Salta - Argentinean Steak

This is a really good Steak place that is under our flat!

Lumo Steak, medium rare, with garlic roasted potatoes, roasted Vegetables and a bottle of Argentinean bottle of red wine, incidentally with a very interesting label.

Sea Coconut and Lychee dessert

A popular dessert amongst Chinese culture, fruit on a bed of crushed ice. This particular dessert contained Lychee and Sea coconut, which is the Coco de Mer species of Coconut that has been soaked in syrup/sugar. I was told it was good for the respiratory system.

Pappa Curry Laksa Special with Foo Chok - Pappa Rich

Whilst in KL I tried my first Laksa. Laksa is a popular spicy, coconut based, noodle soup from the Peranakan culture. This one included, Chicken, fish sticks, cockles and Foo Chok.

We had Lunch at PappaRich, a chain restaurant serving Malaysian delights.

313 Food Court

313 is a new shopping centre on Orchard Road. The Food Court on the top floor has a wide variety of food stalls. I opted for the 'Mini Wok delights' Hor Fun Beef Noodles. All good. The biggest highlight from my visit was the fact the drinks were sold on Segways.

CNY tossing the salad

Our Chinese New Year Celebrations included 'Tossing the Salad'. This is when everyone puts their chopsticks into the salad and tosses it together. The action of mixing the 'yu sheng' is called ‘lo hei’, and hei means ‘to rise’, again symbolising prosperity.

So throwing it up in the air should hopefully bring you prosperity.

Mr Bean - Bean Curd

A local favourite... why I don't know. It is bland, it has a slippery jelly texture, with a unpleasant after taste, there is a reason why it is $1.50 for a bucket of it!

A Day in the life of India

Whilst in India, The Times of India, was running a piece about 'A day in the life if India', here are a few of my favourite shots from their paper and website, but but you can find thousands more...

http://adayinlife.timesofindia.com/

Indian Breakfast - Vegetable Korma

Swati Snacks - Mumbi

On a recent trip to India, I visited a street food outlet called, Swati Snacks. Think, fast food, Indian style. We queued to get in becuase it is that popular and I wasn't disappointed when we finally sat out our diner style table.

We ordered a huge variety of dishes to sample, my favourites are highlighted below.

Fudina Panki - Mint flavoured rice pancakes that have been rolled in banana leaves.

Cheese Dosa - really light and crispy

Pani Puri - The puff balls, served with pulses, lentils and a curry sauce. You break a small hole in each ball and fill it, then pop it all in in one go!

Dhan Shak - A more traditional vegetable curry, Parsi Dal served with rice.

248, Karai Estate, Tardeo Road | Opposite Bhatia Hospital, Mumbai 400036

Sour Plums

A favourite with the locals, not so much with me. They are dried plum segments that are heavy on added salt and sugar. I made the mistake of popping it straight in to my mouth without asking what it is! This food blog has definitely made me more open to trying new foods, I don't even ask what it is now before I throw it in my gob.

Whole Earth

Whole Earth is a Peranakan Thai Vegetarian Restaurant, close to our new place in Tanjong Pagar.

The food was very creative, full of strong flavour and huge portions too.

We had:

Nyonya Curry, which takes 8 hours to prepare and cook, made with a Shitake Mushrooms (which could easily be mistaken as meat) and a thick piquant sauce.

Thai Green Pumkin Curry, which included pumkin (obviously), blue ginger, cauliflower, lemongrass, long cabbage, coconut and red chili.

Olive Brown Rice

Chocolat 'n' Spice

This tiny little bakery has a huge reputation.

All they do is Muffins, Cakes and Brownies and people go mad for them. I was warned I might have to queue for quite some time to sample these legendary little buns, so I pitched up at 8:15am and no one else was there, plus they were warm and fresh!

I bought a big batch, with a selection of their many flavours and treated the office to pre-Chinese New Year Friday morning Muffin.

Chinese Banquet

Lei Garden Restaurant, Chijimes

We went to Lei Gardens to Celebrate a friends 40th Birthday.

Favourite dish was the Belly Pork and the Shredded Yam

Least Favorite... obviously the Fish head.

Studio outing for Chinese Lunch

Singapore style Prawn Noodles.

The restaurant is on the corner of Beach Road and Arab Street.

Chinese New Year Treats

Homemade Pineapple tarts

Thanks Eunice's Mum!

Prata Wala

Forget about Macy D's, go for the Indian alternative of a Murtabak from Prata Wala.

My type of fast food!

We visited the Prata Wala at Jurong Point.
For more info on Murtabaks look at my earlier posts.

Sunday Brunch - The Fullerton Hotel, Singapore

A completely overindulgent day, that resulted in a mega hangover on the Monday! The third Sunday Brunch I have tried in Singapore. The Fullerton is the grandest venue we have had brunch in so far, but it was the busiest, which slightly detracted from the splendor. A great variety of food was on offer, from a traditional Sunday roast Beef dinner, Sushi, Fresh seafood, Breakfast Buffet, Italian food, a massive selection of Cheese, loads of desserts and of course free flowing Moet Champagne, bloody Mary's and Margarita's.

bakkwa 肉乾

As Chinese New Year approaches this will be sold by the bucket loads! It is Bakkwa, or BBQ Pork slices as I like to call it. It is a dried, sweet and salted pork that resembles jerky, but it is a bit fresher, softer and requires less chewing as the amount of fat in the Bakkwa makes it very tender.

Velvety Mushroom Stroganoff Soup

This was a soup from Soup Spoon, topped with a puff pastry lid.

Fried Caterpillar

A work colleague also visited Thailand on his Christmas break and this is what he brought us back as an office treat! Naturally I had to take a handful and give them a go. They were surprisingly good. Imagine Pork Scratching if the pig had been reared on a leaf only diet and thats what they taste like.