Category Archives: Gastronomy

No Signboard – Esplanade, Singapore

08 Thursday Nov 2012

Posted by in Gastronomy, Oversea Restaurants, Singapore, Travel

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , ,

I had the craziest craving recently. (Hub thinks I have cravings almost every other day. So, he reckons I shouldn’t call it cravings but just greedy. Hahaha…) Anyway, I was really hankering for Chili Crab from Singapore!

After hearing about my cravings, Hub’s friend (Ed) invited and treated us to a crab feast. Yay, Thank you so much Ed!!!

He made reservation with the No Signboard Restaurant in Esplanade. This restaurant started off as a small hawker place with no name. Today, the restaurant has several branches and they are known as No SignBoard Restaurant… (You can read more about their history from their website). Luckily Ed made reservation for the 3 of us. The place was packed like mad. The manager had to keep turning guest away. But then again, it was Friday night and the view at Esplanade is amazing.

We were told that their signature crab dish is actually the white pepper crab. Oh no…decision decisions… I really want the Chili crab too. The waiter kindly told me that I can order ONE crab for each dish. CooL! I know most restaurants need you to order at least 2-3 crabs per dish. So, we ended up with both.

We had the fresh oyster, which was HUGE. It’s almost the size of my palm. The texture is very firm (reminds me of pacific oyster I had when in Tasmania, Australia). The different was this has less briny taste. I think I still prefer the ones I had in Tasmania. But, this comes really close. The white pepper crab is lovely. I love the ‘kick’ from the pepper combine with the sweetness of the crab. Their crabs are really fresh too. Yummz…

The Chili crab is slightly different from the ones I had previously. This was slightly less sweet and has a bit more curry powder taste. It’s quite a nice balance as the sauce is not too over powering that it hides the crab’s freshness. It is so good with the fried mantao (Chinese bread).

We also ordered the deep fried butter prawn. The prawn felt a little overcooked to me. But, the deep fried butter taste was really good. In fact, I got abit addicted to the bits of crispy fried batter more than the prawn. ;p

It was a great night feasting on those yummy crabs and catching up with Ed. Hub and I had a great time. Thanks again Ed. J

Lazy Monday Dinner – Japanese Curry Rice

31 Wednesday Oct 2012

Posted by in Gastronomy, Home Cook Food, Kitchen wares, Shopping

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , ,

This has got to be one of hub and my favourite lazy meal. It’s so tasty and easy to prepare. At one time, we have this almost every fortnight at home.

Not to mention, I just got something special back from Paris which I couldn’t resist using… My brand new cocotte – the 20cm black Staub. Yes !!! I am crazy enough to lug it back all the way from France. How can I resist?! It’s so cute and i love the color. And the price !!! (It’s only about EUR 72 after VAT – about RM 290). Hence, I’m going to use this little baby to make my Japanese curry.

For me, the most important thing for a good Japanese curry is the stock you make from vegetables. This gives it an extra sweetness (without adding sugar). I prefer to use Russet potatoes when making Japanese curry rice. The reason is because I love the soft grainy texture it adds to the sauce when some bits of the potato disintegrate.

Simple ingredients – Carrot, Onion, Potatoes and meat of your choice (I prefer to use pork)

Sauté the pork in the pot until semi cook. Let the meat rest before slicing it.

After that, sauté the diced potatoes, carrots and onion till brown. Add hot water to fully cover the ingredients. Allow it to simmer until all the vege is soft. With the Staub, I only need to let it sit for 10 mins on low fire and everything gets really nice and soft.

After that, place the meat into the pot and allow it to simmer for another 2-3 minutes. Usually, I add the curry roux block piece by piece. That way, I can gauge if the thickness is to my liking or not. Once all the roux melts, the consistency of the broth will be stew-like.

Serve it with rice. (I prefer to use the Japanese short grain). ** Remember to cook the rice first. ;p

Yummy comfort food in less than 20 minutes.

Muic Sushi – Paris, France

23 Tuesday Oct 2012

Posted by in France, Gastronomy, Oversea Restaurants, Travel

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

Hmm… Notice a significant rise in Korean influence within Paris lately.

Perhaps it is due to the K-pop culture which is also rising everywhere else in the world! Everywhere I turn, I hear Psy Gangnam style song!!! (When I say everywhere, it’s at different parts of the world! Globalisation indeed)

What I find really weird / Interesting is how a lot of the restaurant now in Paris, combine Japanese and Korean food together. Whenever you enter a restaurant (which you think is Japanese), also serves Korean! For European who might not be really familiar with these 2 cuisines, they might find it very similar.

But, to me, Japanese and Korean food is like totally different. On one end, Japanese cuisine is very delicate in taste, light and not oily. On the other end, Korean cuisine is very strong in taste; heavy and quite oily.

Anyway, hub and I was strolling by Rue Lauriston when we spotted this quaint little café / sushi shop. And, we were shock when we see korean food listed in the menu. Sushi shop serving korean food? interesting…).

As we were quite hungry, we decided to hop in and have a quick meal (I was attracted to them because they serve bibimbap. It was raining the whole day and it’s just so blissful to be able to sink my teeth into something really HOT).

The waiter / chef speak mostly French and very little English. Luckily, he also speaks Japanese. So, with our half past six French and Japanese, we manage to place our order. Yay!

First thing we ordered was the mango Foie Gras Sushi. Look how beautiful it is. I love the color of the mango. It was so sweet and juicy. Unfortunately, too sweet for this dish. The taste of the mango was so powerful that it totally mask the foie gras. A little wasted in my opinion. But, it was still yummy.

ahh…. my bibimbap. So nice and hot. It was actually quite good. The only thing missing is cucumber. I think it would have add a little more crunch to this dish.

Hubby’s pork hot pot. It was not bad. A tad salty for me, but, that’s quite norm for Korean food.

While we were there, we notice a lot of people coming in to take away sushi. So, I guess it’s quite safe to say, their other sushi offering must be quite good too…

 
Muic Sushi
26 Rue Lauriston 75016 Paris France‎
+33 1 45 05 93 82
Metro : Kebler