Kilo Singapore

This is my 3rd time to Kilo. I thought that I have better give it some justice by writing about it. Kilo is the type of place that you would not chance by it while shopping. It is tucked away in Kampung Bugis, near Kallang Riverside Park. The first time when I bought my partner there, he thought that I was going to bring him to some run down place as we passed by a warehouse, a open field and a factory! When we finally arrived at the building where Kilo is located (Kilo is on the 2nd floor), the cafe on the ground floor was shut. By the way, the cafe was the Loysel’s Toy Cafe, which I heard good comments but have not had a chance to try it.

Kilo adopts an open concept. It gives you a rustic feel with wooden chairs, fans and no AC! Surprising, despite no air con, it is still nice and breezy, probably because it is facing the river. At the end of the Kilo, there is a DJ corner and a bar with high chairs. Not a big place, so reservation is a must. Since I have been here 3 times, I had tried a number of their starters and main course. I would recommend the short ribs. The ribs are soft and tender and marinated very well. We had some sushi, but not remarkable, so can skip that. For the mains, I would recommend the Braised Duck Leg. However, the third time when we were there (August 2012), the meat was quite tough. Maybe the chef overcook it. Beef tenderloin and the braised rabbit meat were highly recommended too. Rabbit meat was not always on the menu though. If you have room for dessert, you can go for the Lava chocolate cake with ice cream. The acid test for any lava cake is whether the chocolate in the cake oozed out like lava, and for Kilo's, it passed the test. Service is friendly but a bit of hit and miss. One of the waiter seems a bit confused. He told u that the rabbit meat ran out, and when we ordered we lamented to the waitress it was a shame that rabbit meat ran out, she told us that it was still available! I would definitely return when I want to have a nice meal away from the city. Kilo Address: 66 Kampong Bugis, 2/F Singapore Tel: +65 6467 3987

Hungry BBQ Singapore

Recently I used their service for the BBQ with my colleague.

http://www.hungrybbq.com/

They have quite a comprehensive list of food, from ala carte order to a package, to all the utensils and equipments needed for a BBQ.  They even offered mobile pit for rent, and a BBQ cook for hire.

As there are only 10 of us, we did not want to go for the package as it seems too much for 10 people.

We ordered the following:

1. Chicken Wings 3-joint Signature Marinade  $7.50 for 10 pieces.

This is the winner for us.  The seasoning is good, not too salty.

2.  Herb Black Pepper Chicken Fillet 500gms $7.50

Cannot really taste the black pepper.

3.  Southern BBQ Sirloin Steak  $15.00 / 500gms (5pcs)

The most expensive order for the night was a flop.  Maybe we overcook it, hence it was a bit tough.  But the seasoning was a bit too generous on the salt.

4.  Raw Chicken Satay 50s with Sauce $14.00 / 50 Sticks



5.  Raw Jumbo Beef Satay w/ Sauce  $13.50 / 20 sticks

The satays were alright. Not as good as those in Lau Par Sat though, maybe we were not good cook.

6.  Sambal Fish Fillet 500gms $7.50 / 5x100gms


7.  Sambal Sotong in Foil 500gms  $7.80 / 5x100gms

For people who love spicy food, these two are the winners.  The sambal was very spicy and the fish was fresh too.

8.  Chicken Chipolata 3"  $6.50 / 10pcs

 
9.  Japanese Sweet Potato 5s  $4.00 / 5 Pcs


10.  Herb Butter Portobello Mushrooms in Foil  $10.00 / 2 foil pkt

11.  Marshmallow  $2.50 / 1 pkt

Cannot go too wrong with hot dogs, sweet potato or marshmallows.  But the portobello mushrooms were worth a mention.  

Total damage was $133, including a foam box, ice, charcoal and delivery charges.  Service was good too. Recommended for those who like a hassle free BBQ.

Fantasy League Fever

Are you a football fan?  The proper football, not the one that play with a helmet.  If so, you have probably heard of the Fantasy Premier League.  This is the one by the Premier League, and not the Singtel or the ESPN one.
You have $100M at the beginning of the season, to select a squad of 15 players.  In your team, there will be be 2 goal keepers, 5 defenders, 5 mid fielders and 3 forwards.  Each of the player comes with a price tag, and of course, the big names will be expensive. For eg.  Rooney cost $13M, while some forwards cost $7M.   The objective of the game is to score as many points as possible, and the scoring is based on the real time game week.  For eg.  If Rooney score a goal, it will be 4 points, and a midfielder score a goal, he will earn 5 points. Defenders are based on whether they keep a clean sheet, and if they score a goal, they earn 6 points.

The fun part of it is the competition.  If you win the global league, which has about 2.5M players, you get to win a trip to UK to watch a game.  You can also set up your own mini league with your friends, and compete. 

I am competing in this league in my office, and is really getting exciting as we go into the last 4 games of the season!
Check out the link:
http://fantasy.premierleague.com/


My prediction for Week 35:
Arsenal 2  Chelsea 1
Aston Villa 0  Sunderland 1
Blackburn 1  Norwich 1
Bolton  1  Swansea 2
Fulham 2 Wigan1
Newcastle 2  Stoke 0
QPR 0 Spurs 1
Man Utd 2 Everton 0
Liverpool 1  West Brom 1
Wolves 0  Man City 4
Aston Villa 1 Bolton 1

Lets see how i fare this week!

Overdose wiith best crabs (?) in Singapore - Uncle Leong Crabs

The morale of the story is - Do not over order if there is a non crab eater among you.  We went for a farewell dinner, and committed the sin of over ordering!

There were 8 of us, but these were what we ordered:
1.  Fu Gui Ji (Prosperity Chicken)
2.  Brocooli with Scallop
3.  Mee Goreng
4.  Chilli Crab x 1
5.  Crab with Bee Hoon
6.  Steamed Crab
7.  Black Pepper crab with Bee Hoon
8.  Guinness Stout Ribs
9.  Complimentary Yam Paste
10.  Beer

Total Bill came up to be about $420.   Pretty reasonable, given the amount of food that we ate!  They have 2 branches, one in Punggol and one in Toa Payoh.
Not your restaurant ambience, but cozy and cool enough.

Fu Gui Ji:

Chili Crabs:

Crab in Bee Hoon Soup:

Guinness Stout Ribs

Steamed Crabs:

Uncle Leong Seafood

15 Lorong 8 Toa Payoh, Braddell Tech

Singapore 319262 · Tel: 6554 3453

Department Lunch @ Restaurant Ember

My boss wanted to buy us lunch, one of the criteria is the place has to be close to office, and the most important criteria, it cannot be too expensive.  So we decided on Ember at Keong Saik Road, which serve delicious and reasonably price 3 courses set lunch.

Bread to start the meal.  Served warm, though nothing great, good enough to line the stomach.

Starter:  Scallops.  Big and succulent. 

There are 2 different foie gras that you can choose from  I am not a big fan of foie gras.

This is: Roasted and Poached Foie Gras with Mirin, Shoyu, and Shiitake, though i think that the mushroom taste better than the foie gras.

Another version of the foie gras:  Pan-seared Foie Gras with Caramelized Apples and Clove, Port and Raspberry Glaze.  The apple give the oily fatty foie gras a refreshing taste.

Deep-fried Soft Shell Crab with Sweet Wasabi Aioli

Mushroom Soup

Here comes the main:

Crispy Duck Leg Confit with New Potatoes, Caramelized Onion-thyme Jus

Crispy enough, but i still prefer the one at Black Sheep.

12-hour Cooked Pork Belly with Savoy Cabbage, Apple Puree & Spiced Calvados Sauce- Close up of the pork.

Marinated Cod with Black Miso, Sweet Peas and Herbed Potatoes:

Warm Valrhona Chocolate Fondant with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream.  One of the best in town.  The chocolate really oozed out from the cake! 

 Frozen Nougat with Seasonal Berries

Included in the set lunch is coffee/tea.  Overall is a good value set lunch.  Be there early so that the food does not run out.

Ember

Address: 50 Keong Saik Road, Hotel 1929, Singapore
Tel: +65 6347 1928

Chui Huay Lim Teochew Cuisine

If you like Yam Paste (Orr nee), this is the place to go.  The Yam Paste here is served with Pumpkin, Ginko Nuts, with the sugar syrup on top.  If you do not like it to be too sweet, you can always remove the syrup.  The texture is good, not too oily, with a light fragrant of the yam and pumpkin.  Served in individual portion, the portion is just nice.

We also tried others dishes such as Prawn Rolls.  Deep fried, served in a plate of 6, is a good way to start your lunch or dinner.

The braised goose in a speciality in Teochew cuisine, but I find the meat a bit tougher than duck.  The sides that served with the goose, bean curds are very good though. They soaked up the essence of the braised sauce, simply yummy.

The steamed promfret is another highlight.  Steamed just right, the meat is tender and sweet, and not too fishy.  The only feedback is that the fish was too big, and 3 of us struggled to finish it.  Learnt my lesson, hence the second time when I returned with my family, we decided not to order it.

The braised conpy with eight vegetarian treasures is also a delight.  There are mushrooms, Fa Choy, Cabbage,spinach, carrots, golden needle mushrooms (and 2 more which I could not remember).  A bit light, but good to balance so as not to have meat overdose.

The hotplate oyster egg was sizzling hot and generous with its oysters.

For your daily carbo intake, you can choose either the Teochew Fried Kway Tiao with Diced Kai Lan or Fried Seafood Mee Suan.

Overall, if you like Teochew food, Chui Huay Lim is highly recommended.  We skipped many of the traditional Teochew food such as Cold Crabs, Teochew Fried Liver Rolls and Pig Trotters Jelly. It is a surprise that this restaurant is under the Jumbo Group.  If you have a jumbo member card, there will be further discount too.  This place will be my regular hunt if I have Yam Paste craving.  The location though sounds remote, is not too difficult to locate.  If you are a rich Teochew, you probably already know that it is in the Chui Huay Lim Club.


Chui Huay Lim Teochew Cuisine
190 Keng Lee Road, #01-02 Chui Huay Lim Club, Singapore.

Old Trafford - Theatre of Dreams

Finally I made it to Old Trafford to watch Man Utd played live!! I am no longer a plastic fan.  I watched Man Utd played Wigan on 26 Dec 2011!!!

It was not an easy trip, and thanks to GT and T, I managed to get to Old Trafford.  Especially GT, who has to drive 11 hours in total.  I was supposed to be a backup driver, but I could not even get into the first gear.
The driving there was quite bad due to the traffic condition.  We set off at 8am for the 3pm kickoff.  Though it was boxing day, the roads were quite busy.  To make matter worse, there was an accident on M25 (A car hit a pedestrian on the highway!) and we had to make a detour, which wasted 45 mins of our time.  When we finally arrived at Old Trafford, it was past 215pm, and we could not find parking space.  I had to get down to meet the guy to collect the tickets while GT looked for a parking lot.  We finally made it to the match, 5 mins before kick off.

The atmosphere was electrifying, though GT thought that it could be better with 75, 193 spectators.  End result:  5 goals, including 1 penalty converted by Berbatov.  The icing on the cake was when we were leaving the stadium, they announced that Man City were held to a draw by West Brom.

I have been looking forward to watch Man Utd play in Old Trafford.  Thank you T for helping me to get the tickets.  A total of 4 men were involved in getting the tickets.  Most importantly, thank you GT who drove me there.  It is really special, especially he is a Brighton fan.  It was a match with love.

Movies 2011

The last quarter of 2011 has been very hectic, did not have any time to update this blog.  I thought I would start by doing a recap of the movie that I have watched in 2011 because I could not answer GT's question of which was my favourite move in 2011.

Movies that I have watched in 2011:  (not in any order)
1.  Paul
2.  The Adventure of Tin Tin
3.  Kung Fu Panda 2
4.  Something Borrowed
5.  Crazy Stupid Love
6.  X Men First Class
7.  Transformer 3 - Dark of the Moon

Of which, Crazy Stupid Love was the most memorable one.  This was because we sat the first row!  It has been a long time since I watched a movie at the first row.  So it felt like watching the show in 3D!  Morale of the story - Always book the tickets, regardless whether it was a weekday or not.