Photo *Heart* Fridays – Going Nonya

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Part of the fun of exploring a local culture is getting to taste the cuisine that the culture offers.

Amongst the 4 cultures, Peranakan food has to be one of my favorites (I have too many favorites from our selection of Singapore’s cuisine). And where can we find the largest selection of Peranakan restaurants in Singapore? Definitely Katong of course.

Pnk 28Ngoh Hiang – fatty ground pork, together bits of water chestnut seasoned with five spiced powder, wrapped in bean curd skin. Steamed first, then fried to a crispy outside and juicy inside. Really addictive!

Pnk 30Bakwang Kepiting – Crab and Meatball Soup.

Pnk 29Babi Pongteh – Braised Pork with Fermented Soya Bean (Tau Cheo) This is a vital dish that will be included in a traditional Tok Panjang (translated as long table), a formal dining style of choice for the Peranakan Chinese, for special occasions like birthdays and weddings.

 

Pnk 31Chap Chye – Mixed Vegetable stew

K loves Nonya Cuisine as well, he has been reminding me every other evening, in our bus journey from school to home. Pointing to Peranakan Inn, exclaiming that he loves the Chap Chye and everything else that we ordered from the restaurant, and that we have to visit the place for a meal very soon.

 

Do you love Nonya Food too? What’s your favorite dish?



And linking up with


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Onion Restaurant and Bar

My extended family celebrated my sister’s birthday last weekend at a new restaurant, Onion. Onion is contemporary Mediterranean Tapas restaurant found along Bukit Timah Road, located on a quiet row of shop houses before the junction of Sixth Avenue.

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The restaurant is decked out in cool colors and contemporary furnishings, with a cosy upper floor seating for bigger groups of diners.

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One of their best offerings have to be their seafood, specifically the seasonal oysters from France, USA, Australia and Chile, which were plump and fresh.

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As for the Tapas offerings, we shared,

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Cold steamed king prawn with mango salsa $12.80

The fresh and crunchy prawns was served with spring salad and balsamic vinaigrette.

 

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Crisp Squid with Saffron and Green Apple Allioli $9.80

The succulent and tasty squid rings were sprinkled with saffron, a dash of lemon juice and green apple dice.

 

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Little Meatball in Tomato Sauce with Herbs $8.80

The little boy finished this dish all by himself, which consisted of freshly made Iberico pork belly meatballs served with a toasted baguette.

 

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Lobster Bisque $12.80

This is an item on any menu that hb will not miss, Onion’s lobster bisque was creamy and rich in taste.

 

As for mains, we went for,

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Spicy crabmeat spaghetti with caviar – $16.80

In sweet and spicy tomato sauce with egg white topped with crab meat and black caviar. I liked the onion rings fried in batter which garnished the dish, but the tomato sauce was a tad sweet.

 

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Panfried Salmon Fillet with Golden Onion Cake  $27.80

Which was served with lemon butter sauce and greens on the side. This was a safe choice generally.

 

While I shared this main with the little boy,

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Veal Bratwurst with Onion Sauce $18.80

This dish was served with potato salad and fried onion rings, again the onion sauce was a tad sweet.

 

The overall experience at Onion was pleasant, as we were pleased with the tapas and oysters but I think the mains were average in taste. The chef should really lighten up on the sweetness of the sauces for a couple of the mains. As for service in general, there was an attentive wait staff who was assigned to the diners’ needs on the upper floor seating, so no complaints there.

Apparently, Onion has a different menu on Saturday and Sundays, which includes brunch selections in the mornings which my parents preferred over the mains for dinner. So it is still worth checking out Onion for their fresh oysters and tapas selections, and on the weekends for their morning and afternoon offerings.

 

791 Bukit Timah Road

#01-01

Singapore 269764

 

Opening Hours –

Mon – Thu:5:30 pm – 10:30 pm

Sat : 10:30 am – 3:00 pm  5:30 pm-11:00 pm

Sun:10:30 am-3:00 pm  5:30 pm-10:30 pm

 

Cost : $50++ per head (with wine and fresh oysters)

 

This review is based on my personal experience and opinion, I have not been compensated by the food establishment to write this review.

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That Takes the Cake!

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What is that?

That ingredient K was sniffing suspiciously was the same ingredient that caught my attention from the invite that was sent to the SMB inbox from Karen of rolleyes.com.sg

The green stuff is Zucchini, grated Zucchini to be exact, one of the key ingredients used in a hands-on baking class to make Zucchini Chocolate Cake, a session organized by Rolleyes. Rolleyes.com.sg is a new online platform which provides an visual and audio feast of gourmet cuisine through their presentation of high quality videos of gourmet cuisine and behind-the-scenes preparation of cuisines by selected master chefs of the culinary world on their site.

I have to admit that even for a vege-lover like me, Zucchini Chocolate Cake did not sound very appetizing at first. But since I have embarked on healthier alternatives to include more vegetables in my breakfast the last one month, I was convinced that having vegetables in a cake will be a really a good idea :)

At first, I planned to let hb to take on the responsibility of baking while I would be the photographer, watch him prepare, while I kept an eye on K at the same time. But when the boy voiced his interest to help daddy, I thought that hb could do with an extra pair of hands to clean up any potential mess that the boy might make. But were we surprised by his enthusiasm through the whole session!

1706 03So gamed to put on the apron

 

1706 05Making an effort to watch Chef Judy’s demonstration

 

1706 09Chef Judy of Creative Culinaire working on her demo

 

1706 10Creaming the butter with the mixer

 

While the boy and dad were busy at work creaming the butter with brown sugar and adding the eggs into the batter. I went to snap some photos of fellow SMBs busy at work.

1706 15Delphine’s tossing the zucchini mixture, while Madeline‘s busy sifting the flour

 

1706 14Susan and Sandra testing the mixer

 

1706 16K’s turn to toss the chocolate chips, grated zucchini, walnuts and some flour.

 

1706 13I am certain that this mixer was partly responsible in sustaining his long attention span through the whole session.

 

1706 17Zucchini’s not so bad when there’s lots of chocolate chips in the mix!

 

Here’s the recipe for Zucchini Chocolate Cake by Chef Judy of Creative Culinaire :

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Ingredients (for a 16 cupcake tin)

230g           butter

172g           light brown sugar

1/2 tsp        salt

3                  eggs

1 tsp            vanilla essence

308g           self raising flour

1 tsp            baking soda

224g           grated zucchini

90g             chocolate chip

50g             toasted walnuts

 

Method

1.  Cream butter and light brown sugar and salt till light. Add in the eggs, a little at a time.

2.  Toss the chocolate chips, walnuts and zucchini with about 1/2 cup of the flour. Mix in the remaining of the flour into the butter mixture.

3.  Fold in the zucchini mixture. Bake in oven till cooked at 175C

4. When cool glaze with chocolate.

 

This is what happens, when you leave a 5 year old with the task of glazing the cake with melted chocolate.

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Ta-dah! Our Zucchini chocolate cakes are done! Kind of messy but truly scrumptious nonetheless.

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1706 19(L to R) Madeline of MadPsychMum, Chef Judy of Creative Culinaire, Sandra of Sanses, Delphine of In the Wee Hours, Susan of A Juggling Mom, Moi and K.

 

It was an enjoyable baking session for us today, all thanks to rolleyes.com.sg and Chef Judy of Creative Culinaire.

Do check out www.rolleyes.com.sg for high quality videos on gourmet food and behind-the-scenes, cooking tips and recipes from chefs and the everyday home cook and a comprehensive restaurant directory for food lovers.

 

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