Just be careful of the spicy and potent chillis!


This Thai Glass Noodle salad was quite appetizing too. I like the refreshing taste of the herbs and the slight sourish-sweet dressing on it that makes you want to have more of it.


Move over Thai Fish Cakes. Hello Thai Prawns Cakes!
You know how prawns always add a little natural sweetness to food. These prawns cakes had naturally sweet taste, nice crispy crunch and not oily at all. You can skip the sauce and eat it on its own.


The Thai Fish Maw Soup was a little salty for my tastebuds, but it was filled with delicious ingredients!


Yes, while enjoying the Thai buffet, we like to pause and indulge in some non-Thai stuff like drunken prawns!


The Thai Beef Noodle soup was quite good. Though a bit salty, it also has the slight sweetish taste to it. Probably more salty than sweet that night, it was a flavourful broth. 

Somehow the combi makes it quite a comfort food. The beef balls were those solid biting kind that gives you the satisfying 'bite'. The beef pieces on the other hand was tender yet stays in shape on your chopsticks, but when you bite it, just breaks apart in your mouth.


For those who like Roast Duck and Red Curry, the Thai Red Duck Curry would probably what you would like. KopiKosongGirl was especially happy with this curry.

Tender pieces of roast duck in a rich flavourful red curry. Already sounds quite sinful, but you can't help drinking one or two spoonfuls of that 'mesmerizing potion'. Detox can come another day.



For those who like Stir Fried Minced Pork Thai Style.
Somehow, I did not eat a lot of it, because it goes with rice, but I was not going to eat a lot of rice during a buffet. (hehe...)


Do you remember Plaza Brasserie had the 'catch of the day' buffet before?
My mother in law remembers this place by the order as much fish buffet place, we brought her here once for some celebration.

Their Executive Chef Jackson Goh knows people like their freshest catch of the day promotion, so from Mondays to Thursdays, Chef Goh will prepare Promfret, Sea Bass, Kee Fish and Tilapia fishes in one of the various styles: Spicy Thai Lime and Chilli, Thai Green Curry, Thai Red Curry or Basil in Coconut Cream.

Sounds good doesn't it?
These are just part of the menu, there are lots more stuff to try!

Some of the desserts we were served:


The Glutinous Rice that goes with the durian paste from the next photo!


The Durian Paste!
I know everyone was raving about it, but are extreme durian fanatics just tasted a bit of it! LOL!


Another of KopiKosongGirl's favourite dessert that night, the Tapioca with Coconut Cream.
Try it here if you like Tapioca dessert!


Another reason we like we having a meal here because of the variety, other than the Thai desserts like the above and Banana Fritters, Thai Red Ruby with Coconut Cream, Assorted Royal Thai Kuehs, I can have my choc cake!

This promotion runs from 5 September to 31 October 2012.

Flavours of Thai at PARKROYAL on Beach Road
7500 Beach Road
Singapore 199591

Tel: 6505 5710

Prices:
Dinner (Mondays to Thursdays):  Adult $52  Child $31
Dinner (Fridays to Sundays): Adult $55   Child $33
Prices are subject to10% service charge and 7% Goods and Services Tax
For enquiries or reservations, please call Plaza Brasserie at 6505 5710.