Savour 2012

Posted on March 18, 2012 by K

Are you attending the hottest culinary event of the year?

I am.  🙂

Savour is a huge culinary carnival showcasing many celebrity chefs. The chefs will present 3 – 4 of their signature dishes to the audience – Kinda like a “Michelin-starred” Pasar Malam (Night Market in Malay language)”. See the official Savour menu.

Below is my MUST TRY list:
1) Molecular Xiao Long Bao by Alvin Leung – Bo Innovation Hong Kong
2) Banh Cuon Thit Heo (Steamed rice rolls) by Bien Nguyen – Xu Vietnam. I am so excited to know Bien Nguyen will be participating in Savour. I love his restaurant, Xu in Saigon. Read 15 things to do in Saigon
3) Cold Angel Hair Pasta with Oscietra Caviar by Gunther Hubrechsen –Gunther’s Singapore. Highly recommended by P in her Gunther’s review.
4) Wild Caught Langoustine by Julien Royer – Jaan Singapore.

There will also be cooking workshops and activities like latte art, wine tasting etc. and a gourmet market selling products that are not commonly found in Singapore.

I can’t wait to attend Savour. Do look forward to my post-event update!

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Le Viet Café and Restaurant – Authentic Vietnamese Food in Singapore #2

Posted on March 16, 2012 by K

After my very positive experience in Long Phung – I decided to do a series of posts on my search for authentic Vietnamese food in Singapore.

You will likely not see any reviews of Pho (I concluded that I’m really not a big fan of pho and even the highly raved Pho Hoa in HCMC did not manage to change my mind) and spring rolls (I can make spring rolls reasonably well after my lessons in Saigon cooking school so why bother to buy them! :))

Le Viet Cafe and Restaurant was my second stop in this series because they sell banh cuon (steamed rice rolls)! Le Viet is located under the Peranakan hotel (very near Al Forno). Love the pretty white and red shophouse exterior!


The restaurant was empty on a weekday night with only a few diners who looked like occupants from the hotel.


[LEFT] Vietnamese Cuisine Menu
[RIGHT] Chinese Cuisine Menu

The menu looked a little confusing to me – the first 3 pages were on Vietnamese cuisine and the rest were on Chinese food. Le Viet was opened by a Singaporean Chinese in 2002 – I guess she wanted to have a wider menu to cater to a broader audience.

Le Viet’s business must be faring well given they just opened a new branch in Katong 112.


BANH XEO (Vietnamese Crepe) – Le Viet’s banh xeo was pretty good. The crepe was thin and crispy at the sides.  The prawns inside were succulent and fresh but the pork was too tough. I prefer the thin slices of pork used in the banh xeo I had in Saigon. Interestingly, the crepe was served with 1 piece of lettuce and pickled carrots. I always thought the right way to eat banh xeo was to wrap a small portion of it in lettuce?

BANH BOT LOC (Steamed Shrimp dumpling) – The version here was too chewy for my liking. I don’t think i will order this next time.


CAFE SUA DA (ICED COFFEE with evaporated milk) – The coffee beans here were specially roasted and flown in from Saigon. Le Viet served a pretty strong coffee but I felt that the one from Long Phung was more fragrant.

Unfortunately, both banh cuon (steamed rice rolls) and banh beo (steamed rice cakes) were not available that evening! Apparently, the steamer was spoilt and they need to order another one directly from Vietnam.  😦

Overall, Le Viet serves OK Vietnamese food. They do have some interesting Hue (Central Vietnam) dishes and the ambience is pleasant and cooling. Moreover, they offer a good variety of food selection (i.e. Chinese cuisine). However, please note that Le Viet East coast is currently not selling Chinese food (The chef went over to the branch in Katong 112). Please call to double confirm before heading down.

Le Viet Cafe and Restaurant
Tel: +65 6446 4567
Opening Hours: 11am – 10pm
Add: 392 East Coast Road, Singapore
Spend: $26.20 (for all 3 items ordered). Only service charge, no GST.

Read Saigon Sandwich – Authentic Vietnamese Food in Singapore #10
Read Vietnamese Cafes – Authentic Vietnamese Food in Singapore #7, #8 & #9
Read Caphe East Vietnamese Cuisine – Authentic Vietnamese Food in Singapore #6 (Includes: Exclusive interview with Owner)
Read Casual Vietnamese Eateries – Authentic Vietnamese Food in Singapore #3, #4 and #5
Read A Stroll along Joo Chiat Road – The Little Vietnam in Singapore
Read Long Phung Vietnamese Restaurant – A little piece of Saigon in Singapore

Posted in Paya Lebar, Restaurant, Vietnamese | 11 Comments

[LCB] Basic Cuisine Week 5 & 6 – Moving Fast and Furious

Posted on March 14, 2012 by P

Time is zooming past so quickly and I am now into the final weeks of my Basic Cuisine course. Theory exam’s in exactly one week’s time so all of us are frantically preparing for that.

In the last 2 weeks, we moved on to seafood – mainly the filleting of fish which looks seemingly easy…but looks are often deceiving, as we know it.


[LEFT] DEEP POACHED TROUT served with Hollandaise Sauce (by Chef Belinda) – Officially my least favorite dish so far. I simply detest the idea of serving one whole fish on the plate with opened eyes and mouth – to me, it looks scary and unappetizing. Maybe its true they say you have to cook with your heart…mine turned out undesirable and even though I trussed the fish correctly – it refused to curl and sit on the plate like Chef Belinda’s above.
[RIGHT] FILLET OF MIRROR DORY MEUNIERE (by Chef Belinda) – This dish is quite simple except for the filleting which requires lots of practice. A quick and delicious dish…no wonder we see it so often on the restaurant menus.


[LEFT] GOUJONS OF FLATHEAD served with Mayonnaise (by Chef Mark) – These golden crispy fish fingers are awesome but who would spend all the time filleting, crumbing then frying it unless the effort can be justified! Frozen fish fingers to the rescue?? 😛
[RIGHT] PAN FRIED SALMON SUPREME with a Sorrel Cream Sauce (by Me) – A very simple and beautiful dish. Love the crispiness of the salmon skin and how the sauce compliments the fish so well.


[LEFT] SALT & PEPPER SQUID served with Eggplant & Tomato Relish (by Chef Darren) – Deep fried Sotong (Malay term for squid) is everyone’s favorite, of course! This dish is definitely a good party food. I enjoyed learning how to fillet the sotong and how to remove the ink ‘pouch’ from the sotong which we can retain for making pasta/sauces :)!
[RIGHT] STIR FRIED PRAWNS with Vegetables and Tofu (by Chef Darren) – This dish is simply too asian! I pointed this out to the chef who highlighted the fact that Asian food is becoming so popular in the Europe including England (and France?). The funny thing is: I heard quite a few asian student criticizing Chef’s demo dish – classic role reversal.


[LEFT] VEAL MEDALLIONS in Tarragon Cream Sauce (by Me) – Very lovely dish…not surprising since it is possibly the best cut of a veal. Btw, I have not been very diligent in taking photos of my plated dishes due to time constraint – fortunately this dish was pretty much intact even after I served it up (less the one bite that Chef Elke took)
[RIGHT] CREPES WITH PEARS – The perfect crepe is certainly not as simple to make as it looks…especially with the addition of pears! Tastes yummy when sprinkled with some caster sugar and pear liquor.


[LEFT] BOEUF BOURGUIGNON (by Me) – If this dish is a classic, I LOVE CLASSICS. This dish is not expensive to prepare considering it used to be peasant food – makes a great potluck dish.
[RIGHT] GRATIN DAUPHINOIS (by Me) – Gratin = Hearty-Fatty-Yummy and there’s no exception to this one, too.


[LEFT] TUNE TARTARE with Avocado, Corn Blini & Wasabi Creme Fraiche (by Me) – What a PRETTY looking stack this is…I love the color and texture contrast involved in this dish. Unfortunately, I did not quite cook my blini enough so it was alittle raw inside.
[RIGHT] CLUB SANDWICH (by Chef Darren) – A relatively easy dish except for the part where we have to cut the sandwich into evenly sized quarters.

The heat has certainly been picking up in the practical kitchen. Nowadays, we serve up at least 2 dishes and make up to 5 different components in each lesson! Yet, the amount of time we are given is less and less as the expectation for us to clean as we go tightens up and we are required to serve up earlier than ever before. Challenging and fun – I LIKE 🙂

1 week to theory exam and 2 weeks to practical exam….time to up the gear!

Posted in Le Cordon Bleu Sydney - Australia | 3 Comments

T.G.I.Friday’s – Especially good on a Friday

Posted on March 11, 2012 by K

My team and I went to T.G.I.F on a Friday to celebrate the start of the weekend.

Love the cheerful store front.

T.G.I.F offers an ‘endless’ lunch set menu. Basically you get a choice of endless soup or salad plus soft drink with your main.


[LEFT] The clam chowder (Soup of the day) was good – Flavourful and contained a chockful of clams.
[RIGHT] The salad made a good appetiser – the chilled crisp greens were tossed well in a tangy vinaigrette dressing.

FISH & CHIPS –  Fresh thick dory served piping hot in a crispy batter. Yummy – I will reorder this next time. Some other good choices from the lunch menu were the burgers and ribs. Please avoid the chicken fingers – They were bland and tasted very mediocre.

I changed my side of fries to assorted vegetables. I like the fact that T.G.I.F was really flexible with the choice of sides.

We received a complimentary peanut butter cheesecake since it was one of my colleague’s birthday. The crew came to our table, presented the cake and sang a T.G.I.F version birthday song with gusto. Honestly, this was one of the most energetic birthday cheer I seen in such restaurants. And look at the cute polka dot candle! I LIKE.

Overall, T.G.I.F is a good place for lunch. The fun loving crew and relaxing dining ambience will make every weekday seems like Friday!

T.G.I.Friday’s
Tel: +65 6636 0533
Opening Hours: Sun–Thu:  11am – 12am, Fri–Sat:  11am – 3am
Add: 112 East Coast Road, #01-13 112 Katong, Singapore
Spend: $26 per pax

Posted in American, Good Lunch Deal, Paya Lebar, Restaurant | Leave a comment

Long Phung Vietnamese Restaurant – A little piece of Saigon in Singapore

Posted on March 2, 2012 by K

Do you know there’s a little Vietnam in our sunny island? Neither did I – until a couple of days back.

I had a serious craving for Vietnamese food after a leisure chat with my Saigon buddy – who by the way had never share my love for Vietnamese  food or anything Vietnamese for that matter :). But hey, I could always count on her for a quiet evening in the steakhouse or a crazy time at the sky bar.

I learnt about little Vietnam after doing a quick search online for authentic Vietnamese food in Singapore. So….off I went :)!


Little Vietnam is located along Joo Chiat Road. It is basically a row of Vietnamese restaurants, bars and sleazy joints.


My choice for the evening is Long Phung Vietnamese restaurant (at the far corner of the row) which has pretty much positive reviews for serving authentic Vietnamese food.

The stall was packed pretty early in the evening – business IS good. Long Phung is a no frills/cramp/warm place – exactly like the roadside seafood joints I use to frequent in Saigon. The clientele includes many Vietnamese which is a good sign.


The food offering is really authentic (not just the usual boring pho and spring rolls) –  I had a hard time deciding what to order! See the seafood options on the right- i thought these dishes only exist in Vietnam!

I had a nice conversation with the lady boss (Chi Lan). Chi Lan is from Ho Chi Minh City but she moved to Singapore 14 years ago with her family.  She started Long Phung 2+ years ago and has plans to expand the store given that business is really good!

She proudly told me that her food is 100% authentic and she did not make any tweaks to suit the local palate. However, she faced challenges getting some of the Vietnamese ingredients like broken rice (An inferior grade of rice with a sticky texture) and had to substitute them with what is available in Singapore.

I ordered 2 of my favorite Vietnamese dishes to go.

NGHEU HAP SA (SHELLFISH steamed with citronella herb) – This is one of my favourite seafood dishes in Saigon.  We usually had to double order this everywhere we went. Long Phung’s version was tasty but the chef was a tad too generous with the soup which eventually underplayed the taste of lemongrass and chili padi. The shellfish were definitely not as plump as the ones in Saigon too.

 HU TIEU KHO (DRY NOODLE) – I always refer to this as Vietnam’s version of Ba Chor Mee – I like the fresh and wide variety of ingredients used (READ: prawn, quail egg, pork, innards etc). Oh and most importantly, there is no mint leave used in the dish (My archnemesis in all Vietnamese food). Long Phung’s hu tieu kho is EXCELLENT. It tasted exactly like the popular stalls in D11. The bowl of soup was very flavourful as well.

CAFE SUA DA (ICED COFFEE with evaporated milk) – Of course I had to wash down all the food with a cup of iced coffee. It was a little diluted since I drank it only when I got home.

Overall, Long Phung serves authentic & frills free Vietnamese food.  The restaurants in little Vietnam look and feel so much like the roadside seafood places in Saigon. This is YOUR place if you are looking for good Vietnamese  food (Trust me, this is MUCH better than the localized Vietnamese restaurants downtown)

I will definitely come back to try the other restaurants in little Vietnam – I need to find my dearly missed banh cuon (Steamed rice rolls) and com hen (Rice with baby clams) .

I’m so glad I found a little piece of Saigon in Singapore!

Long Phung Vietnamese Restaurant
Tel: +65 9105 8519
Opening Hours: 1pm – 2am
Add: 159 Joo Chiat Road, Singapore
Spend: $16.50 (for all 3 items ordered). No service charge, no GST.

Read Saigon Sandwich – Authentic Vietnamese Food in Singapore #10
Read Vietnamese Cafes – Authentic Vietnamese Food in Singapore #7, #8 & #9
Read Caphe East Vietnamese Cuisine – Authentic Vietnamese Food in Singapore #6 (Includes: Exclusive interview with Owner)
Read Casual Vietnamese Eateries – Authentic Vietnamese Food in Singapore #3, #4 and #5
Read A Stroll along Joo Chiat Road – The Little Vietnam in Singapore
Read Le Viet Café and Restaurant – Authentic Vietnamese food in Singapore #2

Posted in Paya Lebar, Restaurant, Vietnamese | 16 Comments