Category Archives: Chinese

You are here: Home » Category: "Chinese"

Singapore Hawkers Food cooking class with Red Hot Spatula

Posted by  | Categories: Chinese, Events, Featured, Malaysian, Perth, Recipes, Singapore

If you live in Perth and have attended any food festivals or hawkers markets, you will probably will have heard of Red Hot Spatula. Lead by Yvonne Bleach with additional help from her family members, they have become one of my guaranteed sources of a gluten free dish when at a food festival as often, unfortunately, this can be a little lacking from other stall holders.

I first met Yvonne a couple of years ago at Perth’s famous Cake Club. Since then we have become great friends and will often cross paths at the various food events we both attend. In addition to feeding the market-loving masses, Red Hot Spatula also provides a catering service in addition to running a variety of cooking classes in their commercial kitchen located in Middle Swan. Topics of these classes range from Asian cuisines such as Chinese Dim Sum and Malaysian, to Spanish Tapas and making pasta.

"hawkers food cooking class" "perth restaurant reviews" "perth restaurants" "perth gluten free" "perth fructose friendly" "perth food reviews" "restaurants perth" "food photos" "perth food blog" "food blog" "travel blog" "perth" "perth travel blog" "chompchomp" "gluten free" "fructose friendly" "low fodmap diet" "fructose malabsorption" "gluten free cooking" "raw food cooking" "gluten free recipes" "fructose friendly recipes" "gluten free raw food" "fructose friendly raw food" "coeliacs" "coeliac disease" "cooking classes perth" "hawkers food cooking classes" "red hot spatula" "yvonne bleach" "gluten free cooking classes" "hawkers recipes" "singapore hawkers" "middle swan"

My last Red Hot Spatula class that I attended was about a year ago before she had her own kitchen to work in. I haven’t had the chance to attend one of her classes since, so when she kindly invited me and a guest to her Singapore Hawkers Food cooking class it was an offer that was too good to refuse. I invited Colleen who is one of my close friends from work to join me. Her parents lived in Singapore for years and she is a big fan of Hawkers food.

"hawkers food cooking class" "tofu pocket" "shrimp paste" "grilled crisp tofu pockets" "tahu bakar" "rojak sauce""perth restaurant reviews" "perth restaurants" "perth gluten free" "perth fructose friendly" "perth food reviews" "restaurants perth" "food photos" "perth food blog" "food blog" "travel blog" "perth" "perth travel blog" "chompchomp" "gluten free" "fructose friendly" "low fodmap diet" "fructose malabsorption" "gluten free cooking" "raw food cooking" "gluten free recipes" "fructose friendly recipes" "gluten free raw food" "fructose friendly raw food" "coeliacs" "coeliac disease" "cooking classes perth" "hawkers food cooking classes" "red hot spatula" "yvonne bleach" "gluten free cooking classes" "hawkers recipes" "singapore hawkers" "middle swan"

The classes are conducted in small group sessions of no more than ten people. I recommend that you make sure to arrive with a big appetite as you will leave the cooking class feeling very full. For our Singapore hawkers food cooking class Yvonne and her mum demonstrated to us how to prepare five different dishes which were served up over the course of the evening. Our first course was grilled crisp tofu pockets (Tahu Bakar) with Rojak sauce.

"hawkers food cooking class" "tofu pocket" "shrimp paste" "grilled crisp tofu pockets" "tahu bakar" "rojak sauce" "perth restaurant reviews" "perth restaurants" "perth gluten free" "perth fructose friendly" "perth food reviews" "restaurants perth" "food photos" "perth food blog" "food blog" "travel blog" "perth" "perth travel blog" "chompchomp" "gluten free" "fructose friendly" "low fodmap diet" "fructose malabsorption" "gluten free cooking" "raw food cooking" "gluten free recipes" "fructose friendly recipes" "gluten free raw food" "fructose friendly raw food" "coeliacs" "coeliac disease" "cooking classes perth" "hawkers food cooking classes" "red hot spatula" "yvonne bleach" "gluten free cooking classes" "hawkers recipes" "singapore hawkers" "middle swan"

Grilled crisp tofu pockets (Tahu Bakar) with Rojak sauce (GF)

To prepare these the tofu puffs are cut in half and grilled over hot pan before being stuffed with a flavoursome filling made from roasted shrimp paste, chilli and tamarind along with some fresh bean sprouts, cucumber and then topped with roasted peanuts. These tasty morsels didn’t last long!

"hawkers food cooking class" "ngoh hiang" "perth restaurant reviews" "perth restaurants" "perth gluten free" "perth fructose friendly" "perth food reviews" "restaurants perth" "food photos" "perth food blog" "food blog" "travel blog" "perth" "perth travel blog" "chompchomp" "gluten free" "fructose friendly" "low fodmap diet" "fructose malabsorption" "gluten free cooking" "raw food cooking" "gluten free recipes" "fructose friendly recipes" "gluten free raw food" "fructose friendly raw food" "coeliacs" "coeliac disease" "cooking classes perth" "hawkers food cooking classes" "red hot spatula" "yvonne bleach" "gluten free cooking classes" "hawkers recipes" "singapore hawkers" "middle swan"

Rolling up the Ngoh Hiang (GF)

Our second course was Ngoh Hiang, which I can basically describe as kind of a Hawkers version of a sausage roll, but much tastier! The meat stuffing is made from minced pork belly, dried shrimps, coarsely chopped prawns, water chestnuts, carrot and soy.

"hawkers food cooking class" "ngoh hiang" "perth restaurant reviews" "perth restaurants" "perth gluten free" "perth fructose friendly" "perth food reviews" "restaurants perth" "food photos" "perth food blog" "food blog" "travel blog" "perth" "perth travel blog" "chompchomp" "gluten free" "fructose friendly" "low fodmap diet" "fructose malabsorption" "gluten free cooking" "raw food cooking" "gluten free recipes" "fructose friendly recipes" "gluten free raw food" "fructose friendly raw food" "coeliacs" "coeliac disease" "cooking classes perth" "hawkers food cooking classes" "red hot spatula" "yvonne bleach" "gluten free cooking classes" "hawkers recipes" "singapore hawkers" "middle swan"

Rolling up the Ngoh Hiang

The stuffing is wrapped in bean curd skin before being steamed and then deep fried. It was mesmerizing to see how neatly Yvonne’s mother could wrap each roll in succession with every roll matching the exact size of that before it.

"hawkers food cooking class" "perth restaurant reviews" "perth restaurants" "perth gluten free" "perth fructose friendly" "perth food reviews" "restaurants perth" "food photos" "perth food blog" "food blog" "travel blog" "perth" "perth travel blog" "chompchomp" "gluten free" "fructose friendly" "low fodmap diet" "fructose malabsorption" "gluten free cooking" "raw food cooking" "gluten free recipes" "fructose friendly recipes" "gluten free raw food" "fructose friendly raw food" "coeliacs" "coeliac disease" "cooking classes perth" "hawkers food cooking classes" "red hot spatula" "yvonne bleach" "gluten free cooking classes" "hawkers recipes" "singapore hawkers" "middle swan"

Our next course was one of my favourite South-east Asian street foods, otak otak. It is a snack that I know will always be gluten free and tastes amazing. For those not in the know, otak otak are a type of fish cake which wrapped in banana leaves and baked.

"hawkers food cooking class" "otak otak" "malaysian fish cake" "banana leaf" "singapore fish cake" "perth restaurant reviews" "perth restaurants" "perth gluten free" "perth fructose friendly" "perth food reviews" "restaurants perth" "food photos" "perth food blog" "food blog" "travel blog" "perth" "perth travel blog" "chompchomp" "gluten free" "fructose friendly" "low fodmap diet" "fructose malabsorption" "gluten free cooking" "raw food cooking" "gluten free recipes" "fructose friendly recipes" "gluten free raw food" "fructose friendly raw food" "coeliacs" "coeliac disease" "cooking classes perth" "hawkers food cooking classes" "red hot spatula" "yvonne bleach" "gluten free cooking classes" "hawkers recipes" "singapore hawkers" "middle swan"

Otak otak (GF)

"hawkers food cooking class" "otak otak" "malaysian fish cake" "banana leaf" "singapore fish cake" "perth restaurant reviews" "perth restaurants" "perth gluten free" "perth fructose friendly" "perth food reviews" "restaurants perth" "food photos" "perth food blog" "food blog" "travel blog" "perth" "perth travel blog" "chompchomp" "gluten free" "fructose friendly" "low fodmap diet" "fructose malabsorption" "gluten free cooking" "raw food cooking" "gluten free recipes" "fructose friendly recipes" "gluten free raw food" "fructose friendly raw food" "coeliacs" "coeliac disease" "cooking classes perth" "hawkers food cooking classes" "red hot spatula" "yvonne bleach" "gluten free cooking classes" "hawkers recipes" "singapore hawkers" "middle swan"

Otak otak (GF)

They are made using blended white fish combined with egg white, rice flour, coconut cream and a variety of spices including turmeric, candlenuts, kaffir lime, lemongrass, garlic, belacan (dried shrimp paste) and chilli.

"hawkers food cooking class" "prawn stock" "fried prawn noodles" "fried hokkien prawn noodles" "rochor mee" "perth restaurant reviews" "perth restaurants" "perth gluten free" "perth fructose friendly" "perth food reviews" "restaurants perth" "food photos" "perth food blog" "food blog" "travel blog" "perth" "perth travel blog" "chompchomp" "gluten free" "fructose friendly" "low fodmap diet" "fructose malabsorption" "gluten free cooking" "raw food cooking" "gluten free recipes" "fructose friendly recipes" "gluten free raw food" "fructose friendly raw food" "coeliacs" "coeliac disease" "cooking classes perth" "hawkers food cooking classes" "red hot spatula" "yvonne bleach" "gluten free cooking classes" "hawkers recipes" "singapore hawkers" "middle swan"

Having successfully worked our way through three entrées it was time to move onto our main course, Rochor mee or fried Hokkien prawn noodles. Being mindful of the risk of contamination with gluten for cooking Yvonne was very kind to make up a gluten free batch of noodles for me first by omitting the wheat noodles before going onto cook the more traditional style for the remaining guests.

"hawkers food cooking class" "prawn stock" "fried prawn noodles" "fried hokkien prawn noodles" "rochor mee" "perth restaurant reviews" "perth restaurants" "perth gluten free" "perth fructose friendly" "perth food reviews" "restaurants perth" "food photos" "perth food blog" "food blog" "travel blog" "perth" "perth travel blog" "chompchomp" "gluten free" "fructose friendly" "low fodmap diet" "fructose malabsorption" "gluten free cooking" "raw food cooking" "gluten free recipes" "fructose friendly recipes" "gluten free raw food" "fructose friendly raw food" "coeliacs" "coeliac disease" "cooking classes perth" "hawkers food cooking classes" "red hot spatula" "yvonne bleach" "gluten free cooking classes" "hawkers recipes" "singapore hawkers" "middle swan"

Gluten free adapted Fried Hokkien prawn noodles (Rochor mee)

I always thought noodles were just a quick, almost lazy dish made with a bunch of ingredients all thrown into a wok with a dash of soy and a splish of fish sauce. Maybe that’s why I was never really a big noodle eater. But these noodles were out of this world! I found out that the secret trick that makes these noodles so incredibly delicious was that they were cooked in a homemade prawn stock.

"hawkers food cooking class" "prawn stock" "fried prawn noodles" "fried hokkien prawn noodles" "rochor mee" "perth restaurant reviews" "perth restaurants" "perth gluten free" "perth fructose friendly" "perth food reviews" "restaurants perth" "food photos" "perth food blog" "food blog" "travel blog" "perth" "perth travel blog" "chompchomp" "gluten free" "fructose friendly" "low fodmap diet" "fructose malabsorption" "gluten free cooking" "raw food cooking" "gluten free recipes" "fructose friendly recipes" "gluten free raw food" "fructose friendly raw food" "coeliacs" "coeliac disease" "cooking classes perth" "hawkers food cooking classes" "red hot spatula" "yvonne bleach" "gluten free cooking classes" "hawkers recipes" "singapore hawkers" "middle swan"

Fried Hokkien prawn noodles (this is not the GF version)

Yvonne showed us how to prepare the stock before cooking up a big batch of noodles for the gluten eaters with both the rice noodles and the wheat noodles. She also tossed in bean sprouts, fish cake, fresh prawns, squid rings and pork belly. Despite serving up a huge plate, everyone managed to eat every last morsel.

"hawkers food cooking class" "palm sugar" "malaysian" "kiuh" "pandan" "glutinous rice flour" "asian desserts" "onde onde" "ondeh ondeh" "perth restaurant reviews" "perth restaurants" "perth gluten free" "perth fructose friendly" "perth food reviews" "restaurants perth" "food photos" "perth food blog" "food blog" "travel blog" "perth" "perth travel blog" "chompchomp" "gluten free" "fructose friendly" "low fodmap diet" "fructose malabsorption" "gluten free cooking" "raw food cooking" "gluten free recipes" "fructose friendly recipes" "gluten free raw food" "fructose friendly raw food" "coeliacs" "coeliac disease" "cooking classes perth" "hawkers food cooking classes" "red hot spatula" "yvonne bleach" "gluten free cooking classes" "hawkers recipes" "singapore hawkers" "middle swan"

Ondeh ondeh (GF)

Despite groans around the table of fullness followed by a lot of belly patting, it didn’t take long for us to find some room for our final course, little bite size sweets called Ondeh ondeh. These are made from pandan flavoured glutinous rice flour and filled with liquid palm sugar which bursts into your mouth when you bite into them. Despite having already eaten so much, there were hard to resist.

As the night drew to an end I was thankful I had only eaten a small lunch as we had certainly worked our way through a lot of food. I was amazed at how easy it was to prepare Hawkers food gluten free. Each class participate received a full list of recipes from all the dishes so Colleen and I promised to each other that our next catch up will have to be trialling these recipes out for ourselves!

 
Disclaimer: Chompchomp and her companion Colleen were invited guests of Red Hot Spatula.
Red Hot Spatula Cooking Classes
Unit 5/5 Toodyay Road, Middle Swan, WA 6056 | www.redhotspatula.com.au

Red Hot Spatula on Urbanspoon

Perth International Vegetarian and Vegan Food Fair 2014

Posted by  | Categories: Chinese, Events, Featured, Food and Wine Festivals, Malaysian, Perth, Thai, Vegetarian

This afternoon marked the inaugural AHA International Great Waiters Race held over in Claisebrook Cove, East Perth. As part of my official Eat Drink Perth reporting duties I planned to attend this event knowing there would be a number of gluten free options for me to enjoy in the Gourmet Food Village. I took it for granted that the Boy would feel the same way and was quite disappointed when my attempts to convince him to join me failed miserably. It was raining, he had study to do and apparently the idea simply did not appeal to him. As I resigned myself to attend alone, he suggested that we go somewhere local instead and check out the International Vegetarian and Vegan Food Fair at the South Perth Community Centre. I couldn’t find a lot about this food fair on the internet so being curious I obliged to his wish.

"Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth restaurants" "Perth gluten free" "Perth fructose friendly" "Perth food reviews" "restaurants perth" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "travel blog" "Perth" "Perth travel blog""Chompchomp" "gluten free" "fructose friendly" "low FODMAP diet" "fructose malabsorption" "gluten free cooking" "raw food cooking" "gluten free recipes" "fructose friendly recipes" "gluten free raw food" "fructose friendly raw food" "coeliacs" "Coeliac disease" "food event" "vegetarian food event" "vegan food event" "food fair" "vegetarian food fair" "vegan food fair" "international vegetarian & vegan food fair" "asian" "malaysian" "singapore" "chinese" "thai" "dao ji" "south perth" "south perth vegetarian" "south perth community centre" "sandgate street" "south terrace" "perth food event" "perth food festival" "perth vegetarian festival" "perth vegetarian fair"

"tofu rolls" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth restaurants" "Perth gluten free" "Perth fructose friendly" "Perth food reviews" "restaurants perth" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "travel blog" "Perth" "Perth travel blog""Chompchomp" "gluten free" "fructose friendly" "low FODMAP diet" "fructose malabsorption" "gluten free cooking" "raw food cooking" "gluten free recipes" "fructose friendly recipes" "gluten free raw food" "fructose friendly raw food" "coeliacs" "Coeliac disease" "food event" "vegetarian food event" "vegan food event" "food fair" "vegetarian food fair" "vegan food fair" "international vegetarian & vegan food fair" "asian" "malaysian" "singapore" "chinese" "thai" "dao ji" "south perth" "south perth vegetarian" "south perth community centre" "sandgate street" "south terrace" "perth food event" "perth food festival" "perth vegetarian festival" "perth vegetarian fair"

Tofu rolls (not GF)

Whilst I would never called myself a strict vegetarian, I do eat a predominantly vegetarian diet. I would only really eat meat once or twice a week and it tends to be more of a garnish to the meal than the central point of it. The Boy on the other hand will go out of his way to avoid eating meat and is much more compliant with his vegetarianism than I.

"Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth restaurants" "Perth gluten free" "Perth fructose friendly" "Perth food reviews" "restaurants perth" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "travel blog" "Perth" "Perth travel blog""Chompchomp" "gluten free" "fructose friendly" "low FODMAP diet" "fructose malabsorption" "gluten free cooking" "raw food cooking" "gluten free recipes" "fructose friendly recipes" "gluten free raw food" "fructose friendly raw food" "coeliacs" "Coeliac disease" "food event" "vegetarian food event" "vegan food event" "food fair" "vegetarian food fair" "vegan food fair" "international vegetarian & vegan food fair" "asian" "malaysian" "singapore" "chinese" "thai" "dao ji" "south perth" "south perth vegetarian" "south perth community centre" "sandgate street" "south terrace" "perth food event" "perth food festival" "perth vegetarian festival" "perth vegetarian fair"

Making papaya salad (GF)

The International Vegetarian and Vegan Food Fair is into its tenth year and they are moving to holding the annual event twice yearly as it has become very popular. The Fair is run by the Dao Ji Association of Perth in order to raise funds for their not for profit organisation. There is a very family friendly vibe with most stall holders very obliging to help work out what is gluten free. There were a wide variety of Malaysian, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian and Chinese dishes to try.

"Taro" "sweet potato rolls" "taro sweet potato rolls" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth restaurants" "Perth gluten free" "Perth fructose friendly" "Perth food reviews" "restaurants perth" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "travel blog" "Perth" "Perth travel blog""Chompchomp" "gluten free" "fructose friendly" "low FODMAP diet" "fructose malabsorption" "gluten free cooking" "raw food cooking" "gluten free recipes" "fructose friendly recipes" "gluten free raw food" "fructose friendly raw food" "coeliacs" "Coeliac disease" "food event" "vegetarian food event" "vegan food event" "food fair" "vegetarian food fair" "vegan food fair" "international vegetarian & vegan food fair" "asian" "malaysian" "singapore" "chinese" "thai" "dao ji" "south perth" "south perth vegetarian" "south perth community centre" "sandgate street" "south terrace" "perth food event" "perth food festival" "perth vegetarian festival" "perth vegetarian fair"

Taro sweet potato rolls (6 for $5, GF)

"Taro" "sweet potato rolls" "taro sweet potato rolls" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth restaurants" "Perth gluten free" "Perth fructose friendly" "Perth food reviews" "restaurants perth" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "travel blog" "Perth" "Perth travel blog""Chompchomp" "gluten free" "fructose friendly" "low FODMAP diet" "fructose malabsorption" "gluten free cooking" "raw food cooking" "gluten free recipes" "fructose friendly recipes" "gluten free raw food" "fructose friendly raw food" "coeliacs" "Coeliac disease" "food event" "vegetarian food event" "vegan food event" "food fair" "vegetarian food fair" "vegan food fair" "international vegetarian & vegan food fair" "asian" "malaysian" "singapore" "chinese" "thai" "dao ji" "south perth" "south perth vegetarian" "south perth community centre" "sandgate street" "south terrace" "perth food event" "perth food festival" "perth vegetarian festival" "perth vegetarian fair"

"taro cake" "pan fried taro cake"Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth restaurants" "Perth gluten free" "Perth fructose friendly" "Perth food reviews" "restaurants perth" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "travel blog" "Perth" "Perth travel blog""Chompchomp" "gluten free" "fructose friendly" "low FODMAP diet" "fructose malabsorption" "gluten free cooking" "raw food cooking" "gluten free recipes" "fructose friendly recipes" "gluten free raw food" "fructose friendly raw food" "coeliacs" "Coeliac disease" "food event" "vegetarian food event" "vegan food event" "food fair" "vegetarian food fair" "vegan food fair" "international vegetarian & vegan food fair" "asian" "malaysian" "singapore" "chinese" "thai" "dao ji" "south perth" "south perth vegetarian" "south perth community centre" "sandgate street" "south terrace" "perth food event" "perth food festival" "perth vegetarian festival" "perth vegetarian fair"

Pan fried taro cake (without sauce) ($1, GF)

All the stall holders had a full list of ingredients on display which made it easy to narrow down which dishes to ask further details with respect to their gluten free status. Most of the mock meats contained gluten however some stall holders used a tofu based product instead. One of my favourite starters were the highly addictive taro and sweet potato rolls. The rice noodle netting was so super crunchy that it was hard to eat without making a lot of noise. Inside the rolls soft, subtly sweet mashed taro and sweet potato felt lusciously smooth and silky in texture.

“Fish balls" "mock fish" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth restaurants" "Perth gluten free" "Perth fructose friendly" "Perth food reviews" "restaurants perth" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "travel blog" "Perth" "Perth travel blog""Chompchomp" "gluten free" "fructose friendly" "low FODMAP diet" "fructose malabsorption" "gluten free cooking" "raw food cooking" "gluten free recipes" "fructose friendly recipes" "gluten free raw food" "fructose friendly raw food" "coeliacs" "Coeliac disease" "food event" "vegetarian food event" "vegan food event" "food fair" "vegetarian food fair" "vegan food fair" "international vegetarian & vegan food fair" "asian" "malaysian" "singapore" "chinese" "thai" "dao ji" "south perth" "south perth vegetarian" "south perth community centre" "sandgate street" "south terrace" "perth food event" "perth food festival" "perth vegetarian festival" "perth vegetarian fair"

“Fish balls" "mock fish" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth restaurants" "Perth gluten free" "Perth fructose friendly" "Perth food reviews" "restaurants perth" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "travel blog" "Perth" "Perth travel blog""Chompchomp" "gluten free" "fructose friendly" "low FODMAP diet" "fructose malabsorption" "gluten free cooking" "raw food cooking" "gluten free recipes" "fructose friendly recipes" "gluten free raw food" "fructose friendly raw food" "coeliacs" "Coeliac disease" "food event" "vegetarian food event" "vegan food event" "food fair" "vegetarian food fair" "vegan food fair" "international vegetarian & vegan food fair" "asian" "malaysian" "singapore" "chinese" "thai" "dao ji" "south perth" "south perth vegetarian" "south perth community centre" "sandgate street" "south terrace" "perth food event" "perth food festival" "perth vegetarian festival" "perth vegetarian fair"

“Fish balls" "mock fish" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth restaurants" "Perth gluten free" "Perth fructose friendly" "Perth food reviews" "restaurants perth" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "travel blog" "Perth" "Perth travel blog""Chompchomp" "gluten free" "fructose friendly" "low FODMAP diet" "fructose malabsorption" "gluten free cooking" "raw food cooking" "gluten free recipes" "fructose friendly recipes" "gluten free raw food" "fructose friendly raw food" "coeliacs" "Coeliac disease" "food event" "vegetarian food event" "vegan food event" "food fair" "vegetarian food fair" "vegan food fair" "international vegetarian & vegan food fair" "asian" "malaysian" "singapore" "chinese" "thai" "dao ji" "south perth" "south perth vegetarian" "south perth community centre" "sandgate street" "south terrace" "perth food event" "perth food festival" "perth vegetarian festival" "perth vegetarian fair"

“Fish” balls made from mock fish (not GF)

The Boy had free rein to try whatever he liked as obviously all the dishes were vegetarian and in fact the vast majority of them were also vegan. He really enjoyed the mock fish balls which had a strong, salty flavour. He also tried the “pork” crackling which was made using wheat flour however he didn’t think these were nearly as tasty as his fish balls.

"Vegan pork crackling" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth restaurants" "Perth gluten free" "Perth fructose friendly" "Perth food reviews" "restaurants perth" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "travel blog" "Perth" "Perth travel blog""Chompchomp" "gluten free" "fructose friendly" "low FODMAP diet" "fructose malabsorption" "gluten free cooking" "raw food cooking" "gluten free recipes" "fructose friendly recipes" "gluten free raw food" "fructose friendly raw food" "coeliacs" "Coeliac disease" "food event" "vegetarian food event" "vegan food event" "food fair" "vegetarian food fair" "vegan food fair" "international vegetarian & vegan food fair" "asian" "malaysian" "singapore" "chinese" "thai" "dao ji" "south perth" "south perth vegetarian" "south perth community centre" "sandgate street" "south terrace" "perth food event" "perth food festival" "perth vegetarian festival" "perth vegetarian fair"

Vegan “pork” crackling

"coconut milk" "pandan leaves" "curry" "coconut milk" "galangal" "potato" "carrot" "tofu based mock chicken" "chilli" "lemongrass" "cucumber" "fried peanuts" "tofu skin" "nasi lemak" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth restaurants" "Perth gluten free" "Perth fructose friendly" "Perth food reviews" "restaurants perth" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "travel blog" "Perth" "Perth travel blog""Chompchomp" "gluten free" "fructose friendly" "low FODMAP diet" "fructose malabsorption" "gluten free cooking" "raw food cooking" "gluten free recipes" "fructose friendly recipes" "gluten free raw food" "fructose friendly raw food" "coeliacs" "Coeliac disease" "food event" "vegetarian food event" "vegan food event" "food fair" "vegetarian food fair" "vegan food fair" "international vegetarian & vegan food fair" "asian" "malaysian" "singapore" "chinese" "thai" "dao ji" "south perth" "south perth vegetarian" "south perth community centre" "sandgate street" "south terrace" "perth food event" "perth food festival" "perth vegetarian festival" "perth vegetarian fair"

Nasi lemak ($7, GF)

For my main dish I chose the nasi lemek, a beautifully fragrant rice dish made with coconut milk and pandan leaves. The rice accompanied a richly flavoured curry made from coconut milk, galangal, potato, carrot, tofu based mock chicken, chilli and lemongrass. Some fresh cucumber, fried peanuts and tofu skin were served on the side. It was a substantially filling dish and left me feeling pleasantly content.

"Green curry" "mock chicken" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth restaurants" "Perth gluten free" "Perth fructose friendly" "Perth food reviews" "restaurants perth" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "travel blog" "Perth" "Perth travel blog""Chompchomp" "gluten free" "fructose friendly" "low FODMAP diet" "fructose malabsorption" "gluten free cooking" "raw food cooking" "gluten free recipes" "fructose friendly recipes" "gluten free raw food" "fructose friendly raw food" "coeliacs" "Coeliac disease" "food event" "vegetarian food event" "vegan food event" "food fair" "vegetarian food fair" "vegan food fair" "international vegetarian & vegan food fair" "asian" "malaysian" "singapore" "chinese" "thai" "dao ji" "south perth" "south perth vegetarian" "south perth community centre" "sandgate street" "south terrace" "perth food event" "perth food festival" "perth vegetarian festival" "perth vegetarian fair"

Green curry with mock chicken (not GF)

The Boy ordered the Thai green curry which was made using mock chicken. His dish wasn’t gluten free so I sadly didn’t not get to try any of it however he did comment that my curry tasted much better than his. What a nice change that makes, the gluten free dish tastes better than the normal option!

"Khanon Baa Bin" "fried coconut cake" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth restaurants" "Perth gluten free" "Perth fructose friendly" "Perth food reviews" "restaurants perth" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "travel blog" "Perth" "Perth travel blog""Chompchomp" "gluten free" "fructose friendly" "low FODMAP diet" "fructose malabsorption" "gluten free cooking" "raw food cooking" "gluten free recipes" "fructose friendly recipes" "gluten free raw food" "fructose friendly raw food" "coeliacs" "Coeliac disease" "food event" "vegetarian food event" "vegan food event" "food fair" "vegetarian food fair" "vegan food fair" "international vegetarian & vegan food fair" "asian" "malaysian" "singapore" "chinese" "thai" "dao ji" "south perth" "south perth vegetarian" "south perth community centre" "sandgate street" "south terrace" "perth food event" "perth food festival" "perth vegetarian festival" "perth vegetarian fair"

Khanon Baa Bin (fried coconut cake, GF)

"khanom chan" "layer cake" "Thai layer cake" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth restaurants" "Perth gluten free" "Perth fructose friendly" "Perth food reviews" "restaurants perth" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "travel blog" "Perth" "Perth travel blog""Chompchomp" "gluten free" "fructose friendly" "low FODMAP diet" "fructose malabsorption" "gluten free cooking" "raw food cooking" "gluten free recipes" "fructose friendly recipes" "gluten free raw food" "fructose friendly raw food" "coeliacs" "Coeliac disease" "food event" "vegetarian food event" "vegan food event" "food fair" "vegetarian food fair" "vegan food fair" "international vegetarian & vegan food fair" "asian" "malaysian" "singapore" "chinese" "thai" "dao ji" "south perth" "south perth vegetarian" "south perth community centre" "sandgate street" "south terrace" "perth food event" "perth food festival" "perth vegetarian festival" "perth vegetarian fair"

Thai layer cake ($6, GF)

I couldn’t walk past the Thai sweets stall without buying some layer cake or as it is known in Thai, khanom chan. This dessert was the highlight of the night markets in Thailand as I always knew that they would be gluten free. They have a gelatinous sticky texture with a lovely coconut taste. I planned to take my serve home but ended up eating them all while the Boy wandered off looking for his dessert choice.

"Banana berry chocolate crepe" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth restaurants" "Perth gluten free" "Perth fructose friendly" "Perth food reviews" "restaurants perth" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "travel blog" "Perth" "Perth travel blog""Chompchomp" "gluten free" "fructose friendly" "low FODMAP diet" "fructose malabsorption" "gluten free cooking" "raw food cooking" "gluten free recipes" "fructose friendly recipes" "gluten free raw food" "fructose friendly raw food" "coeliacs" "Coeliac disease" "food event" "vegetarian food event" "vegan food event" "food fair" "vegetarian food fair" "vegan food fair" "international vegetarian & vegan food fair" "asian" "malaysian" "singapore" "chinese" "thai" "dao ji" "south perth" "south perth vegetarian" "south perth community centre" "sandgate street" "south terrace" "perth food event" "perth food festival" "perth vegetarian festival" "perth vegetarian fair"

Banana berry chocolate crepe (not GF)

"Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth restaurants" "Perth gluten free" "Perth fructose friendly" "Perth food reviews" "restaurants perth" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "travel blog" "Perth" "Perth travel blog""Chompchomp" "gluten free" "fructose friendly" "low FODMAP diet" "fructose malabsorption" "gluten free cooking" "raw food cooking" "gluten free recipes" "fructose friendly recipes" "gluten free raw food" "fructose friendly raw food" "coeliacs" "Coeliac disease" "food event" "vegetarian food event" "vegan food event" "food fair" "vegetarian food fair" "vegan food fair" "international vegetarian & vegan food fair" "asian" "malaysian" "singapore" "chinese" "thai" "dao ji" "south perth" "south perth vegetarian" "south perth community centre" "sandgate street" "south terrace" "perth food event" "perth food festival" "perth vegetarian festival" "perth vegetarian fair"

Ice kachang ($5, not GF)

He settled on the vegan equivalent of ice cream; ice kachang. For those of you who haven’t travelled in South-east Asia chances are you may not have tried this super sweet dessert. Firstly, a variety of beans, sweet corn, bread and jelly is served and then this is topped with super fine ice shavings. The ice is then drizzled with brightly coloured flavour syrups and condensed milk.

"Ice kachang" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth restaurants" "Perth gluten free" "Perth fructose friendly" "Perth food reviews" "restaurants perth" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "travel blog" "Perth" "Perth travel blog""Chompchomp" "gluten free" "fructose friendly" "low FODMAP diet" "fructose malabsorption" "gluten free cooking" "raw food cooking" "gluten free recipes" "fructose friendly recipes" "gluten free raw food" "fructose friendly raw food" "coeliacs" "Coeliac disease" "food event" "vegetarian food event" "vegan food event" "food fair" "vegetarian food fair" "vegan food fair" "international vegetarian & vegan food fair" "asian" "malaysian" "singapore" "chinese" "thai" "dao ji" "south perth" "south perth vegetarian" "south perth community centre" "sandgate street" "south terrace" "perth food event" "perth food festival" "perth vegetarian festival" "perth vegetarian fair"

Ice kachang ($5, not GF)

The ice particles are so small that they dissolve on contact with your tongue releasing all the flavours of the syrup. I wasn’t sure if this would be the Boy’s kind of thing but he happily polished off the lot which indicates to me it was a winner.

I cannot believe this fabulous day out has been happening in Perth for a decade and I had no idea of its existence. We had a great day out and I have no regrets missing out on my original plan of attending the Waiters Race. It is an event for all food lovers regardless of whether you are a strict vegan, vegetarian or you are just someone who realises that there are huge environmental, ethical and health benefits if you eat less meat in your diet.

"Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth restaurants" "Perth gluten free" "Perth fructose friendly" "Perth food reviews" "restaurants perth" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "travel blog" "Perth" "Perth travel blog""Chompchomp" "gluten free" "fructose friendly" "low FODMAP diet" "fructose malabsorption" "gluten free cooking" "raw food cooking" "gluten free recipes" "fructose friendly recipes" "gluten free raw food" "fructose friendly raw food" "coeliacs" "Coeliac disease" "food event" "vegetarian food event" "vegan food event" "food fair" "vegetarian food fair" "vegan food fair" "international vegetarian & vegan food fair" "asian" "malaysian" "singapore" "chinese" "thai" "dao ji" "south perth" "south perth vegetarian" "south perth community centre" "sandgate street" "south terrace" "perth food event" "perth food festival" "perth vegetarian festival" "perth vegetarian fair"

International Vegetarian and Vegan Food Fair 2014
South Perth Community Centre, Corner of Sandgate Street & South Terrace, South Perth
Next Food Fair is on the 16th November 2014

Gluten Free Cantonese at Cherry Garden, Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Singapore

Posted by  | Categories: Chinese, Degustation/Fine dining, Featured, Hotels, Restaurants, Singapore, Travel

Something many of you may not know about me is that I am a quarter Chinese. My grandfather Wun on Tong immigrated from the Canton province in China to New Zealand in the 1930’s to flee the changes in government. He met my Irish grandmother in Auckland; they married and had a family of three children with my mum being the youngest. As is sometimes the way, their marriage unfortunately wasn’t meant to be and she left the children to be raised by their loving but hard working father. Sadly I never got to meet my grandfather as he passed away before I was born but my mum has very fond memories of him and has shown me some gorgeous photos of him. He was quite a handsome man!

My Chinese ancestry is one I know little about and I wish I had more knowledge of this side of my family. I love traditional Chinese food culture and I am not averse to trying unusual dishes however I am often heavily restricted with what I can actually eat because of gluten. Soy sauce is used ubiquitously in Asian cuisine however I am yet to see a bottle of gluten free soy sauce on supermarket shelves in any of the Asian countries I have visited.

Recently on our return from our Thailand wedding we stayed at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Singapore. One evening we dined at their Cantonese restaurant Cherry Garden and I was blown away how capable they were at accommodating my gluten free requirements.

"crispy fish" "Marina Bay" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Singapore Food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "travel blog" "Singapore" "Singapore travel blog" "Singapore restaurants" "Singapore food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "Singapore attractions" "fine dining" "fine dining Singapore" "Singapore hotels" "Singapore luxury hotels" "Singapore Mandarin Oriental" "mandarin Oriental" "five star hotels singapore" "Marina bay hotels" "Singapore hotel reviews" "Singapore luxury hotel reviews" "Singapore Mandarin Oriental reviews" "mandarin Oriental reviews" "five star hotels singapore reviews" "gluten free hotel singapore" "Cherry Garden" "Chinese Mandarin Oriental" "Cantonese fine dining singapore" "gluten free chinese singapore" "gluten free cantonese"

Complementary crispy fish

I don’t usually like eating at the hotel we stay in excluding breakfast but with our post-wedding exhaustion kicking in we were both happy to be able to dine out without having to go very far. On arrival at Cherry Garden we were warmly greeted and taken to our table. We were offered some crispy fish as a complementary starter. They were like prawn crackers; crunchy, quite salty and very tasty. Fish pretzels!

"Chilled jelly fish" "marinated jelly fish" "jelly fish" "Marina Bay" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Singapore Food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "travel blog" "Singapore" "Singapore travel blog" "Singapore restaurants" "Singapore food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "Singapore attractions" "fine dining" "fine dining Singapore" "Singapore hotels" "Singapore luxury hotels" "Singapore Mandarin Oriental" "mandarin Oriental" "five star hotels singapore" "Marina bay hotels" "Singapore hotel reviews" "Singapore luxury hotel reviews" "Singapore Mandarin Oriental reviews" "mandarin Oriental reviews" "five star hotels singapore reviews" "gluten free hotel singapore" "Cherry Garden" "Chinese Mandarin Oriental" "Cantonese fine dining singapore" "gluten free chinese singapore" "gluten free cantonese"

Chilled marinated jelly fish

One of my favourite Cantonese starters is chilled jelly fish. This is considered a delicacy and is usually prepared with oil, vinegar, chilli, sesame seeds and soy sauce. The chef was happy to make this dish gluten free for me. The jelly fish had the perfect texture and was resilient without any excessive chewiness. It wasn’t too spicy either meaning both the Boy and I could enjoy it together. We have mismatched chilli tolerances; he can barely tolerate any whilst I enjoy a bit of kick. Our polarised taste buds can run us into trouble sometimes when we share spicy meals.

"shiitake" "mushrooms" "garlic vinegar" "Monkey head mushrooms" "sweet and sour" "Fried enoki mushrooms" "deep fried enoki" "trilogy of handpicked mushrooms" "Marina Bay" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Singapore Food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "travel blog" "Singapore" "Singapore travel blog" "Singapore restaurants" "Singapore food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "Singapore attractions" "fine dining" "fine dining Singapore" "Singapore hotels" "Singapore luxury hotels" "Singapore Mandarin Oriental" "mandarin Oriental" "five star hotels singapore" "Marina bay hotels" "Singapore hotel reviews" "Singapore luxury hotel reviews" "Singapore Mandarin Oriental reviews" "mandarin Oriental reviews" "five star hotels singapore reviews" "gluten free hotel singapore" "Cherry Garden" "Chinese Mandarin Oriental" "Cantonese fine dining singapore" "gluten free chinese singapore" "gluten free cantonese"

Trilogy of handpicked mushrooms

Our next dish was a “trilogy of hand-picked mushrooms “. There were shiitake mushrooms in a spicy garlic vinegar emulsion and some Monkey head mushrooms in a tangy sweet and sour sauce.

"shiitake" "mushrooms" "garlic vinegar" "Monkey head mushrooms" "sweet and sour" "Fried enoki mushrooms" "deep fried enoki" "trilogy of handpicked mushrooms" "Marina Bay" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Singapore Food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "travel blog" "Singapore" "Singapore travel blog" "Singapore restaurants" "Singapore food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "Singapore attractions" "fine dining" "fine dining Singapore" "Singapore hotels" "Singapore luxury hotels" "Singapore Mandarin Oriental" "mandarin Oriental" "five star hotels singapore" "Marina bay hotels" "Singapore hotel reviews" "Singapore luxury hotel reviews" "Singapore Mandarin Oriental reviews" "mandarin Oriental reviews" "five star hotels singapore reviews" "gluten free hotel singapore" "Cherry Garden" "Chinese Mandarin Oriental" "Cantonese fine dining singapore" "gluten free chinese singapore" "gluten free cantonese"

Fried enoki mushrooms

The third and best part of this dish was the deep fried enoki mushrooms. Frying these tiny little things turned them into semi-translucent crisps that almost reminded me of whitebait. Being such a mushroom addict I was in seventh heaven, the combination of these three morsels made it a truly delectable dish. As we gobbled up the portions we were glad we didn’t choose the set menu as we would have never got this dish.

"Bird’s nest soup" "crab meat " "egg white" "Marina Bay" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Singapore Food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "travel blog" "Singapore" "Singapore travel blog" "Singapore restaurants" "Singapore food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "Singapore attractions" "fine dining" "fine dining Singapore" "Singapore hotels" "Singapore luxury hotels" "Singapore Mandarin Oriental" "mandarin Oriental" "five star hotels singapore" "Marina bay hotels" "Singapore hotel reviews" "Singapore luxury hotel reviews" "Singapore Mandarin Oriental reviews" "mandarin Oriental reviews" "five star hotels singapore reviews" "gluten free hotel singapore" "Cherry Garden" "Chinese Mandarin Oriental" "Cantonese fine dining singapore" "gluten free chinese singapore" "gluten free cantonese"

Bird’s nest soup with crab meat and egg white

After walking past a number of bird’s nest stores earlier in the day, we were intrigued enough to try this delicacy for ourselves. Edible bird’s nests are among one of the most expensive animal products in the world with an average nest selling for about $US 2500 per kilo. When added to a soup, the bird’s nest forms a gelatinous substance. I was surprised at how mild its flavour was and it had quite a firm texture. The addition of crab and egg white gave the soup a lovely sweet after taste however I went bit nuts with adding the chilli oil to my soup, added too much and ended up nearly coughing up a lung.

"Chilli crab" "crab soup" "Gluten free bread" "Marina Bay" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Singapore Food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "travel blog" "Singapore" "Singapore travel blog" "Singapore restaurants" "Singapore food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "Singapore attractions" "fine dining" "fine dining Singapore" "Singapore hotels" "Singapore luxury hotels" "Singapore Mandarin Oriental" "mandarin Oriental" "five star hotels singapore" "Marina bay hotels" "Singapore hotel reviews" "Singapore luxury hotel reviews" "Singapore Mandarin Oriental reviews" "mandarin Oriental reviews" "five star hotels singapore reviews" "gluten free hotel singapore" "Cherry Garden" "Chinese Mandarin Oriental" "Cantonese fine dining singapore" "gluten free chinese singapore" "gluten free cantonese"

Chilli crab with GF bread

Our next dish wasn’t quite what I was expecting. I ordered chilli crab anticipating it to be whole pieces of crab however out came a creamy crab soup. The Boy’s soup was served in a Mantou which is a type of Chinese bun and for mine they replaced this with some gluten free bread on the side. Considering how many fine dining Western restaurants don’t bother sourcing gluten free bread I was very impressed to be served some here. The soup was so velvety smooth and despite not being what I wanted I was not left disappointed.

"Braised homemade tofu" "monkey head mushrooms" "green vegetables" "Marina Bay" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Singapore Food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "travel blog" "Singapore" "Singapore travel blog" "Singapore restaurants" "Singapore food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "Singapore attractions" "fine dining" "fine dining Singapore" "Singapore hotels" "Singapore luxury hotels" "Singapore Mandarin Oriental" "mandarin Oriental" "five star hotels singapore" "Marina bay hotels" "Singapore hotel reviews" "Singapore luxury hotel reviews" "Singapore Mandarin Oriental reviews" "mandarin Oriental reviews" "five star hotels singapore reviews" "gluten free hotel singapore" "Cherry Garden" "Chinese Mandarin Oriental" "Cantonese fine dining singapore" "gluten free chinese singapore" "gluten free cantonese"

Braised homemade tofu

Our final main dish was braised homemade tofu with monkey head mushrooms and green vegetables. The tofu was set with seaweed on top and was incredibly silky. It makes such a difference in texture when the tofu is made in house.

"Braised homemade tofu" "monkey head mushrooms" "green vegetables" "Marina Bay" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Singapore Food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "travel blog" "Singapore" "Singapore travel blog" "Singapore restaurants" "Singapore food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "Singapore attractions" "fine dining" "fine dining Singapore" "Singapore hotels" "Singapore luxury hotels" "Singapore Mandarin Oriental" "mandarin Oriental" "five star hotels singapore" "Marina bay hotels" "Singapore hotel reviews" "Singapore luxury hotel reviews" "Singapore Mandarin Oriental reviews" "mandarin Oriental reviews" "five star hotels singapore reviews" "gluten free hotel singapore" "Cherry Garden" "Chinese Mandarin Oriental" "Cantonese fine dining singapore" "gluten free chinese singapore" "gluten free cantonese"

Braised homemade tofu

At this point our attention was drawn away from our own table and over to the couple next to us. The waiter had just brought out a spectacular looking dessert complete with dry ice. The smoke was tumbling down off the edge of their table and was mesmerising.  I hoped that we could order one too. I was in luck once more. The waiter said that it would be possible to do a similar dessert gluten free. This would have to be the first time I have eaten a gluten free meal in a Chinese restaurant and not felt like I miss out whatsoever.

"cherries" "wine jelly" "Chinese rice wine" "Nui er hong" "Kuei hua chen" "lychee sorbet" "Marina Bay" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Singapore Food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "travel blog" "Singapore" "Singapore travel blog" "Singapore restaurants" "Singapore food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "Singapore attractions" "fine dining" "fine dining Singapore" "Singapore hotels" "Singapore luxury hotels" "Singapore Mandarin Oriental" "mandarin Oriental" "five star hotels singapore" "Marina bay hotels" "Singapore hotel reviews" "Singapore luxury hotel reviews" "Singapore Mandarin Oriental reviews" "mandarin Oriental reviews" "five star hotels singapore reviews" "gluten free hotel singapore" "Cherry Garden" "Chinese Mandarin Oriental" "Cantonese fine dining singapore" "gluten free chinese singapore" "gluten free cantonese"

Our dessert!

 Our dessert consisted of cherries marinated in two Chinese rice wines: Nui er hong and Kuei hua chen. It was served with refreshing lychee sorbet. After so many courses it was good to end on something light but sweet.

"Marina Bay" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Singapore Food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "travel blog" "Singapore" "Singapore travel blog" "Singapore restaurants" "Singapore food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "Singapore attractions" "fine dining" "fine dining Singapore" "Singapore hotels" "Singapore luxury hotels" "Singapore Mandarin Oriental" "mandarin Oriental" "five star hotels singapore" "Marina bay hotels" "Singapore hotel reviews" "Singapore luxury hotel reviews" "Singapore Mandarin Oriental reviews" "mandarin Oriental reviews" "five star hotels singapore reviews" "gluten free hotel singapore" "Cherry Garden" "Chinese Mandarin Oriental" "Cantonese fine dining singapore" "gluten free chinese singapore" "gluten free cantonese"

The Boy couldn’t help but have a play

Our experience at Cherry Garden was a polished one from beginning to end. It was a little on the pricey end but we did eat a number of delicacies and receive impeccable service. Their ability to adapt their traditional dishes to be gluten free was done with a can-do attitude and at the end of the night our waiter came over and gave me a fresh long stemmed rose to keep. A sweet gesture that brightened up our hotel room for the duration of our stay.

"Marina Bay" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Singapore Food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "travel blog" "Singapore" "Singapore travel blog" "Singapore restaurants" "Singapore food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "Singapore attractions" "fine dining" "fine dining Singapore" "Singapore hotels" "Singapore luxury hotels" "Singapore Mandarin Oriental" "mandarin Oriental" "five star hotels singapore" "Marina bay hotels" "Singapore hotel reviews" "Singapore luxury hotel reviews" "Singapore Mandarin Oriental reviews" "mandarin Oriental reviews" "five star hotels singapore reviews" "gluten free hotel singapore" "Cherry Garden" "Chinese Mandarin Oriental" "Cantonese fine dining singapore" "gluten free chinese singapore" "gluten free cantonese"

Cherry Garden
Mandarin Oriental Hotel, 6 Raffles Boulevard, Marina Square, Singapore 039797 | +65 6885 3538 | www.mandarinoriental.com
 
Price:                     $$$        
Food:                    4.5/5 (totally adapted for GF, wonderful flavours)
Service:                5/5 (very polished without stuffiness)
Ambience:          3/5 (a little dark and not a lot of other diners)
Drinks:                  3.5/5 (inflated mark ups on wine prices as often in hotels)
Total:                     16/20

A blogger's banquet at Shun Fung on the River, Perth

Posted by  | Categories: Chinese, Degustation/Fine dining, Featured, Perth, Restaurants, Seafood

There are a lot of things I love about being a food blogger. Despite what some of you may think there is much more to blogging than just eating, drinking, photographing and writing about food. There exists a strong sense of community amongst us, not just locally but across the nation and in some cases around the world. Friendships are easily formed and due to our heavy involvement in social media these are friendships that are relatively easy to maintain! I wish I had enough time in my day to be able to read more food blogs however in a time poor world I find myself having to narrow it down to reading those blogs that I have the strongest connection with.

In the months before I started blogging back in late 2011 I started following a handful of blogs that I found interesting. One of these blogs was Weny’s blog Weny Wonders Why and his blog remains one of those I still manage to keep up with today. We share very similar taste in restaurants and have been known to unintentionally visit the same restaurant in the space of one week and only find out as we simultaneously post our own reviews. Despite communicating regularly to each other via our blogs, we only very recently met face to face for the first time at the Accento Italian Cooking Class Media Launch in May this year.

A few weeks later, Weny kindly invited me along with a couple of other Perth food bloggers to join him for a Chinese Banquet at Shun Fung down on Barrack Street jetty. I have very fond memories of Shun Fung. Nearly 15 years ago when the Boy and I first started dating the bulk of our weekends were spent partying and clubbing. Back then none of our friends at the time were foodies and would have never considered spending their money on expensive restaurants. The Boy and I felt differently and his love for fine dining was an immediate point of connection for the two of us; a match made in gastronomic heaven! In those days Shun Fung was well known for serving top-notch Chinese cuisine and we went there for our very first fancy dining experience. Together we tried sea cucumber, jelly fish and all sorts of other interesting Chinese delicacies. Unfortunately since those heady heydays, while Perth’s food scene grows from strength to strength Shun Fung has suffered a steady decline in both its reputation and patronage.

Shun Fung’s owner Eva has decided that it’s time to bite the bullet and is investing her time and money to get Shun Fung back to its former glory.  She has hired new chefs who have been busy redesigning the menu and will be serving dishes from all the provinces of China rather than just one region. It was intriguing to learn that Shun Fung is actually part of a chain of around 30 restaurants located in China. Some of these are massive establishments having up to 200 chefs working at one time. Perth’s Shun Fung is their only venue here in Australia. Our dining experience that follows is an example of what you can order as part of a $100 per person banquet meal.

I am used to the fact that Chinese food is rarely gluten free as the wide spread prevalence of soy and wheat flour makes choosing suitable dishes hard so I find I tend to avoid dining out at Chinese Restaurants.  After taking my seat at the banquet table I unrolled the menu and was very impressed to see that the kitchen was going to significant effort to design a separate gluten free banquet especially for me.  I wasn’t expecting such care and attention and was very grateful.

"Green Chilli" "special sauce" "Ruccola Salad" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Perth bars" "Perth restaurants" "Perth food reviews" "Perth Chinese" "Chinese food" "Chinese cuisine" "Chinese restaurants" "perth Chinese restaurants" "Shun Fung" "Shun Fung on the River" "Barrack Street jetty" "Perth City" "gluten free Chinese" "dim sum" "chinese banquet"

Green Chilli in special sauce & Ruccola Salad

"cabbage" "Spicy Kimchi" "Kimchi" "Spicy Kimchi Chinese Style" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Perth bars" "Perth restaurants" "Perth food reviews" "Perth Chinese" "Chinese food" "Chinese cuisine" "Chinese restaurants" "perth Chinese restaurants" "Shun Fung" "Shun Fung on the River" "Barrack Street jetty" "Perth City" "gluten free Chinese" "dim sum" "chinese banquet"

Spicy Kimchi in Chinese Style

"Marinated Duck Wings" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Perth bars" "Perth restaurants" "Perth food reviews" "Perth Chinese" "Chinese food" "Chinese cuisine" "Chinese restaurants" "perth Chinese restaurants" "Shun Fung" "Shun Fung on the River" "Barrack Street jetty" "Perth City" "gluten free Chinese" "dim sum" "chinese banquet"

Marinated Duck Wings

For the rest of the table who could eat gluten there were four appetisers; green chilli in special sauce, ruccola salad, spicy kimchi in Chinese Style and marinated duck wings. Whilst I was not able to try these dishes I was told the ruccola salad was light and refreshing on the palate and the marinated duck wings were very tender and slightly sweet.

"Squid" "tomato salad" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Perth bars" "Perth restaurants" "Perth food reviews" "Perth Chinese" "Chinese food" "Chinese cuisine" "Chinese restaurants" "perth Chinese restaurants" "Shun Fung" "Shun Fung on the River" "Barrack Street jetty" "Perth City" "gluten free Chinese" "dim sum" "chinese banquet"

Squid and tomato salad (GF)

My gluten free appetiser was some freshly grilled soft squid with a bean shoot salad and some slices of tomato. Our host recommended that I place a piece of tomato and squid in my mouth as the same time to maximise the flavours. Although it sounded like a curious thing to do it turned out to be good advice. Sometime the simplest combinations of flavours can be surprisingly exciting.

"whitebait" "three season platter" "Chilli salt Mini Dried Fish" "Golden Radish Balls" "oysters" "Backed Oysters" "Foie Gras Sauce" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Perth bars" "Perth restaurants" "Perth food reviews" "Perth Chinese" "Chinese food" "Chinese cuisine" "Chinese restaurants" "perth Chinese restaurants" "Shun Fung" "Shun Fung on the River" "Barrack Street jetty" "Perth City" "gluten free Chinese" "dim sum" "chinese banquet"

Three season platter: Backed Oysters with Foie Gras Sauce, Chilli and salt Mini Dried Fish, Golden Radish Balls

The three season entrée platter was quite a magnificent sight.  In Chinese cuisine there are considered to be three important characteristics; aroma, taste and colour. This platter was vibrantly decorated with brightly coloured vegetables and flowers achieving a successful round of “oohs” and “ahhs” across the banquet room. Carefully placed on the platter were golden radish balls, chilli and salt mini dried fish and backed oysters with foie gras sauce.

"oysters" "Backed Oysters" "Foie Gras Sauce" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Perth bars" "Perth restaurants" "Perth food reviews" "Perth Chinese" "Chinese food" "Chinese cuisine" "Chinese restaurants" "perth Chinese restaurants" "Shun Fung" "Shun Fung on the River" "Barrack Street jetty" "Perth City" "gluten free Chinese" "dim sum" "chinese banquet"

Backed Oysters with Foie Gras Sauce

Golden radish balls are a bit of a misnomer as I believe these tend to contain mainly seafood which is finely chopped and then deep fried.  I believe these balls were actually the highlight of the platter for many.  The chilli and salt mini dried fish looked like whitebait fries and listening to the audible crunch coming from either side of me they were obviously perfectly crispy! Although the Boy isn’t that big on oysters he did comment to me that they were delicious and creamy.

"Sang Chow Bow" "Seafood Sang Chow Bow" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Perth bars" "Perth restaurants" "Perth food reviews" "Perth Chinese" "Chinese food" "Chinese cuisine" "Chinese restaurants" "perth Chinese restaurants" "Shun Fung" "Shun Fung on the River" "Barrack Street jetty" "Perth City" "gluten free Chinese" "dim sum" "chinese banquet"

Seafood Sang Choy Bow (GF)

As everyone started to tuck into their entrees my gluten free alternatives arrived. I was delighted to receive some super fresh oysters with some fresh lime and a gorgeous little lettuce cup of sang choy bow. My sang choy bow had a great nutty texture and was packed full of seafood.

"Sliced Abalone" "Superior Soup" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Perth bars" "Perth restaurants" "Perth food reviews" "Perth Chinese" "Chinese food" "Chinese cuisine" "Chinese restaurants" "perth Chinese restaurants" "Shun Fung" "Shun Fung on the River" "Barrack Street jetty" "Perth City" "gluten free Chinese" "dim sum" "chinese banquet"

Sliced Abalone in Superior Soup

Our next course was the abalone soup. I am fascinated by how much flavour can be found in clear Chinese broths.  Superior soup always looks so deceptively watery but manages to impart such complexity of flavours. This is brought about by careful selection of ingredients including chicken, Jinhua ham (Chinese dry cured ham that is similar to Spanish Iberico), pork, pork bones, dried anchovy and/or dried scallops. This superior soup was smooth and delicate with rich unami flavours.

"Coral Trout" "Fish" "Steamed trout" "Ginger" "Shallots" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Perth bars" "Perth restaurants" "Perth food reviews" "Perth Chinese" "Chinese food" "Chinese cuisine" "Chinese restaurants" "perth Chinese restaurants" "Shun Fung" "Shun Fung on the River" "Barrack Street jetty" "Perth City" "gluten free Chinese" "dim sum" "chinese banquet"

Coral Trout Fish: Steam with Ginger & Shallots (GF)

"Coral Trout" "Fish" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Perth bars" "Perth restaurants" "Perth food reviews" "Perth Chinese" "Chinese food" "Chinese cuisine" "Chinese restaurants" "perth Chinese restaurants" "Shun Fung" "Shun Fung on the River" "Barrack Street jetty" "Perth City" "gluten free Chinese" "dim sum" "chinese banquet"

Coral Trout Fish pan fried style

With all this food it was hard to believe we hadn’t even started our mains yet. Thank goodness I planned ahead and wore my stretchy dress! Our first main dish was the Coral Trout which was prepared in two styles.  The first preparation was gluten free.  Soft flakes of steamed trout with medallions of slippery shiitake mushrooms and a scattering of dried Goji berries. The Goji berries introduced a tart flavour to the otherwise delicate and sweet tropical fish.  A gorgeous dish. For the second preparation the trout was lightly battered and pan fried.  Not being gluten free I didn’t try this style.

"Wagyu" "beef" "Pan fried Wagyu Beef" "sizzling stone" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Perth bars" "Perth restaurants" "Perth food reviews" "Perth Chinese" "Chinese food" "Chinese cuisine" "Chinese restaurants" "perth Chinese restaurants" "Shun Fung" "Shun Fung on the River" "Barrack Street jetty" "Perth City" "gluten free Chinese" "dim sum" "chinese banquet"

Diced Wagyu Beef on the Sizzling Stone

"Wagyu" "beef" "Pan fried Wagyu Beef" "Lime" "Rock Salt" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Perth bars" "Perth restaurants" "Perth food reviews" "Perth Chinese" "Chinese food" "Chinese cuisine" "Chinese restaurants" "perth Chinese restaurants" "Shun Fung" "Shun Fung on the River" "Barrack Street jetty" "Perth City" "gluten free Chinese" "dim sum" "chinese banquet"

Pan fried Wagyu Beef with Lime and Rock Salt (GF)

As we finished off our fish our host entered the banquet room carrying sizzling stones topped with juicy cubes of Wagyu beef. I had to presume the meat was marinated in soy because I was advised not to eat it and given my own individual serve.  My portion of Wagyu was equivalent to several portions for the others and I could feel a number of pairs of eyes staring at my plate longingly.  Only the Boy was game enough to try and steal a piece.

"Honey and Mustard King Prawns" "Honey prawns" "Mustard prawns" "King Prawns" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Perth bars" "Perth restaurants" "Perth food reviews" "Perth Chinese" "Chinese food" "Chinese cuisine" "Chinese restaurants" "perth Chinese restaurants" "Shun Fung" "Shun Fung on the River" "Barrack Street jetty" "Perth City" "gluten free Chinese" "dim sum" "chinese banquet"

Honey and Mustard King Prawns

"Szechuan Spicy Chicken" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Perth bars" "Perth restaurants" "Perth food reviews" "Perth Chinese" "Chinese food" "Chinese cuisine" "Chinese restaurants" "perth Chinese restaurants" "Shun Fung" "Shun Fung on the River" "Barrack Street jetty" "Perth City" "gluten free Chinese" "dim sum" "chinese banquet""Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Perth bars" "Perth restaurants" "Perth food reviews" "Perth Chinese" "Chinese food" "Chinese cuisine" "Chinese restaurants" "perth Chinese restaurants" "Shun Fung" "Shun Fung on the River" "Barrack Street jetty" "Perth City" "gluten free Chinese" "dim sum" "chinese banquet""Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Perth bars" "Perth restaurants" "Perth food reviews" "Perth Chinese" "Chinese food" "Chinese cuisine" "Chinese restaurants" "perth Chinese restaurants" "Shun Fung" "Shun Fung on the River" "Barrack Street jetty" "Perth City" "gluten free Chinese" "dim sum" "chinese banquet""Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Perth bars" "Perth restaurants" "Perth food reviews" "Perth Chinese" "Chinese food" "Chinese cuisine" "Chinese restaurants" "perth Chinese restaurants" "Shun Fung" "Shun Fung on the River" "Barrack Street jetty" "Perth City" "gluten free Chinese" "dim sum" "chinese banquet""Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Perth bars" "Perth restaurants" "Perth food reviews" "Perth Chinese" "Chinese food" "Chinese cuisine" "Chinese restaurants" "perth Chinese restaurants" "Shun Fung" "Shun Fung on the River" "Barrack Street jetty" "Perth City" "gluten free Chinese" "dim sum" "chinese banquet""Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Perth bars" "Perth restaurants" "Perth food reviews" "Perth Chinese" "Chinese food" "Chinese cuisine" "Chinese restaurants" "perth Chinese restaurants" "Shun Fung" "Shun Fung on the River" "Barrack Street jetty" "Perth City" "gluten free Chinese" "dim sum" "chinese banquet""Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Perth bars" "Perth restaurants" "Perth food reviews" "Perth Chinese" "Chinese food" "Chinese cuisine" "Chinese restaurants" "perth Chinese restaurants" "Shun Fung" "Shun Fung on the River" "Barrack Street jetty" "Perth City" "gluten free Chinese" "dim sum" "chinese banquet""Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Perth bars" "Perth restaurants" "Perth food reviews" "Perth Chinese" "Chinese food" "Chinese cuisine" "Chinese restaurants" "perth Chinese restaurants" "Shun Fung" "Shun Fung on the River" "Barrack Street jetty" "Perth City" "gluten free Chinese" "dim sum" "chinese banquet""Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Perth bars" "Perth restaurants" "Perth food reviews" "Perth Chinese" "Chinese food" "Chinese cuisine" "Chinese restaurants" "perth Chinese restaurants" "Shun Fung" "Shun Fung on the River" "Barrack Street jetty" "Perth City" "gluten free Chinese" "dim sum" "chinese banquet""Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Perth bars" "Perth restaurants" "Perth food reviews" "Perth Chinese" "Chinese food" "Chinese cuisine" "Chinese restaurants" "perth Chinese restaurants" "Shun Fung" "Shun Fung on the River" "Barrack Street jetty" "Perth City" "gluten free Chinese" "dim sum" "chinese banquet"

Szechuan Spicy Chicken

"BRAISED MUSHROOMS" "Braised King Oyster Mushrooms" "Shallots" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Perth bars" "Perth restaurants" "Perth food reviews" "Perth Chinese" "Chinese food" "Chinese cuisine" "Chinese restaurants" "perth Chinese restaurants" "Shun Fung" "Shun Fung on the River" "Barrack Street jetty" "Perth City" "gluten free Chinese" "dim sum" "chinese banquet"

Braised King Oyster Mushrooms with Shallots

The next dishes of honey and mustard king prawns, Szechuan spicy chicken and braised king oyster mushrooms with shallots all contained gluten and so it became my turn to gaze longing at everyone else’s plates until my next alternative dish arrived.

"Backed King Prawns" "Special Sauce" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Perth bars" "Perth restaurants" "Perth food reviews" "Perth Chinese" "Chinese food" "Chinese cuisine" "Chinese restaurants" "perth Chinese restaurants" "Shun Fung" "Shun Fung on the River" "Barrack Street jetty" "Perth City" "gluten free Chinese" "dim sum" "chinese banquet"

Backed King Prawns in Special Sauce (GF)

I didn’t have to wait long and was soon presented with a large King prawn served “backed” like how they do it in Thailand. It was flavoured with “special sauce” which has is a slightly sweet, slightly salty sauce is made from garlic, ginger, Chinese rice wine, oyster sauce, sesame oil, honey and white pepper. The prawn flesh pulled effortless out of its shelled and before finding its way very quickly to my mouth!

"Mixed Mushrooms" "Superior Soup" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Perth bars" "Perth restaurants" "Perth food reviews" "Perth Chinese" "Chinese food" "Chinese cuisine" "Chinese restaurants" "perth Chinese restaurants" "Shun Fung" "Shun Fung on the River" "Barrack Street jetty" "Perth City" "gluten free Chinese" "dim sum" "chinese banquet"

Mixed Mushrooms in Superior Soup (GF)

"Sizzling Runner Beans" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Perth bars" "Perth restaurants" "Perth food reviews" "Perth Chinese" "Chinese food" "Chinese cuisine" "Chinese restaurants" "perth Chinese restaurants" "Shun Fung" "Shun Fung on the River" "Barrack Street jetty" "Perth City" "gluten free Chinese" "dim sum" "chinese banquet"

Sizzling Runner Beans (GF)

My next special gluten free dishes included mixed mushrooms in superior sauce and some sizzling runner beans.  The beans were very moreish and briny which contrasted nicely with the more delicate flavours of the soup. While the rest of the table tucked into the Dim Sum platter, to finish off my meal the hostess brought me a bowl of seafood fried rice with egg yolk sauce. It was a lovely gesture but in all honesty I didn’t really need any more food!

"desserts" "asian desserts" "Dim Sum Platter" "Pumpkin balls" "durian pastries" "coconut" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Perth bars" "Perth restaurants" "Perth food reviews" "Perth Chinese" "Chinese food" "Chinese cuisine" "Chinese restaurants" "perth Chinese restaurants" "Shun Fung" "Shun Fung on the River" "Barrack Street jetty" "Perth City" "gluten free Chinese" "dim sum" "chinese banquet"

Dim Sum Platter: Pumpkin balls, durian pastries, coconut

For desserts, there were three options to choose from; mixed sweet beans with ice cream, deep fried ice cream or the red bean pancake with ice cream. I got a pang of nostalgia when I saw red bean pancake on the menu. Many years ago when we used to frequent Shun Fung, the red bean pancake was one of my absolute favourites. Those days of carefree gluten eating are well and truly over for me! Sigh!

"desserts" "asian desserts" "Deep Fried Ice cream" "ice cream" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Perth bars" "Perth restaurants" "Perth food reviews" "Perth Chinese" "Chinese food" "Chinese cuisine" "Chinese restaurants" "perth Chinese restaurants" "Shun Fung" "Shun Fung on the River" "Barrack Street jetty" "Perth City" "gluten free Chinese" "dim sum" "chinese banquet"

Deep Fried Ice cream

"desserts" "asian desserts" "Sweet Yam Cake" "rice flour cakes" "taro" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Perth bars" "Perth restaurants" "Perth food reviews" "Perth Chinese" "Chinese food" "Chinese cuisine" "Chinese restaurants" "perth Chinese restaurants" "Shun Fung" "Shun Fung on the River" "Barrack Street jetty" "Perth City" "gluten free Chinese" "dim sum" "chinese banquet"

Sweet Yam Cake (GF)

For my gluten free dessert I received some freshly baked sweet yam cakes.  Eva informed the kitchen only just baked them that day. These yummy little dumpling-like cakes are made from rice flour and taro. I love the gluggy texture of Asian style cakes and I soon got over missing out on the red bean pancake as I chowed down a couple of these beauties.

I am so hopeful that Shun Fung’s return it’s slumber will be successful. Our banquet evening reminded me how much we adored this place and knowing they are able to cater for gluten free diners is a huge plus in my books. The banquet provided a huge amount of food for $100 a head and we all rolled out of there bursting at the seams. Thank you once again Weny, Eva and all the staff for providing us with such an enjoyable evening.

Shun Fung on the River
Old Perth Port, Barrack Square, Perth WA 6000 | 08 9221 1868 | http://www.shunfung.com.au/

Chompchomp dined as a guest of Shun Fung. As a result I will not give a score on this dining experience as it is too hard to be 100% subjective when the meal is complementary.

 Shun Fung on the River on Urbanspoon

Hainanese Chicken Rice at Pow Sing, Singapore

Posted by  | Categories: Chinese, Featured, Malaysian, Restaurants, Singapore, Travel

It was the day after attending our dear friend’s wedding banquet at the Fairmont Hotel in Singapore. Knowing that avoiding gluten at a Chinese banquet would be literally impossible I made the choice to eat gluten that night so I wouldn’t miss out on any of the gorgeous delicacies served to us all. I had psyched myself up for this event for months and was fully prepared to deal with the onslaught of symptoms that would ensue in the following days.

"Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Singapore Food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "chinese wedding banquet" "Pow Sing, Singapore" "Singapore food" "Singapore" "Hawkers food" "Hainanese Chicken" "Hainanese Chicken rice" "Nonya food" "Nyonya food" "Nyonya cuisine" "Malaysian food" "Pow Sing" "Serangoon Gardens" "travel blog" "Singapore travel blog"

Waiting to be devoured

When I got up that morning it was hard to distinguish what were the after-effects of eating gluten and what were due to the alcohol excesses. The tell-tale spots of eczema were only baby fledglings at this stage and for a change had not appeared on my face…yet. As a gesture of their gratitude to us for coming to all the way to Singapore to share the happiness on their big day, our friends and their parents invited us to join them and their family for lunch at Pow Sing Restaurant; a place famous for its Hainanese Chicken Rice along.

"Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Singapore Food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "chinese wedding banquet" "Pow Sing, Singapore" "Singapore food" "Singapore" "Hawkers food" "Hainanese Chicken" "Hainanese Chicken rice" "Nonya food" "Nyonya food" "Nyonya cuisine" "Malaysian food" "Pow Sing" "Serangoon Gardens" "travel blog" "Singapore travel blog"

CHOP CHOP CHOP…DONE! So quick!

Since my arrival in Singapore I have been dying to try this classic favourite especially as I know it is one of the main hawker’s foods that is easy to do gluten free. Hainanese chicken originates from China and it is found in Singaporean, Malaysian and Thai cuisines and many Singaporeans consider this to be their national dish. The whole chicken is delicately poached in a broth of pork and chicken stock which is infused with ginger. This stock is then used along with rendered chicken fat to prepare the rice resulting in an extremely flavourful dish.

"Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Singapore Food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "chinese wedding banquet" "Pow Sing, Singapore" "Singapore food" "Singapore" "Hawkers food" "Hainanese Chicken" "Hainanese Chicken rice" "Nonya food" "Nyonya food" "Nyonya cuisine" "Malaysian food" "Pow Sing" "Serangoon Gardens" "travel blog" "Singapore travel blog"

Hainanese Chicken

Pow Sing’s Hainanese chicken did not disappoint. The chickens were plump, soft and very succulent; the meat nearly dissolved in your mouth it was so tender.  The rice looked innocent enough but as soon as I served myself some I could smell its fragrant aroma. Each rice grain was coated in the tasty oily broth giving it a full body of flavour. To accompany our chicken; my friend parents proceeded to order a long list of Nyonya favourites for us to try.  I could feel myself getting caught up in the fun of it all and figured seeing as I felt rotten from the night before eating a little bit more gluten was hardly going to make that much more of a difference provided I was careful and didn’t go overboard.

"Honey bean pod" "vegetarian" "straw mushroom" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Singapore Food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "chinese wedding banquet" "Pow Sing, Singapore" "Singapore food" "Singapore" "Hawkers food" "Hainanese Chicken" "Hainanese Chicken rice" "Nonya food" "Nyonya food" "Nyonya cuisine" "Malaysian food" "Pow Sing" "Serangoon Gardens" "travel blog" "Singapore travel blog"

Honey bean pod with straw mushroom

The sweet crunchy honey bean pods served with the delicate, musty, slightly earthy flavoured straw mushrooms were a refreshing dish after the oiliness of the chicken.  Straw mushrooms have been used in Chinese cuisine for over two thousand years and are so named because they’re grown on straw that’s been used in a rice paddy.

"Crispy Nyonya Squid" "crispy squid" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Singapore Food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "chinese wedding banquet" "Pow Sing, Singapore" "Singapore food" "Singapore" "Hawkers food" "Hainanese Chicken" "Hainanese Chicken rice" "Nonya food" "Nyonya food" "Nyonya cuisine" "Malaysian food" "Pow Sing" "Serangoon Gardens" "travel blog" "Singapore travel blog"

Crispy Nyonya Squid

The crispy Nyonya squid was another flavour bomb.  The squid are coated in a batter containing coconut and then deep-fried giving them a very crunchy texture. They are then stir-fried in chilli and garlic and then dipped in a tangy sweet and sour hot sauce before serving. This was quite unlike any fried squid I have had before and I could have easy demolished the plate but I held myself back knowing the batter would probably contain flour.  One taste was all I allowed myself….pace yourself girl!

"Fried sambal lady’s finger" "okra" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Singapore Food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "chinese wedding banquet" "Pow Sing, Singapore" "Singapore food" "Singapore" "Hawkers food" "Hainanese Chicken" "Hainanese Chicken rice" "Nonya food" "Nyonya food" "Nyonya cuisine" "Malaysian food" "Pow Sing" "Serangoon Gardens" "travel blog" "Singapore travel blog"

Fried sambal lady’s finger

"Ngog Hiang" "five flavours roll" "spring roll" "five spice roll" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Singapore Food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "chinese wedding banquet" "Pow Sing, Singapore" "Singapore food" "Singapore" "Hawkers food" "Hainanese Chicken" "Hainanese Chicken rice" "Nonya food" "Nyonya food" "Nyonya cuisine" "Malaysian food" "Pow Sing" "Serangoon Gardens" "travel blog" "Singapore travel blog"

Ngog Hiang

The ngog hiang is a Nyonya style of spring roll. Meaning “five flavours” in Hokkien, it was initially brought to Singapore from the Fujian province in China.  The original five flavours were prawn, pork rolls, pork liver, egg and pork sausage.  These days they are made with all sorts of different meats which are usually combined with water chestnuts, other vegetables and then seasoned with five-spice powder. The outer layer is made with bean curd skin. For preparation they are steamed first followed by a short time in the deep fryer.  Absolutely delicious but not for those with heart disease as I’m sure too many of these tasty morsels would clog the arteries!

"Tauhu Prawns" "tofu prawns" "seafood" "tofu" "tauhu" "prawns" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Singapore Food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "chinese wedding banquet" "Pow Sing, Singapore" "Singapore food" "Singapore" "Hawkers food" "Hainanese Chicken" "Hainanese Chicken rice" "Nonya food" "Nyonya food" "Nyonya cuisine" "Malaysian food" "Pow Sing" "Serangoon Gardens" "travel blog" "Singapore travel blog"

Tauhu Prawns

"Assam Pedas Fish" "tamarind fish" "fish curry" "assam pedas" "nonya fish curry" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Singapore Food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "chinese wedding banquet" "Pow Sing, Singapore" "Singapore food" "Singapore" "Hawkers food" "Hainanese Chicken" "Hainanese Chicken rice" "Nonya food" "Nyonya food" "Nyonya cuisine" "Malaysian food" "Pow Sing" "Serangoon Gardens" "travel blog" "Singapore travel blog"

Assam Pedas Fish

Many of you may know my penchant for tamarind dishes; I love the sweet and sour aspect of these dishes much better than the horrific sickly Australian take on sweet and sour. The asam pedas is basically a fish curry made with tamarind paste and various vegetables. Ours contained okra, tomatoes and eggplants.   It had a fair bit of kick to the heat and I noticed the Boy politely avoiding serving himself seconds as the rest of us dipped in for more.

"Spicy Beancurd" "spicy tofu" "Mince Meat" "Spicy Beancurd with Mince Meat" "tofu" "tauhu" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Singapore Food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "chinese wedding banquet" "Pow Sing, Singapore" "Singapore food" Singapore Hawkers food" "Hainanese Chicken" "Hainanese Chicken rice" "Nonya food" "Nyonya food" "Nyonya cuisine" "Malaysian food" "Pow Sing" "Serangoon Gardens" "travel blog" "Singapore travel blog"

Spicy Beancurd with Mince Meat

 "Nonya Otak otak" "otak otak" "fish cake" "mackerel" "banana leaf" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Singapore Food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "chinese wedding banquet" "Pow Sing, Singapore" "Singapore food" Singapore Hawkers food" "Hainanese Chicken" "Hainanese Chicken rice" "Nonya food" "Nyonya food" "Nyonya cuisine" "Malaysian food" "Pow Sing" "Serangoon Gardens" "travel blog" "Singapore travel blog"

Nonya Otak otak

Otak otak are a type of fish cake made from fresh mackerel meat pounded and marinated with ground chilli, lemon grass, ginger, turmeric and coconut milk.  The end result is something that looks more like fish paste than the traditional fish cakes I’m accustomed to in Thailand. This fragrant paste is then wrapped in banana leaves and gently steamed or cooked over hot charcoals. The banana leaves trap in the moisture and flavour making it into a mouth-watering, custardy sweet treat.

"Salad Flour Roll" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Singapore Food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "chinese wedding banquet" "Pow Sing, Singapore" "Singapore food" Singapore Hawkers food" "Hainanese Chicken" "Hainanese Chicken rice" "Nonya food" "Nyonya food" "Nyonya cuisine" "Malaysian food" "Pow Sing" "Serangoon Gardens" "travel blog" "Singapore travel blog"

Salad Flour Roll

"Crispy Nonya Tauhu" "crispy tofu" "egg tofu" "nyonya tofu" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Singapore Food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "chinese wedding banquet" "Pow Sing, Singapore" "Singapore food" Singapore Hawkers food" "Hainanese Chicken" "Hainanese Chicken rice" "Nonya food" "Nyonya food" "Nyonya cuisine" "Malaysian food" "Pow Sing" "Serangoon Gardens" "travel blog" "Singapore travel blog"

Crispy Nonya Tauhu

The crispy Nyonya Tauhu is made from egg tofu and deep-fried to exact point to have a crispy thin exterior yet a velvety moist interior. The egg tofu is made by filtering whole beaten eggs into the soy milk before the tofu is set.  It is a paler yellow colour and has a silken soft texture and milder flavour.  These little creamy logs were to be dipped into the accompanying sweet black sauce and nearly seemed like a dessert than savoury course.

 "Chendol" "pandan jelly" "red bean" "coconut milk" "asian desserts" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Singapore Food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "chinese wedding banquet" "Pow Sing, Singapore" "Singapore food" "Singapore" "Hawkers food" "Hainanese Chicken" "Hainanese Chicken rice" "Nonya food" "Nyonya food" "Nyonya cuisine" "Malaysian food" "Pow Sing" "Serangoon Gardens" "travel blog" "Singapore travel blog"

Chendol

We finished our feast with a recommendation from the Bride; a chendol.  Like all Asian desserts this came laden with all the sugar in all the land! The basic ingredients of this sticky drink included coconut milk, green jelly made from rice flour and Pandan flavouring, shaved ice and sugar. Ours was enhanced with layers of presumably highly artificial colourings and flavourings. At the bottom of my glass were red beans and grass jelly.  The beans were a welcome relief from all the sugar!

Giddy with the sugar combined with my gluten induced haziness I felt like I was intoxicated all over again. Despite knowing the next week was going to be rough on the body, I walked away feeling satisfied that I had made the most of my gluten onslaught by eating wonderful dishes that ordinarily I would avoid.  Most of all, not only did I get to appreciate how insanely delicious Hainanese Chicken rice is I tried it from a location that many consider to be the best in Singapore!

Pow Sing Restaurant
65 Serangoon Garden Way, Singapore 217970 | +65 6282 7972 | http://www.powsing.com/index.html
 
Price:                     $$
Food:                    9/10 (ok now bear in mind this is coming from a naïve Westerner, but all dishes were brilliant)
Service:                4/5 (speedy, no fuss)
Ambience:          3.5/5 (hustling and bustling; this place remained packed)
Total:                     16.5/20

 

A Chinese Wedding Banquet at Szechuan Court, Fairmont Hotel, Singapore

Posted by  | Categories: Chinese, Degustation/Fine dining, Featured, Hotels, Restaurants, Singapore, Wedding

The exciting event of the wedding of a close friend brought us back to the lovely city of Singapore for the first time in over ten years.  It was to be my first experience of a Chinese wedding banquet and was to be held at Szechuan Court, Fairmont Hotel, Singapore.  I felt so privileged to receive an invite and prepared myself right from the outset that for that one night I was just going to have to eat gluten.  Avoiding gluten in a Chinese banquet of any occasion is literally impossible due to the ubiquitous use of soy sauce. I knew that if I was to eat the banquet regardless of the gluten I was going to suffer for it the next day however I figured it would be worth it.

"menu" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Singapore Food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "chinese wedding banquet" "szechuan court" "szechuan court, Fairmont hotel" "chinese"

The Menu

As we were shown to our seats I noticed that both our table and the bridal table next to us was much more lavishly decorated than the rest of the tablets. Our table was covered in a bright red table-cloth and decorated with bigger bouquets of flowers. As the night progressed I also observed that our plates were filled with more food and served to us in larger bowls.

"roast duck" "mango" "soya chicken" "honey glazed pork" "chilled spicy jelly fish" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Singapore Food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "chinese wedding banquet" "szechuan court" "szechuan court, Fairmont hotel" "chinese"

Szechuan Court Cold Cut Combination

In eager anticipation for the feast I forced myself to only graze on a few small snacks over the day. As we headed to Szechuan Court I was so hungry I could have nearly eaten my own arm. If only I had known before that it is common custom at these important Chinese events for there to be quite a wait before food is brought out! By the time our starter combination arrived I was so utterly famished that I demolished it all far too quickly. There were beautifully plated slices of roast duck sandwiched around a fresh sliver of mango, there was a richly coloured chunk of Soya chicken, a thick wedge of succulent honey glazed pork and a cute little lettuce cup of chilled spicy jelly fish. This was one of my favourite dishes for the night and I really regretted my gluttony wishing I had savoured its flavours for more than a millisecond.

"Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Singapore Food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "chinese wedding banquet" "szechuan court" "szechuan court, Fairmont hotel" "chinese" "Braised crabmeat soup" "bamboo fungus"

Braised crabmeat soup with bamboo fungus

I love the deception of clear soups.  Gazing into my reflection in the bowl I always wonder how something so watery looking can manage to pack such a powerful punch of flavour. This crab soup was no exception and the table went silent for a few minutes while everyone slurped away hungrily.

"Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Singapore Food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "chinese wedding banquet" "szechuan court" "szechuan court, Fairmont hotel" "chinese" "Braised crabmeat soup" "bamboo fungus"

Braised crabmeat soup with bamboo fungus

Bamboo fungus is a type of mushroom that is claimed to have many medicinal properties including antibacterial and anti-cancer effects. Another more unusual fact about this fungus is that the smell of the fresh fungus has been reported to trigger spontaneous orgasms in women!

"Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Singapore Food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "chinese wedding banquet" "szechuan court" "szechuan court, Fairmont hotel" "chinese" "Steamed live marble goby" "superior soy sauce" "seafood" "marble goby"

Steamed live marble goby in superior soy sauce

The next course was some lightly steamed live Marble Goby served in a broth of superior soy sauce. Marble goby is a type of freshwater fish that considered something of a delicacy by many Chinese as for its flesh is delicately tender yet has a lingering sweet flavour.

"Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Singapore Food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "chinese wedding banquet" "szechuan court" "szechuan court, Fairmont hotel" "chinese" " Crispy fried wasabi prawn" "wasabi" "prawn" "mango" "dragonfruit"

Crispy fried wasabi prawn

With a number of gluten containing courses now under my belt, I accepted my fate that in a few hours I would start to feel the aftermath of my indiscretions therefore I really had nothing to lose and must press on.  I had psyched myself up for this banquet for months and certainly wasn’t going to turn any of these sumptuous dishes away! The next two dishes steered away from the more traditional Chinese style infusing some modern fusion flavours.  The wasabi prawns crunched loudly as I bit into their crispy exterior and I couldn’t help but feel liberated to cast off the shackles of my allergies for one night even if it made me unwell and covered in eczema!

"Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Singapore Food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "chinese wedding banquet" "szechuan court" "szechuan court, Fairmont hotel" "chinese" "Pan-fried pork spare rib" "mocha coffee sauce" "pork"

Pan-fried pork spare rib with mocha coffee sauce

I was informed earlier that evening by the dear mother of the bride that sea cucumbers are very laborious to prepare for eating. There is an extensive amount of work involved over several days which include slitting them open, turning them inside out and then repeatedly washing and boiling them over a few days.

"Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Singapore Food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "chinese wedding banquet" "szechuan court" "szechuan court, Fairmont hotel" "chinese" "Braised sea cucumber" "Chinese mushroom"

Braised sea cucumber with Chinese mushroom

The Boy and I first tried eating sea cucumber many years back at Shung Fung in Perth and we both really loved its slippery, nearly rubbery texture and subtle flavour. Sea cucumbers are a highly nutritious food and contain large amounts of protein in addition to many essential compounds including iodine, calcium, potassium, zinc, iron, selenium, manganese, chondroitin sulphate, saponins and vitamins like vitamin A, thiamine, riboflavin and niacin.

"Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Singapore Food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "chinese wedding banquet" "szechuan court" "szechuan court, Fairmont hotel" "chinese" "Seafood fried rice"

Seafood fried rice with shallot

The beauty of eating slowly is that you get full much more easily as your brain has time to actually register the food you are shovelling into it! The polite sized scoop of seafood fried rice was just enough to fill the last gaps in my stomach before dessert.

"Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Singapore Food blog" "Singapore restaurant reviews" "chinese wedding banquet" "szechuan court" "szechuan court, Fairmont hotel" "chinese" "Chilled cream of mango" "pomelo" "sago" "asian desserts" "desserts"

Chilled cream of mango and pomelo with sago

Many of my dear readers may recall my obsession with food shaped in tiny balls; tobiko, caviar, sago, tapioca, you name it I’m sure to squeak with delight if you serve them to me. I think this obsession is one of the main reasons I love Asian desserts so much!  The chilled cream of mango was not overpoweringly sweet and the tang of the pomelo gave it more depth and flavour.

By this late stage of the night things had started to become quite rowdy, but in a good way.  The bride’s father proudly led the bridal party in a procession to each table individually bearing a very elaborate looking bottle of whiskey.  At each table he would stop, pour healthy size nips of whiskey to everyone before drinking some himself and then commenced to singing very loudly at the top of his lungs.  No one required much encouragement to join in and before long dining room was filled with the booming voices of all the guests joyous for this wonderful marriage of two very beautiful people.

Szechuan Court, Fairmont Hotel, Singapore
80 Bras Basah Road, Marina Bay, 189560 Singapore | www.fairmont.com/singapore
 
Tripadvisor
 
Price:                     $$$        
Food:                    8/10 (I am no expert on Chinese fine dining but my taste buds don’t lie!)
Service:                3/5 (a little slow serving drinks)
Ambience:          3.5/5 (the function room was filled to the brim with cheerful, noisy guests)
Total:                     16.5/20

Villa Air Bali, Seminyak, Bali

Posted by  | Categories: Accommodation, Bali, Breakfast/Brunch, Chinese, Japanese, Resorts, Travel

I have to be the worst person in the world at keeping secrets.  I don’t know how the Boy does it but consistently for some years now he manages to crack the puzzle on what his Christmas gift is from me.  It frustrates the hell out of me! So this year I thought I’d go way outside the box from the usual gift giving we normally do and instead I decided I would get him a holiday …. and I would come along of course!

Now obviously the first place that came to my mind was Thailand as our love affair with this country continues and I really wanted to organise a trip to Bangkok with a detour via Hua Hin for some beachside relaxation.  But after some investigation with our travel agent, I soon realised that with a wedding to save for; going to Thailand during its peak season was realistically out of my budget! She suggested we go somewhere a little closer to home such as Bali.  Being only three and half hours flight from Perth it seemed like the perfect place to get in a quick amount of much needed R&R.

"Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth food blog" "food blog" Chompchomp "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Bali travel blog" "Bali restaurant review" "Seminyak review" "Bali accommodation" "Seminyak accommodation" "Seminyak villa" "Bali villa" "Villa Air bali" "Breakfast" "living room"

For nearly half the price of a trip to Thailand she arranged a five night holiday to Bali including flights staying at Villa Air Bali in Seminyak.  I laminated some brochures of the villas and pictures of Bali and wrapped it all up in a big gift box with the Flight Centre travel documents.  To my exquisite delight the Boy had absolutely NO IDEA what it was until he opened it! Finally success at keeping a secret!

The flight was over before we knew it and we were collected by our pre-organised transfer. We travelled for nearly two hours from the airport bouncing along on potholed streets in the bucketing rain while our transfer tried to sell us guided tours.  It was much to our relief when we pulled into the lobby area and were warmly greeted by our hotel receptionist.  The lobby was open plan with a large moat pond surrounding it with some beautiful Koi and a symphony of frogs.  The locations of the villas are slightly out of the main area of Seminyak so it was generally a taxi ride to get to the restaurants and beach clubs.

"Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth food blog" "food blog" Chompchomp "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Bali travel blog" "Bali restaurant review" "Seminyak review" "Bali accommodation" "Seminyak accommodation" "Seminyak villa" "Bali villa" "Villa Air bali" "Breakfast" "living room"

We were taken to our villa where our porter showed us every infinite detail of the villa right down to opening the kitchen drawers and showing us the forks and knives.  The kitchen had only basic utensils and enough glasses and plates for two people.  Although there was a stove top, there weren’t really enough kitchen bits and bobs to make much more than a stir fry.  Not that I planned on doing ANY cooking mind you.

"Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth food blog" "food blog" Chompchomp "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Bali travel blog" "Bali restaurant review" "Seminyak review" "Bali accommodation" "Seminyak accommodation" "Seminyak villa" "Bali villa" "Villa Air bali" "Breakfast" "living room"

The villa was clean and free of any mouldy odours so common to some middle range accommodation during the wet season in the tropics.  The only downside of the villa design was that during rainy downpours, water would flood across into the living area and onto much of the tiles.  Both of us nearly stacked it a number of times as the floor became very slippery. The pool was so refreshing and inviting; it was invigorating to stumble out of bed each morning and plunge into the pool.

"Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth food blog" "food blog" Chompchomp "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Bali travel blog" "Bali restaurant review" "Seminyak review" "Bali accommodation" "Seminyak accommodation" "Seminyak villa" "Bali villa" "Villa Air bali" "Breakfast" "bathroom" "bath"

The bedroom was icily air-conditioned much to the Boy’s delight and the bathroom was enormous. In fact it was bigger than the bedroom.  There was a large selection of amenities and in addition to the usual suspects there was some insect repellent and some fragrant bath salts.

"Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth food blog" "food blog" Chompchomp "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Bali travel blog" "Bali restaurant review" "Seminyak review" "Bali accommodation" "Seminyak accommodation" "Seminyak villa" "Bali villa" "Villa Air bali" "Breakfast" "bathroom" "bath"

Despite the brochure for the villa mentioning it has free WIFI, it took us a couple of days before they could actually get it to work properly.  The connection was very poor as reception informed us that the internet in Bali is not very fast.  The villa comes with a free stocked minibar but this was a little deceiving as it only contained only a couple of beers and some soft drink. I guess I can’t really complain if it’s free!

Breakfast can be served in villa or the restaurant with six options available: American, Healthy, Chinese, Indonesian, Korean and Japanese.  We decided on arrival we would try and have a different kind each morning for a bit of fun.

"Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth food blog" "food blog" Chompchomp "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Bali travel blog" "Bali restaurant review" "Seminyak review" "Bali accommodation" "Seminyak accommodation" "Seminyak villa" "Bali villa" "Villa Air bali" "Breakfast" "american breakfast" "scrambled eggs" "bacon" "sausage" "black rice bread" "coffee" "hash brown"

The American breakfast

The first (and worst) breakfast we had was The American. It was bland and very simple but I suppose it was acceptable enough.  The scrambled eggs were light and fluffy albeit a little tepid.  The black rice bread was gluten free and had a distinct nutty flavour which I really enjoyed.  The yogurt was watery and fairly inedible.

"Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth food blog" "food blog" Chompchomp "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Bali travel blog" "Bali restaurant review" "Seminyak review" "Bali accommodation" "Seminyak accommodation" "Seminyak villa" "Bali villa" "Villa Air bali" "Breakfast" "Chinese breakfast" "congee" "mantou"

The Chinese breakfast: Rice Porridge (congee) with 8 kinds of accompaniments, fried egg, mantou & Chinese tea

The Chinese breakfast consisted of some congee (rice porridge) with a myriad of accompaniments not all of which I recognised and could identify. It was served with some mantou (steamed buns).  I carefully selected a number of the accompaniments and placed a sprinkling of them into my congee.

"Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth food blog" "food blog" Chompchomp "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Bali travel blog" "Bali restaurant review" "Seminyak review" "Bali accommodation" "Seminyak accommodation" "Seminyak villa" "Bali villa" "Villa Air bali" "Breakfast" "Chinese breakfast" "congee" "mantou"

The Boy’s congee with “the lot”

The Boy on the other hand piled all of his on top of his congee and mixed it all through.  The end result looked at little scary and was not very pleasant apparently!  I quite enjoyed mine but I was a lot more conservative with what I put in it.

"Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth food blog" "food blog" Chompchomp "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Bali travel blog" "Bali restaurant review" "Seminyak review" "Bali accommodation" "Seminyak accommodation" "Seminyak villa" "Bali villa" "Villa Air bali" "Breakfast" "Indonesia breakfast" "nasi goreng" "Mee goreng" "noodles" "fried rice"

The Indonesian breakfast

The Indo breakfast option gave an option of either Nasi goreng (fried rice with shrimp, chicken and vegetables) or Mie goreng (fried noodles with egg, chicken and vegetables).  I ordered the rice and the Boy ordered the noodles.  My nasi goreng was fairly run of the mill and was nothing I couldn’t have recreated better at home.  Unfortunately I spotted some onion contained in this one and ended up spending a fair amount of time having to sift carefully to pick the pieces out which was annoying.  As with our American breakfast, our meals were served a little on the cold side.

"Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth food blog" "food blog" Chompchomp "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Bali travel blog" "Bali restaurant review" "Seminyak review" "Bali accommodation" "Seminyak accommodation" "Seminyak villa" "Bali villa" "Villa Air bali" "Breakfast" "Japanese breakfast" "bean paste soup" "miso "steamed rice" "marinated grilled fish" "white and orange sweet potato" "green beans in peanut sauce" "sweet jelly" "red beans" "fruit" "natto"

The Japanese breakfast

The Japanese breakfast was by far and by large my favourite – I actually ordered this one twice I loved it so much! It came with some bean paste soup (miso), steamed rice, a couple of pieces of marinated grilled fish and some steamed white and orange sweet potato.  There were also some green beans in peanut sauce.  On the side was some dessert containing sweet jelly, red beans and fruit which made a refreshing end to the filling meal. I did make the mistake of tasting the side dish of natto.  What the hell!! I always thought I was good with eating weird tasting things but this stuff is definitely an acquired taste – we both thought it was pretty gross.  Is there a better way to eat this stuff?

Overall if we return to Seminyak we will probably stay somewhere more centrally located, but if you don’t mind being a little off the beaten track Air Bali was good value, peaceful and clean.

Like Me on Facebook!

Villa Air Bali, Seminyak | (+62) 361 737378 | www.villa-airbali.com
 
Price:                     $$ Package deal with Flight Centre: $1014 per person for return flights with Virgin Blue from Perth, airport transfers, 5 nights accommodation in a pool villa with breakfast included, two massages in villa, free minibar
Food:                    2/5 (in villa breakfasts should be served promptly after making to avoid being cold)
Service:                3.5/5 (reception went out of their way to notify restaurants in advance of my allergies)
Ambience:          4/5 (relaxing, clean and modern style villas)
Drinks:                  2/5 (minibar was scant and was refilled only intermittently)
Total:                     11.5/20
 

Old Cathay, Victoria Park

Posted by  | Categories: Chinese, Malaysian, Perth, Restaurants

I decided to buy a Scoopon to Old Cathay Restaurant to give to my beloved as a small token gift to further lengthen our post-engagement celebrations.  I’m currently on Doctors orders to punish my body with six weeks of gluten hell in order to determine for once and for all whether I am actually coeliac or just have fructose malabsorption. I am still trying to continue to convince myself that this is a time to embrace this character building experience as an opportunity to have total freedom in ordering whatever I like and just grit and bear the consequences.

Chinese food is not one that can be gluten/onion free very easily so it was exciting to order the tasty dishes we wanted instead of the select few adjustable ones. Old Cathay has a warm and inviting interior and was full of customers on a Thursday night. The staffs were very welcoming despite us being Scoopon customers (something not all restaurants do!). Upon being seated we were quickly informed our Cathay tasting plate was being prepared and our bottle of wine was brought to the table. We had choice of white or red – we chose the white (Rothbury Estate SSB). We requested to order an additional entree to the coupon offer which was no problem.

"Tasting plate" "prawn" "spring roll" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "food photos" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Old Cathay" "Victoria park" "albany highway" "Chinese" "Malaysian" "Scoopon"

Old Cathay Tasting Plate

The platter contained 2 Golden Vegetarian Spring Rolls, two Prawn Twisters, one bowl of Chicken Kerabu Salad and two Crunchy Prawn Kataifi. The spring rolls were fresh and hot. The two prawn dishes were both fried and looked like heart attack central. I’m not the hugest fan of deep fried food; however these were actually very crispy and light and didn’t leave my mouth feeling full of oil. In addition to the platter we ordered the boy’s favourite: Soft shelled crab. This was not the tastiest soft shelled crab I’ve had – it felt like it was missing a dipping sauce? Nevertheless it also was crispy and not soggy at all.

"Old Cathay Gui Fei Tofu" "tofu" "vegetarian" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "food photos" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Old Cathay" "Victoria park" "albany highway" "Chinese" "Malaysian" "Scoopon"

Old Cathay Gui Fei Tofu

For mains our Scoopon included two mains so we ordered the Old Cathay Gui Fei Tofu and the Kung Po Squid. Being food obsessed, we always both tend to want to order more food than is humanly possible to eat so we ordered an extra main of the sweet and sour pork. I’m not usually a big tofu fan, I don’t hate it, but I never think to order it. But Old Cathay tofu is something not to be missed. They make their own tofu and it was wonderfully soft as silk in my mouth. It was accompanied with shredded chicken, mushroom & carrots. The Kung Po squid was stir fried with dried whole chillies and cashew nuts. The sauce with this dish was scrumptious. Unfortunately this dish was a little lukewarm and ideally should have been served at a hotter temperature. The sweet and sour pork had decent sized pieces of meat with a light batter cover that maintained its crispiness and hadn’t gone soggy in the sauce – fresh! The sauce was tangy and gingery and not overpoweringly sweet. A winner for sure.

"Sweet and sour pork" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "food photos" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Old Cathay" "Victoria park" "albany highway" "Chinese" "Malaysian" "Scoopon"

Sweet and sour pork

To end our overindulgent evening, our coupon included a desert each. I was so excited to see red bean pancake on the menu – a Chinese delight I have been deprived of for many years! Imagine my disappointment when they told me there wasn’t any left! Boo! Instead we ordered the Taro Ice Cream and the Sago Gula Melaka served with Ice Cream. These were fairly standard dishes although I like the extra touch of shaved crispy coconut pieces on the top.
I am already planning our return before my gluten clock runs out – to be continued……

Venue 8/10 Service 8/10 Food 7.8/10

Old Cathay | 59 Albany Hwy, Victoria Park 6100 | (08) 9361 1881 | www.oldcathay.com.au