Chin Mee Chin Confectionery, East Coast Rd Singapore

Was passing by this road and my stomach was playing music when it was only about 130pm. First guess was, a ha, must not have lunch yet or early brunch. In fact, I had an early lunch at about 11+ am.

Address from the paper-box used for take away

My friend told me that Chin Mee Chin Confectionery serves great raisin bread, so I said - on. We were not so lucky that day, it was sold off, yes at this early hour of the day!

So we settled for the normal bun with kaya (Asian bread spread equivalent to jam but with coconut flavour - color wise - pale green or brown - the former with pandan flavour leave and the latter without) and butter.

Bun with kaya and a sllice of butter

I love the kaya flavour - taste like those old days kopi-tiam style. As I was sitting next to one of the fridges, can see that to provide fast service, there a few tubs of sliced butter in it.

I would go back for the bun and kaya but not the tea. Tea is just like the one ordinarily instant tea flavor despite them brewing and preparing using the cloth sock - traditional method.

visible sight where your beverage is prepared

Besides bun, I must say they do serve a varieties of other confectioneries, which I did not manage to take any pic as they were alot of people queuing for a take away.

Sage Restaurant and Wine Bar, The Gardens Kuala Lumpur

The Gardens Kuala Lumpur is a new extension of an upper class of shopping just adjacent to Mid Valley Mall, Kuala Lumpur. I was invited to Sage by a close friend one evening, he called me and said, I will bring you to one of the fine dining in KL in The Gardens, I have not heard of Sage before this.

Sage's owner also owns the famous French-Japs fusion Cilantro at the Micasa All Suites Hotel along Jalan Tun Razak. I did dine at Cilantro many years back before I started blogging.

It was closed to Xmas when we were there.

Entrance to Sage - decorated with wide varieties of wines

Coming back to Sage, the day we were there, they were having a promotion on Truffle, yes, delicacy of this special fungus. There is black or white Truffle to choose from the special Truffle Menu....everything on the menu looked very appetizing and I had difficulty to nail down on one, I wish I have an extra stomach to sample everything on the menu albeit watching on my diet as I am on above average on cholesterol
barometer.

Chef's complimentary starter;

For Appetizer, I decided on Ramen with shaved White Truffle and Parmesan cheese, the aroma of the white truffle is strong and couple with the creamy sauce it really went well with Ramen, (Japs fusion!)

Ramen with shaved White Truffle

A closer look of the white and black truffle on the right and left respectively.

As for the main course, I picked from the white truffle menu, Slow cooked lamb rack with blue cheese, shaved with white truffle and Shiromiso sauce. I had requested for almost well done yet moist and juicy for the lamb rack and surprisingly the chef did manage to prepare it that way. Lamb rack was tender and juicy coupled witht he Shiromiso soup, it's was great, the truffle was a bonus to the already yummy taste of this dish.

The dessert was only so so and nothing great perhaps my expectation was set higher after the two courses that I had !

All in all, it was a great experience.

You Huak Restaurant, Sembawang Singapore

555....(if you know Thai, you know what I mean here!). I have been MIA since then, went for alot of 'makan' (eat/dine in Malay), but just did not manage to find time in between my hectic life to make any post.

Went for cycling with my riding 'kaki' (buddy in Malay), part of our training ride after a series of too much food. We had wanted to visit this place the last time we were at the vicinity but could not locate it, so this time my buddy did his homework and got the direction right. Were there rather early, before noon, to beat the lunch crowd.

Quench our thirst after the tough training ride, while awaiting the specialties of the restaurant, located on 22 Jalan Tampang, tuck in corner row of a series of shoplot, opposite the Sembawang Shopping Centre.

Closer view of the white beehoon, full of seafood

distant view to show the portion for about 2-3 pax

This is indeed tasty, with the wok taste and the egg based gravy is flavorful, was told that they used chicken bone for the gravy. As time passed, the meehoon will soak the gravy and all the flavor is infused into the beehoon adding to the oommph.......as I don't favor squid, perhaps if they add pork fillet instead may complete my experience. Besides, this we also ordered a plate of Foo Yong egg, chinese omelette, (nothing extra ordinary so I did not take the pic). For the record, I love KL hokkien mee (dark fat noodle), there is also the hokkien beehoon, but its not on my list of favorites fried noodles. There are times, when I go for the hokkien beehoon, I would ordered one without black sauce, but then, compared to this one, I would still rate this one as the top. Give me a KL hokkien mee, done in KL and a plate of ths You Huak white beehoon, it completes a noodle day for me.

The Grill Tokyo - Siam Paragon Complex

It has been a long long time coming since I been to BKK. Those days, I would be there almost monthly if not every two months. When I was golf craze then, each trip a golf game must be on the agenda with the aim of playing different course each time. My recent trip here was a lightning one, steal some time and spent an afternoon at Siam Paragon complex. Heard of some upper class malls there but only this time that I managed to step into it. Little did I realise that it was near Siam Square and MBK, where I used to stayed in  my very very first trip many moon years ago ! Was amazed my the sheer size as there is Siam Centre, Siam Discovery and Siam Paragon all interconnected. Spent strolling the place while awaiting dinner time, had a drink at Taling Pling, tried the must drink - lemongrass drink. Dinner time comes, decided to have non-oily healthy food and Japanese comes to mind, there were a number of Japanese restaurants there, and chosen The Grill Tokyo. Spacious, with a few intimate tables in alcoves and large tables for groups at one end. Modern style with an open-plan kitchen.

As a start, ordered salmon belly, hamachi and Uni - part of a must in my shashimi ordering. Was lucky that they served yellowtail belly which allowed me to have enough good dose of healthy Omega-3 fish oil for the day.

Salmon Belly, Hamachi and Uni



Soy milk flavoured hot pot with sliced black pork and vegetables - delicious, I like the soup




Plain soba as a filler



Grilled hamachi with teriyaki sauce - too sweet (should have ordered with salt)

Did not have had enough so ordered another portion of hamachi, this time its a mixture - front perhaps the belly part and at the back, the typical normal hamachi. Taste yummy.



Caviar House & Prunier - Hong Kong International Airport

Caviar - a real delicacy, had it in the Japanese restaurants, ikura, uni, tobikko and rarely masago. I was in HKIA transiting to Manila on a late night flight. After having some food at the Cathay Lounge, I just want something light to last me till I reached the hotel in Manila so I can go to bed immediately. So having caviar will fit the situation here. I had passed by this special counter-type restaurant, renowned caviar and smoked salmon specialist Caviar House & Prunier few times and this is the only time I decided to give it a try. Prices were rather steep and so just ordred the minimum quantity as the price is based in

Plain ice water to cleanse palate

Caviar St James and Caviar Malossol - 5 g each

Caviar St James was introduced for the opening of the Prunier restaurant on St James Street in London, such caviar is of low salt content with borax, perfectly matured two months after the catch.

Caviar Malossol preparation also known as pure salted is one of the masterpieces of Prunier caviar preparation. Rich in character due to its unique salt content and preparation, Malossol has the Beluga taste. There is also the premium range, known Caviar Heritage which is sold at HKD2530 for 30gm.size. Its claimed that only 8-10% of Prunier caviar production can be set as this grade. It is prepared according to the Persian methods and its Prunier's ultimate pride.

To distinguish between the 'ikura' from what is available here, I decided to try their Balik Salmon grade ie Balik Pearl Spoon as below.

Wish to have more caviar the next time an opportunity arise.




Balik Pearl Spoon - 20 gram



Home cooked - tomato soup spaghetti with roast chicken and fried egg

Tomato-onion soup Spaghetti - tasty soup, after boiling spaghetti, coated it with butter but forgotten to season with salt-pepper, thus blend, soup made up for it) 

  

whole roasted chicken from Cold Storage - cut to main pieces

normal fried egg

Chinose Chinese Restaurant - Jin Jiang Hotel Shanghai

Second time to this restaurant at the local 5 star hotel, Jinjiang on Mao Ming Nan Road. Chinose restaurant is rather up market Chinese restaurant in this hotel and serve some of the great chinese food. Following were the orders on that evening..

Conpoy soup



dried scallop, vege

Toufu with top layer of seaweed and mushroom - like the dish

Dried wanton noodles

Teriyaki grilled cod fish

Ling Fish - consumed by Emperor

Black sesame soup with soya beancurd

different view of the ling fish

another view of the ling fish