Lunar New Year @ The Bay

This year "River Hong Bao 2009" was 1st time organised at the Marina Bay Floating plaform. Between 24th Jan 09 to 1st Feb 09, performances will be staged nightly at 8pm at the centre of the floating platform.

For more information on the event, visit this website http://www.riverhongbao.sg/.

Other than the stage performances, there are also some large lanterns at the floating platform for visitors to enjoy, to understand some of our Chinese culture and to take photos with.

2009 is the Lunar Year of the Ox, hence there is this large Ox lantern by the river to remind the people on the arrival of the Ox year.

There are also lanterns that cover the twelve Chinese Zodiac Animals.

The Chinese opera characters.

The giant Chinese Chess Formation.

The biggest and tallest of all is the God of Fortune.

If you are hungry for food, there is a food street at the River Hong Bao that sell various local and Asia food, like snacks from Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, etc. There is even a stall that sell durians.

But I was kind of disappointed that I did not get to see the Chinese arts and handicraft Masters at the River Hong Bao this year. For the pass few years, there are Masters that showcase the Chinese arts and crafts, like Chinese calligraphy, painting with melted sugar, fortune telling, etc. Hopefully, they will be back next year.

If you have not get enough from the River Hong Bao, walk futher down to the Esplande. Between 30th Jan 09 to 8th Feb 09, the Esplande is having Huayi Festival 2009. Every night, there are free performances at the Forecourt, the Concourse and the Outdoor Theatre.

For the schedule of Huayi's free performances, check out this website http://www.huayifestival.com/sub/free.html.

Below are some photos that were taken at the Outdoor Theatre performances. The performers are playing the Chinese instruments.

Nasi Lemak @ Adam

Nasi Lemak is a traditional Malay delicacy that could be commonly found in hawker centres, coffee shops and even pasar malam. Nasi lemak is basically rice cooked with coconut milk. To better the fragrance of the rice, pandan leaves, ginger and/or lemon grass are sometimes added to cook with the rice.

Remember during my young days, nasi lemak come with fried ikan bilis (anchovies), peanuts, a super thin slice of omelette and some sambal chilli, wrapped in banana leaf. But as time gets better and people get richer, chicken wings, otah, fish, sausages, etc. also become the side dishes for nasi lemak.

Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak is located Adam Food Centre. I personally think the rice is quite well cooked, as the rice grain is still full and intact after cooked. For some of the stalls, the rice become too soft and you can't taste the rice grain at all. But if they can increase the coconut fragrance of the rice, then it will be perfect. I also like the ikan bilis as they are very crispy.

Selera Rasa served 7 different kinds of nasi lemak sets. But you can add-on additional items if you wanted to. The set showed below is their fish meal set for S$3.00.

You Tiao @ Clementi Central

You Tiao or You Char Kway is a deep fried strip of dough in pairs that is usually taken during breakfast with either coffee, soy bean milk or porridge. You tiao has also become a must have item when we eat "bah kut teh". You tiao is also one of the ingredient for "rojak".

A good you tiao is supposed to be lightly salted, with the outer layer crispy while soft in the inside. A good you tiao must also maintain its crispiness when it is cold. Some of the you tiao become soft and difficult to chew when it is cold.

To go with my favourite porridge in my last posting, Xi De Li Clementi You Tiao at Clementi Central Market & Hawker Centre is my no. one choice. The you tiao and the porridge compliment each other. Although both are very simple food, but having them together not only warm your stomach, also satisfied your taste buds.

Xi De Li's you tiao is not only crispy, the oil they use is also changed regularly, so the you tiao is fresh without the smell of the overused oil.

Soon Lee Porridge @ Clementi Central

I was once a student of Singapore Polytechnic, so Clementi Central is one of the place we students used to go between classes or after school.

Soon Lee Porridge is my no. 1 choice at Clementi Central Market & Hawker Centre. Most of the Cantonese porridge are so silky smooth that you can't eat the rice grain at all. But Soon Lee's porridge is smooth and yet you can taste the rice grain. They serve pork, chicken and fish porridge.

Their pork porridge is my favourite. They give a generous amount of meat balls, lean meat, pig liver slices and they are all very fresh. The meat balls are chewy and juicy, with some small amount of fats among the minced meat. The pig liver slices are not totally cooked, so they are still soft and tender when you eat them. The porridge is topped and garnished with fried you tiao, fried shallot, fried pork lard, spring onion and dong chai(mustard green). All these further enhance the taste of the porridge when you stir them into the porridge. To complete my porridge, I always asked for an egg to be added into the porridge. A bowl of pork porridge with egg cost S$2.50 while without egg cost S$2.20.

If you go around breakfast time or lunch time, be prepared to wait for at least half an hour. For this good food, I think the wait is worthwhile. Remember, their pork porridge is a must try.

Kay Lee Roast Meat Joint @ Upper Paya Lebar

I had been travelling up and down along Upper Paya Lebar Road and had never noticed this old shop house that sell roast duck, roast meat & char siew, until lately. It had been well hidden behind some construction site hoarding for sometimes.

Roast duck, roast meat & char siew are cantonese delicacy that can be easily found at hawker centres, coffee shops and food courts, but finding a good stall is not easy. It is not easy to maintain the juiciness of the meat after roasting. Most of the stall, the meat is dry and hard after roasting.

Kay Lee Roast Meat Joint, their roast duck and char siew are very well roasted. I never like char siew, as most of the char siew I tried are dry and hard. But Kay Lee's char siew is a must try item. The char siew's outer layer is well roasted & sweet while the inner is still juicy and tender with some thin layers of fat in between the lean meat. As for the roast duck, you can taste the fat oil flowing out when you chew the duck skin, although not so healthy, but that what make the roast duck taste great. So its alright to pamper yourself for some oily food once in a while. :) To complete your meal, you may also try their stewed soup.

The photo on the left show a mix plate of char siew, roast meat and roast duck, while the left show the pig stomach with pepper stewed soup.

Kay Lee Roast Meat Joint is located at No. 125 Upper Paya Lebar Road. It is located near to the upcoming Tai Seng MRT Station. For more information, you may visit their website www.kayleeroastmeatjoint.com.

Bedok Chwee Kueh

Chwee Kueh (or "water cake" in teochew) is a popular traditional teochew snack liked by all ages and could be taken anytime of the day. Chwee Kueh is made by mixing rice flour and water, the mixture is then steam in little metal cups. The steam chwee kueh is then served hot with chye poh (preserve salted radish) topping that is fried together with diced garlic, shallots and sesame seeds.

Although there are a lot of stalls around Singapore that sell chwee kueh, but I most favourite stall is "Bedok Chwee Kueh". Bedok Chwee Kueh have a few branches around Singapore, so you need not travel all the way down to Bedok for the chwee kueh. :) I normally patron the branch at Bukit Timah Hawker Centre.

The chwee kueh here is soft and tender and the topping has a mixture of taste consisting sweet, saltish and nice fragrance of the sesame seed. A packet of 8 nos. of chwee kueh here cost S$2.00. The chilli paste that goes with the chwee kueh is also very well made and I like it very much.