Father's Day - What about 8 Crabs?

Sponsored Review

In less than 2 weeks' time it's gonna be Father's Day! Have you thought of how to celebrate with/for your father? Sadly with the current situation in Singapore, dining out at your favorite restaurants are no longer an option. Hence, the only way is to "tabao" or order food delivery. Whatever it may be, don't let the circumstances deter us from having a good time of celebration with our families.

Thanks to the folks from 8 Crabs, I was able to enjoy my own Father's Day meal with my family and with the best food possible - CRABS!!

For those who are not familiar with 8 Crabs, of if you are like me (only know the usual seafood restaurants in SG), then it's high time for you to give them a try.

8 Crabs is an award winning crab delivery and seafood delivery service serving Singaporeans island-wide. Being the only supplier of wild catch crabs, they have always been able to promise you crabs that are better than the rest.

If you are interested to know more about their crabs, here are some fun facts:

Crabs naturally travel about 500m every night and prefer to live alone. However, crab farmers breed many crabs in a confined space in order to be profitable. This cause the crabs to get stressed very easily in captivity as many farms cannot replicate their natural habitat.

When stressed, crabs produce ammonia, which is a sign of decomposition of seafood.

Most restaurants purchase farmed crabs because they are cheaper. As a result, they use highly fragrant gravies to cover up the ammonia smell.

8 Crabs is the only company in Singapore using grade AAA premium Sri Lankan source wild crabs. This is graded by the most experienced crab graders in the trade.

This means that our crabs are meatier, tastier, bigger, and less watery.

To ensure freshness, these crabs are caught, flown, prepared and delivered to you within 12 hours.

Our award winning chefs prepare and cook these fresh crabs daily to guarantee the best flavor and taste.

We also have a one day driver to an order policy across our 12 kitchens island-wide so that we may uphold our promise of One Hour Crab Delivery.

Are you ready for the feast? We most certainly are!

We ordered both the Black Pepper Crab & the Salted Egg Yolk Crab.

The salted egg yolk sauce was so good, we had an extra portion of rice just so we can savor the taste again and again.

No meal is complete without the basic vegetable and meat. We even pamper ourselves (mainly for the wife) and had a rare treat of the Yam Ring.

But since it was suppose to be an advance Father's Day celebration for me, I will show you my personal favorite! Look at the sauce! I think I need to order from 8 Crabs again!

Ordering is easy.

Just go the website and browse through the selection of crabs, fish, prawn, squid, beef, pork, poultry, vegetable, egg, tofu, etc.

If you do not know what to order, then just choose the special Father's Day Set.

Bangkok Trip 2016 - Talay Zaa

Since 2011 we have been traveling to Bangkok every year. The city has fast become our yearly pilgrim, for shopping and massage. But in the recent years, we have come across some nice restaurants in Bangkok and opened a new found interest to look out for good food besides the usual Tom Yum traditional Thai food.

If you have read my blog post in 2015, you can click on the link you have not. You would have read about this seafood restaurant I have visited, Ping’s Thai Teochew Seafood Restaurant. So hooking up with the boss, a very nice Singaporean lady, we were blessed to visit her chain of restaurants and this time we tried the newly opened Talay Zaa, situated at Suan Lum Night Bazaar @ Ratchada (MRT Ratchadaphisek Station Exit 2 or MRT Lad Phrao Station Exit 1).

Talay Zaa is different because it tailors more to the locals’ flavor and cost. In fact, “Talay” means Sea and “Zaa” is just like the sound of cooking, like frying something in hot oil. In other words, Talay Zaa means Seafood Explosion.

So what signature dishes can you expect to have?

Grilled fish with salt. Have you seen those stalls along the streets in Bangkok that are usually packed with people eating their grilled fish with lots of salt on top of it? This is the same but with more hygiene. From me who doesn’t really fancy fish cooked this way, this is something not to be missed. There is absolutely NO SMELL at all! Except for the freshness of the fish and the addition of the Thai chili sauce. Highly recommended!

Oyster Omelette. Taste pretty much like what we can find in Singapore, but the only difference is the size of the oyster and how fresh it was. Good to try if you are a fan.

Sotong in spicy & sour Thai style. This is another dish you can practically eat and down 2 bowls of rice just like that. The sauce is amazing to go with rice, and the sotong is fresh. One of my favorite seafood anytime.

Tom Yum Soup. No Thai food is complete without this. Enough said.

The talk of the night, the highlight of all highlights. I was super excited that we are served cockles. Plus it was served just lightly blanched with special Thai sauce. The best “hum” ever! It was so big and nice. Must try!!

Have I gotten you hungry? Now you have another place to consider when you visit Bangkok. Come back for more next Thursday!

TAO饕 Seafood Asia

Sponsored Review

Not sure how to pronounce the Chinese character on the subject? You are not alone. Before I was introduced to this restaurant, I initially thought it was related to another similar named restaurant in town. So to help us all understand the meaning behind the name, this is what was explained by the owner (also the Chef’s son), Adrian Lee.
”TAO Seafood Asia gets its inspiration from a legendary food-loving Chinese mythical creature known as “饕餮” (tāo tiè) in Mandarin.   Its Chinese name, “饕聚” (tāo jù) , means the gathering of gourmets which holds true to the brand’s ethos. “

It was a great honor to have a photo taken with Chef Lee, the former executive chef and co-owner of the Thai Village Holdings Ltd. And that is Adrian (3rd from the right), the creator and manager of TAO.

TAO and Chef Lee together pledged a commitment to be environmentally-responsible by procuring only sustainable seafood from like-minded vendors and best-practice fish farmers around the region. “We need to do our part, no matter how small as every little bit helps,” says the low-key and very serious Chef Lee.

Chef Lee learnt Thai Teochew seafood cuisine from the best, an influential chef/restaurateur, Preecha Jangsombatsiri (commonly known as Ping). With more than 30 years of experience, Chef Lee is proud to once again showcase his first love (cooking) and it can be seen evidently in TAO’s signatures such as Chilled Jellyfish Salad, Crispy Fish Skin with Salted-egg Sauce, TAO’s Signature Soup with Premium New Zealand Fish Maw and Crab Meat, Steamed Marble Goby with Preserved Radish, Pot Roasted Crab with Grass Noodle, and his new creations like, Fried Fish Maw with Prawns and White Pepper Crab.

For those who are looking for private dining, fret not, there are two such rooms which sits 12 pax available. The connection doors can be open to join both rooms if you have a bigger group.

On the dining table we can find the usual Ah-char and Green Chilli, but don’t be fooled by the simple appearance of both dishes, they are home-made daily in the kitchen and the Green Chilli practically fits every single dish perfectly.

So here are what we tried out!

Crispy Enoki Mushroom
TAO Seafood Asia's popular Crispy Enoki Mushroom is deep-fried to a crispy and fluffy perfection, giving it a gorgeous shade of golden-brown, complemented with a generous dose of quality white truffle oil for that extra fragrance.

[A sure favourite with the kids, personally I think the truffle oil was applied just in the right portion, it did not cover the taste of the mushroom but yet remains a linger of it in the mouth after I have eaten it.]

Crispy Fish Skin with Salted Egg Sauce
The deep fried eel skin is refried with TAO's special salted egg sauce that holds a slight tinge of spiciness, resulting in a crispy golden finish.

[Totally blown my mind away with this dish. Reason being I am not a fan of both fish skin and salted egg sauce, but this combination works to perfection and I cannot stop putting another piece of the crispy fish skin into my mouth. I am definitely going to order this starter the next time I visit the restaurant.]

TAO Signature Soup with Premium Fish Maw and Crabmeat
The fragrant and thick-in-texture chicken noble brew is paired with premium New Zealand Fish Maw (花胶) that is rich in collagen.

[The soup is really ‘thick’. Again, with something that I usually don’t eat which is the fish maw, the preparation was great. Gone was that fishy taste but rather a very chewy and refreshing taste to it. With the introduction of the green chilli available, the taste buds were treated to another difference in one dish.]

A special recommendation from Adrian, half way through the soup, add in some of the Green Chilli and you will find yourself a different taste of the soup.

"Coral" Beancurd with Seafood and Salmon Roe

Silky soft beancurd, freshly made by our chefs daily, is served with juicy prawn and fresh crab meat in an egg white sauce and topped with delicious salmon roe, making this dish both a visual and tasty delight for all.

[Another dish prepared specially for the kids.]

Pot Roasted Sea Prawns with Glass Noodles
This unforgettable Thai Teochew favourite is prepared in a metal pot over a specially designed set of open fire stoves.  The sauce and soup base are cooked with the prawns and glass noodles repeatedly till it absorbs every last bit of flavour.
The dish is then served immediately within the metal pot to retain its aroma and "wok-hei".

[According to Adrian, the chef who prepares this dish has been doing only this pot roasted cooking for the last 8-10 years. You can imagine how good the glass noodle was, which totally soaked up the sauce and soup while preparing it. You can choose to have crabs instead of prawns. Awesome!]

White Pepper Crab
The new creation only uses daily delivered quality Sri Lankan crabs, pure ground white pepper and other spices to concoct the heady-scented TAO-must-have.

[This has to be the highlight of the day! Nothing beats fresh and huge crab like this dish. To preserve the freshness of its seafood, TAO only orders their crabs in on the day customers requested for it. Which means, if you are planning to enjoy your crab delight at TAO, you need to call and make a reservation first, in order for them to ensure the best crabs are served to you. Quality assured.]

Desserts
Snow Fungus with Red Date, Traditional Yam Paste with Ginko Nut, Sea Coconut with Longan, Guilin Herbal.

[What Teochew Restaurant doesn’t serves Yam Paste? But not all Teochew Restaurants serve good Traditional Yam Paste. Here, I can say it is good. Period.]

 

So this is all from me. To be honest, this food tasting came just in time as I was looking for a suitable Chinese restaurant to bring my mother for her birthday celebration. Now we have made our reservation with Adrian and looking forward to another round of great Thai Teochew cuisine.

 

TAO Seafood Asia

12 Marina View, Asia Square Tower 2, #02-10, Singapore 018961.
T: +65 68449969
E: taoseafoodasia@gmail.com
Opening Hours: 11:30am to 2:30pm and 6:00pm to 10:00pm, Mondays to Sundays.
Last order by 9:30pm.

Arashi Yakiniku Charcoal Grill Restaurant [Review]

Food Review

Alright, if you have not eaten or are feeling hungry now, I suggest that you should not read on. Cos the food I am going to recommend will only make you regret why you are not at the restaurant right now.

Organized by OpenRice Singapore, a group of food lovers were gathered to try out the newly open Japanese Grill located at Boat Quay – Arashi Yakiniku Charcoal Grill Restaurant.

One thing that usually deter us from having grill is the smoke and probably the smell that lingers on our clothing after meal. However, at Arashi Yakiniku they uses a brand new grill from Japan that is smoke-less. With it, there is practically no trace of the BBQ smell when we left the place. Superb!

So what you expect in this restaurant? Let me bring you through what we have enjoyed.

À la carte

Appetizers – Namuru (Side Pickled Vegetables) - $7.80

Salad – Arashi Kaisen Salad (Seafood Salad) - $15.80
Don’t be too eager or hungry to finish up all the entire plate of salad, cos you would probably enjoy it even more after having all the meat. The refreshing  prawn and salmon with the lemon-based sauce will be your saving grace from a night of ‘heavy’ meat.

 

Soup – Asari Miso Soup (Clam Miso Soup) - $7.80
One of the best miso soup I have ever tried, usually we have the plain miso soup but the Asari Miso Soup is so much tastier with the fresh clam in it.

 

Fish – Gindara Nitsuke (Japanese Cod Fish) - $18.80
I’m not a fish lover, so initially I have decided to skip this dish but finally gave it a try and like what the other friends mentioned, there isn’t much ‘fishy’ taste and when dip in the sauce, the fish is pretty sweet too.

Tempura – Tempura Moriwase - $23.80
Oh, this is good! Hailed as the speciality of the Chef, I can understand why it was so highly recommended. The failure of tempura is when you can taste the oil after the frying. But this prawn tempura is done to perfection, no stale oil taste and at the same time, not losing out on the freshness and sweetness of the prawns.

Rice – Ninniku Gohan (Garlic Fried Rice) - $4.80
First time I tried Garlic Fried Rice, and since I am a lover for garlic, I love this fried rice. One thing to note, this fried rice is only done when you order, so it will take some time to prepare, but you definitely taste the best.

Dessert - Arashi Mango Pudding
Not on the menu, this is a special dessert prepared just for us. Nice personal touch from the restaurant.

Charcoal Grill

“Ohmi" grade A4 wagyu beef. Beef are usually graded from 1 to 5, with 5 being the best and highest grade. So at Arashi Yakiniku, you will be paying for premium beef. If you would like to try grade A5 beef, you can call earlier to reserve and make your order.

Japanese Tenderloin - $68.80
This part is with the least fat, hence it’s the perfect meat to start off your grill. But don’t for a second think that it is not going to be good. You will not be disappointed by how well the taste is. Just less than a minute on the grill, you can take it up and savour the delight in your mouth.

 

Japanese Ribeye - $68.80
One look at the meat you know it’s not going to be the common Ribeye you have tasted usually. Even the lines and grains on the meat looked so fresh and well prepared. You can either grill it after you have dipped into the sauce given or personally I prefer the original taste of beef, without any sauce, just the meat.

 

Before I go on with the rest of the grill, one thing to specially mentioned is the type of grill we are using. As you may already have noticed, this restaurant does not use gas but actually charcoal. And the staff will regularly heap in more charcoal to maintain the heat for grilling.

 

Japanese Sirloin - $88.80
My favourite pick when it comes to beef steak. The combination of meat and fat is to me the best in this cut. Put in on grill and immediately you wish to have more. One other thing to mention besides the meat, on every plate of meat ordered, there will always be a slice of pumpkin or mushroom to go along. If you have never tried grilled pumpkin like me, I would highly recommend it. It’s so sweet and fragrant.

 

Japanese Kurobuta (Belly) - $19.80
This is a total surprise for me. I thought the pork will surely lose out when compared to the beef but I was so wrong. The pork belly was one of the best meat for grill of that night. With its high in fat, we were told to not grill it right in the middle of the grill plate but leaving it on the side will suffice. Oh, how fragrant was the grilled meat and it was indeed a melt-in-your-mouth type of experience. Highly recommended!

Japanese Kurobuta (Collar) - $20.80
Just as good as the belly cut, the collar cut gives you more meat to chew on, and with the sauce given just for the pork grill, it brought the taste to a better flavour, with the sweetness and freshness of the meat and also the refreshing taste of the slightly ‘lemon-taste’ sauce.

  

Seafood (Squid - $6.80 / Tiger Prawn - $12.80 / Scallop - $12.80)
If you are tired of having meat, then you can always choose to grill some of the seafood selection.

Chicken – Momi Tare Chicken - $9.80
Chicken is usually the most common meat we have daily, however still give it a try, for the price I am sure you won’t be disappointed. I regret not asking for some chilli if possible. I’m sure will go even better with this Momi Tare Chicken.

 

Arashi Yakiniku Charcoal Grill Restaurant
No. 48 Boat Quay Singapore 049837
Contact: 6535 2841 / 8118 6383 (call or sms for reservation)
Opening Hours: 11:30am-3pm (Lunch) / 5:30pm-11pm (Dinner)
Closed on Sundays

Don’t just envy us for all the nice food. Join us! Just “Like” OpenRice Facebook Page for updates on Contests and Food Tasting Sessions. Hope to see you in future events!

By the way, I have some really nice 2014 calendars from OpenRice to give out. If you are interested to have one, do drop me a note on livereds@gmail.com.