Happy Hour @ Stereolounge

J and I met for Happy Hour and bar bites at Stereolounge in Pan Pacific before partying the night away in StereoLab some weeks back.

We love Lychee Martinis so we were thrilled that they were giving out free Lychee Martinis to ladies during Happy Hour! :)

Lychee Martinis

Here's a pic of my partially drunk Lychee Martini and J's freshly made Lychee Martini. I don't drink much alcoholic beverages but Lychee Martini is one of my favourite cocktails. The Lychee Martinis here were just the right balance of sweetness and alcohol. I liked it as it was easy on my palate without being cloyingly sweet nor intoxicatingly strong.

We love lychees too so we thought it was great that the bartenders were so generous with the lychees! Yippee!

Crispy Fried Whitebait @ S$10

We were hungry so we ordered some bar bites off the menu. We started with a platter of Crispy Fried Whitebait. It arrived tossed with some Arugula leaves and lightly-dusted with Paprika. The batter was light, crisp and not too greasy. The whitebait was moist, lightly seasoned and juicy. This is much better than the whitebait I had during lunch at The Queen & Mangosteen. The Whitebait here is a Must-Try!

Rosemary Beef Skewer @ S$14

Next we had a serving of Rosemary Beef Skewers. The succulent chunks of grilled beef had deliciously browned edges which added a smoky flavour that I love. I wished we had more but then we had to pace ourselves as we had more food on the way.

Mini Grilled Wagyu Beef Burger
Free during Happy Hours (6-8pm, Mondays to Fridays)

While waiting for our other dishes to arrive, we nibbled on Mini Grilled Wagyu Beef Burgers that were being given out free to all patrons during Happy Hour. They were deliciously moist and tasty.

Bellini

We made friends with a girl at the next table as she had seemed a little bored sitting there alone while waiting for her late friends to arrive. She told us that the Bellinis were pretty good too and they were being served free to ladies during Happy Hour. I was curious and had to try it. It was deliciously peachy though just a tad too sweet for me.

Cayenne-spiced Bechamel Chicken Baked Empanadas @ S$10

Next we had some baked empanadas. I've never had an empanada before but they seemed interesting. I wished there was a little more Cayenne Pepper in the Bechamel sauce to add more oomph but the juicy chicken chunks made up for my disappointment on the spice front. It was like eating a local curry puff with a creamy filling except the pastry was baked and thus offers a slightly healthier alternative to deep-fried curry puffs. I think I will give the other flavours a try the next time I visit.

Grilled Squid @ S$12

The Grilled Squid was awesome! The texture was the right balance of tenderness with a bit of bite without being too tough. The flavour of the squid was deliciously smoky and not overly salty. This is a Must-Try!

Mojito @ S$16

I needed a light and refreshing drink to end the meal and so I ordered a glass of Mojito. It didn't have as much mint or lime as I would have liked. I think the Berry Jammed Mojito (S$18) that I had the previous week would have been a better option. It's J's favourite drink at Stereolounge/Stereolab.

At about 9.30pm, the staff came around to affix admission stamps on all our wrists for complimentary entry into Stereolab. The party's just beginning...

Stereolounge / Stereolab

Ground Floor, Pan Pacific Singapore

7 Raffles Boulevard,

Singapore 039595

Telephone: +65 6337-0800

Email: reservations@stereolounge.sg

Stereolounge's Operating Hours:

Mondays to Fridays: 6pm till late

Saturdays & Sundays: 8pm till late

Happy Hour Promotion (Mondays to Fridays @ Stereolounge):
- Complimentary Mini Wagyu Beef Burgers from 6pm till 8pm
- 25% discount on all standard drinks from 6pm till 10pm
- Complimentary Watermelon / Lychee Martinis for Ladies from 6pm till 8pm

Stereolab's Operating Hours:
Wednesdays: 9pm till 3am
Fridays & Saturdays: 10pm till 4am
Cover: S$28 (includes 2 drinks)
Door Rules: Minimum Age of 21 years for ladies & 23 for men

Lunch @ Rosso Pizza, Munich

M wanted to bring me to her favourite pizzeria in Munich so we met for lunch at Rosso. M told me that the place was run by Italians and served the best pizzas in town at recession-friendly prices. The pizzeria was small but cosy and the service was very warm. What a pleasant place to have lunch at! I wish we had such places in Singapore.

Pizza Delizia @ EUR8.50

Bresaola (air-dried cured beef), Arugula (rocket) & Shaved Parmesan

I ordered the Pizza Delizia which came topped with Bresaola (air-dried cured beef), Arugula and Parmesan as I love cured meats, arugula and cheese. The thin crust was crisp on the outside which yielded to a soft interior when bitten into. I love thin crust pizzas because they offer a perfect balance of toppings vis-a-vis crust.

The awesome combination of thinly-sliced salty cured beef, peppery arugula and savoury parmesan shavings on a base of slightly tart but rich tomato sauce was most satisfying. I found myself polishing off the entire pizza without any problem.This is definitely a MUST-TRY!

Picante Salami & Ricotta Pizza @ EUR8.50

I tried a slice of M's Pizza. Though the toppings of this pizza are not as strong in flavour as mine, they did not pale in comparison as the rich flavour of tomato sauce (which wasn't exceedingly tart) went very well with the delicate flavour of the ricotta and the slightly salty and spicy flavour of the salami.

Latte Macchiato @ EUR2.60

I finished my meal with a perfectly made cup of Latte Macchiato. This was the best cup of coffee I ever had in the 10 days that I spent in Germany. Most of the coffees that I had in various coffee shops were too watered down to enjoy. They left a bitter taste in my mouth (literally and metaphorically) with an unsated yearning for a caffeine buzz.

The aromatic, robust yet not overly acidic nor watered down cup of latte at Rosso was a great pick-me-up that gloomy and rainy afternoon in Munich. If you love your coffee, this is definitely the place to check out. The coffee here is definitely a MUST-TRY!

Rosso

Bar-Pizza

Amelienstrasse 45,

80799 Munich

Germany

Tel: +49-089-2737-5653

Operating Hours:

Mondays to Saturdays: 8am to 10pm

Yorkshire Puddings & Pub Grub @ Queen & Mangosteen, VivoCity

During my last visit to Queen & Mangosteen, I wished I had sufficient tummy room to accomodate some Yorkshire Puddings.

Yorkshire Pudding with Gravy @ S$5

When C and I met for lunch at Queen & Mangosteen, I had to have the Yorkshire Puddings. The Yorkshire Puddings here were disappointing as they were bland, the crust was rubbery-hard and the centre was exceedingly dense. It's so tough to find a place that serves Yorkshire Puddings in Singapore, much less a decent one.

Gravy for the Yorkshire Puddings

Even the Caramelized Onion Gravy couldn't help the Yorkshire Puddings. Dense puddings dipped in heavy sauce made for a weighty combination that made us ponder the wisdom in taking in so much calories for a dish that barely seemed worth the trouble.

Fish & Chips with Curry Tartare Sauce @ S$14

During my last visit, the Beer Battered Fish were absolutely delicious with a light, crisp batter. This time around, the batter was soggy with oil that oozed out when we cut the fish. Though the fish was succulently sweet, it was marred by the oil-soaked batter.

Chips to go with the Fish

Like the Fish, the chips were not as crisp as I would have liked them. I think the person who did the frying probably didn't heat the oil up well enough.

Bangers & Mash @ S$26
served with Caramelized Onion Gravy

Bangers & Mash is one of my favourite comfort foods. They didn't serve Cumberland Sausages during this visit. In its place were 3 types of sausages, lamb, pork and spicy beef. I enjoyed the spicy beef sausage and pork sausage very much. We weren't too crazy about the lamb sausage as it had a pretty strong lamb-y odour. The mashed potatoes were moist and went well with the Caramelised Onion Gravy. The Onion Rings that topped the combo fared better than the Fish and Chips. This is a Must-Try!

The service staff were very attentive and came by a few times to ask how we were doing as well as to gather our feedback. I guess it was partly because there were only about 6 tables of customers and also because we told them to remove the Yorkshire Puddings when the other dishes arrived. We told them about the soggy fish, the bland and heavy Yorkshire Puddings and the less-than-crisp fries. They said that they would pass our feedback on to the kitchen staff. Sounds reasonable to me.

PS: This visit was on a Saturday afternoon so I didn't feel as much of a time pressure as I did on my previous visit.

Click here for my previous post on Queen & Mangosteen.

The Queen & Mangosteen
#01-106/107 VivoCity
1 Harbourfront Walk
Singapore 098585
(close to Lift Lobby E & Lift Lobby F)
Tel: +65 6376-9380
Email: enquiries@queenandmangosteen.com

Operating Hours:
Sundays to Thursdays: 11 am to midnight
Fridays, Saturdays & Eve of Public Holidays: 11 am to 1 am

Lim Chee Guan Bak Kwa's Grand Opening @ Ion Orchard

I was fortunate to have been invited by Lim Chee Guan to their Grand Opening Reception at Ion Orchard. Finally, there's an outlet in the heart of Orchard Road, which is far more accessible than the existing outlets in Chinatown. I hope this also means that the queues will be more bearable during Chinese New Year season.

The reception was interesting as there were samples of various culinary creations made using Bak Kwa (Chinese-Style Barbecued Pork Jerky) in addition to tea and wine pairing.

Though I am not crazy about smoked salmon, I liked this creation of Smoked Salmon with Bak Kwa XO Sauce very much. The salmon had a pleasantly oaky flavour and was not too salty. The rich flavour of the XO Sauce had a slight hint of sweetness and the bits of Bak Kwa in the sauce were not excessively tough.

Chef Robin from Marmalade Pantry explained to us that he had smoked the salmon with the use of a "smoking gun". Here he is firing up the gadget for his next batch.

At first glance, I thought this was Bak Kwa & Chinese Mushroom Risotto but Chef Robin explained that it was actually Steamed Rice with Bak Kwa Bits and Slices of Chinese Mushroom added to the pot in the middle of the cooking process. The rice had absorbed the flavours of the Bak Kwa and Chinese Mushroom, resulting in what seems like an easy peasy version of Chinese Claypot Rice (sans dark sauce).

The Crepes were a tad dry and rubbery, I guess because frozen crepes had been used in the preparation of this dish. Thankfully the rolls were small (cigar-sized), so they were pretty manageable.

This creation doesn't look too appealing but were Grissini (Breadsticks) coated with Mayonnaise and Pork Floss. It tasted like a crunchy version of Breadtalk's Signature Flosss Buns. Hmm...good idea.

Here's some Steamed Yam Cake made with Bak Kwa instead of Lap Cheong (Chinese Dried Sausages). The yam cake was delightfully soft and topping of Pork Floss added an interesting touch. Unfortunately the picture isn't terribly clear as Hungry Cow's slightly shaky hoof and my rather shaky paws proved too much of a challenge for my camera's Image Stabilizer. How do you like this "artistically" blurred picture? :P

Wan San Yang Tea Pavilion was offering samples of their tea. I liked the Rose Pu-Er Tea and the Royal Ti Kuan Yin because they were fragrant and had a delicate tang of tannins.

There was some wine being offered by Wine Tatler too but the counter was almost always too busy for me to sneak a shot.

I didn't stay for too long as I had to rush to the outlet to buy 3 packets of Bak Kwa before leaving. You see, I had told my mum that she could buy Bak Kwa from the Ion Orchard outlet in future. She said that I should check out the opening so I can "recce" the outlet's exact location and let her know how to find it. Then she reasoned that since I was already going to be there, I could easily pick up a few packets of Bak Kwa for home. Hmm...mum's as subtle as a sledgehammer. As this happens to be one of her favourite snacks, I obliged.

If you've never been to Ion Orchard before, the place is a maze but try to find your way down to Basement Level 4. The shop is located in the Food Hall area and is directly opposite Yami Yogurt.

Click here for my previous post on Lim Chee Guan's Bak Kwa.

Lim Chee Guan

Main Branch:
203 New Bridge Road,
Singapore 059429
(Chinatown MRT Exit A)
Tel: +65 6227-8302

Chinatown Branch:
1 Park Road,
#01-25 People's Park Complex,
Singapore 059108
(Chinatown MRT Exit C)
Tel: +65 6535-0927

Chinatown Branches Operating Hours: 9.30am to 8pm daily

Ion Orchard Branch:
2 Orchard Turn
#B4-37 Ion Orchard,
Singapore 238801
(+65) 6509 3776

Ion Orchard's Operating Hours: 10am - 10pm daily

Can Rice Save Your iPhone?

Hi everyone, apologies for the long radio silence as I've been totally swamped with work and various other activities. Plus, I am still working on kicking my addiction to "Restaurant City" on Facebook. Facebook is a terribly dangerous site because they have such mundane yet addictive games. First I suffered from a massive addiction to "Mafia Wars" to the extent that the poor cabbie has had to u-turn and drive back a full 10 minutes to my home amongst other things. Then it was "Vampire Wars", thankfully that didn't last too long because I was soon swept up in an obsessive "relationship" with "Restaurant City". *patting black panda eyes*

Now, this blog entry is not about food per se but about how I am attempting to use a staple food to "save" my iPhone after a "drowning incident".

A colleague of mine had sent a few of us an email with a tip on how to "save" a drowned iPhone or iPod Touch. The tip involved placing the drowned item into a bowl of uncooked rice, the author had advised readers to "soak" the iPhone in raw rice. I found the use of the word "soak" hilarious but couldn't get it out of my head for the rest of the day. So much for laughing at bad English, retribution was swift.

Remember the saying, "Careful what you wish for, lest it come true"? As Rhonda Byrne, author of "The Secret" would put it, whatever you think of will manifest itself because you "attracted" it.

Unfortunately for my iPhone and I, Law of Attraction or not, I'm such a scatterbrain that I'm an accident waiting to happen. Long story short, my musing that evening over the matter of rice being used to remove moisture from a soaked iPhone resulted in my spilling water onto my iPhone by accident and leaving it in a shallow bath for about half a minute before I realised what had happened. My instinct was to press the "power" button, the screen came on and then went off. Rats!!!

I guess I shall have to test if the tip works. I panicked and placed my iPhone in a pot with some raw rice, then realised that rice was getting into my earphone jack, which incidentally was dripping water as I tried to remove the rice granule. Double sh*t! I didn't realise that the water had gotten into the jack as I thought that the phone was partially protected by the case. Scolding myself for forgetting to cover the openings, I placed the phone into an organza bag.

Here's a picture of my "Rice" C U (a rice-based Intensive Care Unit). On day 2, I decided to buy some dessicants from Daiso and popped it into the pot. I had chosen a glass covered pot so I can peek ever so often at the "patient" whilst waiting a week (as prescribed by many forummers).

I "visited the patient" on Sunday, wondering if I should attempt to resurrect it from the dead. As my friend, Ed so eloquently put it: "Water coming out of the headphone jack is equivalent to vomitting blood". Thanks, dude, I feel so much better already!

A quick check of the dessicant bag showed that there had been quite a bit of moisture absorbed by the silica gel, I hope it was mostly from the ambient air.

Hmm...better wait out a week to prevent any more damage to the circuitry by putting a current through still moist components. So I buried my poor iPhone back under the rice, stuck more dessicants into the pot and decided to wait till tonight (day 7) to attempt an iPhone Resurrection. Failing which, I have a few more weeks till I'm eligible for my first year upgrade to the iPhone 3GS. Will keep you posted on the results of the 1 week "Rice" C U test.

Wish me luck!

Li Fa Minced Pork Noodles @ New Upper Changi Road

It's been quite a while since I last ate Minced Pork Noodles at  Bedok. My parents told me that the original outlet that we used to love doesn't serve up as delicious bowls of noodles as before but has been defeated by a competitor in the row behind them. I was curious and had to try the new stall. Walking towards the stall, I passed Hup Soon Fish Head Bee Hoon noodle stall. Hmm...should I eat both? In the interest of my health, weight and the health of my poor weighing scale, I decided to drop the double-carb thought.

Minced Pork Kway Teow Soup @ S$2.50

Ok, I know this looks like I had 2 bowls of noodles anyway but the picture above is that of my mum's bowl of rice noodle soup (kway teow soup). I love thin strands of kway teow and so in addition to stealing a shot, I stole a little spoonful of kway teow. The smooth strands slid down my throat like water down a luge slide. Though rice noodles are characteristically bland, the robust pork bone stock added a rich flavour to them.

Minced Pork Noodle Soup with Wanton @ S$3

This is a picture of my bowl of noodles (can barely be discerned beneath the surface of the soup). The golden brown dollop in the middle of the picture is a delectable mass of fried pork lard and garlic bits. These 2 elements added a sinful yet fragrant touch to the tasty broth. The dumplings (aka wanton) had a firm skin (unless you leave it to soak in the bowl) and the minced pork filling had the distinctive umami-filled flavour of fried dried flatfish. This is a Must-Try!

One of the things that I love about Singapore is how we can eat out inexpensively and yet still eat pretty well. Unfortunately, good hawkers are harder to come by these days so do try the noodles if you're in the vicinity.

Li Fa Minced Pork Noodles
Block 58 New Upper Changi Road
#01-168
Singapore 461058