{Review} ABC Brickworks

The first time I popped by to ABC Brickworks Food Centre, it was National Day. ‘Lo and behold most of the shops were shut for the day, including Fatty Cheong’s. Coming across this recommendation at one of ieat‘s forums, I decided that I just had to have my fair share of proteins from this place. The man and I got luckier on our second visit and this time there was a snaking queue right in front of the stall. I have come to learnt that in Singapore, long queue = great stuff. So judging by the line of humans, this place must be awesome.

Witness the glistening saucy sheen atop the mountain of rice. Does that not look short of crazy awesome to you? The roast duck was really good with crispy skin and thoroughly seasoned flesh. The fat was also almost completely rendered off in the roasting process. The roast pork was equally good stuff. Crispy cracking and smooth flesh left me wanting more! Of course, what would be roast pork without the fats right? Not! I restrained myself from gobbling down the artery-clogging stuff and it was still really good. That does say something, doesn’t it?

The man had Fatty Cheong’s famous char siew – the fatty version. I snuck a piece from his plate and I have to say it was hands down one of the yummiest char siew’s I’ve had in this little island. Juicy, flavoursome and carrying the slightest of charred goodness, this is the epitome of char siew. Since it was that good, I was forbidden to have more in fear that there would be none left on the man’s plate. Ha!

The man disappeared for a while and came back with two nice-looking bowls of iced-desserts. For his man-belly was a mango and lychee shaved-ice. The report was that it was pretty tasty and does just the trick to wash down the greasy fatty meal.

Unbeknownst to me, the man actually went and got me the star of Jin Jin Hot/Cold Dessert – the Cendol. The syrup was thicker than usual, almost treacle-like, and of course the aroma of Gula Melaka gave the entire dessert a huge plus point. The rest of the dessert was a medley of shaved ice, coconut milk and green squiggly cendol. It was good but the next time I’m in town, I would really want to have the Gangster – the awesome marriage of mango and durian! Pwhoah!

Fatty Cheong |ABC Brickworks Food Centre, 6 Jln Bukit Merah, #01-120 | (65) 94281983

Jin Jin Dessert | ABC Brickworks Food Centre, 6 Jalan Bukit Merah, #01-20 | (65) 94788733

{Review} Haramiya @ Central

An accidental find this one. We were trampling around Tanjong Pagar then towards Chinatown and finally ending up in Clarke Quay without the slightest inkling of what to have for dinner – don’t you just hate these kind of days, so I put my foot down and turned into the first handy eatery. Hence, we ended up here.

At first glance, I thought it was Japanese. Well, to be fair ‘Japanese BBQ’ or something along the lines was advertised. However, subsequently poring through the menu, I realized that the place leaned more towards Korean than its counterpart across the strait.

First up to the tasting table was a little bowl of salad. It was salad…so I didn’t have much to say about it.

The man’s set meal was the Pork Karubi set which came with miso, rice, chapjae and some sort of jelly/pudding-type dessert.

Taking a closer look at the ‘japchae’, well it looked and tasted more like fried tanghoon (mungbean noodles) instead. A pity they chose to do away with the cellophane noodles. It was a mini plate of tasty fried tanghoon anyhow.

My Sundubu jjiggae came soon after. I got really excited finding at least ten mini clams in the bubbling soup. Even more exciting was finding half a crab buried underneath the loaded stew!

Even more exciting was the meat that we chose for the grill. Here was the man’s Karubi – pork short ribs – with a little button mushroom and a sliver of pumpkin.

Plus another side order of Wagyu. Ooooh! And it was the size of two of my palms and a bit more. Me love red meat.

Steak sizzling on the pristine grill. It’s always handy to have someone fighting to grill your dinner.

And serve it up on your plate all nicely cut up into bite-sized pieces. Look at that perfect pink! The steak was really good, especially after dipping slightly in the restaurant’s purported secret sauce. The Karubi was meltingly tender too and was gone all too quickly off the plate.

I could have done with a bit more food but as we only started eating at 9pm, my system was way out of whack. Hence, the nice and proper serving sizes were just right for my rioting gastric space.

To cool things down a bit, we headed down to Marble Slab Creamery for our customary Big Dipper Plain Waffle frozen dairy fix. This time, it was the Swiss Cocoa Buttercup. Life is good.

Haramiya Japanese BBQ | 6 Eu Tong Sen Street #3-87, The Central, Singapore | (65) 6534 9468

Marble Slab Creamery | 6 Eu Tong Sen Street #01-27, The Central, Singapore | (65) 6224 4278

Awe

My mum’s pride and joy.

Correction.

That line was supposed to be intended for me. But look at these gorgeous beauties. Mum has been waiting for them to flower for years. Thought that I should share this wonderful creation to celebrate the end of another week.

Melaka: Of Satay Celup and a sweet ending

Let me introduce you to Satay Celup. Directly translated from the Malay language, satay – as everyone is familiar with – are just meat skewers whereas ‘celup’ means the act of dipping. In this awesome case, it comprises of dipping all sorts of skewered goodness into a bubbling hot pot of satay sauce. Gasp!

Of course, there is a catch to all good food and that is the queue. So for the second time in a day, we were queuing up for food. Only this time, it was raining, damp and humid. Much better than the sweltering heat earlier in the day though. As some connoisseurs may already have noticed, this satay celup shop was not the most popular choice but we resorted to its nearest competitor as Capitol, situated a few doors down, was closed for the weekend.

As patrons took their time savouring their meal, the rest of us waited patiently outside the shop and down the street. It was about 40 minutes later that we got a table to ourselves.

The process was very simple really. We sat down at a metal-topped table with a hole in the middle housing a gas stove underneath. The wait staff would then promptly plonk a large hot pot three quarters filled with hot peanuty satay sauce. The stove will be turned on the feast begins.

There were about half a dozen full-length fridges chuck full of skewers, some priced as cheap as 50 cents per stick. There was an array of vegetables, seafood, meats and all sorts of skewerable edibles. Out of this lot here, some of my favourites were the quail eggs and the fried Chinese doughnut. I have to give it to these guys to come up with the yew char kueh as a ‘satay’ item. Such ingenuity!

The fried dough was magic at absorbing the satay sauce, rendering every mouthful a chewy peanut-laden spicy punch of flavour. And best of all, it was one of the cheapest items available. Ha!

Behold the best satay celup stick of all time: the kangkung. I truly believe that the kangkung exists for one purpose and one purpose only, and that is to marry belacan. Boy was I wrong. Being a hollow-stemmed vegetable, the kangkung was excellent in collecting the satay sauce within the vegetable and like the fried doughnut, packs bags of flavour. Unlike the fried doughnut, the kangkung was crisp and crunchy after being dipped and cooked in the pot. I had no issues gobbling down two full sticks of this amazing form of fibre. The only problem was making a mess of myself as it was near impossible to chew through such a huge ball of vegetable.

After washing down the satay celup with some Ginseng Chrysanthemum tea, we headed back to Jonker Walk for another night of market fun. And eating of course.

As we arrived much earlier than the previous night, there were reasonably more stuff around to poke about. The same stall selling muah chee from the other night actually sold various Nyonya Kueh as well. The collapsible table was laden with colourful traditional kuehs and I have to say, I have never seen most of them before.

Kuih Talam and Kuih Serimuka were household names for me but it was quite strange to see them looking so different here in Melaka. The Kuih Talam that I am familiar with has a rounded dome with a layer each of coconut milk, pandan and Gula Melaka. However, this one was…blue. My favoured Serimuka has a pandan custard layer on top with a glutinous rice layer sitting at the bottom. The ones they were selling actually had three layers. Gee, Melaka sure is different.

There was also a black glutinous rice one which looked interesting and turned out tasting the best out of the lot that we bought – we bought one of everything. It was sticky and sweet, as a proper kueh should be. The pandan complemented the glutinous rice very well to give it some fragrance. This was a good kueh though I couldn’t say the same for the rest that we bought.

As we were strolling down the street, I couldn’t help but notice the many old shopfronts sporting intricate carvings and designs that were distinctly Peranakan in origin. I thought they were very pretty and was glad that they were maintained in mint condition.

Next to line my stomach was a fantastic durian apom balik. Apom balik is a type of crispy pancake, usually filled with crushed peanuts and sugar. This durian version was the vendor’s own rendition of the popular snack and it worked very well indeed. I think it was due to the generous uncle using fresh durian pulp in the filling. Oh I was on cloud nine.

We were back at Jonker88 before long and to our delight, there were more desserts available at this earlier time. The man opted for a melon cendol. Not a fan of melons myself, I found this quite average.

My durian cendol, on the other hand, was another story. It was an entire ode to its own. Man I love durians! This was an incredible medley of finely shaved ice, drizzled with Gula Melaka and plopped with durian pulp. It was a truly yummy delicacy dedicated to durian lovers. My only qualm was I wished that they had been even more generous with the durian.

I just realized that this was the first picture of (part of) my face on this blog. Teehee. Hello. The plastic tray of cutesies strategically blocking the rest of my face was Kuih Pee Tie. It is a truly Peranakan delicacy. I think Pee Tie translates to ‘Top Hat’. It’s basically a molded fried shell with lots of different fillings ranging from yam cubes, seafood, vermicelli, peanuts to all sorts of vegetables. We had two each of a chicken and egg, a prawn, and a crabstick Pee Tie.

It was yum. The picture says it all.

Nearing the end of the street was a temporary stage with a whole bunch of auties and uncles line dancing. So cute!

We also stumbled upon a replica of the world’s largest pineapple tart! HA! It was 32 inches wide and weighed a whopping 35kg, much heavier than some of the undernourished people that I see day to day.

After crossing paths with the gigantic pineapple tart, we were drawn to the wafting smells of fresh normal sized variety. It was a tosser between the flower-shaped ones or the rolled-up ones.

And we got the rolled-up ones because they just came out of the oven. These babies were buttery, sweet and sticky. Just what a good pineapple tart should be. We bought three big boxes full between us and left happily with thinner wallets and hideously full bellies.

Melaka, you have been good to us. We will be back!

 

Melaka: A ball of a time with chicken rice!

Day two of Melaka saw us up too early for a holiday. There was a reason for that: Chicken Rice Balls. Getting there pre-lunch hour proved to be not early enough as there was already a line snaking along the sidewalk, wrapping around parked cars and ending at a very entrepreneurous drink cart. Armed with umbrellas and a cold drink from the cart, the heat was not keeping the waves of hungry people away.

A quarter of an hour later, we were in pretty much the same position we started with. The only consolation was that we were earlier than even more people lining up behind us. After about 40 minutes wait we were ushered into the shop after ordering at the doorstep.

Sitting quietly on the table was a big jar of chili. This, my friends, has got to be one of the best chilis I’ve had with all my chicken rice meals.  The sweet crushed red chili packing a punch of heat laced by pungent garlic and fragrant ginger were perfectly balanced. I could have just the chicken rice with this chili and be content.

Our half chicken arrived swiftly. It must have been a small chicken. The flesh was sweet and tender though a tad dry. A passable steamed chicken dish though I’ve had much better ones.

And then the rice balls came. They’re basically like any normal chicken rice, cooked with chicken fat and some garlic-ginger paste, but molded into really cute little balls. I don’t quite understand the appeal of having them in this form but I have to say it was really fun to eat.

And so we had half a chicken and fifteen balls between us. And it was dirt cheap. I have to say the meal was mediocre in terms of taste, except the stupendous chili of course, but it was worth a try just for the experience of it. Go for the chili I’d say!

It was well past lunch time when we finished our meal and lo’ and behold the queue! There must be a lot of lazybums waking up a bit later on a holiday, I presume. Boy am I glad that I have a very vigilant travel partner whom dragged me out of bed nice and early.

We had a leisure walk around town after lunch to burn off some calories and clear up stomach space for our next culinary invasion. Caught sight of some historic ruins along the roadside and thought that they were pretty cool indeed.

Lots of buildings were painted red. I think this one was the Old Melaka Islamic Building, along the way towards the A Famosa Fort. It was a very peaceful stroll alongside structures of brimming with history. This was where our people began. Our roots, our culture.

It was an amazing feeling.

Taking a page from our history books, here is the very famous surviving gate of the A Famosa Fort. It is one of the oldest European structures left standing in Asia. The immediate word that pops to mind was ‘Albuquerque’ which stood for ‘Alfonso de Albuquerque’, the commanding officer during the era of the Dutch vs Portuguese. Yeah, I aced history in high school. It was good to reminisce the good times though, and admire the sheer strength of bricks and stone that withstood the wear and tear of time and history.

Well, that certainly changed the tone of a food review. Why don’t we end things with a dash of whimsy?

Drum roll

Behold the trishaw! Yes, it plays loud Malay rock music too.

Melaka

The beauty of living in Singapore is that this little island is in such an amazing location. It’s your ticket to the world. For one of the long weekends, I chose a little quaint slice of the world by taking a cheap 5-hour bus ride across the border and up north towards Melaka.

Some people call it Malacca but I prefer the more traditional version, Melaka. My last trip here with my family was easily a decade ago. I could remember quiet streets, quaint shop lots and of course, the famed delicacies. It was the echo of Chicken Rice Balls, Satay Celup and Cendol that tugged at the heartstrings, prompting a not-quite spontaneous trip to this heritage city.

Arriving well past our scheduled time with a bursting bladder attributed to being stuck at the causeway connecting Singapore and Johor, the man and I dumped our bags after check-in and headed out for some fuel.

Jalan Hang Jebat, or more popularly known as Jonker Walk, is one of Melaka’s main tourist drawcards. Our hotel was a fair twenty minute’s walk from the famed stretch and much to our delight at the end of the trek, we found bright lights and throngs of people. We had a night market on our hands. Whee~

At the very first little stall we were drawn to something close to my heart – muah chee. Watching the vendor slice into the rice flour dough on a bed of crushed peanuts and sugar was a blast from the past. I distinctly remember the crowds and craziness of my two Malaysian Carnivals in Adelaide selling muah chee. Oh what joy and fun! The man being a big fan bought a little flimsy cup with RM3.

Cheap sticky peanuty goodness. We polished it off on our foray deeper into the whimsical market.

Landing ourselves at Jonker88 Mueseum Cafe, we knew what we wanted to have for dinner in a heartbeat. After placing our orders, we took the chance to take in our surroundings.

High ceilings, dark creepy second-floor indoor balconies, antique clocks, framed memorabilia set the scene for this wonderfully quirky shop.

First to arrive was the fish soup noodles, one of the only two dishes left at 8.30pm as everything else was sold out. It was very light and tasty without the dreaded fishiness of some icky fish-based soups. Generous chunks of fish, adequately sized prawns, bouncy fishballs and two huge pieces of tofu skin joined smooth noodles in the bowl. It was indeed a very good belly-warmer.

The showstopper of the night was this little baby here. The Nyonya Assam Laksa. Having not done my research for Melaka, I didn’t know that this was one of their up-there dishes to try and we were in a spot of luck as this was the only other option left on the menu apart from the fish soup.

Oh boy.

It was kick-ass astronomical. The ingredients were identical to the previous bowl of very good noodles and therein ends the similarities. The Nyonya Assam laksa had a ruthlessly angry red soup with chunks of mackerel swimming about. It was spicy, tangy and downright funky. Sitting low in the heat-o-meter, the man loved it but thought it was too spicy for his tender buds and I happily downed the bowl of furiously appetizing noodles, hellish-looking broth and all. Fist-pump!

With a full-belly and reasonably less cranky, we shared a bowl of cendol to cool things down a bit after the eventful laksa. Forgive me for not taking note of what type of cendol this one was, I was too busy chowing. A ball of crushed ice was topped with preserved mango then drizzled with cherry syrup, evaporated milk and Gula Melaka. It was a sweet ending to a great meal.

Moseying our way to the end of Jonker Walk, we found ourselves facing a monument of epic proportions – pun intended.  This guy was the city’s hero. Statues and busts of this guy was virtually everywhere and here we have one of the biggest ones right in front of his gym/training centre. This huge statue of a massively blown-up ripped body in a skimpy pair of undies with a Frosty Boy-lookalike head had me almost busting my spleen laughing. I’m sorry. I couldn’t help it, no disrespect to the good citizens of Melaka. 

Making our way back through the market again, we picked up these Hokkaido cheese cakes from a very friendly vendor, who happen to be very fascinated with my beloved Sarawak state. One of the cakes was injected with mango cream while the other had custard. Both made good snacks during the walk.

Capping off our first half-day in Melaka, we had a nice little stroll by the picturesque Melaka river along with many other visitors dotting the waterfront. A light breeze and some fresh air did wonders to our wrung out working-class souls.

Pot of luck

Potlucks were all the rage with the gang of gluttons back in Adelaide, when sharing a meal with friends strengthened the bonds and stirred the gossip pools, when food from home has to come from our own kitchens as restaurants were ridiculously priced. It was a great event to have potlucks. The girls challenged themselves with new and more complicated dishes; the boys were under pressure to come up with anything at all. Ah, good times.

As a testament to our Adelaide times, we had a potluck right here in Singapore with mostly the same old gang, save one who is currently based in Hong Kong. To kick start our feast, we had a whole roasted duck from Ubi. I am clueless as to where in Ubi but this duck was magnificent! The skin was roasted to crispy perfection and the flesh underneath was seasoned-through and so tender. Luckily for us, there were only less than a dozen of us to fight over one big duck.

Next up was a pot of gold in the form of delicious home-cooked curry chicken with potatoes. I absolutely love the powdery soft cubes of potatoes boiled to death in a bubbling pot of shockingly red curry, completely infused with all the awesome flavours of Indian spices. The chicken was really good too, yielding and falling off the bone at the slightest touch.

The other chicken dish was a very traditional red yeast rice chicken. A very popular confinement dish, the red yeast rice gives the bright red colour to the chicken and usually some Chinese rice wine is added while cooking, giving it a very delicious punch and kick. This really made me miss my grandma’s cooking.

This baby has no name. Similar to the Hakka abacus seeds, this was an invention of a friend’s very talented mum. The starch component was actually ‘dried’ porridge. The process of making this particular item boggles the brain, I couldn’t keep up when Talented Mum was rattling off the recipe. All I caught was to stir-fry them with garlic, shallots and mushrooms. Yum anyhoos. And that concludes our savoury portion of the night.

On to the desserts and I have to say there were plenty as we were a bunch of sweet teeth. Another of Talented Mum’s creations, this was a Cheng Teng. Chuck full of white fungus, ginko nuts, goji berries, longan fruit and, I believe, barley, this dessert was served ladled from a huge pot into dainty little bowls. As someone that did not grow up with Cheng Teng, and hence has zero inkling for it, I actually loved it! Another kudos to Talented Mum.

Tiramisu graced the table next. Being at home, we all happily dug into the dessert without a care in the world with our spoons. HA! Gooey and boozy goodness with a caffeine kick!

This was a magnificent piece of heaven in the form of coconut, apple and banana bits encased in buttery crusty pastry. Full stop.

These are also little bites of heaven. Saucy chocolate in crumbly pastry. They were literally orgasmic. Apparently they were not only easy on the palate, they were also very lenient on the wallets. They were from a little shop near Teo Heng KTV studio in Katong. That would be all the information I have. Forgive me will you? I’m new.

Of course, the desserts galore continued. With this very nice, very fluffy, very pandan-y chiffon cake from Bengawan Solo. Man it was good. At this point we were very close to bursting our waistlines but since we were already at a point of no return, why not stretch it with some very flavourful Rum and Raisin ice-cream? After all, ice-cream melts into the cracks anyway.

To finish off, we razed through a bowl of strawberries and decided to call it a night. Whew. We survived.