Cheng Li Yuan, Tanjong Pagar, Singapore

Cheng Li Yuan at 72 Tanjong Pagar is a place I've heard about for sometime and have been recommended on numerous occassions to try it out. This place does food that's mainly more of Northern Chinese in origin but they do have quite a variety. As we ordered quite abit that night, I'll try to focus on the dishes worth mentioning, but it's hard to narrow it down to a few because most of the dishes here were really quite decent.

Ok... the first dish that appeared was General Mao's Pork which is really the Westernised name of "Return-to-the-wok Pork" (Hui Guo Rou). Although we were really quite disappointed that the cold dishes did not come first (we should have explicitly provided instructions instead of assuming it was like in China) this tasted good. Greasy, spicy but not too salty; great stuff to go with our Tsingtao.

Then came the Little Dragon Buns (Xiao Long Pao), still not a cold dish. There's value here because each bun averaged less than 1SGD.

The skins were quite thin and soft but the filling was alot richer than I'm used to. This tasted as though the minced was seasoned and the soup that flowed out was a rich pale brown instead of the clear ones that I normally get. It took abit of getting used to but this is definitely one of the better little dragon buns in Singapore.

The seafood and meat dumplings came together with the dragon buns which makes sense because they probably steamed them together. They do not skimp on filling here and each dumpling is bursting with meat. I only felt that they were abit bland but that's probably because I ate the slightly saltier dragon buns first.

Deep-fried pumpkin slices with salted egg yolks. This may seem a weird combination to others but it tasted really good. The crisp batter was coated with fragrant, aromatic salted egg yolk and that complemented the soft, tender and sweet pumpkin flesh within. It helps that I have a penchant for these "Wong Kum - salted egg yolk coated" style dishes too.

So finally our first cold-dish arrived. This is braised beef shin and it was done just right. The tendon in it was tender to the bite and you could taste that it was well-marinated all the way.

Lamb ribs hotpot, another must-try. The amount of spices in this was just enough because it tasted fragrant without being overly herby. The meat is so tender it just slides off the ribs. This is techinically not really a hotpot because there's no heating element underneath it so you have to eat it whilst it's hot. If I were to have a gripe at anything, it would be I wished this was spicier(in a chilli sense). I did like the random tofu bits at the side though, they proved rather amusing.

I was rather surprised that one of the dishes I enjoyed the most was the obligatory vegetable dish. This is broccoli and scrambled egg whites with fish bits and dried scallops. After a generous slosh of black vinegar on top and a quick stir to mix in the yolk, it tasted simply heavenly.

So this was the spread for the night. If you spy in the middle you would see that we ordered two other cold dishes but since they came last (totally not in the right sequence) I didn't bother to take close-up shots of them. The century egg with cold tofu was actually quite tasty but we were quite disappointed with the garlic belly pork. That being said, the garlic belly pork was an off-menu special request, so some points still go to the effort for accomodating us.

For the first round of sweets we had their caramelized apples. Maybe they assumed that we didn't know how to eat this properly because we weren't mainlanders but after awhile they did bring a bowl of water. The water wasn't icy cold though so I had to put in some ice from my drink. Ok.. I've probably totally lost most you at this point but I'll explain why the icy cold water is important for this dessert.

This stuff comes in very hot and very sticky caramel and what you do is you pick up a slice, swoosh it about in the ice water which hardens the surface caramel making it crunchy like candy. Then you take it out and pop it into your mouth. If done properly, the caramel on the outside would have cooled to a crunch whilst the apple within would still be hot. This is quite a fun dessert to have but they could have made the batter thinner.

For all you red bean paste/azuki/anko/ogura lovers out there. This is your jackpot. These fluffy eggwhite puffs are filled with smooth and tasty red bean paste.

This dessert was almost perfect not because the red bean paste was not too sweet. Almost perfect because instead of coating it with icing sugar, they coated it with conventional sugar but this is more of a note than a complaint.

After eating a total of nine dishes and two sweets we were truly stuffed. But the best was yet to come. All of this went for 93SGD which was still under the 100SGD mark!

D

Dusk in Seoul

The only non-food related thing on this blog are the (very) occasional images of sunsets. I realised besides pictures of food, the other pictures I have in my camera are that of sunsets. There are some reasons why I like sunsets more than sunrises but I'll leave that for another time.

So I was in Seoul and I asked my Korean friend to take me somewhere with a good view for sunset pictures. Either the compass directions were wrong (we weren't facing West?) or it was too foggy in the -7degC winter but I didn't get any clear shots of the sun. So technically these aren't exactly sunset shots (like the one at Augusta) but moreso pictures of Seoul city from Seoul Tower at dusk.

I really like it how the colors blend here. All these photographs are posted "as is". No photoshopping at all.

Seoul is really a metropolis and started off with many smaller cities which eventually linked up with the epicenter. It does get dark pretty quick during Winter.

Just a few minutes later and the scene from a higher view was this. Even though I didn't get any clear shots of the sun that night, there was still something about standing motionless (I had no camera-tripod but was using a long shutter timing) with my little Ixus in freezing weather and cold winds that seemed quite random, quite crazy but so D.

D

Pizzas of America

This was a PDF I created for some of my friends a few months ago before I even started to blog. Some of those friends have suggested more than once to put it up on my blog but I haven't had the time to convert it over from PDF to HTML till now. It's basically almost a word for word transcription (with some privacy enhancements) of what I did so I apologize to my friends who have read it before. If you love pizzas as much as I do, I hope you enjoy this. Without further ado, D brings you:

*Hmm as you can see it wasn't ported over perfectly. The transparency on the gif file is not evident.

Good Ol’ Papa John’s takeaway. The apartment I was living in was having a special. Six dollar pizzas on Tuesday. Unlike Singapore and Australia, the typical American pizza comes with only one or two toppings! Here’s Pepperoni on the left and Sausage (mince meat is called sausage here) on the right. Still quite tasty for generic pizza!

I think somewhere between a Corona and a good slice of pizza lies happiness. Haha.. nah I’m just kidding, er.. don’t drink and drive. Stay in School, don’t do drugs.

Pizza is a good condiment. It goes well with anything hahahahaha! (This is my breakfast!!!)

Chicago deep-pan. Is it a pizza, a stew, a balanced meal? Who cares! It tastes so good but! Hahaha!!

I could only eat two slices!! I feel so ashamed...

They encourage graffiti here so I left my mark. Hopefully I’ll be back soon to update it. Heck, who am I trying to fleece? I’ll be back for the pizza.

If you’re not early you have to join the two hour queue. It’s even crazier on Memorial Day weekend, which incidentally was that day as well haha. Yup, I’m ashamed to admit it but laying there in that box are remnants of a pizza I could not conquer.

New York thin slice, I’m sure this is what they feed you in heaven! This is chicken with herbs.

Pepperoni with mushroom. Look! It’s glistening with JUICE. That’s pizza juice ok? Not oil, juice. Don’t argue with me =)

As you can see, a slice is pretty huge too. It was really warm that day because of the heat wave hence the sunnies but it’s never too warm for New York thin slice.

This is where I go in NYC to get my thin slice fix. Ben's Pizzeria, New York, London, Japan, Spain, Italy. Why not Australia or Singapore?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!??!

This is some very “yuppie” pizza I had in an up market bistro in Boston. It was peking duck with hoisin sauce, cucumber and coriander. I didn’t really like it but it’s in here for completeness’ sake.

Barbequed chicken pizza, the chicken pieces were actually like schnitzel pieces. This was actually rather tasty and although it had classy Boston style schnitzel pieces of chicken instead of processed meat I still liked it a lot. It tasted good fresh, cold or reheated in a microwave. (yes, pizza can be appreciated in many ways haha)

Hey what’s this? It’s a calzone I had in Boston as well. Hmm I was in a little dilemma of whether to include this or not but I guess in some way, the calzone is like the prodigal son of pizzas and heck, this tasted way too good to be left out. It’s filled with roast beef, cheese, pizza sauce and all sort of divine goodness haha.

-the end-

D

Morton's of Chicago, Singapore

If I could choose only one reason why 1998 was a great year for Singapore, the arrival of Morton's would be it. Singapore was fortunate enough to be host to one of my favorite steakhouses and before I stand guilty of exaggeration, let it be known that Singapore is the ONLY one of two countries out of the USA that has a Morton's (the other being Hong Kong). Of over more than a 100 countries to choose from, Singapore was a chosen one.

When I dine at Morton's it's like an epic journey of sorts, a slow building crescendo that starts off with this innocent-looking but evil onion loaf. Innocent because it's so fresh, warm and tasty but evil because eating too much of it will throw you off your course to finishing your quest. Have a little nibble but I strongly advise you to cast your eyes away from this sinful loaf. Our journey has begun.

Some starters at Morton's are worth ordering, this is the crabcake. "The" because there's only one but it's rather huge. It was a good teaser to start off the meal, slightly crisp on the outside and soft and succulent within, the fresh taste of crab meat was evident with every bite.

Since I don't normally order the lobster for my main, I satisfy some seafood urges with my starters which explains these grilled scallops wrapped in bacon. The sweetness of the scallops and the saltiness of the bacon goes extremely well with the mildly sweet and tangy chutney and a dash of fresh lemon juice.

My quintessential starter, the Morton's salad with blue cheese and egg dressing. I'm not a fan of blue cheese at all but it's all so subtle here and coupled with the super tasty (and salty) anchovies, this salad is always welcomed. I love the anchovies so much that I usually request an additional side platter of it.

Even though it wasn't Mortini Happy Hour, I just had to have their Cosmopolitan. Absolut Citron, cranberry puree and some other good things creates a tasty, refreshing drink everytime.

Alright, enough of the posers, the charlatans, the phonies. Enter my arch nemesis, the double-cut bone-in prime rib. This big mama weighs 23oz (about 640g) of pure USDA aged beef. Everything else before this was a minor prelude, this is what I'm here for.

First attack drew blood, oh but what tasty blood. I'm actually more of a medium-rare sort of person but whenever I order the bone-in cuts, I have it done medium-rare-plus which is just slightly over medium-rare. This is to compensate for the bone which retains a lot more coldness than the meat.

Which nemesis is complete without its minions? The sides for today were the sauteed wild mushrooms and the potato skins. I was abit disappointed with the potato skins because although they still used the same Idaho potato skins, they were slightly too dry and hard for my liking.

Half-way there (sort of). My attack on this follows a complex circumferential-perimeter style of nips and strikes. I finally found some use from reading SunTzu's Art of War.

My foe begins to falter. The once great and proud enemy now stands a scrawny, weakened "has been". It's almost as though I'm mocking it now with these little chunks that I slowly cut half-amusingly from its flesh.

It is done. The deed is finished. Another double-cut bone-in prime rib conquered. Another victory for D.

What better way to celebrate than with some sweets. This is a bit of their giant souffle, I was quite peeved that they took the initiative to cut and distribute it instead of giving that joy of "popping" it to me but nevertheless it still tasted soft, fluffy, rich and just sweet enough.

The quintessential Morton's dessert, their famous(ex-Godiva) chocolate cake. Although this tasted as excellent as always, I still prefer the chocolate cake at One-Ninety. The one at One-Ninety was slightly smaller but it had a greater lava-fudge to cake ratio and the pairing of the cake with citrus sorbets instead of vanilla ice-cream helped prevent any feelings of being overstuffed.

Last but not least, the key-lime pie is also another of my favorites. The rich buttery texture was as good as always and the light freshly whipped cream served with this was an excellent complement.

The good thing about Morton's on Fridays and Saturdays is that they have the double-cut bone-in prime rib cut. The bad thing about coming here on a weekend is that you hear "Happy Birthday" being sung every five minutes. I mean, it's good to share someone's joy and all and I was still quite jovial after the first five times but when I counted fourteen and then sixteen, I almost wanted to shove my prime rib into someone else's mouth instead.

The servings here are huge but expect Morton prices with Morton portions. This meal for three cost about 600SGD.

D

Skinless Duck Salad

Skinless duck salad, gosh, has D gone low fat all of a sudden? Have pigs started to fly? Not in the least, it's just that I had a duck leftover after the skin was used for Peking duck at Spring Court and was wondering what to do with it. A coin flip between Thai red curry duck and duck salad proved duck salad emerging as the winner. The only laborious part of this is shredding the non-animal bits, other than that it's just a simple act of er... tossing the salad.


Ingredients:
1. Carrot
2. Cucumber
3. Honeydew or rock melon or muskmelon (cantaloupe)
4. Roast duck
5. Lemon
6. Crushed roasted peanut
7. Plum sauce, sesame oil, salt, pepper, sugar, soy sauce, chilli sauce, oyster sauce, rice vinegar, maple syrup (optional)
8. Jellyfish

Method:
1. Shred carrot and cucumber
2. Thinly slice honeydew (don't try to shred this like i did, it only created mushy paste)
3. Slice and debone roast duck

4. Prepare the jellyfish:
a. So I asked the guy at the shop for jellyfish and he said there are two types:

i. Prepared seasoned jellyfish
ii. Dried whole jellyfish

I asked him what's the difference and he said that the real chefs use dried whole jellyfish which basically translates as, "Be a man, get the dried whole one." So I came home with this* which looked like it came out from Alien or Predator or Alien Versus Predator (ok you get the idea):

b. Soak it in some cold water till it's semi-soft
c. Get a pot of water to boil
d. Throw it into the boiling water and swoosh it about till you get the texture and consistency you desire
e. Take it out and dump it into room temperature water to cool
f. Thinly slice and season with lemon juice, oyster sauce, rice vinegar, chilli sauce, salt, pepper and a little sugar
*In your face jellyfish store dude!

5. Make the salad dressing
a. This is quite hit and miss because I never take note of the amounts I use, it's all up to your personal taste. The foundation of this sauce is basically plum sauce, you can add the oyster sauce, soy sauce, salt and pepper etc to adjust it to your taste buds. I wanted to add in a uniquely sweet flavor instead of just sugar so I poured in some pure Canadian maple syrup. I like it when a dish keeps the diner guessing. "Hmm this tastes good but I can't quite put my finger on what this taste is." And you'll die without EVER knowing because I'll take it to my grave muahaha!

6. Mix in EVERYTHING and toss that salad!

Duck salad is a refreshing entree and should go well with most people because it's almost like a fusion-dish. It helps that it's pretty healthy too.

D