Les Toques Blanches Field Trip April /May 2006

 

 

Pigs organ soup for  breakfast anyone?

 

This year’s field trip to Singapore and Malaysia was a great success.

We were promised a different experience, a six day local culinary journey (street level food) through Singapore and Malaysia,  tasting local delicacies, exotic food and visiting places which group tours may not visit as we had the local knowledge of Jeffery Tan. LTB member Jeffery Tan lived in Maur near Malacca with his family before he moved to Australia.

 

All on the trip will attest to the fact that President Massimo Di Lucca and Jeffery Tan put together a very well organised and thoroughly enjoyable trip.

 

Day one and two we visited Food and Hotel Asia, a chance for some to do business or just take in the experiences of one Asia’s largest international food and hospitality events. FHA 2006 Culinary Challenge was of great interest to some, particularly myself, with a chance to view an international WACS accredited competition, a prelude and training ground for Culinary Olympics 2008

 

Dinner on day one was at Newton Food Centre where we dined on sting ray, oyster omelettes, kangkong belachan, satay and a tiger beer or two.

  

DAY 2

The food just kept coming and getting better with breakfast at Tiong Bahru market we were treated to congee,turnip cakes, duck and  prawns cooked mainly in Cantonese style.  All this before ten o’clock am.  Dinner was at Singapore’s East Shore where we feasted on sea food with highlights such as razor clams, mud crab, very garlicky prawns and whole baked fish.

 

                          

 

 

 

DAY 3

We headed for Kala Lumpur, Malaysia. On the way we stopped road side for DURIAN (smells like hell tastes like rotten socks to some or heaven to others), jack fruit, mango, LUKU(similar to lychees), pomelo and the sweetest bananas ever tasted.

For lunch a real highlight Yum Cha at the Mandarin, all agreed some of the best Yum Cha we have eaten.

For something different Tapas for dinner.

 

           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 4

Bah Kut Tah for a breakfast of local soups including tripe, pork knuckle, liver and kidney, plenty of noodles, rice and greens. This is the restaurant where we washed our cutlery in boiling water provided. Fantastic food but the kitchen is best inspected after you have eaten.

Shopping and sight seeing filled in the day until the dinner Ted Bones had been dreading - the Exotic animal dinner. Again we were not disappointed with great-tasting mainly Chinese style food. The menu included wild boar curry, beggar’s duck, bull frog sauté with ginger and green onions, shark fin omelette, wild goat, wild deer, turtle, shark fin, and a very interesting dish of chicken skin head attached with minced squid and chicken meat. Again view kitchen at own risk.

 

 

 

 

       

 

 

 

 

 

DAY 5

Travelled to Malacca by bus where we played tourist for half a day, with sight seeing, swimming and a little shopping.

Lunch was at Restron ole sayang, a very established and popular restaurant serving Nyonya Cuisine.    ( Nyonya a fusion of Malay and Chinese cuisines.) The food was brilliant, great flavours and interesting ingredients with house specialities like:

Dinner was in the hotel’s restaurant seri Nyonya -  true Nyonya food in five star style, cooked in a real kitchen.

 

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DAY 6

Before heading back to Singapore and then Oz, we stopped in Muar, Jeffery’s home town, where we payed a visit to Jeffery’s parents. We ate Otak Otak in Mr and Mrs Tan’ living room. Then in keeping with the trip’s trend we ate some more -  lunch at a local restaurant for a Cantonese style feast.

With the grand finale food-wise, aboard a British air way jet bound for Australia we ate Nasi Goreng, and rubber omelette with plastic cutlery. Honestly the airline food was not that bad but it did leave me longing for just one more serve of Kang Kong Goreng Belachan( fresh greens with dried shrimps and chilli)  or Itik Tim(duck soup).