If you are Chinese, you need to watch this.
Thursday, 29 December 2016
Hew Kuan Yau 丘光耀
I try to avoid posting anything political but this has to be an exception because this guy is damn entertaining (and his message needs to be shared)
If you are Chinese, you need to watch this.
If you are Chinese, you need to watch this.
Tuesday, 27 December 2016
Potato Noodles in Old Klang Road
Went up to KL yesterday and caught up with some friends from diving group.
Someone suggested this old style restaurant in Old Klang Road. So off we went.
If you know where Meng Kee is at, then you can find it easily. It's at a small lorong after that.
If you see this sign, park around this area. (Turn left)
Then where "Big Mouth" Bak Kut Teh is at, there's another small lane. (Turn Left again)
The you will see a little shack with white board outside.
We started off with some chicken nuggets for munchies before the rest of the gang arrive.
I don't know if this noodle is made of normal potato or sweet potato.
It is kind of like a hybrid of hor fun and glass noodle. Texture wise it is more like hor fun but different.
We ordered quite a lot of food. Some of which I've never had before.
This fritter has got century eggs and fish cake inside. Quite interesting and tasty.
The fried glass noodles has got a right oomph.
Deep fried bean curd = good!
The marmite pork ribs was the best dish
We also ordered the obligatory gege, steamed fish head, and pig trotters. All were not bad but not exceptional.
This place is down to earth but I don't mind it.
All and all the bill was RM209 for 7 of us so less than RM30 per person is a pretty good deal.
Someone suggested this old style restaurant in Old Klang Road. So off we went.
If you know where Meng Kee is at, then you can find it easily. It's at a small lorong after that.
If you see this sign, park around this area. (Turn left)
Then where "Big Mouth" Bak Kut Teh is at, there's another small lane. (Turn Left again)
The you will see a little shack with white board outside.
We started off with some chicken nuggets for munchies before the rest of the gang arrive.
I don't know if this noodle is made of normal potato or sweet potato.
It is kind of like a hybrid of hor fun and glass noodle. Texture wise it is more like hor fun but different.
We ordered quite a lot of food. Some of which I've never had before.
This fritter has got century eggs and fish cake inside. Quite interesting and tasty.
The fried glass noodles has got a right oomph.
Deep fried bean curd = good!
We also ordered the obligatory gege, steamed fish head, and pig trotters. All were not bad but not exceptional.
This place is down to earth but I don't mind it.
All and all the bill was RM209 for 7 of us so less than RM30 per person is a pretty good deal.
A happy evening with the gang.
Sunday, 25 December 2016
Where are all the fat crabs?
Yesterday, my buddy "Feeling" (that's the nickname my wife gave him) came down to Seremban to see me.
We had a good time chatting and discuss about the idea of opening a coffee shop. It's cash business and if it works out, it will provide some nice additional income for my retirement.
"Feeling" is going to give up his current vocation and wants to do something different. I think his idea to open a coffee shop is a viable one ( but we must do our home work). He is hard working and intelligent and I'm sure he will do his best. I promised to invest some money for this venture.
Anyway, I've been driving past this restaurant for the last couple of years and wanted to go there.
But my wife and I are just 2 persons it's just too difficult to order crabs. So I've been putting off coming here. Since "feeling" and his girlfriend are here, that made 4 of us. Good enough. We decided to check it out.
Finally I get to have some crabs.
Started with some fruit rojak.
The crabs was cooked in "Kam Heong" style. Each crab is less than 500g. That's way too small. The right size of mud crab must be 800g to 1kg. Then the claws will be about the size of a child's hand.
These salt & pepper prawns were superb.
The others were so so. My wife can't take MSG so we asked the restaurant not to put any. As a result, most of the dishes tasted flat. It's the litmus test for Chinese restaurants. If you need MSG for your dishes to taste good, then you ain't such a good chef/cook. Am I right or am I right??
This one was totally flat. You market it as "Superior Soup" i.e. "Siong Thong" but it's not!! On this account alone I will not come back. Because they revealed themselves as an imposter.
The Yam Ring. The sweet sour pork inside was covered with so much flour you wonder if there's any pork inside. Ptui.
No point showing the other dishes.
I would recommend you AVOID this place.
Anyway, back to the title. Why is there no large mud crabs in Malaysia??
Because they all get sold to Singapore. And the crabs there are huge.
Singaporeans are very passionate about crabs, much much more than Malaysian. And their restaurants pay a premium for the supply of crabs.
(Read about Mud Crab aquaculture here. They are typically fatten in mangrove swamp in Australia, India, Bangladesh, Philippines, and Malaysia. But I think Malaysia produces less than the other countries.)
Of course, the Singapore Chilli Crab is my fav. Dip the "mun tou" in the sauce.... yummmm.
I lived in Singapore for a long time and I can guarantee you if you go to crab restaurants like Jumbo or Master Crab you will find much larger crabs.
Master crabs allows you to select the live crabs which are placed in a basket next to the ordering counter. Each crab is labeled with price and you just have to select and tell them how to cook it. I find that to be a much more pleasurable way to eat crabs.
See those styrofoam boxes in the lower right corner of the above picture? The crabs are all inside.
They have lots of branches but my usual place is the one at Ghim Moh Road.
Address: Blk 19, Ghim Moh Road, Singapore 270019
Phone: +65 6314 1868
We had a good time chatting and discuss about the idea of opening a coffee shop. It's cash business and if it works out, it will provide some nice additional income for my retirement.
"Feeling" is going to give up his current vocation and wants to do something different. I think his idea to open a coffee shop is a viable one ( but we must do our home work). He is hard working and intelligent and I'm sure he will do his best. I promised to invest some money for this venture.
Anyway, I've been driving past this restaurant for the last couple of years and wanted to go there.
But my wife and I are just 2 persons it's just too difficult to order crabs. So I've been putting off coming here. Since "feeling" and his girlfriend are here, that made 4 of us. Good enough. We decided to check it out.
Finally I get to have some crabs.
Started with some fruit rojak.
The crabs was cooked in "Kam Heong" style. Each crab is less than 500g. That's way too small. The right size of mud crab must be 800g to 1kg. Then the claws will be about the size of a child's hand.
These salt & pepper prawns were superb.
The others were so so. My wife can't take MSG so we asked the restaurant not to put any. As a result, most of the dishes tasted flat. It's the litmus test for Chinese restaurants. If you need MSG for your dishes to taste good, then you ain't such a good chef/cook. Am I right or am I right??
This one was totally flat. You market it as "Superior Soup" i.e. "Siong Thong" but it's not!! On this account alone I will not come back. Because they revealed themselves as an imposter.
The Yam Ring. The sweet sour pork inside was covered with so much flour you wonder if there's any pork inside. Ptui.
No point showing the other dishes.
I would recommend you AVOID this place.
Anyway, back to the title. Why is there no large mud crabs in Malaysia??
Because they all get sold to Singapore. And the crabs there are huge.
Singaporeans are very passionate about crabs, much much more than Malaysian. And their restaurants pay a premium for the supply of crabs.
(Read about Mud Crab aquaculture here. They are typically fatten in mangrove swamp in Australia, India, Bangladesh, Philippines, and Malaysia. But I think Malaysia produces less than the other countries.)
Of course, the Singapore Chilli Crab is my fav. Dip the "mun tou" in the sauce.... yummmm.
I lived in Singapore for a long time and I can guarantee you if you go to crab restaurants like Jumbo or Master Crab you will find much larger crabs.
Master crabs allows you to select the live crabs which are placed in a basket next to the ordering counter. Each crab is labeled with price and you just have to select and tell them how to cook it. I find that to be a much more pleasurable way to eat crabs.
See those styrofoam boxes in the lower right corner of the above picture? The crabs are all inside.
They have lots of branches but my usual place is the one at Ghim Moh Road.
Address: Blk 19, Ghim Moh Road, Singapore 270019
Phone: +65 6314 1868
The other place to eat crabs is Jumbo Seafood. Go to the one at Dempsey Hill. Much more classy. Bring money because you gonna pay. Hahahaha.
Block 11 Dempsey Road #01-16
Dempsey Hill, Singapore 249673
Tel : 6479-3435 | Fax : 6476-6329
Lunch :
12pm – 3pm (last order at 2.15pm)
Dinner :
5.30pm – 11.30pm (last order at 10.30pm)
Saturday, 24 December 2016
Farmed fish on your dinning table.
The ocean is overfished. That's a fact.
I'm a passionate scuba diver and I tend not to eat a lot of fish except farmed fish. Occasionally I will eat some fish caught in the ocean when I got to Japanese restaurants.
Increasingly people are resorting to farmed fish and it has become a really big industry.
For example, Singapore is going big in farmed Barramundi.
"Barramundi Asia is Singapore’s first and largest farm to rear barramundi out of large sea-cage enclosures in the open seas. The farm occupies 7.5ha – equal to 10 football fields – off Pulau Semakau, boasting a current annual production of 500 tonnes."
It's really something. You can read more about it here.
Whereas those monkeys that run this country has done nothing much in terms of developing production of farmed fish. Their mentality is still in 14th century.
The other fish that's being farmed on a large scale is Tilapia.
And a lot of restaurants are serving them in various styles.
The thing about Tilapia is that it is you have to get them up to about 1kg then the fish will have some thick flesh.
Some of those that they sell in supermarket are sometimes as small as 600g which is bullshit if you ask me.
This one is a monster. You need a table of 10 to handle this bugger.
One of my favourite restaurants in Seremban is TC Keong. Lots of locals come here. Not sure if out of towners come here but some bloggers do blog about this place.
The dishes here are cooked with passion with home town feel. And the price is pretty reasonable.
And of course my main reason for coming here is the sweet and sour fish. Tilapia to be exact.
It's usually quite a lot for my wife and I, so we can only order one other dish.
This is my wife's fav.
Restaurant TC Keong
Address: Jalan Sri Rahang 1, Taman Sri Rahang, 70100 Seremban, Negeri Sembilan.
Waze for: “TC Keong Restaurant”
I'm a passionate scuba diver and I tend not to eat a lot of fish except farmed fish. Occasionally I will eat some fish caught in the ocean when I got to Japanese restaurants.
Increasingly people are resorting to farmed fish and it has become a really big industry.
For example, Singapore is going big in farmed Barramundi.
"Barramundi Asia is Singapore’s first and largest farm to rear barramundi out of large sea-cage enclosures in the open seas. The farm occupies 7.5ha – equal to 10 football fields – off Pulau Semakau, boasting a current annual production of 500 tonnes."
It's really something. You can read more about it here.
Whereas those monkeys that run this country has done nothing much in terms of developing production of farmed fish. Their mentality is still in 14th century.
The other fish that's being farmed on a large scale is Tilapia.
And a lot of restaurants are serving them in various styles.
The thing about Tilapia is that it is you have to get them up to about 1kg then the fish will have some thick flesh.
Some of those that they sell in supermarket are sometimes as small as 600g which is bullshit if you ask me.
This one is a monster. You need a table of 10 to handle this bugger.
One of my favourite restaurants in Seremban is TC Keong. Lots of locals come here. Not sure if out of towners come here but some bloggers do blog about this place.
The dishes here are cooked with passion with home town feel. And the price is pretty reasonable.
And of course my main reason for coming here is the sweet and sour fish. Tilapia to be exact.
It's usually quite a lot for my wife and I, so we can only order one other dish.
This is my wife's fav.
Restaurant TC Keong
Address: Jalan Sri Rahang 1, Taman Sri Rahang, 70100 Seremban, Negeri Sembilan.
Waze for: “TC Keong Restaurant”
Friday, 23 December 2016
Single Malt Whiskey in Beehoon Soup
I have a collection of single malt whiskey. I bought these when I used to travel quite a bit. But I don't really drink these days. Once or twice a year when friends come over. So what do I do with the whiskey??
Sometimes when I'm lazy to go out I would cook my own dinner.
My favourite is beehoon soup. I grow various vegetable in my garden so naturally that goes into the soup as well.
The recipe is simple.
1) Handful of Beehoon ( soak in water first)
2) Minced pork - 100g per person.
3) Lady's fingers (Okra) - 2 or 3
4) Spring onion
5) Maggi Ikan Bilis stock
6) 1 spoon of Cooking oil
7) 1 spoon of Soy sauce
8) half spoon Sesame oil
9) pinch of salt
10) half spoon of Flour
On the side, mix minced pork with cooking oil, soy sauce, sesame oil, salt, and flour and mix well.
Slice lady's fingers diagonally. Chop spring onion.
Fry the minced pork and lady's fingers for 5 mins and set aside.
Pour one bowl of water into a pot. Add a cube of ikan bills stock. Bring to boil. Add in beehoon and cook for 2 mins.
Once that's done, pour the content into a big bowl and add the cooked pork on top.
Sprinkle the spring onion and some pepper.
And finally add in one big spoon of single malt in the beehoon soup.
And you are ready to rock!!
Try it and let me know if you like it. You know those XO fish head beehoon soup that they sell in restaurants? I bet they done put in real XO brandy. My version is better.
In fact, if you want to add milk in the soup, you can try it too. I am personally not into that.
A note on the whiskey. If you think single malt is too precious for beehoon soup, replace with blended like Chivas. Don't used bourbon like Jack Daniels, it taste like shit with the soup.
P.S. If you are cooking for more than one person, cook each bowl individually to maintain consistency.
Sometimes when I'm lazy to go out I would cook my own dinner.
My favourite is beehoon soup. I grow various vegetable in my garden so naturally that goes into the soup as well.
The recipe is simple.
1) Handful of Beehoon ( soak in water first)
2) Minced pork - 100g per person.
3) Lady's fingers (Okra) - 2 or 3
4) Spring onion
5) Maggi Ikan Bilis stock
6) 1 spoon of Cooking oil
7) 1 spoon of Soy sauce
8) half spoon Sesame oil
9) pinch of salt
10) half spoon of Flour
On the side, mix minced pork with cooking oil, soy sauce, sesame oil, salt, and flour and mix well.
Slice lady's fingers diagonally. Chop spring onion.
Fry the minced pork and lady's fingers for 5 mins and set aside.
Pour one bowl of water into a pot. Add a cube of ikan bills stock. Bring to boil. Add in beehoon and cook for 2 mins.
Once that's done, pour the content into a big bowl and add the cooked pork on top.
Sprinkle the spring onion and some pepper.
And finally add in one big spoon of single malt in the beehoon soup.
And you are ready to rock!!
Try it and let me know if you like it. You know those XO fish head beehoon soup that they sell in restaurants? I bet they done put in real XO brandy. My version is better.
In fact, if you want to add milk in the soup, you can try it too. I am personally not into that.
A note on the whiskey. If you think single malt is too precious for beehoon soup, replace with blended like Chivas. Don't used bourbon like Jack Daniels, it taste like shit with the soup.
P.S. If you are cooking for more than one person, cook each bowl individually to maintain consistency.
Wednesday, 21 December 2016
2017 pun: Go for Gold
I switch on the Bloomberg channel every morning.
These days, the hot topic is still the Trump administration. His cabinet appointments had not clam down the market and I think his promise to revive Reaganomics supply-side stimulus is going to be anti-climatic.
Naturally I think the market has ran ahead of itself.
I like Gold for 2017.
The US dollar rally and rise in US bonds has made quite a lot of gold holders nervous.
Since Nov, ETFs sold 216 tonnes of gold and the prices are reflected in the 3 biggest Gold ETFs.
The biggest of them all, SPDR Gold Shares ETF (GLD), has an asset of close to $34 billion. But I think the expense ration of 0.40% is a bit high.
iShares Gold Trust ETF is the one I like with expense ration of 0.25%. It has $7.66 billion under management and I think that's a decent size.
But if you want an ETF that holds physical gold then you can consider this one. ETFS Physical Swiss Gold Shares ETF.
All these 3 ETFs' charts for this year closely mirror the actual gold price. Well, that's why you buy ETFs.
Anyway, I would be surprised if Gold retreat even further from this point.
It is already oversold as it is.
I let you decide how many % of your holdings to place in Gold ETFs. I'm planning to put about 20%.
These days, the hot topic is still the Trump administration. His cabinet appointments had not clam down the market and I think his promise to revive Reaganomics supply-side stimulus is going to be anti-climatic.
Naturally I think the market has ran ahead of itself.
I like Gold for 2017.
The US dollar rally and rise in US bonds has made quite a lot of gold holders nervous.
Since Nov, ETFs sold 216 tonnes of gold and the prices are reflected in the 3 biggest Gold ETFs.
The biggest of them all, SPDR Gold Shares ETF (GLD), has an asset of close to $34 billion. But I think the expense ration of 0.40% is a bit high.
iShares Gold Trust ETF is the one I like with expense ration of 0.25%. It has $7.66 billion under management and I think that's a decent size.
But if you want an ETF that holds physical gold then you can consider this one. ETFS Physical Swiss Gold Shares ETF.
All these 3 ETFs' charts for this year closely mirror the actual gold price. Well, that's why you buy ETFs.
Anyway, I would be surprised if Gold retreat even further from this point.
It is already oversold as it is.
I let you decide how many % of your holdings to place in Gold ETFs. I'm planning to put about 20%.
Monday, 19 December 2016
The best Hainanese Chicken Rice in Singapore
The day earlier we also went to another place which is favourite place for my wife and I.
My wife can take MSG so she's pretty careful with outside food.
We have come to this place for years and there's usually a line waiting for their turn. The shop is pretty small but most people just eat and run.
The roast chicken usually runs out first and you are left with steamed chicken.
Black or white, I like them equally.
The thing you come for at this place is the rice.
It's obviously cooked with chicken broth but I think they put a little ginger inside as well.
Singaporeans like to drip a little dark soy sauce on the rice. The dark sauce add a bit of bitterness in addition to the saltiness. It's actually not bad especially the rice is so well made.
So, you've gotta try it. Trust me.
You've gotta do the chilli sauce and mince ginger too. Authentic style.
If you're hungry you can go for the Pickled Vegetable Soup, I've ordered it once and it's actually not that bad.
But I'm contented with the free soup that comes with the chicken rice. They are tasty enough.
This place is located inside Far East Plaza (5th Floor, Unit 116) on Scotts Road. After makan, you can go do your shopping.
Perfect!!
Some fool will ask you to go Chatterbox in Mandarin Orchard Hotel for the Hainanese Chicken Rice.
Don't be stupid and waste your money.
My wife can take MSG so she's pretty careful with outside food.
We have come to this place for years and there's usually a line waiting for their turn. The shop is pretty small but most people just eat and run.
The roast chicken usually runs out first and you are left with steamed chicken.
Black or white, I like them equally.
The thing you come for at this place is the rice.
It's obviously cooked with chicken broth but I think they put a little ginger inside as well.
Singaporeans like to drip a little dark soy sauce on the rice. The dark sauce add a bit of bitterness in addition to the saltiness. It's actually not bad especially the rice is so well made.
So, you've gotta try it. Trust me.
You've gotta do the chilli sauce and mince ginger too. Authentic style.
If you're hungry you can go for the Pickled Vegetable Soup, I've ordered it once and it's actually not that bad.
But I'm contented with the free soup that comes with the chicken rice. They are tasty enough.
This place is located inside Far East Plaza (5th Floor, Unit 116) on Scotts Road. After makan, you can go do your shopping.
Perfect!!
Some fool will ask you to go Chatterbox in Mandarin Orchard Hotel for the Hainanese Chicken Rice.
Don't be stupid and waste your money.
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