Traveling Chomps: Sweet Endings at Canele

Where: Singapore (Paragon Shopping Center - Orchard Road)
Specialty: Dessert, Chocolate, Cake, Macarons

I discovered Canelé Pâtisserie Chocolaterie at Paragon Shopping Center (basement) on my last trip. I love their variety of cake, macarons and such. Being centrally located on Orchard Road, it's easy to stop by after shopping. We headed here after dinner at Tatsuya which is right across the street. Yes, the fruit was insufficient to satisfy my sweet tooth :P

The shop is small but there are several tables where you can sit and enjoy some coffee and cake.



Feeling rather guilty, P and I shared a Green Tea Mousse:


Chomp Meter:
One of the better dessert cafes in Singapore. Canele stands out because the desserts are aesthetically appealing in addition to delivering on taste and packaging.


Canele Patisserie Chocolaterie
290 Orchard Road,
#B1-25 Paragon,
Singapore 238859
Telephone: (65) 6733-8893

There are also Canele outlets at Raffles City Shopping Center, Shaw Center, and Robertson Walk.

Traveling Chomps: Black Pepper Crabs at Eng Seng

Where: Singapore (East Coast Area)
Tell the cabbie it is off Still Road in Joo Chiat)

Specialty: Black pepper crabs

Black Pepper Crabs are the less famous cousin of Singapore's famed chili crabs but equally delicious!

Craving crabs, we headed to Eng Seng Coffee Shop/ Restaurant. Don't be deceived by the name, a coffee shop in Singapore is a slightly more glamorous version of a hawker store. The food is extremely authentic (clean, I haven't had problems) and it's the place locals go for good food.


The Coffee Shop (L) The Hor Fun (R) - Eat it with the vinegar-ed green chili that the serve together with the dish.

We ordered 2 crabs (black pepper style), a flat noodle dish (seafood "hor fun"), and a stir fried veggie dish between the 3 of us. I wasn't expecting much from the crabs since I'd eaten there a year ago and wasn't impressed. This time however, I found the crabs to be yummier than ever! I'm suspecting it's because the restaurant has waned in popularity leaving the chef more time to focus on whipping up good crab :P We didn't even have to wait for a table ...

The crabs were juicy and delicious. The black pepper sauce was very thick and rich (almost buttery) which went nicely with the sweet crab meat. MMM heaven .... YUM!

Black pepper crabs, a must for every foodie!


Chomp Meter:
A must go stop the next time I'm in town. Experience local food at its best, this is what Singapore is all about! There is a minimum order of 2 crabs. They offer 2 styles, black pepper and chili, though the pepper is their signature dish. The crabs run about SGD $40 for 2. Cooked dishes are about SGD$10 per plate. There are several other popular crab places that are all the rage now but IMO Eng Seng is great now because the food is good without the crowds and attitude (well less anyway).

Oh yes, remember to bring the Kleenex, crab eating is messy business :)

Eng Seng Restaurant
241 Joo Chiat Place
Singapore
(East Coast - Joo Chiat)

Traveling Chomps: Sushi at Tatsuya

Where: Singapore (Orchard Road)
Specialty: Authentic, top quality sushi and sashimi

According to my friends G and V, Tatsuya Japanese Restaurant is THE place to go for authentic fresh sushi in Singapore. They'd promised to take me here when I was last in town but I ended up having to take a rain check. I made it a point to go this time round however!

We decided to do the sushi/sashimi omakase. Due to the size of our party, we had to sit at a table so the omakase experience was slightly watered down though still excellent. Also we didn't have any cooked food which I will have to try another time.

We started off with an appetizer of ikura. It was served with a sweet ponzu sauce (I think?) which enhanced the flavor of the roe.



First out was the sashimi course. Beautifully presented and super fresh:


The second course was sushi, some of it seared. All excellent, though the most memorable for me was the seared shrimp. Partially raw and seared with a sweet teriyaki sauce, DELICIOUS.

Sushi Part I:


Next up was another sushi course. I was really quite full at this point but pushed on. Good sushi though nothing spectacular. The chef was prolly out of ideas by now hehe. One of the items was abalone which is a delicacy in these parts. It was good but I wasn't blown away.

Finally we finished off with a salmon skin handroll. It didn't look that appetizing but was actually really good! The pieces of salmon skin were fried perfectly and was a nice contrast to the roll.


Sushi Part II - Squarish one is the abalone (L) Hand roll (R)

The meal ended with some fruit. Persimmon and melon. I was very impressed with the persimmon (Hachiya so it is soft). It was perfectly ripe and the texture was wonderful. It totally melts in your mouth. A perfect ending ....




Chomp Meter:
This is a top notch sushi joint. The owner, Ronnie Chia, gets his produce directly from Japan in order to ensure quality and authenticity. The restaurant serves a balance of both traditional pieces as well as more creative ones. Tatsuya is also the only restaurant in Singapore that serves Matsusaka beef (step aside Wagyu!). Of course none of this comes cheap, our sushi omakase was SGD$250 per head. We felt it was worth every penny, well most of it anyway :)

A suggestion for Tatsuya's would be to have the wait staff introduce the dish before serving. It was a mystery at times trying to guess what we were served ...

And head to Canele for dessert!

Tatsuya Japanese Restaurant (New Location)
22 Scotts Road (Goodwood Park Hotel)
Singapore 228221
Tel: 6737 1160

Park Hotel Location (Will close in December 2008)
270 Orchard Road
#01-05 Park Hotel Orchard

Traveling Chomps: The Singapore Ritual - Katong Laksa

I'm in Singapore for a couple days and this is the ONE dish I absolutely have to eat every time I'm in town: Katong Laksa!



You may have seen it on the menus of some Southeast Asian restaurants in the Boston area. More recently Lisa from Top Chef also attempted to make laksa and failed miserably (*snigger*). But IMO, none of them get it right.

Singapore is where you need to have this dish. Laksa originates from South East Asia, more specifically Singapore and Malaysia. It grew out of local Malay cooking mixed with Chinese elements brought by the influx of merchants in the 1800s and the intertwining of cultures.

Now back to the food. Laksa is most easily described as a curry noodle dish, but it is so much more than that. The broth is rich, coconut-y, sweet yet savory, and served with rice noodles, bean sprouts, shrimp and fish cake.

I may be biased, but the best Laksa is from 328 Katong Laksa. A quirk is that the dish is served only with a spoon and no chopsticks. You see, the cook wants you to taste the broth with every bite. Something chopsticks will not allow!

Mmmmmm divine! Careful though, it's spicy ...



Chomp Meter:
Five Chomps of course. How could I give any less? This hawker stall is a quick 20 minute cab ride from the city center but if you want authentic, this is absolutely worth the journey. Hawker food in Singapore is cheap too. A bowl of laksa will set you back only US$2.50. Oh and did I mention being a Katong home girl ;)

Bookmark this store for your next South East Asian vacation!


328 Famous Katong Laksa
216 East Coast Rd., Singapore
9732 8163
9 a.m.-9 p.m.

Zoe's Chinese Restaurant Review - Somerville, MA

Zoe's Chinese Restaurant is an authentic Sichuan restaurant in Somerville. In case you're wondering about the name, (gee, Zoe's doesn't sound Chinese?) it is actually named for the owner's daughter, Zoe. The restaurant is a little run down on the outside but the food is excellent.

The waiting area:


A local haunt for Chinese students in Cambridge (we were brought here by a friend from Sichuan), Zoe's is on par with the other Sichuan restaurants in the area like Sichuan Garden and Sichuan Gourmet.

My favorite dish at Zoe's is the tea smoked mushrooms with pork (cha shu gu?). I haven't seen the latter dish at any other Sichuan restaurant in town. The tea mushrooms are really long, a little crunchy, and stir fried with shredded pork. I love the texture hehe though I don't know if it's for everyone. I can't seem to find the name of the dish online but I think it's near the bottom of the page on the menu in the pork section.

Some other dishes we usually get are the double cooked pork, hot and sour sliced potatoes with chili peppers, fish fillet in chili sauce (water cooked?), and the tea smoked duck.

Here's what we had when we were there recently. There's the tea smoked mushrooms on the right, the beefy looking dish is tripes, and the last dish is the braised fish Sichuan Style.


Chomp Meter:
Oh Yum! Bring on the spicy stuff. Where Zoe shines is of course the more authentic dishes. Try what I've recommended above, or ask the servers for recommendations. Be adventurous!

Zoe's Gourmet Chinese Restaurant
289 Beacon St
Somerville, MA 02143
(617) 864-6265

Herrell's Ice Cream Blog Review - Havard Square

When the kiddos came to visit, we took them to Herrell's Ice Cream in Harvard Square for ice cream. This was more out of convenience than anything since we were shopping in the area and had to bribe them to keep pace after a couple hours :)

The kids loved the ice cream though I don't think they'd ever say ice cream is bad! Being fascinated with Twinkies (indefinite shelf life and all) and having a soft spot for cake, I got the Twinkie flavor. It was good enough, cake batter ice cream with bits of Twinkie.



Chomp Meter: The ice cream is good enough and they're open late so it's an option for after dinner dessert in Harvard Square. Like any good broken record, I have to repeat that Finale is over rated (good concept?) and frankly not very good and L.A. Burdicks closes at 10pm.

Harvard Square
15 Dunster Street
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
(617) 497-2179

Hours: Sunday-Thursday, 10:00 A.M. - Midnight.
Friday and Saturday, 10:00 A.M. - 1:00 A.M.
Cold season: seven days a week, 11:00 AM - Midnight

In N Out ! - My First Visit

My west coast friends rave about In N Out and while I've been to California many times now, I've never actually been to one until recently.

I had no idea what to expect at In N Out, all I'd heard about was that there are only 4 or 5 items to choose from and the existence of a "secret" menu.

The inside of In N Out reminded me of a 50s diner, similar to Johnny Rockets minus the checkered tiles. See, it's true:


It was a pleasant surprise that the cheeseburger and fries I ordered were really delicious. The burger comes conveniently wrapped and compact so you can hold it. Unlike the usual fast food burgers, the In-N-Out one also comes with lots of lettuce and tomatoes and its own special sauce (tastes like thousand island). Juicy and delicious!



I should also mention that the prices are very reasonable. Where else can you get a cheeseburger for $2?!

Chomp Meter:
Hmmm should I admit to liking a chain much less a fast food joint? Will that affect my street cred as a food blogger hehe? Though to be fair In N Out is excellent for what it is. Fast food that's fresh at reasonable prices. Don't expect gourmet Kobe beef burgers or something. Though Kobe beef really shouldn't be eaten in burger form. Ok sorry off topic!

Oh and the fries are also made from real potatoes which is always a plus in my book. I verified this as I peered into the In-N-Out kitchen. Lo and behold, I saw a guy slicing REAL potatoes with a very cool machine! It's really quite fascinating ...

Stop by if you're ever in California (Nevada, Arizona or Utah)! In-N-Out owns their own meat packing plants so it's unlikely that you'd ever find one on the East Coast.