Good Ol' Fish & Chips

After I'd moved to the Toa Payoh neighbourhood, many would exclaim that there's a lot of good food in Toa Payoh, etc etc. One of the places regularly mentioned as a Toa Payoh special is the fish and chips. As keen as I was to try it out, no one was able to give a proper address until one night I was watching TV, eating a sad meal of leftovers when a local food channel started rolling.

And whaddya know, the much talked about Toa Payoh fish and chips was one of the makan places featured! Fast as lightning jotted down the address, realized it's only about a stone's throw away!

Managed to drag MCC for lunch there one day. We reached at 11pm (was a Sunday) and there was already a line forming at the stall.

A corner stall in a coffeeshop, this fish and chips place is known for its good and authentic servings, at a fraction of the price.

The story of this humble stall is that, the owner used to work in a fish and chips restaurant when he was in the UK. Upon returning to Singapore, he opened a fish and chips place simply because he could not find a good and affordable meal of fish and chips.

A hearty splash of vinegar malt to go along with your fish and chips :D Besides fish and chips, other western delicacies are also served, namely chicken chop, pastas (looks pretty good, from the looks of the pasta that was served to the table beside us hehe). Oh and they also serve lamb shank and oxtail stew every alternate weekends, but apparently need to book in advance, or else they run out pretty quick!

The only soup on the menu - mushroom. I love the fact that the soup does not come out of a can. Delish! The garlic bread too, wholesome is the best word I can fit into the description.

By the way, the soup came after some 15 minutes of ordering. The wait is really, really long! And we were there early! Which I'm glad for at the very least. Our much anticipated plates of  good ol' fish and chips only arrive after 30 minutes of patience.

Quite a sad looking plate, really.... anyway both of us ordered the fish and chips, you can choose to have fish and rice, or fish and mashed taters and the likes but what for!! lol. Verdict!

I learnt that one way to distinguish a good deep fried batter is by how well the outer fried 'shell' retains its crispiness without leaving any of the inner batter mushy/undercooked. So I'm quite impressed by the thin crispiness of the batter with the inside dory fish completely soft and tender, yums :D

A tad greasy (which deep fried item isn't?) but overall delicious, with a big portion to boot. The only gripe we had was that there was no tartar sauce to go with the fish. Garggghhh!! Would have been ichiban! They do have plain mayonnaise though, after we'd requested for it.

Oh, and unlike the usual salad tossed in some mayonnaise and served on the side, Wok Inn prepares their salad with a vinaigrette dressing and roughly chopped garlic - love them to bits! All this for $5.80 only! Awesome.

Fish & Chips | Cafe Wok Inn
Blk 95 Lorong 4 Toa Payoh 
#01-74 Singapore 310095
Time: 11.30am - 10pm

Pigs Inside Out @ JB

More shots on a JB day trip! I'm really happy with the pictures that the S100 is taking. It's so user-friendly, it's almost a no-brainer. Me, I'm just really happy with a lightweight camera that captures good pictures, fuss-free. 

See for yourself the pictures and let me know what you think!

Bee Hua was nice enough to pick us up at the JB checkpoint and whisked us off for lunch!

Now, kway chap is a popular southern Malaysia dish. I thought I won't like kway chap due to a past experience of finding it too sticky and starchy - sort of associating it with lor mee, but I must say that I'm much of a convert now! :D

Located some 30 minutes drive from the city centre, this double-shoplots restaurant sells kway chap and from the signboard, has been featured on the popular local food TV series of 8TV Ho Chak.

Kway chap ingredients are displayed for 'preview' and you pick the ones you want in a bowl - like yong tau foo. Here I asked Kenneth to load on the vegs and after he's filled the bowl with chai sim and romaine lettuce, the staff said the vegs are for display only -.-

Everyone was feeling ravenous and thus greed got the better of us. We had to try absolutely every freaking item displayed!!

Can you say lau nua??! Chunky pieces of pig stomach and intestines, braised lor eggs, tofu. liver, etc, etc. This place is so non-halal that every Muslim must stay away at least 50m from this restaurant!

All sorts of fried stuff - Not really keen on this section, though I have my eyes set on the Taiwanese sausage yum yum.

 

Don't know why we didn't take this - I think it's duck, could be chicken. Maybe cos it's not in line with the kway chap principle of all things pork? Colours look a bit patchy cos I used a poster mode.

A relatively short wait later...

Took the food shots using super vivid mode.

Braised chicken feet - The flavours of the herb was too strong for me and I didn't quite enjoy it. Maybe because I'm so accustomed to the milder northern way?

 Tofu and eggs

This shot is bad..... it looks like the poster mode, but I guess the contrast setting is high with the super vivid. Anyways, one shot out of twenty ain't bad at all.

Pig stomach is very tender, missing my tu tor th'ng very much now!

 I quite like this shot! Though I'm not in it :( Colours are really nice and vibrant.

 The kway teow is thin and slippery, but good! Broth is more diluted than the 'lor' type - something I'm quite thankful for.

Behold the magic five hungry people can conjure -

 Now you see.....

Now you DON'T! Super clean can?! Hehehehe... Initially when the plates are served one by one on the table, we honestly thought that there is absolutely too many things we've ordered, but as it turns out, it was still manageable (cos we have that duo bui Kenneth)

 Washed down the uric-acid filled meal with this very refreshing lemon honey jelly ice. Don't you just love Malaysia ;) Oh- the kway chap meal is quite pricey for local standards. I can't remember exactly how much it was, but it's approximately SGD5 per person, meaning the total bill is at least RM60! Still, worth a second and subsequent visit ;)

Solid Cafeteria Kway Chap
No. 137 & 139 Jalan Bakawali 50, Taman Johor Jaya, 81100 Johor Bahru, Johor
HP: 014-310 4661, 012-722 3750
Business Hours: 12noon to 10pm
Closed on Mondays.

A Choc Apple Cake A Day

Q: What do you get when you put two food-loving cousins who are bored on a weekend? 

A: A baking experiment!

Well it goes like this actually... MCC asked if I wanted to go cycling at Pulau Ubin and I asked her if she wants to bake a cake... so we sort of did each other a favour I suppose hehehe. MCC collected like, more than 10 types of cake recipes, ranging from the sinful marble butter cake to the mouth-watering molten lava cake. I first suggested chocolate cake and MCC said no, no, why not a walnut cake which then evolved to a walnut chocolate cake with banana and since I've tried banana, chocolate and peanut butter cake, and kinda like it, so naturally I pitch in the idea of a chocolate walnut banana peanut butter cake...... Phew.... Even saying it makes me full already.

So, putting aside all OTT ideas, we settled on this recipe with a seemingly easy-to-make approach... it's a Chocolate Apple Dream Cake! LOL! No, I didn't make up the name hehehhe.

I can't recall the detailed recipe, but from what I can gather from bits and pieces of the pictures I took (with  my new camera!!), including pathetic recollection of my mediocre memory, this is what I can get.

(A)
150g brown sugar
180g butter

(B)
3 eggs

(C)
300g flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tsp double action baking powder
1 tsp sodium bicarbonate

(D)
150ml milk
50g chocolate

(E)
60g apple
1tsp cinnamon powder

1. Whisk (A) until soft. Then add in (B)
2. Once (A) and (B) is well mixed, add in (C) and (D) alternately. Mix until combination is soft and fluffy.
3. Slice apple and cook over stove with cinnamon powder until tender. Leave aside to cool before use.
4. Mix (E) to the mixture and pour over greased tin foil.
5. Steam cake for 50 minutes.

If you are going to try to re-enact the recipe above, by all means please do so but just in case, disclaimer attached :D

My favourite rose wine!! MCC told me not to tell IKK that we've already started drinking early during the day...

The new cam is super shiok, got a lot of features and scene modes like these toy camera mode which is really the pinhole effect.

The recipe calls for the cake to be steamed. But when we tried fitting the tin pan into the wok for steaming, it doesn't fit! So we used the oven-steaming way... lol.

Just before the cooking process. Was a lot liquidy than expected.

And voila!

With a giant crack cutting through the cake! Hehehehhe. Used the cake tester and realized it's not cook enough around the center, so popped it into the oven again -.- I told MCC just leave the insides undercooked so it becomes a little like molten chocolate cake heheheheh and she jeling at me :D

Tried the cake, it really is not bad leh! I know the combination of apple and chocolate just doesn't seem to cut it, but I think the cinnamon powder with the apple is just a great pairing, even with chocolate!

Looks almost same same hor?! Kakakakka... The cake in the photo looks fluffy but the ones I reap from the under-performing oven was slightly moister lol - not a bad thing really!

Operation Chocolate Apple Dream cake iz suksess!!

Jing Hua Dumpling

Su En's always telling me about the many fab food in Chinatown and I pestered her to bring me other than the Szechuan one (don't get me wrong, I still love the food there).

 We call it the dumpling place initially, both being bananas and not knowing what the restaurant is called in Chinese but upon checking the receipt, they do have romanized name - Jing Hua lol... 

This Jing Hua aka dumpling place is about 10-15 minutes walk from the Chinatown MRT. By the way, it was a blazingly hot day and I recall heading back after the meal with a major headache due to the heat.

 I love this type of old colonial shophouses.

 Minced Pork Noodle with Soya Bean Paste

At $5, this is a simple and yet satisfying meal! The restaurant only offers a few types of dishes. Good and bad, but more good, for me at least - I am always indecisive when there is a whole range of food available, you know, inch-thick menus... so if the options are narrowed down, it does make my life a lot easier!

Garnished with julienned cucumber and bean sprouts, this bowl of noodle is best taken with a bit of chilli :D

 This order was sort of a mistake -.- I had mistakenly thought it's a bean sprouts noodle dish but it turns out to be Bean Sprouts with Minced Pork and Soya Bean Paste.... no mention of noodle there... LOL. At $8, it's totally not worth the money. Su En kept nagging me about it, said she can make the same thing at a fraction of the price kekekekeke. In my defense, the taugeh is really juicy -.-

 Xiao Long Bao! The smallest order comes in a set of 7, at $7. These are good, in my opinion. The xiao long bao skin is not overly thick nor floury - just the right thickness to hold in the soup without tearing. Really enjoyable. Succulent meaty core with sliced ginger and vinegar complementing it nicely.

Sadly, on contrary to the post title, we did not order any dumplings (smallest serving is about 10 pcs, can you believe it). But still, worth to come back and try the others. This time I shall read the menu carefully and refrain from ordering bean sprouts :(

Jing Hua has other interesting dishes I would love to try out, specifically Chinese Pizza (wonder that will be like), the dumplings of course and the dessert!

Finally a shot taken with instagram filters of this cool view... a temple set against the modern skyscrapers of the Central Business District.

 

Jing Hua Restaurant
21/23 Neil Road 
Singapore
Tel: 62213060

Minestrone

Was in the mood to make something simple and yet nutritious on a weekend and minestrone comes to mind. Googled the recipe, thought to myself that I will leave out the extravagant ingredients (vegetable stock/ red wine/ cannellini beans).

Bought small portions of carrots, leeks, celery, tomatoes... They look like small but you will be surprised at how much they seem to multiply once chopped into tiny pieces -.-

 Chopping time ~ 30mins? Though someone else can probably finish in 15m.

 It's so simple you can do it with your eyes closed! And minestrone is basically very flexible. You just have to be sure that the essential ingredients are there to actually qualify your soup as minestrone!

 Heat olive oil in pan and fry chopped garlic and onions until fragrant. Then add in all the cut vegetables. Cook for 3-5 minutes before adding in tomato purée, water, macaroni and oregano herbs. Just let it simmer till macaroni is cooked and carrots are soft! Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve with a sprinkle of grated parmesan cheese and toast. Cukup d! :D