Private kitchens are all the rage now and we checked out Lucky House Cantonese Private Kitchen, run by Mr Sam Wong from his corner terrace home in Upper East Coast Road. The self-taught chef prepares the traditional home-cooked dishes with local ingredients and also produce from his own garden! 2 lucky groups (8 and 12 pax) could dine at Chef Sam's each night. For $80, we had 8 dishes for sharing. And if you are part of the larger party, you'd be entertained all night by the cooking action out in the backyard. 

Chef Sam developed his repertoire of Cantonese inspired dishes over the years, since learning to cook from his paternal grandparents when he was younger.  

We started dinner with a charcoal boiled soup, boiled for 8 hours over 6 batches of charcoal. Soup for the night was a pork shoulder with arrow root and peanut soup, which is naturally flavored, with no added salt, soy sauce, or pepper. The light sweetness comes from the added sea coconut and honey dates.  

Boy was the soup creamy and delicious. We also had to stop ourselves from gorging on the tender meat.  

Next, Concubine Chicken. This chicken was braised in the claypot with Chinese wine, galangal and rose liqueur. Gosh that light floral perfume of the chicken wafted in from the kitchen and had our drooling before the dish was finally brought to the table. And that sauce would have one finish a bucket of rice, though i must say that the rice available was way mushy. 

Next, juicy Fried Prawns with Rose liqueur, which smelled a lot like cuttlefish or some fermented seafood paste. I suppose that's where the saltiness of the dish came from. I'd advise eating this wrapped up in the sweet lettuce to combat the sodium. 

Fresh fish is best eaten steamed and we had a fatty 1.9kg wild caught red grouper from Batam, drizzled with a fresh batch of shallot oil. 

The simple omelette is taken to the next level with this crayfish version. Chef cracked a whole tray of 10 eggs into this one, fried with the juicy chunks of crayfish (the heads are just for plating) and flavored with fish sauce. 

Then, the signature Lucky House roast duck, which is marinated with five-spice powder, fish sauce, soy sauce, rice wine for two days, then sun-dried for a day before it is roasted in a charcoal oven for slightly over an hour over charcoal. Chef slices the ham-like bird tableside, and we were rewarded with juicy smoked and spiced meat. 

Instead of carbs, we ended with a simple dish of fried sweet potato leaves from Chef Sam's garden.  The vegetables, simply fried with some fish sauce, was fresh, crunchy and sweet, and not at all slimy.

 

For desserts, a simple Shandong peanuts and kidney beans was served.

Is it worth paying the the money for a meal at Lucky House Cantonese Private Kitchen? Well we feel that it is, knowing and seeing the amount of work that goes into the execution of these dishes. The dishes are certainly not as refined as that of a Chinese restaurant but the gu zao wei (taste of nostalgia) would be hard to replicate in a commercial kitchen. Looking forward to the next visit here (the wait list is likely past Sep/Oct 2018 by now) as Chef Sam shared with us his moreish curry dish that doesn't use any coconut milk/cream at all. 

Lucky House Cantonese Private Kitchen

267 Upper East Coast Road Singapore 466413

Tel: +65 9823 7268

Weekdays: 6.30 - 10pm

Bangkok is one city that i'll never be sick of dropping by for a chill weekend of food, massage, and cheap shopping! As we usually do relatively short trips, i've finally accumulated sufficient food content (ones worth sharing) for a proper Bangkok eats post. This post focuses on Thai food but if you're looking for brunch options, check out this other Bangkok brunch post.

Best Bangkok Pad Thai Thip Samai

313-315 Maha Chai Rd

I've heard of Thip Samai for the longest time but i've always been too lazy to travel to just one spot for simple street food. Plus, pad thai is great almost everywhere in Bangkok no? Apparently the locals love this and there is always a queue (that is very fast-moving thank god). 

Charcoal fire is used to produce the scorched smoky flavor of the noodles, which are fried in shrimp oil for that lovely orange appearance. Toppings such as tofu, little shrimps (like sakura ebi), leeks, egg, and bean sprouts are added. We went with the superb Pad Thai wrapped in egg (THB90), which comes topped with 3 chunky deep sea prawns. 

There's another version which has bits of fried egg instead of the egg crepe. They are the same essentially, except for their plating. I really enjoyed the chewy rice noodles. Make sure you add on more crushed peanuts and some chili flakes for texture and flavor!

Truth be told, i wasn't expecting much from The Spot when i first heard about it- multi-concept venue that is café, restaurant, bar, and cigar lounge? Well there's only that much that one can do well. But god it hits the spot and it definitely is one of the best restaurants of 2018. 

Located at Marina One, The Spot provides a seamless wine-and-dine experience together with its strategic partners- 1855 The Bottle Shop and South East Asia’s first and only The Macallan Boutique @1855. It sounds very drink-focused and the decor screams chi-chi bar but dayum the food has fine-dining hidden in every plate. #mindblown

The man behind the dishes is Executive Chef Lee Boon Seng – formerly of Osia and Curate, and he serves a ‘Contemporary European, South East Asian-sauce- centric cuisine.’ The secret is in the sauces, which consists of exotic South East Asian fruits, spices and herbs. Each sauce could take months to develop and you'd be surprised at how luscious they are!

Let's get into the 3 (chefs), 2 (nights), and 1 (Michelin Star) on the Beefbar x Ash & Elm collaboration happening this weekend! S.Pellegrino and Acqua Panna has brought together the signatures of Hong Kong's one Michelin star Beefbar Chef Andrea Spagoni, and InterContinental Singapore's Chef Philippe Duc and Chef Ben Goh for a special five-course menu. 

The menu starts with an Amberjack carpaccio with wasabi dressing and coriander cress, followed by a Beef tartare “bistro style”. 

There's no doubt of the quality of the prime beef served by Beefbar Hong Kong, the only star-rated steakhouse in Hong Kong. Within the first year of opening in 2017, they earned their first Michelin star, and have kept it for the second year running. Tenderloin is used in this chunky beef tartare. 

Next, the Pan-seared Hokkaido scallops by Chef Philippe. Chef even gave us a class on how to prepare scallops (that are still in their shell). 

I loved the sweetness in the firm scallop, which had a nice browned crust to it, paired with a tangy brown butter sauce. 

For mains, 2 cuts of beef were served- American prime Black Angus tenderloin, and Australian wagyu-crossbred striploin. The tenderloin slices like butter! For those who prefer a richer flavor, you'd enjoy the striploin for sure. 

Dessert Rouge was prepared by award-winning Chef Ben Goh, and features a lovely Single origin 68% cuvee Bali chocolate crémeux and a yuzu yoghurt sherbet, decorated with strawberry compote and vanilla meringue. THAT CHOCOLATE was amazing! I finished every bit of that dessert! 

Go get a table if you haven't. The five-course dinner is $128/pax and wine pairing is available at an addition $88. Looking forward to more of the Fine Dining Lovers Guest Chef Series by fine dining waters S.Pellegrino and Acqua Panna.

Ash & Elm InterContinental Singapore

80 Middle Rd, Singapore 188966

Tel: +65 6825 1008

It's been some time since the first MasterChef Asia was crowned and we have waited with anticipation on what winner Woo Wai Leong would come up. Well, Restaurant Ibid was worth the wait as Wai Leong went back to his source, and roots to search for his identity. From these dual inspirations comes Nanyang-style, Contemporary Chinese cuisine which marries his heritage and western kitchen training. 

Dinner is a multi-course affair- 4 course $78, 6 course $88, 8 course $118.

Dinner started with 2 snacks and i must say i enjoyed the Spring onion shao bing a lot more than i did the Skewered escargot skewers. The shao bing took on a stuffed English muffin appearance with a filling of spring onions, mozzarella, black pepper and sesame oil. I couldn't stop eating it with the yeasted butter and laksa leaf oil. The dou bang jiang mayonnaise flavored escargot is not for everyone, unless you're ok with bitter betel leaf. 

If you're expecting a Tea egg, like the dark braised sort, well, there's nothing like that here even though the inspiration came from that. Here we have an organic egg yolk is sous vide at 65 degrees for 1 hour, flavored by a Mandarin pu-erh broth, a creamy sour cream onion puree, and a brown butter fried shiitake mushrooms and gingko nuts.

Woke up late for brunch in Bangkok and haven't done your research on where to go? Well well, my suggestion is to head to theCOMMONS at Thonglor, which is still the hippest district in BKK (i believe). The eco-friendly mall houses artisan cafes and eateries and also cool shops. Plus the architecture is interesting enough for you to just wander about and appreciate it. Oh and it houses Roast, which is BKK's favorite cafe.

The Commons is divided into 4 sections – Market, Village, Play Yard, Top Yard. Most of the food offerings are at the Market, while Roast is at the top level. 

Since this post is about brunch, i'm gonna focus more on the brunchy, wake-me-up kinda food. Do note that there are other heartier, meatier, savory options available at The Commons. 

Roast

Mon-Thu: 10am-11pm / Fri-Sat: 9am-11pm / Sun: 9am-10 pm

Possibly the kick-starter of Bangkok's love affair with brunch, Roast nailed it with their all-day breakfast. The chunky crab cake eggs benedict left us wanting for more. How is one crab cake even enough! Oh and the strawberry waffle is another must order. You could also have burgers, steak frites, roast chicken etc. should you dine later. Coffee here is such as lunch (burgers) and dinner (steak frites B890, roast chicken B480). Thanks to carefully-sourced beans roasted in house, the coffee here is excellent. 02-185-2865, 

Egg My God

Daily: 9.30 am - 10 pm

Egg, egg, egg, and more eggs! I don't know about you but i think egg is a superfood, plus it's so versatile! Egg My God uses eggs on their own, as an ingredient, a side, a main, and in their desserts. Oh and they also have it in its preserved form- think salted egg yolk angel hair pasta with truffle and chive oil, shiitake.

Yàn was one of my considered venue for our Singapore wedding reception since we decided to do something more traditional to cater to our families and i knew the food was gonna be good. Sadly we had to drop it as our guest list turned out to be larger than what the restaurant could accommodate. Well, my disappointment was greater after tasting their enhanced menu by new Executive Chinese Chef Lai Chi Sum. Yàn has been delivering fine Cantonese cuisine and Chef has now included some fine 'home-style' meals or ‘私房菜’ which features traditional recipes cooked slow and long to distil rich, soulful flavors. The hearty dishes would really work well for the communal banquet but oh wells... 

Well let's start with the oldies but goodies. All-time favorites such as the Signature Crispy Roast Suckling Pig served in 3 ways (read about the lovely lemongrass pork fillet here), Peking Roast Duck, Steamed Thousand Layer Beancurd and seafood delicacies such as abalones, lobsters, clams, crabs, and sea cucumbers remain. 

Yàn Peking Roast Duck Served in 2 Ways ($55 for half, $105 for whole). The peking duck wrappers were super yummy and the servers did a marvellous job of wrapping them up quickly for the starving bunch of us. The rest of the meat is typically diced, and stir-fried with diced vegetables and served in lettuce cups. 

We opted to have it served sliced though and the meat was flavorful and juicy on its own!

Dining at FOC by Pim Pam (FOC) could be a day long affair, like how the Spaniards would advise. Start with some Tapas for some cocktails and light bites, then move on to the main affair in their Main Dining Room, and end with some desserts and night-caps on the open Bar and Terrace, located in the heart of the Orchard Road. 

Starting off with some classic tapas, the Patatas Bravas ($6 Tapas Bar/$10 Main Dining) wowed me. Unlike the regular cubed and fried potatoes, FOC has sliced and steamed the Agria potatoes before layering them millefeuille and deep-frying them for that extra crunchy texture. The house-made aioli and brava sauce was spicy and pungent and absolutely addictive. You must definitely order this!

PIM PAM Croquetas ($5 - 6 for 2 pcs Tapas Menu/ $10 - 12 for 4pcs Main Dining) are glorious fried creamy bombs of flavor! Pick from the lot of ham, mushroom, crab, and spinach & pine nuts. I really enjoyed the earthy mix of mushrooms with béchamel sauce, encased in a crispy crunchy crust.

Another Spanish classic done well was the Prawns 'Al Ajillo' ($13/22) featuring sweet and soft Argentinean prawns pan fried with sliced garlic, chilli, olive oil, salt and sweet paprika, topped on a ratte potato espuma.

It's been a while since i'm back on my favorite Singapore Airlines Business Class! I know i know.. I'm saving it up for that big one to NYC you see. Anyhow, this was a rather special trip for us- It's Jr's first time on SQ biz (i was really excited when i booked it); and i came back from Japan engaged, and with a broken tendon! Yeah.. 2018 hasn't had a dull moment yet!

A quick stop at the SilverKris lounge was all we could manage pre-flight. The lounge was so packed! Our supper was the signature prawn noodles (love the broth) and carrot cake (i ate a fair amount of this even though i claimed i wasn't hungry), plus a mean G&T made by yours truly. 

Given that we were on the B777-300ER, i assumed that it was going to be the SQ's “new” business class product but it's the old one! BOOOO... That said, it's still better than their old regional product (read my review on the old regional A330 here).

#FWP i shadn't complain. I do love the old business class anyway. Their seat width is one of the widest in its class, up to 34-inch wide and with a pitch of 55. Yes this is larger and wider than the new 777-300ER seats. The 1-2-1 forward-facing cabin layout gives you that aisle access no matter where you sit ). 

Oh, and we were one of the first to try their free Wifi onboard (like finally SQ). 

Here's the sleeper service menu. SQ now allows you to preview the menu pre-flight now, so i was able to decide if i wanna use the Book-The-Cook service or not. Well for flights to Japan, i'd always order the onboard Japanese meal. Also, you could choose to have your meal immediately (for supper), or to have it pre-landing (an early breakfast). We chose the latter and after informing the attendants, we promptly went to bed in our fully-flat bed that comes complete with linen, duvet, and pillows.

I've become quite the pro at making my own bed in Business class i must say. I thought i would be occupied with the movies but i fell into a deep sleep and Jr had to wake me up for breakfast because the attendants couldn't! Partly because i was plugged into their on-board noise cancelling headphones too. :P

Jr had the BTC Classic Lobster Thermidor, which was as good as i remembered it to be. Creamy chunky lobster that wasn't too dry.  

My Hanakoireki wasn't too bad as well, if not a bit plain. This works as a traditional Japanese breakfast though. Other than the rice and pickles, there were also omelette, herring roe, turnip salad, grilled yellowtail teriyaki, stuffed tofu with chicken, mixed vegetables, and an assortment of vegetables. 

A quick review of the ANA's services at Haneda and New Chitose Airport, since we were enroute to Furano for snowboarding. If you're flying premium class or if you're an elite frequent flyer on Star Alliance, there is a dedicated check-in. This definitely makes traveling a breeze! The ANA lounges for domestic travel aren't great though. Drinks (draft beer, whiskys, sakes, juices and soft drinks) and a snack is provided (assorted Japanese rice crackers) at the lounge.

The international lounge at Narita fared better in terms of food options. There were some sushi rolls, hot finger food, sandwiches, and salad. Go around the corner to the noodle bar, where you can order your choice of udon, soba, and curry. The kakiage wasn't that great, and it's not nice soaked in the soup as well. Will probably do the curry next time.

A quick slurp of soba and 1 Creamia soft serve later, we were on board our flight back to Singapore and welcomed by the signature Beef and Chicken Satay!

Book-The-Cook is not available on the Narita-Singapore leg. I contemplated having the Western option but caved in to more Japanese food! 

Sake seemed to be the natural pairing. :) Can't remember much about the first course other than the rather springy udon. 

The meats were a lot better and i tried really hard not to eat so much rice but Japanese flavored rice is too hard to resist! 

Refreshing Japanese fruits with jelly to end the meal... Or so i thought!

More fruits and cheese went around! And more desserts too! Jr had the rich chocolate mousse while i nibbled on cheese and nuts.

Singapore Airlines, always a great way to fly! Till the next one!

XOXO
Travelerintransit

I cannot emphasize how much of a good deal the Morton's of Chicago Sunday Lunch Special is! From $98/pax, you get to enjoy a sumptuous 3 course set lunch featuring some of their signature steaks. And, there are even more choices now as Morton's has gotten some new additions just for lunch. 

The 3 course includes an appetizer, entree and a dessert and the options are simply mouth-watering. 

Appetizers feature some salads, and i had a proper taste of the Chopped House Salad this time and found it to be very appetizing with refreshing chunks of avocado, onion, tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce. Plus one can not resist bacon. 

If you don't mind spending a bit more, how about a heady and rich Lobster Bisque (+$10) with a juicy piece of flesh swimming in the creamy broth. Morton's signature Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail and Maine Lobster Cocktail are also available at an added cost if you are looking to indulge in fresh seafood. 

What's a Morton's meal without some delectable steaks! An 8.5oz Filet Mignon with asparagus and mashed potatoes is available at no added cost. But if you're a steak connoisseur, their center-cut Prime Ribeye, New York Strip, and Porterhouse are available as add-ons. 

Non-steak eaters also have a wider variety of options. Chicken Christopher, Chicken Bianco, Honey-balsamic Glazed Salmon, Shrimp Scampi Capellini, and Short Rib Bolognese are available as entrees.