Singapore - in March and early Apr
3 highlights in Singapore. Dinner with Jeremy's parents. His mother made steamed Salmon with accompaniment. But the piece de resistance was Sharks Fin Soup. Each bowl probably contained the fins of one shark. Sigh. I couldn't very well not eat it and the truth is, I do enjoy Shark's fin soup. I like the texture of the crunch and the broth it's cooked in was just delicious with chunks of crab meat in it. And yes, I do try to discourage people from ordering it or making it or buying it.
The rice was so perfectly molded I didn't want to break it.So we sat and enjoyed it. In any case, I believe that if it's already made and placed in front of you, not eating it would be tantamount to condemning the shark twice. It would have died in vain. At least if I eat it, it goes toward a positive thing; my enjoyment! ;-)
We also had Rochor original "tau hwei" as they call it in Singapore and "you diao" more commonly known to me as "yau char kwei." The soya bean was very fragrant but I suspect they use cornflour rather than "sek koh" powder which gives a much cleaner mouthfeel to the set of the "tau foo far." The "tau hwei" was smooth and light but had a slight gungy texture which I didn't like.
We also had "xiao long bao" at DIN TAI FUNG. Yummy! ;-)
And for the first time, we tried a Beard Papa cream puff. Sorry lah. I don't know what the attraction is. But I didn't like it. Cream Puffs to me are soft, tender, with a little bite and you should need to just exert a slight tug to prepare for your second bite. And more than anything it should be FILLED to the brim with creme pattisiere so it squidges out the sides.Crunchy, battered cream puffs don't do it for me. And the vanilla flecks didn't add any flavour at all. They were probably just ground up vanilla pods to add to the cache of the custard.
8 Comments
12:49 AM
I like sharks fin soup too but I'll be happy if they substitute it with other type.
12:57 AM
Actually I thought despite all the hype, beard papa was quite a disappointment. The fabled vanilla-specked custard was just a fable with a really faint flavour, and the puff reminded me of bread (those kaya toast bread) crust...
I thought divers don't eat shark's fin..:D but then again, my neighbour who is an avid diver, eats only fish..
1:10 AM
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10:14 AM
shark fins r good! haha preferably noodle style..yes i know i m bad..wheres the steam salmon..sounds kinda cool..the rice is such an art..
so how do u compare the xiu long baos in ding tai fung to 1s u get here?
10:55 AM
jason; yeah same here.
kat; 2 part answer to 2 part question;
1. Agree re beard papa and well, as I said, better in my stomach than in the rubbish bin; especially since it's already cooked. Otherwise, don't buy, don't eat.
2. I have a few but it depends on what you need them for. Email me; justheavenly.my@gmail.com
"joe"; *spank* but then again as long as you don't order it or buy it, what Can I say. I like it too.
About the same re the xiu long baos.
11:30 AM
Now I'm glad I didn't like the look of "Beard Papa" choux and didn't bother to try it :)
Somehow something about it reminds me of that overcommercialised overgreased wildly popular nasty junkbake thing called Rotiboy... ugh.
11:38 AM
..oh and yeah, I don't support sharks fin either, but that make it such a dilemma when it's placed in front of you at a Chinese dinner.
How difficult to get rid of entrenched cultural norms.
12:49 PM
sneexe; will always try anything once re the beard papa.
Yes on the face of it it's tough. But one does what one can . That's all anyone can do.
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