If I have to pick my favorite meal among rice, potato, or noodles (pasta), I’d definitely pick noodles. Don’t ask why because I have no exact reason for that, either. Last weekend, Frederick and I went to Asian grocery market and I realized it’s been a while since we had char kway teow. This famous dish is actually originated in South China and became popular as Singapore hawker dish. Translated from Chinese, stir-fried rice cake strips has a reputation for being the most unhealthy hawker dish, mainly because it was made using leftovers. One thing I love about this dish is the smoky flavor; yes, the perfect char kway teow should have a smoky flavor from the high heat of the wok – and that’s the art of this dish. We have almost the same kind of char kway teow in Indonesia, and the way it’s cooked is using charcoal, instead of gas stove, so it has pungent smoky flavor

When I purchase kway teow in grocery market, I like to cook it right away and not leave it for days because it can get harden pretty fast. So, to satisfy my craving, I decided to make a simple char kway teow for Meatless Monday.

Ingredients

• 1 pack (about 500 gr) kway teow (rice cake strips)
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbs sesame oil
• 2 shallots (peeled, thinly sliced)
• 4 cloves garlic (roughly chopped)
• 1 handful bean sprout (toge/ tauge)
• Scallion for garnish

Sauce (mix and blend well):

• 2 tbs light soy sauce
• 1 tbs dark soy sauce (I ran out of dark soy sauce, so I substituted with soy sauce)
• 3 tbs fish sauce
• 1 tbs sugar
• 1 tbs crushed chili flakes (can be substituted with jalapeno/ thai chilies, thinly sliced)
• Dash of salt and white pepper

Methods

1. Heat 1 tbs of sesame oil in wok in high heat; then turn it lower to medium high. Add garlic and shallot, and cook until fragrant and golden brown.
2. Add bean sprouts to the wok, stir for a while, and add the flat noodles.
3. Using spatula set the noodles on the side to make room to crack eggs on it. Add the remaining sesame oil, pour the eggs and leave it for about 15 seconds before fry it together with the noodles.
4. Pour the sauce over the noodles and fry all ingredients together until egg is cooked through. Don’t overcook the noodles and beansprouts.
5. Garnish with scallions and serve immediately.

Notes:

If you’re having trouble with the noodles, soak the noodles in warm water until they’re soft (about 5-10 minutes), then drain.

I think I cried because 1) I was hungry / 2) I was stressed / 3) I could have been studying at home rather than wait like 45 mins for a salad.

So I told myself I would boycott this place at all costs.

Now….after like 7 years….one day I was at home and craving laksa and the only place I knew that sold it around my area was Taste of Malaya.  So I decided to give them one last go – if I had a bad experience again I vowed to never ever ever come back.

And how pleasantly surprised I was!!! The laksa was seriously delicious and the service was excellent and the price wasn’t that expensive either.

So I went back again

Taste of Malaya is located in the Piazza section of Castle Towers Shopping Centre.

The place is decorated in a very simple, classic manner and seats about 40-50 people.

The kitchen is an open kitchen so you can see the chefs cooking away!

We ordered the hot “the tarik” (which is Malaysian milk tea) and a coconut juice.  I liked the teh tarik here, it was kinda like a latte rather than the usual watery type. I’m not a big fan of coconut juice but my sister claims that it yummy so I take her word

For entree we ordered some roti with curry sauce to share.  The roti was crispy, light and fluffy and the curry sauce was so delicious – I couldn’t stop eating it!

Then we ordered a combination laksa.

The laksa here is very light yet full of flavour.  When I eat laksa, I usually don’t end up eating all of the laksa soup because it can get a bit too thick and greasy but this soup was not too greasy and really easy to eat.  The noodles are the thin rice vermicelli noodles and beef is particularly yummy

Lastly we ordered the char kway teow because we wanted something without soup.

I thought that it was slightly bland and my mouth was left wanting a bit more flavour…whereas my sister was really happy with it.  We had to ask for a takeaway container because after the roti and the laksa we were so stuffed!!

We ended up paying around $50 for everything which I thought was pretty decent given that we had some leftover to take home!

So yes, I can now say that my teenage grunge against Taste of Malaya has gone and I will be coming back for more!  They have quite a wide range of dishes on the menu as well.

They also give you these chewy lollies at the counter which are really yummy too!  The waitresses are also super nice – one of them even gave me a compliment about my hair which I had cut that morning hehe.

D xx

So when I had the opportunity to have a brief assignment in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, my food lover’s instinct was to search for the most flavorful and uniquely Asian food in these places. For this quest, I know I musn’t go to fancy restaurants. Rather, “go where the locals go” was my mantra.

A typical breakfast or snack for Singaporeans is kaya toast – toast bread with kaya, which is a spread made of pandan and coconut, with a layer of melting butter. It is best matched with soft boiled eggs and local coffee. When it comes to kaya toast, locals say the best is the one at Killiney, and no less than in the original branch in, well, Killiney Road. At 8am, the place is packed with locals having their breakfast of kaya toast. On the first bite, with butter blending with the sweetness of kaya, Mike and I understood why.

Below our apartment is a Kopitiam, or basically an airconditioned hawker. As my officemate said, there is really no such thing as Singaporean food, because “Singaporean”, like its people, is a mixture of different races. And so in a kopitiam such as this, one can find all varieties of “Singaporaean” food – Indian briyani with prata on the side, Chinese roastings, Indonesian barbecue and of course, Hainanese Chicken Rice. While I used to go for chicken rice whenever I’d visit Singapore, I discovered that my taste buds have opened up to more spicy foods, such as curry.

As a kitchen newbie, I dabbled in cooking my own version of chicken curry and another hawker favorite – cereal prawns. Following a recipe I downloaded from the net, I tried my hand in making my own local food. The cereal prawn did not quite come out as it is in the hawkers, I must have put too much butter or oil, which made the color darker. Nevertheless, it tasted as good and my appreciative critics (aka my husband and brother-in-law) finished their plateful of rice with it – a positive sign.

I then proceeded to learn authentic Singaporean cooking from a REAL cook, and found Ruqxana’s Cookery Magic off the internet. In a home kitchen setting, Ruqxana taught me and my three Frenchmen classmates, the art of Peranakan cooking. By Peranakan, Ruqxana explains, it means a fusion of Malay and Chinese foods during the time when Chinese migrants went to Malaysia and married its women. The Malay women, in their desire to please their husbands, infused Chinese elements into Malaysian cooking. The menu for the night was Ikan Chuan (Pickled Fish), Ladies Fingers and Prawns in Sambal Belachan  and Spicy Grilled Chicken with Lime. Ruqxana showed us a palette of different spices in various colors and smells, but Ruqxana says, the “Holy Trinity” of all these spices are ginger, lemongrass and galangan. In this class, my key takeaway was the proper way of mincing : hold the knife at an angle, and quickly press it down in a semi-circular direction.

All the dishes came out so lovely. I particularly liked the chicken, but the fish seemed easier for me to cook on my own. On the first spoonful, one of my Frenchmen exclaimed : “It’s like all these flavors coming alive – flavors that I’ve never known before.”

On my last night in Singapore, I capped my trip with the famous chili crab at No Signboard.

The trip to KL was a quick one, but I managed to have my Malaysian favorites in the short span of time that I was there. I drank Teh Tarik at every opportunity – a perfect match to spicy Laksa or a savory Char Kway Teow.

Yong Huat is situated at Ali Baba Eating House, which the owner smartly translates into 一定好! It’s a corner coffeshop which is still full of customers during 2pm on a weekday.

Yong Huat is operated by a couple – the uncle takes orders and his partner does the cooking. The thing that surprises me is that they serve a variety of dishes! CKT stalls commonly sells Fried Hokkien Mee and Carrot Cake. Yong Huat also offers Char Bee Hoon/Mee Suah, Fishball Noodles and Pork Ribs Prawn Noddles all under one stall! Impressive.

Conincidentally, this coffeshop is also the place where I so frequently visited for one of my fave food during my younger days. When I was still living in Bedok, my whole family used to love this Tau Kwa Pau from Mary’s Corner. They used to sell Braised Duck Rice together with this wonderful piece of tau kwa with generous fllings of duck, egg, cucumber, peanuts and 1 other crispy ingredient I’m unsure of! Now, they no longer sell duck rice, which is quite disappointing to know as I remembered their duck rice to be quite good.

As I need to be elsewhere, I can only choose to takeway. The Char Kway Teow disappoints, partly due to my high expectations. Should have eaten it there right from the wok. It is a decent plate of CKT but nothing fantastic. However, Yong Huat is very generous with the amount. For $3.50, you get huge amount of fish cake, cockles, lup cheong, vegetables and, their star, pork lard!
Rating: 6.5/10

Now this is good! Char Bee Hoon. Bee hoon fried in the same way as CKT. It is not as sweet and the chilli goes very well with the bee hoon. Many would know that bee hoon is one of the most difficult to fry but it doesn’t seem so at Yong Huat. Everything just blended in so well. One should definitely try this first!
Rating: 8/10

One of my old-time fave food – Tau Kwa Pau. Not as heavenly as I remembered but delicious enough. $5 for 2 pieces, it is more than enough as a side dish. I hate tau kwa that isn’t fresh as they will have a slightly sour taste but the tau kwa here at Mary’s Corner has no such problems. The fillings are a fantastic complement. Crunchy and tasty. Brings back lovely memories!
Rating: 7.5/10

**UPDATE**
Foody Daddy was puzzled that the Tau Kwa Pau at Mary’s Corner didn’t taste as great as he remembered. So after asking around, I realised that the original store has actually moved! That’s why the wow factor is missing!! It has moved across the street to the coffeeshop diagonally opposite Ali Baba Eating House. The address is Hock Ann Eating House, 131 East Coast Road. Foody Daddy will post the review when he tries it – the original Tau Kwa Pau.

Yong Huat & Mary’s Corner
Ali Baba Eating House
125/127 East Coast Road
(Junction of East Coast Road and Joo Chiat Road)
Singapore 428810

I stayed at George Town, an old small town. Before the trip, I knew i couldn’t expect happenings since from all i know there isn’t anything much to do in Penang. The only thing I expected was eating a lot and gaining some weights.

The town turns out to be quite boring. There are some temples and statues to see however you shouldn’t be expect much for the excitement. At night, the town is pretty creepy. Old buildings, little lights on the street, all closed doors after 8 gave me some chills when walking on the streets. It was exciting for certain lanes though where there are push carts and street food.

Penang is famous for its food. I thought i could have tried a lot of specialties but there turned out to be only one specialty: Assam Laksa. I can’t take the Singapore laksa for its coconut milk and the orangy-looking soup but with Penang assam laksa, i think i can take 2 bowls at a time. The presentation for assam laksa is really not nice. At first i was a little reluctant and unsure about the messy mixture in my laksa, however after much persuasion and assurance from Gau that this laksa is no where near Singapore laksa, I braved the first sip. Man, the soup is soooo nice. I think we had laksa for either lunch or dinner 2 days in a row after the first try. It is said that you can only find authentic Penang assam laksa in Penang, I wonder if this is true. For all other food, you can find in Singapore or other cities in Malaysia, however the taste is a little nicer in Penang IMO (or probably i’m just paranoid). And obviously eating in Penang is damn cheap. I think I have just tortured myself with all those thoughts about Penang food when I’m this hungry at the middle of the night.

Public transport in Penang is quite accessible. Buses are easy to take and the all drivers i met spoke English. The cool thing about Penang buses is there is FREE WIFI on some Rapid Penang bus, the first city offering free wifi on the bus that i know.

To sum up, if you want to go for a trip with no purpose, i think Penang is a good place to consider.

Check out how much we had eaten for 5 days.

And check out some nice scenery i took with the SONY

Till next time, Kuching!

It took 4 ½ hours to reach Penang. Penang has changed a lot since I was here few years ago. I love the highly urbanized and industrialized of Penang. Because of this, here is a thriving tourist destination and also one of the most developed and economically important states in the country. Penangites are friendly too. Penang Hokkien is the main dialect for the local Chinese and also Mandarin and English. There are many heritage building in this island. You may notice that these heritage buildings build in between modern high-rise which reflects the conflicting urban hunger for space to develop and the deep-rooted respect for the past.

Minny, one of our kindest friend’s father has booked and sponsored a bungalow for us to stay. We went to the bungalow and checked in immediately upon arrival. The bungalow is called TNB Bungalow which situated in Tanjung Bungah with amidst the beautiful surroundings, affording holiday makers stunning panoramic views of the ocean and sunsets.. If you are traveling with the whole family or big group of friends for the long holiday, TNB Bungalow in Tanjung Bungah is the best place to stay. They offer spacious rooms and facilities (fully furnished). Most importantly, this place is clean and all facilities and furniture are so organized. And the accessibility is convenient  too.

We were all hungry. Without thinking too much, we started our cari-cari makan trip straight after settled down. The first place we went is Gurney Drive. I heard this is a place for tourist. Local people seldom go to there. Gurney Drive is famous for its tasty cuisine. Here are the foods that we ordered:

Ice Kacang (Shaved Ice)

Drenched with sweet sugar syrup and dose with evaporated milk. The sweet syrup was added on together with the red bean, sweet corn, atat chi and jelly glass. This is definitely good to have on a hot sunny afternoon.

Assam Laksa

This sourish sweet assam laksa has noodle with topped on ingredients of bunga kantan, onion, cucumber, red chili, mint leaves, and drizzled with Penang famous prawn paste.

Rojak / Pasembor

There are two types of Rojak in Malaysia. Mamak Rojak or Indian Rojak (Pasembor) and Fruit Rojak. We ordered both. Mamak Rojak contains fried dough fritters, bean curds, prawn fritters, hard boiled eggs, bean sprouts and cucumber mixed with a sweet thick and spicy peanut sauce on top of the yellow noodle. Some may opt without the noodle. Fruit Rojak consists of cucumber, pineapple, bean sprouts, taupok, yao char guai, seng kuang served with shrimp paste, tamarind or black bean paste in the mix. It has cut into bite-sized portion and tossed in a bowl with the dressing and topped with chopped peanuts.

Fruit Rojak

Mamak / Indian Rojak (Pasembor)

Snail

It tastes similar like Lala. This is served with chili sauce. Friends couldn’t stop eating once started. I have tried some but don’t like it.

Char Kway Teow

Fried with flat rice noodles with eggs, cockles, prawns, beansprouts, and Chinese chives.

Chai Kueh (菜粿)

This Chai Kueh was soft and tenderness of the skin made this dish a signature dish in here.

Prawn Noodle / Penang Hokkien Mee

It tasted as sweet as prawn taste because the soup is cooked with prawn shells and perhaps also added with pork bones and meat that make the taste even nice. It is served along with small prawns, pork slices,  half boiled eggs.

I don’t know what is this supposed to call..

I think it is fried sotong. Crunchy, unfortunately i don’t really like it.

Tou Fu Fa with Laichee

This was pretty normal. So i won’t be giving any comment.

Nasi Kandar

Those of you visiting Penang will no doubt encounter the ubiquitous nasi kandar, with numerous establishments sprinkled all over the island.

Original Penang Kayu Nasi Kandar is very famous in Penang. Nasi Kandar is a meal of steamed rice which can be plain or mildly flavored, and served with a variety of curries and side dishes. Beside having many branches in Malaysia. They actually have a branch in Box Hill, Melbourne Australia. You may check out the website here, http://www.kayu.com.au

If you happen to be in the vicinity of the Vistana Hotel, Bukit Jambul, Penang, do take the time to walk a few lanes down to the “Original Nasi Kandar Restaurant”. Line up at the counter and simply pick out whatever strikes your fancy.

Was enjoying and trying out all Penang delicacies as we can… YUMMY!! You can see all plates are empty and clean!

I’ve tried Wee Nam Kee (Ayala Triangle) and 101 Hawker Food House (Makati), which are both good, but nothing beats Tao Yuan!

Char Kway Teow

My sister loves this! She loves eating noodles in Singapore.

Hainanese Chicken

I, on the other hand, love Hainanese Chicken! I feel a little bit squeamish about all the yellow fat, but after I’ve gotten that out of the way, I enjoy the meat with the sweet, spicy, gingery sauce! YUM!

Cereal Prawns

My fiancé LOOOVES this. It’s a shame we scrimp on it because it’s PhP 150 (3.50 USD) a piece. Of all the Cereal Prawns I’ve tried though, this one is the best!

Seafood Laksa

Everyone agreed this was the highlight of the meal. I like their version of Laksa — just the right amount of spicy and sweetness.

We also ordered a few Chinese dishes.

Garlic Ribs

Garlic Broccoli and Tao Yuan Fried Rice

What a delicious way to celebrate Mothers’ Day!

My Gorgeous Mom!

HAPPY MOTHERS’ DAY!!!

They have expanded to several branches, but the one in Resorts World is closest to home.

Tao Yuan Restaurant
2F Resorts World Manila
Newport City, Pasay City, Philippines
+63 2 659-3321; +63 2 846-9998
+63 917 800-7818

We haven’t had Malaysian cuisine since we’ve been in Seattle and I suggested dinner at Malay Satay Hut when we were in Redmond on a weeknight. Located in the Overlake East Shopping Centre, a familiar ‘congee, noodles, rice’ neon sign greeted us.

We walk through a thatched hut entrance into a spacious dining room. A bamboo roof shaded the bar.

A large poster of the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur decorated the wall.

A whiteboard listed many specials. The gung pao frog legs and Milo ice piqued my interest!

Photos of Malaysian ingredients introduced the menu.

Singha, a Thai lager, was a refreshing contrast to the strong flavours of the food.

We ordered several dishes to share family style. Roti telur, slivers of sautéed onions were folded in golden layers of roti and dipped in a bowl of curry.

The restaurant’s namesake and signature appetiser, the satay chicken was a highlight. Slathered in chunky slurry of satay, the skewered chicken was tender and smoky. The cucumber nuggets emptied the satay bowl.

Half a Hainanese chicken was served with chilli and ginger sauces. Poached in stock, the boned poultry was fragrant and succulent.

String beans and shelled prawns were stir-fried in belecan (fermented shrimp paste). A peculiar umami taste, the beans were vibrant and the prawns toothsome.

A mound of coconut fried rice was studded with prawns and onions, and flecked with egg. The generous portion was light and aromatic.

To me Malay fare is synonymous with char kway teow. In a miniature wok was flat rice noodles tossed with bean sprouts, chives and egg. Supple strands intertwined with threads of vegetables.

Salt and pepper squid is an Asian staple. Crusted in a delicate batter, the pieces of molluscs yielded to bite, and was spiked with chilli and green onions.

I’m pleased that the original Malay Satay Hut is in Seattle!

After spending our first 10 months here completely guestless, starting in early February the hubs and I seemed to be on permanent host duty. First we hosted one of my j-school friends, Brian, who spent three months backpacking around Southeast Asia with his wife, Melli, as part of a belated honeymoon. (I actually wrote about attending their wedding 2.5 years ago during my first trip back to the U.S. from Australia — you can never go wrong with a mariachi band).

After three months of traveling by bus, train and tuk-tuk, Brian and Melli were pretty self-sufficient. While the hubs and I were at work during the day they hit up spots like the Botanic Gardens, the National Museum of Singapore (which they highly recommend), Chinatown, Little India and Orchard Road.

At night I took them to some of my favorite eating spots, including No. 18 Fried Kway Teow and Lau Goh Carrot Cake at Zion Riverside Hawker Centre (which, btw, appears to have since closed for renovations? WTF?!) and xiao long bao at Beijing Hand in Hand.

On Brian and Melli’s last night we went next door to Level33 (allegedly the world’s highest microw-brewery!) and met up with another friend of Brian’s from California who’s been living here for about four years. He owns a chiropractor  business and his wife is a yoga instructor. I’m sure I’ve said this before,  but one of the things I absolutely love about Singapore is that I’m constantly meeting new, friendly people with interesting stories. Everyone I know seems to have arrived here in a different manner, but everyone is equally friendly and outgoing. My photo captions are being weird, but here’s the sweet view from Level33:

After drinks we headed over to Emerald Hill to meet up with some other people having drinks at Ice Cold Beer. I’d never been there while semi-sober before. In addition to the aforementioned frosty beers they also seem to offer a pretty decent assortment of fried foods (chicken wings, onion rings, etc.), and of course Emerald Hill is great for bar-hopping since it’s just a bunch of bars on a lane with no traffic.

As the night wound down the hubs and I needed to get home (we had to work on Friday morning, after all!), but the rest of the group headed over to Cuppage Plaza for some late-night foot reflexology (have I mentioned how much I love that stuff stays open late in Singapore?). Brian apparently made it for about five seconds on “medium hardness” before screaming in pain and asking the masseuse to go easy on him. Clearly he didn’t get enough foot massages in Thailand.

Next time I’ll write about what we got up to with my parents. Since my mom’s stay stretched over five weeks (with a trip to Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia & Thailand in between), we did A LOT of stuff with them.

Char kway teow and assam laksa were deeply lacking in subtle spice or interesting flavor. Both were mediocre and were a complete disappointment. It was simply gross.

This place sucks.  My suggestion would be that you take your precious money and go elsewhere. This is the true truth as I say it as it is…

“Our long-term goal is to prohibit smoking in all public places except in designated smoking areas…our aim, in collaboration with the Health Promotion Board, is to work towards a future where Singaporeans consider smoking not only detrimental to health, but also socially unacceptable.”

- Grace Fu, Senior Minister of State, Singapore

I am scared. Urinating-in-my-trousers scared.

I am fearful that a time will come in Singapore when not only the subjects of religion and the People’s Action Party are exempt from intellectual criticism (in the name of religious harmony and autocratic pseudo-democracy respectively); but also civil and social morality, which would be force-fed to the man on the street through devious propaganda and emotionalistic advertising.

The State cannot and should not behave like the orwellian Big Brother, dictating to its citizens what is right and wrong, moral or immoral, socially acceptable or not. To play the health card on smoking is one thing, to enforce its abstinence is another. It no longer takes the highbrow, in 21st century Singapore, to know of smoking’s deleterious health effects. Nor does it take a President’s Scholar to know the bad effects of massive caffeine consumption on the nervous system, or alcohol on the liver, or bad cholesterol on the heart.

It is hypocrisy to demonise tobacco while there are more Singaporeans under the addiction of Char Kway Teow, Roti Prata, Laksa and Nasi Lemak, not to mention KFC, McDonald’s and Burger King. What about alcohol, which many supposedly mature adults consume, to their mental and emotional demise?

Some might argue that while alcohol, caffeine and cholesterol-laden foods might harm the addicted glutton, cigarette smoke harms not only the smoker but the innocent angel who happens to be close by. It appears idiotic to notice passive smoking while blind to the numerous incidents of domestic violence, exacerbated by alcohol abuse? Or the emotional abuse of family members due to a loved one’s poor health caused by gluttony? Or for that matter – the addicted gambler who now has more opportunities to commit his dirty deed in Singapore?

Or even the Taoist practice of burning “hell money” incessantly during the yearly “ghost” month, which pollutes the environment (and we still talk about going eco-friendly) as well as irritates the respirary systems of many? We choose to keep silent because it is “religion” – and religion somehow escapes any form of criticism even if it harms the environment.

Singapore might as well ban alcohol and casinoes and all forms of fatty dishes and fast food from its shores. And even the nose-tickling and lung-churning practice of burning fake money for imaginary dead people.

I do not smoke. I dislike gambling. But I am addicted to coffee, and a self-professed lover of sinful Singaporean cuisine. I love lots of sex too – and fantasize about fucking multiple women in multiple exotic positions. But since I love children, and got married as a result, decadent orgies and wanton adultery will never be my portion. Sexual faithfulness to my wife was part of our marriage vows, anyhow.

And I reckon many Singaporeans are guilty of the same vices, and would do well not to cast the first stone by demonising smoking into something more than just an unhealthy habit.

*******

When you order, you order by selecting a number. I intended on going all the way through starting from one and ending on… where ever it ends! Unfortunately, (fortunately?) I got stuck on two. I loved it! Fried Kway Teow! Your perfect meal; great for hangovers, midnight munchies (did I mention they are open till 3am?), and a cheap meal when you can’t be bothered cooking!

But eventually the cook in me thought, “I can do this, I could make this dish!” So that’s just what I did. I found the recipe online here (Yay! Actual recipe this time, not just a link to the book!) and went out to my local Asian grocer to get my supplies! (Would normally plug the grocers here… but I don’t have the symbols on my keyboard to do so, and I don’t know their English name)

My main problem is that I know what this should look, and taste like. With 5 minutes of cooking time left, it was neither. So I improvised, I made more sauce, jiggled things around, added some water. And this idea was GREAT! I got the flavour and look I wanted… unfortunately I went a little overboard

However, despite being a little saucy (wink, wink) it was just as good as the “eatery” China Bar. As my boyfriend worded it:

“It’s really good! Refinement needed but really good!!!!”

Just so you all know that is an accurate representation of the amount of exclamation marks used, and anyone who knows my boyfriend, also knows that he is my biggest food critic.

We also got caught in the surprise rain (which unsurprisingly happens a lot) on the way to the Queen Victoria Market. It just so happens that the market closed about an hour before we arrived, all that for naught! Heading back to Melbourne Central station, we decided to browse the very expensive shops when we came across Jay Jays, our new favourite store. Super cheap (in Australian standards) and great clothes! We also checked out Chinatown by getting dumplings at the Shanghai Dumpling House. Finally, some cheap food!!!

Friday we started our orientation at the University of Melbourne. It was basically a debriefing of certain things we need to know, mostly things we’ve known since freshman year. Next week is O-week, where there are huge events for freshmen and new students. Hopefully that will be more exciting!

Later that evening Cassi, Nikki, and I went to Fitzroy to check out some live music and food. Fitzroy is known to be more of a “hipster” area, but great for cheap deals and music. The pizza at Bimbo Deluxe was great! Although we headed back to the CBD for the night, Saturday we found some interesting African funk jazz live music at the Night Cat. We definitely have to come back! On our walk back up Swanston street from a couple bars down on Bourke we also got a taste of live music….. from a chipmunk. I swear, this city never fails to be a bit quirky.

Bongo drums and jazz, surprising combination?

If I had a dime for every time I saw something this weird in Melbourne…. I’d be pretty rich

Saturday afternoon the trio of us decided to check out a cricket game. It was a one day championship or something, so it was a decent price to get tickets. Also there was no one there! Apparently these one day games don’t draw as big of crowds as the big ones such as Australia versus India. 300 people compared to 90,000 is a big difference. We also came across a bachelor party who were kind enough to teach us the game. After sitting in the sun for two hours and having only seen one team bat the entire time, we figured that was enough cricket for the day. I’m definitely sticking to baseball from now on, it goes much faster (never though I’d say that)!

Yesterday we ate in Chinatown again, this time at Red Silk, a thai-chinese combination restaurant with a balcony eating area. Not finding my favourite dish of all time, Pad Thai, I decided to take a risk with ordering Char kway teow. I didn’t know what was in it (no description on the menu didn’t help either), but hey! Can’t be too bad right? It was a good risk! The noodles were pretty much like wide Pad thai noodles, and it had prawns (shrimp in the States) and some ham strips. And it was spicy!!! Maybe I should be more adventurous when it comes to Chinatown?

We also went to the Auburn Hotel to hang with Rita, who’s from Buffalo and studying at University of Melbourne! This place was hopping on a Sunday night of all things, something you would definitely not (or rarely) see in the States. I swear, people here go out every night of the week!

When Labrador Park darkened after the last ray of light faded from the sky, it’s time to think about where to head for dinner.

Since K hadn’t been to Pasir Panjang FC and my trip was years ago, I suggested we check it out. After all, it’s only a stone’s throw away.

When we arrived, the food centre was bustling and smokey. We managed to snag a table and quickly settled on three stalls.

First, we had to get a drink and the soya bean milk from a corner stall was spot on. Luckily K was fast as it closed very soon after. It tasted quite unusual with an accent of caramel. The flavor of burnt sugar was unmistakable. Too bad we didn’t try the other soya bean items.

heng huat fried kway tiao (兴发炒粿条)

We’d be deluding ourselves that char kway teow ($3) would be healthy if it’s loaded with vegetables. The generous portion of chye sim and beansprouts certainly contributed to our fibre intake but the other ingredients were culpable for the high amount of calories and cholesterol.

Without lard, the dish definitely lacked oomph but it wasn’t too bad due to it’s distinctive wok-hei. Besides the usual suspects of eggs, cockles and Chinese sausages, the “chai poh” (pickled radish) was quite a surprise which added a nice crunch.

However, we were rather put off by the very small serving size.

The stall isn’t my first choice for char kway teow but I wouldn’t mind returning if I were in the area.

seng huat hokkien mee (成发正宗炒福建面)

The plate of fried hokkien mee ($3) was kinda wet but the stock was adequately flavored and light. Surprisingly, it wasn’t greasy, which is characteristic of this local dish. The prawns were fresh while the pork belly wasn’t too fatty.

The taste wasn’t outstanding, and we thought more chili would be better. Somehow, I’d prefer the heavier, drier version that comes with lard and all. Sinful but oh-so-shiok!

joo chiat kim choo (如切金珠)

As an afterthought, we ordered fruit rojak ($3) for some tasty fibre. The ingredients were of a good size, fresh and crunchy. Moreover, the delectable mix was doused in thick savory prawn paste and topped with crushed peanuts.

The dishes didn’t exactly blow us away but they were delicious enough for a quick meal before we called it a day. The main attraction of this food centre seemed to be the BBQ stalls, since that particular section was filled to the brim.

Photograph of embroidered Chinese dragon by Erin Calaway

This year I got it into my head that I was going to cook my family a proper feast to celebrate Chinese New Year and welcome in the year of the dragon.

I don’t normally celebrate Chinese New Year, despite being part Chinese. My mother grew up on the Malaysian island of Penang and is half Chinese and half Dutch. So you see I’m only a little bit Chinese. But mum has always talked about Penang as home, so I do feel a strong connection and I adore the food.

There’s been lots of talk about Chinese New Year amongst the foodie Twitter and blogging community, which really spurred me on. Trouble is I don’t have the first clue how to cook Chinese food.

And so I called in help from the Chinese members of my family who happen to be scattered around the world. Facebook is a fantastic tool for this kind of thing. I asked them what should I cook for a Malaysian Chinese feast and, more importantly, how do I do it?

Kian chai – I think!

The menu and recipes below come from my Aunty Lorene in the US, Aunty Kim in Canada, cousin Edhish in Sweden, cousin Jezalina in Australia and mother Cheryl in Spain.

All agreed I had to cook Kian Chai Teng, a soup made from Chinese salted vegetables, pork ribs and sour plums, served with chopped chilli and steamed white rice. I’m not 100% sure I got the right vegetables in the Chinese supermarket, although the lady who worked there insisted they were the thing to use.So I’m not sure if I made an authentic Kian Chai Teng, but it sure tasted good. The children gobbled it down enthusiastically and enjoyed picking the beautifully tender meat from the bones.

Penang Char Kway Teow

Next was Char Kway Teow, a Penang fried noodle dish. You should use shrimps and squid but as my husband can’t eat seafood I swapped these for chicken and Chinese sausage. Again not totally authentic but absolutely gorgeous nonetheless.

My mum suggested Chinese spare ribs and gave me her Aunty Seck’s recipe and I also came up with my own recipe for Chinese roast chicken drumsticks. Plus a big bowl of  pak choi steamed with ginger.

It was a fine, fine feast. As is my tendency, I cooked way too much food, so we ate the leftovers for Sunday lunch. The spare ribs in particular tasted even better second time around.

I have to say a heartfelt thank you to my relatives for their advice and supportive words. One day it would be wonderful if we could all get together to celebrate new year somehow. Oh, and of course, gung hay fat choy everyone!

Kian Chai Teng – soup with pork ribs and salted vegetables

Serves 6-8

Salted plums

1 onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp vegetable oil
500g pork spare ribs
4 cloves of garlic, crushed 3 slices of ginger, finely chopped
2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp Shaoxing (Chinese rice wine)
2 potatoes
1 packet kian chai (Chinese salted vegetables)
3 salted plums

In a large pan, gently fry the onion in the oil until golden.

Place the pork ribs, garlic and ginger into the pan and enough water to cover. Bring to the boil, then add the soy sauce and rice wine. Turn down the heat so that the soup is on a very low simmer and cook for at least an hour, until the meat is starting to fall off the bone.

Taste your salted vegetables. If they are very salty, you may need to give them a thorough rinse so they don’t make your soup too salty.

Add the potatoes and salted vegetables. Put the lid back on and simmer for another 30-40 minutes.

Serve the soup with a saucer of soy sauce and cut chilli and a plate of steamed white rice.

My Char Kway Teow

Serves 6-8

2 tbsp dark soy sauce
3 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp water
4 tbsp peanut or vegetable oil
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 chicken breasts, chopped into small pieces
1 lap cheong (Chinese pork sausage), cut diagonally into thin slices
500g flat rice noodles
2 eggs (duck eggs if you can get them – I used hen eggs)
4 large handfuls bean sprouts
salt and white pepper

In a small bowl, mix the dark and light soy sauces with the water, and put to one side.

Heat the oil in a wok on a high heat and stir fry the garlic for a few seconds before adding the chicken. Cook until the chicken turns white, then add the sausage and stir fry for another minute.

Add the noodles and sprinkle with the soy sauce mixture, and add salt and pepper to taste. Gently stir fry for three to four minutes.

Make a space in the middle of the work and break the eggs into the hole with a little pinch of salt. Roughly scramble the eggs and then combine with the noodles. Stir fry for another five minutes.

Finally add the bean sprouts, fry for another minute and then serve.

Spare ribs

Chinese spare ribs

Serves 4

550g pork spare ribs
4 cloves garlic, crushed
½ tsp light soy sauce
½ tsp dark soy sauce
½ tsp Shaoxing (Chinese rice wine)
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp tomato sauce
1 tbsp Worcester sauce
½ tbsp sesame oil
½ tbsp sugar
3 tbsp tapioca flour
3 tbsp vegetable oil

Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas Mark 6.

In a small bowl mix together the garlic, soy sauces, rice wine, salt and pepper. Pour over the spare ribs, make sure thorougly coated and leave to marinade for at least an hour.

Prepare the sauce. In another bowl, combine the tomato sauce, Worcester sauce, sesame oil, sugar and 3 tbsp water.

Coat the spare ribs in tapioca flour and fry in hot oil over a medium heat for around five minutes. You may need to do this in batches. Remove, drain on absorbent paper and place on a baking tray. Roast in the oven for 10 minutes.

Heat the sauce until it thickens. Take the ribs out of the oven, place in a serving dish and pour over the sauce.

My Chinese chicken

4 chicken drumsticks
4 chicken thighs

For the marinade:

2 tbsp runny honey
4cm ginger, peeled and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tsp Chinese five spice
2 tsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp red currant jelly
1 tbsp sesame oil

Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas Mark 6.

Slash the drumsticks with a sharp knife and place in a bowl with the thighs.

Mix together all of the marinade ingredients and pour over the chicken, making sure they are well coated. Leave to marinade for at least two hours or overnight.

Put the chicken pieces on a roasting tray with a few spoonfuls of the marinade and place in the oven for 40-45 minutes, turning occasionally and spooning over more marinade if it looks like it is drying out.

Also great served cold as part of a picnic or in a packed lunch.

Miss Mash tucks into the pork ribs in her soup

Miss Banger’s favourite was rice with soup spooned over

Emerald wall, tangerine window frames and daffodil sign, the colourful street frontage was a contrast to the wooden interior.

The specials chalkboard piqued our interest as we waited for a table.

I always imagine a chef wielding a machete in the kitchen to slice a lid on the fresh coconut when I order one!

We sipped cocktails and coconut juice as we perused the extensive menu of curries, rice, noodles, stir-fries, seafood, salads and soups. We selected three classic dishes to share.

Roti canai, warm flaky flatbread, was served with a side of light dhal.

Glistening pieces of Hainanese chicken (海南雞飯) was surrounded by a moat of sliced cucumber and garnished with sprigs of coriander. Toasted peanuts, grated ginger, chilli garlic sauce and soy sauce were condiments. The tender meat was fragrant, the essence of the stock the chicken was poached in. The delicious comfort food was dipped in the sauces and paired with Hainanese rice.

A popular fast food at hawker stalls, char kway teow could be considered the national dish of Malaysia. Flat rice noodles were tossed with sweet soy sauce, chilli, egg, bean sprouts, prawns, fish cakes and squid. We happily nibbled on the starchy stir-fry.

I must get to Malay Satay Hut this year!

The dish is traditionally one made with lots of pork fat, including crisy fried pork lard ( :/? mmm yummmy ) making it very high in saturated fat, cheap and energy packed, and becuase of this it was popular among labourers as a dish to keep them going.  I guess from this point it became a stapel hawker dish.

I have only recently attempted to re-create this dish at home as the take away options in the UK are not fantastic and my craving for a superb Char Kway Teow was getting a little overwhelming. The ingredients in the dish vary from place to place, which I quite like as it means I can make my version individual to the aspects of the overall dish which I enjoy most.  So here’s my version of the dish, I was satisfied by it and hope if you try it out you will enjoy it too.

Ingredients:

Firstly, the quantity of my ingredients made enough for 3 main dishes.

• A handful of flat rice noodle sticks- usually between 0.5- 1cm in width. You could of course use fresh rice noodles if you can find them.
• About 12 medium sized raw green king prawn
• 3 thai fish cakes sliced into strips (these can be found in asian supermarkets and are made with aromatic herbs like lemongrass and ginger, so it adds a fantastic flavour to the dish)
• A handful of roughly chopped fried tofu.
• Asian sausage (an almost sweet, cured sausage which you may or may not love) I used 2 small sausages because I really love the flavour, but if you prefer you could just use one which would add a slight flavour to the noodles and variation to the fish.
•  A handful of mange tout or snow peas
• 1 medium onion, diced finely
• 2 tsps of minced jared garlic- you could use fresh garlic, but I think the slight pickled taste of the preserved garlic adds to the flavour of the dish.
• Handful of beansprouts
• 1/2 tsp shrimp paste
• Kecap Manis (sweet soy- traditionally used in Indonesian dishes)
• Dark soy
• Vegtable oil
• Very finely chopped chives to garnish

Method:

Start with the noodle by placing them in a large bowl and cover with boiled water, place a tea towel over the top and leave to soften for 20 mins. If you are lucky enough to have fresh rice noodles then obviously omit this step.

Slice the sausgae on a slant and heat a little oil in a fry pan. Once the oil is hot throw the sausage in and brown. Remove with a slotted spoon leaving the oil behind. Briefy fry the fish cake and remove. Now throw 1 tsp of garlic and the diced onion into the still hot oil. Fry until brown be careful not to burn the garlic. Remove again with a slotted spoon and place on kitchen towel to remove excess oil. Throw the raw prawns in and stir fry until they have changed from blue to a light coral- do not over cook the prawns, they need to go back in at the end so they will have a chance to recieve more heat if they are only just coral at this point. Remove with the slotted spoon.  Now you have some oil, which is quite flavoured by the previous ingredients, to work up your sauce.

Add to the fry pan the remaining tsp of garlic with the shrimp paste, stir fry until the paste has softened, add a little fresh oil if the paste is a little dry, now add a good glug of soy sauce and the Kecap Manis, taste, now it’s the personal part- what do you think? if its too sweet add more soy, or vice versa. If you havent had this dish before, or used shrimp paste in your cooking, you may be stunned by the fishy flavour….the shrimp paste shouldnt be over powering but it should definitely be noticed and add to the flavour, play with the sauces to get the balance right for you.

Now that you have your sauce just right, throw the softened drained noodels in and coat them with the sauce, use tongs for the rest of the cooking process as you want to thread the ingredients throughout the pan in order to evenly distribute the suace.  Return the onion and fried garlic,  throw in the tofu, sausage, fish cake and prawns, followed by the beansprouts and mange tout. Stir fry for a few minutes ensuring the cold ingredients are heated through, keep it all moving around the pan to avoid any of the noodles sticking to the pan or indeed each other.

Turn the yummy goodness out onto your serving plates and garnish with the chives.

Hope you give this one a go, and if you do let me know how it works for you?