Pig Pig's Corner

Daring Cooks - Sushi, 寿司

noreply@blogger.com (pigpigscorner) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 02:54:14 PST

The November 2009 Daring Cooks challenge was brought to you by Audax of Audax Artifex and Rose of The Bite Me Kitchen. They chose sushi as the challenge. I love sushi and have been making it very often, but only normal California rolls/ hand rolls nothing fancy like dragon rolls, spiral rolls or even nigiri (mainly cause it's really difficult to get sushi grade raw fish here).

This challenge is in 4 parts:

Part 1: Sushi rice
You will wash, rinse, drain, soak, cook, dress, and cool short grain rice until each grain is sticky enough to hold toppings or bind ingredients.

Ingredients:
2½ rice cups (1 rice cup=180ml) uncooked short grain rice
2½ rice cups (1 rice cup=180ml) water
*For superior results use equal volumes of rice and water

Sushi vinegar dressing
5 tbs (75 mls) rice vinegar
5 tsp (25 mls or 21 grams) sugar
1¼ tsp (6.25 mls or 4.5 grams) salt

Directions:
Rinse rice 3-4 times until water runs clear. Drain.
Add 2 1/2 cups water, soak for 30 minutes, during this time prepare the sushi rice dressing.
After soaking, cook rice (I used a rice cooker).
For vinegar dressing:
Combine the rice vinegar, sugar and salt in a small saucepan.
Heat on low setting.
Stir until the mixture goes clear and the sugar and salt have dissolved.
Set aside at room temperature until the rice is cooked.
Slowly pour the cooled sushi vinegar over the spatula onto the hot rice. Mix.
Cool rice by fanning (using a piece of stiff cardboard) the rice vigorously. Don't flip the rice into the air but continue to gently slice, lift and turn the rice occasionally, for 10 minutes. Cooling the rice using a fan gives good flavour, texture and a high-gloss sheen to the rice. The vinegar dressing will be absorbed by the hot rice. Using a small electric fan on the lowest speed setting is highly recommended. Stop fanning when there's no more visible steam, and all the vinegar dressing has been adsorbed and the rice is shiny. Your sushi rice is ready to be used.
Cover with a damp, lint free cloth to prevent the rice from drying out while preparing your sushi meal. Do not store sushi rice in the refrigerator leave on the counter covered at room temperature. Sushi rice is best used when it is at room temperature.

Comments:
The cooking instructions on the rice packaging stated to use 1 1/3 cup water to 1 cup rice but I followed the daring cooks instructions instead. The wild boar complaint that the rice was a bit hard, it wasn't uncooked, just that he prefers his rice to be softer. I thought it was ok.
This vinegar dressing is different from my usual dressing. I use 4tbs vinegar + 2 tbs sugar to 1 1/2 rice cup sushi rice (uncooked), without salt, so it's slightly sweeter. This rice tastes like those sold outside but we prefer my sweeter version, maybe cause we are used to it.

Part 2: Dragon rolls or Caterpillar Rolls
An avocado covered inside-out rice roll with a tasty surprise filling.

Ingredients:
Nori (seaweed sheet)
Sushi rice
Avocado - very thinly sliced
Crab sticks - cut into half in length
Pickled sushi radish (takuan)
Glazed Barbecued Eel (unagi)
Vinegared Water – ½ cup of water combined with a dash of rice vinegar
Garnishing:
Fish roe
Japanese mayonnaise (Kewpie)
Wasabi
Pickled sushi ginger

Excellent videos on making Dragon Rolls:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQZGRohVNFQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fo55iBN9FQs&feature=related

Part 3: Spiral Sushi Roll
Decorative sushi – a nori-coated rice roll which reveals a decorative pattern when cut

Ingredients:
Nori (seaweed sheet)
Sushi rice
Avocado - sliced lengthwise
Pickled sushi radish (takuan)
Crab sticks - cut into half in length
Cucumber - julienned
Tamagoyaki (rolled omelette) – thinly sliced
Gourd Strips (Kampyo)
Vinegared Water – ½ cup of water combined with a dash of rice vinegar

Tamagoyaki (rolled omelette)

Gourd Strips (Kampyo) - my fav sushi filling

Directions:
Join 2 sheets of nori by moistening the adjacent edges and overlapping them about ½ inch.
Place this double sheet shiny side down on a rolling mat, part of the nori will extend beyond the mat.
Spread rice evenly on seaweed sheet.
Line 6 different ingredients at even intervals across the bed of rice.
Then roll the sushi up from the edge closest to you, this will form a spiral pattern of nori, rice and fillings inside the roll.
Slice into 8 pieces with a very sharp wet knife, wiping the blade with a damp cloth after each cut.

Part 4: Nigiri sushi
Hand-shaped rice rolls with toppings

A great video on making nigiri sushi:

http://www.howcast.com/videos/270-How-To-Make-Sushi

Authentic Vietnamese Food in London - Song Que [Restaurant Review]

noreply@blogger.com (Wild Boar) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:19:38 PST

Reviewed by The Wild boar

I was lurking about browsing through some blogs when I saw a review by Su Lin on Song Que and that got me thinking that I haven’t had Vietnamese food in a while. Ok yeah the PigPig did do pho for the Daring Cooks Challenge but I felt a bit unfulfilled from that…

Anyway I last visited this place years ago with a friend who was recommended it by his Vietnamese friend. Since then we’ve tried a couple more but we did think Song Que was the nicest so we thought it best to revisit it for our pho cravings.

If you’ve been to Kingsland Road, you’ll understand instantly why it’s been dubbed the “Pho Mile”; the entire stretch has dozens of Vietnamese restaurants scattered throughout it and most of them seem to be doing pretty decent business. I think Song Que is one of the bigger restaurants there as it covers two shop-lots and the inside is surprisingly large. Arrived there 1.30pm on a Saturday and it was already nearly full with a fair number of Vietnamese families amongst the customers. The shop was quite light and spacious and the disposable paper tablecloths routinely changed after all the slurping was clean.

First dish to arrive was the deep fried soft shell crab with salt and chilli. There was just enough chilli to give it a mild kick and adequate salt. It’s hard for me to resist this dish and Song Que delivers a perfectly acceptable if not particularly amazing version.

Another appetizer we chose was beef wrapped in betel leaves, especially after the pictures we saw left the PigPig drooling. The beef on its own was already very delicious, being quite juicy and flavourful. Wrapping it with the lettuce and pickled carrots or daikon is even better, albeit a slightly messy affair.

The PigPig naturally chose her pho with rare beef, tripe and tendons. It was a huge bowl with plenty of noodles at the bottom and goodies on the surface. The soup itself was very aromatic and tasty.

For something different, I tried bun (rice vermicelli) with seafood in spicy soup (sorry, I forgot to take pictures of the menu so you’ll have to do with my made up names). The soup itself is also very fragrant with a strong prawn aroma and it was mildly spicy, just enough to make my tongue tingle. The seafood was the standard mix of prawns, scallops and lots of squid weren’t particularly amazing though.

Altogether, the bill came up to £30 for two including a drink for us to share. Admittedly though, most people will be full with just one bowl of noodles and that will cost under £10 each as the pho is only about £6.50 or so.

Food – 6.5
Service – 4.0
Atmosphere – 4.5
Value – 7.0

Overall, tasty food at cheap prices. However, the pho, while tasty, wasn’t brilliant and the PigPig feels that Sydney still has the best pho ever (she’s also complaining about how she can’t find the tomato based pho outside Sydney too).

Would I eat here again? I’m finding it hard to find a reason not to.

Song Que
134 Kingsland Road,
Shoreditch,
E2 8DY
Tel: +44(0)20 7613 3222

Chicken Nutmeg

noreply@blogger.com (pigpigscorner) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:34:23 PST

I have 329 starred items in my google reader!!! I blame all of your wonderful food blogs and drool-worthy recipes! Seriously, too many recipes to try and too little time. I'm sure you guys love browsing food blogs, that's why you are here =) , so, what sorts of pictures/ recipes normally catch your eyes? For me, pictures/ recipes like this, this, this and this (I urge you to click on the links, you won't regret!), I'd bookmark these recipes without any hesitation. See the similarities? It's the gorgeous brown and thick gravy!

This dish is one of those that I've been dying to try. It's really really delicious with all that sweetness, spiciness and different flavours going on. Although I added 1 tsp of nutmeg, it wasn't very nutmegy, would definitely add more the next time, which is very soon. The wildboar thinks that it's too sweet, the taste of kecap manis was a bit too overpowering. But I didn't think so, then again, I have a sweet tooth and tend to have a preference for sweet savoury dishes - caramelised pork..yum yum!

Ingredients:
Adapted from Elra's cooking
720g chicken pieces (about 7 pieces)
3 small onions - sliced
2 garlic cloves - crushed
1 tsp (more or less depending on your taste) freshly grated nutmeg
1 stalk fresh lemon grass - bruised
2-inch fresh galangal - sliced
5 dried kaffir lime leaves
1 red chilli - sliced with seeds still intact
1/3 cup kecap manis
1/3 cup Shaoxing wine
1/3 water
1/2 tsp fish sauce

Directions:
Heat up a bit of oil in a pot.
Add onions, fry until softened.
Add galangal and garlic, fry until fragrant.
Mix in the rest of the ingredients, bring to boil then lower heat to simmer until chicken is tender and sauce is thickened (about 45 mins).

Stuffed Cabbage with Tomato Sauce

noreply@blogger.com (pigpigscorner) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:13:59 PST

Stuffed cabbage rolls are apparently really popular everywhere. If you google search for stuffed cabbage rolls, you'll find all sorts of variation i.e. the Hungarian töltött káposzta are stuffed with rice, meat, and/or sauerkraut and are served with a sauce of paprika and tomato with sour cream. In Poland, golabki are stuffed with minced meat, chopped onions and/or rice or barley; served with a spicy or sweet-and-sour tomato sauce...and the list goes on. I've never had anything like this, so I decided to give it a try. This is really comfort food with all the meat, delicious tomatoey gravy and of course the rice! A great heartwarming one-pot dish!

Ingredients:
1 head savoy cabbage
1 large onion - cut into wedges
3 cloves garlic - minced
250g minced beef
1/2 rice cup uncooked rice
1 handful parsley - coarsely chopped
1 tbs tomato paste
A dash of Worcestershire sauce
Salt
Black Pepper
For tomato sauce:
2 cans (400g each) Plum Tomatoes
1 Onion - cut into wedges
3 cloves Garlic - crushed
1 bay leaf
1 tsp paprika
Brown Sugar
Salt

Directions:

Cut the core out of the cabbage.
Place the whole cabbage in a pot with empty core area facing up.
Boil water and pour the water over the cabbage and let it sit for about 10 minutes to soften the cabbage leaves a little.
Heat up a bit of oil in a pan.
Cook the onions until softened.
Add garlic and fry until fragrant.
Place fried onions and garlic in a mixing bowl, add minced beef, rice, parsley, tomato paste.
Season with Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper.
Drain the head of cabbage. Remove leaves one by one, cut out the tip of large vein (do not throw the tips, save this for the sauce!). Pat the leaves dry with paper towels.

Place about 2 tbs (more or less depending on the size of your leaf). If leaves are too small, overlap 2 leaves.

Roll and wrap.

In a large pot, saute oinons until softened.
Add gralic and fry until fragrant.
Arrange stuffed cabbages in the large pot.
Empty cans of tomatoes into pot, add cut cabbage veins and bay leaf.
Mix in paprika.
Bring to boil, lower heat and simmer for about 45 mins. I like my sauce a bit thick, so I added some tomato paste.
Season with sugar and salt.
Remove the bay leaf and enjoy!

A Year Ago…The Fat Duck***, Bray [Restaurant Review]

noreply@blogger.com (Wild Boar) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:24:09 PST

Reviewed by The Wild Boar

Firstly a disclaimer: we ate this meal over a year ago before I started writing reviews and the PigPig got her little hands on a DSLR, so the menu has changed (a bit) and it may not be entirely accurate (but I do try to make sure it’s as best as I remember it). After eating at the other 3* restaurant next door, we both thought it’ll be nice to follow up with this long overdue review.

Anyway we went there when my parents came down for my graduation. If you’re reading a food blog, you’ll probably know all about the Fat Duck by now, so I won’t bore you with details about the restaurant or its chef. If you do want more information though, Laissez Fare has an excellent introduction in his review along with a thorough description of the travails in obtaining a reservation while Catty also makes for a good read.

We opted for the degustation and individual little menus in wax stamped envelopes were given to us, which proved helpful later as we could continuously refer to them to figure out what we were eating.

Moving straight onto the food then…

The mouthwash of “Nitro-poached green tea and lime mousse” was prepared at the table as he shook green tea powder over the little ball. Quite hard to explain what it "tastes" or "feels" like in the mouth, as it bursts in the mouth to give a very short lived sour burst with the fragrance of green tea. Overall, a good start to pique our interest and to wash our palates.

Nitro-poached green tea and lime mousse

Next up was “Orange and beetroot jelly”. We didn’t like this too much and I found the orange tasted a lot like grass. (Pigpig: very earthy)

Orange and beetroot jelly

The fun really begins with “Oyster, passion fruit jelly, lavender”; a dish that sounded pretty revolting to me initially as I’m not a big oyster fan. However, when I popped the whole thing in my mouth, it suddenly seemed like such a natural combination and the mixture of the brine from the oyster with the citrusy sweetness of passion fruit with the hint of lavender was just mind-blowing.

Oyster, passion fruit jelly, lavender

I’m embarrassed to say that I honestly don’t remember much about the “Pommery grain mustard ice cream, red cabbage gazpacho”.

Pommery grain mustard ice cream, red cabbage gazpacho

...especially since the next course was so brilliant. “Jelly of quail, langoustine cream, parfait of foie gras, oak moss and truffle toast”. The waiter served us all the dishes, placed a moss covered little tray in the center of the table and asked us to each take one of the packets on the tray. Inside each packet was a little film which we had to put on our tongues (I vaguely remember the taste of wood). He then poured some water over the moss and smoke poured out from it.

Jelly of quail, langoustine cream, parfait of foie gras, oak moss and truffle toast

Only after were we allowed to eat the tempting little morsels. The truffle toast was very generously topped with truffles but the true gem was the bowl containing the utterly sinful creamy fattening combination mentioned above. If you can just imagine the richness of the foie gras mixed with the tastes of the langoustine and quail in a mixture that itself had several slightly different textural layers to it… absolutely amazing and I would have been happy if we had stopped there and then.

We then started upon the first of the mains; “Snail porridge with Jabugo ham and shaved fennel”. This is one of the signature dishes and it did not disappoint despite the high expectations. The fennel provided a nice crunchy texture to the otherwise mushy porridge and rubbery snails while the ham gave the dish some additional flavour.

Snail porridge with Jabugo ham and shaved fennel

It is always a pleasure to eat foie gras, so we were all quite eager to sample the twist Blumenthal applied to his “Roast foie gras ‘Benzaldehyde’ with almond fluid gel, cherry and chamomile”. This was quite possibly the best foie gras I have ever had, more like eating soft bubbly tasty fat than eating meat. The various creams and jellies provided some room for us to experiment by choosing our own personal favourites and the freshly diced chives added not only colour and texture but a nice fresh aroma.

Roast foie gras ‘Benzaldehyde’ with almond fluid gel, cherry and chamomile

The next dish was simply a masterpiece in presentation: “Sound of the sea”. But before the dish came, we each were given a large cone shell, from which earphones were hanging out of and we were advised to listen to the track playing the gentle waves on a beach while eating the dish. I had seen Blumenthal’s television show whereby he explained the reasoning behind the iPod – essentially he heard somewhere that the sense of sound can also increase one’s eating pleasure.

The main bits were a raw oyster, sliced razor clams and cockles while the supporting characters included seaweed and crunchy deep fried eel for the sand. The entire dish was edible (except the plate) and while the shellfish itself was nice, on its own it is completely ordinary (although admittedly very good quality and fresh). But as part of the entire plate they all suddenly became so wondrous and magical (cue proverb: the whole is greater than the sum of its parts).

Sound of the sea

After that came “Salmon poached in liquorice gel with artichoke, vanilla mayonnaise, olive oil and grapefruit bits”. I suspect the fish was prepared sous-vide, especially since I’ve seen Blumenthal on television preparing other dishes with this technique. The meat was so incredibly soft and tender that you could feed it to your elderly grandmother who lost all her teeth years ago, just the tongue is enough to ‘chew’ this. It went pretty well with the mayonnaise and sweetish gel, but it just wasn’t “wow” enough after the previous dishes. The best bit for me was the plate presentation – the grapefruit bits reminded me of sakura blossoms.

Salmon poached in liquorice gel with artichoke, vanilla mayonnaise, olive oil and grapefruit bits

The last of the mains was “Ballotine of Anjou pigeon with black pudding, pickling brine and special juices”. It caused my parents some anxiety as the pigeon was so pink and tender, they thought it was raw (it wasn’t, well, not to me anyway). I tend to like my meat a bit bloody so this suited me quite well and the black pudding was deliciously meaty but not overpoweringly so (for the life of me I can’t remember what that crackling looking like thing is!).

Ballotine of Anjou pigeon with black pudding, pickling brine and special juices

I was getting a little nervous by this point since I was starting to get full, and we were just about to start on the desserts. The “Hot and iced tea” managed to lift my appetites again though. Although it just looks like a single cup of tea, it actually contained two separate portions of tea, one hot and the other cold. It had quite a viscous quality, keeping the two temperatures separate. The waiter advised us not to dawdle drinking it, so I gulped mine down quickly. It was amazing how the different temperatures mixed in the mouth and the tea itself tasted pretty good too.

Hot and iced tea

“Mrs Marshall’s margaret cornet” was disappointingly small. We were given a leaflet explaining who Mrs Marshall was. Mrs Agnes B. Marshall, one of the greatest Victorian cooks was the first person to publish suggestion of making ice-cream using liquid gas. This ice-cream (which apparently was apple ice cream with orange and ginger granita) and cone were made using her original recipe.

Mrs Marshall’s margaret cornet

The "Pine sherbet fountain” was really sour! We used a vanilla stick to dip into the little bottle of powdered pine sherbet. It worked quite well to sharpen up the palate again.

The Pine sherbet fountain

“Mango and douglas fir puree, bavarois of lychee and mango, blackcurrant sorbet” came and went quickly. I think they were generally pretty good but I don’t remember much of them now to be honest…

Mango and douglas fir puree, bavarois of lychee and mango, blackcurrant sorbet

...mainly because we were more wowed by the next two desserts. The “Parsnip cereal” was given to us in a little box whereas parsnip flavoured milk was provided to eat the cereal with. I have to admit I was a little nonplussed with it at first. I’m not a great fan of parsnip so it was just okay for me; the PigPig however loved it and I’m sure she would have bought back cartons of the milk to eat with her own cereal at home given the chance.

Parsnip cereal

Finally, another of Fat Duck’s signature dishes, the “Nitro-scrambled egg and bacon ice cream with pain perdu and tea jelly”. The dish was prepared by the table with the waiter cracking an ‘egg’ into the pot followed by liquid hydrogen to ‘cook’ it. After stirring the mixture for a bit, the waiter took out the cooked ‘egg’ and plopped it on top of a slice of French toast (= pain perdu) with jam and wafer thin caramelised bacon candy.

For inquisitive minds, I’m guessing that the ‘egg’ was filled with prepared cream which was then frozen by the liquid hydrogen to form ice cream. Anyway, the taste of the egg and bacon was still prominent, but moulded and sweetened to make it a more than acceptable and delicious dessert treat.

Nitro-scrambled egg and bacon ice cream with pain perdu and tea jelly

The tea jelly as well was amazing, combining the sharpness of the tea with the soft jelly.

tea jelly

Lastly, the petit four comprising of carrot and orange lolly, mandarin aerated chocolate, violet tartlet and apple pie caramel with an edible wrapper. To be honest, I was still thinking about the egg and bacon ice cream while eating this and wasn’t paying much attention to my mouth (on eating autopilot).

Altogether, the tasting menu for four including two bottles of still water and a glass of champagne all around came to nearly £150 each, still my most expensive meal in England (although this was paid by my parents).

Food – 9.9
Service – 8.0
Atmosphere – 6.0
Value – 7.0

What can I say? For most people, this is THE most sought after place to eat in the entire UK, the culinary Holy Grail for some. My expectations were high; I expected to be amazed, delighted, to be shown and fed the best food available by the second best restaurant in the world – I was delivered all that and more. The combinations, technique and inventiveness of the dishes are simply on a different level to the average Michelin starred restaurant.

If you are able to tolerate unorthodox cooking styles, looking for a simply outstanding dining experience and able to shell out a fair amount of money, then this is simply going to be the most amazing experience of your epicurean life (until you go to El Bulli?).

Would I eat here again? Yes please.

The Fat Duck
High Street
Bray
Berkshire
SL6 2AQ
Tel: +44 (0) 1628 580 333
Official website

Waterside Inn***, Bray [Restaurant Review]

noreply@blogger.com (Wild Boar) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:43:48 PST

Reviewed by The Wild Boar

Here are the facts:

There are only three restaurants in the UK bearing three Michelin stars (out of 72 restaurants in the world); Waterside Inn is one of them.
Opened in 1972, obtained first star in 1974, second star in 1977 and the third star in 1985 which it has retained since.
Le Gavroche was the first restaurant in UK to obtain three Michelin stars; Waterside Inn is the second to do so.
A member of the prestigious Relaix & Chateaux group, which also includes Fat Duck and Le Gavroche in their menagerie.
Started up by Michel Roux after the success of Le Gavroche in London, now the chef patron is Alain Roux, son of Michel Roux; meanwhile Michel Roux Jr. (son of Albert Roux, confusingly!) is in charge of Le Gavroche.

Roux family

Yet surprisingly, Urbanspoon's page of Waterside Inn is just a bit empty with one fan, zero reviews, no photos and only two votes so far. Googling for blogger reviews turn up nearly nothing except Andy Hayler, but then he's a bit special when it comes to Michelin stars; his blog/database is a veritable shrine to good food. Perhaps this is partly explained by its location in Bray, an hour’s drive from London with good traffic, while London itself has plenty of French restaurants to distract.

Still, my friends have been planning this visit for over a year now (we’re quite bad at organising our social lives, hence why it took so long). Our party of six rocked up well in time for our 7pm reservation in our respective cars, which we left to the valet. We were the first to arrive and to be seated, but the maître d' was keen to tell us that it was a full house tonight. The décor of the restaurant was reasonably impressive and it’s worth noting the grounds outside the main dining room and the pier for guests to arrive by boat.

Whilst making our choices from the tasting menu, some canapés were provided. Moving from right to left in the picture, I started with the cucumber jelly in the spoon; we as a group didn’t really like this one as it felt a little plain (PigPig: tasted really green). The goat’s cheese was better, full of flavour and thankfully the goat smell was quite mild. The duck rillete was not bad and quite smooth, but nothing very special either. Overall the canapés were a little dull and disappointing.

The bread selection was either white or brown and neither was particularly outstanding. Although nice and warm, they were a bit chewier than I would have preferred.

Just a quick explanation on Le Menu Exceptionnel here; for £110 (including service charge) you get five courses and each course has two choices except for the sorbet mouthwash which is default, and the dessert which has three options (cheese being one of them).

After we made our choices to the waiter, lobster bisque was served to start the meal with. The bisque itself was really rich and tasted really good, without the bitterness that you sometimes get with bisque as my friends noted. The little piece of lobster meat provided was nice but then, quite little. There was also a little slice of potato underneath the lobster which provided a nice contrast of textures.

lobster bisque

First course: “Bluefin tuna and scallops marinated in virgin olive oil and yuzu juice, garnished with a spicy guacamole and lamb’s lettuce”. Both the PigPig and I were presented this, although I had actually requested for the other choice. I complained as such to the waiter, and he smoothly advised that I should just enjoy this one anyway, while they prepared my correct order. Essentially this was a ceviche, which I’m not a big fan of. However this one wasn’t overly sour, yet I felt the seafood taste wasn’t particularly appreciable. Also I think they were quite stingy with the portion size here, especially when compared to the terrine option.

Bluefin tuna and scallops marinated in virgin olive oil and yuzu juice, garnished with a spicy guacamole and lamb’s lettuce

First course: “Terrine of pressed foie gras and supreme of guinea fowl with truffle, young red chard salad leaves”. The terrine actually used pretty decent quality foie gras, and the gamey taste of the fowl together with the aroma of truffles was an excellent combination. We were all a bit bemused by the jelly though and I would have personally preferred a little compote for some sweetness to go to the terrine. The toasted brioche was simply brilliant and a wonderful alternative to the usual hard crunchy breads provided with foie gras.

Terrine of pressed foie gras and supreme of guinea fowl with truffle, young red chard salad leaves

Second course: “Pan-fried lobster medallion with a white port sauce and ginger flavoured vegetable julienne”. Most of us chose this option and to be honest, it was quite hard not to (my sister-in-law couldn’t as she has a mild crustacean allergy). Anyway the lobster itself was really good and the sweetness of the meat was complimented by the sauce and slight gingery-ness very well. Apparently, Waterside Inn has their own lobster tank so the lobsters are all freshly cooked. There were definite resemblances to Chinese style lobster noodles as well as the “Scallop baked in the shell, flavoured with ginger” in Le Gavroche.

Pan-fried lobster medallion with a white port sauce and ginger flavoured vegetable julienne

Second course: “Fillet of turbot baked in a vine leaf, served with white grapes and a “verjus” emulsion”. I only had a couple of bites from sis-in-law but the fish seemed perfectly cooked and juicy. A light cream (if it was the verjus emulsion, it wasn’t very sour) went along well with the richness of the fish.

Fillet of turbot baked in a vine leaf, served with white grapes and a “verjus” emulsion

Third course: “Refreshing tutti-frutti citrus sorbet”. Arriving in between the starters and main, this mouthwash is probably one of the better sorbets I’ve had. Equal amounts of sweetness and tartness along with a generous slug of vodka at the bottom provided lots of sensations for the tongue to enjoy.

Refreshing tutti-frutti citrus sorbet

Fourth course: “Spit-roasted Suffolk duckling from “Loomswood Farm”, served with a velvety spinach puree and green olive flavoured sauce”. Presented to us in its entirety before being professionally deboned at the table, this was the outstanding dish of the night. Each half of the breast was filleted into five slices, laid upon the spinach puree before having the olive sauce poured over it. The meat itself was cooked to juicy pinkness (as requested) and seasoned quite delicately as the sauce was a perfect foil to the meat. Brilliant example of cooking meat in a simple manner while picking the exact sauce to compliment but not overpower the meat.

Spit-roasted Suffolk duckling from “Loomswood Farm

Fourth course: “Roasted loin of venison in a pastry crust with wild mushrooms, garnished with florets of broccoli, Hermitage wine sauce with blackcurrant vinegar”. Again, I only had a couple of bites from sis-in-law, but it struck me as a well constructed dish and the cheese within the pastry was a pleasant surprise.

Roasted loin of venison in a pastry crust with wild mushrooms, garnished with florets of broccoli, Hermitage wine sauce with blackcurrant vinegar

Fifth course: “Warm mint and chocolate soufflé”. As the waiter explained, it is actually more of a mint soufflé with chocolate bits scattered about within. I thoroughly enjoyed this (the PigPig didn’t, but she hates the combination of mint and chocolate) and I felt the soufflé was suitably light and airy. At the end of the day though, it’s just a soufflé, regardless of how well it was executed.

Warm mint and chocolate soufflé

Fifth course: “Our selection of three individual desserts”. Alain Roux actually specializes in desserts, and the quality is certainly evident here. Starting from the top and moving clockwise, the tart-like thing was just a mere edible plate decoration (which I didn’t realise until much later). After that is a sandwich of sabayonne with pears and the entire combination involving a faint whiff of pear liquor was magnificent. The little crème brûlée was one of the better ones I’ve eaten, maybe because it had chocolate mixed inside. I thought the white chocolate mousse with tonka beans was a bit ordinary but the PigPig certainly enjoyed it.

We were all well and truly stuffed by this point so when we were invited to have our coffee and petit four in a conservatory, it was a good chance to stretch our legs. When we entered, the petit four were already prepared and it was a more extensive range than other restaurants I’ve been to so far; highlights include the mango tart and mango macaron although they were all pretty good.

Altogether the bill came up to £123 each including a bottle of wine and several bottles of still water. I didn’t choose the wine and didn’t bother looking through it as I suspected from the hefty tome that it was just as elaborate and pricey as Le Gavroche’s.

Throughout the night the service was excellent, being both attentive and unobtrusive at the same time. I felt their attention to detail was also pretty good, like how they provided little handbag hooks to attach the bags to the table, rather than leaving them lying on the floor; in fact the waiter actually apologised as he only realised the bags were on the floor midway through our canapés.

Food – 8.5
Service – 9.0
Atmosphere – 8.5
Value – 5.0

The verdict? Well, we were discussing this in the conservatory while safely away from prying ears (we think so anyway) and the conclusion: disappointing, we expected more from a three starred restaurant.

So I spent the next day thinking about the cause of my personal dissatisfaction and so far I’m thinking: the food was actually delicious, perfectly cooked, well constructed and the ingredients complemented each other quite well really. In fact I can’t actually put my finger on anything particularly negative about the entire experience from arriving and handing my car keys to the valet to getting it back from him.

In the end, I have to say that despite the rather excellent cooking, it just didn’t really suit my personal preference of a more modern approach, which is a shame because I would have really liked to love this place. (PigPig: having dined at the Fat Duck and the Waterside Inn, I think both deserved the 3 stars but I prefer the Fat duck. It was an "experience" dining at the Fat Duck but it's just a "perfect meal" at the Waterside Inn.)

Would I eat here again? Honestly, I prefer Le Gavroche.

Waterside Inn
Ferry Road
Bray
Berkshire
SL6 2AT
Tel:+44 (0)1628 620691
Official website

Steamed Potatoes with Chinese Sausages...And The Winner Is...

noreply@blogger.com (pigpigscorner) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:59:51 PST

This is another one of those delicious family recipes taught by my aunt. I've had this once at her place and I quickly marked down her recipe as it's so simple yet so tasty and satisfying. I love this with rice, I know that's a lot of carbo with all those potatoes and rice but it's just something about carbo that shouts COMFORT FOOD.

Ingredients:
1 medium potato - thinly sliced
2 Chinese sausages - thinly sliced
Seasonings:
Salt
White pepper powder
Light soy sauce
Sesame oil

Directions:
Layer potatoes onto a plate/ bowl for steaming.
Sprinkle some salt and pepper onto potatoes after every layer.
Drizzle some soy sauce over potatoes.
Place sausages over potatoes.
Steam on high heat for about 15 mins or until potatoes are softened.
Remove from heat, drizzle a bit of sesame oil over potatoes and enjoy!

And the winner for the Thorntons Metropolitan chocolate giveaway is...

Margaret!!! Congrats! I will email you shortly for your details. Thank you everyone again for your support!

Corned Beef & Cabbage Stir Fry - 2 Ways

noreply@blogger.com (pigpigscorner) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:27:23 PST

The wild boar is a huge fan of corned beef. Other than curried pasta, this is another one of his signature dish. He usually cooks this for lunch whenever I'm too lazy to cook or when I decide to skip lunch. I'm not a big fan of corned beef as it reminds me of dog food somehow.

Ingredients:
Half head cabbage - shredded
1 can (340g) corned beef
1 egg
Seasonings:
Worcestershire sauce
Soy sauce
Sugar
Pepper

Directions:
Heat up a bit of oil in a pan.
Add cabbage and a dash of salt. Stir fry for a bit.
Add a bit of water, cook until cabbage softened.
Mix in corned beef, stir fry until corned beef is heated through.
Break an egg in, stir to mix and cook OR leave this out and serve with a sunny side up.
Add seasonings to taste.

Don't forget to enter the Thorntons Metropolitan Chocolate giveaway! Everyone is eligible and the deadline is tomorrow!

Dim Sum @ Pearl Liang [Restaurant Review]

noreply@blogger.com (Wild Boar) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 06:48:05 PDT

Reviewed by The Wild Boar

I had visited Pearl Liang for dinner before and found in general that it served pretty good food albeit at higher than average prices. Helen in particular is a keen fan of this place and Urbanspoon has a fair number of positive reviews from other bloggers.

Unfortunately, at the time of eating both my brother and I had contracted a stomach bug and I actually had to make a pit stop in a random petrol station to throw up. Not very pleasant but I’ve had practice from my time in medical school. Anyway, I didn’t have the greatest of appetites so we ordered a lot less than usual.

Char siew sou – baked Cantonese style pork buns –叉燒酥 – really good filling, nice and sweet, meat had some gristle in mine though. The pastry was quite light and not too buttery.

Char siew pau – steamed Cantonese style pork buns –叉燒包 – same filling as the baked version. Bun itself is light and fluffy and lacked the alkaline taste that some others have. It was a bit chewy though.

Lo bak ko – fried turnip cake – 蘿蔔糕 – one of the better ones I’ve had, not as mushy as Yum Cha’s. Not bad at all.

Char siew in rice noodle rolls – the cheung fun itself was ok, but the inside filling was a bit dull and lacked enough taste. Disappointing.

Har gow – steamed prawns in dumpling – 虾饺 – received vote of approval from mum, and I thought they were pretty good too.

Siew mai – steamed minced pork and prawn dumpling – 烧卖 – I thought the meat was a bit chewy although it was flavoured well. I have to agree with Kang’s comment that it was “more porky than prawny” though.

Tau miu, canopy (dried scallops) and prawn – this is a new combination to me but it seemed to work well as the greens gave an interesting texture (I don’t recall many crunchy steamed dim sum dishes off the top of my head).

Zucchini prawn dumpling – another new combo, but I thought the courgettes got a bit lost in the parcel.

Loh mai fan – glutinous rice in lotus leaf – really nice. The rice was nice and oily without feeling too starchy and the meat mixture was tasty too.

Tan tart – baked egg custard tart – very good mix of soft egg custard that isn’t too sweet and fluffy pastry that isn’t too buttery.

The rest of the desserts we ordered were the ma lai ko, mango sago and mango pudding which were covered in the dinner review. If you’re lazy however, in general they were all very good too although this time I found the mango bits a bit sour – a sign they’re using fresh rather than canned mango maybe?

A minor issue is that Pearl Liang doesn’t have porridge on its dim sum menu, something I find really odd! The waitress explained that it has to be pre-ordered, ideally with a couple days notice.

The bill came up to £10 each, but we really ordered very little food this time so I’m guesstimating the true bill would have been nearer to £20 each if I was at full eating capacity.

Food – 7.0
Service – 5.0
Atmosphere – 7.0
Value – 4.0

In short, the food is quite typical dim sum fare (except a few that were new to me, but maybe it’s normal for others?) but executed very well with few mistakes done with the flavours and no food getting overcooked. The prices are a fair bit higher than average however although not as steep as Yauatcha, but then I still think that Yauatcha’s food is better (based on my last visit over a year ago anyway).

Would I eat here again? Yes! Although more expensive than most, its also better than most.

Pearl Liang
8 Sheldon Square,
Paddington,
W2 6EZ
Tel: +44 (020) 7289 7000
Official website

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Nutella

noreply@blogger.com (pigpigscorner) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 05:23:29 PDT

My first encounter with a pumpkin was 6 years ago and it wasn't pleasant - taste wise. I bought the huge-ass pumpkin meant for carving by mistake and the flesh was dry and tasteless. I later learnt that there are actually 2 types of pumpkins, one larger meant for Jack o'lanterns, the other smaller for cooking.

Even with the smaller edible pumpkins, they are not as rich and flavourful and sweet as I expect them to be. It's like how I expect redcurrants to be sweet because they look so red and plump, but they are in fact extremely tart without any hint of sweetness whatsoever.

According to wiki, most canned pumpkins are actually made from some hubbard squash so it's sweeter and not as wet as puree made from fresh pumpkin. This cake is extremely moist but slightly on the wet side. Perhaps letting it drain or squeeze out the juice would be better?

I wanted something that is lighter than normal Philadelphia cream cheesecake, to compensate for the richness of pumpkin so I used half mascarpone and half Philadelphia. Mascarpone made it lighter, smoother and creamier, not as dense and rich (slightly crumbly and grainy?) as you would expect from cheesecakes made with only Philadelphia cream cheese.

I have an obsession with pumpkin and chocolate combo recently, so I decided to use an Oreo crust. I was hoping to create a marbling effect by adding Nutella, but the batter was quite runny, so it's a mess. Delicious nonetheless.

Ingredients:a 9-inch cake, 2.5-inch in height
For crust:
14 Oreo cookies
25g butter - melted
For filling:
Canned pumpkin or 1 small edible pumpkin - makes about 510g puree
500g mascarpone cheese - softened at room temperature
400g Philadelphia cream cheese - softened at room temperature
Cream from Oreo cookies
2 cans (405g each) light sweetened condensed milk
5 medium eggs
1 tsp cinnamon powder
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 tbs chocolate powder
3 tbs nutella

Directions:
For crust:
Preheat oven to 180oC.
Scrape off cream from oreo cookies. Leave cream aside for cheesecake filling.
Place cookies in a zip lock bag, pound with a rolling pin until crumbly.
Combine crumbs and melted butter. Press firmly onto the bottom of a lightly greased and lined 9-inch springform pan.
Bake in preheated oven for 10 mins. Leave to cool.

To prepare pumpkin puree:
Cut pumpkin into half and remove the seeds and strings.
Without removing the skin, cut pumpkin into large chunks.
Place pumpkin in a microwave-safe dish, add a bit of water (about 1/4 inch layer, to prevent pumpkin from drying out), cover, microwave on high for about 10-15 mins or until tender.
Leave to cool.
Scoop out the flesh and mash.

For cheesecake filling:
Preheat oven to 150oC.
Place all the cheese and cream from Oreo cookies into a mixing bowl. Beat until smooth.
Gradually beat in condensed milk until well mixed.
Beat in 1 egg at a time.
Mix in vanilla essence.
In a clean mixing bowl, pour in 2 cups of cream cheese mixture. Mix in nutella and chocolate powder until well combined.
Add pumpkin puree and cinnamon powder to the rest of the cream cheese mixture.
Pour pumpkin mixture and nutella mixture onto oreo crust alternately.
Cut through it with the end of a knife to create a swirled effect.
Bake in a bain marie/ water bath for about 2 hrs 30 mins or until center is slightly jiggly but perimeter is set. Remember to check after 1.5 hr as every oven differs. Remember not to bake until it's fully set!
Turn off the oven and leave the cheesecake in it for another 30 minutes.
Remove from oven and leave to cool completely.The cheesecake will shrink as it cools, so run a paring knife around the edge of the cheesecake to prevent any cracks.
Refrigerate at least 3 to 4 hours (better overnight) before serving.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Culinary Couture Meets Cocoa Chic - A Giveaway!

noreply@blogger.com (pigpigscorner) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:45:40 PDT

I love to eat chocolates but I'm not that into chocolates if you know what I mean. When I received an email asking if I was able to attend to the launch event of Metropolitan, a fab new box of chocolates from Thorntons at the Met Bar in Mayfair, I was rather surprised. To be honest, I said yes to "cocktails, canapés (and of course chocolates)" as quoted from the email. Free chocolate tasting, why not?

The event was held at the Met bar at the Metropolitan hotel. Well planned heh?

Damn the London traffic, we were late for the chocolate tasting session/demonstration with Thorntons head chocolatier, Keith Hurdman - one of the UK's most talented chocolatiers. He's the chocalatier who designed this new collection of chocolates. He has more than 25 years of experience in the industry and has won many awards.

There were lots of chocolates as expected.

The chocolates for this new collection are made from dark Dominican Republic and milk Ecuador single origin chocolate, these were combined with various delicious flavours such as salted caramel, orange blossom, quince and clouberry. This range is available exclusively in Thorntons stores from early November. Here's a very detailed review of this new collection. Among these, my favourites are the Praline Piazza and Soho caramel.

I like the crunchy and crisp texture of the feuilletine pieces with the velvety hazelnut praline.

After biting through the thin chocolate crust, the salted-caramel in the middle just oozes out. Love the textures and flavours of this.

Before leaving, we were all given a goodie bag =) Thanks again for the invitation, I had a really good time sampling ALL the chocolates!

Thorntons Metropolitan Chocolate Giveaway

I think it's about time to "give back"! This blog has been going for more than a year and I would like to thank you all for your support. I will be giving away 1 box of Thorntons Metropolitan chocolates (shhh...it's the wild boar's secret stash).

To enter, just leave a comment below. A random generator will be used to pick the 1 winner. This will end at 8pm GMT November 3rd, 2009.

Good luck!

A Manly Guinness Beef Stew...With A Twist

noreply@blogger.com (pigpigscorner) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:18:18 PDT

Remember the Guinness beef stew I cooked last winter? It was really rich and flavourful, I had a sudden craving for it again. I came across quite a few recipes that paired Guinness with prunes so I decided to try this combination this time. The prunes added a nice sweetness to the bitter stew and gave it a much richer texture. But...

Pig pig: Do you think it's a bit too bitter?
Wild boar: No! It's very tasty.
Pig pig: hmm...really? (took another spoonful of gravy) I think it's too bitter.
The wild boar ignored the pig pig and continued to inhale the stew while the pig pig picked out the prunes.
Pig pig: I think I'll pack the rest for your lunch.
The wild boar nodded while stuffing down more of those stew.
Wild boar: It's ok. It's so tasty, so rich! (gobbled up the remaining bits in the pot, licked the ladle clean and if the pigpig hadn't stop him, the pot too.)

The next day...on msn at work.

Wild boar: The stew is super tasty today!

Ingredients: serves 3
620g beef - cut into large chunks
2 tbs plain flour
2 leeks - sliced
2 medium onions - sliced
1/2 bulb garlic - peeled and crushed
1 large carrot - cut into chunks
400g closed cup mushrooms - halved
2 cups (500ml) Guinness Stout (would suggest cutting this to 1 1/3 cup, depends on how strong you want)
2 bay leaves
1 tbs tomato paste
1 Knorr beef stock cube
3/4 cup (about 125g) soft pitted prunes

Directions:
Coat beef with plain flour. Shake off excess flour.
Heat up a bit of oil in a pressure cooker pot. Add beef cubes and fry until browned. Do not overcrowd the pan and do this in small batches.
Remove beef from pan and leave aside for later use.
In the same pan, add onions and leeks and cook until soft.
Add garlic and fry until fragrant.
Add all the other ingredients except prunes, mix well and cook under pressure for about 30 mins.
Remove pressure cooker lid, add prunes and cook under pressure for a further 10 mins.
Season to taste.
Comment:
I am not sure why it's so bitter this round as I used the same amount of Guinness as the first time. I don't remember it being so bitter but the wild boar loved it. My taste changed? The prunes brought out the flavour and bitterness of the Guinness? Maybe it's a man thing. No idea.

Simple & Delicious Prawn, Sun-Dried Tomatoes & Parsley Omelette

noreply@blogger.com (pigpigscorner) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:18:50 PDT

I have to admit that I have been very lazy lately. I try to cook really simple stuff when I get home from the lab, eat, shower then hide under the duvet and switch to semi-hibernation mode. I blame this on the gloomy weather and the cold. This is what I had tonight for dinner, a really simple omelette with rice. Easy and tasty. What do you normally cook when you feel hungry and lazy?

Ingredients:
3 Eggs - lightly beaten with a pinch of salt and white pepper
5 slices sun-dried tomatoes (in oil) - coarsely choped
10 prawns - peeled and cooked
A small bunch of parsley - coarsely chopped
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
Heat up a bit of oil in a small frying pan.
Pour in beaten eggs.
As the eggs begin to settle, use a spatula/ wooden spoon, push the eggs towards the center while tilting the pan to distribute runny parts. Continue this motion until eggs stop flowing.
Distribute cooked prawns, tomatoes and parsley onto omelette.
Sprinkle some freshly ground black pepper.
Leave to cook until the edges/ bottom is browned.
Fold omelette into half and serve.

The New Angel*, Dartmouth, Devon [Restaurant Review]

noreply@blogger.com (Wild Boar) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:20:12 PDT

Firstly, an apology – I’m feeling rather lazy (and being distracted by my new PSP) so this review will be more to the point and contain less waffle than my usual ones.

Dartmouth, Devon

Parents wanted to go to Cornwall, so I took it upon myself to search out some good eats nearby. This one Michelin starred sounded pretty good and was geographically well placed on our return leg so it fit the bill just fine. Plus, I’ve seen head chef John Burton Race on television in the past so he must obviously be good! Oh and The New Angel was also AA’s restaurant of the year in 2005.

I have to admit the location of the restaurant seemed really ideal, situated pretty much in town centre (as far as I can tell anyway) right opposite the harbour. Anyway, all of us except from the PigPig made selections from the lunch menu (£25 for three courses sounds quite reasonable).

The bread was freshly baked (the waitress alluded that it was baked on site) and marvellously nice and warm when we laid our hungry paws on it. Out of four choices, the favourite amongst us was the brioche with powdered olives; the bread itself was pillowy soft and just a little bit sweet while the olives added an interesting aroma to the bread. The walnut bread was also pretty good with a very generous dose of nuts involved.

Brioche with powdered olives

For my starter I had “Nick Trants rare breed pork, cured and served with glazed fig”. The first result from Google for “nick trant” is a graphic designer in Madrid so he must be doing really well to also rear these fine pigs. The ham was actually quite fine in flavour and softly textured, somewhat similar to Parma ham and went a treat with the sweetness of the fig.

Nick Trants rare breed pork, cured and served with glazed fig

My dad meanwhile had a “Grilled day-boat red mullet served with a lightly spiced mussel and saffron broth” which was actually the recommended choice by the waitress. I can see where she’s coming from as the fish was very fresh and the grilled texture and smell is a nice contrast to the broth it was swimming in (hehe, get it?). To be honest though, the broth and accompanying linguine was good enough to be served on its own as it was spiced just enough and not too creamy.

Grilled day-boat red mullet served with a lightly spiced mussel and saffron broth

The last starter is my mom’s, “Pam Wills Dexter beef, smoked and served with horseradish cream and beetroot”. While visually very pretty, I felt it was somewhat tasteless – I could smell and taste the smokiness but couldn’t taste the beef.

Pam Wills Dexter beef, smoked and served with horseradish cream and beetroot

Moving onto the mains, I had the “Rare-breed pork belly, glazed and served with creamy mashed potatoes, puy lentils and buttered cabbage”. Starting from the top of the picture, the crackling was nice although perhaps a bit too crunchy (Robert’s roast pork in Pudu, Kuala Lumpur is still undeniably tops). The apple sauce hidden underneath has a good balance of sweet and sour. Meanwhile, the pork itself had just enough fat to keep me happy (fat’s not only good for flavour but texture, but too much is just sickening really) and cooked until succulent and tender. While the jus is quite light, it added sufficient taste to enhance the pork flavour.

Rare-breed pork belly, glazed and served with creamy mashed potatoes, puy lentils and buttered cabbage

My brother’s “Wild black bream, grilled and served with butter beans and chorizo” seemed decent enough as he ate it. I confess that I don’t remember much from the sample I got but I think the fish itself was good although cooked rather plainly and the butter beans beneath it was really necessary to give the dish more body.

Wild black bream, grilled and served with butter beans and chorizo

However, the best main was definitely the PigPig’s “Fillet of South Devon beef with fricassee of bone marrow, smoked bacon and Umberleigh snails”; an option off the ala carte which cost more than the three course lunch set menu. I can totally understand why though as the beef was perfectly medium rare and very tender and the sauce was just... well I wanted to lick the plate clean if that’s sufficient to describe how good it was. It was very rich, flavourful and it had the flavours from the bone marrow and bacon. The snails on the other hand was oddly slimy – I’ve only really ever eaten escargot baked with garlic so I’m not particularly proficient with snails but it did feel a bit odd.

Fillet of South Devon beef with fricassee of bone marrow, smoked bacon and Umberleigh snails

Now for the dessert course, initially we had planned to share three plates among us five, but the “Warm chocolate tart with Devon clotted cream” sounded so good that both me and my brother wanted one each. Luckily too as one of the very rich dark smooth chocolate filling was definitely not enough to go around, full though we were.

Warm chocolate tart with Devon clotted cream

Unfortunately, the “New Angel vanilla conde served with a damson compote” was a bit weird for my tastes; I’m not particularly sure what a ‘conde’ is but the dessert appeared to be a rice pudding. Biting into the dish, individual rice grains can be felt which I for whatever reason found odd.

New Angel vanilla conde served with a damson compote

Anyway, the “Warm damson and almond tart” chosen off the ala carte menu was pretty good. It was essentially an almond tart with slices of damson (a type of plum) scattered about.

Warm damson and almond tart

To wrap things up, the lunch cost about £30 from memory but we didn’t order any wine and just had tap water (I’m one of those that can’t really taste the difference between Evian and Tesco bottled water, so why bother?).

Food – 8.0
Service – 6.0
Atmosphere – 5.0
Value – 6.0

While not perfect, in general the food here is actually very good and on par with the other Michelin starred restaurants in London; I don’t recall making many negative points about the food. However, the décor does feel a bit sterile and it lacks any real sort of character.

Would I eat here again? Let’s just say I wouldn’t particularly drive 5 hours from London for this, but I wouldn’t mind dropping in again if I was in the area; a bit like the Sportsman Seasalter really.

PS. Sorry, I lied about it being short, I tried though.

The New Angel
2 South Embankment,
Dartmouth,
Devon,
TQ6 9BH.
Tel:+44(0)1803 839425
Official website

Check out:

Around Cornwall --> Here

Rick Stein’s Fish & Chips, Padstow, Cornwall --> Here

Around Cornwall

noreply@blogger.com (pigpigscorner) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:21:13 PDT

Here are some pictures of our holiday in Cornwall with my in-laws. Cornwall is really pretty and picturesque with lots of quaint little fishing villages.

Our first stop - Stonehenge.

Our Cornwall 'base' - Polperro, a very picturesque fishing village.

The 'wonderful' coastal walk from Polperro to Looe.

Looe

On the way to Minack theatre.

St Michael's mount

Minack theatre - an open-air theatre

Mousehole - another random tiny fishing village.

Eden project - huge greenhouse with plants from all around the world.

Check out all the delicious food we ate in Cornwall:

Rick Stein’s Fish & Chips, Padstow --> Here

Thai Green Curry Penne with Mint

noreply@blogger.com (pigpigscorner) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:52:28 PDT

The wild boar used to cook pasta with instant red curry paste, frozen mixed vegetables and frankfurters almost everyday during his uni days (I think that's the ONLY thing he can cook then). But curried pasta has to be one of my favourite way of enjoying pasta - it's fast, simple and super duper tasty. Get yourself a jar of isntant curry paste and the possibilities are endless!

Ingredients: serves 2
125g penne pasta
125g asparagus - cut to 2 inches in length
250g minced beef
2-3 tbs (or to taste) Thai green curry paste
1 bunch mint leaves - coarsely chopped (about 2 tbs)
Salt
Sugar

Directions:
In a pan, heat up a bit of olive oil.
Add minced beef and stir fry until dry and browned.
While beef is browning, cook penne in a large pot of boiling water according to the pasta packaging instructions. Drain. Leave aside for later use.
Mix Thai green curry paste into browned beef.
Add asparagus, stir fry until tender.
Toss in cooked pasta.
Add salt and sugar to taste.
Stir in mint leaves.
Enjoy!

I am sending this dish to girlichef who is hosting this week's Presto Pasta Night.

They Have REAL Feet!

noreply@blogger.com (pigpigscorner) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 10:11:36 PDT

Remember my previous attempt in making macarons? It was an improvement from my first attempt with feet but unfortunately they were all hollow. I decided to try again and this time, they have feet and they were not hollow! I wouldn't say they were perfect as the batter was really thick and stiff after macaronage and didn't 'flow like magma'. But it was a huge improvement again heh? What worked for me? Frozen egg whites? Higher baking temperature? No idea really, fickle stuff.

Chocolate Macarons with Spiced Sweet Potato Filling

Ingredients:
From Tartelette's
90g egg whites (about 3 eggs) - aged
30g granulated sugar
200g icing sugar
110g ground almonds
15g chocolate powder
Spiced sweet potato filling recipe here

Directions:
Mix the almonds, icing sugar and chocolate powder in a food processor, pulse to mix.
In a clean, dry mixing bowl, whisk egg whites on medium speed until foamy. Increase speed of beater, gradually add in granulated sugar and whisk egg whites until stiff peaks. The whites should appear glossy.
With a spatula, give it a quick fold to break some of the air and then fold the mass carefully until you obtain a batter that flows like magma or a thick ribbon. The whole process should not take more than 50 strokes. To test the batter: spoon some batter onto a flat surface, if the tops flattens on its own you are good to go. If there is a small beak, give the batter a couple of turns.
Pipe the batter onto the baking sheets.
Let the macarons sit out for 20 minutes to an hour to harden their shells a bit.
Bake at a preheated oven at 180°C for 9-11 mins.

Comments:

The egg whites I used were frozen then thawed but I was not sure if those egg whites were considered aged, so I left the egg whites in a container, cover it with a kitchen towel and left it overnight at room temperature.
My batter was really thick and stiff - failed the batter test, but I have a feeling I've overmixed the batter, so I stopped at that point. After piping, the batter didn't form a smooth surface.

But they have feet! with uneven surface.

And they are not hollow like the previous batch.

I managed to pipe a few nicer looking ones.

Rick Stein’s Fish & Chips, A Not To Be Missed Cornwall Attraction

noreply@blogger.com (Wild Boar) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:29:09 PDT

Reviewed by the wild boar

Padstow, Cornwall

This is my second visit to the famous Rick Stein’s fish and chip shop. Located in Padstow, Cornwall, a town which almost seems to have Rick Stein’s name in half its stores – from what we saw in our little stroll around town, there was the main restaurant, a bistro, a café, a delicatessen and this chippy. The town itself is quite pretty but I’m not sure it warrants a drive there if not for the drawing drive of the man famous for his cooking of seafood.

Anyway we queued up at noon to get seats at the fish and chippy along with a fair number of other patrons, got our seats and promptly ordered.

Worth mentioning briefly the ginger beer as its actually pretty good – nice and gingery and not heavily sweetened like most soft drinks.

We started with some oysters which were in general pretty good, very fresh, quite sweet and less salty than most of their counterparts.

Similarly, the scallops were very fresh and cooked just right so to still be tender but not chewy at all. Unfortunately, the taste seemed to be lacking and they weren’t as sweet as usual.

Onto the mains, we pretty much all ordered fried cod with either chips or salad. It is the most amazing fried fish I’ve ever had – the meat is undeniably fresh and flakes off in big chunks. Somehow, it is also amazingly juicy (at the end of the meal my little box had a pool of fish juice), almost as if they went around injecting some cod juice after they were done frying; my mom reckons its because the fish is so fresh. The batter itself is so-so although the lovely smell of beef drippings used to cook it is awesome.

My brother, always adventurous, had plaice instead. I’m no expert on fish but the plaice felt like it had more fat just underneath the skin while the meat itself is still juicy but less sweet than the cod (I’m guessing this is how plaice is?).

I had nearly forgotten about this but the PigPig reminded me: my dad had ordered some fried battered scampi as well. They were a far cry from the poor fare served in the average pub as they're very juicy, succulent and prawnly sweet.

The tartare sauce is a must have for me when eating fish and chips and the home made sauce here is just amazing with a really nice strong smell of the herbs.

The chips were alright but nothing special (and people tend to have quite individual preferences on how they like their chips anyway).

Altogether the bill came up to about £15 each including drinks.

Food – 7.5
Service – 5.0
Atmosphere – 5.0
Value – 6.5

Would I eat here again? As soon as I found out we were going to Cornwall, I had already planned this trip to get some more of just the best fish and chips I’ve had. I think that about sums up this review.

Daring Cooks - Vietnamese Beef Pho & Spiced Sweet Potato Dumplings

noreply@blogger.com (pigpigscorner) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 07:30:23 PDT

The October 2009 Daring Cooks’ challenge was brought to us by Jaden of the blog Steamy Kitchen. The recipes are from her new cookbook, The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook. There are 2 challenges this month, the first being making Vietnamese pho. I was really excited as this has been on my to-cook list for quite some time. There's a quick version which uses store-bought stock but I felt rather daring this month, so I made the longer version which involved making the base broth from scratch. Making the broth took quite some time but it's well worth it. The stock was so DELICIOUS! So meaty, rich and flavourful. But it lacks a little something, can't really pin-point what exactly, it's just a bit different from the usual pho I had. Nonetheless, it's still raelly tasty. Would probably add more spices the next time! The second challenge was to make dessert wontons. I chose spiced sweet potatoes for the filling to suit the season. This is a rather long post, so here goes!

Challenge #1: Vietnamese Pho

Recipe source: Jaden of Steamy Kitchen

Bone hunting

Took me 1 whole morning to locate the bones. Do you know that the local supermarkets i.e Sainsburys, Waitrose, Tesco don't sell bones? I had to go to a proper butcher to get the bones. To be honest, I NEVER go to a proper butcher for meat so I had no idea where to find one. Many thanks to the friendly locals, we managed to locate one about 20 mins away. Phew....so here's 2kg of beef bones - FREE! yay!

Bone after blanching to get rid of scum. Look at that gorgeous marrow...yum yum...

The next step was to toast the onion, ginger and spices. I halved all the ingredients except for bones as the original recipe was meant to serve 8.

Spices for broth. Middle: star anise. From top clockwise: cinnamon stalk, coriander seeds, cloves, cardamon pod, fennel seeds.

Place everything in a pot with 3L of water, and start boiling. I used a pressure cooker and cooked it under pressure for 1 1/2 hrs.

After 1 1/2 hrs of cooking under pressure. I tried tasting at this point and I tasted nothing but fats. I figured there's probably a layer of fats on top so I left it to cool until the layer of fats solidified.

Look at all that fats!

Discard!

I used a muslin cloth to get rid of that extra scum.

umm...better...I stored it in the fridge for the next day.

It became jelly!

Before serving, gently warm up stock. Pass it through a mesh again and heat up stock. Add rock sugar, salt and fish sauce at this point to taste. Garnish with coriander, basil, mint, bean sprouts, red chili and lime.

Not to forget the thinly sliced beef. I used sirloin. The butcher didn't slice them thin enough so I dipped each slice in boiling broth for 5 seconds before plating. As for the noodles, I used flat rice noodles instead as I couldn't find pho noodles. For the beef dip, I mixed together 1 tbs of sriracha and 1 tbs of kecap manis - surprisingly good.

So here's my final dish, enjoy!

Challenge #2: Spiced Sweet Potato Dumplings

Ingredients:
300g sweet potato - peeled and sliced into 1 1/2-inch thick
Salted butter
1/8 tsp cinnamon powder
1/8 tsp grated nutmeg
1/4 cup soy milk
1/2 tbs agave nectar
Chocolate chips
Oil for deep frying
Wonton wrappers (I used gyoza wrappers)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 190°C.
Rub butter on both sides of sliced sweet potatoes and place them on a line baking tray.
Roast for about 25 mins or until tender.

Place roasted sweet potatoes in a mixing bowl and mash them.
Mix in cinnamon powder, nutmeg and soy milk. Add more soy milk if mixture is too dry.
Add agave nectar to taste.

To assemble:

On a dry surface, place 1 gyoza wrapper down with a point toward you, like a diamond.
Place about 1 tbs of sweet potato filling onto the gyoza wrapper. You can sprinkle some chocolate chips. I actually prefer the ones with chocolate chips - I'm a chocolate addict =P

Brush a very thin layer of water on the edges of the wrapper.
Fold the bottom corner of the wrapper up to create a triangle and gently press to remove all air from the middle. Press the edges to make sure the wrapper is sealed completely.

Fold the bottom 2 edges of the triangle towards the middle so the 2 ends meet.

Press to adhere.
Repeat with the remaining wrappers.

Deep fry until golden brown.

Enjoy!

This is what happens if you don't seal the ends properly.

Crunchy peanut butter and nutella anyone?

Homemade Wholemeal Pasta

noreply@blogger.com (pigpigscorner) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 12:05:05 PDT

Woohoo a pasta machine! Do you know that it's extremely easy to make your own noodles? 2 simple ingredients and you get yourself some delicious homemade pasta. You don't need a pasta machine, you can roll our your own dough and cut it. But I'm a lazy person and someone without delicate fingers and skills, so I trust the machine to do the job and make me some perfectly shaped pasta. The texture is really different from store bought dried pasta - it has a really nice bite, like how we call it "Q" (I believe it's a Chinese term for describing the bouncy(?) chewy (?) texture of noodles. Something like 'al dente'.).

Ingredients: serves 4
100g plain flour
100g strong stone ground wholemeal bread flour
2 eggs

Directions:

Place flour on your working surface, make a heap with a well in the middle.
Crack eggs into the well and slowly mix together with your hands.
Keep mixing until a dough is formed.
Knead for about 10 mins until elastic and smooth. (I used a stand mixer with a dough hook attached for kneading. Yes, I'm lazy =P)
Divide dough into 2 pieces for easy handling.
Sprinkle some flour on the surface of the dough and run this through the pasta machine roller set on widest setting.

Turn the dial to the next narrowest setting, feed dough through the pasta machine again.
Repeat until you get the thickness you desire.

Let dough stand for about 10 mins until slightly dry.
Attach pasta cutter onto machine.
Feed dough through the cutter.

Lightly flour pasta to prevent sticking.
Dry pasta on a rack or cook it straightaway!
Cook pasta in a large pot of salted water. Pasta is done when it floats onto the surface of water.

Chocolate Guinness Cake

noreply@blogger.com (pigpigscorner) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:48:24 PDT

I’m finally back (I think, I hope)! Had a great time with my in-laws, went to Cornwall, did A LOT of walking (1 year’s worth of exercise for me, check) and ate A LOT of food (never enough). Everyone fell sick after that, I think we were fun-time overdosed. Anyway, feeling much better now and so back to the kitchen!

I came across this luscious chocolate cake recipe at Maya’s My Feasts. The use of Guinness intrigued me. I love it in savoury stews and was really curious what it would taste like in sweets especially pairing with chocolate.

It was awesome and it disappeared really quickly. It doesn’t have the strong bitter stout taste, maybe just a hint of malty flavour. The wild boar described it as ‘a bit yeasty’. It was really dark, rich and moist. It tasted better the next day actually as the flavours developed day by day. This is definitely a keeper!

Ingredients: 9-inch cake

Recipe from Nigella Lawson’s

1 cup Guinness stout

250g unsalted butter

3/4 cup cocoa powder

2 cups caster sugar

3/4 cup sour cream

2 eggs

1 tbs pure vanilla extract

2 cups plain flour

2 1/2 tsp baking soda

A pinch of salt

Icing sugar for dusting

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Gently heat Guinness Stout and butter in a saucepan until butter is melted. Remove from heat.

Whisk in cocoa powder and sugar.

In a clean mixing bowl, beat together sour cream eggs and vanilla extract.

Add the sour cream mixture into the Guinness mixture and mix until well combined.

Finally, whisk in flour and baking soda to this mixture.

Pour batter into the lined cake pan and bake for 50-60 mins or until done. Check for doneness by inserting a toothpick in the middle, should come out clean if done. Cool cake on rack.

Dust the cake with icing sugar before serving.

Nobu*, London [Restaurant Review]

noreply@blogger.com (Wild Boar) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:07:10 PDT

Reviewed by the wild boar

Q: So Dad, where do you want to eat in London?
A: Nobu.

I have to admit, that wasn’t really the answer I expected. Yet as my parents explained later, they had heard many good things about it back in Malaysia so they were quite keen on trying it themselves as it had shot to fame upon the wave of interest in Japanese cuisine in the 90s with its take on fusion styles. Myself, I wasn’t displeased as it meant I had one less expensive meal to pay on my own.

We made reservations for lunch on Sunday at the one in Metropolitan Hotel, the first UK branch opened in 1997 and both this and the Berkeley Street branch have a Michelin star each. We were amongst the first to arrive but by 1.30pm the 150 cover dining area was very nearly filled up.

The menu was quite extensive so to simplify things the five of us chose to have the lunch Omakase menu (= chef’s choice) with two of us having the £50 and the other three having the £60 option. The Japanese waitress (who provided excellent service throughout the meal) explained that the £50 option comprised mostly of Nobu’s signature dishes whereas the £60 courses was supposed to have the more traditional and delicate dishes (I didn’t particularly agree with this as it was still fairly fusion styled).

We chose to have some genmaicha – green tea with roasted rice. The rice added a distinctive roasted rice aroma to the tea.

First course: I had a salmon tartar with spring onions topped with caviar on a pool of soya sauce and wasabi (unfortunately, there wasn’t a menu provided as the dishes change daily, so the dish names are made up by me). I thought this was not bad but it didn’t seem anything particularly special and the soya sauce was too salty, although this could be sidestepped by just avoiding it.

salmon tartar with spring onions topped with caviar on a pool of soya sauce and wasabi

On the other hand, the tuna and tofu tartar alternative was more interesting, as the tofu added an extra taste and texture to the tartar. On the other hand, some may say that the tofu taste masked the tuna.

tuna and tofu tartar

Second course: A generous looking plate containing slices of seared tuna slices, a prawn, vegetable spring rolls and Matsuhisa’s house dressing. The tuna was seared perfectly, with the delicate tuna meat still firm and raw in the middle. The star of the dish however was the dressing bearing the main chef’s name; full of umami-ness, the strong tasting sauce was delicious enough to make me want to slurp it all up.

slices of seared tuna slices, a prawn, vegetable spring rolls and Matsuhisa’s house dressing

Meanwhile, the other half was making good headway on her scallop and lobster sashimi with olive salsa, fried prawn head and porcini mushrooms. It wasn’t truly sashimi, more like half cooked, which is fine with me as I feel that brought out the taste of those shellfish better. The olive salsa was also delicious and added just a little more flavour to the seafood. The prawn head was deep fried and completely edible (I hope…), but paled in comparison to the prawn head at Sushi Hiro (review pending) which was filled with roe.

scallop and lobster sashimi with olive salsa, fried prawn head and porcini mushrooms

Third course: Black cod with miso, pickled ginger on the side is arguably the most famous dish in Nobu’s range, spawning countless imitations in other restaurants (my uncle claims Nobu still does it best though). I feel that the secret here is in the ingredient – the black cod is a superb piece of fish, incredibly flavourful, rich and buttery. However, the chef also did a brilliant job in cooking the fish as it was just done nicely and seasoned well with the miso.

Black cod with miso, pickled ginger on the side

After that, the red snapper tempura with bonito flakes in a tempura sauce just doesn’t seem so appealing and I was loath to swap dishes with the PigPig halfway through as is our custom. The little slivers of fish seemed reasonably fresh although they weren’t particularly sweet in flavour, unlike the tempura sauce which had a good mix of salty, sour and just a little bit sweet.

red snapper tempura with bonito flakes in a tempura sauce

Fourth course: Beef flavoured with sake in soya and yuzu sauce on enoki and shitake mushrooms came on a sizzling platter and the waitress added that the beef could be further cooked by placing it on the side of the dish if desired. Although very tender, I felt the beef lacked the aroma of proper beef (although I can understand that some people may prefer this). The yuzu added a subtle citrus aroma to the sauce.

Beef flavoured with sake in soya and yuzu sauce on enoki and shitake mushrooms

The first thing I noticed about the partridge with cauliflower cream and mushrooms was the purple cream; it may have looked a bit odd but it was pretty delicious and had a good cauliflower taste with none of the bitterness. The partridge itself was tender and not dry, but it didn’t have a lot of game flavour.

partridge with cauliflower cream and mushrooms

Fifth course: Assorted sushi of turbot, salmon, tuna, prawn tempura and asparagus, spider roll (deep fried soft shell crab maki). Pretty self explanatory in terms of the fish flavours, really depends on your personal preferences. The fish seemed pretty fresh but the rice was a bit disappointing as it was a bit dry, lacked sufficient flavour and it broke apart quite easily.

Assorted sushi of turbot, salmon, tuna, prawn tempura and asparagus, spider roll

The other sushi set had salmon with a dressing of garlic, chives and sesame oil, o-toro, freshwater eel, ebi, sea bass and a maki containing five different types of fish. The dressing atop the salmon was quite nice and added just a subtle aroma to the fish. The o-toro was a bit disappointing as it wasn’t as fatty and succulent as previous sashimi I had at Sushi-Say (still my favourite sushi joint in London, please give me other suggestions though). I’ve only had the freshwater eel once before at Sushi Hiro and I found this every bit as good and very creamy.

salmon with a dressing of garlic, chives and sesame oil, o-toro, freshwater eel, ebi, sea bass and a maki containing five different types of fish

Both sushi sets came with a red clam miso soup which I think is counted as a course. I didn’t think this any different from normal miso soup.

red clam miso soup

Sixth course: One of my favourite types of desserts, I felt lucky that I was given a chocolate fondant with green tea ice cream. The fondant was very rich and had a lot of chocolate flavour but the pastry felt a little rough. On the other hand, the green tea ice cream was the richest I’ve ever had and didn’t have any of the instant powder feeling.

chocolate fondant with green tea ice cream

The layered mixtures of pineapple, baba rum and sabayonne ice cream and soy milk foam (bottom to top) was very pretty to look at and felt pretty good on the tongue too. The top ice cream/foam mix was quite light and the creaminess was a nice accompaniment to the baba rum while the pineapple added some fruity flavour.

pineapple, baba rum and sabayonne ice cream and soy milk foam

We had actually planned for this meal to be for my mother’s birthday so I had pre-arranged a cake with Nobu while making the booking. They only had four choices but I plumped for a chocolate brownie cake – turned out to be an inspired choice as it was the absolute best chocolate brownie I ever had. Sufficiently chocolate-y to satisfy both me and the PigPig, it was wonderfully moist and fudgy – seriously, go try it if you get a chance.

Overall, the bill for the food (and chocolate brownie) including two bottles of still water and several pots of genmaicha came to £80 each.

Food – 8.0
Service – 7.0
Atmosphere – 6.0
Value – 5.0

I’ve been aware of Nobu’s presence for a good few years now and several of my friends had tried it with mixed reviews but the general consensus was good tasting food at tiny portions. In this respect I was quite full after the tasting course, yet the bill is substantially higher than the average meal. Regarding the food itself, it is actually quite good and I suppose it is worthy of its one Michelin star although I felt the sushi rice was a bit disappointing although the fish itself is not bad.

Would I eat here again? I certainly wouldn’t mind being a regular diner here once I strike the lottery.

Nobu London
19 Old Park Lane
The West End,
W1K 1LB
Tel: +44(020) 7447 4747
Official website

Panda Bread

noreply@blogger.com (pigpigscorner) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:04:12 PDT

Sorry for my lack of activity and visits for the past few days. My in-laws are here and we have been traveling around a lot. We will be heading to Cornwall next week, so here's my last recipe before I leave - a really cute and delicious Panda bread! Saw this over at Not quite Nigella and couldn't resist baking this. The red blobs on top were supposed to form a heart shape, but due to my lack of such skills, it looks like a floating ugly ribbon.

Ingredients:
210g 1 egg yolk + rice milk
230g bread flour
70g cake flour
30g caster sugar
4.5g salt
1 packet (7g) instant yeast
18g unsalted butter - softened at room temperature
8g green tea powder - dissolved in 10g boiling water
8g cocoa powder - dissolved in 8g boiling water
A few drops of red colouring

Directions:

In a microwave-safe bowl, lightly beat together the yolk and milk. Microwave for 30 sec.
In a clean mixing bowl, put in flour, sugar, salt, yeast. Mix to combine.
Add milk and egg mixture and butter to dry mixture.
Using and electric mixer with a dough hook attached, knead until elastic. The dough was a bit sticky, so I added about 1/2 tbs each of bread flour and cake flour to make it less sticky. I left it to knead for about 20 mins.
Divide dough (about 560g) into 3 parts: 60g for chocolate, 185g for plain white, 25g for red, the rest (about 290g) for green

Add chocolate paste to 60g dough and knead until well combined.
Add red colouring to 25g dough and knead until well combined.
Add green tea paste to 290g dough and knead until well combined.
Loosely wrap each dough in cling film, prove for 40 mins.

Knead/ fold each dough a few times to re-distribute the air. Prove for another 30 mins.

To shape & assemble:


1. Shape 70g of plain dough for the face and 2 pieces of 20g chocolate dough for the eyes.Shape to 5.5-6 inches in length.	2. Fill the gap in between the eyes with 20g plain dough.


3. Roll out and place the remaining plain dough over the shaped dough.	4. Divide the remaining chocoate dough into 2 pieces for the ears.


5. Use 20g of green tea dough to fill up the gap in between the ears.	6. Use 40g of green tea dough to cover the ears.


7. Make a slit on the top green tea dough.	8. For the heart shape, shape the red dough into a cylinder shape. Cut into 2 2 lengthwise. Place these 2 in the slit. Leaving a little gap in between the dough.


9. Fill in the gap with 15g of green dough.	10. Roll out and wrap the rest of the green tea dough all around the patterned dough. Leave the bottom unwrapped.


11. Place dough in a lined loaf pan.	12. Cover with cling film. Let prove for about 60 mins in an enclosed area (i.e. microwave/ oven). I placed it in a microwave together with a cup of hot water.

Bake at 200℃ for 25-30 mins.

Slice and enjoy!

Delicious with Nutella!

Hope you enjoyed that! Now cream teas, here we come!

Chinese @ Pearl Liang [Restaurant Review]

noreply@blogger.com (Wild Boar) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 01:11:35 PDT

I have a particular kinship for Paddington area, especially as I lived and trained in that part of town for a few years of my university life. Unfortunately, the area itself is a bit run down and one of my lecturers had said that the location is a “cesspit of evil in London” (but surely far better still than *gasp* South London). Regardless, times are a-changing and new developments such as Paddington Central are striving to bring up the market value of developments here, helped in part with fairly posh restaurant Pearl Liang.

Strangely, it was very quiet on a Saturday night, half full at most. Nevertheless, we had made a reservation for our group of 10. For Chinese dinners, numbering 10 to 14 in a party isn’t particularly uncommon, yet Pearl Liang doesn’t seem to have a lot of tables big enough to fit us. It was a bit cramp around our table and three of the seats were smaller than the rest, although I didn’t notice this until after the meal, despite wondering why my butt seemed larger than usual the whole dinner.

We decided to go with three ‘appetisers’, the first being a ‘Mixed hors d’oeuvre’ set, very reminiscent of the ‘Four seasons’ course typically served in Malaysian Chinese restaurants; the head waiter was particularly helpful in making sure there was sufficient quantity to share amongst the whole table. Starting in the forefront of the picture, the fried ribs in salt plum and honey was delicious and the first to be finished. Moving clockwise, the peppercorn baby squid was not rubbery, fresh off the wok and had just enough salt. On the far side was the ‘Phoenix king prawns with crispy pastry’; I felt this to be quite ordinary but the PigPig enjoyed it especially with the generous drizzles of mayonnaise (she also reckons the mayo has some wasabi mixed in). I quite enjoyed the fried spring rolls but the PigPig reckoned it was a bit mushy inside. I’m not a big fan of fried seaweed (in the middle) but other people around the table were and they said it was good and didn’t reek of oil.

Mixed hors d’oeuvre

Next up was the ‘Soup of the day’ which happened to be made from preserved pak choi, carrots and pork, quite a traditional recipe. Although I’m not a big fan of soup myself, the rest of the predominantly Malaysian Chinese table were, not a big surprise as most of us had grown up with soup being part of the normal dinner menu (sweetcorn soup not being a traditional dish). Anyway the soup was good, tasty and had all the sweetness from its ingredients.

Soup of the day

Ingredients of soup served separately.

The much anticipated Peking duck was magnificently presented on a pile of prawn crackers. The skin was indeed very crispy while the duck meat was also getting good comments from around the table – juicy, tasty, less than average fat content. All in all, very good (I prefer Peking duck to Crispy aromatic duck as the latter is deep fried and can be a bit greasy and the duck taste is a bit dulled by the cooking process).

Peking duck

Following on from the appetisers was several dishes to be eaten with rice. I chose a ‘Drunken chicken’, a cold dish, which was well received by the entire table. The sweetness of the wine combined well with the chicken to enhance its flavour.

Drunken chicken

One of my friends absolutely loves this – ‘Beef with Sze Chuan chillies’. This is a truly authentic Sze Chuan dish and is genuinely spicy, so you have now been warned. The dried chillies gives a very potent spiciness whilst the fresh chillies provides some sweetness to the soup. However, the real danger in the pot is the peppercorns – my tongue was numb for a while after I foolishly ate a spoonful of beef and peppercorns. The beef itself is incredibly good though, very tender. I’ll recommend this dish to anybody who loves the spicy dishes.

Beef with Sze Chuan chillies

For a healthier protein dish, ‘Enoki mushrooms & silken bean curd with crabmeat sauce’ was a good choice as the sauce was flavourful and was a good companion to eat with rice.

Enoki mushrooms & silken bean curd with crabmeat sauce

Being very unimaginative, we ordered the same vegetable dish we always do in all Chinese restaurants – ‘Stir fried tau miu (sweet pea shoot) with garlic’.

Stir fried tau miu (sweet pea shoot) with garlic

The PigPig requested for one of her favourite pork dishes – ‘Braised pork in soya sauce’(Dongpo Pork 東坡肉). However, I am very disappointed with this dish… mainly because it disappeared so quickly; I only managed to get one morsel and five minutes later it was all finished. From the one piece I took, I can understand why though, as the meat had a good fat:meat ratio so it remained tender and juicy, but not overly difficult to stomach.

Braised pork in soya sauce (Dongpo Pork 東坡肉)

Another dish I eyed from the menu was the ‘King prawns with salted egg yolk’ which I personally enjoyed but other people may not enjoy as much as it was a bit oily (and also exceedingly unhealthy).

King prawns with salted egg yolk

With that, we moved onto the dessert section; the PigPig opted for a ‘Mango pudding’. The pudding had little cubes of mango strewn about and was one of the nicest she ever had.

Mango pudding

Most of the table however chose a ‘Grape fruit & tapioca with tapioca’, also known more simply as ‘mango sago’. The sweet mango juice had bits of grapefruit peel to give a bitter taste to counter the sweetness. Very refreshing and one of my favourite desserts.

Grape fruit & tapioca with tapioca

Two ladies had a ‘Black sesame ball’ which I found to be lacking in the sesame taste and the pastry was too soft and not chewy enough.

Black sesame ball

Another favourite dessert of mine is the ‘Steamed sponge cake roll with custard yolk’, or ma lai ko. The swiss roll style used here is different to how I normally encounter this, but it was still very good with just enough custard. (My favourite ma lai ko is still from the Oriental restaurant in Jaya 33, KL).

Steamed sponge cake roll with custard yolk

For the coup de grace, the PigPig ordered a ‘Chrysanthemum custard bun’; we were told it could be either steamed or fried – naturally we took the unhealthier option. The crispy skin gave a nice contrast to the rich thick custard in the middle.

Chrysanthemum custard bun

Altogether, the cost of food and Chinese tea to drink came up to £30 per person.

Food – 6.0
Service – 5.0
Atmosphere – 7.0
Value – 4.0

Simply put, the food here is pretty good with no real complaints lodged at any of the dishes. Although the recipe of the dishes here wouldn’t be amiss in other cheaper Chinese restaurants, the quality and technique here is definitely a step up. Nevertheless, it is still twice the price of a standard meal in other places so whether it is “worth it” or not depends on the size of your wallet. Myself, I prefer the cheap greasy spoons when eating Chinese food; they just feel a bit more authentic and homely.

Would I eat here again? If someone else was picking up the tab, i.e. Dad, or other senior statesmen of the family.

Toilet sign. The question: Female or male?

Pearl Liang
8 Sheldon Square,
Paddington,
W2 6EZ
Tel: +44 (020) 7289 7000
Official website

PS. Regarding the South London dig, I didn’t realise at the time of writing how negative it might be viewed. In retrospect though, I suppose I would be pretty miffed if I read people bashing my hometown on their blog, so I can appreciate the feelings behind some of the comments. I apologise if it offended anyone and I’m sure South London is a great place to be brought up in; in as far as a boy who grew up in a little town in South East Asia which did not have McDonald’s or any reliable working public transport will be able to guesstimate as much.

Bye-Bye BBQ, Hello Stew!

noreply@blogger.com (pigpigscorner) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 13:52:59 PDT

BrrrRRRrrrrrrr......Summer is finally gone, leaves are falling and I guess it's time for some comforting food!

Ingredients:
600g pork - cut into large chunks
1 head Chinese cabbage - sliced
1 large onion - cut into rings
2 carrots - cut into chunks
1 can (400g) canned tomatoes
1/3 cup water
1 tbs (or to taste) fermented soya bean paste (Taucu)
1 1/2 tbs (or to taste) Chu Hou sauce
1 tsp sugar

Directions:
Place everything (except cabbage, soya bean paste and chu hou sauce) in the pressure cooker and cook under pressure for about 25 mins.
Remove pressure cooker lid, place cabbage into pot and simmer until softened.
Add soya bean paste and chu hou sauce to taste.