Monday, April 2, 2007

GODZILLA RETURNS! Now you can have your Pao and Eat it, but can you Finish it?



Fans of the Godzilla Da Pao can rejoice once again as their favourite "Social" Pao has found a new home at Elias Mall. If you remember, I called this a "Social" Pao because it is not meant to be eaten alone. This is a Pao that is meant to be brought back to the office to scare your colleagues! You will never fail to elicit some sort of response from unsuspecting friends and family when you whip out a Pao that is as big as your brain. (Ok, that depends on how big headed you are)

So you are probably wondering what happened to the Godzilla?

The concept of the Godzilla Da Pao was birth sometime back in September 2006, when I asked Mr Cheng to make a Super Big Pao like the ones I saw while driving along the highways in Malaysia. I then took a picture of the Pao and posted it on the forum for everyone to see. At the time, the Pao was made to order, so you have to ring up a day in advance. As word of the Super Big Pao circulated in cyberspace, the demand for the Pao became so good that they decided to put it on the menu. (It's the same thing that happened for the ieat SuperBurger)

Then tragedy struck! Just when their business was getting to the stage where they could take a day off every fortnight, the coffeeshop they operated out of was sold and the new owners demanded an increase in the rent that would make the business non-viable. An ominous fog had suddenly descended upon our Dim Sum Duo.

So for the next three months, Mr Cheng had been busy looking for another stall to rent while his wife took on a temporary job to keep the family going. Life in Singapore can be tough for small time hawkers like Mr and Mrs Cheng. They are constantly at the mercy of stallowners who would increase the rental rates unexpectedly. So do spare a thought next time before you begin to complain about the price of that bowl of Mee Pok. Some hawkers are working very hard just to pay off their landlords.



Anyway, the Godzilla Da Pao has found a new home in Pasir Ris and I am sure fans of the Pao are relieved that they can once again buy a Pao that is big enough to satisfy even a NSF (soldier) who has just finished a 20km road march. I was pleasantly surprised that they even chose to adopt the name "Godzilla" for their new stall!

For those who have yet to meet the Godzilla Da Pao face to face, it is not just an extra large Big Pau. Aside from the tender marinated pork, the Pao also packs extra goodies like lup cheong (Chinese Sausages), mushrooms, salted egg yolk, boiled eggs and sliced abalone inside. The pao skin has got that rustic homemade quality about it and is more substantial than delicate.


How big is the Godzilla Da Pao? Cup E Size says iwatch_ueat. $3.50

Conclusion

The Godzilla Da Pao is the kind of thing that you just have to experience at least once in your lifetime. This is one of my regular Pao shops. I wouldn't say that it is "die die must try" but it certainly has a quality about it that gets me back to the shop at least once every month.

Link to first Godzilla Da Pao Blog

Godzilla Handmade Tim Sum & Pau
G C Food Court
Blk 623 Elias Mall
Jn of Elias Rd & Pasir Ris Dr 3
7am to 7pm (or until sold out)
97523815

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Sunday, April 1, 2007

The First ieat-weMeet-weEat session: The Aftermath

With liverpool, smart, iwatch_ueat, Amagada, Laplace, Caesium, eastcoastlife, EdAltis, sorjourner, SCS Butter, Happi Mummi, neuros neuros and friends still thinking about their pen names.


Create Your Own

Phew! After a month of planning we finally had the very first ieat-weMeet-weEat session. Here is the report and pics for those who could not make it. The ieat-associates have all rated the food and the results are in. So I am not going to comment on the food, but instead I will just post the pics and let the ieat-associates write their individual reviews instead.

The evening started with the ieat table quiz where everyone got their brains churning by trying to identify pictures of different foods from the blog. After 2 rounds of intense, appetite stimulating brain work, tables 1 and 2 were tied. It was eventually up to Caesium to break the deadlock with his brilliant answer to the question: "What is ieat's favourite lens?" (Canon 60mm f2.8 Macro)

The ieat-guru honours went to Happi Mummi after several rounds of intense brain wringing questions. She was deadlocked with liverpool in the naming of foods that have yet been blogged. Eventually she tipped liverpool with her strategic answer to the question: "How many hits does the blog get daily on average?" Liverpool, due to poor strategy and lack of self control, blurted his answer point blank -- 1200, to which Happi Mummi immediately quipped 1201! She won because the blog currently gets around three times that number of hits.

The final surprise of the evening was the arrival of our special guest -- The Butcher, who had just finished a hard days' work experimenting with possibly a first in Singapore and probably in Johor and Batam. He had finished his very first batch of Wagyu Sausages and whisked down to let the ieat-associates give their feedback on his new creation!

All in all, I think we all enjoyed the evening (me especially)and it was great to eventually put a face behind the pen name.

Here then are the pics of the 9 course meal we had and the aggregate ratings that were given. OK guys, time to Zhor Gang! (Do some work) Over to you to give your review of the dishes!


Cold Dish - Shark's Fin Egg Fu Yong, Braised Chicken, Heh Zhor 3.5/5


Special 4 Flavour Soup with Sliced Abalone 4/5


Thai Style Fried Fish 3.75/5


Dog Stew Duck 4/5


Home Made Tofu 4.5/5


Pork Rib King 4.5/5


French Beans with Sambal dried prawns 4.25/5


Special fried La Mien 3.5/5


Yam paste 4/5



Wow! This is the very first time I have come across Wagyu Sausages. Unfortunately the Wagyu Sausages were cooked by the Zi Yean Chef who simply blanched the sausages and served them. They should rightly be grilled so that the Wagyu fats could sizzle and release their aroma. Anyway it was still a real novelty and left a nice beefy aftertaste on the palate.

Acknowledgements

  • Butcher Chia for providing the Wagyu surprise and the Sausage Samplers for everyone
  • SCS Butter and Happi Mummi for organizing the games and sponsoring the table gifts and prizes
  • iwatch_ueat for calling everyone up, registering and collecting the money
  • Smart and Liverpool for encouraging me to stage the event
  • Everyone who turned up and their support for ieatishootipost
  • Apple and Lao Ban Niang from Zi Yean Restaurant who were extremely helpful with the organization of the event

Ha! eastcoastlife has already beaten me to the report! Hers came out on the night itself! Click here

Zi Yean Restaurant
Blk 56 Lengkok Bahru #01-443
64740911

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