SG Memory Bank - Your contribution to 'i remember sg' will last a long time....

National Day is almost here. We can't help but think of the current Singapore, those who have made Singapore what it is, and also the future generations. Do you want to be part of those who will save our memories for the future generations?

Let me introduce you to the Singapore Memory Project (SMP). It's a nationwide movement that aims to capture and document precious moments and memories related to Singapore, Singaporeans as well as organisations, companies, associations and groups.

One of the current initiative of the Singapore Memory Project is the SG Memory Bank Facebook App. Using the App, you can easily deposit your photo memories using your existing photos using a social media tool that you are familiar with, Facebook!



Photos contributed will be able to be viewed by others and inspire them to submit too. Also, if you submit more than 30 photos, you also stand to win $200 worth of vouchers weekly. So load up the photos that you have!

I was recently looking at some old photos and I thought I will love to share them with others too. I shall refrain from posting photos of the exact dish I ate, but some of the places I have been that's food related and also Singapore's National Day.

Here are some of the photos I loaded.
Some photos of the NUS Arts Canteen of yesteryears!



The NUS "Heaven, Earth and Hell" Arts canteen!
Those of you who have studied in NUS in that era will know why it's heaven, earth and hell!
I love those brick pillars!

The current Arts canteen is totally revamped and is Singapore's first eco food court.



Ah.... the mad queues at the Arts Canteen. It was so so hot at times, but people still love that canteen. I remember this area was always so jam packed! Anyone remembers what stores were at this row? 

Even non NUS folks will come here to eat! DanielFoodDiary dropped a note on my Instagram that he will travel from NTU to NUS to eat. Hmmm it's Arts Canteen, so I wonder if he's here only for the food. haha....



The fruits and drinks stall at the 1st stall was always so popular too!
Hidden behind the pillars and walls, was the super long queue Char Kway Teow stall!




I loaded also some Singapore Food Festival photos from the year 2005!

That's a long long time ago eh? It's so different from the ones we have these few years at Reed Bridge at Clarke Quay.  The 2005 Singapore Food Festival was at Bugis Junction.



These few weekends has been the National Day Parade rehearsals.
I have these 2007 NDP photos too! These were in Suntec, and Suntec of today is totally changed!



I love this photo! So neat and smart on escalators!
Were you there too?

Photos to bring back lots of memories. Do you have some photos to share with others and make them last for a long time?

Head on to the SG Memory Bank Facebook App now. View what others have loaded. Load some photos yourself too! If you load photos, you get a change to win $200 worth of vouchers weekly too!

The Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore - Summer Afternoon Tea @ Chihuly Lounge

The weekend is almost here. If you have no plans yet, surprise your other half or your family to a nice quiet elegant treat. If you have seen my Instagram (@keropokman) photos a few weeks back, you would have seen I was at The Ritz-Carlton Milennia Singapore's Chihuly Lounge for Afternoon Tea.

It's the Summer with desserts inspired by the Mediterranean. The Summer treats ends on 1 September, so you got 1 month worth of weekends to try it out.

The Afternoon Tea buffet here serves tempting Sandwiches, Canapes, Savories, Live Station desserts and to me, the star of it all, the Desserts that brings out the exotic sandy beaches. The Executive Pastry Chef, Chef Terence Pang and his team has created 10 I would call, 'too beautiful and cute to eat' desserts to first feast your eyes and then to whet your appetite.



The "Dessert Table".

For the sweet tooth, this is the table you would need, a few pieces would hit your daily calorie limit. If you believe in a 'cheat' day, indulge in a few pieces more.

Where do you usually start your buffet? Sweet or Savoury?
For most people they prefer to start with the savoury and end on a sweet note.

* Sandwiches *

Smoked Salmon and Egg in Olive Focaccia

Beautiful smoked salmon and egg sandwiches between olive focaccia.
A nice combination of salmon with the olive focaccia.


Tomato and Mozzarella Cheese Sandwiches

Something really simple and yet tasty. If you are one who can imagine taste, you know that they have combined two ingredients, tomato and cheese that has rich natural umami compoments into this sandwich. Of course your tongue will transmit to your brain it's nice.


Iberico with Pickled Gherkin in Mini Croissant

For those who loves Iberico and Pickled Gherkin, the stuff the ingredients in a mini croissant. Probably the one with the most calories of it all.

Here's 3 out of the 4 or 5 sandwiches that they prepare.

* Summer Beach Inspired Desserts *

Caramel Mediterranean Salt Truffle Pearl

It's so pretty isn't it? I always think the pastry team here is one of the most creative ones in Singapore. My wife loves oysters and can eat many at ago, I usually take 1 or 2. When I see this, I can take a few, but she will at most take 1.



Shh.. I did not start with the Savouries, but with the Sweets!
This was what I had on my plate!


Olive Macaron Starfish

It's tempting too isn't it? What's with stars that captivates us?

Probably because when we were young, we were brought up with "Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars" nursery rhyme. We were rewarded with Stars when we could spell as kids. Or Star stickers our piano teacher pasted on our books.

Now reward yourself with a Starfish.


Raspberry and Fig Tart

So eye catching as well. I don't need to describe how they taste right?
These desserts are just so beautiful.


Pistachio Crème with Griottine

I was quite tempted by this and I knew I just had to try this!
They used a combination of different sugars to create the sand on the beach that the balls were resting on.



The folks that I was having the afternoon tea laughed when they saw me bringing this back with the 'sand' as well. Of course you need some sand, or the beach ball won't look correct. Also the sand prevents the beach ball from rolling to the floor when I hold it on my plate right?



The reward you get when you crack open the beach ball. A very delightful pistachio creme with griottine as well. *hic*


Seaweed Cake Sand-als

They come all in size 4 only. Your feet will automatically shrink as you put it on your plate. It's one size fits all. So cute right?


Lemon and Vodka Lemon Cup

Harmless looking but the bottom is heavy stuff. Lemon Vodka Jelly below the innocent looking fruits!


Rose Almond Sun Hat Cake

What a beautiful sun hat. I don't know why, but I was very tempted to try this.
I knew something was special but not sure what it was when I took it.



Surprisingly, it's not overly sweet. After cutting it, it was aha!
Look at the layers in the pasty below!



Look at the layers. I assume it's hand made themselves and that must have taken lots of rolling and folding!

I have only shown you a few and there are more! Go see and taste it in person.

* Savoury *

Grilled King Prawns with Iberico Chorizo Butter Sauce

There are also different kinds of Canapes to try. Here's two of the savory items I really liked.
Who can resist King Prawns?

(Now I know what I can do with the Chorizos I brought back from my recent holidays, make a nice butter sauce and drizzles it over prawns!)


Moroccan Style Stew Stuffed Chicken Wing, Green Olive, Sour Lemon and Coriander

Call me lazy, but the stuffed chicken wing's really tasty and oh yes, so easy to eat!
I should have taken photo from another direction to show you how beautiful it looked.

* Live Station *

Something captivating in live stations. Someone preparing food right in front of you just as you order it. Especially when it's crepes, the appeal is even stronger.



The chef preparing a crepe. Do you like crepes?


Fresh Crepes with Ricotta Cheese Filling and Candied Fruit

I know it's suppose to go with candied fruit, but I opted for fresh fruits.
If you are a cheese person, try the ricotta cheese filling inside!

* Coffee & Tea *

It's called Afternoon Tea, but you can have Coffee. I know so many of you are addicted to coffee like my wife. There's decaffeinated coffee too for those who need the kick of coffee but not the caffeine in the afternoon.



There's quite a nice selection of teas. A great range from Ronnefeldt Teas. They have over thirty blends of loose leaf teas here. I had an ice version of one of the teas. I believe I order the Rooibos Lemon.


I should talk about the tea pots and other porcelain used here. I realised I don't have a nice photo of the tea pot. The squarish plates that you see I had my food on, they are the elegant chic ‘Feuille d'or’ line of Bernardaud Porcelain imported from France.

If you are there at the lounge at any time, you would see that their tea is called "Bernardaud Afternoon Tea" named after Bernardaud of Limoges, France. That's for some of us who love to know such details.

I love the 'vastness' of this lounge. A nice place to meet up or a date with your love ones.
A nice selection of savouries that you can try and even if you are not a sweet tooth person, admire the sweet dessert creation by the chefs. So pretty. Yup, whenever you are there, I always see Japanese tourist. They can't be wrong when it comes to cute stuff!


The Price:
S$52.00++ per adult (inclusive of freshly brewed and decaffeinated coffee and a selection of teas)

S$26.00++ per child (six to twelve years of age)

All prices are subject to a 10% Service Charge and Prevailing Government Taxes




Chihuly Lounge
The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore
7 Raffles Avenue
Singapore 039799

Tel: +65 6434 5288
Email:  rc.sinrz.restaurantreservations@ritzcarlton.com



A note of thanks to The Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore marketing folks for the invite to this tea and answering all the questions we had.

Kay Lee Roast Meat Joint @ Upper Paya Lebar Road

The wife and I finally got to try Kay Lee's $2 million recipe roast meat!
We were not too far from the area a few weeks ago and thought why not pop by to have an early dinner. We won't normally travel half the island just to try it.

It was around 5 pm and there was a few tables of customers there.
It's on a row of old shop houses and the surrounding area are mix of modern and old factories.



Their recipe and story and history of it, you can read it all in Leslie's post that he wrote in 2007.
A nice read.


We saw Ms Betty Kong there. Still working hard and chopping up the food we ordered. She looked a bit tired yet chirpy, she probably have been chopping since morning. Looking around the shop, you can see old articles about this place. Reading the articles on the walls, they believe only in preparing their roast the 'original Zhu Jiang style'.



We started by having a watercress pork soup. Their double boiled soup is delicious.
The wife whose mum is Cantonese 'poked poked' inside the bowl and saw that they used 'right' ingredients to prepare the soup. Quite a heart warming soup.



The Char Siu that everyone raves about. It's dark and they don't seem to add colouring to make it 'red'. It's darkish and slightly charred but does not have the bitter taste. It had the sticky gooey sauce residue that you find when you roast things at home. Delicious!

The meat is tender and had this sticky and chewy feel to it. The chewy is not that it's not tender, but the stickiness of the sauce needs you to chew your food properly. As you can see, some parts had the fatty meats that's really nice. The lean part is not 'siap siap' at all too.

While we were eating, it seems customers come in and ask if there are still the Char Siu, they leave when told it's sold out. (We must have gotten the last few bits!)

The roast pork was nice, but maybe it's already evening, the crispiness of the skin is not there anymore.



By the way, we ordered a '2 person to share' portion of 'everything'. The other side is the roast duck. The duck is good, but because I liked the char siu so much, my tongue and mind did not really keep into memory how the duck is like.

We remembered that the duck did not have the 'ducky gamey' taste. It was a very nice and 'pleasant to the palate' duck. It had a nice crispy skin and the ones we had was not really fat too.



Oh yes, the rice is covered with delicious 'lor'!
My plate had more 'sauce' than the wife's, so she passed it to me. Too dark for her, but hurray for me!

I will be back for their char siu and perhaps the duck. As I type this now, I have the urge to have the char siu again.

It costs the high $20s for the 2 person combi, soup and our drinks.

Kay Lee Roast Meat Joint
126 Upper Paya Road
Singapore 534838

Tel: 6743 8778
Hours: 10 am to 7 pm daily. (Closed on Tuesdays)
Web: www.kayleeroastmeatjoint.com