When Christmas season comes along, Montreux churns out limited-edition festive cakes with interesting flavours. Such as the Cream Cheese Strawberry Sudachi that we bought this year. The design is minimalist, but there’s no mistaking the Santa vibes.
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Early morning expedition to Shunfu Market for Hakka soon kueh
Late one night, as The Wife was scrolling through her Facebook feed, she noticed a friend’s photos of soon kueh that she had bought from Mei Zhen Hakka Delicacies (美珍客家美食) in Shunfu Market. I knew that the outcome was inevitable and pre-emptively said to her: “Gaja (가자)!” Which, as we all know, is Korean for “resistance is futile”.
Continue readingNothing beats the Deepavali muruku made by our neighbour
Tomorrow is Deepavali, the Festival of Lights, and we know when it’s approaching when our Indian neighbour starts preparing the front of their apartment to draw their annual art piece. It’s also when we eagerly anticipate receiving our annual gift of their lovely homemade muruku.
Continue readingThe sinfully sweet Turkish sweets of Shalaby Sweets
After spending an enjoyable eternity comparing the relative merits of each dessert and picking and choosing, we ended up with a wide assortment of kunafa, baklava and Turkish delights, weighing a total of 500 grams. Here’s what we bought that day. Don’t they look just so pretty sitting on a large white plate?
Continue readingOllella doesn’t just make yummy kueh kueh
When it comes to kueh kueh, Ollella ranks high on my list because of their fantastic kueh dadar. We recently discovered that they also cook home-style comfort food like nasi lemak, lontong and sate ayam and offer island-wide delivery. So, we ordered their family combo meal to sample what they had to offer.
Continue readingAng ku kueh doesn’t always have to be red
It’s good that traditional shops like Ji Xiang Confectionery are experimenting with different flavours and colours, instead of simply sticking with the classic tried-and-tested ones.
While some might think that this dilutes the original symbolism of the beloved ang ku kueh, these innovations do make it more attractive and relatable to the younger generation, who may otherwise just give it a miss totally.
Continue readingOnline vs offline durian
Durians are notoriously difficult to transport. No matter how airtight the packaging, durian molecules will somehow find a way to escape and announce their presence to anyone within a 10 metre radius.
If you own a car, at least you can keep your windows up to contain the fallout. But since we don’t, we either buy them from our neighbourhood fruit stall and walk them home, or order them online and get them delivered.
Continue readingSoft and chewy Japanese pan from Gokoku Bakery
I’ve always found it intriguing that the same word can have such similar pronunciations in different languages. Take, for example, the word “bread” in English. When you push it through Google Translate, you get パン (pan) in Japanese, pain in French and 빵 (ppang) in Korean.
Continue readingWhat goes well with yuzu sake? Why, yuzu pan of course
The Wife pointed to a dozen or so bottles that had the words ゆず written prominently on the label, with the brewer’s name 梅乃宿 in smaller font in the top right corner.
Apparently this was the seasonal 2021 Aragoshi Nama Yuzushu produced by Umenoyado, an unpasteurised and roughly-crushed version of her favourite yuzu sake.
The Look appeared in her eyes as she lovingly picked up a bottle.
No prizes for guessing what happened next.
Continue readingOndeh ondeh cake and other yummy kueh kuehs
We have a soft spot for Montreux Patisserie’s cakes, with the ondeh ondeh one being my particular weakness. I chalk it up to my love for Malay kueh kuehs, including the O.G. ondeh ondeh that inspired the eponymous cake.
It’s just so satisfying to chomp into a chewy mochi-like ball and having liquid gula melaka burst out, mixing with the soft pandan skin and coconut shavings for an intensely flavourful bite. While the cake version can’t replicate the explosion, it makes up for it with an authentic rendition of the complex flavours.
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