For more photos, please visit Rubbish Eat Rubbish Grow: http://rubbisheatrubbishgrow.wordpress.com/2011/10/21/hui-wei-chinese-thai-cuisine-回味中泰小廚-lavender-little-india/

This new stall at a usual coffeeshop is going to be featured on 煮炒来啰 (Sizzling Wok)–the TV show Pornsak is hosting–so we, kiasu Singaporeans and one PRC, just had had had to be the first to go there before it gets super crowded! I read a food blogger’s entry on the stall and she didn’t seem to be very enthusiastic about the food. But wow! the food was good! and quickly cheered me up! So warm for the tummy tum tum on a cool day!

The stall, situated in an old kopitiam, with lots of old uncles around–old neighbourhood mah, me ah beng like the atmosphere! so comfortable, can chew with mouth open—is near Lavender MRT and Jalan Besar Stadium, which kinda reminded me of 14K because he works nearby. :~( My emo tear.

The first dish was “美人鱼” eggplant or mermaid eggplant ($7). I know it doesn’t look 美 (pretty) right? BUT you’ll be blown away by the taste! Hookerlily’s favorite dish – so addictive! It reminded me a bit of honey lemon fried fish, but it was more sweet with just a very small tinge of sourish. It retained its crispiness throughout our meal and as crispy as potato chips. There was an aftertaste of dried chili in the mouth so you just feel like putting another piece in..and another piece…and another. It would go so well with beer! If only I drink. Ah Beng who don’t drink beer=#fail.

Boss told us that this is one of the three dishes he and the chef created themselves for the tv show 创意料理 (Creative Cooking). He didn’t say if they won, but if they didn’t win, then the winning team can be Michelin restaurant already.The second dish the chef and he created is Signature Fish Head ($15). Look at the humongous size of the fish head! For $15 only! I felt like we were robbing the stall. This was Chiobu’s favorite. She said the flesh was very tender and the sauce! OMG. It was so unique, this is the only place you can eat such a sauce. We asked the boss what sauce it was–so delicious and appetizing–he said it was blended vegetables with celery as the main ingredient. Chiobu said, “DON’T BLUFF ME! I’m chio, not stupid! Where got celery inside??”

I know some people dislike the taste of celery but do you know it takes more energy to disgest celery than the celery contains itself? and it fights cancer, high blood pressure AND bad breath! If all these reasons don’t convince you to eat celery, then this sauce will. It didn’t taste like celery at all. It had ZERO vegetable taste and was slightly limey, very slightly spicy, slightly sweet with just a very, very mild bitterness that most people won’t notice. It’s 酸甜苦辣 all in it! It’s like life! A very good way for difficult children to eat their vegetables. My whole collar of my t-shirt is wet as I am writing this entry because my saliva is dripping. Yummilicious!

Thai Styled fried cuttlefish ($7) on the menu… or calamari! After the two awesome dishes, Chiobu and Hookerlily were, “eh… so-so nia.” I kept quiet. Then they turned to look at me and I looked down at the table. They said, “Don’t tell me you like this dish!!!” Peer pressure leh! How to respond?

I’ll give you reasons why I like it. Thick flesh, little flour, not oily at all. And the accompanying sauce–which tasted like Indian rojak chili sauce–was hot. Come on! Which stall will actually cook a fresh batch of sauce for you??? How considerate was that! I agree that the squid by itself was a little bland, but it was a good contrast to the very flavorful first two dishes. It was really not bad, and in fact, it’s better than most mid-range restaurants, and Hookerlily agreed that it was better than Merry Men, a place she loves.

Chiobu suggested they should serve it with mayonnaise. Actually, it would be awesome if they can create a tom yum mayonnaise.

Fujian mian, or Hokkien noodles ($3). This was our least favorite–but then again, I never like Hokkien noodles. To us, it lacked salt (but 8 out of 10 Singaporeans eat too much salt so it’s good for us it’s not salty). But Mao Mao absolutely loved it. He said, “Mao Mao xi huan!!! (likes) Veri smell lice (fragrant) andz got many zhu you zha (lard).”

we voted and decided to give this stall a high rating. The food was fantastic. Even now 6 hours after eating, my tummy feels so cozy and warm, like snuggling under the blanket on a cold day.

For more photos, please visit Rubbish Eat Rubbish Grow: http://rubbisheatrubbishgrow.wordpress.com/2011/12/18/makeshake-little-india/When people go to gym, they drink protein shake. When I go, I make milk shake. Because I need motivation for suffering. Over time, I make a mean milk shake. That’s right, “my milkshake brings all the boys to the yard, damn right, they’re better than yours.” (please get the Kelis reference, thanks.)

What makes a good shake? 1. The fatter the milk, the fuller the taste. 2. Quality of ice cream (usually vanilla ice cream because this is just a base for the ice cream to match with other ingredients). 3. Throw in whatever ingredients you want. For gym, I throw in bananas, peanut butter and protein powder. 4. Blend the daylights out of the shake. Consistency is important.

At MakeShake, they make their own vanilla ice cream as base for the milkshake, so the ice cream is less sweet. This is a good move because when the ingredients are blended in, the milkshake would turn out to be sweet but not saccharinely so.

When you order, you just have to pick the ingredients you want to add into the vanilla base. Each ingredient costs $0.70. The combinations are limitless. There are choices of chocolate (Kit Kat, M&M, Kinder Bueno, etc), fruits (banana, long’an, etc), tea/coffee (earl gray is a favorite among adults). Teenagers and studentswould love to mix their own favors, they are more adventurous than working adults. If you don’t want to customize, the shop has a menu you can order from. For the menu, the small sizes cost $3.90 while the big cups cost $5.40.

Hot boys, Jasper Aston Lim and Saunders Shen, customized their shakes. Jasper had a earl gray milkshake, which tasted refreshing. Saunders Shen had a peanut butter one; I forgot the taste. I ordered the shake on the menu, Peanut Butter Sandwich, consisting of peanut butter, banana and dark chocolate fudge. It was awesome! It tasted exactly like peanut butter sandwich, you can bite the bits of peanut in it. I love thick stuff–Saunders doesn’t–and peanut butter thickens the ice cream, which is fine to me. But the shake could be smoother. And towards the end, like all milkshakes, it got a bit excessive.

Ambience: MakeShake takes over the space for the horrible Cottage Waffle Place, so this is a kiosk with some tables and chairs to sit. The only bad thing about the stall is the location, inaccessible for most people.

Overall, it’s nice and fun especially if you concoct your own mix.

For more photos, please visit Rubbish Eat Rubbish Grow: http://rubbisheatrubbishgrow.wordpress.com/2011/12/16/mellvin-seafood-restaurant-龙记海鲜螃蟹王-joo-chiat/

Joo Chiat is fast becoming the next Geylang. You know what red-light districts bring? AWESOME food. The second thing Joo Chiat is known for is quaint little boutique cafes and so we went to a cze char (煮炒, or cook-fry) coffeeshop. Naturally.

On a Friday night, the entire world was at Joo Chiat. So haps! There are a public carpark opposite the coffeeshop and legal parallel parking along the road but too few lots. Don’t illegal park; this is notorious summon area. You canpark at 112 Katong (newly opened) and walk down. But Iparked my lorry at Waraku, just beside 112 Katong because the car queue at 112 was ridiculous and this little princess doesn’t wait for anything. The good thing about parking a distance away is you can exercise before and after the meal. That’s how I maintain my hourglass figure.

Because of the bad traffic, by the time The Ex, Hookerlily, Mao Mao and I (Wise Guy) gathered, we were famished and could eat a shark, which we did.

XO Vegetables (XO小菜 $8). The manager told us that the chef ate this dish in Malaysia and brought it to Singapore. The Ex exclaimed, “Woah, so 厉害, so sharp, eat once only can replicate it.” It is quite similar to tempura: the vegetables–eggplant, ladyfingers, string beans and petai (stink beans or 臭豆)–are deep-fried before they are stir-fried with 美人鱼 (mermaid or plus-size ikan bilis/anchovies), dry scallop shreds, belachan (chili shrimp paste), and a tinge of tomato sauce.

Wise Guy found it unique, original and brave because many Chinese-Singaporeans don’t like to eat gooey vegetables–eggplant and ladyfingers–and this dish features both. However, because of the way the vegetables were cooked, the eggplant and ladyfingers were not at all gooey. Very smart. But Wise Guy thought the absorbent eggplant–who needs tampon?–was oily and The Ex suggested that it would be better if the eggplant were sliced thinner. Old Skool Mao Mao, however, said, “毛毛非常喜欢.” The reason Hookerlily and Mao Mao liked it is because the dish possessed a verykampong, homely feel and at the same time, complex. The flavors bounced off each other very well: the sweetness from the dry scallop, the spiciness from the belachan, and the earthliness of the vegetables. Hookerlily said the ladyfingers were perfect. While The Ex and I believed this dish was pleasing, Mao Mao and Hookerlily declared this was a “must-have.”

The Tofu Salad (沙拉豆腐 $10) is made of deep-fried home-made tofu, consisting of seafood paste and carrots, on top of green apple mayo salad on a cabbage leaf. While we appreciated how the shop tries to be innovative, Mao Mao preferred it to be hot, as hot as Wise Guy (very difficult); The Ex opined the green apple soured the dish; Wise Guy thought that the excess mayonnaise–both on the tofu and in the salad–is an overkill. Hookerlily was traumatized by mayonnaise in general because her mother pronounced it as bayonnaise.

The manager was apprehensive to introduce the Shark Head Cartilage Casserole to us because she said, “Young people cannot really appreciate the dish.” WOW, flattery gets her everywhere. Bring on the shark!

The thick gravy was still bubbling as it arrived. The fragrance was OMG mentally-torturing me as I controlled myself to take the photo.

Mao Mao: Hookerlily, you must eat more of this, full of collagen.
Wise Guy: What are you trying to imply, Mao Mao?
Yes! Shit-stirring scored!

Anyway, back to the dish. It was AWESOME. It reminded me of 盆菜, a casserole dish of seafood delicacies, a “must-have” during Chinese New Year. Obviously, this dish was slightly less sweet than 盆菜, having only shark cartilage. The nature of jelly cartilage had a slightly bitter taste, perceptible only to extremely sensitive tastebuds. But the way the dish was cooked, with the sauce penetrating deeply into the cartilage, made the cartilage so delicious. You must put the gravy over rice. Very, very savory. This dish is a winner, and we four all loved it.

We were confused over Prawn-paste Sea Cucumber (海参虾米 $15). The prawn paste, consisting of 虾米 (dried shrimps), minced pork and minced lard, is usually fried with string beans. Sea cucumber by itself has no taste and absorbs whatever sauce it’s cooked in. So, this sea cucumber dish tasted salty, spicy, porky and lardy. The conservative Ex didn’t like this radical dish. Mao Mao likes lard, so he liked this. Wise Guy was confused: at first he thought sea cucumber should taste more oceany, then he thought he shouldn’t be so inveterate and the dish was rather savory, addictive and the spicy (from small chili) and saltiness went very well with rice and then he vacillated between the two opinions he had. He obviously needs to see a shrink.Showstopper Curry Crab Bee Hoon. The manager said that people always order the shop’s two specialities, curry fish head and claypot crab clear broth bee hoon. The patrons would extract the bee hoon from the clear broth and add the curry over the bee hoon. The manager discussed it with the chef and ta-da! the 2-in-1 dish is born.

The best way to eat is to eat the crab first and let the bee hoon absorb the curry. Unlike other noodles, the thick bee hoon is a good choice because it won’t become soggy so it’s ok for it to soak.

The crab was amazingly sweet and fresh. After letting the bee hoon simmer in the pot, it got more and more delicious towards the end as the curry infused into the beehoon. The curry was rather spicy and had a kick. It was also very, very lip-smacking; you can taste the spices of lemongrass and curry leaves and the sweetness of the crab even in the heat of the curry. By the bottom of the cauldron, we were converts and all lovin’ it. This dish gets four out of four votes for a “must-have.”

The coffeeshop brews barley, lemon tea and lime juice with sour plum, the last of which goes well with curry.

There are places so competitive that if your food is not good, your shop will close in three months. Chinatown for one. Old Airport market, another. Joo Chiat is another place I can think of. On the outside, Mellvin looks like your average rundown coffeeshop. But the food aims to be innovative and the chef can whip up a wide range of food, each tasting different but equally delicious. We’d like to thank the friendly manager for her hospitality and her stories on how they concocted the food.

For photos, please visit Rubbish Eat Rubbish Grow: http://rubbisheatrubbishgrow.wordpress.com/2011/12/11/the-curry-wok-bukit-timah/

The decor is old-skool homely style with two tables along the corridor. As a neighbourhood eatery, the boss/server knows everyone and is very friendly. She recommended a few dishes to us.

Ngo hiang ($5). Wah, really quite solid. Not oily, crispy and you can really taste the home-cook-ness and hand-made-ness of this dish with slightly bigger piece of carrots to give it a sweetness and crunchiness. Very delicious – but can be less expensive?

Fish head Curry ($20) is their specialty. I prefer more sourish assam fish head but the boss/server told us that different people feedback-ed different things, so they adjust the curry to be half-assam, half-curry. The curry was quite robust but not very hot-spicy and the fish was fresh but not extremely fresh. Crowd-pleaser, everyone would love this. We drank up the curry and about 5000 calories.Normally, obedient Singaporeans would stop at two – but we don't live in the 80s anymore and Mr NGFL said he wanted to try the lor bah ($8) or braised pork and beancurd. This was the only dish we weren’t very satisfied because the pork was cold and wasn’t tender. However, the sauce was very flavorful, and had a kick.

Including rice ($2/bowl) and drinks, we spent a total of $44.

Overall, great unpretentious place with friendly service, serving the food at a quick pace. Delicious food that has a home-cooked quality. Definitely an eatery worth returning.

For more photos, please visit Rubbish Eat Rubbish Grow: http://rubbisheatrubbishgrow.wordpress.com/2011/12/01/bronte-bukit-timah/

Although Bronte isn’t named after the Bronte sisters, I think the meaning of “Bronte” (lightning) is very apt for this restaurant. It electrified me. Bronte is named after Bronte beach at Sydney Australia, a place where you get great food at a relaxed environment. This is exactly the philosophy of Bronte: casual dining with fine dining techniques.

But casualness doesn’t mean you can’t have taste! The decor exudes much sophistication, using lots of “raw” materials such as cement floor, wooden tables, and whitewashed brick-wall. A small window opens out to the kitchen, so you can see the team at work. Don’t you love the ramp at the entrance, making the restaurant wheelchair friendly?

Entrees:
Garlic crystal Bay prawns with rocket and char-grilled Turkish bread ($19). This dish didn’t come with just 3 prawns unlike fancy dining places; it came with at least 8-10 huge prawns. The char-grilled bread was incredibly crispy and delicious with butter melted into it. We dipped it in the buttery-wine sauce to soak up all the goodness. This dish tasted very Chinese, exactly like stirred-fried garlic prawn, but strangely, I didn’t have garlic breath, a dish safe for romantic dates. The bitter rocket, not only complimenting the creamy saltiness, made the dish more angmohized. This fusion dish truly reflects Australian culture, with the influence of Asian migration. I love dishes that tell the story of a culture.

I never understood the concept of Beef Carpaccio because I thought it was always just beef with rocket–what can go wrong except salmonella?–until now. But Chef Justin Wong–Australian-Chinese who worked at top restaurants in Australia such as Salt and Forty-one (see my review on Salt Singapore)–made the dish his own by adding shredded egg, capers, gherkins (pickle-like cucumber), rocket and blue cheese dressing. Hookerlily didn’t quite enjoy this but I thought it was awesome. It had an exquisite balance of flavors and texture, from the bitterness of the crunchy rocket, pungent scent of blue cheese dressing, vinegary taste of gherkins, and the meatiness of the beef. Everything on this plate worked perfectly. Chef Justin Wong made me “get” and understand the dish. I felt like I was having an education here!

Mains:
Braised beef cheeks with mashed potato, portobello mushroom, spinach and red wine sauce ($34). If I were an American Idol contestant, I’d always pick safe songs. That’s why when I go to restaurants, I always pick beef stew or braised beef cheeks. Nothing can go wrong. But out of so many beef cheeks I’ve eaten, Bronte’s has to be one of the better ones, if not the best. It was expected that the beef was smooth, soft and succulent. The mashed potato had more potato than butter, milk and cream, so you could really taste the “potato-ness” of it. The bitter spinach–a very Chinese vegetable–balanced the sweetness of the dish well. But what was truly original and surprising was the mushroom. It was so delicious it made me tear. The first taste you’ll get is the musky taste, which is immediately chased by a sweetness that the mushroom absorbs from the sauce. It’s like having heaven in your mouth. My only complaint is: WHY U NO GIVE MORE SHROOMS? If Chef Justin Wong were an American Idol contestant, the comments he’d received from Randy Jackson the Judge are, “You own the song, dog! You make the song yours.”Crispy skin shredded duck, potato gratin, spinach with orange infused carrot puree and prune jus. The aesthetics for this dish is insane! Is it extremely gorgeous or super extremely gorgeous?? I want to marry it. The bright orange puree with maroon prune sauce – stunning. The structure of the duck confit, spinach and gratin – such symmetry. Yes, I said duck confit. What Chef Justin Wong does is to make a duck confit, debone it, shred the flesh, then put it together with the skin, and pan-fry(?) it so that it joins together. So much effort just because he thinks it’s difficult for customers to eat with bone. How considerate!

What is truly amazing about this dish was how well the puree and the jus go so well together with the duck. The puree tasted exactly like the Khong Guan lemon biscuit and the prune jus wasn’t tart but had a pleasant mild berry sweetness. Imagine this: smooth, tender shredded duck, with a fat, juicy, crispy skin in Khong Guan lemony-bisuit and prune jus. We call this magic.

Desserts:

Good chefs don’t always make good desserts. Having such a wonderful meal so far, I was apprehensive that the curse would be true, that good main courses always mean bad desserts – but the curse is broken!

Kiwi and Passionfruit Pavlova ($8) is supposedly a specialty of Australia. It’s a meringue with a thin crisp crust with airy, ethereal cream(?) inside. When I ate it on its own, it tasted like vanilla-sugared air; the thing just evaporated within my mouth. But if you eat it with kiwi or passionfruit, it really takes up the citrusy flavor without competing with it.

Pistachio panna cotta with mixed berry compote ($8). I was tasting the pavlova and taking down notes, and I turned to the panna cotta – and Hookerlily nearly finished it already!! The texture was similar to Lao Ban Beancurd Jelly: they are solid outside, but in your mouth, they melt completely. The balance of cream, milk, sugar and vanilla was pitch perfect, the most, most perfect panna cotta ever. It was the right kind of sweetness.

I also realized the common thing between pavlova and panna cotta is they are a complimentary substance. If you dip the panna cotta in the berry compote, OMG, there are 712 kinds of awesome-ness in it! The panna cotta absorbs the compote. The compote is, of course, home-made and was super, super delicious. It didn’t have the acidic, sourish nature of berries but it wasn’t extremely sweet either. All things were in balance. Chef Wong should just bottle up the compote, open a factory and sell it as jam. Too bad Chef Wong said he would be replacing the compote with white wine jus. I will miss you berry berry much.

The one negative thing about this restaurant is the location. It’s difficult to get to if you don’t take a cab or drive. Luckily, I have my trusty rusty lorry! Such delish food should be in a better location.

This is truly an AMAZING restaurant, fast becoming one of my favorites. The food is so delicately balanced and exquisite yet simple and unpretentious; it’s so familiar yet at the same time, original. Sunday Roast (includes a dessert) is only $35 per person; and half price for children under 14.