Kwong Satay: Satay with Hokkien Mee, my favourite combination!

This next entry is very risky. Let me explain.

First this satay is relatively unknown. Unlike those famous stalls that a lot of people can attest to, this one I am basing only on my taste buds. Secondly, the satay it is not even made by the stallowner but it is actually sourced from a supplier. So why is it even here in the blog?

Because I do enjoy it and it is situated just beside one of my regular Hokkien Mee haunts. Best thing is that they sell pork satay which is increasingly hard to find. The meat is tender and it is on the sweetish side which I like. The spices of the marinade is fragrant and the citrus punch of the lemongrass is evident. 4/5

For me, the things that I most look forward to eating when I am overseas is, undisputedly, the combination of Hokkien Mee and Satay. I guess it has something to do with my childhood days in Toa Payoh Lor 8 when I would go down to the coffeeshop to buy these two items and then come home to share with my two brothers. Those were the days when the hawker stalls were at the front of the coffeeshop rather than at the back which is very conducive for learning how to prepare hawker dishes like Hokkien Mee. There was never enough to feed 3 hungry boys, so I was always left with the longing for more.

Talking about combinations, the other combination that I really enjoy is Prawn Mee Soup and Ngoh Hiang and of course Laksa with Steamed Chicken. So what other hawker fare combinations do you all enjoy?

Conclusion

Pork Satay and Hokkien Mee combination! Yummm....


Kwong Satay
396 East Coast Road
12pm to 9pm
Closed on Mondays




PS: After being prompted by an anonymous reader I began to do some research on Kwong Satay and realised that actually they are quite an establishment! I am glad that there is supplier of Hainanese style satay which is of a commendable standard. More info can be found on their website www.kwongsatay.com.sg. Found out that they actually use pandan leaves to wrap their ketupat. Must try next time!

Yu Sheng Recommendations

One reader wrote in to ask if I could review and recommend Yu Sheng since CNY is just round the corner. The fact is I don't really have a favourite Yu Sheng place to recommend. But I am sure you all have so why don't you write in to recommend your favourite places?

While on this topic, I would just like to let you know that our friends at Vittles would like to extend a 10% discount for all ieatishootipost readers for their Lunar New Year's special East-meet-West set menu (available from 6 Feb to 21 Feb) as well as our Prosperity Fresh Raw Salmon Yusheng (available from 1 Feb to 21 Feb). All you have to do is to let them know that you are readers of this blog. In addition to giving you the discount, 5% of the sales proceeds will be donated to Andrew and Grace home.

You may want to check out their blog for more details at www.vittles-sg.blogspot.com

Prive: Welcome to Fantasy Island!

With Amagada - Happy Anniversary Dinner


Now if I told you that there was a private island in Singapore where you can nibble on finger food while having a drink by the sea, under the stars, it would catch your attention wouldn't it? It certainly got mine.

Touted as the only privately owned island in Singapore, this little piece of rock sandwiched between Sentosa and Mount Faber has been transformed into a Marina cum Restaurant cum Bar cum Bakery Cafe. It's so small that one wonders whether it will still be above water years from now when the polar ice caps melt due to global warming.

But Singaporeans being people who go for whatever is new and cutting edge have already discovered this latest hangout haunt so much so that the restaurant is fully booked on a weeknight just barely two months after its opening.



The guy behind the restaurant/gastrobar/bakery cafe is none other than Yuan Oeij from Brown Sugar. If you remember, Yuan is the guy who gave up his job in finance to pursue his passion in food. So when it comes to something as simple (or so I thought) as a good steak, the guy really goes into a lot of details to get it right.

So what is so complicated about popping a piece of meat on a Barbie, I hear you ask. Well, I asked him the same question. I have always assumed that it all broils sic down to the quality of the piece of meat. But nooooo, its more than that. Aside from the fact that you source only USDA Prime grade beef, the aging and storage process also needs attention. Then, you need a charcoal grill, but not just any charcoal will do. It's got to be a special kind of charcoal which has been carbon dated (kidding). You then need a Chef who knows how to grill it till it is smoky and charred on the outside but still nice and pink all the way through the middle. And finally, just when you think that that is that, you need to have a very special steak knife so that you get the right texture just before popping it into your mouth. Yuan selected a non-serrated knife so that the surface of the meat comes out smooth when cut. It takes a bit more effort to maintain these knives as they need to be sharpened but heck this is supposed to be a five star steak yeah?

I must admit that the USDA Prime Striploin (350gm $58++) is one of the best steaks I have had this year. Alright, since we are still only in January, I shall say that it is one of the best steaks I have had last year AND this year. US Beef still has that beefy taste that makes you want to yell "Yeee Ha!". It has just the right amount of chewability that makes for merry mastication and the piece of meat is really so tasty that it would be sinful to add any sauce it (especially that incorrigible Singaporean habit of adding chilli sauce to everything including a good steak!) 4.5/5

Conclusion

If you have never been to Keppel Island, I think you would be quite fascinated as you are crossing the specially built bridge to the island itself. Quite unexpected to find a great steak in a restaurant that basically serves modern (Frenchish) cuisine. But I think steak lovers would be quite pleased with they way they handle their piece of meat here.

Prive
No.2 Keppel Bay Vista Marina
Keppel Bay
67760777
www.prive.com.sg

Rice Bowl: Cheap and Good Tonkatsu Curry Rice

With SCS Butter


What's the big difference between Hainanese Pork Chop Curry Rice and Japanese Tonkatsu Curry Rice? Well, one costs $4 at a hawker centre and the other costs $12 at a restaurant.

Ok, there are of course differences in the taste of the curry, the seasoning of the pork and the type of rice used, but essentially they use similar raw ingredients. The point I am driving at is that there is no real reason why one should pay $12 to enjoy the Japanese version of this particular dish. Which is why I was so pleased to find this stall in the LTN coffeeshop in Siglap which sells Tonkatsu Curry Rice for $4.50.

Of course, we were skeptical at first. You really don't want to end up with something that tastes like the Hainanese version but disguised to look like a Japanese with a few whiskers of shredded seaweed.



The rice was not the top quality Japanese short grain rice, but it was acceptable. The Tonkatsu was surprisingly good. Well seasoned and crisp on the outside and not too thin that it is dry. The curry might have come out of a premix but it certainly tastes quite good. Overall, I was quite happy to come back here for my Tonkatsu fix for $4.50 and I wouldn't mind trying the other stuff on offer too! 4/5

Conclusion

Cheap and Good. There are an increasing number of hawkers selling Japanese food nowadays, any really good ones that you would recommend? In particular, is there any place that sells a good gyu don (Beef Bowl?).

Update: June 2008

One reader commented that this place has closed.

Rice Bowl
936 East Coast Road
LTN Eating House
12.30pm to 10pm
Closed on Tuesdays

ieat on 938Live!

Today's Lunch Pick is The Beef House!

My apologies, I only just realised that they are closed on Fridays!

Empress Place Beef Kway Teow: Teochew Beef Kway Teow got no gravy one!

With SCS Butter


Did you realise that most of the hawker food that we are familiar with are less than a century old? It's true! A few of our most famous heritage stalls can trace their roots back to around the early 1900's. That makes it about 3 or 4 generations from then till now. There are a few very famous names which have span 3 or 4 generations and inevitably they would have created some sibling rivalry along the way. Names like Beach Road Prawn Noodle and Rochor Bean Curd immediately come to mind.

Then of course there is the famous Hock Lam Beef Kway Teow which is the subject of our discussion today. Yes, the man who made famous the Teochew style Beef Kway Teow bestowed the business to his 4th son, Anthony because he did not do so well in school. But later on the youngest son also wanted a piece of the "Hock Lam" name. So the only legitimate owner of the Hock Lam franchise is the one at China St whereas the "Popular" Hock Lam Beef Kway Teow at Purvis street is considered the illegitimate one though both are brothers and thus share in the family recipe.

But that is not all, the patriarch, Mr Tan Chin Sia also had a daughter who also decided to go into the Beef Kway Teow business, but she started selling it at Empress Place and called hers Empress Place Beef Kway Teow instead. It did very well, but unfortunately had to close down during the MadCow epidemic in the late eighties. Fortunately for us, the Brand was resurrected again in few years ago when her son decided to bring back the familiar Beef Kway Teow that he used to eat at his grandfather's stall.



So much for that little bit of Beef Kway Teow history, back to a more tasty subject.

Have you ever wondered why Beef Kway Teow is called Kway Teow even though most of the time you eat it with thick bee hoon? Well, there are really two types of Beef Kway Teow in the market, the Hainanese style and the Teochew Style. The familiar one with the thick bee hoon and thick sticky gravy is in fact Hainanese style. According to David, there are very few stalls apart from his that sells true blue Teochew style beef kway teow. True Teochew beef kway teow is never served with thick bee hoon and there is never any thick gravy. David said that his Grandfather will turn in his grave if he realised what had happened to his Hock Lam St beef kway teow.

Instead, Teochew style beef kway teow uses normal kway teow and the dry version is served with just a dash of sesame oil, soy sauce and chilli. Now I was skeptical at first, but with my first mouthful of the kway teow, I realised what I have been missing. The kway teow was indeed very fragrant and the slices of beef were cooked medium and were very tender. Unexpectedly good! My favourite was the cooked beef and the tendons which were very "pang" and had an uncomplicated beefy flavour. The soup was also sweet and robust which David attributes to having the bones simmer in the soup for over 2 days. 4.5/5

Conclusion

I tend to believe that Teochew beef kway teow was originally served this way because of the fact that kway teow is used and also that the Teochews in general prefer most of their food to be "cheng" (not heavy). So the sticky gravy I think is more likely to be Hainanese in origin. Any food historians amongst our readers who can shed more light on this?


Empress Place Beef Kway Teow
LTN Eating House
936 East Coast Road
11am to 11pm daily
Recommended by Damien

Jacky Chan's Cafe: Kung Fu Cappuccinno and Dim Sum!

I still remember my very first Jacky Chan movie. It was none other than "Drunken Monkey", the good olde Kung Fu movie back in 1978 with a predictable storyline which only serves as a backdrop for the Kung Fu actors to display their Kung Fu skills.

You know the story........ young disciple's master gets killed by bad guy, big headed young disciple seeks revenge but gets beaten up real bad, learns his lesson on humility, learns a new fighting skill, goes up against the bad guy again, almost gets killed, but last minute gets flashback from old deceased master, suddenly gets extra power boost and kills bad guy....

Yeah, I remember trying to do the Jui Chuen (Drunken Kungfu) just like Jacky when I was a kid! C'mon, you guys have done it too lah!

Anyway, fast forward 30 years, Jacky Chan is now a household name even in the Western world. There is even a Jacky Chan cartoon series. So why would a guy with such fame and fortune want to open a cafe?

That was the question I posed to Simon, the man in charge of Jacky Chan's cafe in Singapore. By the way, the one in Singapore is the very first Jacky Chan cafe which is quite interesting as you would have expected it to have started in Hong Kong instead. According to Simon it is all about the Hong Kong people's mindset of starting businesses. So Jacky, being a good Hong Konger is just doing it because it is in his genes.



So, if you were Jacky Chan, what kind of cafe would you like to open? One that serves Cappuccino with Dim Sum seems to be the answer. And I think it is a great idea as well.

You know how Dim Sum always seems to be something you eat with more than 2 friends? Yeah, everything comes in threes. So it is difficult for 2 people to have a casual dim sum meal. So the good thing with the cafe is that everything comes in twos. Just right for you and a friend.

The other way to think of it is that whenever you have coffee, don't you wish you had something nice and savoury like a Char Siew Shou or some Springrolls? Since this is such a great idea, why does it take someone like Jacky Chan to come up with it first, I wonder? Some other enterprising entrepreneur should have thought about it long ago, right?



Anyway, the Dim Sum here is from Imperial Treasure, so the quality is very good. They have several steamed items like teochew dumplings and lotus leaf glutinous rice but most of the items are the baked and deep fried ones like Wu Kok (Fried Yam dumplings), Char Siew Shou (Char Siew Puffs), egg tarts and this particular Yam Puff which I thought was the best of the lot.

The Yam Puff filled with a sweet Yam Paste and salted egg yolk. The pastry is light and flaky and I think you can imagine that it would taste really good. I give this one a 4.5/5.

Conclusion

Great place to chill out with a friend over coffee and dim sum. I think there would be more cafes serving dim sum popping up in Singapore real soon.

Jackie Chan's Cafe
1 Nassim Road, #01-01
Opp Tanglin Shopping Centre
7.30am to 10pm daily