Burmese food at Peninsula Plaza

Since my 2 cube mates in the office are Burmese, we often make a trip to the Burmese food capital of Singapore, namely, Peninsula Plaza once in a while during lunch. One of my favorite foods is Shan noodles. Apparently, the Shan people stay near the border of Myanmar and Vietnam so the noodles taste similar to dry Vietnamese rice noodles. The major difference as far as I can tell is the type of fish sauce that is used and the fact that Shan noodles don't taste as bland. Worthy of a try next time you are in the area.

Vietnamese Noodles at NUS Arts canteen

These are some great dry Vietnamese Beef noodles at $2.50 only. The fish stock tastes great with the coarse noodles being "al dente" and the beef is nicely BBQed. The whole dish is topped with mint leaves, bean sprouts, fried red onions and chopped peanuts. Much tastier than the version at Pho-something place at Holland Village. The Saigon style rolls behind arent too bad as well at only $1.50, an absolute steal with the free soup if you ask me.

Personal wine tasting notes

My wife love grapes.

She also loves wine which is good for me since we get to share. 2007 was a good year for us wine-wise, I got to taste some wines which would otherwise be out of reach to me. I havent been a wine drinker for that long to give expert wine opinions to anyone. But I know what I like and wine drinking perferences evolve, these are some of my notes so far of what I had so far:

1. French Bordeaux red - really complicated. To understand Bordeaux wines, you probably need many many years of tasting and a wine degree. A good start however, would be Wikipedia, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bordeaux_Wine_Official_Classification_of_1855 and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bordeaux_wine. The most important thing to note for French wine is the concept of "terroir", wine tastes different because of the region where the grapes were grown. French wine just tastes different. The most outstanding wine I have tasted so far was Chateau Haut-Brion 2003. Although relatively young and accessible, this wine had it all, it tasted good at the beginning, goes down nicely and had a great ending that persists. At 900 bucks pop, not something you will taste every week. Not a First Growth, but I kind of liked Chateau Lascombes as well. These are wines that should be decanted well and can be enjoyed by themselves, or with good cheeses.


2. Australian Shiraz - most people in Singapore start with Australian wine for no better reason than it is readily available in supermarkets here and because of its easy drinkability. The most distinctive type of wine produced in Australia is made using the Shiraz grape (better known as Syrah, actually Shiraz is a city in Iran where the name was taken). This wine typically is drunk young - about 2-3 yrs old, and besides classics like Penfold's Grange - tastes better young in my opinion. The wine is typically strong and distinctive in flavor, when I first drunk Shiraz, I thought it tasted "spicier" and drier than Cabernet Savignon. I personally think Shiraz goes well with Asian food, especially stuff like Cantonese food although I have cheese with it occassionally. Some examples of good Shiraz I have tasted - the Penfolds Grange/St Henri, Leewin Estate Art Series. Most of the other labels I have tasted are drinkable but not memorable e.g. Mad Fish, Vasse Felix. Maybe its me but Australian wine alcohol levels are rather high compared to other country's wines, 2 glasses and I feel it a bit more. Best drunk relatively warm at around 20degC.


3. Argentinian Malbecs - I really like this. The zinginess of this wine is great for drinking with steaks and red meat. So far, I have only tried a $20 bottle from NTUC and also a nicer $60 dollar bottle.


4. Canadian Ice Wines - I think the wines from Inniskilin use Riesling to make it. Too sweet sometimes but nice after a meal. Nice when served really cold, can taste a bit cloying when warm. Great with my home baked carrot cake.


5. New Zealand Savignon Blanc - great wine to go with a light meal like a caesar salad on a hot day or seafood - think fish and chips. Serve from the fridge - around 10degC? Have had nice ones from Coopers Creek but nearly all from the Malborough region in NZ are good. Avoid overly expensive ones e.g. from Cloudy Bay unless u can afford it.


6. Western Australian Rieslings - I have tasted Rieslings from Germany and they werent half as good as the one I tasted from Margaret River especially the ones from Howard Park. Rieslings taste like an in-between wine from Chardonnay and Savignon Blanc and they go nicely with grilled pork chops.

Other notes

----> we typically dont drink much Chardonnay (typically over oaked) or champagne (only a little during special occasions). The bad ones taste something awful.

----> A good wine I tasted recently was Leewin Estate's Cabernet Savignon 1998. Leewin is more well known for their Chardonnay but I really liked this one.

Singapore Prawn noodles

Just found a blog that has good prawn mee reviews (http://lovesingaporefood.blogspot.com/search/label/prawn%20noodles).

Not to be confused with fried Hokkien noodles, the typical Singapore Prawn noodle store includes whole prawns (or slices of de-shelled prawns) together with thick yellow noodles in a nice fragrant stock made from prawn shells. They sometimes add pork ribs or pork slices, kang kong and some even include fish cake. This dish typically comes dry or in a soup.

If you want really good tasting soup stock, go at the end of the day when it is the tastiest because the soup has had the longest time to absorb the flavor of the prawn shells.

The stores I typically go to in Singapore for my Prawn noodle fix are:

- Adam Road Noo Kee (best so far, 8/10?, however, some say standards have dropped)
- Zion Road (nearly as good as Adam 7.5/10, branch of the Adam Rd store?)
- Whitley Road Big Prawn Mee (8/10, next to Novena IRAS, still very reliably good)

I have also tried the Prawn noodles in

- Jalan Sultan Prawn mee, near the Kallang MRT station (prawns not always clean, had a royal rash once)
- Beach Road Blanco Court, opposite (just soup not bad)

and they royally SUCK.

Chicken Rice wars... in Singapore

There are so many chicken rice stalls in Singapore, you could probably eat at a different store every day in a year and still not eat them all. This is not even counting the variations of chicken rice - e.g. Malay style, Indian brani style.... Please do not do that since u would surely fall flat due to heart disease or something. Chicken rice is a pretty fatty and unhealthy food.

Since I want to maintain a healthy lifestyle... yeah right.. I only eat chicken rice ever so often... hmm maybe once in 2 weeks? But I am pretty sure I have tasted some really good chicken rice over the years. Some of my favorites are:

1. Boon Tong Kee - Thomson branch opposite Novena Church. I really dont fancy the other branches... especially the upscale ones.

2. Loy Kee at Whampoa - best for the non-roasted version. I actually prefer the chilli at Loy Kee compared to other places

3. Tong Fong Fatt at Ghim Moh Market - really tasty rice in this one.

4. Margaret Drive store (on second floor) - this one is famous because of its tie ups with the other store (same store??) for wan ton soup. Nothing really special about this version.

5. Hainanese chicken rice at Alexandra Market - I like this one because $3.50 buys u a huge portion with achar and a MSG laden soup.

6. Blk 33 Dover Rd - there are 2 stalls here visible from the carpark as you drive in. I think both are nice but I like the one in the middle for its roasted version. Try the watermelon juice at the drinks store next door as well.. great for $1.

Singapore Duck Rice Awards

Recently, my wife and I completed our first "tour of duty" of duck rice places in Singapore. after much lip smacking and flossing (boy does duck meat stick to your teeth!), this is the final list of podium finishers:

1. Sin Huat Duck Rice (Lor 35, Geylang) - lip smacking good. I would have no problem finishing off 2 plates of this rice which is consistently tasty each time i visit. unfortunately, i dont think they have noodles or kway chap.. scores=rice (9), duck (8), sauce (9), soup (7).



2. Lim Seng Lee Duck Rice Restaurant (38 South Buona Vista Road) - great sauce. i would rate the duck here as the most tasty. unfortunately, again no noodles and the tau gua isnt as tasty as the rest. quite expensive too. scores=rice (8), duck (9), sauce (9), soup (7).



3. Rochor Duck Rice & Mutton Soup (327 Beach Road) - without doubt, the best choice of stuffs to accompany the duck. the rice is good, the noodles are fantastic and the kway chap isnt bad as well here. the best herby tasting soup of all. scores=rice/noodles (9), duck (7), sauce (6), soup (9).



4. Newton Duck rice store (Newton Circus, facing the car park) - this is pretty much a run of the mill duck rice. the duck noodles are pretty good though, if a bit oily, of course, its the fried lard that makes it taste so good. will do to fill the stomach! scores=rice/noodles (7), duck (7), sauce (6), soup (6)



5. Yu Kee Duck rice (many branches islandwide) - very much the run of the mill duck rice. average quality, saved by the chili which has ikan bilis bits in it. scores=rice/noodles (6), duck (6), sauce (6), soup (6)

Favorite places to eat in Singapore

We eat out quite a lot (lecheh to cook for 2 pp lah!) so here's a small listing of some nice hawker food i have tried and like in singapore

noodles/bee hoon

prawn noodles at adam rd
hokkien mee at newton circus or smu
fried kuay teow at west coast rd/zion rd/bukit merah
porridge at zion rd
bar chor mee at bedok north
lor mee at upper circular road
wan tan mee at novena food court
soya sauce chicken at ghim moh
satay bee hoon at chomp chomp/east coast center
vegetarian bee hoon at thomson/maxwell
fried fish noodle soup at bukit merah
dry chili mee pok at tiong bahru
beef hor fun at balestier coffee shop/geylang (opposite 24h you tiao)
kl style black hokkien mee at west coast rd coffee shop
slice white fish hor fun at killeney coffee shop/west coast rd opp ginza
ban mee at toa payoh coffee shop
mee rebus at revenue house/adam rd
laksa at katong

rice/porridge

fish porridge at newton circus
nasi lemak at adam road/changi village hawker/jackies bowl east coast
chicken rice at boon tong kee
claypot chicken at clementi
bat kut teh at balestier
curry rice at tiong bahru
congee at zion rd hawker
duck rice at yu kee franchise
nasi padang at katong coffee shop

others

chicken chop/cutlet at west coast hawker center
toasted bread with kaya at novena food court
chinese rojak at toa payoh blk 177
yam cake at chinatown hawker center
roti prata at thomson rd
pot stickers at people's park
bbq chicken wings at bedok north
"normal" yong tau foo at revenue house
fried/ampang yong tau foo at meridien/siglap/ghim moh
chui kuey at tiong bahru/bedok central
popiah at lavendar food square
curry fish head at muthus at racecourse or at jackies bowl east coast
fried carrot cake at bedok central hawker

dessert

glutinous rice balls in peanut soup at ghim moh/bukit merah
yu tiao, shao ping, bean curd at geylang 24hr place
goreng pisang at toa payoh coffee shop
ham chim peng at margaret drive/ghim moh
bean curd at rochor beancurd

drinks

teh alia at taj mahal at adam rd