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http://www.chubbybotakkoala.com/2016/01/golden-peony-cny2016.htmlChinese New Year is just around the corner, in welcoming the year of the Monkey, Chef Ku Keung, from Golden Peony ('GP') has prepared stunning spread to welcome the year of the Monkey.

We started with this year theme creation for Fortune Monkey Yu Sheng. Fortune Yu Sheng with Abalone, Hiramasa and Crispy Fish Skin. (风生水起; 嘻啦玛莎，鲍鱼, 金黄鱼皮金猴捞起). The one we had was the jumbo version, priced at the auspicious $888, which can feed between 30 to 40 pax. Something to consider if you are having a company CNY meal in Golden Peony.  Main ingredients include Harimasa, also known yellowtail amberjack, which have firm, silky texture and rich in flavour; Fresh and crunchy Abalone; Crispy fish skin coated with salted egg to add to the normal golden pillow. The sweet sauce was delicate to ensure that everyone can enjoy the Yu Sheng to the last bite without being overwhelmed.  

Of course, there is a smaller version of Yu Sheng available. Price starting from $68 for small (2 to 5 pax) and $128 for large (6 to 10 pax).

The elegance of dining in Golden Peony continued with Crispy Filo Swan filled with Foie Gras, Truffle and Minced Chicken. (天降横财 – 松露天鹅酥). An upgrade to the normal dim sum dish. Shaped in the form of the swan, it has a light buttery pastry that melts in your mouth. I personally like the rich velvety texture of the foie gras, which combine well with the minced chicken. The portion of the truffle slices are very generous as well. For me, one piece of this will not be enough. Canadian Sea Perch Roll with Lobster, Minced Shrimp and Fish Roe in Spinach Purée (财源滚滚 - 菠菜汁龙珠球). The lobster meat is wrapped by sea perch fillet, lightly seasoned which allow each of the ingredients to stand out. The fish roe provide a nice crunchy texture with a mini burst of explosion in your mouth. The subtle flavour Spinach puree provided a nice touch to this soup dish. Braised Abalone with ‘Monkey Head’ Mushroom, Fish Maw and Black Moss. (金猴献瑞 – 红焖发财鲍鱼猴头菇花胶). A superb robust gravy, thick and packs of flavour. The abalone was springy and crunchy, while the delicate fish maw nicely absorbs the gravy. The monkey head mushroom really soaked up the flavour, like a sponge transferring the gravy. It will be nice to have this dish with a bowl of steam rice. Roast Suckling Pig stuffed with Hainanese Chicken Rice (鸿运当头 – 沙皮海南鸡乳猪). The main attraction of this year CNY dinner at GP. The piggy is stuffed with one of Singapore iconic dish, Hainanese Chicken Rice. I like the crispy skin on the pig which has minimum amount of pig. The chicken rice is a little bit mushy, while the chicken thigh used to roll the rice is succulent. Each slices of the sucking pig is served with chilli sauce, sweet suckling pig sauce and mashed ginger. For desserts, Golden ‘Nian Gao’ with Sweet Potato and Yam Chilled Lemongrass Jelly with Aloe Vera and Jack Fruit in Sour Plum Juice. (阖家团圆 – 金薯芋头年糕拼菠萝蜜话梅芦荟冻). The chilled dessert is just refreshing, especially with the infusion of sour plum juice. Meanwhile the nian gao is sandwiched between sweet potato and yam provided a nostalgic feel of the CNY. Overall, it was a very good all round dining experience in Golden Peony. The Yu Sheng and dishes that uses traditional ingredients such as abalone and fish maw are nicely executed. Being innovative, Chef Ku Keung also pushes the boundary by stuffing the suckling pig dish with Singapore iconic dish. The use of Foie Gras, Truffle and Lobster provided the WOW factor in CNY dishes served in Golden Peony. Definitely a place to consider for this year CNY meal. Cheers!!

Thank you very much to Conrad Centennial Singapore for the tasting invitation.

Alright, we have just past by the Christmas and New Year festive period. Which means, we are more likely to have stuffed ourself silly and need a bit of respite before the Chinese New Year knocking in front of us. So if you feel like something healthy, low in calories or detoxing, you can consider DoSiRak. DoSiRak means lunch box in Korean. Set up by half-Korean, half-Singaporean brothers Edward and Eugene Chia in October 2014, DoSiRak re-introduces the healthier and modern version of age-old method of enjoying a traditional Korean lunch bowl usually comprising rice, a type of meat and a medley of vegetables before mixing in gochujang (Korean chilli sauce). If you are watching your weight, there is even a calories count on each mix and all the DoSiRak menu is less than 500 calories. DoSiRak also recognised by Health Promotion Board Singapore as Healthier Dining Partner. In DoSiRak, the lunch box is served in a look-a-like large size pint of ice cream container. The design of the container inspired from tiles normally used in Korea. The container are then filled up to 75% full to allow enough space to shake the ingredients. How about it, you get to play with your food and eat healthy at the same time. The ingredients in DoSiRak are prepared in the minimalist way. Vegetables are served raw or lightly blanched with minimum seasoning. Meat are cooked sous-vide to lock in the flavour. Best part, No MSG are used here, period. We started our tasting with Avocado sweet potato mix ($9.90). Ingredients include spinach, red cabbage, beansprouts, shittake, white radish. A normal menu will come with rice, however if want to skip the carbo, you can choose cauliflower rice ($3) as your base. At first, we tasted it without adding the gochujang. The ingredients tasted very natural. You can taste the sweetness of the sweet potato, a hint of bitterness from the spinach and red cabbage, together with the creaminess of avocado. The cauliflower rice has a similar texture to couscous, however it is lighter and fluffier compare to couscous.
We finally decided to #ShakeItUp. So you pour gochujang in to the mix. The gochujang works well to bind all the ingredients together. It is thick, sweet and spicy with a hint of vinegar at the same time, which works wonderfully to arouse your appetite. Next up is the Pumpkin Tofu ($8.90). A white rice base combined with enoki mushrooms, spinach, white radish, black beans and purple cabbage. The vegetables are lightly seasoned and allows the ingredients to speak for itself. I like the pumpkin, tofu and black bean in this dish. The finale was Smoked Duck with Cold Noodle as a base. Yup, now we finally tried some meat protein. The vegetables was corn, carrot, cabbage and mushrooms. As the thin and springy noodle already seasoned, you can actually skip the gochujang in this dish. Overall, DoSiRak really provide a good healthy meal with no fuss. As a foodie, we do need some holistic food once in a while. By the way, in the month of January to March 2016, DoSiRak is collaborating with The Food Bank Singapore launching a campaign at their China Square Outlet and EU Bizhub East outlets. It is to help raise funds for equipment that will help feed the underprivileged in Singapore. For every meal sold, DoSiRak will pledge $1 to directly fund this Fresh Food Truck. If customers would like to make additional donation to the fund, they may do so with any amount over DoSiRak Counters, and DoSiRak will reward large donors with a complimentary NuHoney beverage.

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http://www.chubbybotakkoala.com/2016/01/district-10-suntec-city.htmlDistrict 10 Bar and Grill, the new outlet by Bonta group that recently joined the line up of 3 other District 10 restaurants specialising in Best Dry Aged Meat. For those who are not familiar with Dry Aged Meat, it is the process used in ageing meat in a control temperature. Through the ageing process, the liquid from the meat will evaporate, connective tissue in the meat will slowly break down resulting a more intense and succulent a steak. We started the meal with our favourite burrata cheese. Puglia Burrata with Organic Cherry Tomato and Basil Bruschetta ($26). The burrata is creamy, think, subtle and melts in your mouth. It is nicely pair with the rocket salad and sweet cheery tomatoes. The balsamic vinaigrette does well to neutralise the richness of the burrata. A good start to the meal, it will be better with more tomatoes. Together with the salad, we were served complimentary sun-dried tomato homemade bread, to be dipped with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The bread has a crispy crust, soft, slightly dense centre part, infused with the sun-dried tomato. Our main meal was 600 gram of 45 days Home Dry Aged Corn Fed US Prime OP Rib ($20 per 100 gram). Cooked nicely to medium rare as per ordered finished off with sprinkle of rock salt. At first sight, you can see the meat has a dark bloody red colour due to the dry aged. We also notice that it looks slightly dry, absent of any excess meat jus. The outer part is slightly charred, however the meat is still tender and after a few bites it will slowly dissipate in your mouth. Yum Yum! But if you like you steak juicy, bouncy with beautiful marbling, dry aged steak might not be for you. For the sauce we choose red wine sauce and salt infused herb. We find the salt infused herb more suitable with the steak. Sides to go with the steak Rosemary and Garlic Fries ($10) and Sautéed Cream Baby Spinach ($10). Fries was crisp on the outside while moist in the inside. The fries are subtly infused with garlic and rosemary flavour. The baby spinach was nicely cooked, not soggy, creamy with a hint of bitterness. Finished off with a few shavings of parmesan cheese for flavour. Dessert was Crème Brulee ($16). The crème was solid, slightly dense with a good creaminess to it. The crisp top of the crème brulee at District 10 uses fine brown sugar instead of coarse brown sugar. Resulting the caramel part thinner, and you don't get that satisfying crack when you dig into the crème burlee. It is simply lack of the shiokness. As District 10 is also a bar, you definitely can get your type of drinks here. I ordered Virgin Mojito ($10) to end the meal. It provide a bitter refreshing taste to end the meal. Located outside Tower 2, District 10 has two seating area, indoor and outdoor. The indoor seating is very small and can only accommodate up to 35 pax only. The dining setting look a bit like a modern butchery with dark wooden furniture. Instead of using table cloth, it uses white paper to cover the table, with District 10 logo chopped on it. Overall, it was an unique experience dining at District 10 @ Suntect City. The Dry Aged Beef sure taste different compare to our normal steak. If you ask me to choose, I still prefer my bloody and juicy rib eye with lots of marbling. However, it is good to try something different from time to time. Cheers!!

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http://www.chubbybotakkoala.com/2015/12/joyden-treasures.htmlJoyden Treasures ('JT') is the third eatery opened under Joyden Concepts. While this group has been in the F&B industries for more than 20 years, the Joyden Concepts was launched by the second generation in 2013. It started with the transformation of their seafood restaurant from West Coast Seafood to Joyden Seafood. Followed with the opening of Joyden Canton Kitchen in 2014 at HillV2 and Joyden Treasures at Leisure Park Kallang in October 2015. Each of the establishments has different focus, while JT aim to bring back the nostalgic taste of classic Singapore cuisines. These dishes were long lost either due to the complex and time consuming preparation needed. Besides that, the owners of Joyden also include a selection of their family recipe with a refine touch.

We started the tasting with Double-Boiled Seafood Soup in Old Cucumber ($14). This traditional Cantonese soup dish definitely bring back some memories during my time in Melbourne. One of the soup dish that my wife will order to wet our appetite. Ingredients include fish maw, mushroom, scallops, abalone and prawn dumpling. Though the broth is robust, I find it a bit wanting. It is missing the sweetness of from the seafood in the broth and the sliced abalone was still hard. I think the broth need to be cook longer before it is steam with the old cucumber, so the essence of the seafood can be extracted. Phoenix Beancurd Skin Prawn Roll ($16/22/30). A unique presentation of prawn wrapped in beancurd skin. The combination of prawns, salted eggs, century eggs work well with the crispy beancurd skin. It is crunchy and springy. Best of all they use real salted eggs instead of the powder version going around nowadays. Definitely deliver on the taste and texture. YUM. Original Steamed Red Grouper in Homemade Soy Bean Broth (market price). Ok, this is the first time I see or even try steam fish with soy bean broth. It looks like the fish is having a soya milk bath. The grouper was fresh, firm texture, while light in flavour which can be misinterpreted as bland. You must eat the fish together with the soy bean broth and fried enoki mushroom for the intended taste and texture. What I can say that it will remind you of milky fish head soup broth. As the dish uses made-from-scratch soya milk, there are some earthy taste in the broth. A unique steam fish dish, but I am not sure if my taste buds are agreeable with it. Crispy Fragrant Duck with Petite Lotus Buns ($58). While other restaurant will serve you Peking Duck or Roast Duck, JT come out with a Deep Fried Duck. It is similar to the dish popular in Sichuan. The whole duck was gently simmer with herbs and spices, before being deep fried to produce crispy skin and seal the juice in the duck. The service staff will bring the duck to the table and skilfully shredded the duck in full view of the customers. To eat this, you need to make yourself a “duck bao”. Put the combination of meat and skin in between the lotus bun, add a dollop of sambal orange sauce and topped with the sliced pickled papaya and fresh cucumber. The duck thigh meat was succulent, infused with the fragrant herbs and spices. The duck skin is crispy like crackling, binded with sweet and spicy orange sauce. The pickled papaya provided a nice balance to offset any jelakness (overwhelming flavour) from too much meat. Yum Yum!! On the side note, I actually added the achar into my “duck bao” and it was just delish. The breast meat was a tad dry for my liking though. Jumbo Prawns in Traditional Dark Sauce ($26/36/52). From the offset, this dish remind me of Indonesian style of BBQ prawns. At JT, the jumbo prawns was deep fried, then tossed with fragrant sesame base dark soya sauce. The prawn is fresh, crunchy with crispy skin. The sauce was so good, you will need some steam rice to polish it up. I will call this a “rice thief” dish at JT. Drawing from the expertise of Joyden Seafood, come the dish of Traditional Salt Baked Crab (market price). Different type of salt was wok fried with spices before the mix pored and cover the whole Sri Lankan Crab. It is then baked at low heat for half an hour. The thickness of the crab exoskeleton provide a good buffer between the salt and the flesh. You can still taste the fresh, silky and sweet flavour of the crab meat. The downside of baking it in salt is the meat in the body of the crab was a touch dry. Any accidental touch of the salt on the exoskeleton, will send you grabbing for your drinks. Surprisingly, one of the most memorable dish during the tasting is JT Brown Sugar Ma-La-Gao ($4.20) The malagao was light and fluffy, with the hint of sweetness from the brown sugar. It was such a irresistible dish, I almost polish off one serving on my own. Of course traditional desserts won't be complete without Traditional Yam Puree with Pumpkin and Gingko ($16/26/36, $6 per bowl), also known as Orh Nee. The orh nee was fragrant of smooth. Spring onion oil and lard was lightly added to the dish. For texture, chopped water chestnuts, steam pumpkin slices and ginko nuts was added. There is no coconut milk in JT version of orh nee, only sugary syrup. It was pretty good and I will probably enjoy it more if I was not so stuffed. During the desserts, the service staff also change our tea from pu-er to jasmine. The jasmine tea added an extra fragrance to the desserts served.

Located on the second floor of Kallang Leisure Park, JT is the largest Joyden Concepts outlet to date. It is airy and bright, and uses light pine wood to spruce up the environment. There is also aquarium for live seafood, so you know the seafood served here are fresh. Overall, The Malagao, Jumbo Prawns in Traditional Dark Sauce and Crispy Fragrant Duck with Petite Lotus Buns definitely got my vote this time around. I am sure I will be back to try their dim sum and the rest of the dishes on offer here. So if you are looking for something new, give Joyden Treasures a try. Cheers!!

Thank you very much to Joyden Treasure Team for the tasting invitation.

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http://www.chubbybotakkoala.com/2015/12/murphys.htmlFish & Chips ('F&C') brought me back to my memories during my high school in Melbourne. A good plate of fish and chips always have three characteristics: Light and crisp batter; Fresh, flaky and juicy fish; Of course mountains of fries. It is kind of difficult to get a pretty decent F&C here, they either use lower quality fish to maintain the cost down or charged pretty high.

I can't remember when I saw Murphy's in the media post featuring F&C shop in the heartland. A quick google, I found the location. Apparently it is not that far from my office. So I decided to drop by for my usual after 2 pm late lunch. Located near Cheng San Market and Food Centre, in Ang Mo Kio. It took me a while to find the restaurant as it was facing the big carpark behind the Anderson Secondary School, instead of the market. The décor was minimalistic with a rustic feel. The overall feel of the cafe / restaurant is very cosy.

I ordered Murphy's Fish and Chips ($16) and Crispy Wings ($10). There was a lunch promotion from Tuesday to Thursday, a free drink with any order of a main. FYI, food need to be ordered and paid at the counter and the food will be served to you. First impression, F&C looks like a pretty good portion for $16. Cut through fish, the batter was light and crispy. There was no residual oil on the plates from frying. You can see the smoke ozzing out from the fish meat. I noticed that the fish was pretty firm. When I bit into it, it was flaky, nicely seasoned and not fishy. Apparently they used Arrowtooth fish from Canada that gave this amazing texture instead of the usual of dory or sutchi. I actually finished the whole fish without using any sauce (Yup, I did not even bother with the tartar sauce). For the chips, it was thick, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Before your hand grab a hold of the tomato sauce or chilli sauce, try to eat the chips like the Brit, with vinegar. They offer the balsamic and white vinegar. This is actually good to reduce the overwhelming flavour of eating too much fried stuff. The salad with balsamic vinegar on the side was also very refreshing.

Crispy Wings reminded me of McWings. There was 8 pieces, combination of mid wings and drumlets. The thick seasoned batter was crispy, sealed the juice in the meat. It is a bit spicy for the kids, but adults will definitely like it. I was pretty stuffed with the F&C so only managed to eat 2 pieces and packed the balance.For the FOC Drink, I decided to order Artisan All Natural Ginger Ale by Reeds (normal price $6 per bottle). A pretty unique flavour, with a solid kick from the ale. Apparently there is no preservative, so its even better.Service was friendly and prompt. I had a chat with Darrem, the person in charge that day and I honestly gave him my feedback. The Fish and Chips were excellent, comparable to the high end establishment in town. While Murphy's only charged $16, those in town will charge $28 and above. So if you are a Fish and Chips fans like me, you must give Murphy's a try. Cheers!!