Taste of Shanghai

This are just some of the things I tasted during my trip.... will update when I am free... :P

Yes... I am 2kg heavier... will have to hit the gym more to burn it all away!! sigh!!!

Bellagio Cafe - SHA

This is a must try when you are in Shanghai.... Taiwanese chain with good chinese food. This was our first stop for dinner during our trip... heard they have a killer MUST-TRY mango "smoothy" which is not really a smoothy but a divine cold mango dessert which we did not get to try.... :(

Night Market in Shanghai

Cold Dish in SHA

According to my sis, Shanghainese likes cold dishes before their meals... these are the famous cold dish... a beancurd dish that looks like sponge with mushroom and peanuts called Kaifu... Fried Fish and the Small Pork Ribs with thick sweet sauce and vinger... all these we had at Lulu Restaurant... suppose to be a famous Shanghai Makan Place...

Cold Cuts and Lotus Roots stuff with Glutinous Rice...

Century Eggs with Pork Floss... wow... nice combo

Bus to Jing An Temple

Took the Airport Bus to Jing An Temple as cabs cost 150 yuan (S$30)... this only cost 19 yuan.

The bus ticket so cool.... like when I was taking small bus when I was young!

The scenery along the bus journey...

Off to Shanghai

Departing: Singapore(SIN) on Fri, 20 Oct 2006, 0115 hrs
Arriving: Shanghai(SHA) on Fri, 20 Oct 2006, 0635 hrs
Flight: SQ816


My breakfast on flight....

Try this....

I fell in love with this... but at $1.75 for 5 bars is abit expensive (found at watson)... manage to get it at $4.05 for 15 bars at Value Shop... kekekekekek

Yet Con

Yet Con - Purvis street. Had steamboat and chicken rice.... think the last time we had dinner here was 1 year ago! Miss the chicken rice... first mouth, I was awed!

Do yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid?

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too
Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe can.

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

Bedok Hawker

The famous bedok Hokkie Mee... standard dropped abit... The old lady is no longer there... it is fried by another guy now... looks plain... taste wise, hmmm... I think it was better last time!

Orh Leok.... bit oily....

Chwee Kueh... bedok one... very nice... I think it is nicer den Tiong Bahru one...

Chicken with Mushroom and Chinese Sausage, Mince meat with salted fish and Bittergourd with black bean soup...

Dessert: Ice jelly with Longan and Nata de coco... what is Nata De Coco? nata de coco is actually the coconut juice mixed with water and sugar! The process for making nata de coco is pretty straightforward. First, you make the big block of nata de coco by mixing coconut juice, water and sugar. Then you cut it through a machine to make it into small blocks. Then you boil the syrup, and wait for it to cool.

Around East Coast Road

This was also recommended by ieatishootipost.... looks crowded ah... will try it another time.

So many peranakan food around... wow.... this one use to be near my old house... it used to be a mini mart call "stop n shop"

Peranakan - East Coast - Kim Choo

So authentic place right? We were so unsatisfied with the food we had at HK Cafe that we adjourn to this... looks more authentic.

We order the 1 person set meal, @$6 per set, Ayam Buah Kelauk and Beef Rendang... it was not too bad! The Buah Kelauk serving was generous... we had 3 huge ones. Interesting facts about the Buah Kelauk.

This is undeniably, ambrosia among Nonya dishes, but like the durian it calls for an acquired taste. To the uninitiated, buah keluak is a black or dark brown nut from Indonesia about the size and shape of a flattened golf ball. Also, in shape and appearance the buah keluak closely resembles the brazil nut.

Before cooking, the contents of the nuts are white in colour. Good nuts after cooking, should be richly black and oily, with the contents variously described as "opium" or "soft tar". The nuts come from the Pangium edule or "Kepayang" tree, which grows wild in Indonesia and parts of Malaysia.

Buah Keluak has another side which few people know, concerning its darker, lethal aspect. The crushed raw seeds can be used as a poison to kill fish, insects, animal ticks ...... or your favourite enemy, whichever suits your whim. This is because the raw seeds contain a glucoside which readily yields prussic acid, which fortunately can be extracted simply by washing with water. The dusty greyish seeds that you get at the market, are imported from Indonesia where they have already been treated to remove the poisonous effects by being thouroughly washed and boiled, then buried in the ground with layers of ash, banana leaves, and earth for 40 days. However, to be safe, it is recommended that before cooking, you soak the buah keluak over-night in a bowl of water !!!

Founded over 40 years ago, Kim Choo Kueh Chang is where patrons can savour its famous sweet rice dumplings as well as learn the art of wrapping Nonya dumplings at organised demonstrations and live classes throughout the day.

The nonya kueh was @$2/= Abit too sweet and too much coconut!

They sell alot of things hor?! I bought pineapple tarts ($12 for a small bottle) and $16 for the love letters.... abit ex hor!

Hong Kong Tea House

After reading the post by ieatishootipost, I was looking forward to try this so called "real authenticity in the Hong Kong Tea House" place. So disappointed I was that I walked out without finishing the food! Crispy Fried Lotus Root with Pork was recommended... errr... I did not get the umami rush that ieatishootipost mentioned.... But I totally agree that 3 pcs for $3.50 is a total waste of money! It was tasteless and it was dull... sigh... disappointed!

ieatishootipost wrote this "The turnip cakes are pretty good. You can really bite into strands of turnip (or are they radishes?) and there is a nice amount of chinese sausages and dried prawns. As good a turnip cakes go. $3 for 3 pieces." I think the only truth in the sentence was the price! It was totally tasteless and the dish was cold! Sigh... disappointed again! We also had their famous HK Milk Tea.. it was so dilute that I think I could taste water in it! The house speciality which was the Red Bean drink also disappointed us... yes, it was full of mushy red beans... but it was a tat too sweet! Perhaps the chefs were not in a good mood that day!

So my verdict.... a picture speaks a thousand words! :)

Viet Thai

Tom Yum Koon

Viet Char Kway Teow

Fish Head Steamboat @ Tampines

This is how they speed things up... they use a vacumn cleaner to blow air into it... no wonder they served it within 5 mins...

This is how it all looks like.... very yummy soup... no MSG as I did not feel thirsty after that!

Frog leg... it was so so only.. could have been better!

City Satay... the mutton was not that good!

The Pizza Place

Frosty Root beer

Bake Rice with Ham, Chicken and Mushroom

Pizza... with ground beef, pawns, ham, squids and more...

Si Chuan Dou Hua

Si Chuan Dou Hua Parkroyal on Coleman Street was the venue for a family dinner... my mum claimed a $40 voucher using her credit card and she suggested having dinner there to spoil ourselves.

The professional tea server very drama lo... the tea pouring performance use a one-metre long nose tea kettle to pour the tea... it is suppose to be a popular and important facet of a traditional Sichuan tea ceremony. At the Si Chuan Dou Hua Restaurants, the tea servers performing 30 different stunts, including the Nodding Phoenix, Turn and Smile, Grab The Moon, Boy Prays to Buddha and Dragon Swims to Sea - but I was too engross looking at him pouring the tea that I didn't know what he did!!

So he pours hot water into this.... a refreshing concoction comprise of Red Dates, Wolfberries, Dried Longans, Chrysanthemum, Rock Sugar, Dried Lily Buds, Jasmine Tea Leaves and a herb called 'Mai Dong'. Consumption of this "treasured" blend is believed to help reduce cholesterol, aid blood circulation and increase immunity among others. Its cooling and refreshing taste makes it the perfect drink to go with the food!

1st up was the Soup.... ok... it was suppose to be finely minced chicken breast meat mixed with egg so that it looks like toufu... it was very tasty! It was very home cook... but I doubt you can make chop the meat till so fine at home lo! @$6 per bowl

The Stir-fried French Bean with Minced Meat was very good... but abit too oily... @$16

The Braised Spare Rib with Bun @$8 per pax was very good. The stick that you see is actually the bun. The meat was first fried den braised till perfection... very good!

The Dan Dan Mian was a bit too oily and spicy for me. @$5 per pax, it would be better if there was more mince meat on it.

Charles the Captain gave us complimentary dessert... Home-made Fine Beancurd with Wolfberries... I must say that the beacurd was much better den the one at rocher... but @$3 per bowl... it better be good lo!

If not for the $40 voucher, we would have to pay $100 for this dinner.... was it worth it? I guess the experience was good.. Charles had very good customer service, his words were peppered with feel good words... very GEMS :) Should have more of these ppl around! Overall... the food was good... ambience was cool... best was the service!

The Departed vs WuJianDao

'The Departed' is based off on the Hong Kong movie 'WuJianDao'. I would say it is a ok movie but nothing extraordinary, not a master-piece, not a classic unlike the origin.

The scene, when Mark Wahlberg cites all of DiCaprio's family connection to the mob, takes too much time. They take a long time establishing how DiCaprio sells drugs with his cousin and finally get into Nicholson's gang. However after that it doesn't take long for Nicholson to give his total trust... quite duh! That was too fast!

Matt Damon is not as charming and cool as Andy Lau in his character.

Some scenes have a lot more impact in Infernal Affairs which are some of the most important in the story:

-The death of Wong/Queenan: in Infernal Affairs, Wong falls suddenly, lands on a taxi cab taking Yan by surprise. When Yan realizes Wong is dead you can feel the suffering Yan goes through by the loss of the only person who knows he's a cop but also/mainly by the loss of his friend. But in The Departed, we see Sheen falls in slow-mo until he hits the ground in a splash of blood. There's absolutely no connection, no friendship between DiCaprio and Sheen. We see DiCaprio almost on the verge of crying. But the impart is not as great as the one in Infernal Affairs

-Felt that the last part was in a mess, in The Departed, the black guy shows up, the 2nd mole shows up and everybody executes everybody. They just stand there to get shot. The scene seems really rushed unlike what happened in Infernal Affairs. Finally, was it really necessary to kill Damon and provide the audience with a happy ending?

I felt a lot more satisfied with Infernal Affairs. They have very different feel to them.

Stress.... I WANT TO SCREAM!

I have never complaint about my work here... but these 2 weeks been really taxing on me. And I am going to blog this to make public my stress... I need to let it out!!!! Work load has been horrifying...

Coming back to work at 7am on a Sunday morning sucks.... Working like till 10pm in hunger is miserable! Making overseas phone call to my US supplier till 2am in the morning cos of credit card limits (when we have sufficient funds in it) totally made my blood boil... UOB credit card call centre is totally a waste of time... I can be on hold for like an hour and no one comes to the phone... I asked for a call back and yet I never get a single return call! And when I manage to get through, they cannot tell me why the transaction could not get through... HOW & WHAT GARBAGE IS THAT?

My work is continuous this 2 week, orders after orders coming in like non-stop. Some of you might say is a good thing.... but with dateline that could never be fulfilled... and worst... customer slash prices like nobody's business with low profits... I am basically working my ass off with no returns!... HOW TO DO WORK LIKE THAT?! IS IT ALL WORTH IT?!

To a certain minister, thank you for liking my creative work… but I need more time to fulfill your order and not give me the details last minute like that. Being a govt organisation, you can't even know whom your staff are? Sigh...

To the lady customers, the way you talk gets on my nerves… why must you be so slut! Are you really that needy!? Do you really need to talk like that!? Are you a pros in Geylang? Even if you are, I am not interested in doing your business you know!

To another customer whom we shan't name... when you place your order with me and I quoted you at $50, you told me that it was previously at $45, I told you I will check the previous bill again to confirm. That does not mean I have already agreed to charge you at $45... moreover, the previous bill was $50 and not $45... so please... try your dirty cheap tricks somewhere... if you want to haggle and bargain, go to a pasar malam! You dress like a tai tai but act like a aunty in the market!

To a certain person who got your BBM(L)… yes, I know you are being conferred by His Excellency… but please do not be so demanding and unreasonable… you do not even know what you want. When you cook rice, you need to wait for the rice to be cook properly before you can even serve it... so please... you are simply a very difficult customer and I do not appreciate your business… we have better things to do den hear your unreasonable demands!

I am pissed... very pissed... and the ultimate... my overseas holiday has to be postponed or even cancelled because of all these... I want to scream out... I want to SCREAM!!!!! PLEASE, ANYONE... PLEASE HELP ME!!!

Long Beach - East Coast

After working non-stop for the past few days... finally had a good meal... this dinner was in conjuction with my sister's belated birthday dinner... had quite a feast here as you can see... :P

Pepper crab - Spicy!

Chillie Crab - The sauce went well with the Mantou, both the crab cost $65

Crispy duck ($31) - requested by my dad... he liked it.. the bones were so crispy that you could eat it like biscuits!

Fried Lotus Roots with Sea Asparagus and Scallop ($16) - this was not bad... I like the Sea Asparagus... very nice! The fried lotus roots went well with the sweet sauce for the duck.

Seafood Bee Hoon ($10) - It was really not too bad, we were actually very full already, but manage to finish this! We were amazed by ourselves for the feat!