Heritage Afternoon Tea at Fullerton Bay Hotel

Ships sailing to Singapore in the early days would dock at the harbour and boats would bring in passengers and goods up to Clifford Pier where they would disembark, or embark for outward journeys. The Pier, built in 1933, must have been a rather busy, noisy place, a great spot for fishing and hawkers would ply their wares on it. In 2006, the Pier was shut down. 

Fullerton Bay Hotel and the Pier

The entrance to the restaurant 

Setting for afternoon tea

Today, the Pier is part of the Fullerton Bay Hotel; under its graceful arched tresses is the setting of the genteel Clifford Pier Heritage Afternoon Tea. Paying tribute to the cuisines of the many races that make up the nation, the menu reflects this diversity.
Large glass windows afford spectacular views of the bay which at the same time protect diners from the elements. Soft furnishings in muted shades of brown and grey highlight the luxurious feel.

Auspicious welcome to the Heritage Tea

Since it was just a week away from the Lunar new Year, red lanterns added to the festive cheer (incidentally, the Pier was once known as the Red Lantern Pier as red lamps were used to guide travellers ashore).

Spring rolls; chicken stuffed money bags

Eight savouries and 8 sweets represent the Singapore food experience. The starters comprised wonderfully crisp spring rolls and little chicken stuffed money bags. And kuih pie tee, a snack that one hardly sees anywhere except on the menus of caterers.

Bak kwa jam on egg tarts (or on anything!)

Popiah; kuih pie tee

Chefs were busy assembling the tiny pie tee cups and rolling up popiah with freshly made skins. The gyoza with its ginger soy dip was equally delicious.

Gyoza

Carrot cake with XO chilli & egg; spicy prawns - give me more!

Chilli crab with fried mantou buns, kong bak bao

Clifford Pier's chilli crab had crab meat cooked in the tangy chill sauce. The sauce was quite gluggy but the braised belly pork with garlic soy sauce was outstanding. Sandwiched in a steamed mantou bun, the meat was tender and moist and finger licking good.

How to make ...rojak!!!

Rojak, a mix of fruits and veg in a prawn and peanut sauce featured some unusual ingredients like jambu (water apple) and guava. Even the salads, particularly the cold jellyfish salad, with its crunchy jelly-like (what else!!) texture were a lovely addition to the typical high tea menu.

Smoked duck salad; salmon; jellyfish salad

To drink - rose milk, soyabean milk and the works 

Lunar New Year bites - pineapple tarts; osmanthus jelly; prawn rolls, kuih bahulu; melt-in-the-mouth peanut cookies; kuih tako

Kuih tako - my fav!

There are a selection of teas, including jasmine, sencha, rooibos and teh tarik of course. Not a coffee drinker - they take care of that too - with any sort of coffee or even kopi kosong (black coffee, no sugar).

It's the 3-tiered stand that draws the most murmurs of appreciation for how can it be high tea without one! The occupants of the stand were slices of red velvet swiss roll, delicious cheesecake, financiers, almond biscuits, bika ambon (honeycomb cake) and macarons. No tea, however, is complete without scones and they were on the top tier, wrapped in a napkin. Eat them plain or spread them with some kaya, cream cheese or pineapple jam.

Service is excellent, the staff are at hand to make suggestions and keep that teacup full.

The Clifford Pier Heritage Afternoon Tea is a great way to catch up on the island's culinary history. And in the perfect setting. It is priced at $48++per head and is from 3.30 - 5.30pm daily.

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Lo hei and pepper crab at Long Beach Restaurant

Long Beach Seafood Restaurant at Singapore is a pretty popular place for its menu. Its location is also fantastic - a spectacular view of the sea while you tuck into some really fresh fish. The restaurant has an air conditioned section on the first floor but on a cloudy weekend afternoon, there's nothing like sitting beside the lawn, sipping cold beer and watching ships and boats sail by.

Sea view

Fierce looking Alaskan king crabs

Gold crabs

Geoduck

Huge tanks are lined up against one of the walls of the restaurant that hold Alaskan king crabs, lobsters, grouper and other fish and bivalves like geoducks. Most of the tank inhabitants are imported.

Yusheng before the toss up

Canned abalone

Since it's just a few days before the lunar new year, we start with yusheng (prosperity toss), a salad that is made of several ingredients and each is symbolic of health, wealth, happiness and prosperity. As he added the ingredients, our waiter explained the significance of each one. There's usually slices of raw fish but we had the abalone version. Lime juice is squeezed over it and placed over the shredded carrots and radish along with seasoning, oil, crushed peanuts, sesame seeds and crisps. Everyone at the table tosses together all the ingredients with chopsticks, the higher the better, all the while shouting out "lo hei"!! 

Pepper crab

Long Beach is famous for its pepper crab. Our crab was a huge fellow, meaty and the pepper had infused the sweet flesh with warmth and an earthy flavour. So delicious. Eating crab is always a messy affair but our waiter offered to extract the meat for us and did a fantastic job.

Squid stuffed youtiou

There was also youtiou (Chinese crullers) stuffed with squid paste, topped with sesame seeds and deep-fried (I've never had squid this tender). Served with mayo, this was another stand out dish.

Thai-style fried red snapper

The fish dish was deep-fried red snapper Thai-style. Loved the kaffir lime leaf-infused curry paste, a perfect foil for the crisp fish that was so moist inside. The squeeze of lime juice over the top added much needed acidity and heightened every other flavour. 

Fried rice with fish

Kailan with garlic

To end the meal, we had fried rice and kailan with garlic sauce. The greens were cooked just enough to retain their crunchiness and colour; the flavour of garlic was mild and lent a lovely fragrance to the greens. A perfect match for the rice. 

Long Beach UDMC Seafood Restaurant
#01-04 East Coast Seafood Centre
Singapore 449881  

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To Paradise for biryani

Talk of Hyderabad style of biryani and Paradise is usually mentioned in the same sentence. Biryani from Paradise travels not just around the city of Hyderabad but also out of the state - many travellers do a takeaway when leaving the city.

When Facebook food groups at Chennai announced the opening of a branch of Paradise in the city, almost the whole city made a beeline to Perungudi where is restaurant is located. And then there were posts warning potential diners about the queues they would have to stand in just to enter the restaurant.

And then it happened - a group of us bloggers were invited to review the menu. Well, for me, that was infinitely better than having to brave serpentine queues and hungry crowds. I reached the restaurant to find no crowds, in fact, the only soul I saw was a chap who ushered me into the lift and told me to go to the dining room on the 3rd floor. So what's on the other two? Another dining area on the first and the kitchen on the second.

Biryani

Before we could get to the food, there was a PP presentation on the making of a pot of Paradise biryani. In a recipe that has not changed over the years, chunks of lamb are marinated in a mix of spices and other ingredients. It is then placed inside a handi. Long-grained rice in 3 stages of "doneness" is ladled over, saffron-infused milk is drizzled on top and the lid is placed over, sealed with a wheat flour paste and cooked for just the right amount of time. Finally it is opened. Fragrance wafts out, the aroma of the meat, spices and the sight of perfectly cooked rice and saffron streaks - that's how Hyderabad-style kachha biryani should look and smell like.

Thirst quenching lime juice with black salt

Subz aur moongphalli seekh

Reshmi kebab 

More kebabs

The vegetable seekh, subz aur moongphalli seekh, needs special mention. Crusted with roasted peanuts, it was soft yet crunchy and absolutely delectable. Reshmi kebab, made with tender chunks of chicken was another crowd-pleaser.

Paneer tikka

Seekh kebab

Both paneer tikkas, paneer achari and paneer tikka were a tad sour, while the meat of the red seekh kebab had been minced fine and was moist. They do have a fish tikka as well but made with basa.

Lamb biryani

We tried the vegetable, chicken and mutton biryani. This is where Paradise comes into its own. All 3 versions had superbly cooked rice. While the veg version with mixed vegetables was quite ordinary, the lamb biryani was outstanding - tender pieces of lamb surrounded by the thick masala that added a delicious moistness to the long grained rice. The chicken biryani was equally good and I preferred that as the flavour of cardamom was not as pronounced as that in the lamb. Accompaniments were mirchi salan made with the big light green chillies used for bajjis. The gravy was thin and it wasn't as good as the versions that Hyderabad restaurants serve. As for the raita, it was a thin liquid but quite pleasant and went well with the biryanis.

Mirchi salan; raita

Double ka meetha

Dessert was double ka meetha. The vivid orange colour was a little scary, was rather too sweet but tasted nice. Crisp cashewnuts over the top provided texture.

The building Paradise is located in looks huge from the outside but it's compact inside. One half of it houses the takeaway section. On the walls are posters of how Paradise biryani came to be. A quick glance through the menu revealed a few Chinese dishes as well.

Paradise's USP is biryani and that's that. A meal for 2 consisting of biryani and starters would cost around 700/++. They do not encourage phone bookings.

Paradise
392 Anjali Devi Towers
Kandanchavadi OMR
Perungudi
Chennai.

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Italian indulgence at Focaccia, HRC

 
Chef-de-cuisine Mauro Ferrari has brought some bontá to Hyatt Regency Chennai just in time for the Christmas season. Sipping on a Chianti, it was easy to indulge in the 4 course menu that was simple in presentation but packed with flavour. Chef Mauro was out for the night but his able elves assistants had been trained well. Like the vegetarian appetizer of cheese crème brûlée topped with a sesame stick and panko fried vegetables amply demonstrated.

Cheese crème brûlée with fried veg

Smoked turkey ham salad

The burnt sugar crust shattered with a single tap of the spoon to reveal a slightly sweet, slightly savoury but absolutely moreish creamy Emmental and Parmesan custard, just the thing to dip the crisp fried veg into. The non veg offering was dressed salad leaves topped with grape slices, smoked turkey ham and pecorino cheese topped with a fried quail egg.

Lamb shank tortellini

Asparagus risotto

The pasta course had braised lamb shank tortellini. Thinly rolled out handmade pasta enclosed the flavours of lamb and caramelised onions, a robust yet delicate pairing. The pasta sat in shallow puddles of jus, just enough to give it a little more moisture. The asparagus risotto with Gorgonzola cheese fondue was another stunning dish, the strong flavours of the cheese did not overwhelm the taste of thinly sliced asparagus.

Slow roasted turkey

It's nearly Christmas and there was turkey for the main course. The slow roasted bird was cooked to tenderness, crunchy walnuts and figs and the sweetness of dates and panettone crumbs added to the palette of textures.

Potato and mushroom millefeuille

We also sampled the perfectly cooked potato and mushroom millefeuille; the stack had been assembled so well that it stayed intact till the very end.

Eggnog, Christmas pudding with brandy butter, mini panettone and vanilla cream

Dessert was a trio of traditional Christmas favourites - Christmas pudding, heady with the aroma of spices and served with brandy butter, panettone and fluffy eggnog. It missed the mark somewhere, was not as impressive as the other courses had been.

Italian Indulgence is only on till December 23rd for dinner at 1800/++ per head. The Christmas Eve dinner features a 5 course menu with some of the favourites of Italian Indulgence being featured as well.

Focaccia

Hyatt Regency Chennai
365, Anna Salai, Teynampet, Chennai.

Do call +91 44 61001234 for more information or reservations.     

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