Oriole's Cafe & Bar

My second visit to this place, and I decided to try some other dishes.

I went with the set lunch at $20. For appetisers, I had the smoke ocean trout salad. It was the first time I had smoked ocean trout. Essentially, it tasted like smoked salmon, however, the texture was more like that of a cooked fish.

Next was the ribeye steak. Steak was very tender and the slightly tangy sauce went well with the meat.

On the way out, we passed by Marvelous Cream and they seemed to have a new range of desserts which were soft waffles sandwiched with many different kinds of flavoured creams.

We tried the Hokkaido Caramel and Rich Milk flavour. Sorry, no pics as we devoured it quickly. However, the cream did not give me the queasy, oily feel. It was not overly sweet and the slight bitter of the caramel balanced with it overall.

Read more...

Applebee's

Applebee's is a casual dining chain from USA focusing on mainstream American dishes such as salads, shrimp, chicken, pasta, and ribs. They serve alcoholic beverages as well, and is located at Singapore Power Building at Somerset.

As their portions are huge, we decided to share 1 appetiser and 1 main dish.

For the appetiser, we chose the sampler set which consisted of buffalo wings, quesadillas, mozarella sticks, nachos and served with 2 salsas, a ranch-like dip and their signature spinach and artichoke dip.

Special mention goes out to the quesadillas which were very tasty with the minced meat and onions. The mozzarella sticks were good as well as they did not come across as being overly chewy. The dip tasted more of spinach than artichokes, but it was a unique departure from the usual dips.

We did succumb to our appetites and ordered a half-sized serving of prawn salad. The prawns were crunchy and succulent, and sprinkled with cajun spices.

Finally, our main was the Lime Chicken which was covered with cheese, served with salsa and pilaf. Chicken was rather tender and had a slight grilled taste to it. The texture of the pilaf was nice, although there was a particular unidentifiable spice in it which I did not quite like.

Overall, I think their food is rather good and their large portions can easily fill your tummy. But as these are pretty heavy stuff in terms of flavours as well, it probably will not be a place I will return to too often.

Read more...

Chocolate Eclairs

Realised it's been a long time since I ate eclairs, so I decided to make some. It was also time for a change to some sweet baking as well.

Made all chocolate, then realised I should have made some as normal cream. Anyway, I think they were quite successful - pastry cream was full of chocolate flavour but not too sweet. I hate eclairs which are simply filled with whipped cream that are sometimes sold in our local bakeries, so this came up to my expectations.

............................................................................................................
Recipe (makes about 20 7-cm long eclairs)

Choux Pastry
Whole milk 1/2cup
Water 1/2cup
Unsalted butter 100g
Sugar 1tsp
Salt 1/2tsp
Flour 1 1/4cup
Eggs 4

1. Mix the milk, water, sugar and butter in a pot. Heat until all the butter has melted.
2. Lower the heat and pour all the flour in.

You will get a paste-y looking dough at first. Continue stirring over low heat for another 2 mins or so until you get a smooth looking texture similar to the pic on the right.

3. Beat the eggs together in a separate bowl.
4. Remove the pot from heat. Using a hand-mixer, mix the dough for about 1 min.
5. Slowly add the egg in in batches while whisking at the same time.

The end result would be a glossy, thick, stretchy dough that stretches a little before breaking when you lift it. If it does not stretch, add a little more egg white bit by bit.

6. Pipe onto the tray of about 1 cm wide and 4-5 cm long.
(The pastry will expand a lot while baking, hence there is no need to pipe it too large if you want small to medium sized eclairs. 1 row of piped dough should be enough. More importantly, pipe it such that it fairly high in height, or it will come out pretty flat. Use the back of a teaspoon dipped in cold water to smooth the piped dough)

7. Bake at 200 degrees C for 20-25 mins or until brown and slightly hard on the top.


Chocolate Pastry Cream
Whole Milk 2cups
Egg yolks 4
Sugar 6tbsp
Cornstarch 3tbsp
Salt 1/4tsp
70% Dark Chocolate 190g

1. Melt the chocolate in the microwave at high for about 1 minute.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk the yolks, sugar and corn starch together.
3. In a pot, heat the milk and salt together until boiling.
4. Pour half of the milk into the yolk mixture in a small stream to temper the yolks, while whisking all the time.
5. Pour the yolk mixture back into the pot of remaining milk and return to the stove.
6. Heat while whisking until the mixture thickens a little and starts to bubble.
7. Pour into the melted chocolate and mix well.
8. Press cling wrap directly onto the surface to prevent skin from forming. Allow to cool or refrigerate if not using on same day.


Chocolate Glaze
Semi-sweet chocolate 150g
Unsalted Butter 30g

1. Place chocolate and butter in a bowl and microwave until melted. Mix well and allow to cool.


Assembly:
1. Slice off the top third of the choux pastry.
2. Dip the upper piece in the chocolate glaze and allow it set. Freeze it for faster setting.
3. Using a spoon, fill the bottom piece with desired amount of pastry cream.
4. Cover with the top piece and enjoy!

Read more...

Fruit Cake

This is a healthy fruit cake as I did not add sugar. The sweetness is all from the dried fruits alone.

Maybe because I did not add enough oil as well, so the cake turned out to be pretty solid in texture. I think it would taste better if it was a little more crumbly. I should try adding a little milk in next time.

....................................................................................................................................
Recipe

Flour 1.5 cups
Dried Fruit 1.5 cups (black raisins, golden raisins, prunes, cranberries)
Walnuts 0.5 cups
Baking powder 1tsp
Salt 1/2tsp
Cinnamon powder 1tsp
3 eggs
Vegetable Oil 9tbsp
1 medium apple

1. Soak the dried fruits in hot water for about 10 minutes or until plump.
2. Mix the flour, cinnamon powder, baking powder and salt together.
3. In a seperate bowl, whisk the eggs and oil together.
4. Dice the apples and chop the walnuts into pieces.
5. Add the flour mixture into the eggs. If too dry, add some milk in to get a thick batter.
6. Add in the walnuts, apple and dried fruits, leaving about 6tbsp of the dried fruits for sprinkling on the top later.
7. Pour the batter into your tin and sprinkle the remaining dried fruits on top.
8. Bake at 180 degrees C for about 20-30 minutes.

Read more...

Hog's Breath @ Chjimes

Was in a steak mood, so off to Hog's Breath we went. Been to Hog's Breath couple of times over the years and I'm still loving their prime rib. This is up there with Morton's as my favorite place. I would say when you need a reasonably priced and satisfying steak, this is the place to go.

We took the set lunch at $21.90++. First up was seafood chowder which was rather creamy. The garlic bread was pretty large and not dry at all although slightly oily.

Next the mains, and I had the blackened prime rib, which is my favorite of all their choices available. It's basically cajun-spiced and more importantly, has that chargrilled flavour which I love. However, I remember it was a little more charred the last few times I was here and I prefer that. But this was still soft and slightly fatty.

Their curly fries are great as well - crispy on the outside but you still can taste the soft, powdery potato on the inside. I hate fries that are over-fried and hollowed out inside, but this was just right. I wanted to change to baked potato but forgotten...

The set came with dessert and we had a choice of Mud Cake or Apple Crumble. Nothing special here, as the cake turned out to be kind of dry. I think my Moist Chocolate Cake beats this hands down anytime.

Read more...