wok & barrel

A sorta ‘newish’ food establishment has been making waves in our little red dot.  You know what?  I’m loving our little red dot more each time!  I love that there are plenty of food choices that we are spoilt with here in our little island.  There are so many new places that have sprung up the last couple of years, wait, make that months that I have yet to check out.  There simply isn’t enough time for me to eat my way before we head back to Geneva (that’s exactly in 2 weeks).  Sigh!

A date was set to meet with Delly.  She initially suggested that we check out a French restaurant and I mildly protested.  Enough of French/Italian fare if possible for I really want to just stuff my face silly with local and Jap fare.  So we met middle ground when I suggested that we check out Wok & Barrel.  I’ve read reviews and tweet peeps were talking about this Bak Chor Mee pasta that piqued my interest when I was in Geneva.

You see I really love my Bak Chor Mee (Minced pork noodles) loads.. give that to me any time of the day and I lap it up with joy.. make mine with extra chilli and vinegar please!  So when I heard about this modern twist of Bak Chor Mee to pasta, I really wanted to give it a try and see if it’s even wildly possible for me to replicate this when I crave for this when we return back to Geneva.

Verdict?  I liked the dish… it was of course an unusual twist our local hawker fare and I liked the fusion adaption using pasta and shredded pork to make the dish.  Would I be able to replicate this?  I doubt it but I’ll play around with the ingredients and the sauces to come up with my very own fusion-version of this dish.

Overall, it was a great place for a nice casual mid-week dinner with the girlie who’s definitely going places in her career.  I liked the relaxed ambience and the yummy beers that are available on their menu.  My current fave beer?  The Hitachino Nest White Ale.. couldn’t resist the packaging for this yummy Japanese beer.

Wok & Barrel
Address: 13 Duxton Hill, Singapore 089507

Telephone: +65 6220 0595

Beyond bread and butter

One of the best things about being back in Singapore is without a doubt the yummy local food that our little red dot has to offer.  It is hardly any secret that we Singaporeans love to eat.  Eating is probably our national hobby and because we are so passionate about eating, we can eat at any time of the day!  Years ago, when our friends from Slovenia visited us, they were amazed at the amount of food that we could pack in during our 3 meals.  After the 3 day visit, they declared that they needed to detox and diet for they had never eaten so much back home. Hehe…

For the past 3 months that we’ve been away from home, I’ve been dreaming of Singapore delicacies.  To me, the best part of the day will have to be breakfast.  I guess nowhere in the world comes quite close to the wide variety of breakfast choices that Singapore has to offer!

So let’s go beyond bread/butter/muffins/cereal and let me show you how my day starts with a happy (but ain’t so healthy) meal:

Roti Prata is a type of Indian pancake made of flour.  It comes with a variety of fillings including egg, cheese, onions or eat.  It usually is served with hot curry gravy.  I usually like my prata plain, dipped with sugar and curry.  Strange, but I like!

蝦麵 or Prawn Noodles is basically noodles served with prawns, pork, kang kong, fried shallots in a rich flavoured dark soup stock made primarily with dried shrimps and plucked heads of prawn. I actually prefer the dry version but as I was still nursing a sore throat, the soup version was more favoured.

Chee Cheong Fun (Rice Noodle Roll) is a thin roll made with rice noodles.  You can eat them plain or with different fillings of shrimp, pork and chicken.  I usually like mine with a little sesame oil, sweet soy sauce and chilli but I chanced upon a stall at the Marine Terrace Hawker Centre just the other day and decided to order the Fried Chee Cheong Fun home to try.  It was so sinful but yummy for it was fried with an egg and topped with oily bits of Chai Poh (salted turnip).

I’m a big fan of the Vegetarian noodles from this particular stall at the Marine Terrace Hawker Centre. My order would always be half portion of the thin braised rice vermicelli noodles and braised instant noodles served with vegetables, various gluten delicacies plus an extra serving of fried tau kee (bean-curd skin).

Another favourite dish of mine that can be eaten at any time of the day – Bak Chor Mee!  It’s basically thin egg noodlles served with minced pork and fishballs.  Served dry with lots of vinegar and chilli is how I enjoy this dish.

When I arrive to work, colleague would buy for me a cuppa Teh (Malay word for tea) O which by the way is great morning beverage to start the day with.  And on days when I have the craving, I hop on down to Toast Box and get me a cuppa Teh C Gao Siu Dai (Thick tea with less sugar and evaporated milk).

Feeling hungry already?  I know I am just by writing this post!  But at least, I can hold on to these memories while chomping on vegetable sticks when I return back to Geneva and start my detox diet.