Food – Page 5 – Bradley's Old Fashioned Weblog

Naruto Ramen Soup

July 2, 2010September 4, 2021 Bradley FarlessLeave a comment

If you look at the red underlined portion under the menu item ‘Batchoy’ you’ll see that the ramen includes ‘naruto’. I don’t watch Naruto but I was really amused when I saw this. I was wondering if it was a typo or if there actually is something called ‘naruto’. Well, turns out that naruto is a type of kamaboko, which has the following definition on Wikipedia:

Kamaboko|蒲鉾 is a type of cured surimi, a Japanese processed seafood product, in which various white fish are pureed, combined with additives such as MSG, formed into distinctive loaves, and then steamed until fully cooked and firm.

It looks like this:

Public Domain picture via Wikipedia. Originally uploaded by Kinori.

Looks like I’ve eaten naruto quite a few times without even realizing it!

One other thing I thought worth mentioning is that there’s also a town called Naruto on the eastern end of the island of Shikoku in Japan.

Lungs, Ears and Brains: Exotic Filipino Foods

July 1, 2010 Bradley Farless2 Comments

The meat on the plate is actually pig lungs, boiled and fried. My wife and her brother enjoy it and convinced me to try some. It wasn’t horrible, but I didn’t think it was all that good either. I probably won’t eat that again. The meat on the stick, however is a grilled pig ear. It was served with a brown gravy. I thought about it after some of the stuff I’ve eaten, a pig ear really isn’t that weird. I mean, I’ve eaten chicken feet and snails before, so why not an ear? It wasn’t that bad. It had a decent taste to it, though I didn’t care too much for the crunchy cartilage parts. I finished it off.

This is pork sisig. This is a short order type of dish that’s sometimes served as lunch and often served while drinking. Up until recently, I believed it was just pieces of pork. I didn’t really question it or think about it. Turns out this is made from pig brains though. Well, partly pig brains. This dish became a popular part of Filipino cuisine as a result of the US establishing an air base in Pampanga province, called Clark Air Base. Filipinos would buy the unused pig heads from the base commissary and this is the dish they developed from trying to make use of them. I’ve actually tried this. I didn’t know it was made from pig brains at the time. No one thought to tell me either. Sisig is such a common dish here, now found pre-packaged and branded in grocery stores even, that my wife and relatives likely don’t give it a second thought. Now that I know, I don’t think I’ll ever look at it the same way again. I’m still not sure if I’ll eat it again.

Filipinos are pretty creative about making sure no part of an animal goes to waste. I’m sure you’ll see that as I post about, and perhaps try, more of the unusual ‘delicacies’ found here.

Spring Kyushu Fair

June 30, 2010September 4, 2021 Bradley FarlessLeave a comment

These are pictures from the Spring Kyushu Fair held in late March to early April of this year in Singapore. This is what I meant about being agitated about not having a Japan blog, because I should have posted them then. This is a bit dated, but I thought it was worth sharing anyway!

The fair’s banner was hanging in the center section of the Tampines Mall. Tampines Mall is set up as round levels with an open center.

This is the view from above, from I think the third floor. The fair was set up in the middle of the mall and was jam packed with people every single day.

I was shocked at how expensive these arus melons from Miyazaki were. If you look at the blue text on the sign you can see that 49 SGD was already the marked down price from their usual 60 SGD. I think we went on the last day of the fair. I tried to do a little research on the melon but there’s little available, through Google anyway. What I did find says that the arus melon is considered “The King of Japanese Fruits” and is highly sought after as a gift for its fragrance, beautifully netted skin and great taste.

There was a booth selling selections of fine tea. I kinda wish I’d bought some now that I look at the photo.

Photos of the crowds and some of the booths.

A lot of the booths were doing cooking on the spot, like this booth, where a girl was preparing takoyaki balls.

And what Japan fair would be complete without a booth selling sake? The sake he was holding was actually really, really good and I wanted a bottle of it but he had already sold out. He didn’t mind letting me have a few shots from the sample bottle though, which was pretty cool of him. We wound up getting a sparkling rose sake for my wife, but got so busy with getting ready for our trip to the Philippines at the beginning of May that we we gave it away as a gift instead.

I’m looking forward to visiting another Japan-related Fair. Hopefully there’ll be one in Manila sometime soon!

Carabao Chicharon

June 28, 2010 Bradley Farless5 Comments

Since moving overseas I’ve made it a point to try to be more adventurous in what I eat. There are certain things that I still can’t bring myself to try, like balot, but I’ve just added something new to my list of snacked-on animals: carabao. This is sort of cheating, because it wasn’t a carabao steak or anything like that, but it was still a carabao product.

What I had was carabao chicharon. Chicharon is a Tagalog word, borrowed from Spanish, that is the same thing as pork rinds or pork cracklins (sp?) in the US.

It tasted great! Better than the other kinds I’ve had before, and as far as this type of food goes, it’s supposedly more healthy.

It was served with a vinegar and minced garlic dip which really made it taste great.

The Antipolo Wet Market

June 7, 2010 Bradley FarlessLeave a comment

In the Philippines, most sizeable towns have a wet market, which is known locally as a palengke. When you want to go to the market, you can tell the driver of your transportation of choice that you simply want to go to the palengke and they’ll know what you’re talking about.

The wet market in Antipolo is pretty big. It actually has two floors, but the second floor is mostly dry goods and household items. The real wet market is on the lower level. It reminded me of the wet market in Chow Kit, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia except bigger. We saw plenty of sea food, from shrimp to huge fish, as well as pork, chicken, and veggies.

The prices at the wet market are usually the best you can find in town. We got a kilo of pork for what would be about 4 USD. I guess it’s because there’s very little mark-up for land rental and employee compensation. The sanitary conditions are a bit questionable by my American standards, but if all the people I saw in the market are any indication, no one dies eating food they bought there. Or at least, not any more than at any other place.

If you plan on living in the Philippines for any length of time and you’re interested in getting good deals on food, you should make it a point to visit the wet markets. I don’t know if there are any in Manila, but I assume there would be.

Here are some photos of the place so you can get a feel for what to expect if you ever visit a wet market in the Philippines:

(Note: I’m testing a new format for uploading a lot of pictures. Hopefully the watermark doesn’t show up huge on the blown-up image after clicking the thumbnail!)

Swensen’s at Changi International Airport Terminal 2

June 3, 2010 Bradley FarlessLeave a comment

The last thing we had to eat before leaving Singapore was at Swensen’s, which is an odd circumstance since I vowed never to eat there again about a month after reaching Singapore. Well, it was Swenson’s at Tampines, but you get the idea. We’d received some horrible service with our dishes showing up more than 20 minutes apart from each other and the waiter never returning to take our drink order.

Unfortunately, there’s not a whole lot open at 2:30 AM at Changi, so our choices were pretty limited. When we saw the sign saying that Swensen’s was on the lower level and was open 24 hours a day, we resigned ourselves to another potentially disastrous experience for the sake of filling our bellies.

I wasn’t disappointed with the meal this time, though it was nothing to get excited about either.

I was a little surprised when this showed up at the table. I’d ordered a chocolate soda, but I didn’t think it would come with a big ball of chocolate ice cream on top. In the US there’s a fast food place called Sonic’s (I think that’s the one) where you can order flavored Cokes. Just out of curiosity I ordered a chocolate Coke one day and it wasn’t bad, but it was just Coke with chocolate syrup mixed in. I had expected the same thing here.

Mee goreng is something I came to love about Singapore’s food scene. That and nasi goreng. Well, I gained an appreciation for a lot of foods that come from the Muslim and Indian Muslim food stalls. Swensen’s version of mee goreng isn’t too bad. The beef was very tender, the tomatoes were flavorful, but overall the dish seemed to be lacking something. Maybe they add a lot of MSG at the hawker stalls?

My wife went with the seafood kway teow. She said it was a good choice. The soup was thicker, tastier and more filling than the usual hawker fare. I kinda wish I’d ordered one of these too.

So, Swensen’s managed to redeem themselves, literally at the last minute.

The Pancake House at Galleria Mall

June 3, 2010September 4, 2021 Bradley FarlessLeave a comment

Earlier this month my wife and I were looking for a place to eat in Galleria and I saw something that looked like it would definitely hit the spot, The Pancake House. They had some interesting looking ads in the window and the one that caught my eye was a fried chicken tenders and waffle dish. It claimed to be ‘Southern’ style chicken, as in Southern US style chicken. Fried chicken is popular in the South, but from what I know (from a movie) the idea of waffles and chicken is something from Los Angeles. Well, I could be wrong.

The service standard at the restaurant was great. We were greeted at the door and quickly shown to a seat. The service from the waiter was prompt and friendly. The place is clean and it has a nice theme. My dish seemed a little pricey, but it was still reasonable, especially since it was in the mall.

This is the Southern chicken and waffle. There was also a small bit of salad that was pretty good. I loved the black olives. The dish also came with three sauces: syrup for the waffle, a gravy for the chicken, and a light, tangy dressing for the salad.

My wife ordered a traditional Filipino dish that’s usually called crispy liempo. The menu had a fancy name for it, but I can’t remember what it is. The meat is deep-fried pork belly and the rice is garnished with fried garlic.

p align=”left”>We didn’t try anything else from the menu, but after the great meal we had, I’m willing to go back for more.

Singapore in Manila

May 21, 2010 Bradley FarlessLeave a comment

Having recently left Singapore I thought it was cool to see Singaporean restaurants in Manila, specifically in Megamall. I suppose it makes sense that there would be Singaporean restaurants here, in Manila. A large amount of Singapore’s foreign labor force comes from the Philippines and while Filipinos may eventually go home, they might still crave some Singaporean dishes like I do.

So, here’s Singapore in Manila:

We took a brief look at the menu for ‘Orchard Road’ and saw Hainanese Chicken Rice listed prominently. It’s nice to know that I’ll still be able to satisfy that craving. I hope they serve the red chili sauce with it though, or it just won’t be the same. If you’re wondering, the chicken rice is priced at roughly 6 SGD there.

The second restaurant will hopefully help me satisfy my craving for kopi, though I didn’t think about it at the time and didn’t check the menu.

They say not to drink the water but…

May 13, 2010 Bradley Farless6 Comments

… I must have messed up, because I had some serious problems over the last two days.

We’ve had a lot of work going on around the house, including work we’ve been doing ourselves. I’ve been pretty exhausted and getting sick on top of it really wore me out.

All of these things combined to create a disaster that ruined a bag full of noodles. If you’re eating, you should save this for later.

So, it was early morning and there I was, sitting on the toilet having a problem. After I was done, I had another problem. The pipes are kinda screwy here so the toilet clogged. There’s no running water right now because of a drought so dumping water into the bowl is the only option. I couldn’t get it right so I just left it that way and passed out again. That evening, I was in there trying to wash up and mess with the toilet at the same time when I felt an urge.

A serious urge.

With no toilet available (due to the damn thing still being clogged) I made a mad dash through the house, naked and covered with soap mind you, and grabbed the first plastic shopping bag I saw, which I assumed was hanging on a doorknob for placing garbage in.

I then ran back to the toilet and handled business. It’s not the weirdest thing I’ve done. I’ve utilized empty boxes in the middle of the desert in Iraq before, so why not? Better than the other alternative.

So anyway, the next day my wife came and asked me if I’d seen the noodles she bought at the grocery store. I said I hadn’t so we looked around quite a bit. I’m pretty sure no one stole the noodles, though she does have hungry brothers that roam the house occasionally.

Then it dawned on me.

After I finished laughing like a hyena I felt bad because I had really wanted to try some of those noodles. Not to mention my wife was pissed. But you know… shit happens.

The Soup Spoon @ Bugis Junction

May 5, 2010September 4, 2021 Bradley FarlessLeave a comment

My wife and I are constantly finding and trying new restaurants and I’m kinda sad that this one slipped our notice until just two days before I leave Singapore. The Soup Spoon has some GREAT food.

My wife ordered the Simon & Garfunkel Ragout (pronounced ‘ra-goo’). I had a little taste of it and it was delicious. I don’t know how close to original the ragout recipe is, but it was great on its own.

I had the Velvety Mushroom Stroganoff. Ever since I got to experience the mushroom soup at Say Cheeze in Tampines 1 I’m always on the lookout for a chance to try a new recipe. I never realized mushroom soup could be so good, because in the US plain ‘cream of’ soups aren’t that popular and the ones that come in the cans are really bland. The mushroom soup at The Soup Spoon is really excellent. It’s thick and the chunks of mushroom are big enough to sink your teeth into.

The soups could be a meal by themselves, especially with the bread roll that comes with it, but they had a set meal offer that we took advantage of.

My wife tried their Garden Green salad. She said it was nice.

I had the Chicken Tikka half-wrap. It was ok. I think I’d have enjoyed it more but it didn’t really go well with the soup I chose. The taste was tart and sour, which was an abrupt change after the smooth, mellow tastes of the soup. Oh, and the stuff on the side that you can see in the picture above? It tasted just a bit south of foul. I left that alone.

Overall, the meal was very satisfying and very filling and, surprisingly, very affordable at only 22 bucks for both of us.

I’m just sad that I’ll probably never eat at this place again. It would’ve been a regular stop for me if I’d known about it earlier.