Ayam penyek.. enak!

Who could miss them? This ubiquitous dish is now everywhere in Singapore; imported from our friendly Indonesian neighbours. I must admit that Indonesians make some of the planet's best fried chicken; the famous ones being ayam goreng Suharti in Yogjakarta. They usually use free-range chickens ("ayam kampung") with noticeably less meat so it makes you crave for more. For me, every mouthful must consist of a piece of chicken, the crumbly-crispy fried bits & the kick-ass sambal.. now that's heaven in a spoon.

Khmer Food

I've already been prepped about the yummy-licious food when I visit Cambodia. Expecting it to be close to Vietnamese cuisine, I could not be more wrong. It turned out very different & it could stand out amongst other world cuisines. It was Khmer food that formed the basis of modern Thai cuisine when the latter invaded the Khmer Empire some eons ago & stole their recipes. Their specialty? Amok fish. I tried it a couple of times in its various incarnations.. all delicious. My favourite eating place in Siem Reap is the Khmer Kitchen which is a little gem of a restaurant that is fast gaining popularity with visitors. Great place to sample traditional Khmer grub. My take on Khmer food is that it is really, really simple & basic. Nothing fancy but it excites the palate.

We started off with traditional dumplings with vegetable fillings with sweet chilli sauce as a side condiment. Also a basic spicy vegetable soup to get the appetite going.

Dinner was followed by the highlight: amok fish curry. Really nothing to look at it but the tender white fish pieces in a creamy curry was satisfying. Just a hint of spiciness. Actually reminds me of Thai green curry - who knows, maybe the Thais were influenced by this dish. We accompanied the amok with something a bit more unusual - pumpkin curry. Pieces of chicken & pumpkin cooked in a tangy red curry.

After an early morning start (5am) to see the temples, we came back to the hotel for a bit of breakfast. That's when we found ourselves addicted to the chicken porridge. Chock full of flavor, there were generous amounts of chicken bits, carrots, spring onions and a fried egg in there to complete the meal. Must have been boiling in a rich chicken stock to reach its state of gastronomical nirvana. The fried vermicelli noodles was tasty too... the noodles were of just the right crunch. It was however a tad on the salty side.

Never one to turn away from stall foods despite the questionable hygiene, I dug head on. Ordered the rice paper rolls with pork & assorted vegetables. For mains, it was local fried noodles. Vegetables must be cheap here because mine came with a third of the plate covered in green leaves! At least they are taking care of my diet!

What better way to wash it all down with the local brew, aptly called Angkor beer. The missus could not resist the bamboo shoot soup.

I could not leave Siem Reap without trying the amok fish again. This time it was more of the traditional style of preparation - fish in the signature curry paste, steamed in banana leaves. Their specials was just not fish, but they served it along with chicken & pork. And of course, a plate of stir-fried vegetables, to get the insides churning!


I don't get a lot of Cambodian restaurants here but I now have something to look forward too other than the usual suspects of Vietnamese & Thai food. Khmer food now completes the Indochina dining experience.

Review of Siloso Beach Resort

Wanting a short & quick getaway from the grime of Singapore city, I headed to (gasp!) Sentosa Island! Once banished as a pathetic destination by the locals, I must say Sentosa has improved by leaps & bounds. So I decided that we should pick a new resort to cozy up and Siloso Beach Resort was it. We arrived at night so there wasn't much to see and the rather tiny & cramped reception did not help make things better.

The rooms were tastefully furnished. I guess when the furniture is new, it makes the overall experience much more pleasant.

The rooms are nothing out of the ordinary except for the rather fancy designer-looking couch and flat screen TV.The pool was a stunner though. To keep to the theme of the tropics, there is a huge waterfall and you can take it from me that it hurts if you stand right beneath it.

The pool is long enough for swimming laps. But the palm trees & greenery really makes it feel like an lavish & remote island resort in the middle of the Pacific. We also had the pool to ourselves which was heavenly.For dinner, it was salami & ham pizza at Trapizza; an alfresco beachside pizza joint just next to Rasa Sentosa. It was the thin-crust variety and very scrumptious. To cap it all off, oreo cheesecake from the hotel cafe. Sweet.

A foodie trip to Malacca

Or as we spell in in Malay - Melaka. Nothing beats a short foodie trip to Melaka, which is only a 3 hours ride away from Singapore. Much like Penang, it is a food paradise - a smorgasboard of local fast food and scrumptious Baba-Nyonya cuisine.
(From top left; clockwise): Famous chicken rice balls with so-so-tender chicken & fragrant rice; Peranakan-style nasi lemak, rojak with fish cake & special sweet sauce, laksa lemak with heart-stopping coconut-based curry. Yum.

Then comes the Peranakan-inspired cuisine. It is slightly different from the Penang variety but yummy nonetheless. We had our initiation at Nancy's Kitchen off Jonker Street. We could not stop ordering so we just ate our way through the night.

(from top left, clockwise): fish maw soup; pork belly stew; eggplant in sambal sauce; sayur lodeh, wild boar curry, chicken curry with candle nut.

It's belly-heartening to know that all this is only 3 hours away!

Eating it up in Angsana Resort Spa, Bintan

From top left; clockwise: prawn crackers (keropok) with sambal,
bakmi sop, beef burger, nasi goreng special

After living it up, you have to give your tummy a treat too. What I could not stomach was the USD price tag for everything in an Indonesian resort! But I digress.

As simple as it looks, their prawn crackers are just scrumptious especially when paired with their own version of sambal. Oh wow. Missues ordered the soup noodles (bakmi) for USD5, gulp. What would I be doing in Indonesia if I don't order the ubiquitous nasi goreng special (USD9)? Double gulp but I keep telling myself, I'm paying for presentation! *haha* You get the crackers again.. and the sambal.

And as a goodbye meal, why not hang at the beach cafe, gulping down ice-cold beer Bintang and savoring the humble burger - succulent beef patty in between toasty buns?

Living it up in Angsana Spa & Resort, Bintan

What is life if we don't live it up a bit? After slugging it out month after month, spending endlessly on my credit card, I managed to earn enough loyalty points for a 2-night stay in Angsana Spa & Resort in Bintan. Bintan is an Indonesian island just 45 minutes from Singapore by ferry. Alright, alright... enough with the screaming already. Yes, it IS commercialised and the fact that you pay for everything in USD makes it worse. But it is close by and great for a quick escape.

Angsana is related (read: cheap) to the more up-market branded resorts of Banyan Tree. Anyhow, they still cater to the luxury-seeking, comfort-loving creatures out there.

Room: Tropical-themed. Had a green all-in-one-jungle canvas hanging over the bed. I expected it to be a bit more lavish but nevertheless, it was comfortable. There is a nice view of the pool & the beach. The missus did complain about the unglamorous toiletries. Ooh.

The real reason I decided to hang out here is the SPA! My gosh, it was nice. But I'm not sure if it's the essential oils talking. As soon as you step into their "office", you are hit with a sweet-smelling aroma with mesmerizing music... you feel so relaxed and happy. So elated is your mood that you won't notice the 3-digit price for their treatments. They all sound so good and oh, so luxurious.

We went ahead for the couple's session. The treatment room is located on the second floor and facing the sea. They started to pipe in soothing hypnotic music and got the aromatherapy lamps going. The combination of the outside heat, sweet oil and soft breeze is enough to get you into la la land in an instant. You would not even notice the kneads and presses by the expert hands of the therapists.

Life is bliss...

Underwater photography

Inspired by some of the great underwater photographs you see on the Internet, I was motivated to try and incorporate it into my photography repertoire. I already owned a Canon A-80 digicam so an underwater housing is all that is required to take my new hobby to the next level. After some time hunting, I parted my cash for the DC-WP900 - made specifically for my camera! Sweet.



I took the plunge! Adjusting for the additional buoyancy, I dived into the depths of Perhentian Island's many sites & snapped away, thrilled with the anticipation of snapping every fish that swims by & every critter that made its home on the corals. And how "thrilled" I was with the results:



I was devastated! Looks like it is not as easy as swim, spot, snap! I will have to part with more moolah to get myself a strobe & more dives to find the perfect shot. Sigh, why is it that I always gravitate towards expensive hobbies? I should have stuck with stamp collecting.

Nevertheless, I did get some "decent" shots. Check them out on my photo album or slideshow.

But I comfort myself because if all else fails, you can always FIND NEMO - it is probably the easiest fish to photograph.