Daniel & Esther’s

Earlier in January, I was in Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show.

I had brought two journalists there - David from HardwareMag and Christopher from The Business Times - who thankfully are also fellow drinking buddies. We had wanted to trawl drinking holes around The Strip during our free time in between exhibition days, but there really was none (free time, that is). Plus both of them were quite zonked out by the time difference and the multiple stories they had to file.

Left to my own devices, I decided to venture out alone on the last day we were there.

Lo and behold, guess what I found at the Miracle Mile Shops located just next to my hotel Paris Las Vegas? An outlet of a bonafide local microbrewery, the Sin City Brewing Company!

I just had to try a pint of their Wheat Beer. Oh Dear Lord, forgive me for I have sinned. The beer was refreshing and summery, but I felt a bit let down that I had to drink out of a plastic cup instead of a pint glass. C'mon, this ain't Ribena.

Still, it was really quaint to find a brewery essentially serving beer out of what is a hole in the wall, kinda like a juice stand. I wanted to try out the other brews, but I figured I really should not run the risk of missing my early morning flight out of Las Vegas. Not when my bosses were taking the same flight, anyway.

David and Chris, you guys have no idea what you've missed.

Esther and I often meet up with a few friends - ex-church choir mates Jennifer, Michelle, Tess, amongst others - to catch up, usually at Jennifer's place where Esther and I would cook up a storm. Last weekend, however, we decided to eat out as not everyone could make it.

At first we wanted to try Tawandang (Jennifer and I love our microbrews), but finally we settled on Smokey's BBQ at Joo Chiat Place instead. Smokey's BBQ is a rather unassuming place off Still Road, located along the same road where the famously crowded Eng Seng is (the one that sells awesome pepper crabs). It's not difficult to find though - it's right opposite Fei Fei Wanton Mee. By the way, Smokey's is pretty much of an open-air, kopitiam-style place. No airconditioning here, so ladies, watch the makeup.

Make no mistake - it's called Smokey's BBQ for good reason. Its menu is built around smoked, barbequed meats - ribs, chicken etc. In fact, you can smell its smoky goodness before you even reach the place. We ordered the ribs, chicken, beef brisket, and a fish & chips, to share.

In order of "must-tryness": the brisket, the fish & chips, the ribs and the chicken. I'd have preferred the chicken to be a whole (or half) chicken instead of boneless thigh. But the beef brisket was juicy, tender and flavoursome. Yum.

One of the reasons why we chose to come here was that Smokey's BBQ had a range of Archipelago beers on tap. Microbrewed beers on tap are rare in the east - the nearest was Brewerkz at the Indoor Stadium. Needless to say, Jen and I were happy campers.

Service was a little hit-and-miss on the day we went. One of the waitstaff came back with a wrong beer order - he mistook Archipelago Samui as Samuel Adams - and promptly forgot to return with the right order. The same distracted chap forgot to place our order of fish & chips, which took another half-hour waiting time. Otherwise, service was brisk, polite and efficient.

It's too bad the menu is rather limited, especially when it came to the sides. Everything came with chips and coleslaw. Perhaps the owners wanted to specialize instead of offering everything to everybody. That I understand.

One of the service staff recommended us to try the St Louis-style BBQ ribs - as we were leaving. Said it was meatier and juicier.

A bit late right?

Would I come back? Yes. For the beers on tap, if nothing else. Oh, and the beef brisket.

I had my first Italian beer, a Menabrea, at swanky Garibaldi as recommended by fellow social media enthusiast Derrick Koh. He's crazy about beer so I trust him.

He's right - it was good. Derrick did give me a funny look though, when I said it tasted of the ocean.

When we were in Kyoto recently, we chanced upon this tiny hole-in-the-wall takoyaki stall (notice how the chef barely fit into the small space!). Although takoyaki was more of an Osaka specialty, what caught our eye was not so much the takoyaki but a variation he was preparing.

This is called a takosen - essentially a few takoyaki balls squashed onto a cracker, upon which is spread some Japanese mayonnaise and plum sauce and then garnished with spring onions and crispy bits (think the leftover deep-fried flour bits from frying tempura). The cracker was then broken into half and folded sandwich-like.

We don't get this in Singapore, so it was a must try.

Verdict?

We loved it.

Esther bakes excellent oatmeal raisin cookies. They are always a hit whenever we bring them to the office during Christmas time. But if you're looking for more Chinese-y style cookies for Chinese New Year, we love these heavenly almond square biscuits sold at this old-school Kandahar Street bakery called Rich & Good Cake Shop.

The bakery is actually better known for its Swiss rolls - which come in flavours such as kaya, durian, mango, chocolate and coffee - but the almond square biscuits were a pleasant surprise. Buttery and crumbly, these cookies are fantastic with tea and coffee. It's also good value - one large tupperware-full of cookies cost about S$14.

Serve these up during Chinese New Year and your visitors will surely ask you where you got them.

You can find Rich & Good Cake Shop at 24 Kandahar Street, Singapore 198887.

 

Almond square biscuits from Rich & Good Cake Shop.

This recipe first came about when I ran into difficulties rolling out my dough properly, thanks to Singapore's humid weather. Not wanting to risk an ugly and patchy top pastry, I decided to try a crumble topping instead. And to my surprise, the topping has turned out to be everyone's favourite part of the pie! Apple Crumble Pie (9-inch pie dish) Shortcrust pastry for bottom crust: 1 1/4 cup plain flour 1/2 cup salted butter, cubed and frozen 2-3 tbsp cold water Crumble topping: 1 cup plain flour 1/2 cup salted butter, cubed and frozen 4 tbsp brown sugar 3/4 cup oatmeal Filling: 4 apples, (any firm apple will do - Granny Smiths or Royal Galas are ok. Avoid Fujis which have too high a water content.) 1/2 cup raisins, soaked in 1/3 cup rum 1/2 cup brown sugar 2 tbsp plain flour 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1 tsp ground nutmeg Directions: 1. Start with the bottom crust - Place the flour and butter in a food processor and pulse until the pieces resemble little yellow pellets. Alternatively, use your fingertips and rub the cubes of butter into the flour. Add the water a little at a time and mix by hand until it just forms a ball. Wrap in clingfilm and place in the fridge for at least 20min to let it firm up. 2. Similarly for the crumble, pulse or rub in the flour and butter. Stir in the sugar and oatmeal and place in the fridge. 3.  Preheat oven to 190°C. 4. Roll out the pastry for the bottom crust and fit into the pie dish. Pierce at even intervals with a fork. Bake for 10-15min until the pastry is dry and barely browned. 5. While the pastry is baking, peel and core the apples, and cut into 1-inch cubes. Toss with all other filling ingredients. You don't want to peel the apples earlier as they will start to brown. 6. Pour the filling into the bottom crust, and cover with the crumble topping. Return to oven and bake for another 40min until the pie is golden brown.

Soft, chewy and utterly satisfying, the fondest memory I have of glutinous rice balls, or mochi as they're commonly known, is helping my grandma make traditional pink rice balls in ginger soup to celebrate the Chinese Winter Solstice. In Chinese culture, the round balls represent family togetherness. A few years back, I started looking for places that served these 'kosong' or 'empty' rice balls, but failed in my quest. All the commercialised versions came stuffed with peanuts, red bean paste, yam and a whole variety of other fillings. In desperation, I experimented, and came up with what I *hope* is a decent version of my grandma's mochi. Perhaps one day I'll be making them together with my kids. Glutinous Rice Balls in Ginger Soup (Serves 4): 1 cup glutinous rice flour 2 tbsp rice flour 2 inch piece of ginger, coarsely grated 4 tbsp grated palm sugar (use soft brown sugar if you can't get palm) 10 dried longans (optional) Water Directions 1. Bring a pot of water to the boil. 2. In the meantime, mix the flours in a bowl, and stir in 1/4 cup water. Slowly add more water, bit by bit, until the texture feels like Playdoh and you can handle the dough without it sticking too much to your hands. Roll the mixture into little balls. 3. Drop the balls into the boiling water and stir to prevent them from sticking to each other. When they float to the surface, they are cooked. Place a few balls in each serving bowl. 4. In a clean pot, bring water, ginger, sugar and longans to a boil and let simmer for at least 10 minutes to allow the ginger flavour to infuse Pour the ginger soup over the balls and serve. You can make these rice balls entirely with glutinous rice flour only, but I find the addition of plain rice flour gives the balls a better, 'bouncier' texture. For a traditional touch, add few drops of red food colouring to the dough to turn it a blushing pink.

London again. On my last trip, I scarcely had enough time to scoff down some roast duck from Bayswater before I had to catch my flight back. With a little more leisure time this trip, I decided to walk a day in English shoes (more like boots since the weather was about 5 deg C), and eat what is considered typical English fare. Ordered the roast beef with yorkshire pudding and the ubiquitous fish and chips from a pub opposite my hotel. Both were good, but not great. The yorkshire pudding was note-worthy though. Unlike the greasy ones I've had at Lawry's, these were crisp, without an oily aftertaste.

For a snack, I had a pasty from the award-winning Cornish Bakehouse on Oxford Street. Resembling a rather large curry puff, the pastry is much tougher and heavier than the crumbly ones we are more accustomed to in Singapore. The filling (steak and potatoes) was generous with well-seasoned meat though.

Maybe it was the overwhelming amount of peas, but I wasn't blown away by English food. If I'm ever in London again, you won't find me at the local pub having a chippy. Take a trip down to Bayswater instead, and yup...that'll be me sitting in a corner gobbling down roast duck as fast as I can.