Le Wai Tian Seafood

Deep-fried belly pork

The one thing I truly treasure about the food culture in Singapore is its common-place tze char stall.

There's just something that's so appealing about dining al fresco, facing the humid weather headon, sweating it out with your fellow dining partners. You tuck in unabashed, using your fingers earnestly trying to get the most out of that chicken wing or crab. Best yet - the prices are much cheaper than those in posh air-conditioned restaurants.

At tze char stalls, the food speaks for itself. There ain't no ambience to compensate for taste so the chefs had better get their food right, or face a very grouchy customer.

And speaking of tze char, I had the pleasure of tucking into one of the best tze char food I've tasted. Located at Changi Road, Le Wai Tian Seafood is a nondescript outfit tucked in a plain looking coffeeshop. Had the Makansutra Forum not organise a makan session there, I wouldn't have discovered this delicious gem. Boy am I glad I went for the dinner.

I had lots of fun and laughs to go along with the satisfying dinner. Most people at the table I sat were familiar faces like The Skinny Epicurean, The Hungry Cow, and Superfine Feline. I really enjoyed myself that night. Of course the scrumptious food played a big part too! Check out the photos:


Fish maw crab meat soup



Prawn paste chicken


Curry Fish head

Ooo I love the way this place does it. It's not overtly curry-like in flavour. Very aromatic and tasty, the gravy is thick and not very spicy. There's dried shrimps too. Great to drown your rice in.



Deep-fried pig trotters in herbal sauce

Was surprised that I actually enjoyed this. I seldom eat pig trotters and I don't have a very good impression of them, don't ask me why. But this one, mmmm the meat was tender and tasty - went well with the herbal sauce.


Black pepper crab

I think this was the highlight. The crabs were big and full of flesh. Totally loved the sauce and I stole some crab roe.


Sambal vegetable (i forgot which veg! it's related to dou miao i heard)


Dark Hokkien Mee

A great noodle dish. I think it's cooked over a charcoal stove. It could be true, seeing how it really tastes a bit smoky. I like!


Deep-fried ice cream

Seemed like they wrapped the ice cream with bread before frying. I like that it didn't feel oily. Perhaps I should try making some myself.


Horfun

This horfun, together with the following two fried rice, we ordered a la carte. Well our table just has a bigger appetite I guess!


Yangzhou Fried Rice


Salted fish fried rice

Their fried rice is really good. I wouldn't mind going back just for the fried rice. The Yangzhou one is good. The hor fun is pretty normal though.

Would definitely bring my family there some time. Le Wai Tian is my current favourite tze char place now :)

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Le Wai Tian Seafood
324T Changi Road
(it's between Kembangan & Eunos station, about 10-15 minutes walk from Kembangan)

Taiwan - part 1

I miss Taiwan, especially the mountains and the cold weather.

It's been about 12 days since I came back and looking at all the photos I took, it only makes me want to go back.

Sounds pretty silly considering that I was there for only 15 days. It wasn't that long a duration but I guess what makes it different was precisely most memorable - the company coupled with scenic backdrops and great food; oh yes not forgetting the cold weather.

In order for me to have a permanent or some would say semi-permanent record of my holiday there, I'll post up my experience and plenty of photos here. It's going to take quite a while, considering that I took more thn 1 GB worth of photos and that I spent 15 days there. So one post isn't going to be enough. But I'll try my best to summarise and give you only the most delicious and scenic accounts of my time there. Do be patient because I've started work and might not have enough time to post that often, but I'll try. :)

And so, let me start with my first day in Taiwan. No, I doubt I'll be doing a day-by-day account. Rather, I'll be showing you the highlights and the interesting stuff. Hope you enjoy it!



The railway counter where we bought tickets to Hualien, our first destination.

We landed on the evening of 19 December 2007, Wednesday around 5:30pm at Taiyuan airport and had to take a bus to the railway so that we could then take a train down to Hualien to stay for the night before setting off for Taroko Marble Gorge in the morning. The train ride took about 4 hours and by the time we got to the hotel (Azure Hotel), it was past midnight.

But before we set off for Hualien, we managed to grab dinner and dessert and I, ever the shutterbug, went mad snapping shots left and right.

Here's the wee little night market just outside the train station:



Was waiting for my aunt to get the train tickets so I went to wander about for a bit.

The snacks look so yummy..









But I didn't have time to get anything.

It was okay though, because dinner kinda made up for everything :)

This signage made me very happy because we haven't had dinner (took Jetstar and we didn't want to waste $10 for crappy food!) and was famish! :



Apparently, on the 2nd floor of the train station, there was plenty of food offerings.

We went to a food court which looked quite swanky. I like.



I'm not really sure about the correct names for the dishes in the next few photos so bear with me while I try to vaguely explain. It was yummy though, we finished the food up pretty quick.



This is obviously charsiew.

And this one below, erm I'm not sure! Some pork thing I think:

This one's oyster omelette. I quite like it. The way it's cooked is quite cool actually. It is dressed with a tomato-based sauce.

This is obviously tofu:

And this is ngoh hiang, which tasted different from the ones I usually have:

Dessert followed soon after. Sis and I couldn't help but say no when we came across this shop:








Perfect in everyway, the soft served icecream has a nice green tea sauce drizzle and a soft sticky red bean filled mochi. I like! And those yellow bits are sweet potatoes I think. Delish!

And of course, Mister Donut. But we were too full to get any, so I just took some photos for you all:






And then there's Milkhouse, this popular bakery in Taiwan. I soon realised that it's kind of their equivalent of our BreadTalk:





The golden buns you see above look really tasty. Most of them are made out of sweet potato and pumpkin. How unique. Me likes.

And they sold lamingtons too!

Couldn't help taking a photo of Starbucks bilingual menu. And after this Taiwan trip, I am convinced that Starbucks IS really taking over the world. You'll know why later:




Love the look of this shop:




One of their offerings include HUGE cream puffs:




Mr Brown Coffee is kind of popular with the locals. I don't think I've seen Mr. Brown in Singapore. Is it from Taiwan? Might be! There's Mr. Brown coffee everywhere, in 7-11, and also in obscure places like on top of cold mountains, in heated cans sold by make-shift stalls:




The train station where we waited for the train to Hualien to arrive:




Sorry Taiwan, but I can't help but be amused by their many 'cute' English expressions in posters and everywhere else. I took quite a lot of photos of their 'editorial mistakes' and will post more up in later posts.

Here's one poster I didn't quite understand or rather, I took a double take when I realised that they found it more important for you to press the emergency button than to RUN right away.

Hmmm, okay, maybe it's because I don't live there and I don't know the exact railroad situations? ...




The train was pretty comfortable, and it helped that it was rather clean and nice:




Reached Hualien pretty late, past midnight to be exact. We checked into the hotel, and I wanted to take a walk. Right in front of our hotel was this cool 24-hour cafe. It looked super modern and classy. Loved it and love their selection of cakes. I got drinks instead. Wasn't very hungry.





Yes, couldn't help snapping a shot of that cute lion cake!




Remember what I said about Taiwan's 7-11 being so much better than the ones we have here? Well, check that out. Okay it's not like super fresh but it's novel! You can have warm sticks of fishcake & other things.




I also like their selection of coffee, tea & milk. Look at how they're all lined up! Kinda like in a supermarket.



And of course, no coffee shelf is complete without Starbucks.

Here's more cuteness from 7-11's mascot:



Ya, their own housebrand. Cool eh?

And here's one more cute photo I took of this Sushi Express banner:



Ah, I miss all that Taiwanese cuteness.

I can't wait to go back. There's so much more I haven't explored! Although I must say, we covered quite alot in those 15 days.

So, here's the end of part 1. I hope you like the photos and found them appetising :p

More to come....

Embracing 2008!

Me and my dearest cousin Krystle


Am BACK home! Well I actually flew back on 2 January and reached Singapore late at night.

Felt the humidity the moment I stepped off the plane!

I really miss Taiwan! Those 15 days were absolutely fantastic. I visited more than 5 mountains and attractions. Also managed to catch the countdown in Taipei!

Witnessed the spectacular fireworks from Taipei 101 (2nd tallest building in the world) that lasted 188 seconds:




The next one looks really fiery and red!



I have LOADS of photos. Not just of food but also of mountains and the scenic surroundings.

To quickly summarise, here's a list of the places we went:

花莲 (Hualien) > 太鲁阁 (Taroko Marble Gorge) > 梨山 (Li Shan) 清境农场 (Cing Jing Farm) > 合欢山 (Hehuanshan) > 关子岭 (Guanziling Mud Spa) > 阿里山 (Alishan) > 台北 (Taipei).

We didn't follow any tour group. My industrious aunt did all the research and made all the bookings, calls and arrangements prior to the trip, ensuring a smooth sailing 15 days of relaxation and loads of exhiliarating fun.

I do think my aunt can be a successful travel planner. She doesn't join tour groups and usually plans her holidays on her own. My grannie is blessed with such a capable daughter like her. Likewise, she's an aunt I'm blessed to have!

Though we were in the mountains most of the time, it wasn't boring. I kinda like the peace and tranquility. Even my aunt was a little surprised at our thorough contentment with the entire trip.

This was a much needed break. Ideal to end the year with. I look plenty of photos, more than 1GB worth. All packed with delicious pixels dying to make you drool and scenic greenry guaranteed to unleash the poet in you.

I don't have time right now to post all the photos especially since I've started work today so I'll do them slowly. So please bear with me yes?

Here's just a few squick snapshots - think of them as teasers!:




One of my favourite breakfast choice - one that I've come to love. This was in Taipei. It's rice stuffed with porkfloss, with fried dough fritter and an optional Taiwan sausage. Filling but nutritious (the rice part esp! duh!)





Basil omelette! I loved this one! Had it at this great restaurant at Alishan. It was so good that we patronised this place two nights in a row for dinner. Their hot pot is delicious too!




And how can I leave out 7-11! I really adore Taiwan's 7-11. Yes it sounds ridiculously stupid but I can't stop cooing, ooo-ing and ahhh-ing the cute 7-11 mascot. I know that the adjective 'cute' is not something most people would associate 7-11 with. But trust me, in Taiwan, 7-11 is king! I get excited whenever I come across a 7-11 in Taiwan. I can't help it - their offerings are so much more cuter!




That's how it looks from the inside....

and here's some cute packaging! Don't you just love the mascot? Uber cute.



A'ight that's all I have for now!

Will try my best to upload more photos asap.

Happy New Year to you and you and YOU!

May this new year of 2008 be fruitful and awesome!

Last post of 2007

Dear readers, this will be my last post for the year because I'm leaving for Taiwan later in the afternoon and won't be back until 2 January 2008.

I'll be holidaying in the mountains so I doubt I'd have internet access or the time to blog while I'm there. So I hope you'll be patient and await my delicious & scenic posts of Taiwan once I'm back!

Also, I'm sorry to have to turn down all your Christmas cookie/cake orders! I really wish I could do a bake sale this Christmas as promised but alas, I do need a holiday before I start work next year. It's also to celebrate my graduation! :) Yes, I completed my final exams two weeks ago and am outta school!

So Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to YOU out there on your computer reading this. Thank you for your support and I wish you all the best for this coming year!!!


Love,

Cheryl
xoxo