11/6/13-11/13/13:Singapore, Singapore
What makes the city as a great culinary food city? My answer would be you can find tasty great foods in all the price ranges. Japan is perfect example, there're heaps of Michelin grade world class fine dining restaurants, but also bunch of tasty appetite for destruction on the budget eatery. I extremely miss a great sushi in Japan, but same time I miss Japanese snacks, ramen noodle & Donburi(rice bowl) which I munched on my school days. Singapore is just like Japan, you could find bunch of great foods in a variety of price range. Man.... I wish I can live here one day!
This was my 2nd visit to Singapore since CJWDT'11 mini Asian tour.... this time unfortunately I can't set up any stage. Due to one year no income Mr.chef culinary metal vagabond(a bitter smile) , I didn't dine 'upper' class food scene. But I always believe class "B" food(I hate grading the food though..... great fried chicken=great caviar dish, working for 3 star doesn't make you better than chefs working in bistro) is the reflection of local food culture where kids, students, young professionals and old people all enjoying the foods. Viva, CJWDT hawker tour in SIngapore'13'!!
Munch N' Inspiration
Hainanese chicken: The national dish of Singapore, how could I pass by? I know one chef did risotto with it and the rice could be puffed, cracked up, pureed... play around with it. BUT.... I have some kinda weird feeling Hainanese chicken should stay in "the format" like sushi should be sushi, this is not the dish shouldn't change too much. So if I do flippin' freakin' N' flapping with this national dish, I just add some touch of 'fruit' or 'flower' flavor. Basically curing/compress the breast and infusing the chicken broth. Banana? Rose? Orange? Jalapeno? Artichoke? Mmm....
Chai tow kway: Carrot cake withtout carrot, actually it's daikon scramble. Be honest, I'm not huge fan of it, BUT... I can see the possibility in steam radish cake. The recipe I found is dead simple, 1# shredded daikon, 2 cup of water with 2 cup of rice flour. I'm assuming once I learn the consistency, I could probably try with other roots vegetables such as beets, jicama & parsnip. The cake would be use like gnocchi and I would mix with konjac to make contrast in the texture. It would be a good vegetarian alternative.
Rojak: This is one of my personal favorite dishes at Singaporean hawker foods. According to my research, the dressing is typically made of shrimp paste, crushed red chili, palm sugar, lemon jus, tamarind and peanuts. It's really going well with many crunchy vegetables such as cucumber, jicama, bean sprouts, youtiao and I particularly love pineapple with it. I can see it serving with some steam fish such as cod, halibut & snapper. I would brushed the rojak dressing on the fish and put small undressed crunchy vegetable on the fish like the garden.
Bak kut teh: This deep peppery complex tea broth bring really sophisticated flavor. The broth is perfect to go with rice & rib, it's pure perfect package. But let's see... this Bak kuh teh broth with shredded rib would be nice with roasted mushroom(matsutake....... "GASP", killer!!), oyster and also agedashi(deep-fried tofu)..... I see lots of possibility to use. I can also see Yuzu kosho would nice for finishing touch as well. My final answer for b.k.t. dish would be crispy pork belly, chicharron & jelly fish with Bak kut teh broth a la Com hem(Vietnamese clam rice)!! Sprinkle of Sancho pepper to spice up, good to go ..... Give me the kitchen.............NOW!!!!
Kaya toast: What's ur most favorite bread spread? For me it used to be chunky peanuts butter VS nutella until I came to Singapore on CJWDT'11 mini Asian tour. It depends on my mode of the day, but kaya cream got into one of 3 champion spreads of the world! Oh, the worst spread would be Vegemite!!! I love Australia though.... Anyway... there's one personal "must eat" dish in Las vegas, which is called honey toast from Ichiza restaurant. Later I knew it's quite popular dessert in Japan, it's whole toasted crispy loaf of white bread(or brioche), hollowed out the middle and stuffed with jumbo scoop of ice cream, fruit, whipped cream & sweet goodies inside, then drizzle with honey. You can see the picture above, it's cold x hot x crispy triple treasure pleasure devilicious!! With kaya cream...... SPEECHLESS!!!
Singapore restaurants:
http://www.tipplingclub.com
Singapore culinary web links:
http://danielfooddiary.com
http://www.expatliving.sg/
CJWDT'13 Euphoriania grand tour, one last stop to Oceania....... Jakarta, Indonesia NEXT!!!