Saturday, November 3, 2007

STI: 28 October, 2007 - Coast to coast

Oct 28, 2007

FOODIE CONFIDENTIAL

Coast to coast

Chef Alessandro Di Prisco, who hails from the southern coast of Italy, now lives and works in Singapore's East Coast

By Huang Lijie 

 

HE WAS forced into the kitchen as a young boy but Alessandro Di Prisco, chef-owner of Al Forno (East Coast), has no regrets.

 

'My mother loved to cook so I was often made to help out with the cutting, peeling and washing of ingredients,' says Mr Di Prisco, 34.

 

Growing up in Cava de Tirreni, a small town in southern Italy along the Amalfi Coast where food is a way of life and two-hour meals the norm, also nurtured his love for cooking.

 

At 14, he became an apprentice in a restaurant in his hometown that specialised in wedding catering, and went on to cook in hotels and restaurants along the Amalfi Coast for seven years.

 

In 1995, he was offered the job of chef at Al Forno (East Coast) by one of its previous owners, who is also from the Amalfi Coast, and he seized the opportunity to travel out of Italy.

 

When the previous owners of the restaurant decided to part ways in 1997, he took over the restaurant.

 

He and his Singaporean wife have a daughter aged five, and a son aged two. The permanent resident, who lives in Katong, does not see himself leaving Singapore - or his neighbourhood - anytime soon.

 

'My restaurant has been doing well. Plus, I love the sea and working and living in the East Coast allows me to visit the beach every few days.'

 

What dish are you most famous for?

 

Spaghetti frutti di mare or seafood spaghetti, which comes with crayfish, mussels, squid and clams. It's a common dish along the Amalfi Coast because seafood is fresh and abundant there. The freshness of the seafood goes well with a hearty tomato sauce.

 

What is your comfort food?

 

Pasta. I must have it at least once a day or I won't feel right. It's food I grew up eating but I never get sick of it because there are so many ways to prepare it, with different sauces, toppings and types of pasta to choose from. Even a simple aglio olio - pasta in garlic, olive oil and chilli - is satisfying.

 

What is the secret to good pasta?

 

A good tomato sauce is what makes a pasta dish memorable, but there is no real secret to preparing a good tomato sauce. It's not about what goes into the sauce, and I can tell you that I use canned, whole peeled tomatoes, olive oil, fresh basil, salt and garlic in mine. What is important is that the ingredients are of the right proportion and cooked for the right duration, which varies according to the quality of the produce available.

 

What is your favourite Italian dish?

 

Eggplant parmigiana, or fried breaded eggplant that is baked with mozzarella cheese in a tomato sauce. I love eggplant. I've been eating it since I was a kid and my mother has a great recipe for it. However, I don't have it as often as I'd like to these days because it's a time-consuming dish to prepare.

 

What food do you like besides Italian cuisine?

 

I go through phases. Right now, it's Thai food. I especially like tom yum soup. While I do suffer because the dish is so spicy, its hot and sour flavours are very satisfying. I don't go to a particular restaurant or stall as I like to eat around. I also like Indian food such as prawn masala and roti prata.

 

Where do you go for supper?

 

I've been frequenting Sin Hoi Eating House in Katong, which is close to where I live, for some 10 years now. It sells good Chinese stir-fried dishes such as chilli kangkong, fried rice and barbecued prawns. I usually visit it with my staff after a long day at work.

 

What is your fondest memory of food?

 

Making pasta by hand with my mother and younger sister when I was about eight. It wasn't so much the food as the atmosphere. It was cold but sunny outside and the TV would be playing in the background while we were gathered around the kitchen table kneading the dough and shaping the pasta that would be served for lunch. Thinking about it always makes me feel warm inside.

 

lijie@sph.com.sg



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Crepe House

Crepe House
1 Jurong West Central 2,
02-K3 Jurong Point Shopping Centre
Open: 10am to 10pm daily
Rating: ***

CREPES are thin and light pancakes in theory. But in fact, many of them get soggy and leaden fast from their fillings, even as you are racing against time to eat them.

I once ordered what I believed would be a light breakfast of crepes at a bakery. Two and a half pancakes later, I felt as if I had eaten a horse and almost went into a food coma.

So the sweet and savoury crepes at the Crepe House stand in Jurong Point Shopping Centre are a surprise.

The skins are as thin as popiah skins but tastier: They are eggy, moist and deliciously soft.

The fillings have a base of mayo, fresh cream or custard but taste light. You feel you can wolf down a few of these rolls without getting comatose.

And I did just that the other night, when I went to the stand with two friends and we had dinner on the spot - straight out of paper cones. (For the record, we didn't get any food on our clothes but I did get some on my face and fingers.)

I began by taking bites of my friends' ham and cheese sandwich ($5.80) and tuna and egg sandwich ($5.80).

Both were good meaty, creamy mixes of textures and tastes. But my bratwurst sandwich ($6.50) was even better. The sausage was succulent and satisfying with sweet mayo, crisp lettuce and silky crepe.

I also had the lion's share of dessert. We asked for one crepe with strawberries, strawberry sauce and fresh cream ($4.80), one with sweet bean paste and fresh cream ($4.80) and one with Japanese chestnut paste and chocolate ice cream ($5.50) - and I ate most of them.

I have always been partial to the lovely, layered chocolate chestnut parfait ($9.80++) from Sun With Moon Japanese Dining & Cafe. The crepe with chestnut puree felt a little like that parfait to me except it was cheaper. Perfect.

Crepe House is a Japanese chain brought in by businessman Mave Yeo. The master franchisee in Singapore plans to set up 10 to 15 shops.

The crepes are made here by his staff, he says, but the batter is from Japan.

So are ingredients including fresh cream, custard, sweet bean paste and chestnut paste.

They have been flown all this way so you need not go too far for a few good crepes.

(Published in Straits Times, October 28, 2007)

Reif + James

80 Mohamed Sultan Road
#01-03 The Pier at Robertson Quay
Tel: 6238 8817
Opening hours: 11.30am to 3pm, 6pm to 10pm (Tue to Friday); 10am to 3pm, 6pm to 10om (Sat, Sun and public holidays)

Watching calories while eating out? The good news is that at Reif + James, you have plenty of options

A light appetiser could be the consomme of watercress with pan-fried garoupa ($16, dinner only). The clear, delicately scented soup was the perfect foil for the firm and meaty texture of the fish.

Another healthy choice was the grilled baby octopus (right) with lychee and lamb's lettuce in homemade chilli jam ($18, lunch; $22, dinner). The lemongrass, chilli and garlic in the olive oil-based dressing cut the tender, rich flesh perfectly.

For the mains, the fresh crab claw pasta with pinenuts and chilli padi in white wine sauce ($19, lunch; $26, dinner) is highly recommended. Here, the sweet, juicy taste of the crab is supported and enhanced by the other ingredients.

Another superb creation is the marinated oven-baked Chilean seabass with soba noodles in lemongrass broth ($32, lunch; $38, dinner). The texture of the fish is silky smooth, and I loved the miso marinade.

Unfortunately, though the desserts were truly luscious, they were also quite sinful. After the healthy appetiser and main, you could indulge with the duo of cr�me brulee - kaffir lime and Bailey's ($15, lunch and dinner). Otherwise, the chef can be persuaded to whip up a sorbet with mixed fruits.

(Published in Straits Times, Oct 31, 2007)

STI: Get set for more mushrooms

Nov 1, 2007

Get set for more mushrooms

Mushroom Park now offers five set meals, up from three, with different fungi combinations to whet your appetite

By Wong Ah Yoke 

 

SLIGHTLY more than a year after Mushroom Park opened last July, this Taiwanese mushroom hotpot restaurant in Serangoon Garden has expanded its offerings.

 

The concept is largely the same. You order from a choice of set meals, which include some mushroom starters, a selection of more mushrooms, vegetables and meat for the hotpot, and a dessert.

 

But where there used to be only three sets to choose from, you now get five, with prices ranging from $26.80 to $46.80 per person. Each comes with a different combination of mushroom varieties, and some also include a meat or fish.

 

The fish, offered in the tilapia fillet set meal ($36.80), is new. The other new set is the vegetarian set meal ($36.80).

 

If you are dining in groups of two or more, I would suggest you order a different set each. That way, you get a bigger selection of mushrooms and a mix of meat, fish and vegetables for a more varied and balanced meal.

 

In my case, I shared a dynasty set meal ($46.80) - which comes with both pork and striploin - and the tilapia fillet set meal with my companion.

 

The meal started with a little snack of shredded mushroom, which looked and tasted just like pork floss.

 

But the better starter was the xing bao mushroom sashimi that came next. The mushrooms were chunky and had a firm, crunchy texture. Served chilled with a soya sauce dip spiked heavily with wasabi, it tasted great with a cool, clean flavour that was totally grease-free.

 

Next came the steaming pot of mushroom soup that was put over the stove at the table. We were given a scoop of it to taste first to savour the pure essence of mushroom before the other ingredients were put in.

 

Those would be the raw mushrooms. The dynasty set had six varieties such as the brown-coloured pine mushroom, the white sponge-like monkey head mushroom and the firm and fleshy long net stinkhorn.

 

For the tilapia set, we got the chicken leg mushroom, another crunchy variety, as well as the long net stinkhorn.

 

Besides these, there were the 'today's specials', varieties which were in the latest shipments from Taiwan and China. For my dinner, for example, I had some interesting-looking pink mushrooms which were soft and spongy.

 

All the mushrooms were added to the pot and left to cook for seven minutes - to make sure that they were properly cooked. The waitress even left a running timer on the table to ensure that we did not jump the gun.

 

Once the buzzer went, it was time to feast. We added vegetables such as xiao bai cai and Tientsin cabbage to cook according to how soft we wanted them. The thinly sliced meat and fish cooked very quickly, however - half a minute at the most - so those went into the pot only when we wanted to eat them.

 

We had a choice of rice or steamed bun with the meal, and the restaurant had a new mushroom treasure rice which was cooked with mushroom stock and had bits of the fungus as well as corn and carrot mixed with the rice grains. Like the rest of the meal, it tasted clean and very healthy.

 

We felt full at the end of the meal but not heavy. That was because we got lots of vegetables to bulk up on fibre and little oil to weigh us down.

 

Even the desserts were very light.

 

There was a choice of green tea jelly and strawberry milk pudding. I prefer the former whose clean taste completed the healthy theme of the meal.

 

The milk pudding, however, needed to be richer to be satisfying. A healthy milk pudding was really neither here nor there.

 

MUSHROOM PARK RESTAURANT

87 Serangoon Garden Way

Tel: 6281-7600

Open: 11.30am to 2pm, 5.50 to 10pm



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