Easy-Sunday breads with Singapore's best baker

Learning sourdough from the guy who makes the best sourdough in Singapore.

How our kitchen looked halfway through.

Unrelated to work, I made my first croissant back in January.  I was fortunate to have one of the best teachers in Singapore: Les Amis' pastry chef, Daniel Texter.  His most recent stint prior to Singapore was as the pastry chef in Copenhagen at the world's #1 restaurant, Noma.  It was during his time there when renowned Vogue food critic, Jeffrey Steingarten wrote praises of his bread baking.  And here I am, fortunate to learn tips and tricks personally from my blue-eyed German friend on sourdough, baguette, croissant, ciabatta, grissini and pretzels.

...Ich liebe pretzels with all my heart.  I was elated to be making them.  But first...

That whole sheet is pure, unadulterated butter. Nom.

Croissants are no easy task, especially if made from scratch and rolled out by hand.  I'll have to admit that out of everything we made that easy-Sunday afternoon, the croissants turned out miserably (probably my fault).  I mean, I personally thought they were still edible, but Mister High-Standards Chef thought they were a disgrace and just threw them out straight from the oven.

Layers of butter mean layers of fluffy, flaky croissants. 

A tomb of butter and more butter.

Rolling it out is tough work. The butter and the dough need to remain cold, and you have to be careful not to crack the butter as you fold and roll it out some more.  My feeble attempts at rolling out the croissant was so pathetic, Daniel had to take over (me = worst pastry assistant ever).

If you're wondering how these little chodes become beautiful croissants... they don't. We messed up a bit.

Croissant, most often recognized as THE classic French pastry around the world, actually has Islamic origins - hence the crescent shape of the final product. Also note, that while I referred to croissant as a pastry here, it is actually categorized as a viennoiserie.

Deformed pretzels are mostly mine.  Mostly.

We were in the kitchen for hours, resulting in enough bread to feed this year's batch of NS/army guys.  When I was readying the sourdough for proofing, I remember Daniel telling me to stop flouring the surface neatly. He'd scold, "Stop sprinkling like a housewife!"  In the anti-Nigella Lawson demonstration, he showed how the pros do it... He flicked an unrestrained handful of flour across the surface, letting it tumble across the surface in an elegant wave of white.
Well, damn.

This baking session actually happened way back in January.  Later on for Appetite magazine's July issue, I wrote an extensive feature on French breads (baguettes in particular).  Though unrelated, much of my article was inspired by this fun Sunday session at Les Amis!  Thanks Daniel!

ChunkFest 2011 [Giveaway]

I'm a Ben & Jerry's Moolet.  That basically means they fatten me up as a B&J ambassador and give me cool swag on the side to distract me.  I have a soft spot for the brand, seeing how the founders are from my home state.  Heck, they're also from Long Island too! (It was founded in Vermont, but the boys are originally from New York)

I remember the first time I ever tried Ben & Jerry's.  I was a freshman in high school over summer holidays... I was in marching band (...shut up), so our practices started before the normal school months in preparation for the Fall season.  We were taking a break at a nearby 7-Eleven, when a fellow band member pointed out Phish Food in the fridge.  I remember being completely weirded out by the name, and doubly skeptical of how palatable it could be ... Long story short, after trying it for the first time, Phish Food became my favorite and is still my favorite flavor to this day.  Gooey marshmellow swirls and crunchy chocolate chunks... uuuurglenomnomnom.

As some of you know, Ben & Jerry's Singapore has some pretty cool limited edition iPhone covers they create annually.  For any of you who have seen me on my phone, you will surely have seen my iPhone cover with the flying cow (except Phil Wu, who cannot see cows).

Ben & Jerry's has just released three different new iPhone4 covers to honor one of B&J's (and my) all time favorite flavors: Phish Food.

You can win one of the three from me, plus any pint of Ben & Jerry's ice-cream of your choice.

All you have to do is leave a comment under this post telling me what your favorite flavor of Ben & Jerry's is and how you like to eat it (in a cone, in a cup, with French fries... etc).  Three winners will be chosen on 31 October.  I've only posted one of the covers here.  The other two are a surprise. (Singapore only, include your email or FB so I can get in touch)

If you want to guarantee yourself or a friend one of these babies, here is another way you can get your own limited edition cover:

Starting from now till 31 October 2011, Ben & Jerry's lovers can obtain their own Phish Food iPhone 4 jackets by following these instructions:

1. Buy two Ben & Jerry’s pints (one of which must be Phish Food)
2. Exchange the original receipt at any Ben & Jerry’s Singapore scoop shop to redeem the phone jackets. Customers are free to select a design while stocks last
3. Upon redemption, customers also get to purchase a limited edition Phish Food Sundae at $10 (usual price $12.50)


If you are a die-hard ice-cream fan, you'll be happy to know that there are actually festivals encouraging your frozen dairy obsession.  Visit www.facebook.com/benjerrysingapore for more information.  Coming up soon:

ChunkFest2011

15 October 2011

2pm - 10pm

Promontory @ Marina Bay

Baikohken Ramen Restaurant (Singapore)

Founded in the late 1960s, Baikohken is a restaurant originally from Asahikawa in Hokkaido, with its Singapore branch being its first overseas outlet in 2008. This was one of the last stops on our long ramen expedition, so expectations would be unforgiving. Baikohken is unexpectedly located on North Canal Road, a road otherwise filled with bars and local Chinese shops. With all of the outdoor and indoor seating occupied upon our arrival, we were promptly led to their second floor—it is a modest space with simple stools and tables, and dated visit-Japan posters on blank walls, akin to those you might find at a travel agency office. We saw a dumbwaiter in use and that noodles were served on plastic pushcarts, reminding us of the old school dim sum days.

The menu is simple. You first begin with three options: butter and corn, charsiew, or vegetables. From there, you select a shoyu, miso or shio based broth. There are also half-size options for all of the above and standard the side options like gyoza, rice or extra toppings. To cover all the bases, we opted for a charsiew shoyu ramen, butter and corn shio ramen and a vegetable miso ramen. The waitress asked us at least twice if we were sure we wanted the normal portion—was she doubting our eating prowess? Bring on the normal sized portions!

We certainly overestimated ourselves, because a normal portion was nearly twice the size of any other ramen-ya. The ramen was Asahikawa style for the most part, a blend of chicken, pork bone and fish dashi (usually shoyu based) and filled with curly, toothsome ramen noodles. The charsiew in the shoyu ramen were generously large thin slices, and delightfully rich and tender to the bite. The ajitama (flavoured egg) had to be ordered separately per dish, but the restaurant served each egg whole. Singaporeans tend to be as fond of eggs as the Japanese, so it was good news getting a whole egg each rather than just half—especially as we found out how pliant and soft the egg was, each filled with a deep orange oozy yolk.

It was a close match comparing the shoyu and shio ramen as our favourite of the three. Given Hokkaido’s colder climate, their ramen tend to be heavier, richer and infinitely saltier in Japan. A pat of butter in the ramen is used as a way to contain the heat within the broth in Hokkaido, though we are equally grateful for its presence just the same in our tropical Singapore. The density of the butter lent a lovely sumptuousness to the light shio broth. All three broths otherwise seemed to be lighter handed on the oil to suit the climate and palates of Singapore.

Please note that ordering the ‘vegetable’ does not mean that it is a vegetarian dish. Besides the gargantuan pile of cabbages and large, beautiful fresh negi slices (scallion), the dish also comes with minced pork. The noodles are springy, with each little curl capturing droplets of the broth just right. We admittedly could not finish all three bowls that afternoon due to sheer size, but nonetheless wish we could have. Every bite left us well satisfied; if any faith in the Singapore ramen scene had been lost during our journey, it was certainly renewed after our weekday visit to Baikohken.

Baikohken Ramen Restaurant

7 North Canal Road, Singapore

Tel: +65 6534-3808

 (This review was based after only 1 visit, published in Appetite Magazine September 2011)

No respect, no love, no thanks for the service industry

Both the customers and the industry in Singapore need to change their mentality towards the women and men who wait our dining tables.  Tets’ take on the service industry in Singapore:

“A waiter is not a servant, but a highly trained individual with a special skill.  If you think about it, the service staff are the ones who make us chefs look good, through flawless presentation of our food.  It is not just about getting people to respect our waitstaff, but also about giving due credit to the profession and attracting more good people who want to stay in this line.” – Tetsuya Wakuda, Chef-owner of Tetsuya (Australia) and Waku-Ghin (Singapore)

Myself, Josephine and Tets

While the kitchens in Singapore are ever growing and evolving to match international standards, the service industry is struggling to keep up.  Singaporeans don't want to get into hospitality because they think they're above it, yet get touchy about restaurants wanting to hire only foreigners (restaurants can only hire a maximum of 50% foreigners anyway, due to government employment restrictions to appease whiny Singaporeans).  Restaurants struggle to even find willing PR & Singaporean applicants, let alone find any who actually want to do the job well.  And "adding tips" alone is not going to solve this problem.  
(Please note that I am generalizing.  More props to the exceptions out there.)

Here are three very different countries known for great service, and equally known to respect their hospitality industry back:
France: The service is arrogant.  Rude, haughty - you'd think you owed them something.  But demeanor aside, their service is impeccable.  Polished and professional, and proud of their line of work (then again, you can say the French are just proud in general... which isn't always a bad thing.).
Japan: Hospitality is bred into the Japanese culture.  In Japan, the customer is always right.  The needs and comfort of the customer is always considered whether you are ordering $200 dessert or $2 ramen.  Service is swift, graceful and unobtrusive.  Service is simply beautiful in Japan and the customers tend to reciprocate with equal mannerliness.
United States: You get what you pay for.  At a fine-dining establishment, expect the best.  Waiters here range from French-style arrogance (the raised eyebrow when you order tap water instead of sparkling) to the ones who treat you like a king or their favorite nephew.  Regardless of their personality (and Americans love to show their personality), every crumb will be swept off the table and water will be refilled without asking.  American-style service tends to be more chatty and personable; it's our way of showing we care about the customer. 

Service makes or breaks a restaurant.  There's no shame in being front of house. Remember: People will always remember good service better than they remember bad service, and good service has the power to guarantee a repeat customer.  Like any other profession, the only shame is if you don't perform to your best.  Take pride in your work--how do you expect people to respect your job when you don't respect it yourself?

Likewise for the customer, especially for the ones who have never and will never be in the service industry, your waiter isn't your servant.  Expect good service, but remember to show respect for your fellow people.  Waiting tables is physically taxing, and dealing with hungry customers face-to-face is one of the most exhausting first-world duties you can imagine.

When I'm feeling blue about missing the 4th of July in the US...

...I see videos about Singapore's upcoming National Day Parade, and think, "well, at least I've got this."

They're singing about the goodie bags on the seats...
...
*cry*

Bella Notte, meatball romance

Nothing warms my heart like a guy who lets me have the last meatball.  That's true love.

A taste of Guy Savoy [Food Diary]

Zwiesel Kristallglas hosted us at Guy Savoy last week (Zwiesel is the first company to discontinue the production of lead crystal in 1991, and have since been one of the market leaders of crystal glass making today).  The owner of Zwiesel, Dr. Andreas Buske is a big fan of Guy Savoy, and I'm glad. It means I finally got to taste some of Guy Savoy's signature dishes.  (And that leaves only one Marina Bay Sands restaurant left that I haven't tried:  CUT.  May I suggest Zwiesel host their next lunch there?)

Myriad of Spring Peas

Tout Petits Pois ($50)

Artichoke and Black Truffle Soup, Toasted Mushroom Brioche and Black Truffle Butter

Soup d'Artichaut a la Truffe Noire, Brioche Feuilletee aux Champignons et Truffes ($90 ?!!)

Roasted Atlantic Cod with Asparagus "en Soupe et Salade", Lemon Sabayon

Cabillaud Roti, Asperges en Soupe et Salade, Sabayon au Citron ($90)

[ no pic because I nommed it all ]

Chocolate Orb "Exotique" ($50)

Hefty price tag.  Thank you Zwiesel, because there is no way I'd pay $90 for soup otherwise.  I don't care if it has diamonds flakes in it.

My only favourites are the peas (so sweet, along with the slow cooked egg yolk, oozing richness over the surface) and Pastry Chef Alain Herber's beautiful toasted mushroom brioche (see Appetite's upcoming July issue to learn how to make it).

Guy Savoy
Casino Level 2, Marina Bay Sands
Singapore
Tel: +65 6688-8513

Memory is the diary that we all carry about with us

Memory is the diary that we all carry about with us.  - Oscar Wilde, "The Importance of Being Earnest"

The Fullerton Hotel, a heritage icon since 1928

I'm a big fan of snail mail and have a soft spot for nostalgia.  The Fullerton Hotel is launching a lovely contest that invokes both of these things.

The "Post A Memory" contest welcomes creative submissions of letters, photographs, videos, music and art of any Singaporean resident or international traveler. They are asking all of us to share our fondest memories of the hotel as part of their 10th anniversary celebrations.  I would have done this regardless (sucker for these kinds of things, like I said), but to make the contest all the more sweet, the best 3 submissions will win a weekend stay at the luxurious Fullerton Suite, Loft Suite and Heritage Room.

Old school post boxes from the colonial days

I'm assuming the only limitation is that your entry has to be able to fit within the mouth of the gorgeous red post boxes located in their lobby.  The Fullerton Hotel was once home to Singapore's General Post Office, The Singapore Club and the Chamber of Commerce.  The now 400-room luxury hotel is proud of its heritage since 1928 and hasn't done much to change its lovely architecture over the years.  Within the hotel are Red Pillar Post Boxes, the same post boxes found along the streets of Singapore during the British colonial rule in the mid 1800s.

The contest ends at 5pm on 31 August 2011.  The winner will be announced on 30 September.


The Fullerton Hotel
1 Fullerton Square
Singapore 049178

Photos provided by Fullerton Hotel

Size does matter.

Have you ever had one of those moments when you're getting hot and heavy with a man.  You get to the point where you eagerly unzip his pants... only to be woefully disappointed with the goods? Or maybe you remove a bra, ready with heightened anticipation for bountiful pillows to spill out... only to realize it was all a lie.

Then things deflate fast.

East Coast Seafood Centre

I wouldn't know how any of that feels, but I have a pretty good idea now.  This past Monday, after I cracked open my sri lankan crab claw at No Signboard Seafood, I stared at the dinky limp flesh that stood in its deceptively large shell.  I pried the puny, flaccid meat out, now lacking the initial enthusiasm I had originally walked in with.

Chili crab

I don't know if there's a term for these occasional cases of dinky crabs, but I'm going to call it DISAPPOINTMENT.

Goodbye Food Pyramid, hello pie!

Trying hard not to look at it like it's pie.

Our First Lady Michelle Obama, a long time crusader against yucky school lunches, and the US Agriculture Department have trashed the Food Pyramid that our generation have grown to recognize as our guide to healthy eating.  Instead, they present a Plate that they hope better represents how we should portion our food.

Half the plate is fruit and veggies, while grains play a lesser role than what the food pyramid suggested.  Portions in general, should be smaller.

The new healthy eating guide, presented to America on 2 June 2011

The eating module we were taught since middle school; now dismissed.

“It’s better than the pyramid, but that’s not saying a lot,” said Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition at New York University.  Let's hope this new USD $2 million project plating leaves us with less obese people.

See more here, New York Times' coverage.

MOoooooo.... Delivery Cows.

A cow showed up at my office.  No, this is not some mean poke at fat Appetite staff.  A cow literally showed up.  I got a call from reception informing me of a strange guest visitor.  So when I stood up and walked over to see, I immediately freaked out and ran over to my assistant editor's desk to hide (she later showed her loving support by following me over with her camera instead).

Sneaking around!

Here he comes...

The gals at Ben & Jerry's had informed me the day before that I would be getting a sample of the new Ben & Jerry's flavour dropped off the next morning.  I didn't know the cow himself would show.

Doh, we're in matching black & white too...

I twittered like mad that morning...mostly freaking out and stunned by the whole ordeal.  The ENTIRE office came over to see why there was a cow in our office... and wondering why on earth was Woody (the cow) taking photos with me?!  This actually happened back in early April, but I never got around to posting about it until now. 

It certainly made my morning despite being absolutely flabbergasted.  I was all smiles the rest of the day.  And the new ice-cream flavor?  "Clusterfluff."  Yeesh, I almost typed that wrong.  Slightly inappropriate typo if that happened.  It's delicious though.  Give it a try.

Udderly yours,
Victoria of Gastronommy

My favorite spot in all of Singapore

I was hesitant to share this spot on my site.  It's a tourist destination during the day, but I didn't want to give away my secret hideaway where I go when I want a quiet late night walk. The bridge was constructed only within the year; you can still smell the fresh wood of the balau planks as you walk across.  And at night, there's a cool breeze that seeps through the cracks.  It's my favorite place to zen out.

I was there again the other night after a two hour walk with the dog.  There was a lightning storm flashing in the distance, and I was lucky enough to catch one or two shots of it.  Beautiful.

 My best midnight walking buddy.

Henderson Waves

(above Henderson Road)

Connects Mount Faber Park to Telok Blangah Hill Park, Singapore's highest pedestrian bridge and ranked one of the most beautiful bridges in the world.  ...and who said the now half-retired PAP who commission these things had no taste, eh.

GastronommyTV: Cocktail making at TAB Singapore



Finally!  Gastronommy TV visits TAB, a live-music venue, bar & bistro in Singapore.  Besides the fantastic line-up they have every week and their perfect fish n' chips, TAB also has some of the best cocktails in town.  In this episode with me, we have the young Josiah Leming from American Idol and Kenny Leong, a professional wine critic.

Cocktails are by Zach Elias, recent winner at the third and final challenge of Diageo's World class challenge.  He is currently competing against 3 other bartenders to represent Singapore at the Global Finals in India this July (competing against Patrick from Tippling Club, Raveen from Nektar, Akhiro from Orgo).  There, the winner will compete against 33 of the world's most talented bartenders for the title of Diageo Reserve Bartender of the Year.  Suffice to say, he knows his stuff.
Click here for the article on origins of cocktail making.

I'm very well aware of my stuttering in the beginning.  Haha!  I'm embarassed, but the show must go on.

Keep up to date with TAB's latest acts and upcoming parties at http://www.facebook.com/TAB.SG

Thanks Kenny and Josiah for joining me at TAB. Big thanks to my friends Adrian Mah, Varian Lim, Keith Tan and TAB's bar staff for letting me invade their bar for this video. Biggest thanks to Michelle Chua, Zoanne Tan, Jason Tan and crew for filming and editing this.

Cookyn with Victoria (and Mervyn)

Earlier I mentioned I had a birthday celebration on the actual weekend of my birthday.  I also had a more wholesome gathering a few weeks later at Mervyn &Amanda's kitchen at Cookyn with Mervyn.  We had a cook-off challenge amongst the 20 attendees.

My birthday March 14th is otherwise known as Pi Day (3.14), so going along with that and my basic love of all sorts of pies, the theme was PIE.  Mervyn & Amanda were two of the three judges.  Giving us a list of limited ingredients, we only had 1.5 hours to make a 3-course menu.  We were judged on:

- Presentation
- Timing
- Teamwork
- Cleanliness
- Taste
- Rules (used all of the ingredients at some point and one dish had to be some sort of pie)

Sad to say, I was on the losing team (we won in the 'taste' category though!).  I couldn't pull the, "But it's my birthday" string.  Admittedly, the winning team did have a fantastic finish with much better presentation... though I personally give them 0 points for sportsmanship.  Boy, did they rub it in our faces.

CLICK "Read More" to see the other photos below!
(photos from myself, Jason Iafolla, Hale Cho, Amanda Phan, Regina Tan)

Going to the dark side: VEGAN CHALLENGE

I’ve endeavoured to challenge myself to go where I've never dared to go before.

I will become vegan for one whole week—and trust me, one week already seems daunting.  I’ve never been vegetarian in my life.  You see, to keep this rotund belly of mine nothing short of happy, I very much require the sustenance of meat, fish, butter, cheese, noodles and eggs.  And more eggs.  And bacon.  Lots of bacon.  Sometimes all at the same time.

Slight problem: I’m not sure how to go about being vegan for even a single day.  Going vegan will include avoiding eggs or meals prepared with lard or other animal substances (this includes any type of animal stock).  Curiosity has tasked me this challenge, as it is certainly not for health reasons.  Humans are not made to survive as vegans; we are omnivores by nature.

So it is a morbid curiosity that has led me here.

But what is so curious about being a vegan, you ask?
I’m curious how a staunch vegan would survive in today’s modern world.  As convenient as everything is, I’m hard pressed to find an easy way to avoid anything related to animals without forfeiting a healthy diet (I can’t very well just eat rice this entire time, can I).

Really?  Is that the only reason you’re doing this?
Yes, it’s not a particularly compelling reason. The thought began 2 years ago back in New York when my brother commented to me about my blog.  He said, “My wife and I actually read your blog.  We enjoy it, but do you ever write anything about vegetarian options?”  His wife is vegetarian—and admittedly, I had a thing against most vegetarians (not her, because she’s not preachy, fussy or condescending about it), but it brought about a good point.

I didn’t even know where to start as a vegetarian.  I knew maybe one or two vegetarian restaurants in New York and Hong Kong, both of which I never bothered stepping foot into.  I thought to myself then, I’ll become vegetarian for a whole month and discover all the vegetarian options out there.  Surely, there’s a reason why so many have gone this route.

It never happened.  So I thought, let’s be more realistic and make it 2 weeks of vegetarian eating.  Still seemed daunting, so I thought, okay 1 week.  Still never happened.

Here I am 2 years later in Singapore, with less knowledge about the food options compared to New York, yet going not just vegetarian, but VEGAN.  If I'm going to go out, then I'm going to go all out.

Where do I begin. Short of basic grains and raw vegetable salads, I was going blank.  I’ll be picking the brains of vegetarian friends of friends (I don’t have any direct friends who are vegetarians yet—it was a matter of principle) and hoping I don’t throw the towel in after two days of this.

I’m also hoping work duties don’t interrupt my one week session, but if it does, I might have to break my vegan diet for a meal or two in the name of professional duties.  Noble am I.

I am dreading the likely grumpiness that will result and apologize to surrounding friends in advance for my picky eating and sour moods.

Vegan diet to commence soon…

Taking any and all recommendations on home recipes, restaurants and ways to keep sane.

 And so Mr. Turkey, you live to see another 7 days as I forfeit my meat eating habits.  Gobble gobble.