weekend in hanoi part ii

Food
Ok, I shall skip to my favourite section. One of the top items on the travel agenda was eating well, and we wanted to sample food across various budgets. Hanoi is of course famous for Pho, and we tried two Pho restaurants. We also tried a variety of other cuisines.

Pho Truang
We picked up a brochure for this restaurant from the tourist info centre, which boasted as having the best authentic Hanoi-style pho. Overall the pho was cheap and good, no complaints. We had our great first bowl of pho here.

Pho 24
Located near the Temple of Literature, we recognised this from some of the travel guide recommendations and popped in to try it. Prices were comparable to Pho Truang (about 28,000VND-39,000 VND for a bowl of Pho), but Pho 24 also had meatballs which were missing from Pho Truang menu. We also felt the broth was superior, although the noodles were slightly less flavoursome. Overall, this was our preferred pho joint. (An interesting note, apparently Pho 24 is actually Southern Vietnamese style, which explains why they provided the accompanying dish of beansprouts and lime wear familiar with in Singapore, whereas Pho Truang did not.)

Bobby Chinn Restaurant
We passed by this restaurant on the way in from the airport, and recognised the name from cooking show fame. We came back the next day to try it for dinner, and had an excellent meal. The food was mainly western style, although they used many Asian spices. Bobby Chinn's quirky humour added to the overall great ambience, which also included red hanging drapes, lovely lighting and two complimentary morsels from the chef. Those certainly added to the experience! Overall the main courses were pretty good, desserts were chocolaty superb, the presentation was excellence par none, and the experience was one of the best I have ever had. (Of course, the great company helped too.) Total cost came up to about 30USD per person.

Scallop on Shell Green Tea Duck
Crab Trio (Soub, Cake, Salad)
Chocolate Mousse
Assorted Brulees (Vanilla, Lemon, Chocolate)

Bobby Chinn's Irreverant Menu

Emperor aka Club De L'Oriental
Emperor was the only Vietnamese restaurant in Hanoi given a 3-star rating by Frommers, so we had to hunt it down. And it was quite a hunt, because the restaurant had relocated to 27 Tong Dan St., Hoan Kiem District (Tel: +84 4-826-8801) as of early 2008. This just goes to show the pace of change in Hanoi now, because the 2007 Frommers review said it was under renovation at the time of writing!
The food there was excellent, with variations on familiar dishes such as chicken in lemon leaves, fried codfish and grilled squid in lemongrass. One interesting dish was the beef wrapped in the local equivalent of betal nut. Another superb dish were the summer rolls, supposedly rated "Best Summer Rolls" by the NYTimes. The best part was the price, which came up to only about USD20 per person, for probably the most delicious meal we had on the trip. The decor and ambience was also lovely, living up to the old name of Emperor with a very old majestic feel, although it didn't quite project the unique experience of Bobby Chinn.

Prawn Summer Rolls

Emperor Salad

Grilled Squid in Lemongrass

Fried Cod Fish

Beef in Betel Leaves

There has been much raving about Fanny Mae Ice Cream on the web. I just thought I'd state for the record that it was ok, but I didn't find it particularly outstanding.

to be continued ...

photos will be updated as travel partners' pictures become available

food and fun

Last Friday was quite an interesting day of new discoveries and lessons learned.

Before dinner, we were walking around Clementi Central shopping for handphones when we came across an outlet of Munchy Donut. This is a chain my sisters have just discovered - delicious donuts for only a dollar each, and no crazy long line! I haven't yet bothered to brave the queue for Donut Factory, but I'd say they are almost as good as Krispy Kreme and Mr Donut (which we can't get here in Singapore), so need less to say we bought a dozen. All donut fans should go try it.

After dinner, we went to help out at the ARPC BASIC Camp to teach the youth there how to play various kinds of board and card games. After the kids had all settled down, we were ourselves introduced to Ubongo, a simple but addictive fast paced puzzle game of matching shapes. This is one of those rare games that is simple to learn for everyone, highly competitive and extremely addictive. Great for beginners and seasoned gamers alike. So I placed an order immediately.

And lastly, there was dinner. We went of a food exploration of the NUS area first being evicted from the Republic of Singapore Yacht Club for not being members, then finding out that Rolling Wok (near NUS Biz) was having a private function. Finally, the three of us had dinner at subway. One ordered a Subway Club and the other a Cheese Steak, while I had a little of each. Over dinner we laughed at our futile search for food and lamented that the Subway Cheese Steak just could not compare to the real Philly Cheese Steaks.

The next day, the two of them were down with severe diarrhea, but I was fine. This was rather interesting given the fact that I was the one that had eaten the most of both subs, and also because I have a very weak and sensitive stomach. Then I realised the connection.

I had taken out the vegetables.

So what's the moral of the story?

pichon french restaurant & bar

Dinner at Pichon with the family was certainly one of the more memorable meals in recent memory. My father, the birthday boy, had picked the place after hearing good reviews on the radio. And upon arriving, we were pleasantly surprised to discover that their 3-course set dinners (usually $65+++ per pax) were going at 1-for-1! Needless to say, we tucked in greedily.

Between six of us, we had considerable latitude to try lots of different dishes. Unfortunately we were too swift to devour the appetisers, and it was only later we remembered to whip the camera out. Hence there is no visual record of the lovely Mediterranean Fish Soup, Garlic King Prawns, two kinds of Escargots in Garlic and Red Wine Sauce, as well as some vegeterian thing for the mother. They were all duly shared around and proclaimed as delicious.

Salmon Carpaccio was ordered by two, and came in a light pastry crust. Personally I only like Salmon raw, but the two who ordered it gobbled it down greedily so I presume it was pretty good. Admire the lovely view of Boat Quay in the background.

Ribeye Steak with Bearnaise Sauce, of which I had a morsel, was succulent and juicy, and not at all over-cooked even though it was ordered medium-well (out of health considerations). I usually accept nothing more than medium, but it was lovely, as was the sauce.


Duck Confit on Mashed Potato, another popular choice, was what I had myself. The duck was roasted until it simply fell off the bone. The skin and a considerable layer of fat were also ready to melt in your mouth! It really reminded me of KFC's original recipe, and for those who know me that is a very high compliment. The only downside was the helping was a bit too large, and after about halfway through we started to tire of it. Nevertheless I would most certainly order it again to share.

Some more vegeterian stuff. Enough said.

Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream was the first of the delicious desserts. We ordered two of these and one each of the other five items on the menu. It was quite a typical lava cake, well done but not outstanding. (We still prefer the one at Wild Rocket on Mount Sophia)

Profiteroles were light pastry puffs with more vanilla ice cream.

The Lemon Tart had a very strong lemon tang, quite refreshing.

Crepe Flambed in Cointreau arrived aflame, although we didn't get the camera out quite in time to capture it. This was my personal favourite, and probably the most unique of the lot. The crepe still had the lingering taste of orange liquor, most delicious.

All in all, we spent just over $200 for six people, ate till we were ready to burst and the food was delicious. The lovely view of the river provided a great backdrop as well, perfect for that romantic date. I would certainly go back, and recommend everyone else to do so, especially while the 1-for-1 offer is still on.

Pichon French Restaurant & Bar

48 Boat Quay S(049837)

Tel: 6535 9135

Web: http://www.pichon.com.sg

buono

We celebrated Father's Day by bringing Father to Buono Bar and Ristorante for dinner. The restaurant is located just outside Serangoon Garden, buried in a private residential area. Once again, I have forgotten the cameras, but the food was really very good. We had

• Seafood Soup
• Escargots with Prawns
• Sliced Prawns with Calamari
• Buono Pizza
• Mixed Meat Skewers
• Ravioli Crustaceous (stuffed with crabs, clams, etc)
• Lava Cake

And all that for $130 to stuff four people. We thought it was really very reasonable.

Most memorable to me was the Seafood Soup and Buono Pizza, which were absolutely delicious and had us licking up every last drop and scrap. The soup was not too thick by extremely rich and flavourful; the pizza came smothered in a delightful creamy sauce. The others were very good too, apart from the skewers which were a bit on the dry side. All in all, this place is highly recommended, probably best for small groups rather than couples so you can try more stuff.

The wait staff weren't that great, perhaps because they were overwhelmed on Father's Day. But the chef came by to personally apologise, and also at various points to check that the food was ok. We gave him a big thumbs up.

Some links:

Asia Wine and Dine Review
Street Directory Food Advisor

just can't get enough jap

After our last visit to En Japanese Dining Bar, we were on the lookout for any opportunity to go back again before the 30% discount ran out. So today we celebrated two very very belated birthdays there. And this time we brought the camera, so here are 5000 words ...

Half-Cooked Tuna Salad

Grilled Skewers of Scallops and Minced Mushroom & Chicken

Agedeshi Tofu

Crab Fried Rice with Crab Sauce (Chef's Recommendation)

Plum Wine Jello Shots (Chef's Recommendation)

Suffice to say it was very yummy once again. Each dish was quite exceptional except the Teriyaki Unagi which was just normal (picture not included). The crab fried rice was not quite as great as our unagi fried rice the last time. And of course "jello shots" was not really in the menu.

japanese infatuation

"Tomorrow let's go for a proper date in a nice restaurant," I said. "It's been a while since we treated ourselves."

"But every dinner together is a nice date," she retorted. "It's the company, not the food, that is important."

At that moment we passed En Japanese Dining Bar, which had newly opened a branch in Crown Centre next to Coronation Plaza. The banner outside read "Opening 30% discount until 31 May". The date was 31 May, so I said, "Why don't you call them and if they are extending the discount we will go tomorrow." Turns out the discount was extended till 15 Jun, so we went. And loved it.

We ordered several items to share of the a la carte menu, and each one was magnificent. First there was the unagi fried rice, which came in a long log dish. The unagi must have been very well blended into the rice, because it was not noticable at a cursory glance. But once on the palate, the rich taste of eel just wafts over the taste buds, leaving you no doubt that the rice is indeed steeped in the fragrance of freshly stewed unagi.

Another fond memory is of the beef carpaccio, which came as thin slices of finely marbled beef. Some slices appeared almost milky white in appearance, and were so rich in fat they simply melted in the mouth.

Even an ordinary dish like agedeshi tofu came with an interesting topping that looked like turnip paste, but turned out to be some sort of tangy chilli. And the sashimi salad on lettuce came drizzled in a deliciously sour dressing that hinted at ginger and fermented tofu. Even a carnivore like I was tempted enough to down some of the greens.

We were really sad that we didn't have a camera for that meal. Usually we each carry one, but sadly we were both travelling light that day, so we could not capture the lovely presentation of each dish.

All in all, it was such a good meal that I just had to blog about it, and remind everyone that if they would like to have a good meal, the 30% offer is valid until 15 June. Better call to make a reservation, because the place is always packed!

En Japanese Dining Bar @ Bukit Timah Pte. Ltd.
557 Bt Timah Rd #01-14/16 Crown Centre Singapore 269694
Tel : 6468 5131

guide to malacca

I just spent the weekend in Malacca, and certainly it has been one of the best holidays I've had in recent memory. I use holiday in the classical sense, i.e. a day free from work that one may spend at leisure, and not the more modern visit to exotic city in foreign land with checklist of monuments to see, experiences to try and spoils to bring home. That kind of travel is not a holiday.Yes, it has been quite a blissful weekend. I have been to Malacca many times from childhood, so there is really little there that interests me apart from the food. And such food. So I thought I should share.

Recently there has been some hawker-bashing in the Singapore media about how our street food really isn't all that good. Well I can safely say the food in Malacca is better than most, if not all their competition in Singapore, and much cheaper.

Aided by two decades of childhood memories, I hereby present the paddychicken guide to Malacca - a weekend eating extravaganza. (Names, addresses and GPS coordinates are provided where available)

(If you aren't heading up to Malacca, you may wish to amuse yourself with something closer at hand by reading the paddychicken guide to Serangoon Garden instead.)

Breakfast/Lunch
Man Ting Siang Tim Sum Restaurant
45A Jln Ong Kim Wee
48 N 0193393 0243743
This is a really simple Chinese restaurant serving a small but very fresh selection of dim sum. I particularly enjoyed the Siew Mais and the Chee Cheong Fun, but everything was really good overall. Unfortunately, they were sold out of their specialty stewed pork buns (kong bak pau) and chicken feet by the time I got there. Two people stuffed themselves for RM19 ($8).

Bak Kut Teh
There is Bak Kut Teh all over Malacca, and I haven't yet eaten a bad one. They come in the Hokkien (clear with lots of ingredients) and Teochew (brown with lots of garlic) varieties. Some tried and tested places are:
Lim Kee Restaurant (Hokkien)
Lot 180, Jalan Laksamana Cheng Ho
-Family Favorite- (Teochew)
48 N 0194113 0242007
Unfortunately I forgot the name and address, but a GPS will take you right there. It is slightly east of Mahkota Parade.
Newton Hawker Centre (Teochew)
(see Supper)

Lunch
Hoe Kee Chicken Rice Ball
4 Jln Hang Jebat
48 N 0193954 0242913 (Carpark)
Located off Jonker St, this eatery has grown from a roadside stall to occupy several units, and dirty tables and stools have been replaced by impressive Chinese furniture. The ambience has improved much, and the food remains as good as ever. I'm actually not that impressed by the chicken (some of its immitators apparently do a better job), but the rice balls are delectable, the Assam Fish Curry is superb and they serve very nice soup and vegetables as well.

Dinner
Bei Zhan Restaurant
16 Jln Melaka Raya
The food here is so famous that you can find signs pointing towards it from the surrounding aread. And I'm not talking about billboards, I mean offical road signs! The specialty is braised pork ribs in buns, but they serve a variety of Asian food at very affordable prices. Best visited in large groups so you can order more stuff.
Sea Terrace
Stall No. 1, Portugese Settlement, Jalan D'Albuquerque
If you like Sambal, this is the place. With just two people, we feasted on Baked Fish, Sambal Kang Kong, Sambal Prawns and two Burned Crabs in salt and pepper. All for just RM80 ($35)!

Supper
Medan Selera Newton (Newton Hawker Centre)
Junction of Jln Parameswara and Jln Tamby Abdullah
Lots of lovely stalls here including satay, guo tie, bak kut teh and a delicious wine soup noodle.

Pineapple Tarts
Homemade Pineapple tarts also seem quite ubiquitous in Malacca. Here are some tried and tested places:
Makko Nonya Restaurant
123 Taman Melaka Raya
This restaurant is actually a family favorite too, but I personally don't like Nonya food.
Bee Bee
307A Jln Parameswara
This is a pineapple tart cottage industry (kind of like Lana Cake), serving tarts out of the backyard. Whether they have tarts for sale kind of depends on your luck.
Sea Terrace (see above)
They also have some lovely homemade tarts here, but a little more pricey.

Portugese Egg Tarts
Italy Bakery
155 Jln Bunga Raya
I have been on a Portugese Egg Tart quest for some time, and it continued on this trip. The custard in the tarts here is quite excellent, although the pastry is sadly on the tough side. Still, this is probably better than anything I have found in Singapore yet.

Disclaimer:
The above eateries are located all around Malacca, so don't try this without a car. Malacca is actually a very small city, and you can drive from end to end in maybe 20 minutes. But due to the monstrosity of one-way streets, some of which are not even marked on the map, do not be surprised if you find yourself at a cross junction looking down the wrong end of a one-way street. When this happens, curse, swear, and try your best to stay your course through dead reckoning.

garden fare

In my earlier post, I lamented the lack of food in the Northwest. I was accused of being too extreme in my geography, but I think my point that there is no good food still stands because I have yet to receive a suggestion of any good eating places in that vicinity. To prove another point - that not all ulu places have no food - I have decided to come up with the paddychicken guide to food in Serangoon Garden. This is one extremely inaccessible place which has pretty decent food. There is good food for any time of day - breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, supper and drinks. Here are just a few of my personal favorites:

Breakfast
Soon Huat's Pig Organ Soup
Serangoon Garden Market Stall 42
This stall serves an excellent blend of pig organ soup, along with pig trotters and other offals. You can easily find it from the long lines during breakfast or lunch. Closed on Mondays and in the evenings.
Garden Street Kway Chup
Serangoon Garden Market Stall 21
Probably the best kway chup I've ever eaten, this moved here from Blanco Court after several years' hiatus, as attested b numerous articles on the wall. Labelled by Makansutra as a hawker legend. Closed on Mondays.
R. K. Eating House Prata
Farleigh Avenue
The normal range of mushroom, cheese or banana pratas, fried to a delightful crisp. Open 24 hours.

Lunch
Jeffrey Ho Char Kway Teow
Ban Heng Eating House, Farleigh Avenue
Not exceptional, but certainly very decent for lovers of fried oily stuff. He also has an equally good variation of char bee hoon. And the drinks stall also has a superb Teh Bing.
Po Sin Chicken Rice
Cardon Restaurant and Confectionary, 52 Serangoon Garden Way
My all time favorite roast chicken rice. The special marinade gives the skin a succulent and delicious flavor. And we all know the skin is the best part.

Dinner
Pow Sing Restaurant 65 Serangoon Garden Way Undoubtedly my family's favorite place for good value and better food. Reservations are a must for the weekends. Specialties include otah, shrimp-paste chicken, black pepper venison and deep fried tofu. (homepage)

Dessert
Ice3
11 Kensington Park
Decent homemade ice cream with alcoholic toppings and a delightful ambience. (picture)
Happy Daze Cafe
11 Maju Avenue
Bring your pets for 10% discount at this very chill al fresco cafe. Board games, video games and a big TV complete the set for an evening of relaxation.

Supper
Chomp Chomp
If you don't know where this is, you don't know where Serangoon Garden is.
My favorite stall is the Hokkien Mee located at the rear of the centre. Beware the hoax - if they can deliver your food in less than thirty minutes between 7pm and 10pm, you're at the wrong stall. The chicken wings, satay beehoon and bbq seafood are also very good.

Drinks
Happy Daze Bar
9 Maju Avenue
Happy Daze stands out from the more than 20 other bars/pub/ktv establishments with its urban class and imported liquors. It feels like town, except for the pets in the cafe next door. It also has prices like town. Also check out Ambarella, a new snack bar on the rooftop directly opposite Happy Daze.

This brief survey is just intended as a starting point for what I consider to be some of the best food in this area, for residents and visitors alike. I have purposely left out franchises such as Katong Laksa, Sushi Tei, Cafe Cartel or Coffee Bean because if you've tried one you've tried them all; so why don't you try something new? Enjoy!

And if anyone knows of good food in the Northwest, please leave a note. Makansutra 2003/4 lists about 40 recommended establishments in the Bukit Batok/Chua Chu Kang/Bukit Timah region. Most of them are in Bukit Timah, concentrated in the 6th Avenue and Adam Road areas. There is one place in Chua Chu Kang, and seven in Bukit Batok. Pretty damn sad.

food for thought

Over lunch today, we lamented the dearth of good food in the north-west. I will be moving to that area to work soon, and apparently there just is no good food there. Just take a look at this special feature by Makansutra, showing the 15 Singapore Hawker Legends.



Do you see any in the West? Do you? Do you? I think Toa Payoh is about as far west as it gets. Or maybe Maxwell Market. This leads me to the distressing conclusion that all the good food is in the East. This is particularly sad for those of us in the West.

What I also find interesting is that many of these stalls are in famous hawker centres. Places like Maxwell Road or Old Airport Road or Serangoon Garden hawker centres seem to have a disproportionate amount of good food. This leads to the second conclusion that all the good food flocks together - and none of it is in the west. This makes us in the west damn sad, hungry and emaciated.

If I postulate that demand for good food should be distributed evenly across the island, why then is the supply of good food seemingly lumped into pockets, on the eastern side? Over both lunch and dinner, I posed this question to two friends, and they both tell me that the more good food in one place, the more people will go there. Apparently, Metcalfe's Law applies to food as well - if there is a variety of good food, there is an exponentially stronger draw because there is something for everyone and a variety of good food like satay or carrot cake will complement each other. However, in the case of foods that make up a meal by themself such as Bak Kut Teh or Chicken Rice or Hor Fun, this theory should not apply because they should be able to draw the crowds on their own. So there should still be stalls doling out good food and attracting crowds, even in ulu and nondescript coffee shops as long as they are within HDB estates.

We also learned in social studies that people will go to Sim Lim to buy computer parts or Queensway for shoes because there is more variety to choose from and prices to compare. But in the case of food, this doesn't apply because when you go to Serangoon Garden for Kway Chap, you know precisely which Kway Chap stall you are heading for, and anyway there is only one. So why does it matter whether the other stalls are any good?

My own theory is that a food abyss like the West should attract lots of hawkers, because there are tons of hungry people and nothing good to eat. So if you set up there by yourself, you may not have the pulling power to make people come all the way from Changi to eat your wonderful chicken rice, but you would already be surrounded by a vast hinterland of poor hungry souls who would make you a millionaire just by patronising your stall once a week.

It makes an awful lot of sense to me, why don't the hawkers see it that way?

Does anyone have food recommendation for the Western regions of the island?
(I know I'm just throwing this question to the wind because this blog only gets about 5 readers a day and two of them are probably me. Two more are overseas and have most likely never travelled further west than Clementi. But nevertheless helpful suggestions from the last guy would be very much appreciated.)

nights out

Today, instead of thoughts and feelings, I shall blog about food and drink.

Someone commented that I know a lot of places. I never thought much about it but I guess since I trade hangouts with a lot of friends, I've amassed a fair bit of experience. So I shall list some of my all-time favourite lesser-known places here.

Food
Via Mare (Spanish) - Good tapas and cheap wine
Mai Vietnamese (Vietnamese) - Best Pho and lots of other stuff
Bottletree Village (Seafood) - Ok food, chill ambience
Pow Sing (Hainanese) - Just great food all round
Cafe Iguana (Mexican) - Great food and cheap margaritas

Drink
Wine Bos - Great wines at low prices
Hideout - Great ambience and music, occasional live acts
Morton's Bar - Delectable Mortinis and steak sandwiches at happy hour

Dance
Cocco Latte (Hip Hop) - Good music, not as claustrophobic as other such haunts
Insomnia (Top 40) - Great live acts, very casual crowd