Sizzling in Singapore

Nothing better than leaving the cold murky Northern Hemisphere winter for a long weekend in Singapore. I was lucky to do this over Easter, and spent a fab few days catching up with my folks and pigging out on the local food.

Not long after our respective planes from London and Brisbane had landed, we headed directly to Newton Food Centre (formally known as Newton Circus), one of the original Hawker food centres. This place to me, is the quintessential Singapore. Vast and bustling, the whole area smells like an enormous aromatic kitchen. Food here is great value and you're spoilt for choice!

Satays are sold in bulk, and we ploughed our way through 80 of the delectible little sticks of meat and peanut sauce by the time we downed the first bottle of Tiger Beer. Gotta keep the fluids up in the tropics!

Other memorable meals were the obligatory chili crab, which we had at a lovely riverside restaurant in Clarke Quay, and again on the final night out at East Coast Parkway - another fab eating precinct.



The final amazing food encounter was at the Swissotel's Equinox restaurant, which towers 70 floors above the city. The view at dusk was awesome - it really helped to put this compact city into perspective. The miso cod and dessert platter was delicious. And the cocktails up on the 71st floor were pretty good too!

As well as the usual lurch down Orchard Road, and a frenzied expedition to Lucky Plaza, where there are so many consumer electronics shops, your head spins, we spent a soggy afternoon out at Jurong Bird Park.

This is one of Singapore's most popular and well known attactions, and despite the big tropical rain storm, we checked out some amazing birds. The huge walk-through aviaries allow you to get up close and personal with the birds. The scarlet flamingos were my favourite! Check out the rest of the pictures here.



Finishing off the eat-a-thon, we met the lovely Ann for a local lunch in International Plaza, home to the Dow Jones Singapore office. Ann introduced us to claypot chicken and a yummy bean paste and ginko dessert.

It's true that Singapore is known for its obsession with eating and shopping...but hey...what a wonderful way to wile away the hours.

Let the gormandising begin!

This weekend saw the 4th annual Taste of London food and drink festival in Regent's Park. Even though it was scheduled to rain, thousands of people turned out for the 12-4pm time slot, on what ended up being a fantastic sunny day.

At the gates we were given a convenient menu, which listed each of the 40 restaurant's three dishes on offer. Oh god...the drooling started about then, and didn't really stop all afternoon.

Cold, fizzy whisky-based drinks were thrust into our hands as we walked past the first tent, and we stumbled into the Alessi Cookery School. A cooking lesson was starting, and we managed to get a couple of spaces.

Minutes later, a loud, bossy but very charming Italian chef was booming at us to switch on the stoves, and said that we'd be cooking a simple creamy pasta in the new Alessi Pasta Pot.

We prepped some peas, garlic, pancetta and threw it all into the pot to cook for a couple of minutes. We were then instructed to throw in the dry pasta and enough water to cover it...all in the same pot. This seemed counter-intuitive, but we were assured the pasta would cook properly.

Sure enough, the water eventually disappeared and we tipped in some cream, salt and pepper. Due to ridiculous health and safety regulations, we weren't allowed to actually eat what we'd made, but it looked pretty impressive for novices!

Having been whiffing pasta for 20 minutes, we were starving and set off in search of Asian-influenced Cocoon, who had Wagyu beef on Hot Rocks on offer. Stupidly, I didn't take a photo of the dish - or any of them for that matter. I was so engrossed in the taste that the idea of taking photos seemed a million miles away. The good people at Cocoon have included their recipe for Wagyu beef though. My obsession with the delicious marbled fatty Australian meat continues.

People mosied round, stuffing their faces with goumet delights and whatever free booze was on offer. Music floated through the air, and it was all very civilised. A foodie's paradise!

Next on my radar was the stall for Knightsbridge-based Brazilian restaurant, Mocoto. Their Moqueca - monkfish and shellfish coconut stew and rice, had caught my eye. It too was fabulous - a creamy, spicy seafood curry, that definitely tasted different from my usual preferred Thai curries. I definitely need to investigate South American cuisine, and have no good reason why I have not done so before. Shame on me.

A coupla dishes down, and we were thirsty. Threshers were sponsoring the Wine Experience, so lurched in to grab two seats, just in time for the Roses from Around the World session. We sampled wines from Germany, Argentina, Chile, Spain and California, with the Chilean Vina Carmen rose my pick of the bunch. At just under £6 a bottle from Waitrose, it was a great full-bodied rose.

At this stage, we may have been slightly tipsy, with a couple of the whisky-based fizzy drinks mixing with the roses and various gourmet meals. Surprisingly no one seemed massively pizzed, although the potential was certainly there.

Being an avid oyster fan, the oyster dish at One o One really took my fancy. Oh, I wish I'd taken a photo of the Cancale Tsarkaya oyster with Ozen quail egg, apple salsa and wasabi flying-fish caviar. It was a little piece of edible artwork. The chef suggested I down the quail egg first, and follow it with the oyster. The flavours were truly amazing...the melt-in-mouth quail egg, with the tang of apple, the creamy oyster, the ping of the flying fish caviar and the firey whiff of the wasabi. Oh my god...it was quite possibly the best oyster I've ever had. And I've had a few in my time.

I just love dishes where the flavours and textures have been skillful combined.

By chance, we stumbled past yet another wine tasting class at the Sud de France Wine Theatre. Perhaps it was because I'd already consumed a bit, but none of the wines that I sampled in that session did it for me. Oh well...each to their own. Some people were raving about the wine.

With a few Crowns (the currency of the festival) left, we decided to try a pudding. Kensington Places' Lime and Basil pannacotta was delicious. I've had a few pannacotta's recently, and I really like it as a dessert. I'm not particularly into cakes and big gooey puddings, but pannacotta seems like a nice way to finish a meal.

Our four hour gorge-fest seemed to fly by and soon we were being ushered out, as a dude from a stall that sold sea-salt scrubs from the Dead Sea snagged us and flogged us a tub of salt that made our hands feel really smooth. How this related to the food festival was beyond both Ant and I, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

The Taste of London was a fantastic day out, and was a great way to experience some of London's top restaurants. All the stalls at which I didn't get to try something, will go onto my Wish List of Restaurants, as will all of those that did!

We finished the day with a tasty meal in China Town before heading home - stuffed but happy.

A beginner's guide to making sushi rolls

Just to prove we made our own rolls, here's the step-by-step evidence.

1) Gather ingredients:
- Nori sheets (dried seaweed)
- sliced avocado
- sliced peppers
- sliced cucumber
- crab sticks
- prepared sushi rice
- black and white sesame seeds
- Japanese mayonnaise
- latex gloves and a sushi rolling mat



2) Lay the seaweed on the mat, spread the rice evenly across most of the seaweed, leaving an empty edge - this is the part that will stick onto itself and close the whole package up shortly. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.



3) Place other ingredients down the middle of the rice, squirt some mayonnaise down the centre, and begin to roll, holding the underneath side of the mat, and folder the rice over enough for it meet itself. Move the mat back and keep rolling the package until the seaweed overlaps itself. Seal by lightly dampening the seaweed and sticking it to itself.



4) And voila! Perfect rolls. Slice into 1.5cm wide rolls, arrange and serve with wasabi and soy sauce.

If I have to get older, I'd rather do it like this...

It was one of those birthdays that in some cases, sent me into the next worrying age bracket. For others, it poised me right on the edge.

Ok ok, I turned 35 this year, but Ant ensured I celebrated in style, with a day full of fun and yummy surprises. The instructions required that we be in town - early. Or early for a Saturday morning, anyway.

We arrived at Yoi Sushi headquarters, just behind the London Eye, for a 10am start. About 20 of us lined up around a conveyor belt, for a 3-hour sushi-making workshop.



Our host was a Japanese sushi chef, who had been making sushi for years. He took nearly an hour to explain the importance of perfecting sushi rice - a process that involved much washing of the Japanese short grain rice, and a specific method for cooking it over a pan - or in a rice cooker if you prefer.

He explained that you could substitute italian arborio rice if you could not find the pure (Australian or Californian produced) rice most frequently used in the UK for sushi rice. That said, Japanese sushi rice is available at the Japan Centre in Piccadilly, and many other shops in China Town.

He demonstrated how to blend rice wine vinegar into the sushi rice, and how to store and handle it during the sushi-making process.

He then went on to demonstrate how to fillet a whopping big fillet of salmon. I was impressed when he said that his shop alone consumes over a tonne of fresh salmon each year. That's a hell of a lot of filleting.

At this point, I was pondering whether I needed to adorn my kitchen with a dedicated sashimi-fillettng knife, but continued to watch the dude's dexterity in fish-slicing, in the mean time.

He did amazing things with the very fresh orangey fish. We got to sample it straight of the fish's back, so to speak. He showed us to to fillet the pieces to create sashmi or nigiri sushi.

We then progressed to learn how to roll sushi-rolls and california rolls. It's not as hard as you may think, once you gets the tips from a pro. Latex gloves and japanese mayonaise certainly make life easier.

Our host did a finale, where we each got to pick an ingredient for him to include as part of mega sushi roll. It looked fantastic, although I don't know if the combination of teriyaki chicken, avocado, salmon, peppers and god knows what else, would all combine to create the perfect and-rolled sushi. The salmon on the side was fab however.

We were then let loose on our own mini-setup, to practice rolling our own magical creations.

It really wasn't as hard as we'd anticipdated, and with a bit of practice, we were rolling cylinders that actually resembled those that you might buy in shops.

Lunch followed, and we got to take our magical creations home.

The best lookin' meal ever. Oishikatta desu ne!

Dinner was included in the accommodation cost, and our our hostess had it all lined up on a trolley outside the room.

We were ushered into the main room with the large low table, and asked to sit crosslegged as she laid out in perfect mirror image, two whopping meals.

























I love the Japanese obsession with presentation and layout. What I really would have liked at the time was someone who could explain in detail, what each dish was and what it meant. I have read about the Japanese philosophy of fives - that is, five flavours and colours. The meal laid out before us certainly seemed to meet that criteria.

There was the obligatory rice, and a large range of unidentifiable pickled root vegetables, fish, miso soup, sushi and sashimi, candied bits and pieces, jellied stuff, steam boats and carefully styled fruit pieces.

Tea and beer accompanied the meal (beer was our choice!), and we sat wide-mouthed through most of the meal, contemplating the tastes and the meaning of it all.

Everything tasted extremely fresh, and it had obviously been prepared with love and dedication - soppy, but you know what I mean.

Then came the absolute best part of the meal - the phone call to reception to clear up the remnants of dinner.

The clearing was quick and efficient, and within a few minutes our clean-up lady was out of the room, leaving nothing but chocolates.

Another knock followed, and the futon-making man appeared, ready to make our beds for the evening.

Two layers of foam on the floor formed the bed, then the thickest duvet/doona ever was placed over the top. It's somehow comforting being low to the ground when you sleep...something about not having too far to fall out of bed :-).

In any case, it was the most inspiring meal. And breakfast was pretty much the same thing all over.

Inside a traditional Japanese guesthouse

The ryokan was simple but intensely Japanese. Tatami matting lined the floor, and a series of sliding doors sectioned off the two main rooms from the long narrow hallway.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a full bathroom with a deep bath. The loo had a heated toilet seat - a really popular contraption in Japan.

The main room was sparse in terms of furniture and lounges for that matter. The only seats that existed in this ryokan were the two arm chairs in the little indoor balcony that overlooked the temple, and two ground-level chairs that we gathered formed part of the dinner ritual.

We knocked back a few beers and pondered life in Japan, when a knock at the door signalled dinner.

It was indeed a spectacle that deserves a post of its own.

Dad turns 60 - but not without a gear box failure...

I can't believe my luck. Or my bad luck, as the case seems to be.

Everything fell into place timewise for me to be able to be in Queensland for Dad's 60th birthday.

I planned for a Harley Trike to pick Mum adn Dad up, take them on a one hour drive throught the bendy hills of Mt Tambourine, and up to what looked to be a fab restaurant in a rainforest. In the spirit of the Big 60th Surprise Birthday Stuff Up, I wouldn't have thought universal forces would have conspired once again to stuff up a perfectly good surprise!

The big day arrived, and we all sat round the kitchen table, waiting - on my instruction - to leave at 11.30am. This was when a big biker bloke was to come humming through the gates of my parent's complex, install them in the Harley Trike, and whisk them up the mountain. I was planning to take their car and meet them there.

11.20am rolled by....11.30 rolled by...I sms'd the driver to let him know the pass code for the front gate....

Nothing.

11.35...call from driver. "Hi Melanie...bad news".

My heart sank. "Yes...where are you Paul?"

"Er...we just blew the gear box in the trike. We're stuck in the middle of the road and won't be moving till the tow truck picks us up. In three hours."

"I see."

"I'm really, REALLY sorry. But this bike is going nowhere. We can send two motorbikes...they could be there in an hour or so."

"Er...no thanks. I don't think that will work. Not quite the same effect."

"Can we arrange alternate transport? A limousine perhaps?"

"Er, thanks but, we not quite what I had in mind, and we need to be at the restaurant in 45 mins. Can we please postpone the trikes for another time...we need to leave now to make our booking."

ARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH! Unbelievable.

Anyway...Plan B moved into action, and we drove up the long and scenic hill to Songbird's Retreat - a fabulous restaurant and accommodation provider tucked away in the Gold Coast Hinterland.

Everything about Songbird's is perfect - the setting, the staff, the service, the food, and the resident ducks who run around the entrance to the outdoor loos.

It was one of the best meals I've ever had, in one of the most beautiful settings imaginable.

For a starter I had the Tempura Coated Soft Shell Crab, and for the main, I had a MOUTH-WATERING Pan-Seared Sirloin of Wagyu Beef. I wanted to see if it was as good as the square inch I had at 41. It was. Oh GOD it was yummy.

Dad seemed to enjoy himself and the meal too, and the plate of desserts was equally stunning.

It was a lunch to remember! Happy 60th birthday Dad!

Yet more seafood..a lunch at Doyles

Another perfect sunny day in Sydney, and the food and booze wagon rolled on.

After we picked Mum and dad up from the airport and poked around some of Sydney's eastern beaches, we had lunch at Doyles at Watson's Bay.

Possibly one of the most iconic restaurants in Sydney, the view from Doyles back over my favourite city is awesome. This is one of their promotional pics.



We used to sail into this sheltered cove years ago, and the beer garden just off the beach has also been a favourite haunt on the occasional quiet Sunday arv.

Yet more yummy seafood was enjoyed by all.

While I'm on wagyu beef....

Weeks later, I still salivate at the memory of wagyu beef. Ant came across a UK site called Discerning Food, which is flogging 3kg wagyu Sunday roasts for £250.50. Oh. MY. GOD.

The best meal ever?

The Oz trip also promised a big dose of Australian food, which I reckon is amongst the freshest and best in the world. Yes yes, I'm biased :-).

We had dinner one evening at Forty One, which ironically is on Level 42 of the Chiefly Tower in Sydney.

Once the lift doors open, we walked through a mini oriental garden, and then the full panoramic view of Sydney Harbour hit us.

We arrived just on dusk, as a beautiful sunset filled the sky. The view spans from the Harbour Bridge, out to North and South Head, and around to the Eastern suburbs. It's a unique view of Sydney Harbour, and the lights below us continued to twinkle throughout the meal.

Out came the bubbly, which went down as easily as the view.

I had originally planned to have the Menu Degustation, but when I saw the menu, I felt that the five course menu actually offered more choice.

They've slightly changed the meal since we went, but between us, and over the five courses we had the following dishes:
- Western Australian Yabbies Poached In A Saffron Bouillion With Tomatoes, Chorizo & Calasparra Rice
- Grilled Sea Scallop, Steamed Korobuto Pork With Hand Picked Crab Meat And Thai Spices.
- Tandoori Marinated Quail Breast, Fried Aubergine “Ravioli” Cucumber Raita, Chilli And Cardamom Oil
- Slow Cooked Ocean Trout, Crushed English Peas With Prosciutto, Peccorino, Basil, Mint & Lemon
- Western Australian Yabbies Poached In A Saffron Bouillion With Tomatoes, Chorizo & Calasparra Rice
- Blackmore Wagyu Beef Onglet Slow Braised With Fermented Black Beans & Stir Fried Fresh Coriander
- Cervena Vension Medallion Sauteed With A Chorizo Stuffed Date Wrapped In Pancetta, Cauliflower Puree

It was all awesome...truly mouth watering and exquisitely presented. Canapes came between each course, and we tried a great West Australian wine from Margaret River called Virtues and Vices...loved it!

The standout part of the entire experience was the wagyu beef. I'd seen a documentary on the plane about famous Australian Japanese chef, Tetsuya Wakuda, and his use of wagyu beef. It showed him visiting his wagyu beef suppliers in Tasmania, and described how they raised their wagyu cows.

Wagyu cows are a special breed of Japanese cow, and the Tasmanian wagyu cows are kept on a farm which spans three islands off the Tasmanian coast. The farmers muster the cows from island to island at low tide. Apparently they keep the cows content and relaxed in order to produce the best meat.

I can't rave enough about how delicious wagyu beef is. Marbled fat runs through the meat when it's raw, which makes it creamy and rich when braised, as ours was. We only had small portions, but it was an unforgettable.

Antony also raved about the trout and mushy peas, which are apparently coming back into vogue - ironic, as we could actually see Harry's Cafe de Wheels from where we were sitting.

We couldn't quite fit dessert, athough the lovely people at Forty One gave us some nicely packed chocolates.

It will take a lot to beat this meal - anywhere. Hats off to chef Dietmar Sawyere.

A welcome dose of Aussie seafood

After a solid night's sleep following the torturous 20-hour flight, we pottered around Sydney's Eastern beaches before heading into town for dinner.

The bar at the forecourt of the Opera House was heaving - I couldn't believe how warm it was for late March! It felt more like a summer evening than an Autumn one! Ant was surprised to see how much flesh Sydney chics were flashing. Good to see nothing's changed...

We stuck our head in at Doyle's at Circular Quay, which was packed, and then wandered past the Waterfront. I'd never actually eaten there, and I was hanging for decent seafood after a 9 month drought, so we grabbed a seat.

Ant too was looking forward to sampling Aussie seafood, so we ordered the cold seafood platter. It's been SOOOO long since I've had one of those.

It was great - not too much fried food, and a fantastic selection of shellfish, including bugs, crabs and prawns. The oysters were awesome...my oyster drought probably made them taste even better.

The restaurant was packed, and loud with animated conversations. I'd never realised how big the place is.

Anyway, as we sat there, up to our eyeballs in seafood, knocking back some great Australian wine and with the Harbour Bridge and Opera House in full view, I pondered that there really is no place like home.

The flying cake is finally cut

After its epic journey from Oxford, conveyor belt ride through security, 11-hour rest in a crew storage area, turbulence, and despite the humidity in Singapore, the little pink cake made its way to the table, and our expanding tummies.

We had a fab few days in Singapore. Happy 60th birthday Mum!

Show me the crab (and gimme a satay while you're at it)

My all-time FAVOURITE experience in Singapore is chilli crab. Even if I only have a 3-hour stopover in Singapore, I'll hurtle out to the East Coast Parkway to get a dose of this mouth-watering dish.



Anyway, we had longer than three hours for the evening of Mum's birthday, and attempted to over-dose on chilli crab at the Long Beach Seafood Restaurant. Consumed with a Singha beer or ten, this is truly one of best food experiences on the planet. I said to Mum that I intended to be gutsing out on chilli crab for my 60th birthday.

Other fab restaurant precincts in the ever-expanding Singapore, include the newly refubished Clarke Quay and CHIJMES.

And of course there's always the trusty hawker centres, which we visited another night. Newton's Circus, now known as the Newton Food Centre is one of my favourite haunts - Mum and Dad first bought me here about 20 years ago and to me it's always been synonymous with Singapore.

Here's a pic of Dad working his way through a couple dozen mixed satays and the obligatory Singha.

Taking the cake to Singapore

The day before I flew out to Singapore, Ant and I were mosying around Oxford with my friends from Oz - Al and Ian, and stumbled across the Cake Shop in the market place. They make the most wonderful tailored cakes - mainly fruit cakes with spectacular icing designs. They also do a series of comical characters made from marzipan. Absolutely fabulous!

I decided to get a small cake made up for Mum's birthday - it was really sweet: pink flowers and icing.

The next challenge was to get it through security at Heathrow! I was really worried they'd make me stick to the one piece of hand luggage rule that they're now enforcing pretty much without exception. Jamming the fruit cake into my already heaving backpack was not going to assist its longevity.

Fortunately, a very kind security inspector let me take the cake through - it had to be scanned of course, which was fine. I got some weird looks from fellow travellers as my little pink cake emerged from the xray machine on the conveyor belt.

It made the 11-hour flight safely too, ready for the big day!