Homely Lunch @ 海外天 Oversea Restaurant

Lunch-ed at 海外天 Oversea Restaurant (again!); the same day I attended Tom's Palette's Ice Cream Making Workshop.

This time, we tasted a total of 14 dishes(!!) + 1 specialty signature dish. These dishes were like home-cooked food, which I really missed having. The portion was not as big as compared to the previous time though. We managed to finish everything effortlessly (lol). Well, the food was really good! That goes without saying!

We were led to the same VIP room (different table).

 

凉瓜炒爽肉 Wok Fried Crispy Sliced Pork with Bitter Gourd ($9.80)

Pork neck meat is used in this dish, which well explains the tenderness and flavorful taste.

I don't exactly fancy the taste of bitter gourd in general. However, I find that the bitterness is acceptable and adds a lovely crunchy texture to the dish.

 

伊班茄子 Braised Egg Plant with Diced Prawn ($9.80)

l love anything brinjal (egg plant), especially claypot ones (think 鱼香茄子). The aromatic taste of diced prawn complements the brinjal very well.

I like that the brinjal is firm and fresh; has a nice sweet chewy taste. Overripe ones tend to taste bitter and spongy *yucks*

 

We had rice to go along with the dishes.

Hmm... a lil' dry for my liking...

辣子鱼滑 Fried Chilli Fish Paste Roll ($9.80)

The chilli sauce for this dish is home-made; the taste is similar to that of chilli crab.

The fish paste roll has the right QQ texture, reminds me of fishballs! Simple yet tasty :d~

 

鱼汤让四宝 Yong Tau Foo in Superior Fish Broth ($10.80)

The deep fried beancurd skin stuffed with minced fish meat (I think) can be eaten alone or dipped in the superior fish broth. I prefer the latter.

The soup base is rich and taste sooo good! The yong tau foo were cooked just right, somewhat different from the usual fare. Yummy! *SLURPS*

 

菠萝云吞 Sweet & Sour Wok Fried 'Wan-tan' with Pineapple ($12.80)

A simple colorful dish. The 'wan-tan' skin is crispy. Taste ordinarily good.

 

百草西柚霹雳球 Crispy Fish Fillet with Lemon Grass & Grapefruit ($12.80)

The sauce is the key, in my opinion. Kinda like thai-style; sweet & sour. I LIKE!

 

咸鱼蒸鸡腿 Steamed Chicken with Salted Fish ($12.80)

This dish gives me a super homely feel.

I love chicken thigh meat; so tender! I love salted fish; so salty (lol)! Perfect combi :D

 

瓦煲番茄蛋 Tomato & Egg in Claypot ($12.80)

l love anything eggs. I love tomatoes as well.

BUT... I don't really like this dish.

The egg omelette is not as soft as I like. The tomatoes are very fresh though.

 

原粒面酱豆根薯仔煲 Bean Tendon & Potato in Claypot ($9.80)

Another super homely feel dish.

The gravy goes really well with rice. Both the bean tendon and potatoes were cooked to perfection; soft and yummilicious!

 

肉碎桂豆苗 Stir Fried String Bean with Minced Meat ($12.80)

Baby long beans are used - fresh and crunchy taste.

Slightly spicy. The minced meat enhances the overall taste of the dish.

 

肉丸豆腐煲 Braised Beancurd with Meat Ball in Claypot ($12.80)

Favorite dish-of-the-day! A must-order!

The meatballs are incredibly tasty, which absorbs the full flavor of the gravy!

The braised beancurd is amazingly silky smooth... melts in the mouth kind... *drool*

 

油浸脆草莞鱼 Deep Fried Grass Carp ($12.80)

I would have like this dish if there's more gravy. The fish taste fresh but rather bland without the gravy.

 

珍珠雷沙汤丸 Sesame Dumpling ($12.00)

Glutinous rice balls, served dry. No soup.

Peanut bits and sugar, sprinkled all over 'em. When light reflects on 'em, they look so "shimmery".

Soft & chewy texture. The sweetness is just right :D

 

The additional dishes!

The manager recommended this super yummy dish to us. Another favorite dish-of-the-day!

Stewed soft bone pork with carrots.

Everything can be eaten, including the soft bones! The meat is not as soft as I would like. Tasty nevertheless.

I actually prefer the carrots to meat! Super soft and taste oh-so-good (with the full flavor of gravy).

 

海外天叉烧 Oversea Special Char Siew ($30 for medium serving)

I can never forget the cameralized sweet savory taste, that is uniquely Oversea Restaurant.

It leaves me wanting for moreee! I should be able to finish one plate of this on my own (lol)!

For a table of 10, the total bill came up to be only $202.85 (exclusive of the additional dishes). Pretty reasonable I would say.

Thanks Elfaine (TSS) & 海外天 Oversea Restaurant for the wonderful homely lunch! ♥

Tom's Palette - Ice Cream Making Workshop

It was my 1st time making ice cream from scratch! And, I gave my "1st time" to... Tom's Palette :D~ Thanks Elfaine (TSS) for the invite!

Do you know... Tom's Palette homemade ice cream parlour has been serving ice cream since September 2005? AND, they've been creating ONE NEW FLAVOR every month!

Shhh... Ice Cream Making Workshop in progress...

Btw, Tom's Palette is located at #01-25 Shaw Leisure Gallery if you don't already know :D

They've many flavors to choose from...

Some exotic ones like SALTED EGG YOLK (what!?!? I must say it taste really good, I like!), Salty Yuzu (a Japanese citrus fruit, taste not bad!), Chocolate STOUT (They use ABC Stout... ahems... I'm not really a fan of stouts...), Lavender (I seriously HATE the taste! Feels like I'm eating "air purifier"... My face literally turned "purple" :/), Camomile (I HATE anything Camomile! Period.).

Anyway, I tasted ALL flavors. My favorites are:- Lychee n Rose, Salted Caramel Cheesecake, Salty Yuzu, Apple Pie, Granny's Favorite, Summer Berries and of coz SALTED EGG YOLK!

Their traditional homemade ice cream is made from scratch using ingredients like eggs, milk, cream & sugar.

There's a "live" demo, before we started making ours.

 

Horlicks flavor ice cream is what we were going to make. The only Horlicks ice cream I had prior the workshop was McDonald's... Well, totally different taste I would say.

Ingredients for one cup of ice cream:

• 1 x egg yolk
• 1 tbsp of sugar
• ½ cup of milk
• 3-4 tbsp of Horlicks
• ½ cup of cream

 

THE RECIPE

Using only the egg yolk, add 1 tbsp of sugar to it and mix well.

Add ½ cup of milk into pot.

Stir while heating up the milk.

Remember to use low heat, don't let it boil!

Then, add 3-4 generous tbsp of Horlicks into the heated milk.

***Thanks Tiphanie for helping me with the photo-taking (:***

Pour the Horlicks + milk mixture into the egg yolk + sugar mixture, while stirring simultaneously.

***Thanks Jacelyn for helping me to stir (:***

Continue to use low heat and stir. If not, you'll get scrambled eggs instead! :x

Cook all these ingredients until it becomes a thick and rich sauce.

Add ½ cup of cream and combine evenly.

Freeze and churn by hand!

Easy peasy?

 

Well, I did the last step wrongly (by cooking the cream as well =.=") and ended up with a really small cup of super-duper-sweet Horlicks ice cream.

Can you guess which is mine? =.="

*SOB SOB*

Anyway, do give the ice cream making a shot. If you don't like Horlicks, you can always try Milo??

For more info, do visit Tom's Palette website.

Food Tasting @ Creation Cafe

Yet another food tasting session @ Creation Cafe (Shaw Leisure Gallery). Thanks to The Sample Store, I was there for a pasta-fied experience.

Hmm.. A relatively small cafe.. Not very well-ventilated.. That doesn't matter to me IF the food is good.

Set lunch is priced affordably at $9.90 (main course + soup +drink). Additional charges for some eg. +$3.00 for seafood black squid ink pasta.

Yay to NO GST & SERVICE CHARGE!

I ordered coke :D

Soup-of-the-day, which is creamy mushroom soup. Tiny bits of mushroom. Not THAT creamy. The garlic bread tasted okay, which complemented the soup well. Both were served slightly warm. Hmm.. I like 'em hot actually.

 

We were then served with their best-selling pastas (top 5).

CARBONARA

Carbonara is my favorite of all ♥

The creaminess was just right for me; not too overwhelming. Some of 'em beg to differ though. Well, to each her own (: I would say they were pretty generous with the ham, sausage and mushroom bits. The spaghetti noodles were cooked to perfection; al dente texture.

 

SEAFOOD SPICY CRABMEAT (+$4.00)

Seafood lovers will definitely like this! For just additional $4.00, you get crab-claw, crab-leg, prawns, squid, salmon bits. The sauce tasted like that of chilli crab. The seafood were quite fresh (not super fresh kind). The noodles were not as firm as the carbonara's. Overall, I still enjoy it much.

 

SEAFOOD JAVA CURRY SAUCE (NEW +$1.00)

Hmm.. This is my least favorite. I did like the prawns, mussel, squid and salmon bits in this dish BUT.. I don't like the Java Curry Sauce (at all) coz it's too sweet and creamy for my liking. It's my personal preference. The others did enjoy this pretty much.

 

SEAFOOD LAKSA CREAM SAUCE (+1.00)

YES, it really tasted like laksa. I enjoyed it pretty much. The seafood ingredients are the same as the java curry one. Very creamy as well, but it was a lovely combi nonetheless. Delish!

 

MUSHROOM RISOTTO

My no.2 favorite. I'm the only one who like this dish (lol). And, I was telling 'em unpleasant-looking food often taste good. Apparently, this is the case for me (not 'em) :x

It had a strong celery taste which didn't bother me much. I took many mouthfuls while they only took like 1-2? The creaminess was alright. The rice had a unique texture to it, which I can't put into words.

Well, if you ain't a veggie lover, you can always order the seafood version for additional $2.00.

 

Creation Cafe

100 Beach Road, #01-43 Shaw Leisure Gallery

 

Elfaine gave each of us a bag of yummy cookies, courtesy of The Wooden Spoon (#01-24 Shaw Leisure Gallery). FYI, the cookies are hand-made by a granny (:

They ain't sweet and are really crispy. A very homey feel, I like ♥