Din Tai Fung @ Suntec City

It was another of the family lunch outings. When it's a group of 7 people, expect lots of dilly-dally-ing. We went to the Suntec City branch of Din Tai Fung because it's one of their newest branch and also, Singaporeans have not discovered that Suntec City has re-opened.

We got our table of 7 within 10 minutes. So the 10 minutes while waiting for the rest to arrive and some to the washroom, and many other things, my cousin and I ordered our food.



Oriental Salad in Special Vinegar Dressing. One of our favourite appetisers here. My cousin can eat a whole thing by herself, so it's 2 portions of this.



The wife's favourite Drunken Steamed Chicken.



Pickled Cucumber with Spicy Sauce. One of the wife and my favourites. Crunchy and savoury and addictive.



Another of our favourite appetizers, the rolled pork with cucumber in the centre with crushed garlic sauce. This goes with Mango Beer.



I got a voucher to try this and so the best time is to try it with many people with different dishes.
How clever of them to pair Taiwanese Beer with Taiwanese food!

To take it a step further, they even have a 'paper wheel' brochure that lists out the beer that goes well with their different dishes.

The men liked the Gold Medal Taiwan Beer, the ladies liked the Lychee Fruit Beer and White Grape Fruit Beer.



We like nibbling bits of everything, so we had the Mince Black Bean Meat Noodles and also the Spicy Sauce Noodles.



Din Tai Fung's fried rice is one of the yummiest around. So proud of my cousin. She's helping to order and she noticed that we have had prawns so we are not having the prawns fried rice. She also ordered very 2 different noodles above. More choices for us.



Another item that many people love at Din Tai Fung. The Deep-fried Marinated Pork Chop. We have eaten this same thing in different DTF and this one here is really nice. Some branches cook it a bit too dry, the ones here is juicy! Not sure if they send the best chefs here to open up or it's permanent.

The 'brochure' says this goes with the Lychee Fruit Beer.



This is the Taiwan Shrimp and Pork Oriental Wantons with Spicy Sauce.
We did a mental calculation that we will exceed the $90 ($80 for Citi cards) so we will get this free.

Even if we did not, we will order it because the various dishes with spicy sauce here tastes good. We need to know the recipe!



This is the usual Oriental Wantons with Black Vinegar and Chilli Oil that we usually order. Still our favourite. Almost the same as the previous one but this has a sweet vinegar taste.



It's good that we have a group of us, we can order more Xiao Long Bao varieties to try. The Steamed Angled Gourd and Shrimp Dumplings. A very acquired taste. Taste a bit too 'green'.



We thought we shall indulge in some Crabs and Pork Dumplings. We are secretly glad it's not the chilli crab dumpling they had previously. This is lighter and doesn't have the chilli taste to mask it. It gives it a natural sweeter taste to the usual pork dumplings.



The Chicken Dumplings. The wife doesn't like this at all. It's all right, but not what we are usually used to. An alternative to those who don't like pork.



They are having a special promo now as shown on the poster above.

We had quite an enjoyable lunch here. This branch is quite big and we like the spaciousness and higher ceiling. It is where the meeting rooms used to be that's no longer there. The food items here were also nicely prepared compared to some branches that's a bit 'different'.


Din Tai Fung (Suntec City)
6 Temasek Boulevard
#02-302
Singapore 038986

Tel: +65 6338 2422

FIJI Water Halloween Set Dinner at Cafe Melba - October 2013.

It was a thundery and wet Thursday night, but I went ahead and cross the imaginary centre line in Singapore to cross to the Eastern side of Singapore.

Having lived a few years as a student in Melbourne, I was tempted to come and see what Cafe Melba has to offer when I was invited to try their set dinners for October.

This Cafe is not named after Dame Nellie Melba the Australian opera soprano that most Aussies would know. This is a combination of the two words Melbourne (MELB) and Asia (A). Determine to see how I can match this to something Melbourne, this almost all glass building has a slanted roof and it reminds me of the Melbourne Exhibition Centre, slightly I guess.



I like the concept of open kitchen and here, you can see the food being prepared. The kitchen here and the other sister restaurants by Tadcaster Hospitality is led by Chef Kacey Whaitiri-Roberts. Chef Kacey worked for Gordon Ramsay at Claridge’s London before coming to Singapore.

Love the deco and set up of this place. Super high ceiling, lush greenery outside, and this place has a big field in front and it's great if you have kids and want to let them run around. It's a great place during the day or weekends to let them run.

If you love bringing your pets out with your meal, Cafe Melba's alfresco area welcomes your pets. The night that we were there, we could see quite a few woof woofs there. ;-)



For Thursdays Nights in month of October (Oct 10, 17, 24, 31), they are having a special 3-course set dinner at $45++.

If you visit on Thursdays nights, you can watch 'halloween themed' movies under the stars.
The list of shows is available above. The 7 pm shows are more family friendly.


We had some pizza bread to start. It comes with 3 interesting dips. 



The set dinner is very straight forward. Set dinner here seems very reasonably priced too. 
To 'taste' everything in the menu, Camemberu and I alternate our orders, so we could try everything.

The set dinners also comes with a 500ml bottle of FIJI Water.


Wild Mushroom Soup with Truffle Oil

Made from 4 different kinds of mushrooms, it's then blended to give it a nice smooth soup. It was a cold night and this warm soup did warmed up our tummies. Chef Kacey was around and he said the mushroom soup is prepared using FIJI water as well. The splash of truffle oil will give the extra aroma to the soup.


Saku Tuna Carpaccio with Guacamole and Bloody Mary

For those who do not fancy soups as starters, this would be a nice alternative. A beautiful alternative too. I like the clean taste of it too. The tuna rested a bed of guacamole and the bloody mary was made into a slice of jelly on top of the tuna.

If you are dining with a partner, order both and share to try everything like we did.


Oven Baked Sea Bass with Smoked Tomato and FIJI Water Consomme

The sea bass was crusty on top yet tender below.  The consomme is very interesting. We were told the chef smoked it first to give it a nice flavour profile and the used FIJI Water to make the consomme. It had a very clear Japanese flavour to it. Probably made using konbu.


Beef Rendang with Shoe-String Fries and Pizza Bread

The managing director Tony Coughlan is from New Zealand, but has an Indonesian mother-in-law who makes superb beef rendang. He likes to eat his fries and this rendang, so this is how he eats it. Guess what? It works for me too! They got his mother-in-law in to teach the chefs how to prepare this dish.

This portion is perfect for guys who eats a lot. A nice portion of beef rendang. It's quite spicy and 'damn shiok'. Comes with a bowl of shoe-string fries that's annoying so delicious that you will eat it all up. The pizza bread is for you to wipe your plate clean of the rendang sauce.


Peach Melba

For the name's sake, Vanilla Ice Cream, Raspberry Puree and toasted almonds to give it a sweet ending.

I did notice that they have planned the menu quite well. One lighter and one heavier meal, both in portions and taste. I had Carpaccio and the Rendang, so it was a nice portion for my meal. I feel this is a good value Dinner Set at $45 ++.


Pizza and Other stuff:

Our host was very gracious and wanted to stuff us with more food. Some of their popular 'shared food' is their pizzas. 


Tandoori Chicken Pizza

When you have a nice recipe for your dough, you can then throw in generous amounts of ingredients and make delicious pizzas. Onions, coriander, mozzarella and mint yoghurt with tandoori chicken gives it a very nice moist pizza.

To me, there are 2 kinds of pizza eaters, those who likes their pizzas dry and then complain about soggy pizzas. Then there are those like me that loves moist ingredients on top and complain if the pizza is dry. I remember a nice little Italian pizza place near where I stayed in Melb that makes the most moist topping pizzas. They pack in so much ingredients (triple of what you see above) and that makes us always go back to them.

When the pizza arrives, eat it straight away to enjoy it. I like the yoghurt used instead of the usual tomato paste. Gives it a really different feel to your regular pizza. Yes, I love thin crust pizzas!


Three Little Pigs Pizza

Oinksters would definitely love this. The unholy trinity of home-cured bacon, honey ham and pepperoni. Give it a good slosh of tomato paste on the base and generous amount mozzarella. Woo hoo! 'nuff said. Yes, it was a moist pizza too!


Crayfish Linguini

When there's pizza, pasta takes a back seat for me. I just had a mouth of this. Linguine was al dente, crayfish was good!


Mini doughnuts with chocolate sauce.

There are those that still prefer this to KrispyKreme right? ;-)




When the weather's good and you want to sit on the field, you can prebook your gourmet picnic basket at $50++ per basket.

You get 2 bottles of FIJI Water, 2 soft drinks, Popcorn or Kacang Puteh, Potato Chips or Nachos and a choice of either Mini Sliders or Mini Fish and Chips for your main bites.


Cafe Melba
90 Goodman Road
Goodman Arts Centre
Block N #01-56
Singapore 439053

Tel: +65 6440 6068

Gadget Review: Bosch MUM5 HomeProfessional Kitchen Machine

Gadget Review: Bosch MUM5 Home Professional Kitchen Machine MUM57830

I was asked to do a review of this machine and my sis and I have been trying this machine for over a month and we have been using it quite a bit and keeping our current European brand mixer resting on the counter top. 



The machine arriving at our home, it's net weight is 6.92kg and the dimension of the machine inside is 282 x 280 x 271 mm.



The unboxing of the kitchen gadget. The machine when you buy it in Singapore comes with quite a few accessories included as standard like the Citrus Press, Continuous Shredder with 3 disks (5 functions) and a 1.25 litre Plastic Mixer.



I know someone told me that previous model feels a bit flimsy and plastic. This model, the MUM57830 is a 900 W motor machine with side panels that is made from real metal. It comes with a 3.9 litre stainless steel bowl as well. Feels rather solid, but not it's not as heavy as our current machine of another brand. We found it quite sturdy and even at high speeds, it does not vibrate or shake. It has 4 suction feet at the bottom so it stays grounded quite well.



The machine is quite a beauty. It's brushed aluminium design in Mystic Black. It retains the same beautiful contour design that won the "Red Dot Best of the Best Award 2011".

When we saw the real thing after we opened the box, it's something that you will fall in love with. My wife and sis was saying why no other colours? We realised it fits in nicely with most colour themes for kitchens. 



If you are looking for a big capacity machine, this is not it. The MUM5 is mid capacity with a 3.9 litre bowl. If you are looking for bigger ones, try the MUM8. MUM8 would be the size of my mum's mixer.

Since having this machine, we have not been using our standalone blender that we have. It's a multiple in one machine that we have left on the counter top, so it beats taking out other machines that we have.

The machine has a rather powerful 900 W motor. There's 7 speeds and also burst switch. 



One thing we like is how the beating whisk, stirring whisk and kneading hook gets to be stored in a bag and the bag fits nicely into the mixing bowl. We compared it with out current machine that doesn't have a bag, so we have been using other bags to store it.



The machine comes with beating whisk as you can see above. It's fully metal and it's height adjustable too. You can adjust it to nearly touch the bottom if you are using small quantity of ingredients. We were also quite impressed with the flexi stirring whisk with silicon edges. The silicon edges will swipe the sides of the mixing bowl! So when you are mixing, you don't need to stop the machine every now and then to swipe the ingredients down. There's also the kneading hook.



At the bottom of the same bag, there's storage for the 3 disk that's used for the continuous shredder.



We were really playing around making macarons, cakes etc.

This video will show you what we found very interesting the first time we saw it last year. The whisk moves in such a way that it will almost whisk all around the mixing bowl. We know different machines have different mechanism, but this is really the first we have seen that goes around like this.

You don't need to scrap down the sides too. That said, for certain things, you still need to, just the upper top bit. The noise in the video is because we put it to the maximum it can run. It is much quieter for settings below the max of 7.



A little transformer at work. You can push the top part down and you can fix the blender onto it.
The blender is fine by itself, but I was hoping it was a glass version, just my personal preference. A plastic version does not feel as sturdy, but it can blend ice, I tried it.



Pushing it back to the original position, you can remove the top and clip on the citrus press.
It has quite a high capacity container as well.



In the same position, you can also clip on continuous shredder. Things that are shredded gets directly into the bowl. This is useful as since young, we have been helping mum prepare dishes.

If your family is one of those that requires home made shallots that's cooked from scratch, you will be glad for this machine. You just need to skin the shallots and then use this machine to slice it thinly for you. A life and time saver!



So simple, yet so useful, putting a small plastic below the disks that automatically sweeps everything into the bowl! No need to stop the machine to adjust.



This is also useful for making both Western and Chinese carrot cake. Using the machine to shred the carrot or turnips is a breeze. If you have a dishwasher, just chuck it into the dishwasher and let it clean itself. We have been throwing everything into the dishwasher after baking.



One thing we like is this automatic cable rewind! After using, you can store the cord inside the machine by just pulling it a little and it all goes back in. No messy long wires!

If you want a machine that can do a few things because you are quite short of table top space, this is a nice machine. It has a mid size mixing bowl, a citrus press, a blender, and a continuous shredder.

In summary:

Pros:
- Powerful (900 W) for a mid size machine.
- The all-in-one design. We used the mixer and blender a lot, so it's easy to have only 1 machine on the kitchen table.
- Sturdy and solid, with 4 suction feet at the bottom to hold your machine in place.
- Stainless steel bowl that is quite solid.
- Beating Whisk that rotates all around. We really get very nice egg whites very quickly.
- Stirring Whisk that has a silicon edge, we found that it scrapes the sides so nicely, you don't need to do it manually while mixing or folding.
- Bowl is big enough to mix ingredients for 2 big chiffon cakes. 
- Accessories bag. I like they have thought about this little thing and we don't need to find a container at home to store things.
- The rewind cable! No messy wires, after usage, you can pull it, release and wires gets hidden inside the machine.

Cons:
- can't whisk 1 egg's worth of egg white. (we know most machines can't do this too, except a hand held one)
- Update: we realise the whisk has a knob that you can push and lower it, so 1 egg's worth of egg white is possible.
- finding a place to store the bulky continuous shredder. It's shape is hard to keep.
- only 1 colour, my sis was hoping there will be a red option.
- blender is plastic.

The RRP is S$839. Going into even the  big chain stores, the price is usually $100 or more lower than the RRP, which is about the same price to machines of other brands. During the recent National Day, I noticed Best Denki has it for $6xx! Very good deal. Look out for deals if you decide to go for this machine.


Update:

• From 18th October 2013 to 5th Jan 2013, Bosch is having the YearEnd Fiesta promotion whereby a range of its kitchen and floor care appliances are on sale. The MUM5PRO will be at S$749 (usual price $839).
• If you like colours for your machines, the other kitchen machines in the MUM5 series (not the PRO) comes in special coloured limited editions at different stores in November 2013.
  - Turquoise at Best Denki
  - Yellow Passion at Courts
  - Deep red & miracle blue at Tangs