Chef Daniel's Kitchen, Singapore

27 April 2010

What happen when the East meet the West? What are you thinking of? I guess everyone thinks of Sino-American relationship. This is Allez Cuisine, we are not talking about politics here, and we are seriously talking about cuisines that do justice to the culinary world. Forget Sino-American relationship and think how cuisine has to do with the question.

If my memory serves me right, there is a chef in town who is specialized in East-West fusion cuisine. Proudly introduce our chef, Chef Daniel Kok, who is the head chef and the owner of Chef Daniel’s Kitchen. He is a Singapore's celebrity chef and culinary judge. He is famous for his award-winning dishes such as Wok Charred Salmon, Wagyu Beef and Enoki, Spring Chicken with Foie Gras. Recently he comes out a set lunch for S$10.50 only. It consists soup of the day with homemade onion and herbs bread, a main course with more than ten options to choose from and the dessert of the day. How can the food lovers resist the affordable and tasty set lunch?

Me, a hungry man-who-tried-to-"smoke"-his-answers-in-his-exam-answer-scripts decided to pay him a visit after my exam. The restaurant is located at 7-level of Iluma, Bugis. The friendly staffs of the restaurant greeted me and I was given the set lunch menu and the ala-carte menu to choose my dishes. Tempting to try his awarding-winning dish, I decided to go for his foie gras amandine as appetizer and his famous award-winning wok charred salmon.

First the friendly waitress served me the complimentary homemade onion and herbs bread. It was quite tasty. There was onion-taste of the bread was very gentle due to the herbs. Both onion and herbs were complement to each other very well. The aroma of the onion and the herbs was nice too.

Foie gras amandine was served. The presentation of this dish was very good. The foie gras was coated with garlic and flour and was deep-fried. The timing of deep-frying is very important. If the garlic is overcooked, it can taste a bit bitter. But the timing for my dish was prefect. I enjoyed the crispiness of this dish with a bit of garlic taste and the taste onion flakes. The oil from the onion flakes was giving a nice aroma for the dish. This dish was very tasty but I guess it was too oily if this dish was used for appetizer, in my humble opinion. Foie gras is an ingredient found in French cuisine, onion flakes and its oil are used in Chinese dishes and the dish is presented in French style. Chef Daniel really knows how to combine the East and the West cuisine techniques and ingredients very well.

The next dish would be the award-winning wok charred salmon. As what the name says, the outer lay of salmon was a bit charred. When I ate it, the salmon was very tender. I would say it almost melted into my mouth. Chef Daniel fried the salmon in the wok at high temperature at the shortest time to allow the outer layer of the salmon a bit charred. The interior of the meat is a bit raw in this way. Then he simmered it with leeks, tomatoes and garlic with the soup base till the salmon was fully cooked. This was how he cooked this dish in my opinion. The salmon absorbed the flavor of the soup base. The soup base enhanced the taste of the salmon yet not overpowered it. I still could taste the fats in the salmon. This dish was light but delicious. I enjoyed different combination for my salmon. I ate it with leeks, tomatoes, garlics and the ikan bilis (dried anchovies) flakes and they harmonized very well with the salmon. All the ingredients found in this dish can found in the East, the cooking techniques are the Chinese style, but Chef Daniel presented it in western ways.

After my main course, I ordered a set of S$5 tea break special, which consisted of a cake and a coffee. Great Bargain.

Dearest friends and fans, you should try Chef Daniel’s dishes. You will not disappoint.




Chef Daniel’s Kitchen
#07-02 Iluma,
201 Victoria Street
Singapore 188067

Opens: Mondays to Sundays, 11.30am to 10.30pm

Asian Food Channel Studio, Singapore

25 April 2010

I attended The Art of Coffee Appreciation, The Prefect Brew, conducted by the famous barista in town. He is also the director of Espressoul Private Limited, Danny Pang. The course was conducted in Asian Food Channel (AFC) Studio Singapore. I learnt quite a lot from Danny, especially how to differentiate bad and good coffee. I also learnt from him to brew a good cup of coffee. The temperature to brew a coffee is 88 to 95 degree Celsius and the temperature for the milk is 60-65 degree Celsius. The pastries, which were prepared by the chef of AFC, were tasty. The tart with curry topping and potato and cream puffs were exceptionally good, I enjoyed them with my coffee, which was brewed by Danny. After the appreciation, I bought a French press and coffee grinder for my coffee. Who will be the first to taste my coffee?

North Border Bar and Grill, Singapore

27 March 2010

I was leaving NKW’s home after seeing his lovely newborn boy with my good old buddy, HC. We decided to dine in somewhere near Bouna Vista MRT station since we are just one MRT station away. I found this restaurant using my HungryGoWhere app.

If you want to reward yourself after busy five-day works, I strongly recommended this place for Friday night dining and drinking session. There are band playing the music while you can enjoy your food and beer. By the way the complimentary nachos are great too.

I ordered the baby back rib and HC wanted a steak. I love my baby back rib very much. The meat was so tender and I did not have problem using my fork and knife with this dish. It was melted-in-mouth tender. This restaurant did slightly better than Tony Roma when tenderness of the ribs. Folks, you have to try it and you will know this restaurant does justice to the ribs. The steak is good too, but not that great because I tasted a much more better steak at Bedrock Bar and Grill.

There are also several dishes I have to check them out after my exam in this restaurant. There are Lamb Chops with Balsamic Glaze, King Prawn Linguine and Buffalo wings. I promise I will have pictures for the dishes next time.

Address: 2 Rochester Park

Opening hours: Daily 11.30am – 12midnight

La Arenda Restaurant, Singapore

26 March 2010

That was a terrible day for me. Tired of working on school projects and papers, and tired working project on from my company. I started to ask myself, “When did I do the things I like to do?” I had not done sing karaoke, I had not time for photography, The only things I did to make myself a happy chap was going to Bedrock Bar and Grill above Somerset MRT station on 6 February 2010 with my dearest friends.

Bedrock Bar and Grill is a place you definitely have to try. Marbled steak, truffle mesh, macaroni with cheese and deserts. The restaurant definitely serves the top-notch American cuisine. I will return to this restaurant one day.

Ok lets us continue my story. Me, extremely do not like to push myself very hard decided to give myself a half-day break to energize myself. I went to sing in K-Box alone. It is so terrific; no one is going to snatch my microphone! I sang more than 80 songs. After my singing session, I decided to go to Pasir Ris. This place is unforgettable to me. I spent my school vacation there most of the time with my grandmother when I am in secondary school. Till now I still miss her.

There is a period of times in the 90s Pasir Ris was famous for its ban mian (板面, flat noodles), mian fen guo (面粉果, flat noodle skins), and you mian (幼面, thin noodles). Those are homemade noodles and it is actually quite famous in Singapore and Malaysia. I will search for food stalls that do justice to the homemade noodles in Singapore and JB after my exam.

Me, a glutton guy, wanted to find a restaurant for my dinner after hours of excursion in Pasir Ris. I use my HungryGoWhere App and I found a restaurant nearest to me and with a good review. It is located at Arenda Country Club and the restaurant is called La Aranda. I went there and I was greeted by the friendly smile of the waitress of La Aranda. I was directed to my table and I enjoy the quiet but peaceful atmosphere with classical music played in the restaurant. I was given the menu and I ordered a set dinner which costs about S$S30s. It consisted of coffee, onion soup, Homard lobster with cheese and chocolate truffles as recommended by the friendly waitress.

First my onion soup was served. I was not a fan for onions initially due to the taste. This soup changes my impression of onions. The soup was light and tasty. The onion taste in fact got milder. When I taste the soup carefully, I found that red wine was actually the one making the onion milder and added in fragrance to the soup. I really enjoyed the soup. (Opps, the soup is so good that I forgot to take a photo of it!)

The next dish would be the Homard lobster with cheese. I was disappointed in this dish. I guess the chef was in foul mood as I did that day. The meat of the lobster was nice and it went well with the cheese. However the mushrooms and garlic in the lobster gave a bitter taste. The whole dish did not harmonized well. I guess the chef had cooked the garlic and mushrooms together too long before putting them in the lobster. The garlic was overcooked and thus it gave a bitter taste not only itself but also affected the mushrooms. The thankful part was the cheese and lobster meat was hardly affected at all. I took out the mushroom one by one and I ate the meat with cheese together with the side dishes. I really enjoyed different combinations. This dish is French cuisine but with local ingredients added to it. Rice and spice powder, which is added on the lobster to give a fragrance smell, are the common local ingredients. This let me thought of a phrase which was originated from Iron Chef Japanese I Rokusaburo Michiba, “There is no border for ingredient”.

Last but not least was the ordinary chocolate truffle for dessert. It was ordinary yet it was so good. The manager of La Aranda recommended it to me. Now I understanded why the diners went to La Aranda and always order this dessert. The chocolate filling in the truffle was warm and melted my heart. I really enjoyed eating the fruits with warm chocolates coated on them. I guess some times ordinary food, such as a simple chocolate truffle, fried sunny-side up eggs or even food cooked by our parents taste better than cuisine from famous restaurants and from Michelin three-star chef. Ordinary yet so good……

The cuisine served by La Aranda is generally quite tasty, except the bitter mushroom and garlic from the Homard lobster with cheese. It can be better. I recommend my readers to go there if they live or bypass Pasir Ris. The price is affordable too. There are dishes I will return there to taste. There are Beef Tenderloin with Pan Fried Foie Gras and Atlantic Cod Fish. Give a try, Folks.

The address is:

60 Pasir Ris Drive 3
Aranda Country Club

Tel: +65 6585 1770

Opening hours

Daily

11.30am – 10.30pm

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