Simple Food

I do not know about you but do you need to eat at restaurants all the time? Well, perhaps it is not about restaurants, cafes or food centres but the type of food. Abalones, shark's fins and things like that are elaborate so sometimes you just want the simplest food.

Come over to Tanjong Pagar market food centre and you will find a Japanese Cuisine stall called "Kazan" that serves the usual fare with salmon, chicken, prawns with teriyaki or curry.

 

You can't miss it because it is the only Japanese food stall there.

 

$6 for two slices of good size salmon fillet is value-for-money. Even the Cat is waving for you.

 

Authentic as you can see it here, this handsome guy is not only very hardworking but he is ever so friendly. Always ready with a smile and so polite.

 

Take-away orders still taste good when you get home and it is a long way home for me. This is served with delicious pickle, fresh lettuce with a little mayonnaise, rice, 2 slices of salmon and even a cup of soup. This is even better than many others at more expensive food centres.

 

 

Bernie took a different path and succeeded after his initial setbacks. I salute him for choosing service and quality. Besides the original Botak Jones in Tuas which he made a success, his Toa Payoh outlet is very good too. Now some days you just do not want to eat too much so how? Go for his one-for-one mini-buggers. Bernie, I applaud you, keep the quality and service standard flag going!

 

If you ever gets in the vicinity of Queenstreet in the morning, you cannot miss this stall. The guy who takes your order has been at it for so long I have seen him as a much younger man.

 

 

While there are other delicious food like carrot cake and prawn noodle there this one has a perpetual long queue and it is continuous with at least 10 or more people but it moves along quickly enough.

 

Besides other stuffs like dumplings and yam cake, these three are the most popular - "chee cheong fun" (猪 肠 粉), peanut porridge and fried bee hoon (vermicelli). Simple, no frills, delicious and that's all you really need.

 

If you have ever been to Gurney Drive in Penang, I am sure you love all the Penang specialties like cuttle-fish kangkong, fried kway teow, prawn noodle, kueh pie tie, Penang laksa, etc. The first Penang specilties I knew was when Marina Square first open their food outlet eons ago. The guys who did it was someone I knew as they were brothers in the container transportation business. Later, a few hotels brought in these favourites from time to time as buffet set lunches and dinners.

Let us hope this one is here to stay. Their first outlet was at the Jubilee in Ang Mo Kio and now the second at Suntec City basement around where the famous fountain is. Who doesn't like "Chendol". This is so much better than those you will find at food courts. Lots of red beans and the real light green jade coloured chendol with gula melaka.

When you are lost, just follow the light...and you will find Bliss. I am not talking about the Twilight Zone. This one at Punggol Park was once a fishing pond. Several others have failed here but Bliss seems blessed with a constantly good crowd.

I followed the light and it led me to see that the place was more than packed for a Friday night and most nights. The food must be good? Will have to find out someday but there were lots of drinkers as well.

The extra space and tables at a patio near the pond was a full house. I met and chatted with an Indian Singaporean old man who told me that he could catch some Toman (snake head) around 2-4kg at times at the pond but he can't fish late as it can be very cold.

Mee Pok Dry (flat noodle in chilli sauce) is one of our all-time local favourites. They have even made a movie called The Mee Pok Man. This one at Syed Alwi is interesting. My friend Adrian recommended me the fresh "see hum" (cockles) curry yong tau fu but that only opens at night.

There are other dishes to go along if you have a big appetite.

I won't declare it the best around but it is special in its own way. Scallops in your mee pok.

and this wonderfully fragrant "teed poh" (dried sole fish) makes every soup and dry mee pok a champion. The price of these condiments has almost doubled in recent times and less are being served and yet you will get a generous piece here means they do not sacrifice taste by cutting corners.

By following the light, let me shed some light. Some folks will ask for direction so here you are:

I searched and found the truth. That fabulous Roti Prata I found belongs to one of the two sons of the late founder of the original famous Jalan Kayu stall. This one called Riyadh is located at Block 32 Defu Lane 10. To me certain food should be taken plain at least at times as it will bring the original flavour of a good fish, crab or prata. The prata kosong (empty or plain) is so good you can just gobble them up like a monster. I usually only take plain prata but at Riyadh, they definitely make the best egg prata around. You do not usually get the best of both world but here they got it right!

Men At Work - Who Can It Be Now? - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQ0iE-t210w




















A Secret Recipe

Let me share a secret recipe with you. A simple, nutritional and delicious dish. Canned sardines or a more expensive version of canned herring. Do you know that there is no fish of any kind in any of the world's water which is sardines in its original scientific or commercial element. Sardines is a generic term for all kinds of small fish like silds, brislings or pilchards so sardines are not born as sardines like you and I were born as humans. Sardines are high in omega-3 fatty acids which helps reduce risk in heart disease. They are also very rich in protein for building muscles. They help in preventing cancer (due to presence of selenium), enhance brain activity and stabilise moods. They are also a rich natural source of iodine which is a mineral needed for proper thyroid function.

Norway and Scotland use brislings and silds as sardines while Poland,Portugal, Spain and California use pilchards as sardines. Pilchard is a relative of the herring which is smaller but fatter. Brislings taste better than silds but herring has a nice texture which you will love but it is dearer.

You eat it straight from the can. Accompany it with rice or porridge or squeeze them further between bread as sandwich if you do not pity them for being "packed like sardines". I give you a better way to make the already tasty sardines or herring even tastier. Squeeze a lime into it, chop up some fresh onions and red-cut chilli. Finally use only the more expensive, good quality (and not salty), thick and gooey dark soya sauce and mix them and bingo you have a great great dish for a meal and you are going to thank me forever for the good advice.

That's all for this week. Simply food simply delicious!! And you hear all this from the guru.