Maria Brown on Ten Lessons for a Successful Career

Taken from the SMU website (http://knowledge.smu.edu.sg/article.cfm?articleid=1118) from a talk Maria Brown (Co-founder of AFC channel) gave at SMU in 2008.

I think she is absolutely right in what she says. I have been sprouting the same feelings to anyone who would listen for as long as I have started the school so I hope it helps all those out there who are entrepreneurs or wannabe entrepreneurs.

Lesson #10: Be passionate

Love your life, love your job, and love to be around the people you have to be around. It does not work if you do not feel any passion for what you are doing. The key thing about passion is that other people can see and feel it. It will determine the way other people respond to you.

One of the biggest things about the AFC is we are not backed by a major TV distributor like NBC or the BBC. We were two people setting up a company from scratch. The one thing that everyone knew about us was that we were so passionate to the extent that we made people sick!

Passion is infectious. Find what it is that is going to make you passionate in life. You have to understand that the same thing which makes you passionate will not make everybody else passionate. Sometimes you have got to be prepared to do something different, and to go against the rule of what everybody else is doing.

Lesson #9: Always dress well

Whatever it is you want to do, dress like you want to do it. If you want to be a rock star, dress like a rock star. If you want to be a politician, do not dress like a rock star. What you have to understand is, whatever it is you want to do, somebody somewhere will give you an opportunity to do it. But if you do not dress the part, they are not going to believe in you. What is worse is you are not going to believe in yourself. Understand that you have to be what it is you want to do before you actually do it. Start to think like that and you will become it. When you become it, you will be like it.

Lesson #8: Embrace Diversity

Diversity is a lesson for us to learn from each other. Without embracing that lesson you will fail. To be able to move forward, to be innovative and different, you have to embrace that which is different. Diversity is key. If you’re given the opportunity to work among people who are different from you, grab it. There is always something you can learn.

At the AFC, we have 30 employees made up of 10 different nationalities. Our oldest employee is 73 and is the most solid employee in the office. She takes less sick leave than anybody else, she makes the least excuses about not getting the job done, and she is one of the most open-minded people I have worked with.

Lesson #7: Plan for the worst; hope for the best

Plan whatever you want but expect that life is going to throw you challenges, which means you might not be able to do what you planned. Life is not one straight line. What we say at the AFC is “be paranoid”. Then when life throws you a surprise, you are not keeling over from shock because your life is not turning out the way you want it to be. Instead, what you can do is respond with positivism. What you will actually find is, very often, the great plan that you had which did not happen and made you do something else actually made you do something even better. But you have to be open to it.

Lesson #6: Be prepared for tough messages

There is no such thing as a world without conflict. The only way you can have a world without conflict is to be dead. You have to understand that there are going to be differences in opinions. Nobody is going to agree with you all the time. You are going to hear things you do not want to hear.

At the AFC, we have to give tough messages to our employees all the time. We have to tell our employees they are not doing well, that they need to do something different, or that this is not working out and we need them to leave the company.

You have to be open to hearing these things if you are going to learn and grow. The only way to learn is to fail and to hear the tough messages. Be a good manager or listen to good managers who are giving you that, and understand that you are going to have to deliver that one day.

Lesson #5: In life, make it happen

Whining does not get anyone anywhere. Get out there and do whatever it is you want to do. Get outside your comfort zone. Life is too short. None of us know how long we are going to live. You cannot sit there saying you have another 40 years to go. We have no guarantees.

Lesson #4: Be proactive

It is about going out there, taking control and having initiative. In the workplace, it is about thinking beyond your job description. It is about asking “what more can I do?” You are being watched all the time so you had better be watched for the right reasons. At the end of the day, you are there to do a job. You are getting paid by somebody to be there. So get smart in the workplace. And being smart is about being proactive; thinking above and beyond what you need to do and thinking what is going to make me look good.

Lesson #3: Be honest

My business partner and I have a personal manifesto and that is to be honest to each other. That is because we are dealing with employees and clients. We feel it is really important to be as straight as you can. We think it is very important to be honest about what we are doing.

The absolute golden rule in life is to never lie to yourself. At least you will know what other people are going to tell you and you will not be shocked. Honesty is key because it is about doing the right thing for you which is going to make you more successful.

Lesson #2: Do not think short-term

You have got to be thinking long-term -- what do you want to do in 10 to 15 years time? -- because that will then affect the decisions you are making now which are like building blocks. If you put those building blocks in place, then you will get to the right destination even with all the turns and changes that life offers you.

When I was 17, I wanted to work in the BBC. I joined the BBC at 21 knowing it was absolutely the piece de resistance when it comes to journalism. I would have done that job for nothing. And actually I did.

Money, if that is what you want to earn, is the easiest thing to earn. But doing something that you really want to do, doing something that changes your life, doing something that maybe changes other people’s lives, that is a lot harder to figure out.

Lesson #1: Strive for perfection in your job

You have got to take an attitude of perfection in whatever you do. Understand that being perfect about whatever it is you do is profitable. It is professional. It is rare. People who are perfect are always in demand. Being perfect is possible. It is about the drive to do whatever you can do better than anybody else with passion and with inspiration.

When we created the AFC, we did it to be the best there can be out there. We could have been mediocre and average but did not want to be that. We stepped out of our boundaries and comfort zones. Whatever it is, we will do it to the best of our ability.

If you live your life like that and try to do everything like that, you will be an absolute success in whatever you do. Do not be lawyers or doctors or accountants unless it is what you want to do. You must find the courage to do whatever it is that makes you inspired. Be passionate and love what you do to know you’re going to be great. So go out there, grab it, and be a success.

Wednesday Movie Night - Julie & Julia

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We have another Julie & Julia class coming up in case you missed the first one we held on the 16th October.

Julie & Julia is a film which depicts events in the life of chef Julia Child in the early years in her culinary career, contrasting her life with Julie Powell, who aspires to cook all 524 recipes from Child's cookbook during a single year. A must watch for all foodies, this is your chance to recreate some of the recipes from the movie and try your hand to be the next Julia!

Each participant will receive a free Julie & Julia apron!

This time chef Alicia will be teaching us how to make:

Cheese soufflé
Boeuf bourguignon
Mash potatoes
Carrot braised in butter
Baby peas ala francaise
Mini tart with creme patisserie and fresh fruit

When: Wednesday 11th November from 7pm to 10pm

Fees: $140 per person

So grab a few friends and celebrate mid week.. it's almost the weekend again and one more week closer to Christmas!

Lynette

Knife Shapening Service

Alot of people ask me where they can sharpen their knives. Well here are three places you can go to:

Mr DIY at B1-46 at Bukit Timah Plaza Tel: 6467 1546

Pow Li at Blk 32 People's Park New Market Road #02-1040 Tel: 6535 2450

Razorsharp at Tan Boon Liat Building. Their website is here.

Lynette

Sicilian food with Chef Lino Sauro

We had a really fun cooking class with Chef Lino Sauro from Gattopardo on Sunday morning. These photos were taken by Anthony Chong, one of the participants. The photos were so good I wanted to put them on the blog as it captures the colours and the spirit of our cooking classes. I always eat like a pig when Lino teaches. Even if I don't eat at the class itself, I eat all the left overs when all the participants have left (I don't want them to see how much I eat!). Lino usually stands on the other side of the table where the participants usually sit and from there, he conducts the class with his instructions while the students cook.

The ingredients laid out to prepare the pollo con cannella, zafferano e couscous

(Chicken legs with saffron, cinnamon and couscous)

Two of our participants from Melbourne who are here on vacation

The chicken simmering away on the pan

The final product - chicken legs served with couscous (delicious by the way!)

Chef Lino slicing the fish

Making the stuffing for the fish

Chef Lino showing how to roll and stuff the fish

The fish in a Le Creuset pan scatted with kaffir lime leaves before going into the oven

Braciole di pesce spada alla messinese
(Mediterranean swordfish with spicy smoked cheese)

Zabaione di zibibbo con le more di gelso
(Sabayon of Sicilian sweet wine with fresh mulberries and vanilla ice cream)
Note the camera and recipe in the background (essential items in a cooking class!)

The food from Sicily has some elements of African food due to it's proximity hence you see the use of saffron and couscous in their cuisine. It makes a refreshing change from the usual food that we know of as Italian food from the other parts of Italy.

Chef Lino will continue to teach at Palate Sensations throughout the year so do watch out for his schedules. His restaurant Gattopardo is slated to open in early December at Fort Canning.

Lynette

Basic Skills Classes @ Palate Sensations

We had a great article in Wine & Dine in October. This article really captured the essence of why I started the school and what we are trying to achieve. I'm glad someone finally wrote about it.

The 8 Week Basic Skills - Western Techniques is taught by Chef Francois Mermilliod, Owner of Absinthe. It's our most popular course and often gets booked out months in advance. We hold this 3 times a year and starting 2010, we will offer a shortered version of this (6 modules instead of 8) on weekday evenings and also on week day mornings. This will be taught by our Executive Chef Alicia Tivey.

If you are reading this from Facebook, you need to go to the original blog to read the article.

Click on the article to read it

Click on the article to read it

Click on the article to read it

Lynette

Garuda, finally a decent Indonesian restaurant

Finally, we found a place that serves wonderful Indonesian food. I don't know anything about this cuisine but friends of mine brought me here for it's casual atmosphere, it's very reasonably priced menu and the quality of the food which is very authentic.

Garuda is located on the 7th floor of Orchard Central. It is part of the Tung Lok empire. This restaurant was only recently opened although they have been around for a while in other locations. It is very simply decorated and furnished. We opted for the buffet which was around $22++ per person. With that, we ordered from the counter where all the food is laid out and they brought it out to use soon after.

We ordered items such as beef rendang ( delicious - it was dry and tender which is very Padang style), fried boiled eggs with red chilis, boiled egg curry, cassava vegetable and the famous fried chicken.

The service was very slow and they took ages to get me my fork, our fruits to end the meal and my additional rice etc but these were minor inconveniences for the amount of money we paid for our meal.

The food was very good but definately not one I will eat on a daily basis since it was quite salty (I suspect there must be a certain amount of MSG in there as I was thirsty for a long time) and generally very heavy.

It was just right for us looking to try some Asian food for a reasonable price.

Lynette

The Forlinos are BACK in full force with Osvaldo Ristorante Italiano

They disappeared for a few months after leaving Forlino to set up their own restaurant Osvaldo.

Osvaldo is completely different from Forlino as the new restaurant is all about mamma's cooking presented in a fuss free no nonsense way while the former is all about fine dining and decorated plates.

The prices also vary as Osvaldo is priced very reasonably. I was there for dinner last week and had a 2 course meal - spaghetti with pomodoro and sausages with beans (very basic comfort food) and I paid $60 for my portion of the dinner.

This restaurant is very home style and I can't stress that enough. That means that you will have to expect really simple rustic food and diners who are used to the Forlino and Garibaldi type food presentations will leave disappointed. Some in my party thought the food was way too simple and not worthy of a restaurant meal but I beg to differ. I think we need to get back to basics before we can move forward to something more extravagant because so many diners have no clue how to eat properly and they are selling foam and air in some restaurants. I think unless you can appreciate good food cooked in its basic form, there is no point trying to eat foam and air.

The restaurant has alot of raw energy as it's only been open for less than a month. Osvaldo is at the front of the house speaking to the patrons while his wife Patrizia is behind the heating lamps checking all the food before it goes out. They took almost the entire Forlino team with them when they left. Patrizia says Osvaldo is much happier with this new restaurant and I can see that they are really loving it. It's good to see people who put their heart and soul in their own business succeed. You can see that the patrons are rowdy and happy and you often see different tables talking to each other. While I was there, I recognised quite a few faces and saw some friends dining there. It feels like you are eating at Patrizia's home and meeting lots of your own friends.

Congratulations and I will definately be back for more.

Lynette

Been a while...

Folks, it's been a while since I last wrote a proper blog about my life and what's happening to me. The last time I tried to write was when I returned from HK last week. After spending more than an hour documenting my trip, my cat Amedeo walks over my keyboard and promptly deletes the entry. So now I am writing this from the safety of my studio desk.

I spent 5 days in HK last week and most of that time was spent holed up in the apartment cooking. I find that I don't have time to cook unless I am away from the studio. It's kinda ironic really considering the studio kitchen is so much bigger and is fully equipped vs the tiny apartment kitchen in HK. Still, I armed myself with my trusty Moroccan cook book and managed to cook about 3 meals while I was there including a lunch, a dinner and a Sunday brunch. I didn't eat out very much on this trip but on my last day, I had lunch at Domani which is located at Pacific Place. It's just recently been reopened after a refurbishment and the food is excellent. The attention to detail and the freshness and purity of the food is just amazing.

Wonderful swordfish carpaccio

Delicious simple seafood pasta

Hazelnut praline, ice cream and sabayon (delicious!)

I also visited Nha Trang (on every trip) because I really miss good Vietnamese food and this is the closest thing I can get to Vietnam!

I've been kept busy lately doing alot of strategic work as we are searching for a new location to replace our current Wessex Estate studio. The space has become too small to accomodate our needs and we need to change the layout of the studio to ensure it is more efficient. This is taking alot of my time. We are one step closer to finding a place as there is one place I particularly like but of course there are so many things to work out before we can actually make a decision to say Yes.

Our Robinsons studio still requires some kinks to be worked out before it can take off in November. We are still busy scheduling classes so do check out the schedule to find out what we have going on there. We will do a mixture of cooking and baking classes and all of them will be hands on.

I don't seem to be getting much sleep lately since I get woken up at 6am every day by my cats. They are my internal alarm clock so I never have to set one. Late nights of answering e-mails and working on proposals means that I am constantly feeling like a walking zombie with bags under my eyes. Let's hope life gets better! Watching 12 episodes of True Blood Season 1 in 2 days doesn't help either of course!

I can't believe how quickly 2009 has come and almost gone. Where has the time gone? For me this year, it's been work and more work. I hope I am able to balance this better in 2010. At this stage, I will probably need to defer my enrollment for Le Cordon Bleu. I am suppose to start in April but I think it will not work if we have to move the studio to a new location. I will see how things pan out early next year.

I've started to use my Nikon DSLR again to take photos and the quality is so different compared to a normal automatic camera, even for an amateur like me. Luckily for me, Lynn lent me her Nikon and after a full service clean up, it's like brand new. Yesterday, Angeline and I hosted our Photography Group for an evening and we made comfort food for everyone. I used the Nikon in low lighting to take these shots:

Angeline's super tender roast chicken

Roasted sweet potato and pumpkin

Good old macaroni & cheese

My moist coconut cake with coconut icing (this cake is un iced at this stage!). This was a recipe I decided to test and it turned out wonderful. Definately a keeper!

Angeline's delicious almond cake with cherry apples

I'm looking forward to the Christmas season and all the festive feelings it brings. When November comes around a few days away, Christmas promotions will be in full force so if you have some time, make sure you join us for some cooking classes so that you can pick up a tip or two to cook for your big day!

Till next time,

Lynette

Herb Teas for Wellness Program with Herbalist Martin Cheng

Sunday, 1st November
3pm - 5pm
Fees: $35 per person (register on line here)


The knowledge of healing power of herbs is the common inheritance of human race. Searching, Recognizing, gathering, planting and processing them allow us to preserve knowledge and obtain new information. The healing power of herbs may seem unbelievable, but modern research has shown us the truth, which motivates us to take a more positive approach to Mother Nature.

Join our " Herb Teas for Wellness" program this Sunday and learn about the benefits of
herb that is around us. You get to taste a range of Organic herbal teas.

See you there!

Lynette

Tupperware Party @ Palate Sensations

Tupperware Party @ Palate Sensations - Let's get fresh and organised!

Who doesn't love a get together! Come join us for a Tupperware party and the following are some of the topics our Tupperware consultant will be covering:


1. Let's get organised - Modular Mates

2. Ideal freezing solutions - Freezermate

3. Keep food fresh - Square Round

4. Microwave Magic - CrystalWave, Rock n Serve

5. Serving guests - Legacy Floria range

6. Mini Can-Can Party with Tupperware Can Opener

7. And not to forget the signature tumblers, one-touch containers and also the other new product range from Tupperware Brands...

Since seeing is believing so she will be sharing the usage and benefits of the different types of Tupperware mentioned above with all the attendees.

A light afternoon tea with coffee and tea will be served for your enjoyment, plus a small gift to take home too!

When: Sunday 1st November from 3pm to 5pm

It's free so go to our class schedules and register on line or send us an e-mail to info@palatesensations.com

Lynette

6 Week Advanced Skills - The Restaurant Series

Francois and I have finally put the programme together for our Restaurant Series. The first of it's kind, the 5 lessons will focus on restaurant plating and presentation, cumulating in a black box challenge in the 6th lesson.

Ideal for those who want to take their cooking to the next level, this 6 Week Intensive Advance Skills workshop will focus on restaurant plating techniques and presentation.

Module 1 will focus on:

Every dish will be presented in 2 different ways (spread out and stacked)

Use of edible flowers and herbs to decorate

Importance of colors

Menu:

Gravlax of king salmon with potato galette, sour cream and herb salad

Pan seared duck breast with sweet potato mash and snow peas

Crème caramel


Module 2 will focus on:

Every dish will be presented in 2 different ways (Volume and Deconstructed)

Used of Brush and Rings

Menu:

Salad of grilled squid with mango and pomegranate

Grilled sea bass filet with fava bean and artichokes salad, tapenade sauce

Seasonal fruit salad with/in spiced tuile


Module 3 will focus on:

Writing on plates

“old School” plating

Use of Sauces, coulis to decorate

Menu:

Seared yellow fin tuna with tomato confit and spinach salad

Grilled beef tenderloin with cep mash and turned vegetables, red wine reduction

Warm hazelnut and cherry clafouti with raspberry sorbet


Module 4 will focus on:

Using tuile and deco to enhance volume

Dessert decoration (Caramel, Chocolate, Dried Fruit)

Menu:

Tartare of scallops with seaweed tuile and citrus

Stuffed quail with foie gras and apple

Valrhona chocolate tart


Module 5 will focus on:

Canapes and platters

Using different presentation styles and vessels

Menu:

To be advised

Module 6 is the Black Box Challenge
We know you can cook but can you wow us with your visual presentations?

Starts every Saturday from 14th November for 6 weeks.

Fees for returning participants are $900 per person for all lessons.

Fees for new participants are $1100 per person for all lessons.

Each participant will receive their own Chef's jacket unless you already have one from previous Advanced classes.

We hope to see you there!

Lynette

PS: The photos are just examples!

Movie - Julie & Julia

Sony in Singapore contacted us to work with them for the launch of the Julie & Julia movie. I was pretty excited to go watch the media premier tonight with Lynn and Angeline who both graduated from Le Cordon Bleu and our chef Alicia and Jenny who is a serious foodie and cook herself.

We got there late and had to sit in the second row but when the movie started, I was glued to my seat. Melanie Oliveiro, movie critic was sitting behind me with one of my friends so I am interested to read what she thought of the movie.

I thought Meryl Streep did a great job as Julia. She is so versatile as an actress. She can play comedy, drama and sing effortlessly in a musical. To be honest, I've been walking around telling everyone it's Julia & Julia when it's really Julie & Julia. Julie Powell refers to the writer who attempted (successfully) to cook 524 recipes in 365 days in her crappy tiny Queens kitchen! You've got to admire her and the limitations she had to work with since I sometimes scream there is not enough room in my studio kitchen!

The movie is actually 2 stories unfolding at the same time and although it seems complicated, it actually parallels quite well with Julia's discovery of her love for cooking after moving to Paris and Julie's attempt to cook and blog about her experiences from Day 1.

I don't think this movie is for everyone, not like other food movies such as Ratatouille and No Reservations because those have wider appeal and can still interest someone even if they are not really into food but Julie & Julia in a way is quite serious. The movie mentions many French terms and for those who have no clue what she is talking about, it will not really whet your appetite. For me, I could totally relate not just to the food but to their frustrations - the gender stereotypical prejudices Julia faced at Le Cordon Bleu and Julie's frustration at trying to hold onto a goal and prove her worth in life when she felt a complete failure compared to her friends. It made me take stock of my life and ask myself - am I happy? Have I achieved what I wanted to achieve? Am I on track?

This movie is a journey of two wonderful women who found their purpose in life. I know that I have found mine running the cooking school and bringing so much joy to those of you out there who have been to the school. I hope I can continue to do that. I so very much look forward to the future and to what I have achieved in the past which has put me in the position of taking on the future. I am so looking forward to my time at Le Cordon Bleu in Bangkok come April 2010.

Go watch the movie if you are a serious foodie or if you are at the stage of your life where you want to think about where you are and what you should be doing.

If you want to cook some of the dishes they showed in the movie, we will be holding a hands on cooking class on 16th October with Chef Alicia Tivey at 7pm. Each participant will receive a double pass to see the movie. The cost is $120 per person. We will be making:

Bruschetta of mushroom and parsley
Beef bourguignon
Chocolate cream pie
Apple tatin

The tarte tatin before it is flipped over

The tarte tatin flipped over (delicious!)

Come join us as we celebrate food and blogging and two wonderfully brave women!

Lynette

Cup cake decoration with Chef Puja Pawa

When we started making cup cakes and holding cup cake classes, it was all pretty basic with pretty colours and swirls. Now, we have moved onto cup cake theme classes. Today, we held a Sesame Street Cup Cake Baking & Decoration class with Chef Puja Pawa. We made cup cakes inspired by Sesame Street characters. The participants spent alot of time mixing and getting the right colours for the butter cream so that they could pipe and decorate the cakes to make the faces.

Aren't these cute? They look so good I can't even think about eating them!

Puja is in the process of developing more decoration classes so stay tuned. She will be putting on one for Christmas so do check out our website for our November class.

Christmas cup cakes

Lynette

More bread classes with Chef Christopher Tung

This photo was taken by our instructor BH Tan

I am currently doing a photography course and I have to admit, I am not very good but I try my best. My main aim is to take better food photos and photos of my cats. Anything else is just a bonus really.

We do weekend outings and one of the outings on Saturday was at Wessex Estate. We decided to do food photography and Chef Chris was kind enough to make us some bread so that we could practice our photography skills.

Lovely crusty baguette

Chris making scones at our studio

The scones before they are baked

A fine selection of sliced baguettes, cinnamon rolls, scones and round loaf of bread

Chris has put together 2 sets of bread classes. The first set of bread class will focus on foccacia, sweet brioche and walnut bread. The second set of bread class will focus on ciabatta, cinnamon rolls and baguettes.

These classes are on going so do check out the website and join the classes for a wonderful baking experience. I find the experience really therapeutic and very relaxing! Plus you always go home smelling so good!

Lynette

Consulting Project for S&W - Creating Chinese/Asian food recipes

In our on going project with S&W, we were given a brief to create some Chinese or Asian menus for the Asian market. They gave us a rough skeleton of ingredients (mainly beans) and recipes and we worked from those. This time, we tested 6 recipes with Chef Cheo Kar Yin and they looked and tasted wonderful:

Achar with no red sauce

Curry chicken

Nasi biryani

Stir fried vegetables with beans

Sichuan hot & spicy chicken

Last but not least, cereal fish

We will be doing a food tasting session for the media in the middle of October. Later in the year, we will be developing recipes for Christmas and Chinese New Year from the S&W range.

Stay tuned!

Lynette

Lovely canapes

There is nothing more I love than beautiful canapes and Chef Alicia makes really nice ones! Here are some photos of 3 things she made for our private party tonight.

Lovely and easy too! Macaroni & cheese cut into little square and topped with roast beef and scordilia. How visually stunning is it?

Mini bread rolls soft and fluffy. They were made in the mini muffin pans

Fried kuey teow topped with curry chicken and shaved cucumber

The next time you want to host a party, give us a call and you can use our studio. You bring the friends and alcohol and we provide the space, the music and the food!

I am definately getting fat!

Lynette

Classes at The Kitchen, Tangs VivoCity

The Kitchen, Tangs VivoCity is a fully enclosed kitchen. When there is a class in session, the sliding doors keeps the class private

We launched our first demo class at The Kitchen at Tangs VivoCity on Wednesday 30th September with Chef Angeline. She made an all chocolate menu with chocolate souffles, chocolate truffles and chocolate fondant.

The kitchen is very beautiful as you can see from these photos.

Chef Angeline weighing up ingredients and trying to use the weighing scales. These days everyone uses a digital scale instead of a manual one so we had to quickly change it.

The demo class in action. The kitchen can fit 12 participants around the main table

Chef Angeline demonstrating how to make souffle

The souffles hot from the oven (lovely! and yummy!)

Our guest chefs will be teaching there every Wednesday. The next class will be held by Chef Nabil Tan from Bedrock & Grill.

The Kitchen is located on Level 2 at Tangs VivoCity. All class bookings will go through their website and they should be schedule very soon. Classes should start mid October. All classes will be demonstration only and will last 2 hours in length. If you are interested in hands on classes, a visit to Westbourne Road is still the best.

See you there!

Lynette

More Italian Cooking Classes at Palate Sensations with Sicilia Mia

Sicilia Mia has just released their cooking classes for the rest of the year with Palate Sensations. The classes are 2 hours in length and they are all hands on and fun! Make sure you join us.

Click on the picture to see the classes
(if on facebook, go to the original posting to view)

Lynette

Basic baking classes with Chef Angeline Poon

We started our 4 week basic baking classes 2 weekends ago and we had a huge interest from our participants. We decided to keep it small so there are always around 12 students in total for the classes. As it's hands on, we want to ensure the students are not crowded out.

The basic baking series of classes are for the total beginner so they start from scratch. The first thing they made were scones.

Scones with raisins and cranberries

Then they made biscuits

And then they progressed to a fruit tart

Chef Angeline just returned from Le Cordon Bleu in Sydney after completing both her culinary and baking diploma

In the second week, the participants made quick breads such as muffins, banana bread, marble cake and triple choc brownies.

This weekend, they will make cheese cakes, both the non bake and the baked variety. The last week will be all about making restaurant desserts such as souffles and creme brulees.

We will run the classes again next year in early January. The classes will then be 6 weeks as we want to fit in some choux pastry and pastry cream. Angeline will then design an intermediate and advanced baking programme so that those that are serious about baking can then progress throughout the year. In the advanced level, we will also set a challenge so that the students graduating from the advanced classes have to participate in a final exam.

We are both looking forward to running this programme again next year so do stay tuned!

Lynette

Raising money for Tana River Life Foundation

This year, I was conscious I wanted to give something back to the community so when one of my participants who is now a good friend, Iris Tay, approached me to help raise money for Tana River Life Foundation, I didn't even hesitate and I said yes straight away.

Here is a short write up about Tana River Life Foundation:

Tana River Life Foundation, an NGO registered in Kenya, was started by Gabriel Teo. Gabriel has been living in Kenya since 1995, working with villages in the Tana River delta, in eastern coastal Kenya. It assists marginalized and economically disadvantaged communities in Kenya attain self sufficiency through education and skills development. For more information, you can go to www.tanariverlifefoundation.org.

So far, we have held 2 bake drives at the school and conducted 2 baking classes for Philips and OCBC who chose to donate their class fees to Tana River Life Foundation. We have raised $3,785 so far thanks to those of you who bought the cakes from us.

We have 2 further bake drives coming up. One is on 9th October and the last one is on 27th November. To support the cause, we ask that you buy our cakes which will be made by our in house chefs. We will be selling 4 types of cakes: carrot cake with lemon cream cheese icing, summer fruit tart, chocolate mud cake and peach & almond slice. Each cake will cost you $30.

Summer fruit tart

Carrot cake with lemon cream cheese icing

Chocolate mud cake

Peach & almond slice

To order your cakes, go to Class Schedule and do a date search for 9th October and/or 27th November.

We hope you will help us support this worthy cause.

Lynette

Food from Korea

The highlight of my trip to Korea last week was of course the food. It was perhaps the redeeming feature of the country. I love kimchi and having been to Korea before, I knew what to expect.

The only photos I took were of food so here are some of them. To my knowledge and observations, the Korean menu is actually quite limited with lots of stews and barbecue meats preceded by lots of small plates of vegetables. As I liked what I was eating, I didn't mind having repetitive meals of the same mushroom hot pots over and over again or eating kimchi twice a day for lunch and for dinner. I was surprised they had so many varieties of vegetables so I ate lots of small plates and asked for second helpings whenever I liked anything. I guess I could be a vegetarian in Korea and still survive. That was very comforting!

Kimchi served with every meal

Small plates of more kimchi and spinach

Korean barbecue with lots of small plates

One of my favourites - dumplings wrapped in lotus leaf

Mushroom hot pot, my favourite. I could eat this over and over again.

And wild rice - delicious!

The famous Korean gimseng chicken soup with more radish

We were in the country side for 2 days and all I saw were rows and rows of chilis being grown and dried all over the fields.

Kimchi urns where they store all the home made kimchi.

I am looking forward to returning to Korea for the food!

Lynette

Who loves home made bread? I do!

There is nothing better than fresh, hot out of the oven home made buttered bread! Chef Christopher Tung, our in house dough expert held a bread making class yesterday and boy did we all have fun!

Amazing brioche - so buttery and flaky

Our amazing bread range with foccacia, walnut bread and brioche

The walnut bread is just so crusty and delicious!

I don't think I can buy bread anywhere else now that I have eaten Chris' bread.

His next bread class will be held on 19th September from 10am to 1pm.

See you there!

Lynette

Wine & Dine August feature

There was a small write up about Palate Sensations in Wine & Dine's August 2009 issue. It's under National Day Specials where they reviewed some of the people that influence the F & B Industry.

To read the article, click on it. If you are viewing this through Facebook, click on view original post to read the article.

Lynette

Launch of our Asian Immersion Classes

We launched our Asian Immersion Classes which are workshops specially created for visitors to Singapore who are food lovers. As Singapore is a melting pot of Asian flavors, we have created 9 hands on cooking classes and a market visit incorporating the three important markets in Singapore. We recommend you sign up for a market visit tour first to introduce themselves to Asian cuisine before signing up for a cooking class.

We understand you may have limited time in Singapore so our classes are extremely flexible and private. With a minimum of 2 participants, choose a date, a time and one or two of the cooking classes and we are ready to go! It’s that easy! Each class is priced at an affordable $300 for up to 2 participants.

Here are some photos of our first market visit and Singapore cooking class conducted a few weeks ago:

Chef Bertrand leading the way at Tekka market - fish shop

Enjoying the papaya salad at Golden Mile

Laughing before the Singaporean cooking class starts

The class itself

Lynette

Yellow Door Kitchen in HK.. sensational food

The degustation menu at Yellow Door Kitchen

I love good Chinese food and on this trip to HK, I was determined to only eat Asian food. I've tagged all the places I want to eat in the Michelin Guide so everytime I am here in HK, I try to see how many places I can get to. Luckily this time, we managed to get a seat at the tiny restaurant at Yellow Door Kitchen. If you have the time, this place is definately worth it. It costs HKD288 per person so it's very reasonably priced and the food is truly wonderful. There is only one menu and as soon as you arrive, they serve you so there is no choice. You will not be disappointed.

Entrees - pickled cucumber, sliced pork with spice garlic sauce, stir fry beef fillet in spicy sauce, boiled Shanghai beans in distilled liquor dregs, crispy & spicy shrimp, yard long bean in chili sauce, slice lotus root with aroma oil, fresh soy bean sheet with spicy garlic sauce

The entrees come in small bowls. My favourites were the tofu rolls although it was so spicy and the fresh lotus roots. The pickled cucumbers are always tasty and this one was quite crunchy.

Soup of pumpkin & green bean. I don't usually like pumpkin soup but when you add green bean in it, it gives it the Asian touch.

Chicken & shredded leek with spicy sauce topped with minced peanut. You burn your tongue on this but it's worth it! The chicken is so tender and the spicy sauce with minced peanut you just want to smear it all over the chicken and lick it all up!

Smoke pork rib with honey and tea leaves (so tender - this was the best dish). I'm not so much into pork or meat but this one really was my favourite. The portion is so large that after this, I could barely finish everything else that came.

Fried prawn in Sichuan sour & spicy sauce. Another dish that is hard to resist. The prawn was really crispy and yes I licked all the sauce and ate all the peanuts.

Shanghai stuffed duck. This was super heavy so I ate only the glutinous rice inside. It was really really delicious. This is one of their signature dishes.

Dan dan mian
And if you were still hungry, and if your lips were not burning yet, you could go ahead and eat this dish. I did eat it all!

Cherry dumplings
Last but not least, 2 fresh cherries stuffed on the inside with dough. A nice way to end the meal.

If there is one place you need to go to eat in HK, make sure you go to this restaurant for lovely Shanghainese and Sichuan food!

Lynette

Visit to Le Cordon Bleu, Bangkok

The reception area

A few weeks ago, I made a trip to Bangkok to visit Le Cordon Bleu. It's located next to Dusit Hotel. The school has only been open for a year or so but it's already getting very busy. As it is purposely built, the premises has a much better lay out than the other schools. I have been to Sydney's school and the kitchens are definately far more superior in Bangkok. The instructors are from France. There is no restaurant so there is no practice session for final term students therefore work experience is encouraged.

I went to visit them because I wanted to explore the possibility of enrolling myself in the 9 month culinary programme next year. There are 3 terms and each term lasts for roughly 3 months. Culinary and Pastry is separate and each costs about $25,000 for the 9 months. I would like to get my formal qualifications so that I have more options about what I want to do afterwards. Don't worry, the school will carry on while I am away. I chose Bangkok due to it's proximity to Singapore so I can fly back if need be. The course is conducted over 3 days a week so that should leave me plenty of time to pursue work experience and learn more about Thai cuisine beyond the usual green curry and fish cakes.

The culinary kitchen where I will spend all my time.
Each class consists of no more than 14 students

Culinary demo studio which fits 3 classes of students

The pastry kitchen.
Each class has no more than 12 students

Pastry demo studio

If all goes well, I should start in April 2010 and complete the course by December 2010. I intend to start a separate blog to document every day I attend classes so that you can see what it's like - the life of a student at Le Cordon Bleu and also see if it interests you to pursue it yourself. Many of our participants enquire about further studies after they attend classes at Palate Sensations. I will attempt to give an honest account of my time there. I am sure I will be tired and stressed out at some point in time but I will take it in my stride as this is my personal development and personal challenge in 2010, managing a business and studying at the same time. I have worked and studied when I was in university but not managing a business so that is new to me. I hope the 18 year gap means I am better equipped to deal with the challenges ahead.

Lynette

Majestic Restaurant - impractical as a Chinese restaurant, neither here nor there food

I ate at Majestic a few years ago and thought the food not memorable enough for me to return. A few weeks ago, I was discussing Jing with a few friends of mine and they told me to go to Majestic if I liked the food at Jing. I was quite skeptical but I decided to give it a go anyway. We were 8 people for dinner yesterday. The tables are rectangle so it's quite difficult to share food. The food had to be passed down the table and the serving size was so small we only managed to eat a small amount of everything.

We ordered the famous Peking duck but I don't know what the big deal was all about. It was not bad but it was not the best thing since sliced bread either.

The dishes we ordered included the wasabi prawns which was okay, eggplant stew which was quite tasteless, a very mild version of ma po do fu, stir fried rib eye steak, a tasteless and soggy bowl of carrot cake and stir fried kailan which was full of garlic I could smell it from where I sat.

Although the food was not a disaster, I would say it's not my favourite Chinese restaurant and I don't know what the fuss is all about really... The decor is modern and the service is polite. Our dining experience was further marred by a very strong durian smell that whiffed out from the private dining room directly behind us every time the door opened to serve them a dish. It was quite unpleasant as the aroma was so strong.

We spent $50 per person but I would rather have taken the money and eaten at Sin Hoi Sai Eating House. I took my parents there last week for a meal of salty egg yolk crab and coffee ribs. Both were excellent and cost less than what we paid at Majestic. The atmosphere is completely different and there is no air conditioning but the food more than made up for it.

Lynette

Keeping it in perspective...

Sometimes in life, funny things happen. I found someone on Facebook with the same name as me and she is also based in Singapore. It's kinda cool since she is 10 years younger than me and she's also an entrepreneur. When we comment on each other's status, our friends think we are talking to ourselves and some of them can't work it out so they think we are crazy. Anyway, Lynette and I think we can't meet up otherwise one of us will vanish.

I've been eating like a pig lately as you can see from my previous posts since I have written nothing about the classes. Judging from them, you'd probably think I just spend my days eating. Well that's not true. I've been working behind the scenes most of July since Dean left. I've been trying to work on revamping our classes and also hire a new chef. That should happen soon I hope. I've also been working on some strategic plans for Palate Sensations. Many people have asked us to open other studios in more central locations (no where is far in Singapore my dear!) and I've been working on those plans for the past few months. Hopefully we have some news to announce soon. It's now in the hands of the lawyers and the finance people.

For studio matters, I have just finished cleaning and turfing out old stuff from our cupboards, our store cupboards and our fridges and freezers. It's amazing how I feel after throwing so much stuff out. It's like a lighter load on my shoulders although new things pile up quickly and tend to push down on my shoulders again. Scanpan has been kind enough to change about 90% of our equipment for us since it's already 3 years old. Now they all look so shiny and new. With our studio being used so much, I'm surprised our maintenance has been quite good. We continue to have pest control once a month in the studio and we get our air conditioners cleaned once a quarter to keep them in perfect condition. It's the worse thing to come into a warm studio. Our main kitchen table has been cracking over the years due to the heat from the stoves. The table will once again undergo maintenance on Wednesday to smooth out all the cracks.

My parents came over from Sydney a few days ago and my mum lent me her Women's Weekly. She has a subscription so I decided to read it in bed last night and I was amazed to find that it's so much more interesting than the Singaporean version. There was an article about Julie Goodwin, winner of Masterchef Australia. Masterchef Australia is a competition among amateur cooks to compete to be the Masterchef of Australia. I am sure the competition was really tough and full of bitchiness like all the other reality programmes but I liked how she was able to hold her own against all the arrogant guys out there who thought they would be the Masterchef. The one thing that resonated within me is that she says every competition she competed in she cooked from the heart and she cooked with passion and love. She also cooked as if she was cooking for her family which always put things in perspective and gave her a focus. Every meal and menu was made for her kids and her husband. Without a doubt, I agree that passion and cooking from the heart works. I too often find that if my heart is not in the dish, it usually turns out less than what I think it should be. If everyone kept this simple fact in mind, we will probably have better meals out there!

The other interesting thing about Masterchef Australia is that it has fueled many people's enthusiasm for cooking and suddenly cooking is "in" again. Many people are enrolling in cooking schools all over the country. I hope it ups the standard of food we consume in Australia as a result. It's good to see. In Singapore, we certainly get more enquiries about our 8 Week Basic Skills and these classes are always full when we run them. The next skills class starts on September 12. We are currently revamping our Basic Skills Baking to make it as interesting as the Culinary skills.

The other article I read in August's Australia Women's Weekly is about Coco Chanel. Here is one woman I admire greatly. Her story was pure rags to riches, alot of ambition and abit of luck thrown in. It didn't harm her to be beautiful too but she definately had a good head on her shoulders as she built a business empire on them! I've been feeling over whelmed lately, bogged down with the administrative side of the operations and sometimes feeling down in the dumps. Every entrepreneur has feelings that go up and down and I guess it was that with me this past month hence I felt so inspired having read these 2 articles. I realise that I too can do it! They are not super human so what they can do, I can too! Sometimes it just takes simple things like reading a couple of articles to put everything in perspective.

So I soldier on!

Lynette

Jing - well worth the wait for those who are non Chinese cuisine connoisseurs

Prawn & scallop dumplings

I am not a Chinese cuisine connoisseur hence if you read my previous reviews, you will know that I think Crystal Jade rocks. That's because I grew up on Western cuisine and not Asian cuisine. I hope that the more I eat, the more my palate will start to distinguish what's good and what's not so good. I guess everything takes time and experience.

I read quite mixed reviews about this place but I don't like to write off a place unless I have tried it myself. With Chef Yong winning so many awards recently, it's a shame not to try the restaurant at least once.

I decided to take my parents there for Sunday dim sum brunch since they are visiting from Sydney and they prefer Asian over Western food when they are in Singapore.

The restaurant is very modern and beautifully decorated. It's not a noisy Chinese restaurant and they had both Western and Asian cutlery on the table which is nice. The staff were so polite and attentive I was really surprised but very happy at the same time since I felt I could really relax and enjoy myself without fighting with them to get our point across.

We decided on the buffet and we tried almost every item on the menu except the vegetables and the noddles and rice.

Prawn dumplings

We felt that the food was well presented and certainly very refined, more superior than Crystal Jade. Not everything was perfect. My parents thought the oyster omelette was salty and the Chili Crab was not too authentic but I think it's more Chinese than Singaporean. Still they really enjoyed the crab. With the 3 of us, we were served one crab which we could barely finish. Perhaps we were not very fussy crab eaters but the size of the crab seemed to have brought a lot of complaint. We also ordered the fried fish with Thai sauce which was also lovely. We also struggled to finish it. I think the best table size is 3 people since all the dim sum comes in 3 and it's perfect for us to have 1 piece without over eating. We did not ask the waiter to increase the size even though some of the dim sum came in twos because we were afraid of eating too much!

Chicken feet (my mum's favourite)

My favourite was the wasabi prawns which were nice and large and succulent. It was also nicely deep fried without being too oily. The wasabi was creamy and not too sharp to hurt our noses. The crispy duck was lovely too. I did have 2 helpings of that but they were tiny.

Overall we had such a nice relaxing lunch on Sunday. We ate as much as we wanted without any wastage and we did not place second orders (except the duck) for any of the food we ate. We just tried as many varieties as we could.

We felt that Jing's buffet is a good introduction to Chinese cuisine as it has alot of varieties from dim sum to the normal restaurant menu categories such as meat, vegetables, seafood, dessert etc. I am not a fan of Chinese desserts so I only ate the fruit and the egg tart which were a bit soggy at the bottom. My parents said it was just right for them as they are tourists in Singapore.

I will definately want to go back for the buffet again. The service, the ambience and the food more than met my expectations. At $36 ++, it was definately value for money. To eat a la carte, the prices seemed quite inflated though so it's best if you just come for the buffet and forget about how much each of the dishes cost individually.

Lynette

Lunch at Le Figue, Camden Medical Center

I've been eating way too much again and not doing any exercise. My body is going spongy and will probably resemble a big jelly soon...

I have been busy the past few days re-arranging the dry store cupboard and chucking out old stuff from the fridge and freezers at the studio. It feels good to do inventory and we haven't done one for a while. It's like going through a huge cleansing process. Now I can say we are super organised and everything is properly packaged up, labeled and all our cupboards, fridges and freezers have inventory lists on them so that we know what's in the fridge before we open them.

Alicia, Bertrand and I went to Le Figue for lunch today. It's only been open for a month and the food is terrific! I love good food especially and after the disaster at Mykii yesterday, I was on a vengence to eat as much good food as I can get my hands on to eradicate the horror of yesterday's brunch.

Le Figue is owned by Chef Kelvin Lee. He previously worked at other French restaurants around Singapore and also in France. The restaurant is not fully decorated and finished yet so it kinda looks empty but I am sure it will improve given time.

Once in a while, when you don't have much expectations, really amazing food hits you in the face and the result is that I get to tell myself I live to eat and not eat to live. If I had to eat crap food every day, I just don't think life is worth living. Le Figue's set 3 course lunch cost us $28+. With that kind of pricing, it was worth the risk even if the food was not good but this one was great!

Cured salmon, soft boiled egg arugula salad & emulsion

I ordered this because I wanted something light and I figured if the rest was bad, they can't possibly screw it up. The egg was nice and soft and the salmon was so good compared to store bought ones. It was not oily and not salty either.

Leek & potato soup, fricassee white clam

Grainfed flat beef, savoy cabbage, parma ham & gratin dauphinose

I ordered the fish instead of the beef but when I saw how huge the beef was and how tender it was, I decided to score a bite of it. It's really melt in your mouth!

Sea bream, chicken offal & mushroom toast, asparagus

Determined not to eat alot, I ordered the fish. It was nice and light and I asked them to take out the offal for me. The tomato skin was a nice garnish to the meal and added beautiful colour.

Baked chocolate cream with honey sponge and orange scented milk sorbet

I always look forward to dessert, especially a really good one and this one was a good one. The ganache cream was compact and dense and heavenly. It came in a small size so it was just right for all those wanting to keep their weight in check.

Together with Jaan, I think this set lunch is perfect for a business lunch or a lunch with girlfriends. Compared to Jaan, it's half the price but just as good. It definately makes me want to come back to try the dinner although right now, they don't have a vegetarian menu so I will have to wait a while until they sort that out. The a la carte menu has all the usual suspects such as foie gras with quail, duck confit etc and although they are classic French dishes, they are way too heavy for me to indulge in.

Le Figue is located at Camden Medical Center behind The Regent Hotel. They took over the premises vacated by Whitebait & Kale.

I definately recommend this place. There are so many restaurants opening up but only a handful really stands out and his definately does. Congratulations to a first time restaurant owner!

Lynette

Two varying standards of all you can eat in one day!

My world revolves around a very small area - my home in Holland Village with my 6 furbies (a term my friend Pamela coined so she gets full credit), my studio at Portsdown Road and Holland Village itself. I don't have much time or inclination to venture further afield. In fact, a few weeks ago, I got lost meeting a client at Tangs! Last week was also the first time I ventured out for the Great Singapore Sale (and it ended today!) and bought nothing for myself. My highlight was visiting Spotlight which I love. I can wander around in there and get lost and be totally happy among all their kitchen equipment, table cloths, curtains, handy crafts etc. Priceless! Today, I ventured out to try 2 al la carte buffets and both gave me very different experiences.

Disappointing brunch at Mykii, Holland Village

I had such high hopes for this place because I live in Holland Village and I was thinking... finally I can walk to Sunday brunch.

I was there for dessert a few nights ago with a friend. Both the desserts were uneventful. They were not bad but they were not excellent either compared to Chalk's chocolate cake which was really delicious. I decided to sign up for the brunch anyway because I won't write anything off until I have tried it myself.

The 3 of us arrived at 11.30am only to be told that the chef is not at work yet (???) so we have to wait. If any of my chefs are late for a class, they will never come to work again! I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Surely there was going to be preparation work involved before the brunch started?

Since I had read the reviews I warned my friends not to eat because we would be totally stuffed at the end of it. Unfortunately, we left starving.

When we told the waitress we wanted to share, she told us that no sharing was allowed. I said we are going to order 3 dishes to share and that we intend to pay for 3 people. I felt so offended because no one had ever accused us of being cheap before. What she should have said was "sure you can share, will that be 3 main courses?" Please give us the benefit of doubt before jumping in to accuse us of cheating the restaurant.

When the breakfast platter arrived, I took one look and thought "oh god I am going to be hungry!". The presentation was totally unappetizing and uninspiring. The chicken sausages were dry and shriveled, the hash brown was hard and store bought, the salad was not mixed properly and the tomato had some cheese blob on top. The bacon was neither cripsy nor soft. Jenny's sunny side up was crispy.

I took one bite and left the rest untouched. The waitress realised we were not eating so she took them away. The pancake came next and it was dense and not fluffy. It was also very sweet. Since I was starving, I ate the whole thing but decided not to have seconds.

The mains took ages to come. I ordered the papaya with avocado since I realised they couldn't possibly screw that up. I only ate the papaya and avocado and left the sad salad behind. The fish was unedible and the sauce was way too heavy. The tofu burger I had a couple of bites and declared it over for me.

I asked the waitress for tea and she brought the menu out and then asked me to choose from the selection while in the same breath she reminded me that I still had the tea which had not been served yet and it was part of the brunch. I turned towards her, quite annoyed now and asked her why is she asking me to choose a tea then when the only tea they are serving is Lipton as part of the brunch set?

We paid and beat a hasty farewell before running out the door.

The good thing about this restaurant is the attractive prices and the decor. However, I rather pay more for good food like I did at Jaan than eat cheap unappetizing food.

Amazing Hotpot buffet from 8.30pm with Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao, Holland Village

I went twice in the last few weeks because it's so good! Costing only $19.80 ++ per person, the buffet is on from 8.30pm every day. Towards the weekend, it gets so packed out you need to book. The first time I went was on a weekday so we got in without a reservation but for Sunday night, we had to make one. It's amazing to see so many people eating.

You get to choose your own soup base, then you get a list of dim sums, drinks and ingredients to choose from and you just keep ordering until you are full.

After my crappy brunch at Mykii today, I was so happy to return to this Crystal Jade because it's always so affordable and the food has a certain standard that just does not disappoint.

In the end, it's not how much you can stuff your face with but what quality of food you have been given. I have never been disappointed at Crystal Jade.

Well done!

Lynette

Jaan - the best set lunch there is out there!

I really wanted to try the lunch at Jaan and although it's more expensive than other set lunches out there - $58 ++ for a 3 course meal, I was more than willing to pay if the food was good and the food was great!

On the 70th floor of Swissotel, this restaurant does not have many tables. The service is incredibly professional and the views are to die for.

As there was 3 of us, we practically covered the whole menu. The portions were not very large but the presentation was wonderful and the attention to detail was superb. The food itself was really to die for. I think it's important for retaurants serving set lunches to tantalise our tastebuds so that we are tempted to come back for dinner. I was definately tempted and will definately come back for dinner very soon. It's one of those restaurants where you don't mind spending because the quality is definately worth what you pay for. The experience was so pleasant I floated out of there after lunch.

Appetizers

Tartine De Tourteau Effiloche
Citrus scented stone crab effiloché on Ratte potato confit and fresh herbs, lukewarm potato mousse

Foie Gras A La Forestiere
Hot foie gras jelly topped wild mushroom fricassee under buckwheat brioche crust and black truffle coulis

Mains

Gambas Aux Popcorns
Popcorn ravioli with pan-roasted giant gambas in pancetta robe, crispy shellfish chips and olive oil puree

Joue De Kurobuta Grille
Char-grilled Kurobuta cheek and romaine, caramelized baby onion and smoked basil oil

Macaroni De Boeuf
Thirty-six hour braised short rib, duxelle macaroni and crispy vitelotte chips and shallots

Desserts

Tarte Au Citron
Lemon tart on mini churros, grapefruit Campari granité and its confit

Snickers
Snickers bar version 2009

Chocolat
Classic Ngyanbo chocolate palet, Tahiti vanilla ice cream “à la minute”

Wonderful! Well done! Highly recommended!

Lynette

Visit to the wet markets

Chef Dean and I decided to visit Chinatown and Tekka wet market a few days ago. I had never been so we thought we would go and check it out.

We took a cab there since it was the easiest way. Our first stop was Chinatown. It's been renovated and is very clean and neat with lots of aisle space. Downstairs is the market and upstairs is the hawker center. After our little walk about, we decided to go upstairs to order some breakfast. We drank some freshly made soy bean drink, ordered some fried dough which was very popular and also some popiah (pictures below).

The dry goods section

Salted vegetables which is a great accompaniment to rice porridge

The spacious aisles at Chinatown market

Fresh fish stall

One of the vegetable stalls - the vegetables are much fresher and cheaper than what you get in the supermarket

Dried salted fish which is very popular in Asian cuisine

The fresh tofu stall is very popular. Asians love tofus whether it's soft or hard. It can be stir fried or steamed or stuffed with fish paste etc.

The lady at the popiah store making fresh popiah. It's basically dough and flour and you hold the dough in your hand and just make a round circle on the crepe pan. It's so sticky it sticks onto the pan and cooks very quickly.

The fried skin with stuffed taro and the fresh one stuffed with cooked radish and boiled eggs etc. This was delicious!

Tekka market which is currently housed in a temporary facility is much more crowded with narrow aisles and the smell is much more overpowering!

Buah keluak nuts which are then soaked for 3 days to get rid of the toxins before being made into the famous Ayam buah keluak

It was a fun experience and we will definately be leading some tours to the markets on a private basis.

Lynette

Dough class - making Italian bread

All the goodies we made in the dough class including the crusty loaf and focaccia

It's not every day that you get a chef so dedicated to his craft. Chris just loves working with dough and he has been experimenting to make the perfect pizza dough for the home oven. Today's class was all about using one dough to make different things. We made the thin based pizza, foccacia, pita bread and a crusty white loaf. We also made the best tomato sauce reduced to the right consistency for pizza and also baba ghanoush with the right smoky flavour to go with our pita bread.

My favourite pizza - home made tomato base with rocket salad & prosciutto

My second favourite pizza with salami

Grilled mozarella with bacon strips

Everyone who came had a lot of fun making dough. We had tons of left overs so everyone just gorged themselves silly and took back the left overs.

Chris will be on vacation for the next few weeks but in August, he will commence classes again with more pizza and pasta classes. Do check out our website for more details.

Lynette

Macrobiotic Diet Cooking Class

Chef Simone finishing off the Seitan dish

Today we held our second Macrobiotic cooking class with Chef Simone Vaz. I love healthy cuisine classes and I think it's a real pity some people think healthy cuisine is boiled carrots and salads. It's certainly more than that.

Our participants made a really delicious meal today and I will be having the left overs for lunch tomorrow - yummy! I will be happy to eat like this every day although Simone says this is really a gourmet meal.

Corn chowder with basil pesto

Wholewheat seitan piccata with wilted vegetables

Millet and cauliflower with mochi gratin

Quinoa salad

Pink grated daikon salad

Tiramisu with tofu cream and grain coffee

Our next Macrobiotic class will be in October and it will center on making healthy desserts such as a Vegan Black Forrest Cake.

Hope to see you there!

Lynette

Hong Kong Eats..

I was in HK recently for one week and unfortunately, I must have chosen all the wrong food places to eat at because nothing really stood out while I was there. Still, I'm glad I tried different restaurants.

I went to Gitone again for dinner and this time, there were 11 of us. We had exactly the same menu as the last time we were there but since I came with an empty stomach, I was able to appreciate the food much more. It's mainly Shanghainese cuisine and this was probably the best meal I had on this trip. The private dinner is relatively cheap at SGD76 per person and it's a huge degustation menu.

We tried Sunday brunch at Spasso at Harbour Centre. Now that I can compare it to Pierside Kitchen, it just doesn't compare at all. Spasso's Italian brunch is simple and it's all buffet. The best part of the brunch is the entree which is all cold cuts and salads. The mains were basically non existent and we didn't touch it. There were no pasta hot stations and the cold seafood was quite dismal. I ate some dessert (the best was the tiramisu). Overall, it was not the best brunch I had. in HK, I still like Isola's brunch which is more in line with what I like - a buffet of entrees and desserts and the mains cooked to order.

For lunch, we tried Tonkichi Japanese Restaurant at World Trade Center. Their specialty is fried pork fillet. Although the food was quite good, I felt very full and bloated afterwards. This is definately a very heavy meal so I don't recommend it for those on a diet. My pork fillet was so tender it melted in my mouth. I wonder if they use tenderiser?

Another Italian restaurant which is very popular in HK is Pane Vino at Robinson Road. We met some friends there and the place was really packed. It's a bistro type restaurant with lots of pastas and the usual suspects. Again, I thought the food was very heavy. I ordered only a tomato based pasta with sausage but the pasta was over done and the sauce was loaded with cheese.

Luk Yu Tea House - interior

I always wanted to try Luk Yu Tea House at Stanley St so when a friend recommended it for dim sum, I agreed straight away. Considered the oldest tea house in HK, the restaurant is staffed with old waiters that seem to have worked there forever. They are also known to be extremely rude to non regular customers or non celebrities. That part they didn't get wrong. I was there early so I managed to secure a table for Honnus and I. The waiters were not friendly at all and if you ask for an English menu, they stare daggers at you so make sure you bring someone who can speak and read Chinese. Although the place is really ancient and it's great to be there for the atmosphere, I felt there were much better places for dim sum. The food itself was definately not the highlight of our visit. Coupled with rude staff that don't give a damn whether you enjoy yourself or not, I won't be in such a hurry to go back there.

Steamed cake
Fried dumpling

For my last dinner in HK, I decided to try M at the Fringe since it comes highly recommended. Its at The Fringe and the inside of the restaurant is to die for. I loved the interior immediately with its bohemian funkiness and it's intimate dining atmosphere. Our menu:

Reblochon Tartiflette
ripe mountain cheese melted into a crisp potato rösti,
served on a salad of silver onions, red radishes and dressed cress

Crab Soufflé
sitting on a rich crab bisque

Three Moroccan Favourites ~
Aubergine & Mushroom bisteeya,
Pumpkin & Olive tagine and Orange & Radish salad

Crispy Cod cakes & little crumbed Sardines
served with Gay’s tart parsley salad and a pot of aïoli

M’’s Pavlova

The menu was wonderfully varied and it was difficult to choose. I decided to try the vegetarian dishes. The verdict is that the portions are really too large so it's good for those who are starving but to eat a 3 course meal is probably not a good idea. I could have done with a one course meal there. All the food was very heavy and by the time I finished my potato tart, I could barely start on my Moroccan meal. I'm sad to say that M's Pavlova did not live up to standard. It was more cream than pavlova. I like mine better. M at the Fringe came with high expectations but I don't it really delivered for me. Maybe I chose the wrong dishes. The price we paid was SGD130 each and I thought that was enormously expensive.

So on my next trip in August, I think I will be going local. HK friends of mine are determined to give me a good dining experience so we are going to eat local delights like ngau lam mien (beef noodles) etc.

Till the next trip,

Lynette

Brunch at Pierside Kitchen, One Fullerton

Pierside Kitchen

I don't like brunches that serve a huge buffet and make us pay $150 per person. For me, it's not good value since I don't drink and I don't eat that much.

The brunch menu

I think Pierside Kitchen got it right when they launched their brunch menu a few weeks ago. It's $40+++ and only the entree is a buffet. They have an egg station and everything else is cooked to order.

The egg station

The buffet for entrees & soup & bread

We could order as much as we wanted and as many times as we liked and everything was served in small portions. For the 3 of us girls, it was ideal since we could order a portion of many items on the menu and share them all.

Pierside Kitchen recently opened again after the restaurant underwent some renovations. It's opposite the Marina IR so it's very well placed when it opens. The restaurant is very simple and the waiters were all very attentive and wonderful towards us. We sat outside and the weather was wonderful with a light breeze.

Chef Robin brought out a great big tub of French butter for us and there went the diet. It was his personal stash and it tasted so good next to his baked bread.

Chef Robin's personal stash of French butter which tasted oh so good!

Potato gratin with sliced sausages

Calamari rings

Sausages with onion gravy

Crab cakes

Corn fritters with roasted tomatoes & bacon

This is definately my kind of brunch. I loved the small menu and the small sizes. The food was really good and I am so happy to say that I walked away from this brunch not bloated and not drunk!

It's definately going to be one of my favourite brunch places in Singapore. I'm keen to go back!

Lynette

Japanese/Korean Classes - Module 1

I haven't written in the blog for a while so the in between gaps will be filled in the next few days as I find time to write about what I have been up to and what is coming up.

I had a busy day today, flying from HK and going straight to the office to do some work before heading to the studio to attend our first Japanese/Korean cuisine class with Chef Cheo. I love Japanese and Korean Cuisine so I am going to personally attend all these classes as a participant.

Tonight, Chef Cheo demonstrated all 3 dishes to us and then we all split into groups and made our own.

This is the Korean chili paste you need to buy to put as a finishing touch to the bi bim bap

Bi bim bap is quite easy to make but it taste better in a hot stone. You can then put all the fresh vegetables and egg in there and it will cook by itself. Since we didn't have the heated hot stone, we had to cook our vegetables and egg separately and then assemble them together. Bi bim bap remains my favourite Korean dish (apart from the kimchi of course)

The deep fried seaweed chicken is really easy to make. You marinate the chicken pieces in soy sauce and mirin for no more than 15 minutes otherwise it gets too salty. This dish was truly delicious!

This is Chef Cheo's omelet. Ours didn't look so good as we did not roll it tight enough. You have to cook the omelet first and then you roll it with the cooked prawns. We then put it in the fridge to cool it down and when it is ready to be served, you just slice them.

I can't wait for the next class next Thursday!

Lynette

Macrobiotic Diet Cooking Class @ Palate Sensations Cooking School

Mooove with the groove, and go with the flow! It is the hottest part of the year, time to take it easy.

As we are now well into the Lunar Year of the Brown Cow (according to Chinese astrology), it is too hot to rush about. We might as well adopt some of the cow’s placid nature by chomping our way through some luxurious whole foods.

Once again, Lusher Than Life will be teaching a macrobiotic cooking class at Palate Sensations, that engaging cooking school at Wessex Estate in the Portsdown Road area.

Join us on our second meatless culinary adventure, featuring an innovative menu with Mediterranean overtones and experience the joy of nature’s colourful vegetarian bounty.

Class menu:

Corn chowder with basil pesto

Wholewheat seitan piccata with wilted vegetables

Millet and cauliflower with mochi gratin

Quinoa salad

Pink grated daikon salad

Tiramisu with tofu cream and grain coffee

On the House

Fruity bancha tea will be provided.

Date/Time

July 5, 2009, 3pm – 6pm

Class Fee

$140-00

Registration

http://www.palatesensations.com

Click on the cooking class schedule tab in the top lefthand corner of the page,
and search via Chef’s name (Simone Vaz) to find class details!

For more information

Call Simone Vaz on Tel 9004 2645

or

Palate Sensations on Tel 6479 9025

Harry Potter Mania.. what did they eat at Hogwarts?

Recreate the magic of Hogwarts with the best of British cuisine. Here is your chance to throw your own Harry Potter party. We will be making:

Pumpkin juice
Mini cornish pasties
Shepherd's pie served with Yorkshire pudding
Treacle tart

treacle tart

When: Tuesday 7th July from 7pm to 10pm

Fees: $110 per person.

To enroll, go to our class schedule here.

Lynette