First night dinner: Nan Hwa Chong Fish Head Steamboat dinner, there are 2 famous fish head steamboat in this area, this is one of it. From Lavender station, just get across the car park beside the MRT station. Walk along the canal, cross the canal, cut through the block of flats. When you are at the main road, turn to your right and walk down North Bridge Road until you come to a T-Junction and the restaurant is just opposite.

Address: Nan Hwa Chong 南华昌（亚秋）鱼头炉

814 North Bridge Road (intersection with Jalan Sultan)

Tel: +65 6297 9319

Nearest MRT: Lavender (EW Line)

4 types of fish: big head carp being the cheapest at around SGD$20, we had red snapper at SGD$28 per pot, enough for 2 person to have a satisfying meal.

Other dishes available

We waited around 45 minutes before the steamboat above arrive, heated with coal in the middle

A lot of meaty fish and yummy yam/taro.

2nd day in Singapore: trying Ladurée in Takashimaya Shopping Centre.

It is quite good actually with good quality chocolate filling, not too sweet, just nice

nice peach custard bread from DONQ bakery in Takashimaya Shopping Centre

2nd night dinner, trying another fish head steamboat found online, it is quite a distance from Tampines MRT station, i think around 30 minutes walk

Address: 海 昌 魚 頭 爐

淡 賓 尼 圓 巴 剎 熟 食 中 心
地 址 ： Tampines Street 11 Block 137
營 業 時 間 ： 4:30pm-10pm

Not so good, still prefer previous night’s. This one is with little fish, and the fish meat is weirdly hard, and there is very little yam pieces as well.

A BBQ / Steamboat Buffet restaurant in Kepong, it is located somewhere behind Carrefour Kepong

I tried one of the snail shellfish thingy on the left, and it smell rotten when eaten after cooked in steamboat 🙁

The prawn however is quite fresh though

lamb/pork/beef/dory fish for cooking on hot pan

More food for hotplate

Vegetables

more vege

prepared food

condiments

yoyo ice

Overall, the food is just ok, the price if not mistaken is around RM25 or RM29.

Address: No C-G-6, Jalan Metro Perdana 3,

Taman Usahawan, 52100 Kepong, KL

Business hour: 4pm – 12am

Telephone: 03-6259 8802

GPS: N 03′ 12.963 E 101′ 38.653

Post by other blogger:

FOODnTRAVELla

Salted Caramel filling (from Pierre Herme’s recipe)  this recipe is quite good, kinda sweet without overly sweet

120 Sugar

200g Whipping Cream

103g Softened Unsalted Butter ie 18g + 85g

(optional) sea salt

Direction for making salted caramel can refer to Tastebook

Macaron shell recipes are from Rohani Jelani:

* I did tried making a hazelnut chocolate ganache, but it was very hard to pipe even when i used a larger nozzle, next time have to use the largest nozzle due to the hazelnut paste i use is with hazelnut bits which stuck to the nozzle

** I have tried using milk chocolate button to make chocolate ganache and the macaron is just too sweet. Macaron shells is best paired to dark chocolate to balanced out the sweetness of the shell

A very good website with many tips for macaron making: BraveTart & Zumbo Baking

My previous macaron baking adventure.

Shell (Original):

120g sieved almonds

200g icing sugar

100 egg white

40 caster sugar

Shell (Chocolate):

110g sieved almonds

200g icing sugar

4 Tbsp cocoa powder

100 egg white

40 caster sugar

Shell (Coffee):

120g sieved almonds

200g icing sugar

1 rounded teaspoon instant coffee

100 egg white

40 caster sugar

Important to note when making macaron:

1) Finished texture can’t be too watery (ie meringue have to be beaten till soft peak and not moving, some website did seem to beat till hard peak which i have yet to try, i just find it is easier to incorporate almond-icing mixture into soft peak)
2) Almond can’t be over mixed during sieving by pressing into sieve else the end mixture will collapse and watery due to oily nut (ie cocoa powder/espresso powder/icing must be presieved before sieving together with almond)

3) The piped macaron have to be placed in air-conditioned room till the shell is COMPLETELY not stick when touched. (If it still feel sticky, leave it in the aircon room as long as it takes to be dry to touch, else rest assure the macaron will crack on top while being baked)

4) Sieve the dry ingredients for 3 or 4 times. (due to me not having a food processor)

5) I find putting the baking pan slightly nearer to the lower heat source works well (just a hunch, i could be wrong)

I made 3 shells: plain, chocolate and coffee, The best is the chocolate macaron shell surprisingly, cos i thought chocolate ones will crack more easily. I think i might have master chocolate macaron as it is the one which has most with feet.

Some additional tips which may or may not be important 😉

1) egg white room temperature

2) Fold in your dry ingredients in at least 4 additions. Do not dump the whole thing into the beaten foam or you might end up with a runny batter (oops, i think i have to follow this, my batter sometimes end up runny and very hard to set even left in air conditioned room for very long)

Variation:

* On one instance, I did doubled macaron recipe but forgetting to double the caster sugar (used 20g instead of 40g), and the macaron shells is so hard to harden and dry. thus almost all have no feet and top crack (except some chocolate ones which ends up having feet, so far chocolate macaron shells is my best bet now), so i guess there the amount of sugar in macaron recipe can’t be reduced.

I find Lauduree, TWG macaron quite good, with good flavor without too sugary sweet, and one thing is there are very shiny on top, and from what i see from other’s website, their macaron batter are quite smooth and soft, mine might just be slightly undermix and grainy fearing the batter will be overmixed and become runny, perhaps i should mix it further to make the end product have a ‘shiny’ top, instead of a slightly ‘grainy’ top.

Picture Time…

recipe from Rohani Jelani

Pierre Herme caramel recipe, i reduced the amount the whole recipe to corresponds to 200ml of whipped cream i bought

egg white broken and left to ‘aged’ in a container in fridge for 3 days to 1 week

sieve the dry ingredients together. Many recipe specify to use a food processor. Having no food processor, i just triple or sieve it for four times.

prepare the nozzle to pipe mac shells

egg white

mix egg white and dry sieved ingredients

spoon into piping bag with bottom sealed, the batter looks running, urgh

looks kinda runny to me

runny batter cause the feet to slightly spread out

still look decent enough here

cool

chocolate macaron

nice macs

only 1 or 2 crack, yay!

nice feet and shiny top

coffee macs, slide it onto baking sheet

rap the sheet a few times to remove air

use a small toothpick or chopstick to smooth the top of visible air bubbles

smoothed

yuck, look like cookie, not pretty at all, there was a ‘mishap’ while making this batch of macaron, the oven i used was suddenly shut itself off due to fuse burnt, and i have to switched to a smaller oven and switching to a smaller baking sheet, and resulting in this super ugly macs

waiting to be filled

caramel prepared earlier and to be left in the fridge

cooled, just took out from fridge

whip it up to dreamy sweet caramel

pipe

Tadaa

 

Nam Giao, first restaurant we went to after check-into hotel near Ben Thanh market

beef noodle with strong hint of basil, refreshingly nice.

Address: Nam Giao

136/15, Le Thanh Ton, Quan 1

Our hotel on first night in Thanh Thu Hotel, just 1 minute walk to Ben Thanh market, booked in Agoda for approx USD24

View of ben thanh market from front of our hotel

Ben Thanh market

drink stall in market

crab meat in market

bought lotus seed as souvenir, VND300,000 for 1kg (ie around RM45 for 1kg)

it is cheapest bought in Benh Thanh Market, supermarket will be more expensive (at least 400k VND per 100g)

Lunch lady popularized by Anthony bourdain, near Hoang Sa street

11AM-3PM. (sells out before 1 pm)

dish on wednesday is chicken noodle soup, nothing spectacular, but it is a big portion homely satisfying dish

Quan 94 crab restaurant, there is 2 restaurant of this same name, the original one is located on 84 Dinh Tien Hoang street

dirty oil 🙁

our soft-shell crabs with tamarind(cua lot xao me), the sauce is very unappetizingly sweet, not good at all, very expensive at 200,000 VND, around USD10/RM30

Le Van Tam Park

Green papaya salad

love the crunchy prawn cracker, not so fond of the dried beef liver though, just ok i find

From noon to night

Walking toward Banh Xeo 46A

46 Dinh Cong Trang, Tan Dinh, Ho Chi Minh City (a small alley)
Opens from 10am to 9pm daily

The pancake is very crispy and nice on the edges, but it get oiler towards the middle, quite a nice dish actually, good for sharing as it is very big portion

Banh canh Stall in 12C Nguyen Phi Kanh, be there at 2:50pm and you will see the above open the shop and start setting up the stall

banh canh gio heo (tapioca noodle and pig foot soup)

big pot of noodle with pork

slightly sourish and nice, big piece of yummy pork

Fanny ice cream quite popular in Vietnam

Tôn Thất Thiệp road (8am – 11pm)

My favourite ice cream is here in Kem Bach Dang, went there twice for their yummy durian ice cream

in Le Loi Street

VND70,000 (around USD3 or RM10) for this yummy durian ice cream, very nice!

yummy Che Thai with some durian pulp on top

Sam Bo Luong, weird drink with barley, seaweed, lotus root etc, too sweet and not nice

Pho Khoa Thu in District 4

Directions: Head down Ben Van Dong Street in District 4 and make a left onto Nguyen Khoai Street. The stall is located 300 meters down the road on the left hand side and is open from 5 to 10 PM.

homemade chilli sauce

beef noodle soup, i not so fond of the soup, could there be some msg in it? It is piping hot and fresh tasting nonethelss, can’t decide i like this or not

a popular shop in District 4, Oc Oanh

534 Vinh Khanh, District 4
from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m

Cang Ghe Rang Muoi Ot (crab claws fried with chili salt), the chilli salt is just ok i guess(msg in it i think), the crab is very fresh though (VND80,000, around RM12)

Mong tay xao rau muong (fried bamboo clam with morning glory and garlic), the sauce is very sweet, not nice at all! (VND 50,000, around RM9) I have to ‘wash’ the bamboo clam with water to remove the overly sweet sauce

sugar cane

Pho Bo in Phu Gia, my most favourite beef noodle in around 4 tried in Vietnam

(6am – 8:30 pm)
Pho Dac Biet (Special for) 55,000 vnd
146E Ly Chinh Thang St, P.7 District 3, HCMC

With loads of spring onion, yummy, the soup is clear and fresh tasting

railway station in District 3

Truong Dinh, The goat inn

Sunday to Saturday from 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM
Address: 105 Truong Dinh Ngo (District 3)

 

110,000 VND (around 5USD, RM16) for this

the meat is tough and the rice paper is tough as well, not good

Reunification Palace or Independence Palace

The ticket hours – 07:30 am to 11:00 am and 1:00pm to 4:00 pm
Adults: 30.000d/nguoi/lan

Nam Loi where i had the most expensive bowl of noodle in Ho chi minh

43 Ton That Dam Street near corner of Nguen Cong Tra. Morning: 6am-noon, afternoon from 2-7pm.

Pate Pastry

1 bowl of fish with yellow egg noodles + 1 pate pastry for VND 82,000 , around RM13

The soup is quite good!

Bitexco Financial Tower (Can go on afternoon, and stay there to watch the city turn dark)

Mon-Fri: 1pm-9pm; Sat/Sun/Public: 10am-10pm, 8:45pm last entry
49th floor sky deck
Address: 36 Ho Tung Mau Street, District 1. VND 200,000 (equivalent 10 USD) for the sky deck

Free water on top of sky deck

restaurant in skydeck

yummy chocolate souffle in  a french restaurant – Augustin Restaurant, they also have grand marnier souffle which we didn’t try

Pho Ngan, just few shops away from the famous Pho Hoa in Pasteur street

Phở Ngân
258B Pasteur St., District 3, HCMC
Business Hour around 0600 – 0000

Post office built by same person who built Eiffel Tower

Saigon Central Post Office  7:00AM-7:00PM,Sat/Sun 7:00AM-6:30PM

Shri restaurant on top of Centec Tower

We order the cheapest item on the menu, surprisingly very nice bread, yumm!

first night’s hotel:

Thanh Thu Hotel (USD 24 booked in Agoda)
34 Nguyen An Ninh Street | Ben Thanh, Quan 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Saigon River Boutique Hotel (USD 35 booked in Agoda)

58 Mac Thi Buoi Street, Ben Nghe Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City 70000, Vietnam

Breakfast in included in this Saigon Boutique hotel

Note: In this trip to Vietnam, we brought only USD, and exchange our USD to VND at vietnam airport for a pretty good rate, VND21099 for 1 USD

A link on Pho restaurants in Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi : www.thanislim.com

Nasi Lemak in Air Asia

Sandra and I visited her previous’s maid small town 3 hours drive out from Phnom Penh, somewhere near Kampong Cham, i think the exact name is Koch

First home cooked meal in Cambodia, the fried ‘catfish’ is very nice, the condiment in the middle is sourish and very appetising

steamed dessert made of pumpkin and banana

Coffee vendor

ready made coffee all bottle up, he will pour some coffee, top with ice then condensed milk, yum

All 4 coffee and a bag of fried pastry for only USD$1.50

Snail

Snail’s egg

Gasoline sold in bottle is commonly seen here

Tapioca, 1 small bag for USD$1, no sugar, just plain boiled tapioca, love it

bare kitchen

cook using coal

visited a nearby morning market which serve rice noodle

$0.50 for this rice noodle which is very appetising when eaten with mint and vegetables

$0.50 for this curry based soup base

chicken porridge stall

Chicken porridge, around $0.50, just alright, can taste msg, surprisingly taste much better with some lime squeezed

dessert stall

Very nice jelly dessert, only around USD$0.30

fresh sugar cane juice

Refreshing sugar cane juice, with hints of pineapple and lime

our bed, love the mosquito net

Second homecook meal with sourish soup, yummy!

country side view, we are going back to Phnom Penh city for our second night stay in Cambodia

Mekong river

dusty road in construction

Tonle Sap

Our hotel recommended by our friendly taxi driver, River Star hotel, only USD$30 for 3 bed and a nice view! What a bargain.

overlooking Tonle Sap from our room’s balcony

Cambodian corn is so pale, the taste is slightly different as well

Central Market in Phnom Penh

BBQ Fish look so yummy

bought this huge barbequed squid for USD$7

dessert stall

Our dinner

US$1 fried noodle in Central Market, this market close around 5pm – 5:30pm, so better be there by 5pm for dinner

dessert stall while walking from Central Market back to our hotel

3000 riel (USD$0.75) each for this yummy dessert with yam, bean, etc

fish massage area in Fish & Co

Overall, i find Cambodia country side is similar to Malaysia Kuala Selangor/Sekinchan area with paddy fields 🙂

Address: River Star Hotel

Website: http://riverstar-hotel.com/

No 185, Street 118 Corner Sisowath, Phsar Kandal I, Phnom Penh, Cambodia