The Sugar Bar

Some long overdue photos.

The weather here has been somewhat crazy. Terribly hot and muggy and then suddenly, we are plagued (it’s a good thing really I just think that for others, many do not welcome the rain) with days of unceasing relentless rain. Doing the laundry gets a little tricky for most. I’ve seen lots of women queueing at the laundromat for the dryers with bright blue baskets of washing. My sisters have been complaining that the air is getting more chilly and the nights are nippy. By my standard, I really do not feel it. It just feels a little less oppressive and I hope the air stays that way. I don’t mind the rain (other than it annoys my hair a little) as long as our neighbourhood doesn’t flood. Because now that, is a whole different predicament altogether.

When I was in Kyoto in June, it was raining quite a bit as well. Hence, it just sprung into mind that I should upload some of the shots taken there. A little warm it was, a little rainy some of the days in Kyoto. Honestly, the weather then is exactly the same as what we’re experiencing now. Funnily enough, the weather makes me crave for soba ~ cold soba, hot soba whatever. It’s a need. So I dug up these pictures of handmade soba I had in Arashiyama. It was really lush, and fresh, soft but firm and well-made. The dipping sauce for mine and the broth for my pal’s was really delish. Oh how I wish I were there now again, slurping soba on the top floor of a tiny crooked shop with a (somewhat blocked but chilled out) view of the river.

The shop has a lovely, quaint, shadowy upper floor with just a few tables. The ones that are by the window facing the river are quite sought after since you can see the Togetsu Bridge on the left stretching over the river. We were lucky to get 2 spaces next to some salarymen who were quite so busy slurping their soba they didn’t even notice us arriving and noisily shoving ourselves into our seats. It took my friend Mr. Patience (yes that’s his real name) quite some time and effort to fold his lanky long BFG body into the little cranny of a space, obviously designed and built to comfortably seat the Japanese male/female physique.

A lovely rest stop. Fantastic handmade soba, good view, wonderful service, not to mention lovely ceramic cups/bowls/etc. that are also for sale just under the stairs next to the till.

It might seem a little hard to find but look out for its brown exteriors on the right footpath if you’re walking towards the river. You’ll notice a little zen stone garden once past the doors. You’re there.

Yoshimura
2 Togetsukyo Kitazumenishi
Arashiyama, Ukyo-ku

http://www.arashiyama-yoshimura.com

11am-5pm Daily

*ps. Around this area, you might spot geisha…or rather, women who pay to dress up like geisha. I was tempted. Truly. Which girl doesn’t like to get all decked up in shiny silk stuff and have their faces painted!

I’m beginning to feel the Christmas season. Yes I’ve finally stepped out of my bubble of denial and have acknowledged that it is December already (which would pass by in a flash). Soon, I’ll be whizzing along in a panicky flurry baking things, shopping for ingredients, storing and packing it all away before that important Christmas dinner. I haven’t had time to start filling the house with mince pies and fruit cake. In fact, I find myself baking in the middle of the night when I’m tired and half-asleep, snapping pictures hurriedly in the early morning before I leave for work, uploading them onto the laptop in the evening after dinner and then (usually) falling asleep whilst trying to edit them. I’m knackered yes! And feeling very guilty that I’m not doing the usual baking (or shopping if things get dire) to get the house in a Christmasy mood.

But things aren’t all that bad. I am still soaking up the flavour of local delights. And one of that, of course, is prawn mee (or prawn noodles)! This dish comes as a choice of yellow egg noodles or a mix of egg noodles and rice vermicelli, and fresh juicy sweet prawns served dry with a mix of condiments and fried shallots. Or, you can have it noodle soup with that signature dark brown murky broth so rich with the flavour of prawns you’d be hard pressed not to down the whole bowl!

Singaporean dishes are flavour-packed. I admit that some don’t look like much and I agree that some border on being just a plate of grease. There’s the bad, and then there’s the good (well, I’m actually learning that as I go along). So we look towards the brighter side of life right? Flavour is something the locals here do not discount on and truly, it is the pride of local cuisine. You can taste it almost before you put it in your mouth. An explosion of flavours, a symphony of it – all of them trying to get your attention all at once. Local flavours aren’t subtle and I doubt they’ll ever be.

Prawn mee is all about flavour! Minimal ingredients, fantastic condiments and an out-of-this-world broth. Most people will choose the noodle soup option to slurp it up with all that wonderful broth. A noodle dry option, panic you not, is no way inferior to the former though. The noodles aren’t at all dry but served with a mix of savoury and spicy condiments. A bowl of broth is also served together with the noodles lest the customer starts up a riot (who eats prawn mee without the broth yea?). I especially love to add a few spoons of broth to my dry noodles and mess it all up soup, noodles and condiments so everything is well coated. Messy. But absolutely delicious.

This place we ate at is a local favourite. Hungry yuppies from wherever they huddle flock to the East side for this. We’re lucky our office sits just above this place, well sorta. Getting a table here ain’t difficult as they’re well prepared for a big lunch crowd. To get your food though, expect to queue.

One interesting thing about this eating house is that they outsource one particular dish – ngoh hiang or 五香. Ngoh hiang is a Hokkien dish of fried fatty pork or prawns flavoured with soy, Chinese five spice and mixed with ingredients like crunchy water chestnuts, spring onions, etc. It is wrapped in a thin beancurd skin then deep fried. It is absolutely delicious and the varieties are many. I’ve always eaten the usual pork rolls but the stall here offered varieties like sweet potato filling and even pork liver roll. I shuddered at the latter, having ordered that by mistake but surprise surprise, I loved it. The fried prawn biscuits 虾餅, the flat white cracker-like things at the bottom of the plate, were crispy and wonderfully light as well. A great side dish or appetizer I suppose. These can be eaten on its own or with a variety of condiments such as a sweet and tangy plum sauce, a thick spicy chili paste and even this surprisingly sweet but strangely coloured pink gooey sauce.

So there, a slice of my eating life and a few snaps of some local cuisine.

Beach Road Prawn Mee Eating House • East Coast Ngoh Hiang
370 East Coast Road
S(428981)
Singapore
Closed on Tuesdays

Have I been missed? I’ve been away for quite a bit that’s for sure (nose deep in books, essays and my laptop til my eyes crossed) and so has the sun. But just for today (can’t be too confident with English weather) – for one day only? – the sun is out and I’m back with a quick and scrummy blogpost.

When summer arrives in its fully glory, I have less exciting food cravings and more urges for ice cream and fruit. I’ve some friends who completely lose their appetites too which of course is just a little sad. If its unbearably hot and humid, I get too grumpy to even bother with food. My cure is to sit on the patio, feet soaking in the koi pond whilst I guzzle down jugs of iced water or soda. One way to restart your tastebuds, however, I find is eating something with a combination of flavours like hot and spicy, sweet and sour, sweet and savoury. And that brings me to this seasoning for bibimguksu noodles, or a Korean spicy mixed noodle dish. I don’t have all the right ingredients but what I really wanted was the sauce so I decided to use the recipe for its seasoning and whack it into my own concoction of ingredients that I had on hand. This is not authentic bibimguksu I’m afraid.

I’m unembarrassed to say I’m currently going through a barren-fridge moment. Living off junk and processed foods, completely in line with being a starving student/artist type. I know students get so much mick taken out of them and wrongly accused for being bad cooks, etc. I beg to differ. The student race can be pretty talented at cooking, a discerning food shopper and foodie right down to his/her toes. Only when the going gets tough, do we get a little lazy. Doing the washing up, food shopping, cooking properly on the hob all gets thrown out the window for takeaway, cold sandwiches bought cheaply from Tesco, dry cereal, microwaveable meals and cuppa soups. I shudder even as I type that but yea, that’s really my life at the moment. I hope you can sense the dread and utter unwillingness.

I’m starting to lose my train of thought now and before this post actually gets nowhere and bores everyone to death, let’s just say I was pretty glad to have fresh ingredients between my hands this afternoon, to get out the chopping board and to see a real proper hot meal appear before my eyes in the kitchen. This is quick and I swear, one of the best sauces for preparing noodles. Totally delicious.

Recipe can be found on My Korean Kitchen that is a wonderful reservoir of Korean recipes. Here, I’ve reproduced the part containing the seasoning.

I’ve used soft egg noodles and fried it with onions, garlic, yellow peppers, sansai vegetables and codfish. Fry this all together, then add the pre-mixed bibimguksu sauce and garnish with whatever you fancy; some ideas like boiled eggs, black sesame seeds, chilli pepper, spring onions.

Bibimguksu sauce
Ingredients
2 tbs gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste)
2 tbs rice vinegar
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs honey
1 tbs sesame oil
1 tbs brown sugar
sesame seeds, lightly toasted (for garnish)

This yields 2 servings.

Mix together well. Set aside until use for mixing into noodles.