Sing Hainanese Chicken House

 

I love anything Southeast Asian when it comes to food.  Singapore cuisine is one of them.  The food trips we had when I went to Singapore to visit my brother were still on my mind… laksa, roti prata, chili crabs, oyster cakes, black sesame ice cream to name a few.  In fact, on my way home to Manila, I bought a cookbook on Singaporean cuisine at the airport and brought home packs of roti, garam masala, and other Indian spices. I even tried replicating the chili crab dish we had at No Sign Board. 

 

One of the dishes in that cookbook was a recipe for Hainanese Chicken.   Hainanese Chicken is a dish, whose roots  goes back to Hainan cuisine.  Whole chicken is cooked by immersing in boiling stock of ginger and garlic for a few minutes, then removing the chicken to drain , repeating the process over and over until the chicken is cooked and a more flavorful stock develops. This stock is used to cook the rice.  

M and I went to dine at Sing Hainanese Chicken House at Shangrila Mall.  I chose to get the Roasted Chicken and M got the Hainanese (white) chicken.  Both came with a small bowl of Hainanese rice, a clear chicken soup and 3 kinds of dipping sauce – ginger, chili and hoisin sauce (I think).  The Roasted Chicken skin has a dark golden color.  Both were delicious.  They come with cucumber slices and lettuce as garnishing.

Sing Hainanese Chicken House also carries other dishes like Chicken porridge, Chicken Curry, Chicken feet, adobo tokwa, etc.

Sing Hainanese Chicken House

6^th floor Shangrila Plaza Mall

Hand-pulled Noodles of Kanzhu

The last time I had hand pulled noodles was early this year when we had a photo walk in Binondo.  I remembered  the noodles as chewy.  Its texture is so much different than the usual noodles we buy and eat.  That’s why when I read in one food blog about Kanzhu’s hand-pulled noodles and that the restaurant’s location is near my home, I made a mental note that this is a must-go-to on my food trip list.

An opportunity presented itself, when, after one of my event shoots, I passed by Wilson street in Greenhills and decided to have a late lunch.  I was also craving for milk tea, and good thing Serenitea is just across the street from Kanzhu.  

Kanzhu offers specialty dishes of Northern China. There were few diners left since it was past lunch hour already and the place was quiet.  I chose a table by the window.  I ordered the braised beef noodle soup (their best seller at P150) and black fungus and jellyfish for appetizer and a can of wong lo kat.

I was given a small bowl of caramel and sesame seed covered peanuts while awaiting my order. 

My order arrived in a big bowl, wishing I have someone to share this with me.  I took a sip of the soup and felt like I have been transported to Binondo. The hot soup was aromatic and comforting.  The noodles were thin, fresh and have that bite one can only get with freshly made noodles, the cubes of beef, tender and flavorful.

I also like the black fungus and jellyfish, with its vinegary marinade.

A few days after, I went back to order and take home their noodles with sliced beef for my kids’ meryenda.  My second child, Gabby loved it.  Looks like Kanzhu made it to my son’s list of favorite places to eat. He is very picky kid.

Kanzhu Hand-Pulled Noodles

G/F Citiplace bldg., 8001 J. Abad Santos St., San Juan

477-7919 / 748-7910

They also have a branch in Timog, QC

A date with Mr. Jones

A few days before our Dos Palmas trip, my friend, Len and I met up to go shopping for swimsuits and flipflops.   But before shopping, we had lunch first and a date with Mr. Jones in Greenbelt 5.

Mr. Jones is a 1960’s diner inspired restaurant located in Greenbelt 5.  The restaurant’s décor though on a high end, chic modern retro design, doesn’t feel intimidating. In fact, you’ll feel at home instantly with the staff’s courteousness. A portion of the  dining area (above photo) was recently added to accomodate more seats inside.

Len & I had fun taking shots of the dishes neatly arranged in patterns on the sideboard. 

Since we will be wearing swimsuits  in the next few days, we opted to eat light, low carb.  We ordered the “for Mr. Jones healthy friends” Green Salad (P375).  Arugula and mixed greens with grapes, cherry tomatoes, orange slices, Kalamata olives, feta cheese, hard boiled egg slices, cucumber with herb- raspberry-walnut dressing on the side. A slice of bread rests on top of the salad.  The dressing is so good, fruity, sweet and tangy.  One disappointment though, the lettuce greens underneath weren’t so fresh anymore. 

We also had the Even Better “yankee” Pot roast (P475).  US rib fingers,  slow roasted in red wine with French beans, carrots, shallots on one side and potato puree on the other side.  The beef was so fork tender and very tasty.  This dish is to die for! Len & I both loved it.  Thinking of it right now makes me want to eat there again soon!

I plan to go back one of these days and bring Pipay to try their Wicked  Truffled Mac n Cheese.  Other notable must try on the menu is the Bowl o’ Chili and Super Texas Tacos, US Beef Ribcap "Tapa and Garlic Overload"…. Soon my dearies.

Mr. Jones
G/L Greenbelt 5, Makati City.
Tel. No. (02)501-3682 to 83.

Lunch at Bizu Patisserie

It’s been a while since I posted my last entry. Things got a bit busy after my dos palmas escapade (entries will soon be posted) where work (for a change) took a back seat.  

 

So for today, I’m going to feature Bizu Patisserie.

When Bizu first opened, I fell in love with their macarons. Macarons weren’t readily available then and I can only read about it in cookbooks, magazines and articles/blogs found in the net.

Whenever I had a chance to be in Glorieta, I wouldn’t pass the chance to drop by their store and get 3 or 4 macarons.  Bizu cakes are also to die for. For a long time, I have been meaning to dine at Bizu’s Greenbelt 3 branch.  In one of my event shoots (as back up photographer for my friend, Warren), I had the chance to sample their food since they catered the food for the party.  And all I can remember that night was how delicious the food was!  I wished I was a guest so I can enjoy the buffet meal.  

A few weeks ago, my daughter and I were in Greenhills for some errands.  It was a great time to have lunch at Bizu in greenhills promenade.

I will always be in awe at their cake selection and macarons.

I wanted to eat something light.  But I was also craving for meat like steak. Browsing through their menu, I decided on the  10 hour Roast Beef Panini, slow cooked beef with caramelized onions, tiny cornichons on ciabatta bread.  Pipay, who had a frozen yogurt earlier, just wanted to eat the fries that went with the sandwich and a glass of her favorite mango shake.

 

We were given a basket of ciabatta bread and herbed butter while waiting for our order to be served.

 

 

The roast beef has a sweetish taste from the caramelized onion, the meat has melt-in-your-mouth tenderness. I would have preferred to have more beef in the sandwich though.  The cornichons provide that tart, crisp taste. 

 

I wouldn’t go home without having at least one macaron… in raspberry flavor. 

Sinigang na Lechon

Tomorrow I will start on a low-carb, low-fat diet.  I only have 5 days more before my Palawan trip with my girlfriends.  And I still need to lose a few more inches on my tummy area. 

As I bid farewell to carbs, albeit, temporarily for the next few days,  I’d like share with you the sinigang recipe I did using the lechon I bought at Mercato Centrale last weekend.  Isn’t this entry ironic? ^_^

As written in my earlier entry about Mercato Centrale, I bought a half kilo of Cebuana Native Lechon from Abub which I meant to cook as sinigang as opposed to the usual lechon paksiw.  

Sinigang is my kids’ comfort food.  They tend to eat a lot when there’s hot and sour sinigang.  

Lechon Sinigang

½ kilo Lechon

2 pieces ripe tomatoes

3 cloves garlic

1 medium size red onion

1 pc labanos, cut into diagonal slices

1 bunch Kangkong leaves

1 bunch string beans

1-2 siling pangsigang

Souring fruits like sampalok, kamias,  (I used the commercial sinigang mix powder)

4 cups water

Salt & pepper to taste

  In a pot, bring to a boil the 4 cups of water.  Add garlic, onion and the tomatoes.

  Add the sinigang mix, lechon and labanos.  Let simmer for 5 minutes.  Season with salt & pepper.

  Add string beans, kangkong and sili (for spice-optional). Let boil for 2 minutes.

  Serve piping hot.

Next time, I’ll use fresh  corned beef like the one in Sentro 1771  ^_^

Garlic Parsley Finger Sandwiches

Another recipe Pipay did in cooking class is  Garlic parsley finger sandwiches.  They first made the cream cheese spread which is so easy to make.  From the basic cream cheese and garlic recipe, you can vary the ingredients to add. You can remove the garlic and add fruits, jams or nuts for a sweet filling.

Last night Pipay replicated the cream cheese recipe as filling for her sandwich baon for school.  She made two kinds of spreads – the creamy bacon and the second one she put mixed herbs like basil and parsley and bacon.

These spreads go well with melba toasts, potato chips, biscuits or as filling for sandwiches. 

Creamy Garlic Cheese spread

1/2 c cream cheese

2 garlic cloves minced

Parsley, chopped

Garlic Parsley finger sandwiches

5 pieces wheat bread

1 piece tomato, sliced

Basil leaves for garnish

Procedure:

For the Cream cheese spread, combine cream cheese, parsley and minced garlic

Cut bread using small round cookie cutter

Spread cream cheese mixture on top of each bread, topped with a slice tomato.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Garnish with thinly sliced basil leaves.

Potato Skins with mixed herbs

In my previous entry, I wrote about Pipay’s cooking lessons.  They made simple dishes like biscuits, sandwiches & potato skins with mixed herbs.  The latter was my favorite.  And I am sharing here how it’s done.  ^_^

Potato skins with mixed herbs

Ingredients:

4-5 pieces potatoes

½ c grated quickmelt cheese

½ cup grated cheddar cheese

¼ c mushrooms, sliced

¼ cup bacon bits

2 tbsp olive or melted butter

1 tbsp each of chopped rosemary, thyme and basil

Procedure:

Boil potatoes until done.  Hollow out the top of potatoes, forming a small boat shaped shell.

Mash the scraped out potato pieces with fork.

In a bowl, combine all the ingredients with the mashed potatoes.

Brush the potato shells with melted butter.

Fill each shell with the cheese-herb mixture.

Assemble potato shells in a tray. Top with bacon bits.

 Bake until cheese melts and potatoes are heated through, about  8-10 minutes.

Serve immediately with herbed sour cream on the side.

Recipe courtesy of 
CCA Kitchen 
Eastwood Mall