Halloween is a big deal in the States. When I was there and staying with my foster family, pumpkin carving was our main activity. We used to buy five or six gigantic pumpkins for next to nothing (about 30 cents each) because there were so many of them! I suppose being so far away from home, lining up pumpkins outside the house with a candle in each…
More »
Here I am at about 10am in the morning drinking enough coffee to put hair on my chest. Although this is not necessarily an uncommon thing, let me clarify that I am not a coffee drinker. But Le Méridien's Bar Captain Shane's 'Ramel' Coffee, a heady concoction of double espresso shot through with ribbons of thick condensed milk, caramel and cocoa is absolutely super. And it comes to your table with the liquid layers intact. It's almost a shame to mix it all up. "I wanted to create something good but also a little Asian," explained Shane. True enough it does remind me a little of the layers of a Thai iced tea.
She wasn't sure whether to drink it or to frame it So here's the deal. Illy held a global competition among…
Continue reading »
by Alexa P., on Tue, October 27, 2009
Korean
"The rice crust is the best part!"
Kimchee, bulgogi, and ginseng chicken it all sounds good to me! However I usually like to order the paper-thin slices of meats that are barbecued on the tabletop grills and served with salty sesame oil and chilli sauce as a dip. Choose between different cuts of fresh meat or opt for the tasty lean beef marinated in bulgogi sauce. There are also chicken, seafood and veggie varieties to choose from but I’m a red meat girl.
The bulgogi here is cooked on a special dome grill where the meat is placed on top with spices and on the bottom there is a bulgogi sauce as well as oyster mushrooms and onions. While the meat is cooking on top its juices drip down into the bulgogi mixture adding flavour to it as the onions and mushrooms caramelize. The meat has a subtle sweetness and is very tender.
The highlight of any Korean meal is all the little side dishes that accompany the meats known as the banchan. What you get differs each time according to what is fresh in the kitchen. You can usually expect to get an array of kimchi, pickled vegetables, fried sticky sweet anchovies, scallion pancakes, mashed potato salad, sautéed beansprouts and more. These bites are filled with notes of sweet, sour, spicy, and creamy giving you a total sensory experience. They are also refillable as long as you are still enjoying your meats so do be sure to ask for more of the ones you enjoy.
More »
Truth be told there has been a dearth of good movies at theaters this year. Many of the promised blockbusters guaranteed to keep you at the edge of your seats are lackluster and seemed weighed down by their CGI and action promises. However in the world of animation, it's been a pretty stellar year.
First was the fantastic Coraline, creepy,…
More »
by Alexa P., on Fri, October 23, 2009
Chinese
"The carrot cake was sublime..."
Dim sum (literally meaning "touch the heart") is always a fun treat especially when you’re out with a group of friends on a lazy late weekend morning. The delicious small portions offer up a good variety of flavours and textures. I enjoyed a great dim sum brunch at Luk Yu Teahouse recently and most importantly it was halal and to tell you the truth, the pork wasn’t missed!
The cool thing about this place is that you get to see the kitchen in action as you dine. Watch the cooks assemble and steam the dim sum…stare in awe as they demonstrate their expertise in knife work… and you’re so close that you can almost feel the heat coming off of the hot wok. It’s especially exciting if you love to cook and watch masters at work.
I started with the har kau. The dumpling skin is firm enough to not fall apart as I pick it up with the chopsticks, yet it still has a nice bite to it and the prawn is sweet and succulent. From this alone I can tell that the other dishes will be just as good.
Once I’ve sampled the har kau I proceed to try out the feast of little bites. Another lovely dish here is the barbecue chicken bao. It tastes so good that you might never want to go back to the original porky kind. The chicken is cooked in a thick dark sweet sauce encased in a soft fluffy cloud-like bun. One is never enough so do make sure you order a few baskets.
More »
This interview was done during the fasting month. I facebooked it:
Me: will be trying out Malaysia's first TV dinner (or some incarnation of it) for buka today
D: Menatang apa tu? Sedap ke? (what nature of beast is that? Tasty?)
A: Got, meh?
AP: Hmm... TV dinner... interesting...
B: Why does it sound less than appetising?
More »
I was away from the office last week travelling with a troupe of design enthusiasts. Our destination was Bangkok, Thailand, currently known as one of the hot spots for creative talent. Here, wit and humour is often injected into the culture. Apart from the delicious
tom yam and
foy thong, Bangkok is known as the most creative city in Southeast Asia.
With the other creative peeps from
Design Circus, I had the chance to attend the
Bangkok Design Festival 2009. The festival itself was held in few places in the city, I however was only able to attend the exhibits at the Bangkok Arts and Cultural Center.
The Bangkok Arts and Cultural Center (BACC), located in the Sukhumvit area, is where you can find many interesting shop lots that sell refined artsy stuff. It showcases a variety of art forms such as graphic design, interiors, architecture, movies, music, theatre, graffiti and more. I spent a couple of hours there checking the exhibits out one by one, until I finally bumped into this particular place and I was in awe.
IceDea is the first food design showroom I’ve encountered There is no such specialty showroom focusing on food ideas back in my country or even in Malaysia. This store is currently a collaboration with a few local designers and art students in Bangkok producing food related…
Continue reading »
-1.jpg)
_medium.jpg)
.JPG)
