Friday, November 29, 2013

Platters: Guest Chef Edition VI

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I'm back at Platters for another guest chef edition. As we bid farewell to Chef Karl Dobler & Eugenia Ong for their wonderful creations, it is now time to invite another guest chef in the house. Chef Jeremy Nguee is chef-owner of Preparazzi and for this collaboration, he will be creating his own rendition of comfort food. So, be prepared to ditch your diet plans and start feasting away!
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Located along Club Street, this place is hidden away from the hustle of the city yet in close proximity to the working crowd.
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 Platters also boost an extensive list of Euro-centric wines, which are refreshed frequently.
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We had non-alcoholic drinks before starting the meal. While I ordered a lemon tea, Leecher was intrigued by the range of organic drinks available @ Platters. He promptly ordered an organic lemonade, which was refreshing for him after a walk from the office to the venue.
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What is interesting about this collaboration is that Chef Jeremy came up with Singlish names for all the 4 platters that he created ~ a true Singaporean indeed, haha! First up, we had Thunder Thighs & Crackpot Rice platter, also known as The *Siao (*crazy)Seafood Platter ($38 for half platter, $68 for full platter). This platter consisted of French frog legs, soft shell crabs and crab roe rice for mains & as for sides, there were butter and bacon coupled with tobiko and hollandaise. We were told that the frog legs were soaked in milk overnight before deepfrying ~ when I tasted it, the frog legs tasted more like chicken meat - tender & juicy. Crab roe rice was a hit amongst us too!
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The Maniac Meat main course aka *Never Die Before (*the phrase 'never die before' is usually said in response to a daredevil act). The mains consisted of grilled angus sirloin, truffle roast spring chicken & home-made foie gras terrine. Sides include buah keluak butter, maple candied bacon, fat potatoes, grape jelly and charcoal crumbs ($48 for half platter, $88 for full platter). Looking at the amount of meat on the platter, I knew I was in for a treat since I'm such a meat lover, lol! The sirloin was a tad tough for my liking, but roast spring chicken was absolutely soft & chewy. On the other hand, maple-candied bacon tasted really like ba kwa.
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Smear some of this buah keluak butter on your beef for a different taste :) 
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 We had white wine to go along with the first platter & red wine (from Spain) for the second platter. 
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Coffee Caramel Delight aka *FatDieYou #1 (*FatDieYou, when translated into Mandarin, it is usually used in reference to something utterly indulgent). This platter consisted of caramel fondant, coffee jelly, vanilla ice cream, chili chocolate crumbs and peanut butter brittle ($16 for half platter).
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My Pastry Hero aka *FatDieYou #2 was the 2nd dessert platter that we tried. This platter consisted of freshly baked madeleines, rose meringue, rose espuma, lychee jelly and raspberry sorbet ($16 for half platter). We had 2 desserts served together & the trick to eating both platters was to mix everything together (on each platter). Comparing the two, my personal preference goes to Coffee Caramel Delight for the varying degrees of taste delight. You'll experience sweetness from caramel fondant, followed by a slight tinge of bitterness from coffee jelly. The extra bite comes from peanut brittle, where you can't resist the urge of popping more than one piece into your mouth :) On the contrary, My Pastry Hero was uniform in taste with different hues of sweetness from rose, lychee and raspberry.
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Pay a visit to Platters & rem to hashtag #platters #fatdieyou & #42clubstreet on instagram/twitter.  

*Special thanks to Jean & Jenny for the invite :)   
Note: Chef Jeremy Nguee are available from now till Feb 2014.
Platters
42 Club Street
Singapore 069420
Tel: 6223 8048

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

KL Work Trip, Aug 2012: Arrival at Traders' Hotel

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Hello! It's now less than 15 hours before we jet off for our holidays :) I'm kinda excited and yet worried at the massive itinerary that we have planned. There are still a couple of items that I have to finalise, but we are all set to go *excited* Before I take off, here is another entry on the (aug) KL Trip :)
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I started the day extremely early, reaching the airport at 4.45am for the 6am flight to KL. The sky was dark when I went to bed & it was still dark when I had to drag myself out from bed at 4am to prepare. Normally, I'll take a shower and put on makeup. However, this was way too early, so I just took a quick shower, grabbed my bags and headed downstairs for the cab.  
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Empty airport, which makes checking in a breeze :) 
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No time for breakfast, so I headed straight to the gates for boarding. 
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Not used to the quiet airport. I took my own time to stroll to the gate, only to discover that it was the first gate. 
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 No makeup face for the flight.

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Trying out Osim leg massager. I have seen this around the airport, but never had the chance to try it. Grab the chance to try it since there wasn't anyone in the vicinity eyeing it. 
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 50 min later, I landed in KL. It was a mad rush clearing the customs > waiting for my luggage > getting airport transfer. My first appointment was at 11am & I still need to head to the hotel first.
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 The airport taxi is a convenient way of traveling to the city. A budget cab will cost around RM74.30 and takes around 40 min to reach the city, right to your destination. I have travelled by their express train but I still have to switch to a cab at the central station. Thus, I'll normally take the cab since it is hassle-free.  
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It was raining along the way to the city. Nice weather to sleep in, but alas, I'm out working already.   
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Reached Trader's hotel but my room wasn't ready yet. So, I headed to the gym for a quick shower & changed into my working clothes. 
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Headed down to the cafe for a quick breakfast. The early morning crowd hasn't arrived, so I was lucky to get a table quickly. 
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Orange juice & my usual cup of tea to start the day! I think I have developed a strange habit - I'll usually start my day with a cup of tea in Singapore, but whenever I travel, it will be a mixture of juices + tea. 
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The hubby is also enjoying his breakfast with fellow colleagues too! 
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I was feeling slightly chilly & ordered a bowl of hot soupy noodles (with chicken). Interesting concept of putting the chopsticks on the bowl - this ensures that the chopsticks won't dropped off the bowl while carrying it across the dining hall. 
Traders Hotel, Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur City Centre
50088, Malaysia
Tel: 603 2332 9888
Soon, I was on my way out for meetings. I was stuck in 2 back-to-back meetings, with only 30 min in b/w for traveling. The 1st meeting took longer than expected, so I had literally run to my next appointment. Thankfully, the places were within walking distance from each other, so I just had to quicken my pace to reach the 2nd destination on time.
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Selfie in the toilet before I embark on the long journey back to hotel.  IMG_2628IMG_2629 
I decided to take the train back to KLCC instead of waiting for a cab. Even though cabs are abundant in KL, you'll get stuck in traffic jams during peak hours. A 5 min journey could become 30 min journey. Hence, it was easier to take the train. 
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Token that I used for the train ride back. 
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Spotted my idol Takeshi Kaneshiro! He still looked the same after so many years ~ ok, from boyish to man-ish. When J-pop was at its peak during my schooling days, I would watch every ep of his drama & "drool" in his looks. P7311796P7311798
Before I left, I asked them to bring up my luggage to the assigned room once it was ready. It was almost evening time when I headed back to the hotel. Once back, I went straight up to the room immediately after collecting the access card from the reception. At Traders', they will always leave a chupa chups on the towel in the bathroom :)
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A quick change of outfit later, I was ready to head out for dinner! Till the next post, tata :) 

Monday, November 25, 2013

Honeymoon: Cruise along River Seine Part Two

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The famous Paris love locks: where couples will write their names on a padlock and locks it onto one of the bridges. They then throw the keys into Seine River as a symbol of their undying love. This phenomenon of padlocking your love across continents - from Japan to Canada to New Zealand.
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There are 2 bridges in Paris with the locks, so you must be careful which bridge you put the locks on. Pont des Arts is for your committed love while Pont de l'Archeveche is for your lover. Make a stop at these 2 bridges to admire the ocean of locks or adding to the collection. Since we are in the city of love, we should do cliche commercialised romantic things right? Sadly to say, Leecher think otherwise :( Sometimes, this hubby is a tough nut to crack!
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Samaritaine was the department store in Paris, owned by LVMH. It has since became a combination hotel/apartment/offices building, with a small retail component. 
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Viaduc d'Austerlitz is the rail bridge that crosses the Seine in Paris. Its usage is solely dedicated to the railroad traffic, linking places from the left bank to the other side of the river. Even though demonstrations & strikes are common throughout Europe, I was thankful that we didn't encounter any strikes during our journey. 
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Most of the bridges in Paris are named. This particular bridge that we crossed looked ordinary, but I was captivated by the statue of Saint Genevieve, the patron saint of Paris. She was standing on Pont de la Tournelle (name of the bridge), as if she was keeping a close watch on the people & boats crossing the river.  
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French history is never completed without mentioning Napoleon Bonaparte :)
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Just like every tourist, our cameras started clicking away the moment we left the jetty *face-palm* in an attempt to digitalize our memories. I believe we took close to 150+ pics just on the cruise alone.
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Leecher was also trying out the new lens that he brought along which allowed us to capture the intricate details on the buildings along the banks. 
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Notre Dame Cathedral (back-view) - we visited the famous church on a separate day, so I shall leave the details in the entry. Cupola of the Institut de France. This building housed the 5 national institutions of academic wisdom - French Academy, Humanities & Literature Academy, Science Academy, Fine Arts Academy & Policial/Moral Academy, pretty much like our faculties in University. As I'm typing this, I thinking of planning a trip back to NTU just to look look see see. It has been almost 2 years since my last visit & I'm pretty sure things have changed by now. 
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Saving the best for the last, we finally cruised towards the Eiffel Tower :)
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Wa, this Leecher actually insisted on taking his pic with Eiffel tower, lol! With the love, in the city of love ~ see, it rhymes!
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While researching on places to eat in Paris, I came across the legendary Le Jules Verne restaurant in Eiffel Tower. The initial plan was to head there for a meal, where you get to dine while overlooking the whole of Paris. However, we didn't have the luxury of time thus we had to abandon the thought :( Well, I think there's always next time, right? Heehee. 
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Oh my! Carousel spotted ~ so pretty :)
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❤ ❤ ❤
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 Time really passed by quickly when you are having fun. We finally reached the end of the river cruise. A couple of us were reluctant to leave & lingered around to take a few more pictures.
Bateaux Mouches
Port de la Conference 
Pont de I'Alma, Rive droite
75008, Paris
Nearest RER C: Pont de I'Alma station
Tel: + 33 0 1 4225 9610
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