Goodwood Park Hotel Durian Fiesta 2008Goodwood Park Hotel Deli22 Scotts RoadTel: 6730 1786Opening Hours: 9am to 9pm dailyWebsite: http://www.goodwoodparkhotel.com/promotion-dining.htmBeen a while since I've been out for high tea. After quite a bit of research, Mum & I still ended up at Goodwood Park Hotel; known for its Peranakan high tea buffet. Come to think of it, it must have been a long time since I've visited the Coffee Lounge because the decor had totally changed and if my memory served me right, there seemed to be quite a downsize in the food spread. Despite that, I thought the food was pretty decent. Some of my favourites were the laksa which had generous amounts of dried shrimps, kueh pie tee, roti jala with curry chicken and the nine-layered kueh which was deduced by Mum to be supplied by Bengawan Solo. OK. I have a confession to make. I deliberately chose Goodwood Park in the end because I needed an excuse to drop by the Deli to grab some durian treats. Honestly, I've never had much although this yearly event has been going on for a while. Ling was always raving about the delicious treats but I just never got down to making a trip there just for its famous durian puffs and cakes. That was until last year, when bro bought me a durian roll for my bday. That got me hooked and a year on, I left with a smile on my face with 6 Durian Puffs, 1 Durian Crepe and a 1.3kg Durian, Pandan & Coconut Cake. Every item bought was delicious but out of the 3, my favourite was the durian puffs. There was a whole generous lot of durian pulp which was rich and creamy yet not overly sweet in each puff. I especially loved the part where I had to open my mouth so wide just to stuff the whole puff in (I know, it seems a bit unglam if you try to visualize that). I just thought it would taste way better if I had the whole creamy puff tingle my taste buds and permeate my whole mouth with its distinct flavour. Trust me, it does taste better eating it this way.
This was my first time trying Goodwood Park's Durian Crepe and I must say that I was pretty taken aback initially. Before this, I had tried another well-known bakery's durian puffs and didn't think too much of it so I had no expectations when it came to giving the crepe a shot. When I tried to split the crepe in half to share with Mum, I was amazed that there was such a generous amount of durian pulp in it. Again, the taste was pretty similar to that of the durian puffs' and was undeniably delicious. However, I felt that it might have been better to probably make the crepe a little smaller so that it'd be good for 1 person. With the current size, you'd probably need at least 2 people sharing it. My thought was that it would have been too jer lat to polish the whole thing off on my own.
I actually liked the Durian, Pandan & Coconut Cake too. I'm not sure how many of you have tried the Pandan cake that's available at Bengawan Solo or neighbourhood cake shops. It may not be the fanciest cake but it's one that I really love and used to have a lot of when I was much younger. Somehow, the Durian, Pandan & Coconut Cake reminded me a lot of that cake, just that the pandan jelly part was now replaced by the durian pulp and sponge cake. One thing I really thought that the chef did well was to allow the flavour of the pandan sponge to be pretty distinct despite the strong flavour of the durian. Apparently, this item was brought back due to popular demand and I highly recommend that you give this a try too (in addition to the durian puffs!) if you're happen to drop by for some of those durian treats.
The Durian Fiesta is on now til the end of July. Don't even think of putting off a visit if you're thinking of giving the durian treats a try cos time flies so fast that sometimes one doesn't even realise it. You definitely don't want to wait another year for this. In my own opinion, you shouldn't even be thinking about it.
This came in the mail over the weekend.
Been a while since I've seen one of these. I recall my days in Perth where I wished and hoped that I'd receive a little note in my pigeon hole to inform me about a parcel that I had to pick up from the admin office. I'd probably received no more than 5 parcels during my 3 years there. Probably even less actually. However, I remember that each time I received one, I was over the moon. In fact, sometimes so excited that my heart beat so fast when I got down to the opening of the parcels.
This time, I'm in Singapore receiving a parcel from Down Under where sis is located currently. And this was what I got.
This really made my day. Thanks lil' sooks.
This caught my eye today.
It might have been some time since I've gone to the movies but somebody tell me that this isn't normal.I was watching a movie round about tea time today and these, around 20-year-old kids beside me started having beer out of cans! On top of that, they were sucking beer through a straw as though as it were soft drinks!And after all this while, I thought movies were associated with popcorn.
I've been blessed with the opportunities to savour varieties of food from my travels overseas. In the past year, I've travelled to great cities, have had so many interesting eats, so many pictures taken but no entries to applaud the ones who slog it out in the kitchen just so that they can see satisfaction on their customers' faces.The photos still stored in my hard drive constantly remind me of my unfinished work. I am in serious need of a jumpstart.
I was almost screaming for joy when I was greeted by a little box on my desk when I got into the office last week. J aka my boss remembered a little conversation we had and got me what I was craving for when she chanced upon IT.
Call me 'suaku' but having not visited Holland before, I never knew about the existence of Stroopwafels, a waffle snack with a caramel-like syrup sandwiched between 2 layers of thin batter. That was until Pei gave me a piece to try when her friend brought a pack home for her from Holland almost a year ago. She was munching on this constantly after her trip to Holland during her school exchange days so that would have explained why she was so excited and was raving about how delicious and addictive they were. Usually the job of 'raving' is mine you see. I couldn't agree more with her. Having always been fond of most things with caramel in it, I recall that a smile lit up on my face the moment I sank in my first bite. It was hands down addictive and I knew that I would have polished a whole pack off if it was placed in front of me. That being said, I started on scouring supermarkets, speciality food stores and even searched on the Internet on where I could lay my hands on these but nothing positive came up.Then J found it in an organic store and bought it for me after I told her how much I loved it. Ironically, they weren't made in Holland but Canada. Don't know if it had to do with the organic thing or was it because no one makes stroopwafels like the Dutch but it wasn't as good as I remembered it to be (Sorry J!). One main reason was probably because the stroopwafels weren't sealed properly causing the waffles to lose the slight crunch it should have had. Plus, this version has honey in it which I believe is not in the original Dutch recipe.The Canadian organic version didn't blow me away so I'm back again on the search. Just some trivia by the way. Stroopwafels were first made in Holland back during the late 18th and early 19th century and was made out of leftovers such as crumbs, in a bakery. If you'd like to know more, you can find more information here.Definitely a must-try if you haven't had it. Also, it would be great if anyone could drop me a note please if anyone has an idea on how I can get stroopwafels locally.
Apologies for being away for so long. I've been busy since the year started but I've resolved to get started on posting again. Whilst it's been quiet for me in the food front in the past months, I'm hoping that the coming days will start to get a little more exciting.Thanks for being so patient. I hope you're still around.
