Madam Kwan's

You may have heard of the newly-opened Madam Kwan's at Vivocity, Harbourfront, which has been highly-anticipated since its success from four branches in Malaysia. (Unless you don't live in Singapore, or don't know where it is. In any case, stay if you want to hear about this very particular Singaporean dining experience...)

I arrived at the restaurant before the rest of my family, and repeated to the dazed-looking table-usher a few times that, no, I do not want to make a reservation, I already have a reservation for five people.

Feeling quite thirsty after coming straight from work, I decided to order an interesting-sounding yam milkshake while the others come. (Sounds interesting, doesn't it?)Ordering in English seemed to be a mistake – the waitress replied me in Chinese stating that she didn't understand. Okay, I thought, strange for a restaurant in Vivocity, the ultimate tourist shopping mall. I repeated my order in Chinese, pointing to the item on the menu. She gave final confirmation by asking if she had circled the correct item on the mini-menu that she was holding. Goodness, yes, it was indeed a 'yam shake' which you have circled. Thank you.

The rest of my family finally arrived, and we ordered some dishes from the menu to share, and a plate of rice each. My milkshake arrived while we were ordering. I expected it to be purple, (most yam-flavoured desserts in Asia are purple) but I thought that it was white because of a lack of artificial colouring. I took a sip, frowned, and took a few more – lo and behold, it was a regular vanilla milkshake. (Man, I still wonder how a yam milkshake tastes like.)

I waited for us to finish ordering the food, before I spoke up. The waiter suggested the assam fish head while we were making decisions. My sister and I quietly flipped to the item on the menu, and it was priced at SG$49. (£24.50) Sly move, sir – that was what our eyes said when they met – but thankfully nobody on the table was up for fish that night, and the suggestion didn't lead anywhere.

Then I requested a change of drink, but the waiter refused. Why, I asked, the waitress who took my order made a mistake, I wanted yam, not vanilla. It's a restaurant regulation, he politely stated – once a customer tries their food, the kitchen can't take it back. My family and I exchanged amused faces.  Then, he said, you shouldn't have drunk it, if you wanted to change it. Internal laughter of disbelief rippled through the table.

"How would she have known it was wrong, if she didn't drink it?" Many variations of this was thrown towards the resilient waiter, who didn't bat an eyelid, and refused, again and again, without much apology.

After lots more slightly heated demands for explanation, as well as some mutterings of 'bad service' under our breaths, the waiter couldn't be persuaded. We gave up, and I drank that vanilla milkshake. (I've never seen a yam milkshake on a menu before... I'm really curious.)

The food came fast in a flurry, the plates all barely fitting onto the table. The best of it was the fried chicken – lovely tenderness, and a nice, crispy skin. There was also some great but spicy sotong, (squid) kangkong, (water spinach) and chicken curry – the latter had a distinct flavour of coconut milk, which was nice but activated a siren against my diet plan! The beef rendang tasted so-so, but was bad on the presentation front: plonked on a plain diner's plate, about three stingy scoops, with two pathetic cucumber slices sticking out of the side of the plate. Costing somewhere between SG$10 to SG$13, (£5 to £7.50) it certainly wasn't worth it. The beef satay was big and chunky but lacked charred, complex flavours I could get from my own barbecue party, although the accompanying peanut sauce was great.

The drinks were rather overpriced – SG$5 for my brother's 'Honey Lemon Tea', which was basically water, lemon slices, ice cubes, and honey.

The bill came up to SG$144 (£72) for the five of us. For local food that we can easily find elsewhere – despite the higher quality of just a few dishes – it was not worth it, and I don't think I'll be going back to Madam Kwan's unless this branch at Vivocity does some serious staff-training and policy-reviewing. (How in the world does a yam milkshake taste like!? I NEED TO KNOW!)

The information presented in this account is true to the best of my knowledge. I wish Madam Kwan's all the best, and hopefully I'll see more customers and better staff on a Sunday night in Vivocity the next time I visit.

Also, I was not happy about having to pay compulsory service charge. Singapore needs a lesson or two from the UK.

C&R

 As with any other country-specific foods, I suppose, where there is a 'correct' taste to these dishes, it was the authenticity of the vibrant Malaysian flavours which I was eager to judge during my dining experience at C&R in Chinatown.

But aren't you from Singapore?

Singaporean cuisine consists of mainly Chinese, Malay and Indian food, and there is usually a fair amount of each type in hawker centres and local eateries.

Likewise, Malaysian cuisine includes lots of Chinese, Malay (duh) and Indian delicacies too. Southeast Asia has a great potpourri of local foods – it's like we had this unspoken selection process happening throughout the decades, and the survivors of gustatory judgement (i.e. dishes we all can't get enough of) have been accepted as ours.

Then there's Thailand who's up there adding crushed peanuts and lime juice into everything and having their own little party.

C&R boasts an extensive menu of all the Malaysian/Singaporean favourites, from *real* Singapore Fried Noodles to nasi lemak, from chendol to ice kacang. And they just had to, had to, had to throw in the Asian-dining-in-Europe quintessential: Pad Thai.

The portions are exceptionally huge for some reason, but it makes me feel alright about spending £6.50 on my mountain of mee siam which is SG$3.50 (£1.75) in Singapore for a more sensible portion.

It's a little unfair, but my mum makes the best mee siam in the world, (recipe up soon) so I can't say that this dish was brilliant. Unlike the version served in a milky, spicy soup back home, this is the original 'dry' version which is truly Malaysian. These noodles were surprisingly spicy for my standards, let alone for the poor tongues of the British. I downed the iced Milo in the background quickly, but the spiciness lingered. Before the chilli became torturous, I did enjoy the noodles, which were tasty enough with a fragrance of bean-paste, and came with prawns, tried tofu, beansprouts, fried egg and some veggies. If I'm not wrong, the lemon wedge should have been a lime instead.

Char kway teow is also another extremely popular dish of Malaysia and Singapore. It is described as 'broad rice noodles stir-fried with egg, prawn, fishcake and bean sprouts.' This dish was actually of the average Singaporean standard, but then again, with black sauce, everything usually comes out okay. I'm glad they added in the chives, which are necessary for a great taste and texture contrast, together with the crunchy bean sprouts, an added yay-factor.

I definitely recommend sharing one dish between two diners, (unless you're a big guy/not having dessert/skipped breakfast/trying to gain weight) or taking away the leftovers. (Additional cost of 50p) Singaporeans and Malaysians will rejoice at this eatery which serves all our authentic local favourites at a good value.

C&R Café
4 Rupert Court
London W1D 6DY
http://www.cnrrestaurant.com/

Loon Tao + Dumplings Legend

I love Chinatown – it has Asian supermarkets which loyally contain my instant noodles and Hello Panda biscuits. It also boasts rows of Chinese restaurants with names as stereotypical you can get.

Loon Tao Chinese Restaurant (Loon Tao = Dragon Island)

龙岛粥面小菜馆

It had the shortest queue among most restaurants on a Saturday evening, when my company and I were wandering around Chinatown hoping to get some decent Chinese food for dinner.

The interiors were nothing much – hanging red lanterns and random oriental posters up on the wall – it was a very simple place. I seemed to be the food consultant of the evening, explaining that, yes, porridge was indeed savoury, er yes I guess it's sort of like rice pudding, and that Singapore noodles is a phony dish. The latter is fried vermicelli noodles with curry powder, which is virtually served no where in Singapore. This dish is like improvised mi-fen with the wrong ingredients within reach of the chef. It is a legit, edible and tasty dish, though. I got a simple beef porridge (a.k.a 'congee') with peanuts which tasted good and authentic, although no porridge can ever surpass my mum's home-made beef porridge.

The restaurant served the staple deep-fried appetizers such as spring rolls and prawn toast, which were not too popular in Southeast-Asian menus.

Overall, the food was tasty and not a bad quality, with reasonable prices and lots of helpful staff walking around. We were served free slices of really good, juicy orange after the meal. Loon Tao is definitely a reliable place to go in Chinatown.

31 Gerrard Street

Soho, London

W1D 5QJ

United Kingdom

Dumplings' Legend

小龙皇

The Dim Sum in Dumplings' Legend is of high standards for a Chinese restaurant in Europe. The famous pork soup dumplings (£6 for 8 dumplings) were good, but could have been served hotter, like most of the dishes I had. The Pork buns (3 for £2.50) and crystal prawn dumplings (8 for £6) were good. What I think was Fried Vermicelli Noodles & Hofen with mixed seafood and scrambled eggs had a few hard, uncooked bits, and the sauce was over-gooey – that dish did not impress me. Otherwise, Dumplings' Legend is a great place to go for acceptable-quality dim sum with a wide variety of dishes.

15-16 Gerrard Street

Chinatown, London

W1D 6JE

Phone: (020) 7494 1200

Opening hours:
Mon-Thu 12:00-00:00
Fri-Sat 12:00-03:00
Sun 12:00-23:00
Nearest Tube Station: Leicester Square

http://www.dumplingslegend.com/

Pizza, scotch eggs and apple crumble

The following is an insight on how three girls enjoy a Friday night with movie and food.

First we spend the whole week fantasizing about how we would add stuff like corn, pepperoni, mushroom, olives, ham, pineapple, minced meat etc. onto some awesome cheese-filled-crust pizza dough and put it in the oven for an epic Sunday movie-night, but then other plans arise and we are at Tesco at 6pm on a Friday night after a long day at school, lazy to knead dough and discovering that there is no pre-made pizza dough available in the gigantic Tesco in Twickenham.

We give up and scan the chilled ready-to-bake pizzas which were selling at 3 for £5 – perfect, one for each of us.

DJ P-Zah tears it up!

We threw these together in the oven while setting up a DVD of The Help. 12 mini scotch eggs went into the oven too – it was our first time trying these British appetizers, which are boiled eggs wrapped in sausage meat, coated in breadcrumbs and deep-fried. I wonder why the person who invented this wasn't satisfied with a boiled egg and had to coat it with all sorts of gunk.

Dissection of a scotch egg

One of my friends didn't quite like the egg, but I did. It was just a little pleasant treat with a nice crusty touch, and I'm looking forward to tasting real scotch eggs, which aren't from Tesco, someday. Those that look like this.

The pizza was really satisfying as well. They baked well in the oven, and had great tastes, and loaded with ingredients. The 'deep-dish' one just happened to have a thicker base rather than more ingredients, just a heads up.

'Meat feast'

Although we each had a pizza, it is a universal, mutual agreement that there is always room for dessert. Tesco's Bramley Apple Crumble comes in a box like this:

Months ago, we removed the paper sleeve and placed the plastic box into the oven, which warped. So this time, we scooped it out of the container, which kind of ruined it, but we didn't care because this Bramley Apple Crumble is so good, especially when topped with vanilla ice cream. (~£1 for a container the size of three-ish bricks)

Apologies for the lousy picture, I didn't want the ice cream to melt.

I haven't had much apple crumble before, because I've only just recently become a baked-apple fan, but I really do love Tesco's Bramley Apple Crumble. The crumble is sweet and crunchy, and the filling is plentiful, warm and yummy. The warm mess combined with simple vanilla ice cream is the perfect dessert, especially with all the different textures.

I felt 9 months pregnant after eating dessert, because the freezer was too small for ice cream, so we had to finish it, therefore I kept on dolloping spoonfuls of ice cream onto my crumble.

(Long, satisfied 'ahh')

Dinner

Get a big potato, bake it, cut it halfway lengthwise and widthwise so that it resembles a first-aid sign, squish it outwards to form a plateau of sorts. Then scoop some good Mexican Chilli Beef (I don't know whether this is Chilli Con Carne or not) onto that, and top it with cheese. Add some mashed-up avocado at the side and a few Pringle chips, and you've got a subpar imitation of the most memorable dinner I've ever had, cooked by the one and only Mrs C.

What you do is grab that Pringle and scoop up some avocado. I'm starting to think that Pringles were shaped for this purpose, much like the Tic Tac box has a Tic Tac holder that nobody knew about until it went on 9Gag.

Avocado is really strange. It's green and tasteless goop. Why does it exist?

Anyway, if you've completely run out of ideas for dinner, why don't you try this baked potato a la Mrs C?

Assa (Korean food)

Before coming to London, Korean food was just something I had never encountered or bothered to try, maybe because I assumed that Korean dishes were nothing more than thrown-together variations of Kimchi, or because of their long, complicated names. Also, I was probably contented with my Japanese food obsession, and felt that Japanese food was the only other type of Oriental food I needed in my life. I don't know if this is a good comparison, but it's like if you took up French as your second language and went around rambling 'comment allez-vous' and plus belles phrases en français, I don't think you'd be in a hurry to learn Danish and greet someone with 'hvordan har du det' anytime soon.

Anyway, it was a busy Saturday night in Soho, and all the restaurants were piling up with people. Thank god for Chinatown, which has several rows of Asian food-places. My friends and I settled on Assa, a Korean restaurant on Romilly Street, and we got in after about 15 minutes of waiting time.

Google images helps the lazy blogger

As one of my friends pointed out, it was one of those places which would make your hair reek – one would inevitably leave the restaurant smelling like a walking Kimchi stalk. Nevertheless, the place was filled with the warm, happy and comforting aroma of Asian food which only served to entice our appetites.

Like many other cheaper Asian restaurants in London, you are there for the food, and not the atmosphere. The tables were small and rectangular, and the place was noisy and busy – not an ideal place for long conversations or catching-up, something in-common with most Asian restaurants in London. You are rushed in, you are served, you are shoved out via implying stares from waitresses.

A must-try in Assa is the Kimchi fried rice. (Kimchi 'Bokumbop') We had two plates of those but I would've been happy with two more. It is served with a fried egg atop, yolk still runny, and sigh-inducing when leaked and eaten with the fried rice. The rice was made tasty with the kimchi, and had a lovely smoky taste that all good fried rice dishes have.

Then we had Kimchi noodle soup and a Kimchi hot pot which seemed like nothing but a whole lot of Kimchi to me, but filled me up decently.

We then got a Kimchi pancake, (kimchijeon) which was Kimchi and who-knows-what-else deep fried in a golden tempura-like batter served with tempura sauce. (Or the Korean equivalent) It was crispy, warm, tasty and absolutely yummy.

After the dinner, we hung out at Starbucks until they chased us out onto the streets with the partygoers and drunken people at 11pm. Central London in the night is satisfying in a strange way whenever you are out with friends.

ASSA
23 Romilly Street
London
UK W1D 5
020 7734 9050

Bonfire night

I was told that something involving fireworks would occur early November, but I had to get the full story through many very international-student-like questions.

So basically, sometime ago, this guy called Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the parliament, (i.e. Big Ben and the golden building around it) but he got stopped, and at this time every year, people celebrate the fact that they didn't get blown up, by releasing fireworks and having bonfire parties.

I wasn't too sure of who this person was until I did a quick Google search.

Just a little bit creepy. Just.

Of course, that isn't actually Guy Fawkes, but it is the mask featured in the movie V for Vendetta (which I have to admit I haven't actually watched and should probably get round to doing it) which was inspired by, er, his face.

Anyway, Mr C brought us round to the house at the end of the street, together with some cheddar and feta cheese, bruschetta (which were burnt in the oven, thanks to Fuyumi and I, but saved, thanks to Mr C) cucumber, breadsticks, and salami slices. It was a mini garden gathering on a very cold night, but it was all pleasant thanks to the bonfire and extremely powerful patio heater.

Fuyumi and I nicked some food from the party despite knowing that there was pasta waiting for us at home. I made ourselves a wrap containing veggies, salmon, chicken tikka and yogurt. Sounds dodgy but actually made for a pretty interesting flavour combination. We also had some thick omelette which I initially mistook for quiche, and a few sausages as well as a roasted marshmallow each. The whole atmosphere was lovely, with stars blinking in the sky and fireworks blooming like flowers occasionally, across the neighbourhood. We fired some from the garden as well, going "oooo" and "wooowww" every time one shot up.

I wish there was a bonfire night every month, it's such a nice way to experience the English suburban nights.

When we got home, we had a tiny portion of pasta (rigatoni and penne mixed) alla something-with-tomatoes-and-meat-in-it-probably-Bolognese-but-i'm-not-so-sure with grated parmesan on top, which is always comfort food.

Hm, I think I'm actually going to try to develop that salmon and chicken tikka wrap combination one day.

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Mr C's Aglio Olio

It is day two of Mrs C's holiday, and, this evening, Mr C has done it again.

It was pure delight gobbling down this place of Aglio Olio, and this time, I had the delight of witnessing it being made in the kitchen! There was no fancy hocus-pocus involved, just mostly kitchen ingredients and, I guess, some special Italian instincts.

Aglio Olio (translates to 'Garlic Oil'. Mr C makes a point of telling us as much as he can about the food that's being made)

for 3 people

Ingredients:

1. Faux Italian instinct:
This recipe is going to require a little italiano voice in your head going "a little bit more of this," "how about we add this in," "this should do" and some "mamma mia!" for good measure, as the quantities stated here are pretty much estimated and figured out. But don't back away now, it's your chance to feel like an actual chef instead of using recipes like textbooks.

2. Oil
Mr C picked up different bottles of oil which were conveniently placed beside the stove as well as a mini jar of chilli pepper oil. I just went back to check, and they are a) extra virgin olive oil and b) sunflower oil. The chilli pepper oil was home-made – the Cs simply dunked a few hot chilli peppers into a jar of olive oil and apparently the taste spreads after four days. You also will need a bit of oil from a jar/bottle of anchovy fillets.

3. Three anchovy fillets
Bottle says: 19% extra virgin olive oil with garlic and... something. I've been down to the kitchen twice and I'm not going back a third time to find out what the last component is, because I'm simply lazy, but Google tells me that the anchovy fillets from Sainsbury's are in extra virgin olive oil with garlic and herb. I'm guessing that's the one. These anchovies will get mushed up in the process so they're there for the taste, really. You will hardly notice them.

4. Three cloves of garlic which are 'quite big'
Chopped, diced, blended, grated whatever you like, as long as they are little tiny pieces for sautéing.

5. Bacon

Sliced into little fingernail-sized squares, and not too much to make a salty, oily mess, but just enough to divide sparingly between three people.

6. Broccoli

This ingredient really helped out the recipe and the overall texture of the Aglio Olio, and I'll tell you why in a minute. A bit like the bacon, just get a fair amount to be divided between three people, but you can be a little bit more generous with this one.

7. 1/2 packet of spaghetti

Finally! An ingredient with actual, precise measurements! If I were you I wouldn't know exactly what defines the size of one "packet," but just take it as something slightly bigger than a dancer's forearm. This is as accurate as I can get – everybody's forearm is different. What if you happen to be a rugby player? Or an anorexic? Or a chubby person? Or a highly intelligent gorilla?

8. Mini eggplants, halved

This ingredient is a guess. I spotted some sort of sweet vegetable in the dish. It had a dark purple skin and soft, juicy brownish insides, and it was cut lengthwise. Just a few of these, not too many.

9. Grated parmesan cheese

A must for every pasta we have at the Cs'.

10. Salt

You probably need it.

11. Soya sauce

You need a little bit.

12. Anything else you fancy

Mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, gummy bears – I don't know.

Method:

1. Sautée the bacon, eggplant and garlic in olive oil in a normal frying pan. Be generous with the oil and add sunflower oil when you feel like it. Drizzle chilli pepper oil over it, as well as the oil from the anchovy jar. All these shouldn't be drowning the ingredients like in a deep-fry, but enough to cover the pan and coat the ingredients. Like a thick puddle. (I do hope these explanations aren't putting you in a fix. Calm down and let the Italian instinct take over.) Er, I think you have to add salt as well. Also, add about a teaspoon of soya sauce. After you are done, set this aside.

2. Fill a pot with water and put the spaghetti in, moving it around to let it soften and sink in. Once it's all in, throw in the broccoli and leave it for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Oh, you have to add in some olive oil to prevent the spaghetti from sticking to each other or to the pan. I have a feeling that one of those doesn't actually happen, but I'm hoping that you are as clueless as I am. Add salt too, about two teaspoons.

To check whether the spaghetti is al dente, (firm but not hard) bite into a strand and make sure there is no whiteness in the noodle. And while you are chewing it you can probably tell as well. Don't worry if it's a teeny bit chewy, it will have a nice and crunchy (in the pasta sense and not the biscuit sense) texture once on the plate.

3. Drain the spaghetti and broccoli once they're ready.

4. Heat up the other stuff in the frying pan if you wish, and pour the stuff over the spaghetti. (Doesn't matter if it's in a serving bowl or the pot) Mr C used the spaghetti to swipe off the remaining oil in the pan to prevent wastage. Mix it well.

5. Serve it with grated parmesan cheese on the top.

If you completely skipped the recipe because you have no interest in cooking, here's where you should resume reading.

I have to tell you the interesting bit about the broccoli. First of all, I should let you know that I particularly like it when I can feel the mushy parmesan particles in my pasta instead of it all disappearing into the sauce. The little buds from the broccoli which disseminated into the spaghetti made this similar effect, and I thought it was a really great touch. And if all this doesn't make sense to you at all, I understand completely.

The end product is an extremely tasty and aromatic warm spaghetti Aglio Olio. The spaghetti is just right, and the different oils used make for a delightful taste spectrum, especially with the touch of anchovies. Mr C's estimation skills also ensured that the spaghetti was neither drowned in oil nor dry and sticky – at the end of the meal, there were no puddles of oil left on my plate, something that often happens with Aglio Olio.

I can't wait for the next dinner. With all this Italian food I'm probably going to turn half-Italian by the end of the week.

__________

Bruschetta

Mrs C is away on a vacation in Turkey this week, which means we have Italian food by Mr C every night.

By the way, I say 'we' because there are two of us in this house.

We were left with microwave dinner that week because the Cs were on holiday.

Fuyumi hails from Japan, and she has a love for food like I do, except she is less of a glutton than I am, and has a more reasonable amount of self-control than I do.

Anyway. So I've introduced Mr C's risotto, and now I'm going to talk about Bruschetta. (Ah Italian food always sounds so sophisticated (´ ▽｀).。ｏ♡  )

Last night, Fuyumi and I helped out with this antipasto, (the word for Italian appetizers, in case you don't live with an Italian who cooks) and it was a pretty easy job. Firstly, we got a slice of hot toast and a clove of garlic, and we were told to rub the garlic onto the toast, cheese-grater style. I started off uncertainly, but as I went on, I realized that the garlic was indeed getting smaller. I never knew you could do that with garlic! I feel like I've discovered a new magic trick. Involving food, of course.

Then we had to flood the toast with olive oil, and place the sautéed mushrooms and tomatoes on its surface before cutting and serving. Bruschetta is such a warm and comforting food item to have in such cold weather. Actually, toast itself usually saves the day. But the mushrooms and tomatoes add an extra yumminess and preparation for the meal that is to come.

More, please. Can't wait for tonight's dinner!

By the way, antipasti is plural for antipasto.

Just saying.

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