Shamian Island and Beijing Road Pedestrian Street.

Chen Clan Ancestral Hall This ancestral hall is an Academic Temple built in 1894 during the Qing dynasty. The hall is 13200 square meters large and will take a while to completely cover every part of the hall. However, because of the constant influx of tourist crowd, we covered the main areas and left to discover other parts of Guangzhou. To get here, take the Metro to Chen Jia Ci Metro station and walk for a couple of minutes. If you have no clue, simply follow the crowd.

Chen Clan Ancestral Hall

 

A walking distance away is Zhongshanba Road, which connects into Pantang road where it's the start of  plenty of food shops along until Panxi Restaurant, so come in the morning and start eating your way down the road if you can. If you like sesame desserts, this place is along Pantang Road 2 doors down from a supermarket, although I'm not quite sure of the exact location, but you can take away their desserts and it's interesting enough to try. It wasn't mind-blowing, perhaps because we had it after our meal, but it was decent. The whole street is a gourmet street where you will be greeted by the aroma of each restaurant as you walk past them, fighting the urge to succumb to temptation of deliciousness. Telling yourself not to be enticed by the mouth watering smell that's flirting with your belly even before your next meal. 

Panxi Restaurant, along Pantang road serves up a good range of local dim sum. They are next to a park so you get to dine with a view of the park and after meals, you can stroll about the compound with some photo points. I recommend going after the lunch crowd and get a table on the second level of the main dining near the entrance. 

If you enjoy traditional yum cha session with dim sum carts going around, like Redstar in Singapore. You will enjoy this place as much as the locals do. The environment is very nostalgic and I think for the elderly, they will love the atmosphere alot. After so many clock steps, exhuasted me really had a great time just gulping down delicious tea, pair with interesting dim sum dishes. My only gripe was that my belly is not big enough to contain all that food.

Garlic Pork rib

After our meal, we popped over to the very instagrammable Starbucks across the road from Panxi Restaurant. There's also some photo points here that make this one of the prettiest Starbucks in Guangzhou. We didn't drink tea like we plan to simply because our lunch was too much. The thing about Guangzhou, their portions are huge and if there's only 2 or 3 of you, you are generally limited by the size of your bellies. Order 2 or 3 dishes if you are small eaters.

We wondered around the Fengshui Ji canal (I think) before hopping on a cab to Qingping Road to stock up on traditional dried herbs. This place is owned by my friend's relative and she gave us great service and good prices. I'm told that I should be cautious if I purchase from other shops as the owners may treat you like a carrot. So we were good girls and only bought from her shop because I have trust issues. We were limited by luggage space and, plus, we were heading down to Shamian Island after this, so we only bought dried goods in limited quantity. I silently protested to myself because I wanted to buy the entire shop!

Shamian Island is not exactly an island but it's in the Liwan District. Shamian is another tourist destination, and the area is full of historical buildings. It's a favorite instagram spot, 打卡点, for many tourist. I was told that there's a Starbucks in Shamian that's also another instagram spot. Take time to discover the place and enjoy the peacefulness of the place too. I was pleasantly surpised that the surrounding is tranquil and enjoyable to walk. Even though the place is packed with tourist, everyone seemed to be respectful of other's presence and were not screaming like what we always see in Singapore. After discovering the area, we headed to the outside of White Swan Hotel. I heard that many would go there for picture taking but we didn't go in.

Couple taking wedding pictures

After Shamian, we headed back to the hotel to offload our stuff before heading out again to Beijing Road Pedestrian Street. Its a shopping and food zone and I caution that you need to go with empty bellies to just eat the entire street because everything looks so yummy.

Cat cafe

After an exhausting and overwhelming walk from Beijing road, we were ready to look for food. We walked down to Hui Fu Dong Lu from Dafo Temple. Initially, we took a queue number to another cafe across the street from Dian Dou De, but the wait was too long and confusing that we ended up going to Dian Dou De which was pretty empty. When we settled into our booth, my friends asked what I wanted to order and I casually remarked that anything was fine since I couldn't read Chinese (without Google). Next thing I knew, the staff handed me an English menu. That was awfully sweet of them. 

I like this place, it's had good tea and a few dishes that I don't get to try back home. My friends were raving about roasted quail and ordered one for me to try. It was delicious and aromatic. Not to mention bone suckingly good. 

We also order pig blood soup which is not available in Singapore because of hygiene issues. It wasn't fantastic but hey, when in Rome. We ordered a few more dishes but, being exhausted and hungry, we just enjoyed ourselves chatting and eating and I stopped taking pictures.

Do not miss out on visiting Dafo temple, The Big Buddha Temple. We went there twice, once before dinner and again after dinner for the light up. I marvel at the architectural wonder of this magnificent Temple. I've never since a temple with so many levels in my life! Visit the inside of the temple during the daytime and you will feel a sense of peace overwhelming you. The place vibe so much of Chinese New Year that I felt like I needed to plan another trip back during the festive period.

Many asked if Guangzhou was fun. I would say that I had such a great time just going around like a local that I want to go back again. There's so much of Guangzhou to discover. Especially if you enjoy food like me. I didn't shop on this trip so I can't comment on shopping, although I hear that prices there are very very affordable. Basically, this trip is about 3 ladies just spending time outside of work, enjoying each other's company. It was enough for us.

Location：

Panxi Restaurant - 151 Long Jin Xi lu, Guangzhou China

Dian Dou De - Beijing Road branch - 470 Hui Fu Dong Lu, Yuexiu district

北京路店：越秀区惠福东路470号

A KITCHEN 友间厨坊

 A Kitchen 友间厨坊 has slowly crawled it's way into my heart. Their menu is endless and with a heat intolerance, I can only spread out my visits and try my best to find non spicy items to try. There are a couple of outlets around the island. Interestingly, all outlets do not have good google reviews. I'm guessing that those who leave bad reviews don't enjoy China fare very much, but that is just my thought. 

If you love BBQ skewer at cheap prices, they are the place to go. It's cheap and yummy and goes down well with a cold beer. BURP. The outlet at Junction 10 is always crowded so queuing is necessary and it's also a sign that the food is good no?

Bittergourd fried beef

BBQ Pork skewers

Preserved eggs and tofu

Stir-fried Brocoli

Sheet Jelly Salad

Mala Tofu

Chinese mix veggie salad

They also have a delivery serve if you don't want to queue. So it's convenient to have your gathering and not cook.

Locations:

• Junction 10, 1 Woodlands Rd, #01-30, Singapore 677899
• 2 Venture Drive, Vision Exchange , Singapore
• Punggol Plaza, 168 Punggol Fld, B1-05 A Kitchen, Singapore 820168

Japanese Chicken udon soup

A couple of years ago, I went for cooking lessons at ABC Cooking Studio when they opened their outlet at Westgate. One of the dishes I learnt was Chicken Udon Soup, which has gone on to become a family favourite and it a quick meal to make. Of course, this recipe will deviate from what ABC Cooking School taught because I love shortcuts. It's still an enjoyable dish. The original recipe calls for handmade Udon noodles, however, lazy me tries to get away with store bought udon instead. 

I shared this recipe with neighbours in a cooking workshop and they told us that it made them miss Japan after they tried this dish. So it is proven to be good. 

 Ingredients: 

• 3 pieces of Chicken thigh - chopped in pieces
• 100g enoki mushrooms
• 5cm worth of daikon, cut into slices half cm thick
• 1 stalk of Japanese leek - cut into 3inches
• 3 pieces of udon
• 5 stalk of Tang-oh (crown daisy)
• 1 flat tablespoon of Dashi powder
• 4 mugs of water

Sauces

• 3 tablespoons of Mirin
• 2 tablespoons of Sake
• 1 tablespoon of oil
• 5 tablespoons of less sodium Kikkoman Japanese soy sauce

Procedure

• In a pot, heat 1 tablespoon of oil, place cut Japanese leek into the pan and like it cook until parts of the leek is brown. 
• Place the pieces of chicken thigh into the pot, skin side down to let it brown, then continue to cook each pieces on it's side to sear in the juices.
• Take out the pieces of chicken and set aside.
• Place the Daikon into the pot with leeks still inside.
• Add about 4 mugs of water into the pot and let it boil
• Add Dashi powder and sauces into the pot 

• Take out a separate pot and boil water with it, place the udon inside to cook til al dente. Take out noodles and strain with a sieve to remove all the excess liquid. Put the noodles either in your serving bowls.

• Add the chicken back into the soup as well as enoki and tang oh to boil for about 15mins.
• Turn of the heat and scoop ingredients as well as soup into the bowls of udon noodles. 
• Serve hot!

Alternatives:

Somen can replace Udon

Water spinach can replace Tang oh

Sources: 

All ingredients listed here can be purchased in Donki Donki

Nutritional value:

Chicken: Protein, Niacin, Selenium and phosphorus

Daikon: Vitamin C, calcium, magnesium, potassium and folate

Crown daisy: Vitamin C, calcium, potassium and dietary fiber

Sour veggie, Roasted Pork belly with mustard green

A Homage to my Gong Gong

 Growing up, I never knew my Gong gong (grandfather), he was always busy working so there was hardly any interaction time. In my vivid memories, it would just be a fleeting moment of interactions but I hear that he was a very kind hearted and hardworking man who had many children to feed and would spare no opportunity to earn money. Mom also mentioned about his culinary skills. Though, I've never tried his cooking, I came to know of a dish that he would cook for my mom and family and it pique my curiosity. It seems that the older I get the more I want to recreate those memories through food in homage to my heritage. 

Sour veggie, Roasted Pork belly with mustard green 

This dish seems to be a teochew dish and it comprises of pork belly, tomato and preserved mustard. It's a pretty tasty dish that a teochew Ah gong cooked for his family and it's a dish that goes well with porridge. Drawing inspiration and after researching, compounded with my love for Mustard green or jiè cài (芥菜) in Mandarin. (Mustard green is bitter to many but it adds a complex flavour.) and many tries later, I've have a finish product that I'm pretty satisfied with.

Sour veggie, Roasted Pork belly with mustard green

Feel free to make adjustments as your taste my differ to mine. The essence of this dish is pork belly infused with sour veggie that gives the umami.

Ingredients:

• One bunch of mustard green - bite size
• 3 large tomatoes - wedges
• 300gs of roast pork - sliced
• one clove minced garlic
• 200g Preserved sour veggies - sliced
• 3 tablespoon Oil
• 1L Water
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce

Procedure:

• Cut the mustard green into bite size pieces, tomato into wedges, and roast pork into slices. Slice sour veggies if not done so. Garlic will need to be minced.
• Blanch mustard green in hot water and oil to wilt it. Remove from water after blanching for 3 minutes or so. 
• In a separate wok, heat 2 tablespoon of oil, add sliced sour veggies and fry until the leaves look dry and you can smell the aroma. Add minced garlic to brown, then sliced roast pork. Fry until there's some charring in the roast pork then add tomatoes to stir fry until tomatoes are cooked. Add mustard green as the final ingredient and drizzle one table spoon of fish sauce for added umami and toss to coat evenly.

Alternatives:

If roast pork is not available, sliced pork belly works too. 

Ingredient source:

• CHB Premium Sour Pickled Vegetable Sliced - Redmart
• Megachef Fish sauce - Redmart
• Mustard green, Large-Petiole Mustard - Senja NTUC

Nutritional value for ADHD:

Mustard Green contains

• Vitamin A: 9% of the Daily Value (DV)
• Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine): 6% of the DV
• Vitamin C: 44% of the DV
• Vitamin E: 8% of the DV
• Vitamin K: 120% of the DV
• Copper: 10% of the DV

Pork belly contain Vitamin B in it's various forms which is essential to children with ADHD

あぶり 石田 aburi Ishida on Sukhumvit 51

We stayed at the service apartment above, Voque Hotel and Service apartments, for the duration of the stay, hungry hubby keeps talking about getting a reservation at this izakaya that's on the ground floor. We finally made our reservation on the last night and were super glad that we did so. 

Aburi Ishida is highly recommended by many and one of their speciality is sashimi chicken and liver, both of which we were too chicken to try. Haha, such irony.

Dinner starts with a serving of Goma Salad, Salad Goma Dressing, 220 baht.

Followed by 10 sticks omakase 525 baht, which includes: 

Chicken skin, heart, liver, sashimi (cooked), chicken ball, Pork Okra, pork baby corn, pork asparagus, quail egg, pork burdock

Irodoriyasai no Suzuke, pickled veggies, (170 Baht) helps cleanse the palate from the grease from the meats and it's pretty rare that pickled veggies included lotus roots or celery.

Another item we tried was the fried tofu (150 baht). The tofu is different from the normal agedashi tofu served in Japanese restaurants and had a wonder bounce to it at first bite. Be careful not to get your mouth burnt as it's served almost straight from the fryer.

 

To end of our wonderful date night, the yaki onigiri chazuke (180 baht) is a must order to finish off the meal. The soup is a very potent and flavourful chicken soup. The perfect ending to a perfect meal.

Location:

99, Khlong Tan Nuea, Watthana, Bangkok 10110, Thailand

Website:

Aburi Ishida

Affordability:

600 to 1000 per pax

Language:

English, finger pointing

Sambal Petai Udang Anchovies

Sambal petai udang ikan bilis (anchovies)

An acquired taste, Petai, an underrated dish that many don't like because it's pungent and bitter taste. However, the benefits of petai outweigh its notoriety. If done well, petai is hardly bitter  and infact quite addictive. 

After much research and pouring through many recipes on the internet. I've learnt how to make a good Sambal Petai Udang with Anchovies. Sounds complicated? Well, it's not when there's shortcuts like ready made chili paste to shorten the time. Plus, if I'm not good at making the chili paste, I might as well leave that to the experts. 

The key to delicious petai is to keep stir frying petai until the petai is soft. This will remove the astringent taste that most hate. Also, the chili paste will camoflage the petai very well.

Ingredient:

• 1 pack of fresh Petai
• 300g baby shrimp or big shelled prawns
• Half a large yellow onion - sliced
• 1 clove minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon of oil
• 1 teaspoon of fish sauce

Procedure:

• In a heated pan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil and add dry petai to fry. 
• Keep stirring the petai for about 10 minutes or until the petai is soft. This reduces the bitterness.
• Push the petai to the side, add onions to fry until wilt and the mince garlic and continue frying. 
• Add prawns or shrimp and stir in all the ingredients in the pan.
• When shrimp is near cooked, add in the Sambal ikan bilis (anchovies) from recipe below and 1 teaspoon of fish sauce for added umami. 
• Toss until all ingredients are coated with Sambal and turn off the flame. 

 Sambal belachan ikan bilis (anchovies)

Ingredients:

• 300g Anchovies
• 1 tablespoon heap of Sambal belacan
• Enough oil to deep fry Anchovies
• Half teaspoon salt

Procedure:

• Heat oil in a sauce pan, enough to deep fry anchovies. Add dry anchovies into the hot water. 
• Note: any trace of water in anchovies will cause oil to splatter and cause injury. 
• Fry the anchovies until golden brown, remove from saucepan and allow it to drip dry on a wiremesh. 
• Remove oil in the sauce pan until there's 2 tablespoon left, you will want to use this oil as it's already fragrant from frying anchovies. 
• Heat up the saucepan with oil in it, when the oil is heating up, add 1 tablespoon heap of Sambal belacan into the pan to fry until fragrant,
• Add in the anchovies and give it a good toss and turn off the flame. While it's still hot, add a pinch of salt and toss it again. Feel free to add sugar if you like it a little sweet. 

Ingredient source:

• Petai - any supermarket 
• Sambal belachan - Shan's addiction this is extra spicy
• Megachef Fish sauce - Redmart

Alternatives:

Normal Sambal belachan can be used or nasi lemak chili.

Nutritional value:

Petai is high in fibre, and contains considerable amounts of vitamin C and E, as well as the vitamins A, B1, B2, and B3.

Ikan Bilis is high in calcium

Keef the Beef - A large corporate lunch crowd

My office hosted a luncheon for more than 20 people with a limited budget just this week for colleagues. Hosting a lunch event this size with other than Chinese food is already a challenge in its own right. Firstly, looking for a space that can cater to the crowd during lunch in the One-north area and secondly, the limited budget. These 2 criteria severely shorten our list to just one. 

We contacted Keef the Beef as they had just recently moved to Rochester Park and their new place has a bigger capacity to accomodate all of us comfortably in the main hall. Their executive set lunch is priced at $38++ which fits our requirements perfectly. They do have large rooms that could have accommodated us perfectly but would require a minimum spend of SGD2000, which unfortunately, we were ghastly below the required minimum spend, we had to make do with the main hall.

Keef the Beef is nestled in the lush environment of Rochester Park, it's a beautiful restaurant with decor that is befitting of an intimate wedding. For a myriad of reasons, going for their executive set menu was the best choice for our large group. Although their restaurant manager recommended their ala carte menu for better options. 

Our executive menu includes a choice of Mushroom soup or salad

Mains is either New Zealand ribeye pho or Barramundi Fish with Olive Capers and Anchovy Sauce.

Dessert of the day was brownie with a serving of ice cream with coffee/tea or soft drinks

The paymaster was absolutely thrilled that the food was good and well within our budget. The only hiccup was the slow service, which seems to me that their staff is not well trained and the slow service caused quite abit of frustration for us. Hopefully, they can improve their service soon.

Location:

Keef the Beef Bungalow
2A Rochester Park
Rochester Commons
Singapore 139252

+65 8499 4745

Parking
For those driving, park at Rochester Commons/
Citadines Connect Rochester Singapore.
From carpark, take lift to level 1. Once you exit the lift lobby,
turn left and walk up a gentle slope to our bungalow.

Price:

$38++ per person