Shawn and I decided to have dinner at Sun with Moon Japanese Dining & Cafe on a particular week-day night. As I have heard about this eatery since last year and the reviews seemed not bad at all, I was a curious to try it myself.

The restaurant is dimly-lit and very chic-looking. Other than the usual seats of 2 or 4 near to the entrance area, customers may also choose to sit by the large glass windows that enable them to enjoy the view of the city outside, or, sit in those more private compartments that are flanked by wooden panels and curtained with translucent purple organza. We were seated in one of these cavities which was nice and cosy, and rather romantic.

One interesting item that we saw them serve that night was the salad. When the waitress served the salad to the table in front of ours, it was served in a big long glass bottle with a huge mouth. Instead of using a tossing bowl, the dressing was poured into the bottle of garden vegetables and then shaken with the cap closed. The couple looked amazed when the waitress emptied the contents of the bottle into the salad plate. Ingenius.

Our first appetiser was served. Chawan-mushi. It is a tofu and egg-custard served usually in a cup. One of Shawn's favourite Japanese item. The presentation was, as japanese say, kawaii - cute. The 3 peas on the custard looked particularly zen to me. Usually, chawan-mushi is served without gravy, as they are very tasty on its own. However, the chef added the item on the left, that is a savoury gravy that will be poured over the chawan mushi to add taste. Next, we had Adegashi Tofu. This is one of my favourite tofu dishes of which cubes of tofu are coated with a crispy light batter and within the coating is smooth tofu that melts in your mouth. The interesting thing about this is that the sauce is served in a separate bowl instead of having it poured over the tofu before it is served. Pouring liquid over dry food is always something fun to do. Now the main course is served. We ordered Kamameshi, which is one of the restaurant's specialty. Japanese sticky rice is topped with meat or seafood and then cooked and served in a metal pot as shown in the picture. When the waitress served the kamameshis, she inverted the hour glass so that we may only open when the time is up. Owell, I suppose it is more presentation than really giving the food more time to be cooked. I had beef kamameshi with raw egg while Shawn had unagi and clam kamameshi. The half-cooked egg yolk, when broken and mixed with the rice, made the texture even stickier and more wholesome. Even Shawn who doesn't like raw eggs thought that the egg really made the rice yummier. My beef slices were tender and there was a sweet Ponzu gravy that was sufficient to add taste to the entire kamameshi and yet not too much to cause the food to be soggy or lose its natural flavour. Yums. The portion of unagi in shawn's kamameshi was quite pathetic. With only 3 slices of it and a spoonful of rubbery clams, there was too much rice left behind. Towards finishing the food in the pot (which was rather substantial), one can scrape the sides of the steel pot for the overcooked rice that has been near-crisp, just like cantonese claypot rice.

It was a pity that we were already too full to order any dessert. I later found out that their desserts was an integral part of Sun with Moon. The executive chef had purposefully returned from Tokyo with authentic dessert recipes that will be used to please the tastebuds of fortunate Singaporeans. What caught my eye was the sweet box which contains 4 different mini-bites of sweet treats that will give the customer both variety and satisfaction to their sweet tooth.

Owell, perhaps, there can still be a next time. And then, I'll definitely order the dessert, and of course, the well-tossed salad. 

I had a conversation with booboo earlier on and he told me that he was going to have eggbread for supper. His family calls it the eggbread. While I just call it. Hm. French toast? My first reaction was to exclaim I WANT! and so he egged me on (no pun intended) to make them myself. (and my brother). at 1.00am. Subsequently, I started looking for my ingredients. Here's what I got.
What made this snack really special was the fact that I had lovely ones 2 days ago. Well, booboo made them for me for lunch. They were sweet and I didn't quite know that homemade ones could be like that. And I thought the cup of milo he brought with them made the whole thing so sweet and thoughtful. Bliss~ He said that the last toasts will always be the sweetest due to some kind of reaction between the egg and the bread to give glucose. Well, my version's less sweet because I couldn't gauge how much sugar I should add in. But I soaked the bread in the egg mixture long enough for the bread to absorb the mixture. The toasts remained soft and not dry even after it was left to cool for a while.

 

Godiva in instant oats

I was having breakfast at home a couple of days ago and what I had was a bowl of instant oats There was something unsatisfying about it. I suddenly recalled that there were several godiva bars in the refrigerator (though choc aren't supposed to be stored in them cuz they won't taste good as before), so it kinda led to this:

Prepare your instant oats in preferred amount.
Then throw in a square of godiva chocolate
Put the bowl into a microwave to melt chocolate
I suggest not stirring the choc together with the oats to form a homogenous mixture.
Rather, let it have a cream fudgy chocolaty centre to scoop into with the oats.

On the 3rd day of Chinese New Year, I was fortunate to be invited for dinner with my family to the newly-opened New Majestic Restaurant under the highly-anticipated New Majestic Hotel. I was looking forward to this dinner for some time due to the raving reviews I've heard so far.

The restaurant is a contemporary one, boasting of cantonese food with a touch of fusion in its combination and display. The ambience was comfortable and good. Just refine. And we were ushered into our private room for 10.

This was the kitchen that was to prepare our dinner for the night. It is an open concept whereby the dinner guests may choose to view the entire preparation of their dinner. 

After our servings of red wine and hot chinese tea, the first course was Lo Hei. There was a bashful chinese waitress serving the Lo Hei. Apparently, it is a custom that she said words of good fortune and good wishes while she poured each ingredient over the big plate. I guess she was new as her sticking-out-tongue action after each set of chinese idioms exposed her awkwardness. And that made it rather unbearable to watch. I actually felt embarrassed for her after a while. Sheesh. What made our Lo Hei dish very special was the glittery shiny shimmery pure gold dust over the entire dish. Out of curiosity, i took a wipe over the sides of the plate to catch some gold on my finger tips. It looked gorgeous and very very fine. Tasted it - hmm. It was tasteless. Nonetheless, eating gold is something very interesting enough. Ladies, may our complexion start to glow after our dose of it. 

And the action began. Lo hei time! We performed this customary affair with unusually long chopsticks as shown in the picture. Perhaps it was a novelty act on the part of the restaurant and it pleased me very well to use such a huge utensil for the first time. Certainly added a lot of convenience to the people around the round table as everyone just needed to stretch out the hands while the extended version of a chopstick would reach the food for them. 

After the action, our first proper dish was served - the inevitable shark's fins soup of course. Not particularly my favourite food but it made a good dish nevertheless. Bean sprouts and whole pieces of sharks fins with a dash of red vinegar is the best variation of a sharks fins soup. Our soup that night included fish belly and crab meat as well. So it was a bowl of goodness, I would say. 

Our 3rd course was my favourite of the night. Lobster salad with a single sweet-tangy fried tiger prawn. Perhaps I like light salads and the fruit salad was refreshing on the tastebuds and the lobster pieces were fairly substantial. And of course, the prawn was tasty. Unfortunately, it was a little overcooked that it felt a tad tough. 

Next up, a pairing of roasted chicken and braised duck with jellyfish. The braised duck was tasty and tender. otherwise, nondescript. 

Our 5th course of the night was this handmade egg beancurd on chinese spinach. The beancurd is made from scratch by the chief chef who comes every morning to do it. The beancurd was very smooth and tasty. It also had a pan-fried fragrance which can only be produced when cooked over a large fire. A favourite among the parents for its deliciousness despite its simplicity. 

This was the final course of the night. It was an interesting combination of a Shanghainese pancake perched on top of green tea ice-cream on a pool of mango puree. Surprisingly, the dessert was not very sweet at all. The oilyness of the pancake is balanced by the refreshing lightness of the green tea melting into the mildly-scented mango puree. However, if only the pancake was served hot and crispy and the puree more chilled, the sharp contrast of hot and cold on the palatte would have been divine. 

Shawn and I had a dinner party planned for his jing gang. He decided to have it a black-tie event and we wanted to do something different from the usual serving of pasta bolognaise, pizza and other junk food. Something sophisticated, that is. However, due to time constraint and lack of ingredients, the menu was simplified. Nonetheless it was certainly fun trying out new recipes and putting them together. And, Shawn had his first hand at serious cooking. Being kinda serious about it, we even had a rehearsal 2 nights before.
Dinner was prepared from Shawn's home and brought over to the penthouse, which was the designated venue for the night. The guests arrived at 7.30pm. The ladies look especially resplendent. We saw corset top, half a fur stole and an extremely racy low-cut-bare-back number. With some help to set up the dining table, dinner officially began.

Dinner Menu
Appetiser
Bacon-Mushroom Bundle
Mashed Potato Balls

Main Course
Chicken fillet baked with mushrooms and Cheddar
Sole Meuniere with lemon butter sauce
Plain Carbonara

Guest’s Desserts
Brownies - courtesy of Dennessa
Vanilla Ice-cream-turned-mousse - courtesy of Chloe and Tim

The bundles were well-received, all thanks to the fool-proof combination of smoky bacon and strandy mushrooms. Shawn's sole meuniere was praised by all and the chicken dish was not bad for a first attempt. The only disappointment was the carbonara. It wasn't done from scratch as we relied on the ready-made sauce mix. I think we should try making it ourselves since we are fond of cream-based food. Dennessa's brownies were nice and chewy and not too sweet, certainly not a failure which she stressed upon during her arrival. I love it when haphazardly thrown into a glass full of semi-frozen vanilla icecream.

Our first dinner was a small success.

This blog is dedicated to the Big One Upstairs. And to all lovers of food.
Let the journey begin..