LT Wong

I've had good meals at St Pierre (Central Mall) and Les Saisons (also at Central Mall). Les Amis is one place that comes to mind, but I haven't eaten there for a long time. Another place that I like eating at is Ember (Keong Siak St). Like Tonkichi mentioned, Iggy's (The Regent Hotel) and La Petit Village (Liang Court) have earned favourable reviews. These restaurants are owned by Les Amis alumni (Ignatius Chan and Justin Quek). I haven't eaten at Salt (Jimmy Cheok), but have tried his food when he was the chef at other places. Good value. My preference these days (like Tonkichi) is to hunt out places for good food, ambience is less important. Some places have great ambience and high prices, but the food doesn't measure up. For good Cantonese food, I like the Crystal Jade restaurant at Ngee Ann City and Peach Garden (Novena).

Dejah, There are also air-conditioned food courts in many shopping complexes these days that sell more or less the same varieties of food. It's just that there may be specific stalls that sell superlative versions of some local food that gourmets and gourmands seek out. If your friend wants to be more selective, perhaps you can ask her to check out these websites : http://www.makantime.com/index.html http://food.asiaone.com.sg/ In addition, there are television programmes that feature eating places. One current one tells you places around the island that you can eat for under $2. Eating out in Singapore is no different from any major city - you should expect to pay top dollar for good food, ambience and service in multi-starred establishments. But there are also lots of good places where you can have a good meal without burning a hole in your wallet. My suggestion is for your friend to ask her Singaporean colleagues and friends where to eat. We're so crazy about food that practically everyone can tell you somewhere to go to satisfy your cravings!

I'm planning a weekend in KL to eat desserts, and would like to request for recommendations. It's a Dessert-Only-Diet for me during this weekend. To help narrow down the choices, I'm planning only to eat western desserts like cakes, tarts and pies for this trip. Thanks!

They do sell it at the newstands; I've bought a couple of my issues when I visited Malacca or Kuala Lumpur. And I agree with Shewie that it's one of the better magazines around Malaysia-Singapore; I only wish there were more such magazines. It is certainly worthwhile to purchase some of the back issues. They had two issues that featured laksa from all over the Malaysian states, and that allowed for an excellent comparison of the types of laksa and the various cultural influences on the final outcome. Another issue featured the many types of bananas in Malaysia; for those raised on the standard supermarket variety, you'd be surprised at the many options that are available. What I also enjoyed a lot were the guidebooks that featured food stalls and restaurants from different states that come with each edition. I've used a couple of them several times on my visits to Malaysia to eat. Not everything may be to your liking, but definitely some gems. I normally validate with my Malaysian friends on how to spend those precious meals; there's only so much appetite per day!

I normally make a variation of the traditional one, except that I add orange flower water. I cannot remember where I got this recipe, but it was quite foolproof in that it worked the first time (I'm a weekend home baker). And I managed to get the dome too. I do not rest nor chill the batter, and I use heavy aluminium pans. My only problem with the recipe was that the madeleine sticks despite brushing with butter. But I picked up a tip from Cook's Illustrated on a recent article on madeleines. They recommend using a melted butter-flour mixture to brush on, and it worked very well for me ever since.

I finally got round to making canneles this week, and am happy to report that with all the tips in this thread, I've been able to produce the crisp crust and custardy centre. I followed Pascal Rigo's recipe this time again, with the exception that I froze the copper moulds and chilled the batter for 36 hours. I didn't use beeswax (it is rather difficult to get food grade beeswax in Singapore), but I took a tip from a French lady who sells french pastries in a pastry shop here that she uses caramel to create the crispy exterior. I brushed melted butter-vegetable oil and sprinkle fine sugar into the moulds and left them in the freezer. I filled them almost to the rim, and baked them at 180C/400F in a convection oven for 1 hour 15 minutes. My only issue with this batch was that they rose beautifully above the rim in the first 45 minutes only to sink about 1/2 inch below the rim for the remainder of the baking period and they're remained at that height ever since. I wish they could remain slightly taller. I took Paula's advice that they're best up to 5 hours after they're baked, and have been eating one per hour to check out the texture. After four canneles and four hours, they're still crisp outside and custardy inside, but they're beginning to soften outside. I'm trying Paula's recipe next. Thanks everyone for sharing their tips and experiences.

I have some of silicone muffin moulds and have baked in them. I'd still prefer my metal moulds, because they brown better on the sides than the silicone moulds. But the silicone moulds are excellent when you freeze mousse or bavarois-type desserts in them. They turn out quite easily, being flexible. I haven't put them through a steaming trial though.

I think your hosts took you to Lau Pa Sat, a wet market in a previous incarnation. It is now an open-air food court. The Satay Club that you mentioned is no more as the site had to make way for the Esplanade, I think. But three of the original stalls selling satay are making a comeback, but I cannot remember where they're selling now. Brad, I hope the next time that you visit, you will have some time on your own to explore not just Singapore, but also Malaysia. Both countries have a wonderful variety of foods from the major races and cultures that will be a good introduction to the cuisine of South East Asia.

Actually, rota canai is known as rota prata in Singapore. You may also want to get your hosts to bring you to a Peranakan restaurant. Good to know that your hosts have planned your eating expeditions for you, but if you need suggestions, feel free to ask.

According to a friend of mine, Milo was available since the 50s and Ovaltine, brought in by a company called Wander, came later. Because of the chocolate nature, it was very likely a European import into this region, because none of the native cuisines feature chocolate very much. And the Ovaltine from Australia does indeed taste slightly different from what is available here, but some people prefer the Australian versions than the locally available ones. My favourite way of drinking/eating Milo was to spoon an extraordinary amount of Milo into a glass of cold Magnolia full cream milk, and then eat/drink the whole thing. I've eaten tried freezing the mixture and eating the lollies. I think I preferred the cold milk-Milo combo more. As for Ma Ling luncheon meat, I usually slice it thick so that I can fry them crisp on the outside and still soft inside. Yummy!

Like TM, I enjoy nonya joong too, but the one that I make uses less ingredients. Unlike the savoury joong, these are sometimes wrapped using a species of Pandanus (screwpine), which become more available during this duan wu jie. These leaves grow to lengths of more than a metre, and look absolutely wicked - there are thorns on the edges of the leaves and much work needs to be done to prepare them for wrapping. The leaves are very stiff and need to be boiled to soften them into a state where they can be used to wrap the rice. However, you're rewarded with very fragrant zoong as the leaves impart the pandan fragrance into the joong after steaming. I normally add a piece of pandan leaf during the wrapping, but the fragrance of this method is a pale shade of using the actual leaf itself. A traditional approach would also be the use of a blue dye extracted from the flowers of Clitoria ternatea (bunga telang). Some of the glutinous rice is mixed with this dye, and added to the zoong for a splash of colour.

I got in late to this, but I did bake the cake and followed the instructions closely. My cake did not dome or crack as much as what I've seen in some of the photos. I have a convection oven, and I would normally bake it about 25-50F lower than what is instructed. I found that on cooling (wrapped in plastic), the dome came down slightly. As in one of the responses, I could taste a bit of the baking soda in the cake. I used Valrhona cocoa. But I did like the cake as did three other testers. It scored points for having a good chocolate taste (the brand of chocolate helped a lot here, I think), fudgy, did not break into crumbs when sliced. It was, however, a little heavy and I'm not sure how well it will stand as a layer cake with a soft frosting as chocolate mousse. Anybody has tried this and any advice? I also tried the cake defrosted; the quality didn't suffer either. Thanks for sharing.

Foodie3, other than the cannele recipe, I've only tried Pascal's financier recipe. I found it quite good, but I've never eaten a financier before, so I don't really have a reference. But it was delicious, especially paired with ice cream. But the other recipes look quite good. I was going to try the congolais, but it looks like I'll be attempting the cannele again. I stand a better chance this time round with all the tips that everyone has shared.

Thanks for the tips - this website is great! I've Roux's book, but have not attempted his recipe. I'm going to try Pascal Rigo's recipe one more time so that I wouldn't waste the copper moulds - they're costly! I know what the family will be eating this weekend. LT

Foodie3, those are beautiful. I believe Roux's recipe uses beeswax to coat the moulds before baking. Did you have to do that? I've seen some recipes that don't require that, and I've attempted a couple of them, but somehow I couldn't get the hard crust that I enjoy. Your advice is appreciated. Thanks, lt

Neil, what does the invert sugar do? Can I use glucose instead? Or omit it? Thanks.

Regarding the use of saran wrap, I read somewhere once that you should use those for commercial use and not those for domestic use. I have both at home, and do notice that those sold for commercial purposes are slightly different from Glad or Saran Wrap. I've not tried this myself, but have seen it actually done. That is, it was used to line a tart and filled with rice. And there is a certain limit to the temperature. You're not supposed to go higher than 180-200C.

Shirley Corriher in her Cookwise book suggested adding a bowl of hot water into the oven when you put the piped pate a choux into the oven. The water moisture helps to allow the surface of the pastry to stretch further to achieve more puff. I tested this out last week, but didn't really notice any difference. She also suggested bread flour because the additional gluten in bread flour provides a firmer structure. I've baked with both bread and all-purpose flour, and do notice slightly better height achieved with the bread flour. But as one writer commented, the texture is a little hard. But some people prefer their puffs crisp and a bit on the harder side. I've also baked them with the oven door open during the second part of the baking supposedly to dry them out. But I find that by switching off the oven and leaving them in the oven will dry them out. But be careful about leaving them for too long, because they can end up being too dry. Oh, and making the slit first to release the steam within the puffs first is absolutely essential. Good luck!

You should try an art store. They will probably sell them by the metre or foot, and come in different degrees of thickness. I'm assuming that you're using the acetate strips for perhaps chocolate work, or lining the sides of cake rings/tins for mousse cakes. I bought mine at an art shop (1 metre by 1 metre), and cut them to the sizes that I need.