Auntie Kim's Korean Restaurant

It's been a long while since I last embarked on a makan adventure. So I rallied the usual gang and we set off for Auntie Kim's Korean Restaurant.

Numerous reviews have already been made on this restaurant and the common grouse was that the quality of the food was inconsistent. Fortunately for us, the visit turned out quite favourably.

The decor was bright, spacious and simple with cosy corners if you want more privacy. The restaurant was pleasantly quiet. Surprisingly, it was also rather empty, with only about one-third of the tables occupied. I wondered  with some trepidation if it was a sign of the food quality.

The menu, though limited, carried the usual Korean fare - soups, grills, rice and noodles. In fact, all the Korean restaurants that I'd been to seem to carry only a limited number of dishes. Is this the norm? Anyway, with FT and JT with us, we decided to play safe and order the usual favourites.

What I look forward to when eating at a Korean restuarant (besides the kimshi) is the interesting sides that are served at the start of the meal. No two restaurants serve the same dishes.  Over at Auntie Kim's, 6 different dishes were served. My favourite was the dried beef jerky with dried chilli. The thin chewy slices were packed with meaty flavour  The kimchi, too, came with good kick.

PT, as usual, went for the meat dishes. The Dak Bulgogi ($14.50) or bbq marinated pork was juicy and delicately flavoured with a hint of sweetness and spiciness.

Next came the Marinated Grilled Short Ribs ($27) which was a hit with FT. I dipped the slices in sesame paste, sprinkled some garlic and red chillis and wrapped the meat with green leafy lettuce. I don't quite know what was put in the marinate, but it kept us coming back for more.

After checking out what the table next to us was eating, I decided to order the Egg Pancake with Seafood ($16). It was a huge serving, enough to feed 4. This was quite a filling dish with a heavy batter. In fact, it tasted like a giant version of the small round oyster pancake that one finds at pasar malams. I couldn't really taste the seafood and I felt that I was just eating a really huge piece of carrot cake.

On the whole, the food was not bad. It did not have the usual heavy handedness of seasoning (and msg) that is frequently found in Korean restaurants.Service as friendly and attentive and prices are reasonable.

Auntie Kim's Korean Restaurant

265 Upper Thomson Road

Tel: 6425 2112

Prata @ Serangoon Gardens

PT discovered this Prata joint at Serangoon Gardens and brought us all there for breakfast one Sunday.

Now what do I consider to be good prata? Well, firstly, the prata must be served piping hot. Secondly, it must be crispy on the outside and fluffy inside - got to have that little crunch with every bite. The prata served here meets both criteria. Even the prata with egg was light and airy. Unfortunately, I was almost done with my pratas before I realised that I forgot to take the pictures.

Luckily, I still had the tissue prata. It was crispy and light, right down to the edges. And the generous sprinkling of sugar on the inside made this a hot favourite with JT and FT.

A cup of Teh Tarik was a wonderful, aromatic complement to the meal.

Macau Day 4 (Dim Sum)

On our last day in Macau, we went all out for our Dim Sum Feast. Portas do Sol at the Lisboa Hotel serves one of the best dim sums in Macau. What differentiates this restaurant from the rest is its novel take on traditional dim sum dishes. Service is exceptional too. Tucked away in an obscure corner of the East Wing, it was a tough restaurant to fnd. Nonetheless, it's a highly popular restaurant and be prepared for a long wait if you do not make a reservation.

There were so many interesting items on the menu that we over ordered. Just look at the spread.

The most interesting dish (and one of the tastiest too) was the curry crab tartlets. Fresh crab meat was cooked in creamy delicate curry and served in crumbly little cups of sweet pastry.

The little cubes of steamed brinjal topped with seafood pate was also delicious. The heavy seasoning of the fish masqueraded the taste of the brinjal and PT, who absolutely hates brinjals, was popping the little fellows into his mouth with gusto.

Unlike to usual fried wantons, these came with a refreshing orange dip.

The roast goose was one of the best that I've ever tasted. There was a smokey intensity to the juicy meat. The waitress was concerned that the half goose that we ordered was too much for the 5 of us. Ha! I polished off almost half of the bird on my own.

Just like the East Ocean Restaurant, selected dim sums are served in cute animal shapes. One such dish is the custard bun. Shaped like little porcupines, these little creatures were almost too lovely to eat. (But we ate them anyway)

JT and FT loved the fried rice. Though it was cooked simply with mushrooms and chicken, each grain of rice was coated with flavour.

The glutinous rice was surprisingly tasty. The rectangular pieces of rices were stuffed with sweet meat filling was fried until crisp. I really enjoyed crunching through the crispy exterior and taking a mouthful of gooey rice.

This was one of the best meals we had in Macau. A great end to a fastastic holiday!

Portas do Sol

Hotel Lisboa

2/F East Wing

(853) 8803 3100

Macau Day 3 (Taipa Crab Porridge)

At 12pm sharp I plonked myself right outside Seng Cheong Restaurant. It was not a moment too soon. The crowd arrived in droves and by the time we were ushered upstairs, the restaurant was already half full.

We ordered a large bowl of the famous crab porridge. The porridge is made by simmering the rice with whole river crabs and crab roe, hence the light yellow tint. The rich taste of crab and roe is richly infused into the porridge and the crab retained its fresh sweetness despite being stewed in the porridge.

This eel dish was just plain weird. The eel was steamed in a wonderfully fragrant garlic and black bean sauce but it was tough, chewy and had the taste of river. It also had a tough skin that was difficult to remove.

I didn't take to the deep-fried fishballs either. Food reviewers described it as bouncy and fresh. When I excitedly took my first bite, it was like no fishball that I've ever tasted. The inside was grey and the fishballs were slimy. There was also a very strong, almost overwhelming fishy aftertaste.

Luckily, the Black Pepper Lala was spicy enough to wipe away the taste of the fishballs and eel. Cooked wih onions, capsicum and green chillis, the delectable little critters slipped right off their shells and into our tummies.

The deep fried prawns in salted egg yolk was right up there with the crab porridge. The prawns were slathered over with generous dollops of salted egg yolk and deep fried to a crisp. The combination of sweet prawns, crispy shell and salty yolk was a winning combination.

The deep fried squid with with chilli slices was another dish that I enjoyed very much. The batter was light and crispy and the squid retained a soft chewiness.

Seng Chong delivers what it promises. It's definitely a place that I'll return to (sans the eel and fishball)

Seng Cheong

30 Rua do Cunha, Taipa

Macau Day 3 (Taipa Pork Buns)

We took a side trip to Taipa today to try Macau's famous Pork Chop Buns and Crab Porridge.

Taipa is a suburban residential area without the claustrophobic chaos of the Peninsular. It possesses a laid back charm and the main street is lined with varied and interesting restaurants.

The Pork Chop Bun has been billed as a must have in Macau. Put very simply, it's a slab of pork placed between 2 slices of toasted bun with no dressing whatsoever. When I first heard about it, I wasn't too keen. The snack sounded dry and gamey. But, when I had my first bite at the Festivita Market at the Venetian, I was pleasantly surprised by how tender and flavourful it was. So it was with keen anticipation that I looked forward to the 'die die must try' pork buns in Taipa.

The buns are sold at Tai Lei Loi Kei. Everyday at 3.00pm. Again, it's a dingy, outdoor eatery. It seems to be a disturbing trend here: the more questionable the premise, the more delicious the food.

Special soft crusty bread is baked for the buns. Queues are so long that the buns are sold out by 4 plus. I was there at 11.00am, much too early to try the special buns. Nonetheless I placed a order to their regular buns just to give it a try.

I must say that the buns here beat those at the Venetian hands down. The pork is grilled to juicy perfection and the warm juices seep into the bread, doubling up as a tasty dressing. There is literally a huge piece of pork chop in between the buns.

Cafe Tai Lei Loi Kei
Taipa

Macau Day 2 (Dinner @ A Lorcha)

After the heavy seafood lunch in Wanchai, we continued with our shopping. By late afternoon, we were game for a good Portuguese meal. Restaurante A Lorcha was purportedly the best Portuguese Restaurant in Macau. It was also the most crowded, according to many guide books. Hence, after a quick wash up, we took a cab to the eatery.

It's a small, quaint restaurant nestled within a row of shophouses. White-washed walls and low arches greeted us when we entered.. As for the food, I felt that though it was good, it wasn't great. Having read so many positive reviews of this restaurant, perhaps my expectations were a tad too high. Or maybe my Singaporean sambal-numbed palate was just not used to the mild taste of the dishes.

One popular Portuguese started is the stir-fried clams which came steep in it's own juices. It was slightly salty but went well with the crusty warm loaves.

The seafood risotto was a hot favourite. It was cooked in a rich seafood broth, together with mussels, prawns and chunks of crab,

We ordered 2 types of chicken dishes, a Per-Peri Chicken for the adults and plain grilled chicken for the kids. The grilled chicken was a tad too dry and the Peri-Peri Chicken came with a mild tomato-based dressing. I was hoping for something as zingy as Nandos' so Peri-Peri sauce was quite a let-down.

The Codfish was truely an acquired taste despite it being a 'must try' dish in many reviews. I took one big bite that realised that the fish was preserved. It was extremely salty and had an almost chewy texture. I decided that one bite was more then enough.

FT wasn't feeling too good so she ordered a familiar staple - Spaghetti Bolognese. Although it was meant for FT, it looked and tasted so good that we all took a serving. The secret behind this delicious pasta was that the entire dish was baked in a wood-fired oven, giving a moistness and intensity that you won't find over a gravy-ladled spaghetti.

The verdict? Good but not great. There's a underlying uniformity in taste that left me 'jelak' after a few dishes. Perhaps I'll pop down to another famous restaurant 'Litoral' just down the street during my next trio to Macau.

Restaurante A Lorcha

289 Rua do Almirante Sergio

Macau Day 2 (Lunch @ Zhuhai Part 2)

The seafood feast begins!

First the freshly opened sea urchins, all briny and quivering. Taken with a dip of lemon and soya sauce, they tasted wonderful.



The abalones were served in oyster sauce. Personally, I've always felt that abalones are over-rated. They are basically tasteless mussels, taking on the flavour of whatever soup or gravy that they were cooked in. But since they were so cheap in Zhuhai, we thought, "What the heck! Let's go for it."

The baby Geoducks were stir-fried in garlic. The opened shells revealed flesh that was sweet and firm.

One of my favourite dishes was the deep fried yabbies. The shells were paper thin and were fried to a crisp. They cracked opened easily, yielding fresh, firm and sweet flesh.

Next came the lobster feast. First, delectable pieces of lobsters were stir fried simply in garlic with minimal seasoning to bring out the sweetness of the fresh crustraceans.

The rest of the lobster was cooked in flavourful porridge. Just look at the generous serving.

The final dish, baby octopus, was my least favourite. Caught live from the tanks and cooked in spicy bean paste gravy, I expected it to taste like jellyfish. Instead, there was a very strong cockle-like taste and an almost squishy texture that was very unpalatable to the tastebuds.

This meal for 8 set us back by S$200, an amazing price for an amazing meal.