Lawry’s The Prime Rib, Singapore

Dear HC,

I am very regretful that I changed my mind to have our dinner at Tony Roma during June 09 IT show in Suntec City. You made a reservation at Lawry’s. However me, extremely, hungry dude, that day, was extremely too hungry and lazy to go to Orchard for Lawry’s. We missed the One-on-One promotion. I am so regretful about this. From that day, whenever I mentioned about Lawry’s in front of you, you would definitely nagging at me non stop about that incident. I paid quite a sum for my dinner when I visited Lawry’s alone on Sunday, 16 May 2010. The food was expensive yet so tasty.

Lawry’s has been in Singapore since 1999. It was first establish in Paragon at Orchard Road but it moved to Mandarin Gallery earlier this year. During these 11 years, Lawry’s had earned a number of tributes. It had won Singapore Tourism Board Service Star on 2009 and Wine and Dine – Singapore’s Top Restaurant from 2001 to 2009. There was no reason I, Mr Glutton, should not visit this restaurant to justify the restaurant whether she did justice to the beef cuisine.

I was greeted by pretty restaurant manager from Lawry’s. She leaded me to my table which I made reservation earlier. The interior design of the restaurant looked classic and romantic. I wondered how many men in Singapore proposed the marriage to their beaus in Lawry’s. Maybe you should propose to future Ms Lim in Lawry’s.

I ordered a set meal which consisted of Lawry’s red wine, the famous Original Spinning-Bowl Salad, Lawrys’s Cut Prime Rib with Yorkshire pudding, peas, corns, spinach, and meshed potatoes as side dishes, Pecan Nut Brownie Cake and a cup of coffee.

First Lawrys’s red wine and Original Bowl-Spinning Salad were served. The red wine is fruity and smooth. A waitress, who wore a simple French maid outfit, moved a cart towards me. She told me that she was going to prepare the Original Bowl-Spinning Salad in front of me. On the cart there was a glass bowl, which contained ices. A metallic bowl was on the ices. First the French-maid waitress poured all the ingredients of the salad into the metallic bowl gracefully. Second she poured the thousand islands sauce into the metallic bowl. Third she mixed the ingredients using a cold fork. Fourth she spun the metallic bowl three times. This was to reduce the temperature of the salad evenly to preserve the freshness of the salad. Finally the waitress served my salad to me, she also gave me a frozen fork to eat with the salad. I guessed the reason was to preserve the freshness of the salad. I tasted the Original Bowl-Spinning Salad, it was cold, appetizing and refreshing. I could even taste the natural sweetness of the ingredients. This was definitely a good way to start my dinner.

Next would be the main course, the Prime Ribs. The chefs were using a sliver cart to move around table to table to serve the rib in front of me with the side dishes in the cart. I requested for the Lawry’s Cut Prime Ribs with all the side dishes available. The side dishes were Yorkshire pudding, peas, corns, spinach, and meshed potatoes. First I ate the rib without any side dishes and sauce. I cut the rib in big piece and ate it. When I chewed rib, it was chewy, yet so tender. I guessed the rib was going through dry-aging. First the rib was vacuumed in the dry bag and it was left in the refrigerator at the temperature for 1-3 degree celsius for 21 days. The natural enzymes of the rib broke down the fibrous, connective tissue in the muscle and so this would heightened the tenderness of the rib. The rib was roast with rock salt and this would enhance the natural flavor of the rib. I could feel the natural sweetness from the rib itself. The rib was very tasty and awesome. I really enjoyed the natural flavor of the rib. I guessed if you tasted it, you would definitely enjoy it. I really enjoyed eating the rib with different combinations with my side dishes. My favorite combination was the rib, Yorkshire pudding, spinach and corns. If I ate the rib together with the corns, the sweetness of the corns was over powering that I hardly tasted the natural flavor of the rib. But if I added the spinach and Yorkshire pudding together with the corn and rib, the flavor of the spinach will reduce the sweetness of the corns and Yorkshire pudding gave a crispy texture to the dish. I could taste the flavors of the four dishes together. The complementing flavors from the four items made this dish so exciting that I ate the rib with the rib-spinach-corns-pudding combination only.

Last but not least was the Pecan Nut Brownie Cake as my dessert. The scoop of vanilla ice cream and chocolate hot fudge were on top of the oven baked pecan nut brownie. The dessert was garnished with light whipping cream, maraschino cherry & chopped pistachio nuts. The dessert was cold and hot. It was cold because of the ice cream but it was hot because of the hot chocolate fudge. I liked the distinct temperature contrast when I ate the ice cream with hot chocolate fudge. The Pecan Nut Brownie Cake was sweet and it was definitely a dish to end my dinner perfectly.

Please do not angry with me when you see my food review. I am very remorseful till now that I should not change my mind last year and missed the promotion. I do not mind to return to Lawry’s with you one day, but you pay the dinner for me. Thank you in advance.

Yours sincerely,

Hikaru :P

Bak Kut Teh, Singapore

Bak Kut Teh means meats, bones and tea in dialect. In the olden days the Chinese usually eat this dish for breakfast. But now this dish is available even lunch and dinner. The way to eat this dish is to eat the meat together with the rice and then the soup. Some people enjoy eating this dish in this sequence, rice, meat, soup, rice meat soup, etc. There are so many ways to taste this dish, and all ways taste simply great. After you finish them, you should drink tea. I guess this is to “wash” away the fats from the pork ribs in your body. Another reason to drink tea is during the olden days, the Chinese prefer tea to coffee. By the way was coffee introduced to the Chinese community during that time?_?

In the olden days, the Chinese coolies in Malaysia and Singapore needed energy to work in the dock. So they had to eat heavy breakfast. So this dish was introduced. During those time pork ribs was not popular to the rich because it consisted of bone and it hardly had meats. That was why the coolies could afford the dish. The pork ribs brought the taste to the soup. The herbs were added to the soup to improve the constitution of the coolies' bodies. This also added taste to the soup. Thus the dish gained popularity and was spread to the Chinese community.

Instead of introducing the shop or the restaurants, I am going to introduce this dish for this post. This is because me, a young, smart, hardworking and fine Chinese-Cantonese glutton, still prefer the Cantonese style way of cooking this pork rib soup which popular and mostly found in Malaysia. There are also Teochew and Hokkien style. They taste great but this depends on individual preference. The Teochews used pepper and garlic on this light-colour-and-light-taste soup and the Hokkiens used pepper, garlic and dark soy sauce to give this soup darker colour and a bit of saltiness. The Cantonese are expert in soup. They used the pepper, garlic, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, and Chinese herbs in this soup. Thus the taste of the soup is quite marvelous and sophisticated taste yet so traditional. I always find myself fall in love with this style of soup again and again. Again as I mention, this is personal preference.

This morning after my model-shoot session, I had this dish for my brunch. Singapore is famous for Teochew-style Bak Kut Teh. I ordered you tiao (Chinese fried dough), braised pork intestine (bizarred food for westerners) for side dish and Chinese tea. They taste good. However due to my heritage, I still love the Cantonese style Bak Kut Teh in JB.

I have a thought that comes to my mind right after I mention the word “heritage”. Could it be the tastiest food in this world come from our mothers? Think carefully, even though you are in overseas or you taste the cuisine from the three-star Michelin restaurants, will you still miss your mother’s cooking eventually? Will you think she knows your preference very well and she perfects her dishes and suit your own taste? Will you have the feeling to rush back home to taste her cooking after you reach the airport immediately? I think my mother is the best cook in the world, no doubt about this.

I would like to say to my mother in this post: “Madam Chua, my lovely mother, Happy Mother’s Day to you!”. I would like to represent my best colleagues Yew Fen and Boon Cheng who are in Singapore currently and have no time return to Malaysia to celebrate Mother's Day with their mothers, to say to their mothers:" Happy Mother's Day, Aunties!"

Ho Seng Kee Wanton Noodles from JB, Malaysia

8 May 2010

What is the best dish for breakfast in Johor Bahru (JB)? Too much dishes in JB are good in terms of taste and price lah! I will try my best to find tasty dishes in JB and introduce them in Allez Cuisine. Now I would like to introduce a shop which does justice to wanton noodles. This shop locates in Century Garden and it is called Ho Seng Kee wanton noodles.

This shop is around in JB more than 60s years. Mr Ho Seng came from the Mainland China and settled in Johor. He learnt his noodle-making skill and the using-light-soya-sauce knowledge from his employer. Mr Ho modified the recipe by searching the top quality protein flour and mixed the flour with duck and chicken eggs to create the ultimate taste of his wanton noodles. Mr Ho began his noodle business in JB and he passed down his unique wanton-noodles-making recipe to his generations. Source from: http://www.hosengkee.com/

The homemade noodles were tasty and chewy. The noodles were soak in cold water after cooked. This is to stop the cooking process of the noodles by removing the heat from the noodles. Thus the noodles were chewy. Furthermore the amount of light soya sauce and chilli added to the noodles were just right.  The homemade wantons were tasted light but they are tasty. I could feel the freshness of the pork in my mouth because the minced pork is lightly marinated.

This wanton noodles shop is something you MUST try. You need to have a bit of patient. Most probably you need to wait for one hour to get you food served.  Good things must wait lah!

Address

Jalan Kancil, Taman Century, JB, Near Holiday Plaza (Quite near to its former location, 187, Jalan Harimau, Taman Century)

Tonkichi, Singapore

5 May 2010

If I remember correctly, there are two restaurants where I always go for my dining experiences almost every month. One is a Chinese restaurant called Peking Restaurant at Taman Sutera Utama, Johor Bahru, Malaysia. The other one is a Japanese Restaurant called Tonkichi, in Singapore. Both restaurants share a common trait. They do justice to the PORK dishes.

I will not forget the braised pig trotter and Dongpo pork from Peking Restaurant. The braised pig trotter is certainly melted-in-mouth tender. Dongpo pork can be melted-in-mouth tender if you order the FATTEST pork belly. Both dishes taste absolutely great, I will not forget the taste. The dishes always move me and I always have a bit of tears in my eyes when I eat them. The dishes always remind me, whenever I am in overseas for work, my parents are waiting for me in Johor Bahru to return home safely and then my family and I will gather around in Peking Restaurant to dine and enjoy the dishes together, especially the two pork dishes. I always enjoy the two pork dishes. Both dishes are Chinese-home-style-cooked just like the old recipe passed down from grandmothers to mothers; my parents know the methods to cook them and they always do a good job to satisfy me, their glutton son. However the chef of Peking Restaurant just do much better than them and he prefect the dishes.

There is an interesting story how Dongpo Pork was created: During the southern Song Dynasty in China, there was exiled minister who was also a poet by the name of Su Dongpo. One day Su tried to cook his pork belly by braising it in the wok. However an old friend of his came to visit him for a Chinese-Chess game. As Su was so engrossed in the game, he had forgotten his pork belly. At the same time the villagers brought some bottles of wine to Su and they left them to his servant. The servant reported Su about the wine and the cooking progress of the pork belly. At the same time Su was playing chess and he never paid attention what his servant told him. So he answered to his servant: “put it in, put it in”. Su meant to his servant to put the wine in his house. But the servant mistakenly added the wine into the braised pork belly, allowed it to simmer and absorbed the flavor from the wine. As the aroma of the braised pork drifted towards Su, he stopped his game and identified the aroma came from his wok. He tasted the pork belly and it melted in his mouth leaving a sweet taste behind. He also found that the pork belly was not greasy to be consumed. Thus Dongpo Pork was found and the recipe spread from Huangzhou where it was first created, to all parts of China, and subsequently to the Chinese community living overseas.

Source from http://www.cookingtrek.com/the-story-of-su-dongpo/

Back to my “eat-venture”, that day was my last paper for my exams. It coincidently fell on first Wednesday of the month, which was also the “Tonkichi-Day”. “Tonkichi-Day” is the day Tonkichi Restaurant offers 15% discount on the total bill. Me, again a hungry-man-who-tried-to-"smoke"-his-answers-in-his-exam-answer-scripts decided not to give up this golden opportunity to celebrate the day he called “The-Exams-are-OVER!” So I went Tonkichi for my lunch.

 Tonkichi is another restaurant that do justice to the pork. This restaurant is famous for authentic tonkatsu, the breaded deep-fried pork cutlet in Japanese. I ordered the Kurobuta Kata Ruso Katsu, deep fried black pork shoulder loin in Japanese. It was served with miso soup, rice, watermelons for dessert and Japanese hot green tea. I topped up extra S$4 for Tonjiru.

I was given a set of mortar and pestle with the sesame seeds in the mortar from the friendly waitress. I grinded the sesame seeds and I pour the thick Japanese Worcestershire sauce into the mortar and mixed with karashi (Japanese mustard). The Japanese Worcestershire sauce is made from the purees apples and tomatoes, and then matured with sugar, salt, spices, starch and caramel. The mixture of the sauce was eaten with the tonkatsu.

My dish was served and the presentation of my dish looked good. It consisted of a bowl of mochigome, pork cutlet with cabbages and the special miso soup with porks, bean curds, carrots and other ingredients. The watermelons will serve after the main course.

My pork cutlet was tasty. I expected nothing less from Tonkichi. This dish was different from what I mention earlier in Peking Restaurant. The pork from Peking Restaurant was melted-in-mouth tender, which made the pork unique. This pork cutlet is a bit chewy in contrast. It did not mean the pork was not tender. It was tender, but it was not melted-in-mouth tender. This was because the meat was from the shoulder loin, which was a bit tougher than the other parts of the pork. I needed to chew my pork cutlet. When I chewed my pork cutlet, the fats in the meat flowed out and melted in my mouth. The natural sweetness and a bit of saltiness of the fats lingered in my mouth. The bread coat also added crispiness to the port cutlet. These were what made tonkatsu from Tonkichi so famous in Singapore. The crispiness of the bread coat, the natural sweetness and a bit of saltiness of the fats from the pork harmonized together to create a balance in taste, which is not overwhelming by each other. They complemented with each other and perfected the taste of the tonkatsu.

Tonjiru consists of porks, bean curds, carrots and other ingredients. It was tasty but was a bit saltier and more body than ordinary miso soup. In my opinion I believed Katsuobushi (Bonito Flakes which is a common ingredient found in Japanese cuisine) was the stock for this miso soup and made the soup special. Katsuobushi stock added more “body” to this soup. Probably this contributed a bit of saltiness to the soup. But the soup was tasty overall. Katsuobushi stock is also called “Vigor broth” and it was always used by Iron Chef Japanese I Rokusaburo Michiba and later Iron Chef Japanese III Masaharu Morimoto. Always remember Higher grades of Katsuobushi means Good for your Body, Bad for your Wallet. I heard this from Iron Chef series, I am not too sure whether it is true.

I strongly recommended this restaurant is a MUST-GO-MUST-TRY. You will not be disappointed if you are a Japanese food lover.

Address

Ngee Ann City

391 Orchard Road, #04-24
Tower A,
Ngee Ann City
Singapore 238872
 

Operation Hours:
10.30 am ~ 10.30 pm

Last order 10.00 pm
 

Suntec City


3 Temasek Boulevard,
#B1-009
Suntec City Mall,
Singapore 038985

Weekdays / Eve PH
11.30 am ~ 3.00 pm (Last order: 2.40 pm)
6.00 pm ~ 10.30 pm (Last order 9.40 pm)
Saturday
12.00 noon ~ 3.00 pm (Last order: 2.40 pm)
5.00 pm ~ 10.00 pm (Last order 9.40 pm)
Sunday
12.00 noon ~ 9.30 pm (Last order 9.00 pm)
Public Holiday
12.00 noon ~ 3.00 pm (Last order: 2.40 pm)
5.00 pm ~ 10.00 pm (Last order 9.40 pm)

Isetan Scotts

4th Level Isetan Scotts
350. Orchard Road
Shaw House,
Singapore 038985
 

Operation Hours: 
11.00 am ~ 10.00 pm
Last order 9.30 pm
 

Orchard Central

181 Orchard Road, #07-06

Orchard Central,
Singapore 238896

Operation Hours: 
11.00 am ~ 10.00 pm
Last order 9.30 pm

Tampines Mall 

4 Tampines Central 5
#03-26/27
Tampines Mall,
Singapore 529510

Operation Hours: 
11.00 am ~ 10.00 pm
Last order 9.30 pm