Doesn't TaZte Like Chicken

Locations:
1. Palm Beach Seafood Restaurant, Singapore
2. Asiana Airlines Lounge, Incheon Airport, Korea

Author: My Husband

Finally, we have arrived at the last post on my Singapore-India trip. It took a while, but I’m glad to have gotten out the series of posts that I’d planned. I hope it was easy reading, and maybe even a little illuminating, for some of our readers out there.

Right, back on topic then… For anyone wanting a full culinary experience in Singapore, the (in)famous Chilli Crab is not to be missed. I don’t know much about the origins of this dish, and there are as many stories about it as there are people to tell it, but what I do know is that Chilli Crabs have gotten as close to being Singapore’s “national” dish as any.

Naturally, being a “national” dish, there are a multitude of establishments that serve it. From the humble neighbourhood hawker centers to Singapore’s most swanky restaurants, each cooks up their own variant of Chilli Crabs. Despite this, I always head (or am taken) to one of the three seafood chains for my fill of this dish: Jumbo, Long Beach, or Palm Beach.

This trip found me and my relatives at the new-ish Palm Beach branch at One Fullerton. One Fullerton provides a very pretty setting for restaurant, especially during dusk.

Restaurants along the One Fullerton river walk.

The hotels at Marina Bay. You can see the multicoloured F1 grandstands on the right.

The décor of the restaurant is sleek and modern, and aside from the bank of seafood tanks lining the back wall, I wouldn’t have guessed this was a Chilli Crabs place.

Here’s what we had:

Palm beach chilli crab. A meaty Sri Lankan crab cooked in a tomato/chilli sauce. The meat of the Sri Lankan crab is firmer and less flaky than that of a Dungeness, and has a hint of sweetness to it. The crab meat is a vehicle for getting the sauce into one’s stomach. I like a thicker sauce, so Long Beach’s Chilli Crabs are a bit more to my liking, but Palm Beach’s was pretty decent too. That said, I’d still vote for Long Beach as my preferred place for this dish.

Deep fried man tou. We got these to soak up the remainder of the chilli sauce.

Deep fried whole baby squids dressed in a sweet and spicy sauce. The squids are super crispy. Tastewise, there is an initial sweetness that complements the crispness really well, followed by a long and nicely spicy finish.

Fresh prawns in Dang Gui (當歸) broth. The prawns, scooped up from a live tank right before preparation, were toothsome and had a natural sweetness to them. The broth was a good mix of umami, sweetness, and woody-ness (thanks to the Dang Gui).

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Location: Kolkata

Author: My Husband

I asked some of my India-based colleagues if they ate Chinese food, and the response was an overwhelming “Yes!” One of them volunteered that many Indians love Chinese food, but he goes on to explain that Chinese food in India is different (i.e. much spicier) than that available elsewhere. This really piqued my curiosity, so one evening, I suggested to D and M that we have dinner at Chinoiserie, the Taj’s Chinese restaurant.

The entrance is a bit nondescript for a fine-dining restaurant…

But the table setting and stemware certainly didn’t look out of place.

The head chef – originally from Hunan – at Chinoiserie actually came by the table to take our order personally. Frankly, I think he was just happy to have the opportunity to meet some people with whom he could converse in Mandarin.

Before our main dishes arrived, we were given some pickled veggies to whet our appetities.

Before long, our mains arrived. Like Sonargaon, the waiters divvied up the food between the three of us. However, the portions at Chinoiserie were more generous and as a result, there was enough food remaining for seconds and thirds.

Stir-fried veg. with mushrooms. Tasted like regular stir-fried veggies to me.

Lemon chicken. This was a deep-fried chicken cutlet dressed with a sweet/tart lemon sauce, very much like what Hon’s serves. I remember thinking that the Hon’s version actually tasted better.

Stir-fried Spicy Lamb. This was probably the best dish of the evening; the meat was tender and the spiciness added an extra kick to it. As you can see, it doesn’t look appreciably different than any stir-fried meat dishes in North America…

I think the chef tried to make the dishes a little more “Chinese” for us, so we didn’t get to experience the Chinese-Indian fusion flavours described by our colleagues. Since the food wasn’t much different than that available back home, we only visited Chinoiserie once.

Location: Any Save on Foods in Vancouver, BC

“Moist and fluffy, this black forest cake is one of my favourite cakes”, says the girl who tells everyone that she doesn’t desserts.

Not everyone would agree that the black forest cake purchased from a chained grocery store such as Save on Foods is irresistible. But taste is a very subjective thing, I just can’t help liking this black forest cake. I don’t like it just a little; I like it a lot. The texture is soft and rich, but the best part is the cream – it’s silky, buttery and yet light. It’s seldom that I would finish one piece of cake, but I would be glad to have seconds for this one.

If I could be objective for a second, then I can’t say this is the most perfect black forest cake in the world. After all, ET doesn’t care for it (and yet he managed to eat half of this 6” tower). “There isn’t any kirsch in this cake, and they really skimmed on the cherry filling”, said ET as he shoved another mouthful of cake into his mouth.

Besides this black forest cake, I also like the “High Five” from Death By Chocolate. The “High Five” is a rich five-layer chocolate cake filled with decadent chocolate ganache. Oh, and also there is the expensive rum cake that must be flown from the Caribbean.

Yes, and I still tell people that I’m not a big fan of desserts.