GYUU+ Yakiniku Grill @ Emporium Shokuhin

We had a choice. Father's Day was on our date day. Should we spend the day with our babies? Or should we enjoy some peace and quiet time by ourselves? After some deliberations, we decided that we shouldn't give up our precious bi-weekly half day off. Hee.. So we dropped off the kids and head off to a sumptuous meal of BBQ meat!

The restaurant was inside the new Emporium Shokuhin at Marina Square. The restaurant, like everything else there, was a little pricey but looks really quality and delicious. Typical to most quality Japanese restaurants. But it was a special occasion. Besides, there was an ALL YOU CAN EAT BUFFET. Enough said!

The price was $70.50 per adult (weekend price) And you can eat as much want! Honestly we are not very good at buffets. We only managed to eat one plate of each type of meat and already we were so stuffed I couldn't even finish my beer! Sigh.. But the meat was awesome. Moist, tender, with perfect marbling. You know it's good meat when all the seasoning you need was a little lemon juice, salt and pepper. My mouth is currently watering from the memory of the grilled meat!

Definitely a value for money for all you carnivores out there!



Loooove the sizzling sound of grilling meat!

GYUU+ Yakiniku Grill
Emporium Shokuhin
6 Raffles Boulevard
#01-18 Marina Square
Singapore 039594

Jang Won Korean Restaurant

Somehow when you Google "Korean Food", it shows you a gazillion pages and restaurants serving Korean BBQ. Korean food is not just BBQ meat! I love the home style dishes of Korean food like soups and stews with rice and noodles. It's so comforting and hearty! SO one weekend I was craving some good Kimchi Jjigae for lunch, so I managed to find one at Chinatown and gave it a try.

The store was very unassuming, very quiet, simple and low key, which is perfect. Family restaurants are supposed to look like that right?

The staff was Korean too, and they quickly seated us down. The menu looked great with loads of stews and soup. I already know what I wanted, which was their famous Kimchi Jjigae. But when faced with the menu, I can't help but order some Mandu (korean pork dumplings) too. Hubby ordered their Beef bone soup.

Like any Korean restaurants, they serve the banchan first. Which is a variety of side dishes. I love family restaurants banchan better because they seem to have more heart and effort in making the banchan. Many big BBQ restaurants usually just give you some kimchi and anchovies. Look at this!

I'm not an expert on korean banchan, but these little dishes are delicious! I could just eat this with a pint of beer and I'm a happy gal. My expectations for the main meal has gone up from just tasting the side dishes!

Finally our soup came! Doesn't look very fancy, but the taste was amazing!

The soup was very rich and flavourful. Perfect with some chewy korean rice. The kimchi was plentiful and the soup was warm and comforting. I'm salivating from just thinking about it now. :P Usually people would add some pork in the soup, unfortunately I could only find ONE piece. The one piece of pork was really tender and delicious, wish there was more... :(

Hubby's Beef Bone soup was out of the world. The soup was very rich and the beef was very tender. The pieces of meat was huge! So it was a pretty hearty meal.

The mandu was okay, the skin was a little too thick and chewy to our liking.

The menu had a wide variety of dishes that I wish we could try, but there were only 2 of us. By the time I finished the soup and rice, I was quite full. But it was such a satisfying meal. Maybe next time we'll try different dishes. :)

44 Mosque Street
#01-01
Singapore 059522
6532 6949

M-F: 11.30am-2.30pm; 5.30-10pm
Weekend & PH: 5-10pm

Brinjal with Minced Pork - Oh So Purple

Growing up I never liked vegetables, and brinjals would be pretty high in the ranks of vegetables I detest. But when I grew up I learnt to like many vegetables. My Mum's spicy yong tau foo with dark soya sauce made me fall in love with brinjals again. But like it's name suggest, the whole dish, along with all it's ingredients is dark brown.

Experts say you should eat your colours, like red, orange, blue, green and purple. But it seems inevitable when cooking brinjal right? Whenever you cook it, it turns into a sad, greyish brown shade. Recently I stumbled upon a few videos on YouTube that showed how to keep the brinjal purple even after cooking. One suggest you coat it with vinegar first, but it would also require you to fry the brinjal first. I hate frying. All the oil needed is so troublesome and messy! The other method is this, super high heat with a minimum amount of time. The only way to achieve that is to use the microwave.

I've had my microwave for such a long time that I actually don't know what model it is or it's maximum voltage. I do know how to cook under maximum power though, and it really works! The brinjal is actually cooked, but the colour remains a pretty purple! Amazing!

Minced Pork gravy
75g Minced pork
1 onion (diced)
1 garlic (minced)
Seasoning:
1 tsp dark soya sauce
1/2 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp fermented soya bean paste
water

1. Brown the minced pork (you can use any type of meat) with a little oil. 
2. Add onion, garlic with a small pinch of salt and pepper. The salt will make the onion sweat, so it will soften rather than brown. Stir fry until onions turn slightly translucent. 
3. Add enough water to cover all the meat. Add in the seasoning, mix well and cover up to let the meat braise for a few minutes. 
4. After 5mins, check the flavour before thickening gravy with a little cornstarch slurry. Set aside. 
5. Cut brinjal into bite size pieces and place on a microwave safe plate skin side up. 
6. Coat the skin in oil. 
7. Cover with a microwave safe cover and cook in the microwave at the highest heat setting for 3 minutes. 
8. Take out the brinjal, pour the meat gravy on top. Cover and microwave under full power for 1 minute. 
9. Serve!

Looking at those shades of purple reminds me of the recently departed singer, Prince. Rest in peace!

Salmon and Cheese Quesadilla

On some days I just get so sick of thinking what to cook for lunch/dinner. Rice, porridge or noodles? Ugh.. So once in awhile I would make this, Salmon and Cheese Quesadillas. Not only are they simple to make, they are super delicious!

Ooh... check out the stretched cheese....

Salmon is so nutritious, but my babies would only eat a few mouthfuls and they had enough of it. Maybe it's due to the strong flavor? But when I make these Quesadillas, the two kids could devour the whole salmon fillet by themselves. And that makes me a happy Mum!

Makes 2 whole Quesadillas

1 salmon fillet (or canned salmon)
a pinch of salt
a dash of pepper
1 heapful tsp mayonnaise
1 pc Laughing Cow cream cheese (about 16g)
1 tsp lemon juice

Shredded cheese
Whole wheat Tortilla wraps

1. Steam Salmon fillet with a pinch of salt. 
2. When cooled, flake it with your fingers to check for bones. 
3. Add mayonnaise, cheese, pepper and lemon juice. Mix well. 
4. Spread a thin layer on tortilla wrap. Sprinkle cheese on top of salmon mix. Leave a space around the edge. Top with another piece of tortilla wrap. 
5. In a slightly oiled frying pan, pan-fry the tortilla on both sides using low-medium heat until it is golden brown. 
6. Cut and serve!

Tangzhong Sweet Potato Bread - Breadmaker

I've always been fascinated by purple sweet potatoes. How it makes your food all pretty and pink and purple. So girly and pretty! The last time I baked with it was 5 years ago! How time flies! The purple sweet potato bread then turned out so wonderful, I had to do it again. But this time round I wanted to try a different method, so this is my tangzhong method sweet potato bread loaf!

I'm using the bread maker machine to do the 1st stage of kneading and proofing for me. But because my little boy likes cheese sticks bread from Bread Talk, I'm taking some dough out to make some cheese sticks.

The result was good, the bread was moist, fluffy and tasty. There wasn't any distinctive sweet potato flavour, but the bread does have this slight alcohol smell. Was it the sweet potato or was there too much yeast? I'm not sure. But more importantly, the kids loved it. :)

120 gm tangzhong
100 gm cooked sweet potato
50 gm whisked egg
150 ml milk (lukewarm)
40 gm honey
½ tsp salt
300 gm bread flour
50g wholewheat flour
2 tsp instant dried yeast
25 gm butter, melted

1. Make the Tangzhong with 120ml water and 24g flour (click here for how to make tangzhong) 
2. Using a fork, stab the sweet potato all over and microwave it for about 4 minutes. Scrape out the flesh. You need about 100g. 
3. Add all ingredients (except butter) into the breadmaker, the wet ingredients first, then followed by the dry ingredients. Select the “dough” mode, which should knead the dough and go through 1st round of proofing. When the machine kneads the ingredients into a dough, add the butter and let the machine do the rest of the work. 
4. When done, transfer the dough onto a clean floured surface. I needed to make some cheese sticks so I will divide into 4 portions. If you are only doing the loaf, deflate and divide into 3 equal portions will do. 
5. Roll out each portion of the dough with a rolling pin into an oval shape. Roll flat and stretch, then roll into a cylinder. With seal facing down, place in a greased sandwich loaf tin. Cover up and complete the 2nd round of proofing, (about 1hr+) until it’s doubled in size.  (the dough broke when I forced open the cover! Maybe should oil the cover?)
   
6. Bake in a pre-heated 180C (356F) oven for 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer onto a wire rack. Let cool completely before slicing or storing in an airtight container.

For the Bread Talk Bakery style of cheese sticks, so I took out a 1/4 of the dough to make some.

1. After STEP 4, roll the dough into small log shapes and let it proof until it is double in size. (about 1hr+)
   
2. Brush whisked egg on surface gently, sprinkle with cheese and drizzle with mayonnaise. For cheese I used the leftover pizza mix cheese, consisting of cheddar, Parmesan and mozzarella.
3. Bake in a pre-heated 180C (356F) oven for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer onto a wire rack. Let cool completely.