William and his food

Es Cendol - ice chendol Attack 2!

2009-03-13T08:50:00.000-07:00

As I said, i'll be posting it based on the least nice one to the nicest one..
This is so-called the second nicest/least nicest one.. Well, this is a bit different from the normal Singapore's ice cendol. This is actually the ice chendol from Bengawan Solo, a cake shop established by Indonesian in Singapore. Well, though they are Singaporeans now..
I was expecting a more Indonesian taste and there i got it, but not so much as nice as the original Indonesia's Ice cendol, yeah but better than normal Spore's ones.

First look: small bowl, big hill of ice with palm sugar

can see a bit of cendol, mixture of melted ice with palm sugar and coconut milk.

Well, the red beans are quite bigger than usual.. However, the chendol isn't as good as Indo one, can see from the color as I've mentioned. And the palm sugar and the coconut is too much for a small portion of es cendol..

Appearance ♥♥♥◦◦ - Can't really comment on the appearance, probably too plain?
Tastiness ♥♥♥◦◦ - I'll give a decent point since it's not so bad, but not so good either
Sinfulness ♥♥♥♥◦ - Tooooo sweeeet.. I usually don't leave leftovers

Es Cendol - Ice Chendol attack 1!

2009-03-13T08:23:00.000-07:00

Well, this is another attack series.. This time it's another indonesian dish but this time is dessert!
Hehehe.. Since I've got the same type of dessert from 3 different places, let's do an attack series.. hahaha..
Es cendol (es = ice, and cendol is a phlegm like thing). Well, in fact phlegm itself can also be referred as cendol, and the ironic thing is (getting abit disgusting here), the more the color looks like phlegm, the better the cendol tastes.

We'll start from the least delicious cendol. From normal foodcourt in Singapore, it taste roughly the same.

The color, looks very un-natural, though I believe we all do not have any idea how a color of cendol should be, but the color of this one doesn't look appealing to me.

I don't want to argue about the origin, wiki says that It's from Indonesia and I do believe so as well. Because it's from Indonesia, it's only natural that I tend to assume that the original color of cendol should look like those in Indonesia.
For this one, The es cendol is:
cendol (the green thing), red beans, ice, black jellies, coconut milk, palm sugar (javanese sugar).
Here's the rating
Appearance ♥♥◦◦◦ - Standard look though, not that attractive
Tastiness ♥♥◦◦◦ - ♥♥♥◦◦ (2 or 3) - Taste is so-so, well at least here in Singapore, they are creative enough to add toppings like mango or durian paste.
Sinfulness ♥♥♥◦◦ - If it's not that nice, it's not that sinful.

From Es teler 77

2009-02-27T02:11:00.000-08:00

Another things from Es teler 77, I made this as a separate post because the tagging is different. This one contains snacks to go with the Es teler. They are kinda nice as well.
Here we go:
1. Deep fried Otak-otak (Sporeans know otak-otak better as otah or otah-totah)
it's like fish cake, only better taste and it's deep fried. Normal otak-otak have more fish flavor and has different texture which can be distinguished by the tounge. However now that this is deep fried, it goes well with sambal (chilli sauce)

Appearance ♥♥♥◦◦ - looks irregular and looks like banana deep fried. You know what I mean
Tastiness ♥♥♥♥◦ - Crispy and tasty. Good snack
Sinfulness ♥♥♥♥◦ - quite oily but it's real easy to crave this.

2. Batagor.
Huh? I only know that BATAGOR stands for BAkso TAhu GOReng today after i decided to google for it. So yeah, it's Bakso (fishballs or meatballs) Tahu (beancurd, toufu) Goreng (fried)
with the delicious dark soy sauce + nut gravy (saus kacang) that is normally used for satay or lontong.

closer look down there

Woooohh... Makes me really want to eat it again..
Appearance ♥♥◦◦◦ - Nut gravy is not really best in its appearance, but it's delicious
Tastiness ♥♥♥♥◦ - Oily as well, but yet, taste as good as the deep fried otak2
Sinfulness ♥♥♥♥◦ - same rate as above. Very sinful

Yup, there are more snacks in es teler actually but these two are my fave ones.

Es Teler 77

2009-02-27T00:42:00.000-08:00

William is back!! to share more about food.
Now is back to dessert again. Es teler77. Es (ice) teler(dizzy, drunk?, hungover?) and Es teler 77 is the fast food chain brand that sell this excellent dessert. Although it says teler, but it doesn't have any alcohol or stuff like that that makes you, teler
Lots of franchises in Indonesia and there are some also here in Singapore. The website also says that there are some as well in Australia

Ice, jack fruit, avocado, coconut flesh, sweet condensed milk and tadaaaa... Es teler.
But the one made by Es teler 77 is just different.

Ooooh my cute little sister..

Oops, shouldn't leave leftover, I would just have to eat it after I took the picture.
Appearance ♥♥♥◦◦ - The look is actually quite standard
Tastiness ♥♥♥♥◦ - Very nice taste, sweet and refreshing
Sinfulness ♥♥♥◦◦ - One portion is always not enough

Kare Soba (カレーそば)

2009-02-17T11:04:00.000-08:00

Soba is a kind of thick noodle, pasta (esp: spaghetti) like japanese style noodle. Kare it's simply a translation of Curry.

It's a food from NUS' Japanese Stall from "The Deck" (Faculty of Arts) Canteen.
Actually, after taking Japanese, seems like I've got the curiosity to know more about Japanese Culture and stuffs like food of course. I've taken liking to this store since my Japanese Languange module is offered from this faculty and I always take my meal after my Japanese class there.

The dish, is somewhat unique, or should I say wierd? Some potato, meat of your choice and probably that's all. Here are the pictures:

This is the kare soba with dory fillet that I had.

While this is the kare soba with torikatsu? (chicken cutlet) that my friend had.
Well, not so satisfied with the taste. The stall might not be the best hand to handle the dish (though I like other menu) and I tried this out of curiosity.
Without further ado:
Appearance ♥♥◦◦◦ - The soba actually looked kinda dry and so it wasn't that appealing.
Tastiness ♥♥◦◦◦ - Japanese Curry is a bit different but I wouldn't really want it on soba. Not a good combination for me or as i said it might be the stall, not really the dish.
Sinfulness ♥♥◦◦◦ The portion was kind of small.. And the curry isn't not the oily and yummy curry.

Nasi Padang attack 3!!

2009-02-17T10:49:00.000-08:00

Long time no see!!! I've been quite busy with animes and assignments at school. Not that motivated to post any food till now but now that you are reading this, it's time for a post after quite a time.

it's quite a familiar one but the concept is still nasi padang. Curry gravy on top of rice, just that it's without real less veggies.. It's NUS' "Indonesian Panggang" from Techno Edge (Engine/SDE Canteen). Panggang actually means grill which means the focus of the food offered from the stall is quite to the grilled stuff.

Here's what I ordered.

I'll have to commend on the portion of the chicken. Quite big isn't it?

Well, size does matter, a bit.. for such greedy-for-food man like me, however in the end, taste matter most. Not much of a special thing compared with previous nasi padang posts nor compared with real Indonesian style grilled stuff. This stall was once popular though..
Now onto the scoring:

Appearance ♥♥♥◦◦ - I hate the westernized style that this Indonesian Panggang food adopts, not only in appearance but also taste. But it's actually not that aesthetically unpleasing so 3 points shall do the trick
Tastiness ♥♥♥◦◦ - So-so.. Nothing really special for me
Sinfulness ♥♥♥◦◦ Well the size does matter a bit right? as i said?

Nasi Padang Attack 2!

2009-02-01T08:05:00.000-08:00

Okay, this is a better version of Nasi Padang. Previously it was called selbu (serba lima ribu = everything 5000 rupiahs, ard 80cents) after that serbu (serba enam ribu, ard 90cents) and now they are not that cheap anymore. Like rp20k - 40k (S$3-6) per meal.
The one that I had, contained, rice with curry gravy (the basic requirement for nasi padang), grilled chicken, tempeh, shrimp with some sambal veggies and some curry made jackfruit veggie (sayur nangka). As shown in the picture:

while this is one that my sister had, the one with fried chicken and without any spicy veggies.

Appearance ♥♥♥♥◦ Looks more organized! And also, more appealing!
Tastiness ♥♥♥♥◦ - Tastes somewhat better compared with garuda's. Small portions were just right to make you crave more. The spiciness was awesome and the non spicy one isn't that bad either.
Sinfulness ♥♥♥◦◦ Since it's small portion, you tend to ask for more rice, more veggie, chicken or take some from your sister's in case she leave some leftovers.

Nasi Padang Attack 1

2009-01-31T03:32:00.000-08:00

Nasi Padang Attack!!! Nasi means rice and Padang is a place in Indonesia. So literally it's Padang-nese style of rice. Since there are a lot of varieties of nasi padang, the postings of nasi padang will be numbered as "Nasi Padang Attack (number)" and will be tagged with "nasi padang" on every post.
Now the first and probably the most famous nasi padang around Indonesia is Nasi Padang "Garuda". That's not a type of nasi padang, instead, it's just a brand of something like fast food chain. But Garuda is by far, the most famous brand in Indonesia. You can find its franchise at level B1 vivo city which cost like 10 times more.
The most common thing about Nasi Padang is that it's a dish of rice, with some curry gravy on top and some meat and veggie to accompany the rice.
For this Garuda, we can either choose a range of meat: curry chicken, fried chicken, grilled chicken, grilled fish, sambal fish, etc. etc. And somehow, this garuda always have the sweet potato leaves with a bit of "belacan" chili sauce". Picture below:

Appearance ♥♥♥◦◦ Simple traditional look with banana leaves as wrapping, after that another wrap with low quality paper. This is the dabao-ed (packed) appearance.
Tastiness ♥♥♥◦◦ Probably they should have given chicken in big sizes. This one is definitely too small to go with the rice.
Sinfulness ♥♥◦◦◦ well for this one, the rice is kinda filling and that's it. Not so much of gluttony left after that. The situation will be different if you'd asked for more gravy.

Lapis Legit

2009-01-19T10:07:00.001-08:00

Now, a great food souvenir to take if you had paid a visit to Indonesia:
Lapis Legit, also known as: Spekkoek (thanks to wiki)
Although, it might look a bit different from Wiki's picture file, but the description is roughly the same. What's so special about this is that, the making process of this cake is done layer by layer.
As you can see from the picture below, each line should represent the border of one layer to another. So what I understand is the first layer will be baked first, then the liquid dough is poured again and baked again until the top. Which might explains about the dark colored thin lines.

Ooops taking in the bite!

And yeah, according to wiki, this cake, is actually Dutch-Indonesian!
Probably was developed during the colonization period, and is said to be using Dutch cake recipe with Indonesian ingredients.
Okay, and now, more importantly, whether it's worth buying or trying:

Appearance ♥♥♥♥◦ Lines are adorable aren't they.. Simple look yet it's rather appealing
Tastiness ♥♥♥♥◦ - ♥♥♥♥♥ Generally, it's just unique, the taste of this cake.. Unique and yummy
Sinfulness ♥♥♥♥◦ Uhm, since the baking is layer by layer, each layer is buttered after the baking which is why this cake is oily. Despite the oiliness, it still tastes great!

Thanks to Hans for sharing this cake with us! Forgot to buy this from Indo

Chicken Rice

2009-01-13T08:59:00.001-08:00

Not the usual plain chicken rice in Singapore, but the special, always being waited for (every time for breakfast) and the never-ever-dull to be eaten, Local Medan, typical wet market chicken rice da-bao (wrapped) in a paper and banana leaf (it's banana tree leaf right?)

Up close but not too clear of what's on there... forgot to activate my macro when I took the picture... zzzz

But this is just the right focuz for the picture.. well:
The chicken rice consist of: Chicken and rice!
Well of course, that's why it's called chicken rice!! goddamit!! Are you playing a joke, what's so special? ok ok cool down!! we've got some sweet and spicy cracker on top of the rice, some one eighth piece of dark sauce cooked egg, and in fact there are some char siew (roasted red colored pork) as well! Also there's this pickled onion and the rice is semi-glutonious rice (probably with some pulut added)
Not so much of a plain S'pore local chicken rice.. And also it's different from hainanese chicken rice, but it's another fave of mine

Appearance ♥♥♥♥◦ It actually looks rather artistic in real life, I wouldn't wait to finish it once I see the dish
Tastiness ♥♥♥♥◦ simple sweet and lovely tastiness
Sinfulness ♥♥♥◦◦ the fried skin of the chicken rice is nice, but actually it's rather a normal dish.. normal yet appealing

Es campur

2009-01-07T07:32:00.000-08:00

Es campur... If in Singapore es kacang is spelled ice kachang.. maybe I should pronounce this as ice champur muhaahaha.. Anyways yea, literally, es = ice and campur means mixed. So what you expect from an Es campur is a mixed stuffs covered in ice just like ice kachang..
But there are indeed few differences between es campur and es kacang..
Anyways, here's the picture

Yeah, as u can see here are what an ice champur (es campur) consists of: ice, coconut milk?, melted dark sugar?, jellies?, cendol (a.k.a. chendol, see the "H" again hahaha), tapai(some alcoholic fermented food) and red beans..
Yeah, I don't know how to describe those ingredients but those are roughly what I meant

So yeah, that's how it looks like before we consume it...
Now, the scoring:
Appearance ♥♥♥◦◦ messy look, looks like standard blended ice desserts
Tastiness ♥♥♥♥◦ one of the not to be missed traditional desserts
Sinfulness ♥♥♥♥◦ a bit alcoholic, and very sweet and tempting. Can easily finish two bowls after a meal, gives you a refreshing, thirst quenching feeling, but it's really really filling actually..

Pek Cha

2009-01-03T22:43:00.000-08:00

`Well, in hokkian, "Pek" means white or plain and "Cha" means stir fry. So the term "Pek cha" means "plainly stir-fried". In medan, this is one of the variations of cooking kwe tiaw, or as we mentioned in the other post: the chinese thick noodle. I haven't found any of this in Singapore so I decided that I'd just post this up first.
In Singapore, it would be similarly stir fried but added with more meats and/or seafood, and dark soy sauce which produces the dark stir fried kwetiaw a.k.a. "cha kwetiaw".
This "pek cha" not only it is white ("pek") but also it is plain ("pek") i.e. without any meat, normally just a bit of egg. Here's the picture:

Appearance ♥♥◦◦◦ Standard look isn't it? not so much of an appealing look
Tastiness ♥♥♥◦◦ - ♥♥♥♥♥ Like fried rice, this is one of the dishes that shows how pro a cook is. It can get from standard taste to a very very awesome taste
Sinfulness ♥♥♥♥◦ Sometimes it gets so oily yet so appealing, that's what sinfulness is hahaha

Hokkian Mee

2009-01-01T22:57:00.000-08:00

Something probably more common to Indonesian Medan citizens and Malaysian Penang Citizens:
Hokkian Mee Soup Version
In Singapore, the hokkian mee is stir-fried version and the dish doesn't have as much as variety of seafood if compared to this hokkian mee soup version.
At least this soup contains: prawn, prawn balls, some crab meat (real), oyster, fishball and sliced fishcake.
expect the soup to be sweet and fragrant.. One of my best favorites!

The one I ordered was noodle (mian) mixed with thick noodle (kwetiaw)

Just look at those generously put seafood!!
Appearance ♥♥♥♥◦ Can't wait to eat just by looking
Tastiness ♥♥♥♥♥ Told'ya it's one of my best fave
Sinfulness ♥♥◦◦◦ proteins can't be bad for you.. the craving is not that much after finishing it.

Nice? One of the dishes that you should probably try if you go to Medan

Lays

2008-12-31T23:20:00.000-08:00

Wew, you guys must be probably wondering what's up with this Lays, doesn't it look like normal Lays? Green packaging, Oh! it must be Lays Sour Cream and Onion......... OR is it????
muahhahahahhah let's scroll down to see

Hey, wait, what's with those black dots on the chips????

Wooooppsss, it's not Sour cream and Onion Lays! It's the so much longed Indonesian Lays flavored with Seaweed!! There there!! hahaha.. Can't find this in Singapore... wew.. This is so much more tasty than Sour cream and Onion so yeah, couldn't help thinking to buy one and save the craving hahah
Appearance ♥♥♥♥◦ doesn't it look appealing? the black dots! hmm..
Tastiness ♥♥♥♥◦ Well, yeah, I kinda like seaweed, some people don't though
Sinfulness ♥♥♥◦◦ snacks snacks and snacks..
That's it! One of my personal fave snacks in Indo, there somemore different Lays with different flavor but oh well... hahaha

Pizza Hut!

2008-12-31T05:32:00.000-08:00

So we went to Pizza to have some meal today! A meal for four with Christmas seasonal adjusting to the menu!

Sprite with some red fruit inside.. I think it was cherry

Chicken salad! Well, not so bad
Appearance ♥♥♥◦◦ so-so only
Tastiness ♥♥♥◦◦ standard taste..
Sinfulness ♥◦◦◦◦ veggie is good!!

Chicken Soup
Appearance ♥♥◦◦◦ so-so also
Tastiness ♥♥♥◦◦ standard taste..
Sinfulness ♥♥♥◦◦ I think it's the MSG!! hahaha

Some platter, I forgot to jot down the name, who cares lolz..
consists of: star shaped hashbrown, raw cucumbers and carrots, chicken wings and karage!
Appearance ♥♥♥♥◦ certainly quite appealing!
Tastiness ♥♥♥♥◦ Everything is quite good here!! haha
Sinfulness ♥♥◦◦◦ Not so bad, not too oily, just nice

Family favourite: standard crust "meat galore!" I think it's singapore's version of indo's "meat lover"
Appearance ♥♥♥◦◦ standard pizza hut look hahaha
Tastiness ♥♥♥♥◦ Yummy meat loafs hahah
Sinfulness ♥♥♥◦◦ yeah... all the cheese

Lastly it's the X'mas surprise, standard order, can't choose anything to modify the pizza
Appearance ♥♥♥♥◦ love the cherry on top
Tastiness ♥♥♥♥◦ love the cheezzy crust and the ham rolls
Sinfulness ♥♥♥♥◦ cheezzzzzzzyy and cheese powder!! so sinful hahahah

So yeah, basically those were what we ate! Pizza Hut in Christmas!! :)

First Post!

2008-12-30T11:04:00.001-08:00

I shall now declare that "William and his food" publishes its first post today, 31st Dec 2008!!
:)