Japanese Cravings

We’re heading to Tokyo and Kyoto in a couple of weeks and so I have been busy reading all the guide books recently. Predictably, the pages I have been concentrating on most are the Food & Drink ones, and as a consequence I have been craving Japanese food like you wouldn’t believe. Thankfully this afternoon, my craving was finally fulfilled during a very satisfying lunch with the girls at Sun with Moon at Wheelock.

One of the girls was running late, so the three of us who were there decided to order a few nibbles while we were waiting. Being a greedy bunch, the nibbles turned out to be rather larger than necessary, but they were all so fantastic, we were glad that we did.

We kicked off with some sushi rolls: Salmon Pink Dragon Rolls (crab and avocado topped with salmon),



and some California Rolls.



And then dug into some Yakiniku – sautéed sliced beef with raw egg, on a bowl of rice. As a secret fan of Yoshinoya’s beef bowls, I was delighted with this – a posher, more flavoursome version and completely delicious.



Once our friend joined us we then ordered some main courses – a Sushi Mori Combo, comprising Tuna, Salmon, Yellow Tail, Cooked Prawn, Grilled Eel, California Rolla and Japanese Omelette; and a Sushi Roll Combo, comprising Soft Shell Crab rolls, California rolls, Diced Grilled Eel rolls and Japanese Omelette.



As sets, these were served with a beautiful Miso Soup, Chawanmushi (a kind of savoury egg custard with chicken) and a choice of side dishes – we opted for the Hokkaido Miso Mini Ramen, which was so delicious we were fighting over the last few mouthfuls.



As if this weren’t enough we also added on a couple more side dishes, justifying this with the fact that we had just shared two main courses between three (and ignoring that we has already shared a few extras beforehand) – some Pork Gyoza



and a Satsuma Age (fish cake).



I’m sure you must be thinking what a completely gluttonous group of girls we are – and you’d be right! But we were also a completely satisfied group of girls when we left Sun with Moon, and will be looking forward to coming back again soon.


Sun with Moon, #03-15 Wheelock Place - http://www.sfbi.com.sg/index_e.html

Best Pizza in Town?

I have often bemoaned the fact that you can’t get a good pizza in Singapore. In fact the situation had become so drastic that I had even resorted to home-cooking pizza in place of picking up the phone and ordering it in (thanks Jamie Oliver!).

All this has changed however, with the discovery of Bella Pizza on Robertson Quay. This homely little place is always packed, no matter what day of the week (except Monday when it’s closed) – and predominantly with Italians… surely a good sign of the authenticity of the cuisine. The staff are super-friendly – from the waiters who wave to me when I walk past (although that’s perhaps a sign that I need to eat less pizza…), to the chef, Antonio, who will sit down at your table to ask you how your day was, and force feed you Limoncello after your meal.

And then there is the pizza – thin crusted, generously topped and perfectly baked… for me this is simply the best pizza in Singapore. The enormous calzone are always a hit with the greedy guys in the group too.



Not that you need them, but if you’re super-greedy like us, their starters are pretty good too – we checked out the Mozzarella di Buffala wrapped in Parma Ham,



and the Melanzane alla Parmigiana which was just outstanding (although don’t expect to eat this as a starter on your own AND manage a pizza).



I’m kind of reluctant to keep singing Bella Pizza’s praises as it’s always a push to get a table at the weekend as it is – but here are another couple of reasons to go there: they do a decent house wine at just $40 a bottle, and a 3-course set lunch menu for just $18.

There… now everyone’s going to want to go and I’ll never get a table again...

Bella Pizza, Robertson Quay - http://www.bellapizza.com.sg/

Still My Favourite Curry Place

I’ve written about Khansama before, but I was there again last week (I often am) and I have still yet to find anywhere to beat it, so I thought it was time to give it another plug. Located up a narrow staircase in the middle of Serangoon Road, this little gem continually churns out fantastic-tasting, great value curries.



It has the most comprehensive menu I have ever come across, and yet every dish that comes out of that kitchen has its own unique flavour. The starter section is longer than most restaurants entire menus, but we seem to have managed to make our way through most of it now – and perennial favourites include the Mixed Tikka starter – large cubes of succulent chicken which have been marinated in a variety of flavours; the Paneer Pakora – squares of paneer stuffed with a chilli paste and lightly deep-fried; and their oh-so-good Onion Bhajis.



For meat lovers, you can’t go wrong with a Mutton Lababdar with its creamy tomato gravy, or everyone’s favourite – Chicken Tikka Masala. If you’re not so good with spice then order yourself the mild Kashmiri Fish Curry plied with plenty of raisins and dried fruit.





Veggies won’t be disappointed here either – the Gobi Manchurian – cauliflower in a spicy sweet and sour sauce should not be missed, nor should the Bindi Masala – okra cooked with tomatoes and spices.



Oh and while you’re at it, make sure to try out their fantastic Tadka Dal, some Garlic Naan and a side order of Cucumber Raita. Yep – you’ve got yourself a feast!



The prices at Khansama have certainly crept up over the past couple of years – gone are the days when we could order anything we liked and still only spend $20 per head. But having said that, during our latest visit we completely over-ordered (as usual) and managed to sink a fair few jugs of Tiger and it was still under $35 per head, so it’s still offers outstanding value for money.

If you’ve not been – do yourself a favour and get down there now… just save a table for me!

Khansama – 166 Serangoon Road – www.khansama.net

Lunch in a Church

The White Rabbit opened up in Dempsey just over a year ago to mixed reviews – diners offered differing opinions about the quality of the food, everyone seemed to agree that the service could be improved… but on the plus side nobody denied that the restaurant had found itself a stunning and unique location.

I wasn’t surprised by the negative press this new restaurant was receiving – this seems to be fairly standard in Singapore. In a city where service can be trying at the best of times, new establishments seem to need a few months to bed themselves down.

A year in and the reviews are definitely improving, so I gathered the girls together and suggested we try out the White Rabbit’s good value set-lunch menu ($30 for two courses, $38 for three).

First things first – the setting is fabulous, and definitely unique in Singapore. The beautifully-restored old chapel’s lofty ceilings and stain-glassed windows provide a bright and airy atmosphere perfect for lunch and, I imagine, a cosy and romantic setting for dinner.



The set menu offers a choice of six starters, and six main courses – with diners able to choose from the exceedingly tempting a la carte dessert menu for a mere extra $8.00. I kicked off with the Salad Printemps – a spring salad of asparagus, mangoes and tomatoes which was perfectly acceptable, but nothing to get too excited about.



For mains I chose the Pan Fried Red Snapper, served with shaved fennel and sauce vierge which was beautifully cooked – the fennel providing a contrasting crunch, and the sauce vierge the right amount of sharpness.



But where the White Rabbit really comes into its own is the desserts. Rather predictably I opted for the Molten Chocolate Cake. While the molten chocolate could have been more, well – molten, all was forgiven as it was served with a fabulous passionfruit sorbet (which my 9 month-old lunch partner was rather partial too also). The White Rabbit Crème Brulee, served with summer berries also got the thumbs up.



But the prize had to go to the Crepes Suzette – flambéed with Grand Marnier at your tableside.



These were so good that one mouthful of our friend’s dessert and we ordered an extra one to share amongst the table.



So thankfully the White Rabbit appears to have overcome its supposed teething problems. The service was attentive (although the restaurant was barely half full so it shouldn’t have been too difficult), and whilst the food wasn’t going to get any of us over-excited, it was well cooked and presented and made for an exceedingly enjoyable lunch. Its selling point however still remains its location – whether you’re planning a business lunch, a convivial dinner with friends or a romantic meal for two, it certainly ticks all the boxes.

The White Rabbit – 39C Harding Road
http://www.thewhiterabbit.com.sg/

Yak Butter Tea

From Lijiang we travelled north to Shangri-La, in the Tibetan Plains. We were lucky enough to be staying at the Banyan Tree - about 15 miles outside of Shangri-La itself, in a cluster of villages known as Ringha.

Here, during a ‘cultural tour’ of the surrounding area, we were invited into a family home to partake in one of the local delicacies – Yak Butter Tea. This is the ultimate staple of the Tibetan diet and is drunk by the gallon by Tibetan nomads, the high fat content in the butter providing plenty of warmth during the long harsh winters.



Basically Yak Butter Tea is black tea, mixed in with yak butter and salt – with the result being… well it tastes like somebody took a perfectly good cup of tea and added a big dollop of salty butter to it – yes, definitely an acquired taste.



The tea was dished up with home made bread, which we were encouraged to dip into the tea, skimming off the layer of butter from the top of the tea; home-made Yak Cheese – similar to a sour Feta (another acquired taste?!) and a bowl of barley powder, which was either stirred into the tea, or thrown into the mouth with a teaspoon. We chose the latter method and ended up with a mouthful of sticky powder that tasted like stale puffed wheat (you guessed it… another acquired taste!)



We politely sipped away at our tea before we realised that as quickly as we were drinking, it was going to be topped up again – so we soon learned to drink a bit slower! Certainly an interesting experience, but one I don’t think I’ll be rushing to try again anytime soon.

Ginger Candy

One of the specialties of Lijiang is Ginger Candy, and there are numerous shops where they hand-pull this at the side of the road.



It's quite fascinating to watch, as it starts out as a hard ball and is eventually pulled out into a long stretchy mass of candy, with almost a candy floss texture. If you stand close and smile sweetly enough, you've a good chance of being given a small sample while it's still warm.



This is then laid out in long sausage shapes onto a hotplate to harden and then broken up into pieces to be bagged.



The result is a hard but chewy candy (similar to Blackpool Rock if that means anything to you), with a strong ginger flavour and a hint of peanuts - definitely interesting!

Two More Chinese Beers

While we’re on the subject of beer, here’s a couple of other brews we tried while we were in China:

Dali beer – local to Yunnan Province, although – would you believe it, it’s produced by Carlsberg, since they bought out the Dali Beer Group in 2003. It’s a nice refreshing beer anyway – as long as it’s served cold, which turned out to be something of a rarity in Lijiang…



The beer we ended up drinking mostly (if only because it actually came chilled) was Snow beer – a light, crisp beer although with very little flavour.



We likened it to Bud Light, which is a co-incidence as, according to Reuters, just this year Snow has taken over Bud Light to become the World’s biggest selling beer. And I’d never heard of it before we came to China…

Tsingtao

It’s Friday afternoon and so my mind is wandering towards beer…

One of the pleasures of travelling is trying out the local brew – Our holiday last week was our first time in China and so the first thing I ordered when I got to the hotel bar, was of course a Tsingtao – probably the world’s best known Chinese beer (and I base that on the fact that it's the only Chinese beer I've ever seen in Chinese restaurants I've been to in the UK - not very scientific I know).



I do like Tsingtao – it has a sweet edge to it… and of course it tastes even better when you’re in China!

Happy weekend everyone.


Tsingtao Beer - http://www.tsingtaobeer.com/

Yunnan Cuisine

We’re just back from a week’s holiday in Yunnan Province in South-West China. Yunnan Province has the largest number of ethnic minorities in China (more than half of the total Chinese minority population according to the Lonely Planet). The cuisine, therefore, is incredibly varied, taking its influences from many directions. Its proximity to Sichuan Province means the dishes tend to have a healthy dose of chilli and being mushroom season when we were there ensured that various types of funghi featured heavily on the menus also.

Our first stop-off was Lijiang – a beautiful town teaming with tourists, and a plethora of restaurants to choose from.



Our first lunch was at a little restaurant, which I was told was called Yi mi yang guang yu fu situated on what is most commonly know as ‘Jiu Ba Jie’ or ‘Bar Street’, where we ordered up some local goodies:



Baba is a type of bread cake that is made on street stalls all over Lijiang – it comes either sweet or savoury, so we tried the savoury version to accompany our feast. For any traditional Brits out there – it tastes a bit like a suet pudding:



Also on the table was Dongba Chicken with Mushrooms & Chilli (Dongba being the culture of the Naxi minority – the most prominent ethnic group in Lijiang)



Spicy Yak – bursting with an amalgam of flavours from the various herbs and spices in it, and our first experience of the tongue-numbing Sichuan peppercorn!



Lijiang Pork – with strong ginger and chilli flavours



And an interesting addition to our vegetable repertoire – a type of local fresh water seaweed which, like everything else on the table, was delicious.



What a good start to our China holiday!

Lunch on Mount Faber

While researching my book, Mr Greedy Glutton and I did the Southern Ridges walk, a series of trails starting at Harbourfront MRT station and ending in Kent Ridge Park (or in West Coast Park if you have the energy). The first trail, the Marang Trail, leads you up a couple of hundred steps to the top of Mount Faber, where you are rewarded with sweeping views across the city and out to sea over Sentosa to the surrounding islands.



Now I know this is only the first part of the walk and only approximately fifteen minutes in, but the Jewel Box had recently re-opened up at Mount Faber so we thought we should check it out and gain ourselves some energy for our walk. There are several options for food at the Jewel Box - international or Chinese fine dining, cocktails and bar snacks or casual bistro food and you can opt for a breezy outdoor or glass-enclosed indoor setting.

As we had a long walk ahead of us, we opted for the casual outdoor bistro to grab a quick bite – nothing fancy, just a club sandwich and a Caesar salad. These were fine, nothing to rave about as the Caesar was rather over-garlicked and the chips that accompanied the club sandwich were obviously out of a bag, but the view and the architecture more than made up for the food’s shortcomings.





The view speaks for itself, and as for the architecture, you can’t help but be impressed with what they have done here – the building has been carefully integrated into the natural surroundings of the national park and it’s environmentally-friendly all the way. The designers not only used recycled building materials where possible, they worked with the National Parks Board to integrate three mature Angsana trees into the building, so that they sprout up through the floor and out through the ceiling – pretty impressive.





So definitely a good option if you’re looking for somewhere a little quirky with an impressive view – and if you’re too lazy to tackle the steps, there’s always the cable car…

The Jewel Box, Mount Faber. Tel: 6270 8855, Web: www.mountfaber.com.sg