22 May 2011 - Tang Dian Wang

To start off, this day was one of the most agonizing ever. Randomly walked into Tang Dian Wang for dinner, and the experience alleviated things a little. Nice ambience, good lighting, seats were high-backed and well cushioned, and probably the best service he's encountered so far.

The service staff comprised of a mix of foreign talent, fondly termed FT, and they left a very good impression. Interacted with 4 different service staff throughout the meal, and found them to be very polite, their smiles also added to the comfort factor. Prompt to react, yet not clumsy like in many other Chinese restaurants. Even though they had decided to sit around after settling the bill, the service staff also willingly acceded to their request for more tea. Ok... let's head to the main dish now.

Snapped a picture of the "lanterns".


He got himself Live Prawn Soup, $10.80++.
Soup came boiling, and the water level went down really fast after a while, perhaps due to the noodles soaking it up. Prawns were probably fresh as the heads were still firmly stuck onto the prawns. The flesh was crunchy and did not stick to the meat, this made it easy for him to peel the prawns with just mouth and chopsticks. Also in the soup were bean sprouts which added bite to the noodles, pork slices and some vegetables.


She ordered Fresh Eel in Fish Bone Broth, $9.80++.
They were initially undecided about having snapper or unagi, until she went for the more familiar fish. Opted for flat glass noodles, and her soup contained button mushrooms, carrots and the clump of leafy vegetable.


Crispy Eggplant with Pork Floss, $3.80++.
First time eating deep fried eggplant, and it was really good. Crispy on the outside, fluffy soft on the inside. The pork floss added a savoury touch, but somehow it also felt like the dish had been treated to an uncalled-for sprinkling of salt.


Siew Mai Dumpling with Fish Roe, $3.80++.
Although it also contained shrimp, this paled in comparison to the ones he had at Old Hong Kong. The meat filling felt a little "old".


Shared dessert of Mango Cream with Pomelo, $4.20++.
The chilled mango soup was aptly sweet, with a tangy hint. In it were some mango bits and "tadpoles", which were fun to chew on.


Would return, thumbs up for the service rendered and the really fresh prawns. Shall also experiment frying eggplants this weekend.

05 November 2010 stew day

she bought some groceries the night before, and finished cooking them all the very next day.

unagi fried rice - a little soggy for rice, but the texture was soft enough to be passable as porridge. she remembered added some soy sauce, teriyaki sauce in the mix to achieve this. talk about "feel for cooking"...


stewed eggplant with bean sauce - slightly spicy, soft tender flesh. he prefers this to steamed ones that has texture like sponge.


later in the day, they went out shopping where she bought her lancome mascara, some tee shirts for him, and then ushered themselves into Pepper Lunch. they were having a promotion for some combos, and they opted for the rib-eye and beef stew set.

you've seen enough of the sizzling rib-eye before, now for an eyeful of the beef stew. (actually, the stomach had taken over the mind, and by the time he had realised, it was all too late...)

the last time he had this stew was dinner buffet at Hotel Rendezvous. loves how the meat falls apart, with some soft chewy tendons in between. not forgetting the carrots so soft you can pinch apart with delicate chopsticks, onions so sweet and the flavourful potato mash. he can hear his stomach growling again...

04 July 2010 - pork goulash and brinjal

the missus made her own version of goulash with yam, pork, carrots. the yam made the texture of the gravy thick and slightly powdery, and they ingredients blended much better than he had expected.


spicy brinjal - nice to have a change from the usual, not that he'd get sick of food so easily.

20 June 2010 - steamed brinjal

she always targets a few at the supermarket, yam, brinjal, mince pork, canned fish. this time, she got mince pork and brinjal.

steamed brinjal topped with mince meat - you've seen this countless of times, at least it's a healthier dish


plus some plain rice topped with sesame seasoning. sometimes, simplicity is bliss. (because you don't have to wash so many pots and pans)

homecooked stuff for the past week

渔香肉丝 - sweet and sour pork slices with carrots, shallots and green bell pepper, however, not the type of sweet and sour pork we know so well


bacon and beans - just can't resist bacon


steamed eggplant topped with braised pork cubes - this time round they got small and round baby eggplants which tasted a little bitter...

sweet, sour, salty pork ribs, brinjal and bittergourd soup 3 Feb 2010

chapalang pork ribs. these are sweet, salty and a little sour. cooked for a little too long (she said she wanted to seal in the flavour), and the meat became tough.


steamed brinjal topped with olive vegetables and pork floss - steamed for 15 minutes or so, but the brinjal tasted a lot drier than usual, not as enjoyable.


bittergourd soup - weird addition of carrot, but finished them up anyway

brinjal with mince beef and omelette rice 01 Feb 2010

fried omelette rice using the new frying pan - egg was too dry, but rice was just nice, as she added the condiments in a controlled manner, rather than throwing them in all at once without tasting.


brinjal with mince beef - she tried to deep fry the brinjal with a lot of oil, and after cooking, the oil seemed to have dried up. a very unhealthy meal awaiting...oil-charged brinjal with mince beef

lunch on 27 Jan 2010

took half day leave to settle some matters on 27 Jan 2010. reached home to see lunch ready on the table. wonderful.

steamed brinjal topped with preserved olive vegetables and pork floss. great with white rice, love the soft and tender texture of the steamed brinjal.


also had sweet potato mash for dessert. peeled, steamed and mashed, before adding butter to complete the dessert. simple but tasty.

brinjal with spiced pork cubes, asparagus with chicken thigh, rojak soup 26 Jan 2010

brinjal with spiced pork cubes - cut reasonably large chunks of the brinjal, scooped the pork cubes out of the can and layered onto the brinjal. put it to steam for 15 minutes. maybe you should try this one of these days, cheap to buy, simple to make, good to eat. any savoury topping would probably do.


asparagus with chicken thigh slices - this was the first try at color retention. peeled the asparagus and blanched for around 10 minutes, before setting them in cool water. chicken was marinated with salt, pepper and some corn flour. cooked till opaque in the wok before adding the asparagus for a quick stir-fry.


rojak soup - why? essence of chicken, pork ribs, corn, carrots, potatoes and celery were all used. somehow the sweetness of the corn was not evident in the soup, it smelt more of the chicken essence and a little bit of celery. carrot was cooked enough to be mashed easily by the tongue, oozing sweetness while at it.

$5 dinner of beef, brinjal and dace

bought groceries after work, again. got a can of fried dace in black beans, 2 brinjals, a bag of kangkong, and a piece of beef. decided that kangkong was for the next day, and started working on dinner.

she cut large chunks of the brinjal and placed them in a porcelain plate. the only brinjal he ever ate was with chilli paste, until she told him to open the can of dace, and started shredding and spreading the bits of dace onto the brinjal. not wanting to get his hands oily, he took a teaspoon and scooped the salted black beans onto the brinjal, and then drizzled it with the remaining oil in the can. set it to steam for 15 minutes.

steamed brinjal with fried dace in salted black beans. the can of dace is very salty on its own, but with the unseasoned brinjal, everything seemed to blend well. a refreshing way of eating the brinjal he loved so well.



the next thing he knew, he was being ordered to cut ginger, dice garlic and slice the beef. she did the marination of the beef with rice wine, kushiyaki sauce, and some rice flour. why rice flour? she said it was to lock the mixture to the beef, then hurried him to heat the wok and pour in sesame oil. fried the garlic and ginger on high until fragrant, then threw in the beef. added in blobs of oyster sauce when most of the beef looked cooked and stir-fried some more till satisfactory.

stir-fried beef in oyster sauce. he was a little upset that she objected to pan-frying with just the kushiyaki sauce, but this ended up tasting great. wife sometimes really works wonders, more frequent in recent. the potential in her seems to be awakening...