Serangoon Gardens Bakery and Confectionary: Good old Curry Buns!

Luncheon Meat Buns

As with many things in life, the simple things are often the best. When it comes to soft buns, we Singaporeans have been spoilt for choice since Breadtalk started the trend of the fancy soft buns years ago. Before that, we were all quite happy with our curry buns, hot dog buns, coconut buns and luncheon meat buns. Since then, we now have buns with seaweed, pork floss, walnuts and all sorts of exotic ingredients, a lot of which you will never come across in your friendly neighbourhood Aunty Lucy supermarket.(NTUC)

But you know, often I buy these fancy buns only to find that it looked better than it actually tastes. Just last week I discovered that my favourite Japanese Bakery chain, Yamazaki has now opened a store in Tampines One. I used to buy my breads from Yamazaki when I was living in Thailand and they have a big round soft bun which they slice up which was fantastic. Unfortunately they don't have this in Singapore. So I ended up buying some fancy apple and custard bun that cost $2. I brought it home and prepared my Teh Si Siu Dai with much anticipation only to find that the out of the $2 spent, $1.50 accounted for visual appeal. After discounting 30 cents for satiety, I think I only derived 20 cents of gustatory satisfaction. Aiyah, KFC -- Thailand better, Yamazaki -- Thailand also better. What is wrong with our franchise managers here?


Ham and Cheese Buns

Anyway, back to the simple soft bun. There is no secret to a satisfying soft bun experience. The buns have to be warm, velvety soft and sweet. When that is the case, a simple slice of Luncheon meat is all you need to put you into bread heaven. OK, that is a little too simple. You also need a cup of hot Teh Si or Kopi Si depending on your preference.


Curry Buns

There is no fancy stuff here at this traditional bakery which has been around for the last 30 years. You are still going to find your classic curry buns, red bean buns and sausage buns, not to mention custard puffs. Of special mention are the curry buns which are really quite generously packed with potato curry. They are all satisfyingly good and the continuous queue of people ensures that the buns are always fresh out of the oven and warm! The ham and cheese is another hot favourite here, but for me I can just buy a couple of luncheon meat buns and be really happy. Best of all they are all less than a dollar each. 4.25/5

Conclusion

At the end of the day, you don't really need some fancy name and ingredients to have a great bun experience. Give me a luncheon meat bun anyday but make sure its hot out of the oven! Agree?

Serangoon Garden Bakery & Confectionary
Serangoon Garden Way FC
Stall 45
Opened for breakfast till evenings or until sold out

....Read more!

Tan Soon Mui Beancurd: Unexpectedly surprised

Freshly made Bean Curd. 50 cents

This was such an unexpected find.

I could tell you about how the stall is three generations old, founded by the grandpa in 1966. I could tell you about how they remove the skin from the soy beans to make sure you don't get that waxy taste in your mouth. I could tell you about how they use four ingredients to make the sugar syrup.

But I don't need to. All I have to say is that this is the BEST bowl of Bean Curd I have eaten for a long while and it is only half the price of the other famous ones which I have blogged. The bean taste is evident and the texture is sublime. It's excellent and it is ironically one of the cheapest bowls of bean curd around! 4.6/5


Chin Chow $1

Those of you who have heard of Tan Soon Mei before will probably know them as a manufacturer of Chin Chow. In fact, they have a factory which produces Chin Chow for sale to hawkers. However, if you want to eat some of their special Chin Chow, it is only available for sale at their very own stall here.

The special characteristic of this Chin Chow is the texture and the way it is served. It is served like a bean curd and the texture is somewhere in between the common Chin Chow and Bean Curd. I really enjoyed the texture, but I thought it was lacking in any special Chin Chow taste. Still, it is quite a refreshing bowl of dessert for a hot Singapore day. (Which is really everyday) 4/5.

Conclusion

I am quite sure it is the best bowl of bean curd for 50 cents or even for $1 for that matter. The texture of the Chin Chow is unique but I would like it better if it had a more herbal taste.

Tan Soon Mui Beancurd
Serangoon Way Market and FC Stall 41
8am to 8pm
Closed on Mondays

....Read more!

Zespri Kiwifruit: Ever wonder where your food comes from?

Advertorial

Team Zespri Singapore on top of Auckland Harbour Bridge

The mention of New Zealand conjures up thoughts of crazy adventure, untouched mountain peaks, bungee jumping and succulent lamp chops. I have always wondered how a country with the same population of Singapore could achieve so much. They have the All Blacks, managed to produce a movie like "The Lord of the Rings", three nobel laureates and control one third of the world's dairy trade. Then of course there is Kiwifruit which was developed in New Zealand who now produces 80% of the world's supply of Kiwifruit.

New Zealand is a country which is still very much unspoilt and the Kiwis have the wisdom to want to keep it that way. Mention all the really fashionable environmentally friendly words such as "sustainability", "renewable energy", "organic", "carbon footprinting" and you can probably tag the word New Zealand at the end of it.

I would be the first to admit that I had never really thought about where my food comes from in the past. I guess like most Singaporeans, food comes from the supermarket. Being a non-agricultural country, most of us grow up not knowing what a farm is except from TV or the farm stays you would do once or twice in your life.

But of late, I have taken an interest in how our food is cultivated and grown. I guess it was partly due to the recent melamine milk scare which really brought the issue of food safety and quality to bare. Yes, we can buy that chicken or fruit from the supermarket shelf, but how nutritious it is really depends on how it has been grown. I recently managed to watch "Hugh's chicken run" where the differences in farming methods between mass produced chicken verses free ranged chicken are shown graphically. Even though I still buy whatever is on the supermarket shelves, at least now I am starting to consider paying a little more for chicken of a better quality. You can really taste the difference if you are using it for Shabu Shabu or chicken rice.

With fruit and vegetable production there are a few things to consider as well. The obvious things are the overuse of chemical pesticides and genetic modification of fruits. But perhaps what is not really well known is how the growing conditions actually affect the nutritional value of the produce. Let's take for instance Kiwifruit. Magnesium is one of the trace elements which is found in high concentration in Kiwifruit. It is responsible for energy metabolism, muscle contraction, and nerve impulse transmission, and bone mineralization. Men might want to make sure that they have adequate magnesium in the diet because it is a vasodilator and you need good vasodilatation if you want to be able to father kids. But where do you think the Kiwifruit gets its magnesium from? It's from the soil of course. So if you have unscrupulous farmers who overfarm the land, the soil is bound to be deficient in minerals and the result is a Kiwifruit that is less than optimal.

Thankfully, the farming in New Zealand is very well regulated. You can see from the slideshow just how organized the farms are. The tall hedges that you see are Canadian pine trees which are grown as a shield for strong winds which may disrupt the Kiwifruit vines. The growers are very much into sustainability and are united in supporting programs like Kiwigreen which is an integrated pest management system that reduces the requirement for artificial inputs and pesticides.

In the past, I never really paid much attention to the brand of Kiwifruit that I bought. Most of the Kiwifruit are unlabelled. So I have ended up buying quite a few Kiwifruits that were better used as paperweights. However, having visited the Kiwifruit farms and the packhouses. I can safely say that when I pick up a Kiwifruit with the Zespri label on it, I am assured that I am getting the very best Kiwifruit in the world.


Transporting freshly picked kiwifruit to be packed

As a company, Zespri controls the whole supply chain of the Kiwifruit with the exception of the growers who basically grow their Kiwifruit according to their strict guidelines. Besides having pristine conditions for growing the fruit, it is interesting to note that when they grade their Kiwifruit in the packhouses, they only select the best Kiwifruits to be exported. Most of the lesser grade Kiwifruits are sold at home or fed to the cows (really, no kidding). For the Singapore market, they have Kiwifruit in two different sizes. The smaller ones are sold at the big retailers like Cold Storage and Fairprice while the Mom and Pop shops usually sell the larger ones. So, if you find that Kiwifruit at the supermarkets are cheaper than the ones at the Mom and Pop shops, there is a good reason for it.


Wharenui - The Maori Meeting House

Another interesting note is that our Kiwifruit comes from one specific packhouse which are managed by the indigenous Maori people. As you know, the indigenous people of many countries in the world were often displaced when new migrants take over the country. It seems to me that New Zealand is one country where the indigenous affairs are quite well managed.

During our trip, we were invited to the Wharenui (meeting house) to meet the elders of the Maori community who own the farms that grow the Kiwifruit. During the half hour ceremony, lots of things were said in Maori where there was no translation. So we can only gather that they were somehow telling us about their history and welcoming us into their community. It was only after we rubbed noses that I found out that the Maoris of the past were cannibals who would eat the heart of their enemies! Anyway, the meeting was a way of introducing the Maori kids to the people (us) who were buying their Kiwifruit and supporting their community.


The red Kiwifruit might hit our shelves in a few years

There are actually many varieties of Kiwifruit. The familiar one which we all know of was the Hayward cultivar which was developed in New Zealand in the 1920's. But Kiwifruit can come in all shapes and sizes, some are hairy, others are not. (Like humans really and incidentally, I wonder about the Gold Kiwifruit. Is it just a coincidence that they are yellow on the inside, not hairy on the outside and its scientific name is Actinidia Chinensis?). The Zespri Gold Kiwifruit was a cultivar which was developed by Zespri which is why they are the only brand that offer the gold variety. It was basically developed to suit the Asian palate who prefer fruits that are sweeter, typical of tropical fruits. One of the possible cultivars which might make it to our supermarkets shelves in the next few years is this red colour one which is currently being developed by the Zespri scientists. The flavour is even smoother than gold, but it would be a big hit with the Pastry Chefs as it is a beautiful fruit to decorate with.


Sunrise over Lake Rotorua

Conclusion

As the world grapples with the problem of food shortage, farmers worldwide need to be able find the balance between producing food in greater quantities but at the same time not compromising on the quality and safety. Unfortunately, it doesn't always work that way. So, as consumers we do need to be a little more aware about the source of our food when we shop.

Fortunately, there are countries like New Zealand who are growing safe, sustainable and nutritious produce for the world. So, the next time you pick up a Kiwifruit with the Zespri Label on it, just remember that there is a difference in quality and taste and that you are also paying for a sustainable future and equitable farming methods.

Click here to read about the nutrional value of Kiwifruit

Here is a very recent clip from Channel News Asia highlighting the issues of food safety, sustainability and how Kiwifruit is being grown in New Zealand.

....Read more!

Chako Japanese Restaurant: Want to taste real Japanese food?

Oden set meal $19

Japanese cuisine has really taken off in Singapore in a very big way and that means that you can find Japanese food almost everywhere nowadays. That is the good thing. The bad thing is that a lot of the Japanese food that we eat really comes out of a packet. There are of course the high class Japanese restaurants which employ Japanese Chefs who actually prepare the sauces and cook the food, but there are others who employ people who know very little of Japanese cuisine, give them a pan, some chicken and a bottle of teriyaki sauce and get them to produce some Japanese like food.

Hey, I am one of those fellas who has a couple of kids who simply adore Japanese food, so I do subject myself to the "out of a bottle" Teriyaki Chicken quite often. Heck, I sometimes cook it myself at home and I do think that the "out of a bottle Teriyaki Chicken is still pretty tasty. But what eating all these quasi Japanese food has done for me was to arouse curiosity over what real Japanese food should taste like. What I would really like is to be able to experience eating a homecooked meal at a Japanese home.


Tempura Moriawase set $20-$22

Since I don't know any Japanese well enough to invite myself over to their home, I found the next best thing, which is to make a reservation at the Chako restaurant. The delightful Obasan (Japanese for aunty) at Chako has been operating a tiny little Japanese Restaurant in Hong Leong Gardens and has been cooking authentic Japanese homestyle food since 1978. How authentic is it? Well, in the Japanese household, it is the lady who does all the cooking. Now, how many Japanese restaurants in Singapore do you know has a Japanese lady with is the head chef?

Obasan still does everything herself, with a little help from her daughter (who speaks perfect Singlish). So one of the things she specificially asked me to mention in the blog is that if you want to come here to eat, you should not be in a rush to, say, go to the hospital to be with your wife as she delivers her baby. No, when you come to Chako, please be prepared to wait for meal. That is because, Obasan will start preparing your meal only when you get there and also because she doesn't use anything out of a bottle. Everything has to be made from scratch, the traditional way.

So if you want to try some Oden, which is the Japanese equivalent of our Yong Tau Foo, do be prepared to wait in the little restaurant while you reminise about the 70's and gaze upon the family photo with President Nathan which was taken when he visited the restaurant. Yes, this is another President's Pick. (presidential fanfare in the background). You will then be rewarded with a nice hot bowl of Oden which consists of konnyaku, tofu, boiled egg, fish cake and the stewed Daikon. Point to note, the soup has all been done from scratch and has to be brewed for 6 hours, BUT Obasan said that you are not supposed to drink the soup. No it is just for the sole purpose of flavouring the other stuff. That is why she doesn't give you a spoon. I thought it was nice, but I have yet to become a big fan of Oden. However, if you have never tried Oden before, I reckon that this is one place where you can get a pretty authentic one! And it definitely tasted better even than the one I had in Tokyo. 4.25/5

My favourite dish that day was the Tempura Moriawase. Now, the batter here is made from scratch and not from premix and it was very good. The set costs $21 but the two prawns which I got were large, succulent and juicy and the proportion of crispy tempura batter to the prawn was just right, unlike the prawns which you often find in other places which are really thumb sized tiger prawns which have been stretched and heavily coated with tempura batter so that it becomes the size of a banana. The dipping sauce was, again, brewed by Obasan and complemented the tempura perfectly. It was certainly one of the most satisfying tempuras I have eaten in Singapore. 4.5/5


Saba Misoni $18-$19

For those who like Saba fish, their Saba braised in miso sauce is quite good. I am not big on Saba as I find it too fishy, but with this one, the miso sauce really took away quite a bit of the fishiness. I loved the sauce, but as a dish overall, it didn't quite resonate with me. 4/5

Conclusion

Definitely a place I would recommend anyone who loves Japanese food. They don't serve Wagyu or any of the expensive stuff here, just simple homecooked Japanese cuisine prepared with lots of care and passion. Again, please be prepared to wait because Obasan will not let anyone else other than her daughters, into her kitchen. You can be assured of a unique and authentic Japanese food experience.

Note: It does help to order before you go but you will still have to wait.

Chako
134 West Coast Way
Hong Leong Garden Shopping Centre
Tel: 6776 3919
Mon - Fri 12:15pm - 2:30pm, 6:30pm - 10:30pm,
Sat - Sun 6:30pm - 10:30pm

....Read more!

How do you hold your chopsticks? Let us know in the polls!

Nobody taught me to hold my chopsticks when I was a kid

You know we all take chopsticks for granted. It is such a part of our Chinese culture that we don't even bother to teach our kids how to hold their chopsticks. How many of you actually remember your father sitting you down one day and saying to you, "Son, now that you have come of age, daddy is going to show you how to hold a pair of chopsticks"? No, more often than not, we all just pick up a pair of chopsticks one day and started using them. Unfortunately, it is for that reason that a lot of people, myself included, ended up holding chopsticks crossed like the photo above!


I had to learn it myself when I grew up!

I came to the realization that I was indeed holding my chopsticks wrongly twenty years ago and re-learned to hold it properly. I guess there would be many of us who are like that. There will be others who have never thought about it until now and then there are others who would give all sorts of excuses to justify why holding chopsticks crossed is alright.

Pragmatist: As long as I can still eat, I don't care.
Universalist: There is no one right way to hold chopsticks.
Anti-establishment: I purposely cross just because you said not to.
Boh Chapist: Can't be bothered to learn. Anyway who cares?
Environmentalist: Don't use chopsticks! Save the forest.
Aware-an: We must be all inclusive! How dare you say we have to hold our chopsticks straight?

Ironically, because the Ang Mohs all learnt to hold chopsticks formally, I have never seen any of my Ang Moh friends holding the chopsticks crossed! So it really is just a matter of Chinese pride that we should try to hold our chopsticks correctly. Don't you all agree?

So how do you hold your chopsticks? Let us know by taking part in our polls!

For those who want to learn how to hold their chopsticks properly, here is a good video:



Many thanks to GSKgirl1 and GSKgirl2 for modeling their chopstick poses!

Click here to cast your vote.

....Read more!

Powershot Seminar Photos on Today

I had a great time at the seminar last Saturday and managed to meet Thomas Ong and Mary Bukoh. I think we all went away learning a few more things that can be done with our Powershot cameras. Both Mary and Thomas were really entertaining (They are, afterall, entertainers), and I always managed to pick up a few more tips from Jino everytime I hear him speak. BTW, in case you are wondering, Mary Bukoh is Chinese. Bukoh is made up of the surnames of both her parents. Both Mary and Thomas take excellent travel photos! You can checkout their blogs at thomasongtc.blogspot.com (the tc stands for Tian Chye) and www.marybukoh.com. Thomas promised to upload his Bhutan photos soon. (You can also play your part and give him a bit of pressure!) For some really stunning professional shots, you can check out Jino's website at jinolee.com.sg.

All in all, it was a really fun thing to do. Many thanks to Canon for involving me in the seminar!


Thomas Ong, Jino, myself and Mary Bukoh

Click this to hear the soundbite on 93.3

....Read more!

Alex's Eating House: We were there, Alex was not

With Cactuskit and Holybro


Alex Eating House has been on my To-Do list since I started the blog but somehow I never really got round to blogging them until recently. My guess is that if you ask any foodie where is the best Char Siew in Singapore, quite a few of them will mention this place.

Unfortunately, as with a lot of other eateries in Singapore, the owner has now trained a whole troupe of foreign workers to look after the shop while he takes time to smell the roses, so I was unable to get any background story from them. I don't know about you, but somehow when I see a stall being operated by foreigners, my expectations always drop a notch. I just don't feel that someone who didn't grow up eating a particular dish can ever reproduce the dish up to a certain standard. Of course, that might not be the case with Char Siew, since it is all prepared beforehand, but with something like Hokkien Mee, that might be significant. Do you all feel the same way?



Alex Eating House has always been well known for their Char Siew and it is quite good here although by around 2pm, it was a little dry. However, the sauce is very good and definitely one of the better ones around. 4.25/5 The Sio Bak was ok, but again by 2pm, the skin was not as crispy, though the meat was still quite flavourful. 4/5

Conclusion

I am sure there are many fans of this restaurant who come here often, just like Cactuskit when he was working around this area. For me however, the Char Siew was not compelling enough for me to make the trip back there since there are other stalls which are more accessible.

Alex's Eating House
87 Beach Road #01-01
Chye Sing Building
Singapore 189695
63340268

....Read more!

Rempah Udang: Vlog of the Classic Recipe by Peramakan

I met Melvyn the videographer recently while filming for Planet Food. As we talked, we thought it would be fun to make some Video Blogs (Vlog) on Singapore Food. Since Nonya food is still very much the rage at the moment, we decided to start with the one dish that I have been curious about ever since watching "The Little Nonya". It's none other than the Rempah Udang. In this Vlog, Bibik Kathryn from Peramakan restaurant will show us how to make Rempah Udang .



Bibik Kathryn grew up in a traditional Nonya family where, very much like the Little Nonya, she was trained to cook since a very young age. She is very meticulous about only using the best ingredients and cooking the traditional way. You only have to taste her food at Peramakan to know how much passion goes into cooking her dishes. Her Beef Rendang is still slow cooked over a charcoal fire and so far is the most tender Beef Rendang I have ever tasted.


Rempah Udang

One of the things that used to baffle me when I watched Little Nonya was the fact that they kept saying that Rempah Udang was a dessert. I have eaten many similar snacks which consist of glutinous rice with shrimp filling wrapped in banana leaves before, but I have never considered them to be desserts. So it was quite interesting when Rempah Udang turned out to be sweet! Kathryn explained that the savoury version of the dish is actually known as Pulut Panggang and should not be confused with Rempah Udang. Ah, now at last I know just what Zhor Zhor (Great Grandma in the Little Nonya) was talking about.

Here are the ingredients if you want to make it at home.

Rempah Udang Recipe

Ingredients

Rice

Glutinous rice 500g
Bunga Telang juice 1/2 cup
Santan 150ml
Salt 1 teaspoon

Soak rice overnight and steam with the rest of the ingredients.

Spice Paste

Lemongrass 40g
Young tumeric 30g
Red chillies (deseeded) 60g
Red chilli padi 6
Shallots 70g

Pounded together and fried till fragrant

Filling

Fresh prawns 200g
Dried prawns 100g
Freshly grated coconut 50g
ikan bilis powder 2 teaspoons

Fry together with spice paste

Others

Santan 200ml
Oil for frying
Banana leaves 15cm x 15cm 15 pieces. Blanched in hot water.

This next clip is my attempt at rolling it.



Many thanks to Bibik Kathryn from Peramakan for sharing her recipe with us. Here are the contact details should you wish to order some Rempah Udang from Peramakan.

Peramakan
Level 3, Keppel Club,
10 Bukit Chermin Road
Singapore 109918
Tel 63772829
www.peramakan.com

Link to my last post on Peramakan

....Read more!

Canon-ieat Food Photography Workshop III

Goldfish dumplings

Our next food photography workshop is going to be held at the Sichuan Douhua restaurant where we have made special arrangements for the Dim Sum chefs to create some excuisite Dim Sums to be paired with different types of teas. So expect some uncommmonly seen dim sum!

This workshop is for anyone who wants to learn some photography techniques pertaining to food photography. It will be pitched at the beginner to intermediate level photographer and you will need a DSLR or a prosumer compact camera with some manual functions in order to get the most out of the workshop.

Here are the details:
Date: 30 May 2009, Saturday
Time: 2pm to 5pm
Venue: Si Chuan Douhua Restaurant, Top of UOB Plaza, 60th floor
Fees: $40 which includes food and tea pairing


Dessert Panda: Red Bean paste wrapped with glutinous rice skin

You can register online by going to Canon.com.sg. There are limited seats, so do sign up quickly.

Look forward to seeing you all there!

You can see what happened at the last workshops by clicking the following links:

Workshop 1, Workshop 2

....Read more!

Powershot Seminar: My photos on Today

I look forward to meeting with those of you who are coming this Saturday for the seminar! Make sure you pop over to say "Hi" after you got Thomas Ong's autograph! I just got informed that they got quite a nice goodie bag and refreshments are provided, so actually $10 is quite worth it. For those who haven't signed up yet, the details are here.

For those interested in buying the Canon SX200IS, my friends over at John 3:16 camerashop are offering a special package for ieat readers. All you need to do is to mention ieatishootipost and they will give you an extra Card Reader and Camera Case. Currently they are selling their Canon Powershot SX200IS for $640 with an 8GB SD card.

I have bought almost all of my equipment from John 3:16 starting with my very first Canon 500N film camera more than 10 years ago. I remember that Sam actually sat me down and taught me all about photography the day I bought my camera. Then off I went the next week to take pictures in the mountains of Nepal. I have photos to prove just how good a tutor he was. Anyway, I can vouch for their excellent pre-sales and after-sales service. They are one shop where you can go in, play with a few cameras and walk out without buying anything and they will still be nice about it. So, if you are looking to buy your next camera, do pop by John 3:16 and if they don't live up to what I say, let me know and I will personally go down to the shop and complain to Sam's father for you.

John 3:16
Funan the IT Mall
#05-46 (Just in front of the escalator)
63371897
96748664

....Read more!

Zespri Kiwifruit:: Super Nuitrition in one Small Package

Advertorial


I often get asked how a Doctor can go about eating all these unhealthy hawker dishes. Well, the answer to that is summarized in my slogan "Never waste your calories on yucky food". Basically, that means that when I eat hawker food, or any other food for that matter, I want it to be worth the calories. The last thing I want is to get fat by something that is not tasty.

I might go out blogging at hawker centres perhaps once or twice a week. Of course, each time our kakis get together to eat, we might order several dishes, so that makes up for the three stalls I recommend every week. So, out of a possible 21 meals per week, I only eat around 3 meals at hawker centres and they are mostly eaten during lunch. Now, hawker food really isn't all that healthy as they generally lack fresh fruits and vegetables. In order to make up for the lack of vegetables and fruits, what I do is to have my five green juice every morning. This was a habit I picked up from my friend, Andrew, who never comes to visit me at the clinic because he swears by his five green juice. My dinner is usually at home after my evening clinic and it is a half portion meal of rice, meat and vegetables. The other half is made up of a big bowl of cut fruits. We usually have a variety of fruits which is all ready cut up in the fridge so that it is easily accessible. So between the five greens in the morning and the big bowl of fruit very night, I pretty much get all the necessary vitamins, minerals and fibre I need.

So really, a healthy diet is not just about "not wasting your calories on yucky food", it is also about eating a variety of different foods so that you get a balanced diet. If you think about it, you really are what you eat. Just look at your toes, they are made up of whatever you have eaten over the last XX years of your life. I almost wanted to say that if you put rubbish in, you get rubbish out. But that is not true. What really happens is that if you put rubbish in, it stays there and if you are unfortunate, one day, you might find that you have too much rubbish such that the machinery starts to break down. So, if you put rubbish in, you need to have some mechanism to take the rubbish out. That essentially is what a balanced diet is all about. Eat too much meat and cholesterol gets deposited in your arteries. But balance it with say some King Oyster mushrooms, which contain a naturally occuring statin (cholesterol lowering drug) and bingo, you just might have prevented yourself from ever getting a heart attack.

Another example is sodium. Now if you love salty food, you are going to get a whole load of sodium in your system which might translate to a high blood pressure. If you want to lower your blood pressure, what you need to do is to take less sodium and more potassium. These two elements are like kids on a seesaw. Eating more potassium will push the sodium out of your system and thereby decrease your blood pressure.


Zespri Kiwifruit Season starts!

Now, with that lengthy pre-amble, we can now discuss Kiwifruit.

Kiwifruit is one of those newish fruits which you might still be able to find some people who have not tasted it yet. It's in the same category as dragonfruit and pomegranates. Unlike apples, oranges, bananas and watermelon where you really have to be a Sua Gu (mountain tortoise) if you have never tasted these fruits.

Everyone probably knows that Kiwifruit is somehow linked to New Zealand. Afterall, the fruit is named after the famous flightless bird of the country. Twenty years ago, if you said Kiwi, you probably thought of the famous shoe polish brand. I guess twenty years ago, I was doing my NS and in the army everyone just refers to shoe polish as Kiwi. Incidentally, Kiwi shoe polish is not from New Zealand. Ironically, it was invented by an Australian who named his invention after his wife who was a New Zealander aka Kiwi.

Nowadays, if you mention Kiwi, you'd probably be talking about Kiwifruit. The name Kiwifruit was only coined in the 50's when the fruit started to be exported out of New Zealand. Before that, it was known as the Chinese Gooseberry (The Chinese call it "Yang Tao") and is actually native to China. The seeds were brought back to New Zealand by a school principal in 1906. Soon they began to cultivate the fruit and by 1924, the "Hayward" cultivar, which is the familiar emerald green Kiwifruit which we all know, was developed.

The Kiwifruit is quite an amazing fruit with it comes to its nutritional value. Not every fruit is created equal, and Kiwifruits, it seems have been endowed with a disproportionate amount of nutritional value. According to a paper by Dr Paul LaChance that was published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition (1), Kiwifruit came up tops as the fruit with the highest nutritional value, gram for gram, amongst a list of 27 popular fruits. In other words, you get more nutrition out of eating a mouthful of Kiwifruit than a mouthful of any other fruit.

Since everyone knows that "An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away", let's just compare Apples with App.... er... Kiwifruit.


Source: www.nutridata.com

As you can see, even though apples are highly nutritious fruits, they don't seem so great when they are placed side by side with Kiwifruit.

Now that doesn't mean that you can just eat Kiwifruit alone. You still need a balanced diet of all the different coloured fruits. However, if you are looking for a Vitamin C boost, then a Kiwifruit might be what you are looking for. The amount of Vit C contained in one Kiwifruit is equivalent to two oranges. By eating just one Kiwifruit, you get 95% of your recommended daily intake of Vitamin C. Everyone should know by now that Vit C has a big role to play in boosting the immune system which is particularly important during this period of the H1N1 (Swine) Flu.


Source: www.whfoods.com

Besides being packed with Vit C, Kiwifruit also has a particularly high amount of dietary fibre. One Kiwifruit an equivalent amount of soluble fibre as a cup of bran. Another interesting fact about Kiwifruit is that it contains an enzyme known as actinidine which is able to tenderize meat much like papain which is found in papaya. The combination of an enzyme that can breakdown proteins and high dietery fibre means that the Kiwifruit is very good for promoting digestion and is especially good for people (esp kids and elderly) who have problems with constipation.

A fruit which is so packed with nuitritional value is especially important for kids whose appetite is not as big as an adult. By taking just one Kiwifruit, which is only about the size of an egg, the child will be able to get all the Vit C he needs for the day, plus a whole lot of fibre and other Vitamins as well. In one study by an Italian team of doctors, it was found that kids eating a diet high in Vit C had significantly less asthma attacks than the kids who don't. (2) If your child is a small eater, then feeding him with one Kiwifruit might be much easier than to get him to eat a bowl of bran cereal to get some dietary fibre into him.


Zespri Gold Kiwifruit is really sweet!

Now, the main problem with Kiwifruit, given all its wonderful nuitritional value, is the fact that a lot of us have probably eaten ones which were sour and that sort of turned us off Kiwifruit. Well, my personal experience is that Kiwifruit can indeed be very sour especially when they are not ripe. (And if you bought the cheap 7 for $1 type) But then a mango that is not ripe can be sour too, but I am sure that hasn't turned you off mangos right? What you need to do is to actually taste a good quality Zespri Kiwifruit that is ripe and you would be won over. Having said that, I have to admit that even the ripe Green Kiwi Fruit is still a little zesty, very much like a ripe Strawberry. The good news is that the people at Zespri have cultivated a yellow (Zespri Gold) version which is much sweeter and less zesty than the green version.

If Green Kiwifruit tastes like a cross between Strawberry and lime, Gold Kiwifruit tastes like a cross between a Mango and Banana. I first picked up a Gold Kiwifruit last year and it won me over immediately. Even my kids love Gold Kiwifruit even though they would only take Green Kiwifruit if it was on top of a cake. Of course, you need to eat Kiwifruit when it is ripe if you like them sweet. The ones they sell at the stalls are generally ready to be eaten. But if you leave them in a paper bag together with a banana for 2-3 days, the fruit really ripens and it tastes almost like a nice sweet wine!

It is interesting to note that Kiwifruit are now produced by many countries outside of New Zealand, so you can actually get them year round. However, the Gold Kiwifruit is only available from May till November (the Kiwifruit season in New Zealand) as it is produced only by Zespri who are the sole distributor of New Zealand Kiwifruit. So if you spot the Zespri logo, you know you are getting quality Kiwifruits from New Zealand.

So if you have never liked Kiwifruit, the next time you are at the fruit stall, pick up a pack of Zespri Gold Kiwifruit and see if it will change your mind. It sure did mine.

References:

1 Lachance P, 1997, Journal of the American College of Nutrition
2 Francesco F et al, Consumption of fresh fruits rich in vit C and wheezing symptoms in children, Thorax 2000: 55 283-288

This advertorial was sponsored by Zespri

....Read more!

Power in your hands! Seminar on Powershot Compact Cameras

You CAN take better photos with your compact camera!

Are you the type of person who buys stuff but never read the manual from cover to cover? Well, if you are, then don't always blame your camera if your photos don't come out the way you like. The problem might be because you still don't know all the functions of your camera.

This is even more so if you own a Canon Powershot camera since these cameras actually have lots of functions which you can make use of to take better photos. Just take the photos above for example. When shooting under bright sunlight, quite often harsh shadows are cast, making the subject look quite dark. By putting the camera to manual mode and turning on the built in flash, you can have a much better photo!

This Saturday, I will be sharing some other useful tips on how you can get the most out of your compact camera. There are lots of new "intelligent" functions in the latest Canon Powershot cameras which can literally make the photo look better than the real thing. So if you are interested, please come join Thomas Ong, Mary Bukoh and myself at the "Power in your hands" seminar at the Raffles City Convention Centre from 2pm to 5pm. You can register by emailing to radiopromo@mediacorp.com.sg or call 63597716. It only costs $10 to attend.

More info can be found at www.mediacorpradio.sg/power

Hope to see you there!

BTW, I promised Jems I would try to get Thomas Ong's Hp numb... er... autograph if she came to the seminar. So if you are also after his autograph and the queue is too long, do let me know and I'll see what I can do. ; )

....Read more!

Lau Sim Shredded Chicken Noodles: You are only allowed a maximum of 7 giaos!

With Amagada and SCS butter

Shredded Chicken Noodles with Fish Dumplings (Her Giao)

There is a popular saying amongst the Hokkiens that Teochews are very "Hao Lian" (Proud). Well, when you meet a hawker like the Mr Sim, you can't help but agree that there is some element of truth in it. Having blogged so many hawker stalls, it is inevitable that when I chance upon a hawker that is a bit of a Food Nazi, there is a very big chance that he would turn out to be a Teochew.

But it is good to take pride in the food that you serve, because it is only that pride that keeps you from taking short cuts in the preparation process. The Teochew "Her Giao", which is a dumpling made with minced pork and dried sole wrapped in a skin made almost entirely of fish meat, is a labour intensive dish which many hawkers have decided to outsource to a supplier. You can't blame them really. In order to make the skin, you have to debone the yellowtail, take all the meat and knead it till it can be rolled out as a paper thin sheet. It is not something one would do unless he is a little "Hao Lian" about his food.



This stall is the kind of stall which I get very excited about blogging. SCS Butter has been telling me about this place for months, but he never mentioned about how the owner does business here. Situated in an old style coffeeshop with that classic old black and gold wooden signboard, you would be likely to give it a pass unless someone had told you about the stall. And even if you had just stumbled upon the stall and ordered a bowl of noodles, you probably wouldn't make the effort to return there again. That is because the chicken noodles are pretty ordinary and it is only the Her Giao and the Fish Balls which are exceptional. But if you just went up to the uncle and asked for a bowl of noodles you are not going to get any Her Giao. He only gives it to the regulars and for those people who actually ask for it.

That is not all, he imposes a restriction on how many Her Giao you can actually buy! So here are his rules:

1. You only get 2 Her Giao if you order a bowl of noodles
2. You cannot order just Her Giao without buying the noodles
3. If you buy a bowl of noodles with 2 Her Giao, you then have the option of buying a bowl of Her Giao soup. It is $3.50 and comes with 5 Her Giao
4. Each person is only allotted 7 Her Giao maximum. So if you want more, you have to bring friends along so you can eat their share

Now, he is not mean about it or anything like that. He just feels that he can only make so many Her Giao per week and he needs to make sure that customers that come to eat his Her Giao gets to eat something when they come to the stall. And he also feels that if you eat 7 Her Giao you probably reach the point of diminishing returns so you would get less enjoyment from the Her Giao as you start getting too full.


Special Her Giao 70cents each

So just how special is this Her Giao? Well, it is quite a different style of Her Giao from what I have been eating all along. The skin is rather chewy but somehow increased masticatory work you have to do brings out that extra "pangness" of the fish. Unlike other Her Giao, this one is packed full of the meat filling which has lots of "Ti Poh" (fried sole fish) in it. So if you love Ti Poh, you are going to love this. The soup here is very special too. It is almost milky white because of all the pork bones used to cook the soup. He does use a bit of msg in the soup but he has a money back guarantee should you feel thirsty within 3 hours of drinking the soup. 4.5/5

The chicken noodle as I have already alluded to is really quite ordinary. 3.75/5. But you need to order a bowl in order to order the Her Giao, so really, you have no choice but to eat it. SCS Butter was telling me that the Fish Balls at this shop is really quite special as well. They are only available on Fridays to Sundays and usually get sold out by lunch time. According to Mr Sim, the best time to eat the fish balls is at around 10.30am. If you come too early, the fishball would be a little more salty as they have not been soaked long enough and the texture is not as good. At 10.30am, the fish balls are just right.

Conclusion

This Her Giao is really quite special and coupled with a friendly Food Nazi, it was a really great eating experience.

Lau Sim Shredded Chicken Noodle
Tai Thong Coffeeshop
1 Tai Thong Crescent
Singapore 347835
96663183
7.30am to 1330pm
Closed on Mondays

....Read more!

HTC Touch Cruise 2009: Footprints for Food Blogging

Advertorial

HTC Touch Cruise 09

You know those guys who own all the latest tech gadgets and everytime you see them they will tell you about their new handphone? Well, I am not one of them. Neither am I the type of person who are still holding on to a handphone with a black and white LCD or what they might call a Techo Laggard. I would like to think of myself as someone sort of in the middle who would wait until the technology is suitably matured before adopting it.

When it comes to Smartphones or PDA phones, I must admit that I haven't felt the need to actually own one. I spend a lot of my time in the clinic, so my desktop is always there to do the things that I need to do. So I was a little apprehensive when they asked me to do a review on the HTC Touch Cruise 2009. The last thing I want was to carry a big bulky device around with functions which I never use.


Nice and compact size

I was pleasantly surprised when I first held the HTC Touch Cruise in my hand. It was only slightly bigger than my handphone, slim, solid and fits into my pocket comfortably. I was amazed at how light it was, weighing only 103g. The interface was quite intuitive and with the new 528 MHz processor with 512 MB of inbuilt memory and 256 MB RAM, the phone was comfortably responsive. I found the basic phone and SMS functions easy to use and with the touchscreen qwerty keyboard, I can easily send more elaborate SMS messages. So basic phone functions was definitely an improvement over my ordinary mobile phone.

This phone has two main distinctive features which is new to me. It has a built in GPS antannae and Papago software and includes the Singapore map free of charge. It also features "Footprints" which is a new software exclusive to HTC Touch Cruise 09 which allows you to keep track of all the places you have been to.

The phone comes with the Car Kit and a car charger, so I set it up to my car and the first time I used it to navigate my way to my tailor in Ang Mo Kio. It actually proved to be quite useful since I always had to stop the car by the side of the road to look up the street directory every time as I can never remember the way there. This time round I just needed to follow the female voice and it got me to my destination. This function would come in handy when I go around looking for food stalls which I am trying to blog.


Footprints allows you to tag GPS, voice, notes, maps function to photos - a digital postcard if you like

I found the Footprints function to be quite useful for my blogging. By clicking on the footprints key, you are brought to the screen where you can take a photo of the food stall. The GPS will automatically locate you and you can then click the map key to pinpoint exactly where you are on Google Maps. Next you can input the address of the stall and opening times. But I found that it was more convenient to use the voice recording feature to quickly record down the details I needed quickly.

The phone can be used to surf the internet, but I find the screen a little small for editing posts. However, it is useful to be able to access my blog to read the comments and get the addresses and opening times. The email function is great as I can track comments as soon as they get posted as they are linked to my email account.

The standby time is quite good, but once you use the GPS function or play games with the device, the battery drains really quickly. When I first got the phone, I allowed my son to play with some games and ended up having to turn off the phone. So it isn't a phone which you can just continue to surf the internet for hours on the train unless you have your charger handy all the time.

Conclusion

I guess you can't have everything. What would have been nice is a real Qwerty Keyboard but that would mean that the phone would have to be much bigger. In a nutshell, it is certainly an improvement over my old mobile phone in terms of phone and SMS function with only a negligible increase in size. The GPS and footprints function are also useful for logging details of the stalls I visit.

What I like:

Small size, very light, portable and solidly built
GPS is useful when trying to find new food stalls
Footprints offers image capture and voice recording to log in stall details quickly
SMS and phone functions are intuitive and easy to use

What I don't like:

Touchscreen Qwerty Keyboard can only be used with a stylus
Battery life not very long when using the programs
GPS doesn't always take you through the shortest route and you can't program it.

....Read more!

Winners of the Food Levitation Competition: Congrats!

1st Prize Yuling

Congratulations to Yu Ling who walks away with the Powershot A1100IS and a Canon 5D MKII USB memory drive. I have to agree with the judges that this is a beautifully composed photo and the Har Gow really looks like floating in the air without any form of support. It has that "How did the photographer do that?" kind of feel when you look at it.


Consolation: Henri Bernando

Congrats also to Henri for this beautiful photo of a hand reaching out for a floating egg. The hand adds an interesting element to the photo. I guess it would be even more impressive if the egg was hovering a few more inches higher. Henri wins a Canon 5D MkII USB memory drive.



Our second consolation prize goes to Chan Tuck Leung with this interesting shot of a levitating apple. Apparently, he did not use the method which I used for the onion. Would anyone like to guess how he managed to do it?

All winners will be contacted by Canon on the collection of the prizes. Thanks to everyone who took part in the competition.

You can have a look at all the other entries at www.digitaldreams.com.sg/food.

The previous posts on this subject are archived under "My Favourite Pics"

Many thanks to Canon for sponsoring the competition.

....Read more!

JB Ah Meng: You don't have to cross the causeway for some JB food!

White Pepper Crabs. $20 for 3 small crabs.

Ever heard people say that the food in JB is really great? Yeah, I believe it too. But everytime I think about going into JB, the traffic jam at the causeway and the potential of losing your car and a few bucks is always a big deterrant. So what is the next best thing? Well, the next best thing is to have a JB restaurant right here in Singapore, I guess.

Now, even though there is a Restaurant called Ah Meng in JB, this is not a branch of that restaurant. Neither is the owner from JB. So how can a restaurant in Geylang, run by Singaporeans give themselves a name like JB Ah Meng? Marketing gimmick perhaps?

Well, according to the owners, the chefs are all from JB, but then again many Cze Char cooks are now from across the causeway anyway. The second reason cited is the fact that the dishes are all JB inspired dishes. Mind you, they even admit that they were past favourites of JB, not even the current ones.


JB Sanlou Fried Bee Hoon

Perhaps the most signature dish they have here is the fried Bee Hoon. This outstandingly austere dish is served with the veggies hidden at the bottom so that unsuspecting carnivores would not baulk at the greens. So all you are going to see is this flat bed of crispy black bee hoon. I had to toss it a bit to make it look nicer for the camera. Even then, it still looks pretty boring.

But never judge a dish by the way it looks. Perhaps the unattractiveness of the dish is meant to fool you into lowering your expectations to rock bottom. But when you actually taste it, it is quite different. Very much like the Susan Boyle phenomenon eh?

One reader remarked that fried Bee Hoon is one dish which I have not blogged about yet. So here it is at last. A fried Bee Hoon that I will highly recommend for anyone who likes it. Actually Bee Hoon is an excellent medium for soaking up flavours. So after this I am on the look out for more Bee Hoon dishes to try! 4.25/5


Deep Fried Eggplant

If you like white pepper crabs, it is quite good here. The only problem is that they don't have those huge Sri Lankan Crabs but instead have the small ones, so you will be getting a claw the size of a teaspoon as opposed to one that is as big as a Ping Pong bat. But the sauce is very tasty and the meat is sweet and quite solid. For $20 for 3 crabs, it is quite a good feed. 4.25/5

The last dish which I would recommend is the Fried Eggplant. The Eggplant is first fried in a Tempura like batter and then stir fried in a yummy oyster sauce based gravy. Somehow I just like the contrast of the crispy batter to the smooth and creamy eggplant inside. At first Amagada thought it was some deep fried fish fat! Can't really tell you what went into the sauce, but I was just picking away at the dish till it was all finished. (It doesn't help when the kids don't like eggplant) 4.25/5

Conclusion

If you are looking for a Cze Char with a difference which is opened till the wee hours of the morning and is not too expensive, then this is it! Of course, I still think that the food across the causeway is better, but hey Geylang is much less hassle!

JB Ah Meng
New Good Place Eating House
5pm to 3am daily
2 Geylang Lor 23 (Geylang Road side)
67412418

....Read more!