Roast Chicken

I was thinking of having a good roast chicken and had been seeing fennel being sold in the supermarkets in Shanghai.  As fennel isn't really an Asian vegetable, but I'd seen it being used pretty often by Jamie Oliver, I decided to look for a recipe to try.  Found this one fm Ina Garten, adapted it by adding some squash and zucchini, and it was soooo good!!!

Sun With Aqua, The Bund, Shanghai

Some time back, we had been longing for the wonderful Japanese food in Taipei, and lamenting the lack of reasonably priced good authentic Japanese food in Shanghai.  So when some friends recommended Sun With Aqua, a Japanese restaurant on the Bund, we eagerly went off to try this out, hoping it would have the kind of Japanese food we were looking for.  We were not disappointed :)

A glimpse of the counter seating ...

As their set lunch was pretty popular, we opted for the Tokyo set, which effectively had almost everything one could desire in Japanese cuisine ... suffice to say it was definitely filling ... just look at this sumptuous spread ...

A closer look ...

 Tempura ...

Udon noodles ... (I had a tempura set which came with soba noodles, but unfortunately my camera skills were somewhat lacking and it was too blur to post ... but they were yummy!)

An overview of my tempura set ... it came with sushi ... dee-lish!!!!

A closer look ...

Our friends ordered a teppanyaki set with beef, prawns and crab ...

After a satisfying meal, we decided we would definitely be making a return visit to Sun With Aqua.

La Creperie, Taojiang Rd, Shanghai

I actually stumbled upon La Creperie while shopping for kitchenware next door at Lemon Zest.  As I thought the area looked very charming, and they had the French style brittany crepes I loved after first trying them in Paris, I promised myself to return with Hubby in tow to try La Creperie.

We ordered these appetisers - rolled crepes with minced pork ... (after trying these appetisers during another visit, we thought the spicy minced chicken was our fav)

 We had their Daily Special set ... I believe this was La Complete ... basically brittany crepes with egg, ham, sausage, lettuce, mushrooms and tomatoes ... yum-my!!!

The set came with dessert, which happened to be a banana caramel crepe ... dee-lish!!!!

Home Made Dumplings

When a friend invited me over to her apartment for lunch the other day, I never expected to pick up a new skill - making dumpling skins!  I had always simply bought dumpling skins from the store, and everyone I knew did the same, so I just assumed it required mad skills to make them.  Turns out all one needs is all-purpose flour and water!  Yes!  It is really that simple!

We mixed up some minced pork with corn and egg for the filling and I helped her to shape the dumplings while she rolled out the dumpling skins.  Our dumplings before being cooked ...

I had asked her for the recipe for the dumpling skins but she said she never used one.  She then told me that when she and her siblings were little, her mother would enlist them in making these dumplings, and that was how she learnt.  Fascinating how parents pass their skills down to their kids, and how some stuff really stick and evoke memories of family!

As we made loads of dumplings, my friend gave me some to take home.  I mixed up some vinegar with a Szechuan style chili from Shanghai, then tossed the dumplings in the sauce .... YUM!!!  (This may not look that appealing but it was so delicious! )

(Apparently, well-made dumplings should have this wrinkly kind of look ... according to my dumpling friend :))

This particular vinegar - Zhenjiang Vinegar - is supposed to be the type that's good for dipping dumplings in.

I tried this particular brand of szechuan chili sauce and thought it was really good, especially in making the above dish - dumplings tossed in vinegar and chili sauce.

I was eager to try out my new skills at home.  Here are some of my dumpling skins ... not as regular and round and pretty as my friend's, but they'll do :)

I made them in different shapes in order to differentiate amongst the fillings - minced pork with shrimp with pine nuts, minced pork with spring onions, minced pork with corn, minced pork with shrimp with chives ... delish!  I cooked them in soup, au naturelle, with noodles ... makes for such wonderful easy meals (I froze some)!

All deliciously wrinkly :)   ... one of the few times you actually want wrinkles!  :)

YUM!!!

Lemon, Rosemary & Cheddar Cheese Bread

Some time ago, I saw several bloggers posting about this no-knead bread which looked extremely simple to bake in a dutch oven.  As I was thinking of ways to maximise the use of my one and only Le Creuset dutch oven, I decided to give it a try... 

This is a pic of my no-knead lemon, rosemary & cheddar cheese bread all nicely wrapped up in my Japanese tea towel ... a fantastic way to use these beautiful tea towels incidentally ... (all above ideas inspired by simplysogood )

Dough being proofed ...

Fascinating!  Sometimes I think baking is like watching TV ... recipes that require more waiting time are just like TV in s-l-o-w m-o-t-i-o-n .............

Finally after 12-18 hours of proofing, I got it into the oven baking ....

Oh wow!  Fresh bread!

Samy's, Dempsey Road, Singapore

A friend got a Groupon coupon and invited me to have fishhead curry with her for lunch at Samy's.  Naturally I agreed!  How can anyone say no to Samy's fishhead curry?!  Speaking of which, here's a pic ... 

Yum!  Yum!  Yum!

To go with the curry, we had some bryani rice, pappadums, potato cutlet (extreme right top) ...

Soooooo satisfying ....

Wild Honey, Scotts Square, Singapore

While back home in Singapore, a good friend took me for an early dinner at Wild Honey in Scotts Square.  Apparently they are famous for their breakfasts which are served all day.  We started off with some mocha coffee ... 

Pretty! ...

Naturally, we had to try their breakfast ... consisting of a couple of slices of brioche bread, sausages, tomatoes, mushrooms, potatoes and eggs ...

A better view perhaps(?) of our all-day breakfast meal ...

They recommended this strawberry layer cake ....

Peramakan, Keppel Club, Singapore

I was back in Singapore a few months ago, and as usual, I seized the opportunity to have one of my favorite cuisines - Peranakan food!  We decided to go to Paramakan in Keppel Club.  These are some typical Peranakan dishes which we ordered ...

Bakwan Kepeting (meatball soup) ...

Ayam Buah Keluak (chicken with buah keluak nut) ...

Beef Rendang ...

Chap Chye ...

Sambal Lady's Finger/Okra ...

Otah (fish) ...

Ngoh Hiang ....

Element Fresh, Shanghai Centre, Shanghai

While my in-laws were in town, I thought I'd take them to try Element Fresh.  Element Fresh seems to be pretty popular in Shanghai.  They have a nice mix of Western and Asian fusion food.  It is supposedly a Californian cuisine, so I thought it was a chain from California, but when we recently met a friend from California, he said he'd never heard of Element Fresh prior to visiting Shanghai.  Hmmm ...  In any case, the food there seems to be pretty healthy and tasty ... 

I ordered Hubby's favorite dish there (figuring well in-laws and hubby should have similar tastes :)) - black pepper chicken with rice and bak choy ... 

Teriyaki chicken with rice and bak choy ...

Rice noodles with shrimps ... I had thought it'd be like paad thai, but it turned out to be kinda a cross betw paad thai and ... mee goreng?  It was pretty nice ...

Green Tea, Hangzhou ... yes, again ...

We liked Green Tea so much, we decided to have dinner there again before we left Hangzhou.  This time we tried a different branch nearer to the Xi Hu Tian Di.  Fortunately, we went there early cos the queue was horrendous!  Despite being early, we still had a good hour's wait.  Our reward for waiting ...

Steamed minced pork with pickled lettuce ...

Their signature dish ... roast chicken and roast pork ... delish!

Cabbage (Wa Wa Chye) with black beans, garlic, vinegar and dried chilies ... it was so good the first time we had it, we simply had to order it again ...

Pork ribs soup ...