New Menu @ Sakae Sushi

I didn't know that Sakae has a branch located at Icon Village around 12 Gopeng Street which is within less than 10 minutes walk from "Tanjong Pager MRT - 丹戎巴葛地铁站". Since we are all at Mum's new place at Pinnacle Duxton, rey suggests that he wanted to have sushi for lunch at Sakae which Uncle Daniel bought him once before.

Because of the lunch hour crowds we managed to get a place at the conveyor belt table after some "not so good" incidents happened. But after all the 5 of us are still very excited to try out those new items on their New Menu.

Rey was too hungry and busy with his usual "Tamago Sushi" that he has starts his meal without waiting for us. I was impressed by their new menu which is bright and colourful and it gives us a very classy outlook.

There are about 5 new salad items on the new menu for you to select from. Actually I am looking at the "Maguro Tataki Salad" which is not available at that branch according to the Manager. So we will have to go for the 2nd choice which is this "Wafu Salad". We must compliment that their ingredients are very fresh and it goes well with their sweet salad dressing.

Mum suggest that she would like to have something hot and soupy so I introduce her this new "Chicken Sukiyaki" which is like a mini hotpot that consists of toufu, negi(type of green onion), vegetables, chicken, mushroom and jelly noodles in a pot of sweet broth. Rather than using the Raw Egg as a dipping sauce, mum prefer to add it into the hot soup to give it more flavour. Em... while eating this Sukiyaki, I found a special Fried tofu pouch that contain so mochi like fillings in it. Other than we all agreed that the soup is more towards the sweet side of our preference, the taste and ingredients are all worth to give this a go.

With the new menu, they have this S$3.99 pink plates which consists of some worth trying items. Here I will share with you 4 of the items that we select from the menu. 1st let's look at this "Unagi Tamgo Sushi" which they add another layer of Tamago on top of the usual Unagi Sushi to enhance the sweetness of this dish.

This "Soft Shell Crab Sushi" seems to look good which half portion of the crab stick to a piece of sushi rice. Aunty comments that the crab is not crispy enough and it's kind of oily too. So perhaps this will not be on our list again :)

"Ebi with Kanifumi" consits of rice stuffed in the fried tofu pouch and top with ingredients like prawn, crabmeat and tamago. This stuff will be great for those who loves seafood without extra sauce combination.

"Ni Hotate with Tobiko" captures my attention while flipping through the ordering menu because I love the vibrant colour of this dish. Furthermore, the toppings are one of my aunty and mother-in-law's favourite.

Here comes the "Butterfly Mentai" that we are all very disappointed with. The colour of the prawns seems to be over-cooked and the colour of the Mentai topping look so huge different from the one showing on the menu. Although the taste is quite good but the appearance won't bring it for another ordering. Perhaps I should give it a second chance to try at another Sakae branch to compare the end-result :p

Avocado is always one of our favourite fruit on sushi toppings, whatever sushi or side dish that include avocado will definitely be in our considering list. "Unagi Avocado Maki" is another new item found on their Special Makimono section.

Talk about tofu in Sakae, our favourite used to be their "Fried Tofu" or "Agadasi Tofu" but now, we have another choice:- "Lobster Salad Tofu" @ S$7.99. If you are craving for some cold appetiser like lobster salad, this will be a great dish for you. The tofu taste great with their special dressing and everyone of us feel so refreshing with this dish.

Finally, it's dessert time again!!!! I have being aiming for this "Matcha Cheesecake - S$5.99" long before they release on the branch from Sakae facebook updates. We were all very impress by their new serving of this cheesecake which consists of 3 layer of plain cheese, red bean filling and matcha flavour cheese filling. In the end, we all agreed that this taste more like ice-cream cake rather than cheesecake :)

Lastly, I must highly recommend this "Matcha Ice Cream with Warabi Mochi" which cost S$3.99. The Matcha ice-cream is so full of flavour that we all fell in love with it. This ice-cream has a very fragrant Azuki Bean taste in it and the texture is so creamy and smooth with a refreshing matcha scent.

Hot Cross Buns & Roasted Strawberries

Easter Sunday will be coming in about 3 more weeks time and even now you can find all sort of Easter goodies available in local supermarkets such as Easter Bunny/Egg chocolate. Other than Easter Egg, Hot Cross Bun is also another popular snack to be consumed during Good Friday. It is a type of sweet spiced bun made with currants or raisins and leavened with yeast that has has a cross marked on the top.

Jalan Sultan Prawn Mee

Off Geylang Lorong 1, at a coffee shop opposite Kallang MRT there is this famous "Jalan Sultan Prawn Mee" that is always crowded with people especially during lunch peak hours. This coffee shop has about more than 30 over tables with 3 stalls selling beverage, prawn noodles and wu xiang.

It has being about 4 years since my last visit till now, and I am admit that their soup base is still as good as before. We ordered the "Pork Ribs" with "Prawn Noodles" which I think is worth its cost. I personally believed that, a bowl of good prawn noodles lies on it's soup. The soup here is full of flavour, sweetness and a kind of special taste that you would want to finish off the whole bowl of soup. Other than pork ribs and prawn, it also comes with some lean meat and vegetables.

For those who prefer dry version of this prawn noodles, they only have 3 types of noodles for your selection which is the "yellow noodles - 黄面", "thick vermicelli - 粗米粉" and "thin rice noodle - 河粉". We think their chilli sauce for the dry version is not as good as the soup use for the soup version unless you are those who prefer dried prawn noodles.

Lerk Thai @ Woodland Civic Centre

There are a lot of Thai Restaurants in Singapore for those who fancy hot and spicy Thai cuisine that range from budget to high-end spending. But no matter which type you are targeting for, I am each restaurant will have some of their special dish that will capture your taste bubs. Today we will be trying this Open-concept style Thai restaurant that is located on the ground of Woodland Civic Centre which is known as Lerk Thai.

The 1st appetiser to be served is this Vietnam Spring Roll which is accompany with their special "peanut dipping sauce". These spring roll are stuffed with “rice vermicelli - 米粉”, “assorted vegetables” , “cooked prawns” and etc and it is wrapped with a layer of Rice Paper wrapper. It is a very light dish which can be served as appetizer or finger food.

Next to come is this “Yam Som O – Pomelo Salad with Shrimps & Peanut” which is a very popular appetizer amongst the Thai Kampong Folks. I was attracted to the presentation of this appetizer where the chef used the orange peel as a “serving cup” for this dish to give it an extra critic flavour. This appetizer is rather towards a bit of salty dish due to the adding of "Fish Sauce - 魚露" and I find the adding of small onion(shallot) has actually overpower the taste of this dish.

This “clear” seafood Tom Yum Soup comes with a generous amount of assorted seafood like fish, prawn and squid together with some straw mushroom. Although the soup look clear without any chilli oil or so, but it does taste hot and spicy with a light critic fragrance which makes it absolutely refreshing. You can either have it with some steam rice or you can order this soup to be served with rice noodles.

Here comes my favourite “Deep-fried Pandan Leaf Chicken” which is a popular dish in Bangkok. The Pandan leaf is used to keep the juices of the chicken in a parcel so that you will still able to taste the tender & juicy fried chicken.

"Pad Thai - Thai Style Fried Kway Teow" is one of my favourite noodle dish on the ordering dish. I love the texture of these thin rice noodles and the combination of the side ingredients such as lime wedges, peanuts and chilli powder. This is very different compare to the usual "Char Kway Teow" that we have in Singapore which is stir-fried over very high heat with light and dark soy sauce, chilli, belachan, tamarind juice, prawns/deshelled cockles, bean sprouts and chinese sausage.

After a hearty meal, it is time for some sweet refreshments. From the list of desserts that they have in the menu, we select these "Colourful Mini Dumplings" which is cooked Tapioca dumplings served in coconut milk. But we are kind of disappointed as the dumpling is hard and not chewy and it seems rather tasteless too.

As for the "Mango Pomelo Sago", the mango cream looks dull and it seems to be lack of the mango taste which compare to those that we have tried in other restaurants. Personally, we don't find the these two dessert worth to try on, perhaps their "Mango & Glutinous Rice with Coconut Milk" is much more worth it than these two.

Durian Feast - 猫山王

Look at this gorgeous fruit which you will either "Loves" it or "Hates" it. This is one of the Asian Tropical Fruit which is known as Durian or the "King of Fruits". This fruit is distinctive for its large size, unique odour and thorn-covered husk. The durian is a seasonal fruit and in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, the season for durians is typically from June to August, which coincides with the Mangosteen.

Prices of durians are relatively high as compared with other fruits. For example, "Mao Shan Wang - 猫山王" which is the most famous durian among durian lover has a retail prices of between S$8 to S$15 per kilogram and with an average weight of about 1.5 kilograms, a durian fruit would therefore cost about S$15 to S$22 depending on its weight. The taste of the durian flesh were sweet, creamy, dry and a kind of bitterness taste that leave you with an unforgettable taste. And after trying this I guarantee that you won't go back for D24 anymore.

Winter Melon, Sweetcorn & Pork Ribs Soup

The weather for the past few weeks had being so hot and humid that we really need to have some cooling soup to cool down our body system. While chatting with one of the mum of my boy classmate, she was sharing with us on some of her daily soup that she made for her family. One of the key ingredients that she often use for soup is "Winter Melon - 冬瓜", which we rarely cooked in our household.

Accordingly to some housewife myth, Winter Melon is used to boil soup with pork ribs or other herbs for cooling purpose such as quenches thirst and expel summer Heat. Whereas Huai Shan whets the appetite and strengthens the Spleen while Gou Qi Zi improves eyesight and promotes blood cell formation so these two mild herbs are suitable for the whole family. The use of carrots can also lower the blood glucose, invigorate the Spleen too. On the other hand, Corn is rich in many kinds of Vitamin B and C, thus preventing vascular sclerosis.

Ingredients: (serves 4)
1 Round Piece of Winter Melon(冬瓜), around 150 - 200g
300g of Pork Ribs
100g Fresh Huai Shan(淮山)
1 Small Carrot, cut into 1" thick
1 Corn(玉米), cut into 3 sections
5 Red Dates(红枣)
1/2 Tablespoon of Wolfberries(枸杞子)
1.5 Litre of Boiling Water

Method:
1. Roughly peel off the outer skin of the winter melon, scrap off the seed, rinse and cut into 2" rectangle cubes size.
2. Repeat the same procedure for the fresh huai shan and set aside.
3. Blanched the pork ribs in boiling water for about 30 seconds, rinse and set aside.
4. Bring the pot of water (1.5 litres) to boil, add in the pork ribs, winter melon, huai shan, carrot, corn and red dates to boil for about 5 minutes.
5. Transfer the pot of soup to slow cooker and cook on AUTO for at least 2 hrs. Add in wolfberries 30 minutes before cooking time.
6. Or if you don't have any slow-cooker at home, you can simmer the soup on the stove for about 45 minutes on low heat.


So why not try to whip out this cooling soup for your family during this hot and humid weather to quench their thirst as well as build up their immune system. I am sure this will be a great soup for kids as the adding of carrot and corn gives this soup it's nature sweetness as well as that extra flavour.

Happy Kampong Seafood

Happy Kampong Seafood located in a coffee shop somewhere near the road junction of 81 Jalan Malu-Malu where they are a lot of terrace/semi-detached house. This coffee shop had being there for more than a decade or so and other the "Zhi Char - 煮 炒", this coffee shop also has a very popular Prawn Noodles stall which opens from morning till lunch hours.

This coffee shop is always crowded with customers as early as 5.30pm during weekends. From a glance of it, they have rather about 25 tables range from 4 to 10 seats. And sometime during festive season such as Chinese New Years, they even have wide varieties of seafood which is available for your choice.

Today's dinner we bring mum to try their signature Nonya -style Fish Head Curry which is common dish found on each patronisers table. The fish is very fresh and sweet in taste which goes well with their special nonya sauce. The fish head is pre-steam till done before they braise it with some lady finger, tomato, pineapple cubes and special sauce. It costs about S$18.00 for half a fish head.

We also try one of their egg dish which is this "Furong Dan". The inner layer consists of shredded red onion, carrot and chilli and shrimp which is being covered by a layer of egg skin. Usually you can find different fillings for this egg dish, some stall even add in "Char Siu - Roasted Pork(叉烧)", capsicum, minced meat and etc.

This "Braised Homemade Doufu With Gingko Nut" is also one of their signature dish too. The doufu which they made into rectangle-block symbolised like a "gold bar" in this dish. We love the texture of the doufu which is so silky and smooth and it goes pretty well with the sauce which is made from their special broth. The combination spinach, gingko nut and doufu makes this a healthy dish to crave for.
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UPDATED: 22 November 2011
 
Happy Kampong Seafood has shifted from Sembawang to 164 Tagore Lane, Singapore 787572, Reservation: +65 6755 1018 .

Breakfast Delux @ McDonald

Recently, McDonald has extend their weekend/public holiday breakfast hour to 12pm instead of the usual 11am. So that means for those who wish to sleep late during weekends will still have a chance to grab some of their favourite McDonald breakfast before lunch.

And for those who can't decided on whether "Big Breakfast" Or "Hotcake" for Breakfast, this new "Breakfast Delux" with two hotcake, scramble egg, meat pattie and muffin will be a great combination for you.

Sakae Kid's Bento

This coming Sunday 28 February 2010 will mark the last day of Chinese New Year which lasted for 15 days. And according to Chinese Tradition, the 15th Day of Chinese New Year is also known as the "Yuan Xiao Jie - 元宵节" where all the family members will get together and have a bowl of sweet glutinous rice ball brewed in soup which is called "汤圆" to symbolise the harmony of the family. So before the ending of the Chinese New Year, Joyce and us decided to go for another round of our favourite "荣" Yu Sheng - 鱼生 at Sakae before it ends on Sunday.

While waiting for our "Yusheng - 鱼生" to be served, Rey ordered a set of Train Bento from the Kiddy Menu after much consideration on what to choose. This is the 2nd time we have tried their kid's bento since the 1st time in a few years back. The Train set that rey ordered consists of a Elmo Rice Ball that is filled with sandwich tuna, Fries, Tempura and Chicken Karaage. And all kiddy meals are served with a bottle of Yakult. But when the bento arrived, all of us were shocked on the outlook of the Elmo. It seems like the set shown on the menu is very different from what we get....... and the Chicken Karaage are also over cooked as it is sort of tough and cold to taste. End up, Rey didn't eat much of the bento instead he picked up two plate of his favourite Tamago Sushi to fill his tummy and leave the Train Set for me and Joyce to finish up.

Finally our STAR for today's lunch is here...... This is my either 5th or 6th "Rong Yusheng" for this year..... and today's ingredients are very fresh on look as well as taste. After this, we will have to wait till next year Chinese New Year in 2011 before we will have another chance to taste "Yu Sheng" again..........So once again, I wish everyone a Happy and Prosper Chinese New Year!!!! Huat ah!!!! Lastly I wish to thank Candice and Sakae Sushi for giving me a chance to be part of their e-journalist for the past 6 months too.

Double-Boiled Tian Qi With Pork Muscle

Mum's hand is still not recovering quiet well despite of the doctors/methods that she tried to speed up the recovery. She often felt that her right hand fingers are not as flexible as what they are before the injury. She has being visiting one of this famous Chinese Physician in Chinatown area and according to the Physician, she advised my mum to boil this "Tian Qi With Pork Muscle" soup to regulate the blood, heals bruises and alleviating pain.

Since Mum's hand is still not well to lift heavy things or doing the washing and etc, I volunteer to help her prepare the soup according to what the Chinese Physician suggested. Since "Tian Qi - 田七" is usually consumed by man instead of woman due to it's nature of medical value. And for my mum's age of 50+, the physician advised her to divide 38g( 一两) into 3 cooking portion.

"Tian Qi - 田七" is sweet in taste but with a hint of bitterness and it is also warm in nature. This herb helps to promotes blood circulation, stops bleeding, ease bruises and swelling while killing pain. It is commonly prescribed to cure external swelling, bruises or sprains which is just the correct symptom that my mum is facing at the moment.

This soup might contain a lot of side ingredients in order to neutralized the taste of the Tian Qi. According to the Medical Store owner where I bought the Tian Qi from, she advised me to add in around 1/2 Tablespoon of "American Ginseng/Pao Shen - 泡参片" in order to build up the "QI" regulation in her body.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
3 Pork Muscles
9g Tian Qi(田七片)
1/2 Tablespoon Pao Shen(泡参片)
5g YuZhu(玉竹)
5g Huai Shan(淮山)
4 Large Red Dates (红枣)
1 Tablespoon Dried Longan(龙眼干)
1/2 Tablespoon Wolfberries(枸杞子)
750ml Water

Method:
1. Trim the pork muscles, rinse and blanched in boiling water for about 3 minutes, remove, rinse and set a side.
2. Rinse the herbs, except the wolfberries and set aside.
3. Next bring the 750ml water to boil in a small saucepan, add in the herbs(except wolfberries) and the pork muscles. When the water come to boil again, lower the heat and simmer for another 5 minutes.
4. Transfer all the ingredients and soup to a double-boiler which you have placed in the slow-cooker(remember to fill hot water in the inner-pot of the slow-cooker to at least 3/4 high, you can refer to the photos on how I placed the pot in the slow-cooker HERE).
5. Let the soup cooked in the slow-cooker on AUTO mode for about 3 hours, add in wolfberries in the last 20 minutes or so.
6. You can served this soup before meal or before bedtime.

Overall, this is a very flavour soup which can be consumed at least once a month or so. The adding of dried longan and red dates helps to lift up the tired soul and makes you more refreshing. By adding these two ingredients and wolfberries together they make this soup taste sweet from the hint of bitterness of the "Tian Qi" and "Pao Shen".