First Nomnom at Nam Nam Vietnamese Restaurant

The first time I tried Nam Nam in Suntec was last year, Oct 29th. I remember the date because this was my first day back in Singapore after leaving the country for about 16 months.

 

I wasn't planning to go back to Singapore to work, perhaps hoping, but not planning.. but then one day I got a call from my previous boss, offering me a contractual post to cover for a colleague who was going on maternity leave.  In Singapore, maternity leave for most banks is 4 months.

 

Since it was a private bank, naturally they wanted someone who already knows the work and who's already familiar with the existing client base.

 

When I got the call, I got all excited. I was already working as a Branch Manager with an international bank then (tales about my 6-month stint as BM to follow on a different post), but I was all too willing to resign and go back to my second home (I consider Singapore as my second home. Yep, the whole country is my second home). I just needed my husband's permission.

 

Well, he must've seen the sparkle in my eyes when I was telling him about the offer, and so he practically had no choice but to allow me to go..it was just for a 4 month contract anyway (In the end, I was gone for 6 months *covers face in wifely shame*).

 

So anyway, I got offloaded on my original flight and was only able to fly off the next day (Oct 29). On the said date, I went to Millenia Walk where my friend is working. She has a car and lives near the condo where I'll be staying during my short Singapore stint.  I went there, left my luggage and went to Suntec while she finishes her work.. We later on met for dinner before heading home..

 We ordered the dry and soupy version of their noodles. So lucky because my friend paid for the dinner, she said it was my welcome-back treat.

 Food was okay, but nothing spectacular because it just didn't leave any remarkable impression, not like Viet Express which I can't stop gushing about.

On the months that followed, I tried their baguette.. It was also okay, quite good actually... but I still prefer Baguette's grilled pork. Now that one is really yummy!

Viet Express - China Square

 

 

 

 

 

I loooove the grilled pork with spring roll noodle of Viet Express.. As in I love love love it! I must have tried at least 5 other Viet restaurants in Singapore, but nothing really compares to Viet Express.

 

The grilled pork is sweet and flavorful, while the spring roll is light and crispy. They don't use the usual spring roll skin, theirs is more fluffy and light. Then, their sauce made with fish sauce, chili, vinegar and sugar is the bomb! It's so good and really gives this dish the ooomph.

 

 

Tsukiji Market

I don't usually eat raw fish because the texture just feels weird inside my mouth. It feels squishy.. Maybe it also has something to do with my raw oyster experience when I was a kid. I ate a piece at a buffet restaurant in Manila, and the moment I chewed, the liquid oozed out and I felt like I drank water from the aquarium. Eeeew!

Anyway, over the years, I have learned to eat raw salmon. But whenever we eat out, if my meal mates are very hungry, I just don't get my share anymore because I feel like the salmon would be wasted on me, because another person will appreciate it more.

When we were planning our Japan trip itinerary, my friend specifically mentioned that she would like to go to Tsukiji market, as in we cannot skip it. We just can't.  I totally understood this, because I also had my own request, which was to go to the Instant Noodle Museum at Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture. I said we really must go. We cannot skip it too.

So, we added in Tsukiji Market into the itinerary for our second day in Tokyo. We didn't bother waking up at 4am to catch the 5am tuna auction because 1.) It's too early! 2.) We wouldn't understand it anyway 3.) Our main goal for the Tsukiji visit was just to eat fresh raw fish.

 We got there around 10am, so the area wasn't packed yet.

Really lovely fruits they've got there. Plump and vibrant in color.

 

Ice cream from a cup, put inside the machine, and when the ice cream comes out, it's all twirly.

Okay.. but the taste of green tea wasn't intense. Actually none of the green tea ice cream I tried in Japan was able to satisfy my green tea craving the way that Asabu Sabo in Singapore can.

I have no idea what this restaurant's name is. They all look alike. Since my other friend and I don't really enjoy eating raw fish, we decided to order a bowl meant for sharing. In it there's salmon, tuna, roe, probably squid, and sea urchin.

Surprisingly, I enjoyed this dish. It didn't feel raw. Except the sea urchin which was a tad fishy.

I was told though that this dish has the same logic as minced pork. Meaning the fish aren't prime part and are probably just trimmings. Nonetheless, it wasn't fishy so I was happy.

 Huge edamame!

 

So many things to see and eat in Tsukiji market.. to think we only roamed the outer area.

We found out after the trip that we should have gone further and checked out the auction area, where there's more sashimi / sushi restaurants.

In Tsukiji, we tried the following:
- yakitori
- ice cream
- boiled scallops
- green tea (beverage and ice cream)
- sea weeds
- egg (which they serve in bar form. I love eggs, but their version was quite sweet, almost like a dry and very solid flan.. so I didn't like ).

Would I recommend Tsukiji market? Yep! It's fun going in and out of the small alleys and trying different stuff. Just go there slight earlier, around 9 to 10:30 in the morning to avoid the crowd.

Japan Trip 2014. Ginza Day

April 11, 2014. At 5am in the morning, we (my two girl friends and I) took our ANA flight from Singapore to Narita.
Finally, I was able to fly to Japan!!!

Before flying to Japan, we already bought our JR Rail Pass for about SGD300+ I think.. This gave us unlimited usage of the JR Line (train) and Shinkansen (bullet train) for 7 days.
Based on my friend's computation after our trip though, we were better off just buying individual tickets instead of buying this 7-day pass..

For reference, aside from our daily JR Line train usage, we also took the shinkansen from airport to Tokyo Station... Tokyo to Kyoto, Kyoto to Osaka and  Osaka-Kobe-Osaka.

Reason why we weren't able to get back our money's worth was because in Kyoto and Osaka, the JR line wasn't really useful to us and to where we're going..

 After an hour+, we were finally able to reach Ikebukuro station, where our hotel is located. On our way to the hotel, we stopped by this mochi stall located inside the station.
I'm not much of a mochi person, but their mochi was different! The mochi itself was soooo cool, I mean literally. When you put it in your mouth, you get this cool sensation inside your mouth.. And it's just so soft and good.

 We also bought the strawberry mochi. This was even better! The strawberry was huge and sweet and juicy, and the strawberry mochi complimented it very well.

 When we got to the hotel, we asked the receptionist if a package addressed to me has arrived.. and thankfully yes, it has! It was actually our pocket wifi, which I ordered and was in charge of the whole duration of the trip.

This was one of the most useful things we 'invested' in during the trip, and at about SGD9 per day, it was quite a steal. We got it from wifi-hire.com  .

(another useful investment was the ultra lightweight feather-filled jacket [I can attest that it's feather filled because sometimes a piece of feather would suddenly stick out from my sleeve] I bought from Uniqlo at SGD70 equivalent. I did look like the Michellin man, but it kept me warm.. )

 I'm so thankful that my friends are good navigators. If it were up to me, even from points A to B, I might still get lost. Just google the Japan train map and you'd understand.

 After we've checked in, eaten our mochi and rested for awhile, we proceeded to Ginza where we planned to have our tempura dinner. Based on research, Ten-ichi was one of the best in Ginza.

We got there around 6:30pm, but was told that they were fully booked. They will only have free slots at around 830pm so we said we'd just go back at 8.

We went to the nearby Uniqlo to shop some (this was where I bought my dark army green jacket).
Then, we went to the Burberry Blue Label store but it was already closed (at 8pm, I think. This was on a Friday). So, we just slowly walked our way back to Ten-ichi.

 Huh? The girl we saw at 630pm was still eating at 8pm!

 While waiting, they took our jackets and served us green tea.
Because of the good service, my friend jokingly asked 'why, how much is the tempura anyway, sgd200?' and then we laughed.

 When we finally got to our table, we couldn't laugh anymore because the cheapest set meal was JPY12,960! About SGD160.. Not SGD200, but friggin close!

There's ala carte menu, but then there's no English menu for the ala carte, so we might end up ordering more.. So we just went ahead and ordered the cheapest set, one set per person.

 It was expensive because the tempura chef will cook the food in front of you. So really, if you just want to stuff your face and let out a loud burp for a good meal (like we did), this place isn't for you. The meal pace was so slow, ample time given for you to appreciate each delicate bite, while watching the chef fry up your next tempura.

The Ume set, had the following:
2 prawn tempura
4 fish tempura
4 vegetable tempura
1 conger
1 kakiage
Otoshi, salad, miso soup, japanese pickes, rice and fruits (choice of melon, mango or watermelon)

 This was the scallop

 Fish, I think.
I can't upload the prawn tempura.

Anyway, what sets the tempura apart was the batter, which was light and gently crisp with just enough resistance each bite. The prawn head and fish was good, but the prawn itself was surprisingly ordinary.. perhaps the prawn (shrimp actually) was just too slim for my taste.

The most memorable part of the meal was the melon, which was sooooooo goooood!
It was green, and sweet and oh so juicy. Like the moment your spoon touches the melon, the juice immediately oozes out.. oh wow.

Do I recommend this place?
Well, it depends on your budget. If you have extra cash and time, then you can try it, just for the experience.

But if you just want to eat tempura and have fun while doing so, then no. This is a very cultured place.  There's no way you can chat freely and laugh giddily while eating because you might offend the chef.

 After the expensive first meal, we went off to look for a yakitori alley near the rail track (forgot which station), but it's already closed by the time we got there.. Well of course it's closed, the tempura meal took 2 hours of our precious tourist time.

Too bad, because it was the only night we could try it since we wouldn't be going back to Ginza area again given our tight Tokyo itinerary.

All in all, our first day in Tokyo was a big fail.  We spent so much on one meal (which we could've spent later on for more Kobe beef.. haiz) and it took so much of our time that we weren't able to explore Ginza.

Lesson learned: Always check the price first before proceeding. I mean we could've asked for the menu and just walked away after seeing the price.

Birthday Cake

I made a caramel cake for my husband's birthday last Tuesday.. the components of the cake are:
Vanilla chiffon cake
Caramel filling / topping

Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures because my phone doesn't have any storage space left. I'm starting to hate my iPhone because of this. I cannot bring myself to delete photos from my phone even after it's been backed up because it brings me joy to look at old photos at any given time. 

My friend has suggested that I switch to an android phone so that I can just buy extra memory cards and not just rely on the phone's memory space. Makes a lot of sense for someone who likes taking photos.. but a part of me is still resistant to switch to an android..

Aaaaanyway.. the vanilla chiffon cake was just subtly sweet, so I thought the caramel sauce would take care of that. But when I tasted the caramel sauce, it too was just subtly sweet. This made me worry but good thing was, somebody actually gave my husband a birthday cake..

However, my husband didn't like it because it had buttercream icing (and we're all a bit health conscious here at home) so he said to take out my cake and we'll eat that.. Aaaah the pressure...he took a square piece, and then asked for second round. Hooooray! it means it's good!

My brother tasted it and also said that it's good.. I still couln't believe it, and ate a piece myself.. Well well, it is indeed nice. Enough sweetness ( subtle chiffon + subtle caramel = okay sweetness) and the chiffon was oh so fluffy!

The taste was okay, but the presentation was very basic.. just a brown piece of cake..oh well... I'll try harder next year.

Back in Davao

I've been back in Davao for almost a week (tomorrow 9:30pm makes it a full week).

I've done nothing but rest and experiment on some recipes. I'm upset though, because I can't seem to replicate the bread recipe I learned in Singapore. If this goes on, I'm going to start doubting my baking skills again..

Anyway, what bothers me more now is the rotational brownout. Not so much because of the lack of light and the absurd himidity, but because I can't concentrate on baking when half of me is worried that the electricity will go off just when it's time for me to put the dough in the oven.

Come Monday, I'm going to do a major project - a birthday cake for my husband. It's not the first time I'm doing it, it's my second! which makes it more challenging because the first one was a success.

I don't want to make an ugly cake this time because then I'd become a 'one-hit-wonder-baker'.

This was the cake I baked last year (my husband's chinese zodiac is the monkey.. thus the cake..)



Cute, huh? I won't even be bashful this time because I know that it is cute.


So I hope hope hope I'll have electricity for the whole duration of my baking stint.