Helio Cafe - Strawberry Week, Singapore

I'll always try to find some free time out of my schedule to sample some of the foods at Helio Cafe when they have a theme going on. I quite enjoyed the Chocolate Theme Week and was curious to know how Strawberry Theme Week would fare.

A meatier change for an appetizer was the chicken with apricots in a filo pastry basket. I enjoyed this a lot more than the flower salad that I had previously, but then again I'm a meat sort of person so I would have definitely appreciated this more. It's served cold but the light sauce with it does not overpower the taste of the fresh apricots and grilled chicken.

Baked salmon with portobello mushrooms, this is the second time I'm having this but it's always good.

Beef in red wine sauce, this may not look anything fancy and true, the cut wasn't a spectacular one but the flavor was excellent. I guess the true mark of a good cook is one who can make tasty dishes out of simple ingredients.

Clement was kind enough to provide us with some additional red wine sauce, the sauce is so rich and tasty it's almost like an "essence of beef and red wine" extract haha.

We started our course of desserts with the red wine jello with strawberries and yoghurt. This was light and refreshing but I found it only ok because I prefer my desserts rich (read as "fattening" haha).

Now we're talking, this apricot pudding was served hot and it's similar to lava cake because the residual batter within is still liquid and acts almost like a self-saucing pudding.

As you can see, Clement is very generous with the fresh apricots used in this.

Strawberry Cheese in Filo Pastry was another dessert from the theme.

The crisp and warm filo pastry encased a cold and rich strawberry cheese filling, simply heaven.

Ended off the meal with a Chocolate Strawberry Potpie. Strawberries and chocolate, what more could one ask for?

D

Brazil Churrascaria, Sixth Ave, Singapore

There seem to be quite a few churrascaria joints in town right now but before all of them started popping up, Brazil Churrascaria at 14-16 Sixth Avenue has got to be first joint (please correct me if I'm wrong) to provide Singaporeans since 1994 with this ultimate South American meat fest.

The lime caipirinhas here are pretty good being not too sweet, sufficently sour and still full of that kick from the cachacha (a Brazilian alcohol distilled from sugar - somewhat similar to rum).

Freshly baked cheese dough balls were served as the starter. These are always welcomed and especially more so on such a gloomy, rainy day. Crisp on the outside with a nice cheesy doughy texture within, I like these so much that I usually sacrifice some meat-space by asking for another serve of this.

The side-dish of various salsas to go with your grilled meats. This actually helps you eat more meat and avoid that bloated feeling because of the vinegar which helps cut through that grease.

The concept here is pretty simple, the passadors (waiters with skewers of meats) just walk around and ask you if you want some. In which you politely reply, "Yes please and lots."

It's hard to find a favorite cut here but overall the red meats do outshine the others. The topside was very nicely grilled, the tenderloin was not too bad and I really enjoyed the rump despite its coarse texture. I always request for the exterior edges because I love that char-grilled taste and the only thing better than char-grilled meat is char-grilled fat!

The sausages deserve a special mention here because they're just so darn tasty and meaty. There is not flour filler in these weiners. Salty and spicy, the ultimate thing to go with your sweet and sour caipirinhas.

The beef rib deserves a special mention as well because this was the cut I was most disappointed with tonight. Not greasy, tender or salty enough. This looked as though it was boiled first and just put over the fire for a quick grill to be passed off as some charlatan of a grilled beef-rib.

I decided to sway away from the traditional lime caipirinhas for my last drink and ordered a strawberry one instead. Well, this wasn't too bad but I still prefer the contrast of the sour lime as opposed to just the straight-sweet strawberries. Maybe if they used some unripened strawberries, that could just add that sour twist.

I've tried quite a bit of churrascaria joints in town, I may be biased but so far I still think that Brazil Churrascaria is one of the best. I've not tried that one in the East yet but will make a trip over one day.

D

p.s: For the more health conscious, there is a salad bar with quite an extensive selection but despite coming here quite a few times, I've never actually ever taken anything from the salad bar! Salsa is technically a vegetable dish haha.

Noo Cheng Prawn Noodle, Adam Rd, Singapore

Although having frequent Adam Rd very regularly for supper, I've never actually tried the famous "big prawn" noodle, so I made it a point this time to give it a shot.

It came as a rather hearty dark colored broth and had one and a half big prawns, some shreds of pork and two pork ribs in it. The prawns were indeed quite big but I think I still prefer the one from Mei Chin Rd Food Centre, although I do have to remember to wake up later since they only start selling from 8AM!

I ordered a prawn soup instead of prawn noodles because I wanted to order some of my usual Adam Rd staples such as Malay fried noodles (mee goreng).

mutton chop,

Indian mutton soup (sup kambang)

and of course my usual ginger milk tea (teh halia).

D

Old Mother Hen Again...

Had a friend in town and he was interested in visually checking out the Geylang strip. After awhile we were getting pretty hungry and I remembered having a pretty kickass meal at Old Mother Hen not too long ago. Not wanting to disappoint a visitor with some place new and untested, I found myself back there again. We ordered alot but I'll only feature those that I didn't feature previously to avoid repetition.

Deep-fried prawn paste chicken. This was done better than average and you could taste that this was well marinated. There were other cuts here besides just chicken wings as well. The batter could have been crispier and lighter though.

The spicy special beancurd is quite similar to their non-spicy version except that it comes in a spicy and slighty sweet chilli sauce. There are also chunks of century egg (eggs preserved in an alkaline mixture) on this.

Battered prawn fritters were next. This dish is such an 80s classic. I remembered that almost any catered function I went to during that time had these. The batter here was slightly too bready and thick for my liking but at least what it lost out on texture, it made up in taste.

Buttered deep-fried squid. This place does good deep-fried squid and after trying their salt and pepper squid previously, I decided to try this variant. The fine deep-fried egg shreds really add a nice touch to this.

Fish slices with ginger and spring onion. Too much ginger and spring onion, too little fish.

King of ribs, it was quite a refreshing change that they used short ribs here instead of the commonly used pork chop. Served with that sweet and sour tangy sauce, this was quite good indeed.

Stir-fried pig innards in black bean sauce. Although this innard is normally labelled as an anatomical part of the intestine, it's really actually the fallopian tube. This was alright, nothing really spectacular. My favorite pig innard dish is still deep-fried large pig intestines.

D

Zi Yean, Blk 56 Lengkok Bahru, Singapore

Zi Yean used to be located at Stirling Rd and an even longer time ago, it used to be along River Valley Rd. Now it has found home at Blk 56, Lengkok Bahru and is really two restaurants side-by-side. There is a more up-market airconditioned one and the open air coffeeshop style one which I chose to dine in this time.

Started off with a mint omelette. Ok, I did primarily order this because it sounded unusual but it wasn't anything spectacular; it was exactly what it was named after, just an omelette with mint leaves in it. In fact I don't think the egg mixture was mixed very well because some areas were very salty whilst others were quite bland.

Braised beancurd, this was quite nice. The sauce used had a depth and flavor that can only gotten from a good stock. The Chinese cabbage wasn't cooked till mushy and still retained some bite.

Beef brisket with Chinese radish. The brisket here is well stewed, tender to the bite without being too soft. This is the same brisket that they serve with their hand-pulled noodles (la mien) and comes in a thick, rich, beefy sauce.

The three-cup chicken dish is supposedly one of their specialties here and to give them credit, it is done quite well. A refreshing change from most places is that they do not only use chicken wings here. The sauce is also thick and sticky, evenly coating each chunk of crispy tender chicken.

Stir-fried Chinese broccoli with garlic. Fresh vegetables prepared in a hot wok, nothing really that could go wrong here.

All in the all the food at Zi Yean was not bad but it definitely wasn't mind-blowing either. It belongs to that list of "safe" eateries where you would go for a meal if you can't be bothered looking for somewhere else new.

D

Marine Parade Central Blk 84 Food Centre, Singapore

I used to come to this food centre almost every week when I was a kid and it sure created some good memories. Since I was in the vicinity, I decided to pop by for old time's sake.

Rising costs are pretty much unavoidable in life, I remembered when these guy's curry puffs used to cost only 0.40SGD each! Now, they're going for a dollar.

They still tasted just as good and the occasional chunk of chicken flesh was still present. True to his style, there still are no hard-boiled egg wedges in this.

Another joint which I loved as a kid, this place has been around for ages too. I always enjoyed hawker centre Western food because it's so localized in flavor and the gravies used that it's pretty much a genre by itself.

Although this spring chicken was pretty large, I didn't really like it how they actually cut it up abit to ensure it's cooked through. This created a chicken that was pretty dry. I can't exactly remember how much this was but I knew it was above the current market rate, like at 8-9SGD as well. So this wasn't so tip top in the end.

Although this stall sells a heapload of stuff, I've only ever ordered their Indian rojak. Indian rojak is abit like Chinese fried "lor bak" or "Wu Xiang aka Nor Hiang" and not really like the Malay rojaks consisting primarily of raw vegetables and crushed nuts. Anyway, I ordered an assortment of items to complement the spring chicken.

The ingredients are freshly fried after you've selected them and comes along with a spicy and slightly sweetish dipping sauce. Freshly fried crispy chunks of stuff is always welcomed.

All of this was finished off with a cup of ginger tea (teh halia) from another stall across the Indian rojak stall. Ginger tea is great if you're a ginger lover, especially if the ginger taste in it is strong like this one.

D

Sari Bundo, Jakarta

What trip to Jakarta is complete without some kickass padang food? Our last meal in Jakarta had to be our most memorable one.

Padang food is quite rampant in Jakarta but few come close to the selection and reputation of Sari Bundo.

The padang concept of dining is almost communal because it consists of many many small little plates of food that'll they place on your table. You take what you want and that which you don't consume, they er.. recycle. So it's better to have padang food as a late breakfast or an early lunch because that's when the food is the most fresh!

Ok... we started with sup buntut and some satays but obviously this could not satiate us.

Another soup, some boiled chicken and a plate of curried chicken. Ok it was getting abit better but this is not what padang food is about. We had to call the man in to fix this.

Alright, here's the man. This guy is actually a trainee, the more seasoned waiters would carry twice the amount of dishes.

Now, this is what I call real padang style dining! Everything was so good we actually finished it all.

A special mention has to be said for two of their dishes. This is the ayam goreng (fried chicken) and this was so crunchy that you could just chomp down even some of the smaller bones.

The beef rendang here is famous or should I say "infamous" because the secret ingredient in this is rumored to be marijuana! It was very tasty though, but I'm not sure if it really got me addicted. I don't think I'm craving any right now... or am I? Argh... need marijuana-laced rendang.... need... cold turkey isn't fun haha.

All of this good food was washed down with a chocolate avocado smoothie. Just the thing to quench my thirst after all this spices and chilli. Since this is my last post for this Jakarta trip, I'll like to express a big big "thank you" to JA and his family for being such excellent hosts and extending their hospitality towards me.

D

Bali Hai, Jakarta

I was feeling rather warm and felt the weather getting to me abit. I was really craving a glass of ice-cold water. Well, since we didn't have any water chilled at home, I went for the next closest thing, Indonesian beer haha! This stuff is so light it's practically like a soft drink. Still, it was very much welcomed on this warm day.

D

Bakmi Asiong, Jakarta

Yet another Bakmi (noodle) joint. I seem to be trying a new bakmi joint every morning with the grand old dame of Bakmi Orpa on the first morning to Bakmi Tan on the second and now this new kid on the block Asiong.

Bakmi Asiong claims to serve a special type of noodle from Surabaya but it's essentially the same style of shredded chicken noodle.

Started off with a serve of the faux meatballs and the ridiculously huge wantons that had like more skin than meat. These weren't too bad, the oil that was used tasted quite fresh.

They didn't have the fried crispy bits like Bakmi Tan here but they did top it off with some crispy shallots which added a nice fragrant touch. The vegetables were in a separate soup bowl and there was another bowl which had some rather processed meatballs. There were also straw mushrooms in this which is a plus because I love mushrooms. The texture of the noodle was also quite good but the big downside to this place was everything was just way too salty. If they weren't so heavy-handed with the salt, I reckon this would be very delicious. Then again, what this young couple produces is very promising and I'll definitely give them another shot the next time I'm back.

Here's my somewhat skewed, subjective and biased verdict on the Bakmi joints that I've tried.
1. Bakmi Tan - This won Bakmi Orpa by a very close margin because of the crispy bits, larger serves and the far less outrageous price.
2. Bakmi Orpa - The original with such a long history, this definitely tasted good but such indulgences are rather dear even by Singapore's standards, let alone Jakarta's.
3. Bakmi Asiong - Very promising joint run by a young couple, too bad a bit of excess sodium chloride dampened what could have been an excellent dish.

D