Deepavali Greetings
I wish all my readers a very happy Deepavali !
Eat and Enjoy!
Pasir Ris Not Paris blog
Photo: Sliced Fish Bee Hoon / Yu Pian Mee FenSliced Fish Bee Hoon (Yu Pian Mi Fen)
I ate the Sliced Fish Bee Hoon Soup at this neighbourhood coffee shop stall at Blk 444 at Pasir Ris Drive 6.
Unlike most hawker stalls, an electronic weighing scale at this Sliced Fish Been Hoon stall was an unusual sight. After customers placed an order, the sliced fish or Yu Pian was scooped into a metallic bowl and weighed. This exact science of measuring food looked impressive enough to entice me to try their sliced fish been hoon soup dish.
Priced at $3, $4 and $5 dollars, depending on the fish weight, you literally get what you pay for. The sliced fish been hoon soup dish comes in a light yellow broth filled with fat slices of fish and white round noodles. There is surprisingly no fishy smell to turn off customers.
The sliced fish bee hoon soup base tastes a little bland, but that just makes the sweetness in the fish stand out even more. The slivers of flesh are firm to bite and you can feel the texture from first to last chew.
The dish comes with a homemade soya sauce, cut red chilli mixed with an unknown seasoning. I prefer not to dip into the sauce in order to enjoy the sliced fish taste better.
Recommendation:
Score for sliced fish bee hoon (yu pian mi fen) : 7 out of 10
Picture of Beef hor fun taken with my low budget camera phone. Beef Hor Fun In A Western Restaurant
I tried this Beef noodle / hor fun dish at a western restaurant next to Simei MRT. The western restaurant is called Eatzi Steakhouse and Bistro Restaurant, located inside East Point Shopping Centre. This is a certified halal restaurant that specializes in preparing affordable western dishes.
On this particular visit, I chose to eat their Beef noodle hor fun, as I had stuffed myself silly with fine cuts of cooked meat at several buffets in a row.
Presentation wise, their beef hor fun came in a silver wok-like metallic serving dish with chopsticks and a spoon. The flat noodles or kway teow was coated with a sweet brown soy-sauce-like layer. The hor fun texture was not as soft as the way I preferred. While some will like its fairly chewy bite, I found the noodles unremarkable.
The beef slices came in thick large chunks. Compared to the medium cooked beef done western style, some of these beef slices gave my jaws plenty of exercise. I would suggest they stir fried it more evenly and do it lighter, bordering on medium flame to preserve the softness and taste. I looked for condiments like cut green chilli in vinegar sauce but there was none to improve my appetite.
Nonetheless, because the portion of beef slices was fairly huge, I guess the beef hor fun noodle is priced high at $10 per dish. Yes, there’s cheaper beef hor fun to be had at the local kopitiam for $4 or less. But these usually come with thin, tiny slivers of beef that do not provide sufficient protein or pleasure. While some of you may snort at this price, let’s not forget that you are paying for the ambience and the service of an air-conditioned western restaurant.
Recommendation:Overall score for beef for fun = 6.5 out of 10.
Picture of Beef Tenderloin: cut in bite-sized chunks before I could take a picture with my low budget handphone camera.
Delicious Beef Tenderloin At Eastpoint Mall
Eatzi Steakhouse & Bistro Restaurant is a halal-certified restaurant located at Eastpoint Mall. I sampled their delicious beef tenderloin recently.
Served in a dark metallic tray shaped like a bull, the rising sizzle that announced its arrival at my table was impressive. As I waited for the smoky fireworks on my plate to subside, I could smell the beef calling out to me.
My beef tenderloin was the star in this restaurant dish. Cooked in medium style (with visible redness between the two cooked brown surfaces) the way I ordered it, it was heavenly and really delicious. One slice of this delicious beef tenderloin melted in my mouth and I was hooked. Tenderly soft meat that oozed fragrance and deliciousness, the beef tenderloin was one of the better ones that I had tasted.
The mushroom sauce that came with the beef tenderloin was not outstanding. Side dishes like the corn, peas and carrot mix were just average. The whole baked potato unfortunately could not match the beef tenderloin taste-wise. At this restaurant, they provided dipping sauce that was spooned generously over the potato, with spoonfuls of bacon bits. The bacon was a tad salty but it added more spice to the potato.
Price of dish = S$23 before GST and service charge
Recommendation:
Score for beef tenderloin : 9 out of 10. It would be a perfect score if they provided more protein for that price.
Eatzi Steakhouse & Bistro Restaurant is a halal-certified restaurant located at Eastpoint Mall. I sampled their delicious beef tenderloin recently.
Served in a dark metallic tray shaped like a bull, the rising sizzle that announced its arrival at my table was impressive. As I waited for the smoky fireworks on my plate to subside, I could smell the beef calling out to me.
My beef tenderloin was the star in this restaurant dish. Cooked in medium style (with visible redness between the two cooked brown surfaces) the way I ordered it, it was heavenly and really delicious. One slice of this delicious beef tenderloin melted in my mouth and I was hooked. Tenderly soft meat that oozed fragrance and deliciousness, the beef tenderloin was one of the better ones that I had tasted.
The mushroom sauce that came with the beef tenderloin was not outstanding. Side dishes like the corn, peas and carrot mix were just average. The whole baked potato unfortunately could not match the beef tenderloin taste-wise. At this restaurant, they provided dipping sauce that was spooned generously over the potato, with spoonfuls of bacon bits. The bacon was a tad salty but it added more spice to the potato.
Price of dish = S$23 before GST and service charge
Recommendation:
Score for beef tenderloin : 9 out of 10. It would be a perfect score if they provided more protein for that price.
Hortpark Singapore
I went on a visit to Hortpark Singapore recently at 33 Hyderabad Road, off Alexandra Road. I did not realize that the National Park Board had opened the 23-hectare sized Hortpark since early this year.
According to their website, Hortpark in Singapore is a one-stop hub for gardening hub for gardening-related, recreational, educational, research and retail activities. Hortpark Singapore is poised to be a knowledge hub for plants and gardening. This horticultural park will allow the industry to share best practices and showcase garden designs, products and services. As a gardening hub, HortPark will focus on learning and education, industry partnership and collaboration, and events and activities.
Enough of the official Singapore Hortpark introduction. My first impressions of Hortpark were good due to many reasons. The Hortpark carpark was unusually well stocked with flowering plants. A brand new building that kept Hortpark visitors cool despite the late afternoon heat felt inviting and comfortable. A water feature at the edge of the Hortpark building offered pleasant scenery.
I went on a visit to Hortpark Singapore recently at 33 Hyderabad Road, off Alexandra Road. I did not realize that the National Park Board had opened the 23-hectare sized Hortpark since early this year.
According to their website, Hortpark in Singapore is a one-stop hub for gardening hub for gardening-related, recreational, educational, research and retail activities. Hortpark Singapore is poised to be a knowledge hub for plants and gardening. This horticultural park will allow the industry to share best practices and showcase garden designs, products and services. As a gardening hub, HortPark will focus on learning and education, industry partnership and collaboration, and events and activities.
Enough of the official Singapore Hortpark introduction. My first impressions of Hortpark were good due to many reasons. The Hortpark carpark was unusually well stocked with flowering plants. A brand new building that kept Hortpark visitors cool despite the late afternoon heat felt inviting and comfortable. A water feature at the edge of the Hortpark building offered pleasant scenery.
Moreover, many interesting mini garden plots with various flowers and plants of Singapore kept me wandering around Hortpark. There was a nursery filled with even more interesting flowers and plants inside Hortpark. I even noted a small open-air pond at Hortpark although its condition was not something to shout about.
Of the many plots of gardens at Singapore Hortpark, I liked the one where the characters from the Wizard of Oz (the witch and tin man) stood out as life-sized figures. Another likeable Hortpark plot was the twin heart-shaped gardens kissing and hugging each other.
Families with children and young kids should find the playground at Hortpark Singapore to their liking. There are plenty of chairs and tables scattered throughout Hortpark for family picnics. Facilities for washing and toileting were more than adequate in Hortpark Singapore. There were lots of green spaces and walking paths for families to walk around Hortpark for hours.
As part of the Singapore Southern Ridges park connector, visitors can walk out from Mt Faber to Kent Ridge Park and vice versa through Hortpark. There is a stretch of walking path that cuts through Hortpark adorned with lots of flowers known as the Floral Walk.
Hobbyists and botanists in Singapore will love HortPark for its interactive and fun-filled programmes for learning and education.
There is also a calendar of events and activities at Hortpark Singapore to generate and sustain long-term interest, enhance awareness and encourage industry partners to seek out new concepts, products and technologies. With diverse activities like guided tours, talks and workshops, learning in HortPark certainly would go beyond textbooks. If you wish to discover a listing of workshops and activities available at Hortpark, visit Singapore Nparks website for more details.
* Nparks’ Hortpark Singapore website
* More Hortpark Singapore photographs
* Walk at Singapore's Hortpark
* Singapore Map of Hortpark
* Transport to Hortpark by bus, cars
Photo: Palak Paneer from Daawat Tandoori RestaurantDaawat Tandoori Restaurant: Palak Paneer
I tried the Palak Paneer, a North Indian dish of cottage cheese with spinach, from Daawat Tandoori Restaurant recently. This North Indian restaurant is located at Singapore Expo in Simei.
For first-timers, don't be alarmed at the greenish gluey sight when the palak paneer dish arrives. This palak paneer may not look very pretty but once you pop a spoonful into your mouth, you will get hooked!
The cottage cheese inside this Palak Paneerhas a texture similar to Chinese tofu. When cut into small cubes, the resemblance between palak paneer and tofu is uncanny. I like the curd-like bite as it almost melts in the mouth.
The spinach is grinded into a paste-like texture in palak paneer. The good thing about the palak paneer is that the vegetable taste does not overpower tastebuds with the presence of spinach. In fact you hardly notice there's any vegetable taste at all.
The palak paneer taste is surprisingly good, with a sweetness that belies its looks. There is also a bit of spicy chilli aftertaste. The fragrance of its North Indian herbs and spices makes the cottage cheese stand out from the usual Chinese food that I eat.
If you have never tasted cottage cheese and you like tofu with a robust sweetness with spice, this palak paneer from Daawat Tandoori is for you.
A small serving of palak paneer goes for $9.50. This dish goes very well with plain cooked Basmati rice.
26 June 2009: Latest Update
Restaurant is closed.
Photograph: Mutton Vindaloo, a tasty kind of North Indian food at Singapore Expo
North Indian Food, Singapore Expo
The picture you see here is the North Indian Food called Mutton Vindaloo found at Singapore Expo.
With the coming Deepavali celebration, why not try a change of palate with food that originates from North India. Actually, the restaurant name is Dawaat Tandoori Restaurant, where Dawaat carries the meaning of "invitation to feast" in Pakistani. So is it really food from Pakistan which lies north of India? Whatever the restaurant name or its geographical origins, the food served here is definitely North Indian in style and taste.
I sampled this Mutton Vindaloo which was made of thick tomato paste with chunks of mutton, potatoes and North Indian herbs. It had a creamy sweet taste with just the right tinge of sourness.
The mutton chunks was cooked until the meat was soft, tender to the bite without the overpowering flavour of mutton. Most mutton vindaloos that I've eaten at other North Indian restaurants either tasted too strong of mutton smell or were a tad harder to chew. This was different and Dawaat's North Indian cooking style was closer to my liking.
A pity though that this North Indian-style food serving of mutton vindaloo came in a smaller portion than I had expected for the price of $12 before a 10% service charge. My charge slip did not reveal any GST on my invoice of this North Indian restaurant.
Details on where to find North Indian food at Singapore Expo:
Location: Singapore Expo, #01-44, Hall 4 Atrium
You can see the stand-alone single-level North Indian restaurant just next to the Singapore Expo carpark in Simei.
26 June 2009 Update:
Restaurant has closed.
You can see the stand-alone single-level North Indian restaurant just next to the Singapore Expo carpark in Simei.
26 June 2009 Update:
Restaurant has closed.
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