Aston's Specialties@The Cathay Singapore

A friend of mine has birthday today and is planning on getting steak. This reminded me of my bfs birthday 08 in Singapore, where we went to a popular place to have some steak too. If you've been to the Cathay Building you've probably seen people outside Aston's Specialties queuing. If a lot of people queue, it can only be good, right? Well, we'll see...
For a start we had garlic bread. A yummy appetizer that simply belongs to steak.















Afterwards my bfs steak and side dishes came. Mixed veggies and deep-fried onion rings.





















After some minutes waiting my Wagyu beef (rare) also arrived. BUT, it wasn't rare... more of a medium. I like my steak almost raw, but this one was almost well-done.





















A close-up of my bfs steak, he had a different one, sirloin or something but I can hardly remember.

The summary: the meat was not as soft and juicy as we expected from such queues. It wasn't bad either, but for the price (my Wagyu was 34S$, around 17€ at that time) I expect much more. Otherwise I could buy some meat from a butcher and go fry it myself. 7.5/10 overall.

I hope the steak place (Maredo) in Vienna is better, but since they import (say frozen) the meat from South America I'm curious if I'll get something bloody, soft and juicy there. Will take pics and tell ya of course.

Oysters and brains...

Today I discovered some pics that people would usually cringe about... (I just say: brains...). But first I wanna show you some nice raw oysters.

Nice, big pieces served with ice and lime. Each oyster costs around 3-4€. Steep price, but they're sooo worth it, if you like the taste of raw oysters that is. The pics were taken in Taipei, but you can get smaller oysters @ Naschmarkt for 1,80€ already. They cost you 1,80€ if you eat them there (will be opened for you), if you choose to have them at home, you only pay 1€ per piece, but since I have no clue about opening them without hurting myself I'll eat them at the market... The only gripe: they are saltier than what I'm used too in Asia. I'll give the oysters in Taipei a 9.5/10 and those in Vienna an 8.5/10.

Now something more unusual: pork brain in herbal soup. The orange things are a small species of dates. The soup usually contains those dates, some other herbs and some kind of meat (sometimes chicken). Here we have some brains ^^

If you never had brains (no pun intended) you should try some, because it's sooo soft and yummy. The flavor is mild, very much like bone marrow (another thing that might make you cringe... but I'm talking bout beef or lamb bones, so chill).

Nice pics eh? Next time you'll get something more usual again ^^

Chocolate and Soljanka

I recently bought some Ritter Sport chocolate on sale @ Zielpunkt. It's amazing how many more Ritter Sport variations they have than Billa, a more 'reputable' or better looking supermarket in Vienna... Anyway, each of these cost 79Cent if you buy two or more.
So on the left we have a sort of cookie chocolate, a famous Christmas-cookie called Spekulatius in milk chocolate and some spicy filling. On its right we have 'Olympia', with a yogurt, honey, nut and dextrose filling. The one on the bottom has a caramell and nuts filling. My very favorite is the last one, it doesn't contain the gooey kinda caramel but more of a cream with bits of hazelnut. Everything fits together here (8/10). The Olympia was also cool, but tasted mostly like chocolate and yogurt (7.5/10). The Spekulatius one is the least impressive, it does have a Spekulatius taste, but usually the cookie tastes better and more addictive on their own (6.5/10).
















Now one of my very favorite soups: Soljanka, actually a specialty from the former German Democratic Republic. I stumbled upon its recipe by chance and it sounded appealing. You basically cook some Letscho, fry some left-over meat (I always include bacon and a hot dog). Throw them together, add water, beef stock, tomato paste and some spices and let it cook for ~10min. Finally add some chopped pickles, cook for another 1min. and it's ready to serve... very, very hearty and addictive. The fried bacon gives a lot of flavor to the veggies and the hot dog pieces give you some meat to chew on.
















It does take around 1 hour from taking out the ingredients to serving the soup, but it's totally worth it. If anyone is interested I'll post the (more or less) exact recipe. 9.5/10 for the third decent soup I can make (the first is garlic cream soup and the second is french onion soup, but I save that for another time).

Salzburg - Sternbräu

It's astonishing how many food pictures are forgotten between everything else. So this is what I dug up from a short visit to Salzburg in summer. We have some kind of flatrate card for trains which is launched for the summer months and students to explore Austria. Of course I wanted to go to Salzburg (one of 3 cities in Austria with LV and one of 2 with Hermès I believe ... but that's another story). After the 2 and a half hours of sitting hungry on the train we decided to eat something @ Sternbräu which is conveniently located in the heart of the city near the famous shopping streets. However, when we tried to find a seat most empty tables read that one should find another one... WTF, it's obviously a tourist place and the service isn't really amazing when it comes to attention. Oh well, I hoped the food would be nice. So I ordered the plate of the day, ox tongue with seasonal vegetables and mashed potatoes. It's topped with horseradish and roast onions. The sauerkraut on the top left is a side of my bf's dish, but first I'll tell you about mine: the tongue was yummy, the vegetables a bit too soft for my liking and the potatoes were so so, the roast onions added a bit of taste, but their tough texture (instead of crispy) indicated they weren't so fresh. I believe the plate was around 10€. I'd give it a 7/10, good, but I wouldn't order again.
















My bf got the typical roast pork with bread dumpling and sauerkraut. Generous amount of meat one has to say, but one more dumpling instead of the second piece of meat would have done too. The meat wasn't as tender as it could have been, so I only give a 6.5/10. All in all it's decent, but I'm sure there are better places out there serving those dishes.
















As dessert we took one huge Salzburger Nockerl together. It's basically baked egg white with lotsa sugar and a hint of egg yolk lol. Sets you back by 4€ I think. This one was fresh from the oven (as it's not possible to serve otherwise) and quite yummy. I'm looking for one with a more complex taste however, I believe some recipes use lemon zest and a tiny bit of flour. So this one gets 7.5/10.

















Overall I wouldn't go there again. I believe it's success is tied to its location and history, but the food lacks a bit IMO. I always think something can be better, unless I'm proved otherwise by a heavenly dish, happens sometimes...

Godiva, Fruits and Sushi in Taiwan

Upon chewing my raw cauliflower I was thinking of more food pics on my hard disk. I knew I had more, but wasn't sure where they were... so I dug up travelling pics and voila! This is from my February 09 Taiwan visit.
If you like chocolate you probably know Godiva. Long story short they have high prices. I was eager to find out if they're worth it. Look at those nice pralines, 1 piece of them costs around 2€... (you can get whole chocolate bars in Austria for 80cent to 1€... from your ordinary supermarket though).

We have some seasonal (hence the snowflake) spice praline, a coconut, a raspberry, a pear and something else... and yeah, I'm too lazy to look up their exact names or rather, they're not really worth to be looked up... let's say you get a few bites off each praline and they taste decent, not too sweet, some more flavorful than the other, BUT not worth the high price tag. Probably I'm too spoilt by European/Austrian chocolates already, as the cheap ones taste pretty decent too (and probably that's the reason why Godiva isn't widely available here).

However, there is something I love by Godiva... the regular Chocolixir, iced chocolate *__* Before tasting it I had the fear it would taste like molten chocolate icecream... don't get me wrong, I love chocolate in general, like it as pudding or cake, but most chocolate icecreams I've tried just taste rotten... dunno how to describe it better, but when given the choice I stay away from chocolate ice cream. This one however, doesn't taste rotten AT ALL, but it's rather rich, straight chocolate taste, a bit sweet, but not overwhelming. The whipped cream goes well with it and the blended ice is evenly distributed. Now this goodness is priced at 4€ (standard Starbucks price, I generally think Starbucks is overpriced in Austria, but the Chocolixir isn't...). Still worth it, I sipped two of that calorie-bombs in September and would also get it again in cold months. That's how good it is... oh well, 9.5/10. I should be thankful we don't have Godiva shops in Austria with Chocolixir, or I'd get even fatter.

Now something healthy... fruit. But they're pretty sweet to. Ever seen a custard apple? They look like the following when sold. Sizes vary, and usually you should let them ripen for a few days until the green peel feels soft and the white flesh is mushy. Then you pick up each 'scale' and eat off the flesh, sometimes more flesh with a dark brown seed will hang there too. Don't eat the seed... well the taste: very sweet, custard like obviously, distant banana-flavor, mild, yummy, but actually not really describable... try one out, it's really worth it (ripened!).

The following is a variation of the above, it's a pineapple custard apple (bad translation probably, sorry) and tastes a tad sweeter, with a touch of pineapple taste added to the usual taste. Well, also very nice... I'll give those fruits 9 outta 10 (and am wondering now what would actually deserve a 10).

Next up is a sushi meal I had at Dean & Deluca @ Breeze Center Taipei. It was actually to be closed in January due to financial trouble (sells expensive Euro and US-made groceries, and also some dishes), but wasn't... I don't know why, but was happy I got this nice Salmon-Avocado california roll.

It tasted good and was priced at, I believe 3-4€, ok for me living in hyperexpensive Austria, but in Taiwan you can get a bigger meal for 3€ in foodcourts and -stalls. 8/10
That's it for today... let's see what I'll dig up tomorrow haha

Selfmade Pizza - in the old days + dough recipe

I tried to make pizza a couple of times, including making the dough myself, however, they always turned out bland. On the one hand I used too little salt for the dough, on the other I overloaded the pizza with stuff, that wasn't salty enough on its own (veggies). Last but not least I didn't realize one needs to use very high heat and bake for a short time... So this is what i looked like back then:
Almost finished...

Ready to eat:

My pizzas nowadays look a bit different, the dough is flatter and I don't put THAT MUCH stuff on it anymore. To make this post a little more useful I'll tell you how I do my dough now (taken from my favorite Austrian cookbook by Plachutta:

-400g flour (480type)

- 1/4l water

- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

- 25g yeast

- Salt (approx. 1 teaspoon or to tase)

- 1 teaspoon sugar

First mix the yeast with sugar and warm water. Let it grow for 10min. Then add the oil, salt, flour and water, work it until it's non-sticky dough. Then let the dough rest in a warm place for at least 30min. Then knead it again a bit, then spread the dough evenly across baking paper. Then spread tomato sauce, cheese, some pizza spices and whatever else you want on it. Finish with a bit of salt unless you know it's salty enough. Put the pizza into the preheated oven (I use 230° celsius and 10min, professional pizza is baked at 400-500° for some minutes, but I know most people don't have such an oven at home...). Be careful not to burn yourself when loading in and out... Enjoy your selfmade pizza!

Jell-O Time

If there is something weird-looking, then it's jello and I have to try it... Jello is more of an American-thing and finding more interesting flavors can be sort of a challenge in Austria. So whereever I go I will check out the dessert section to see whether I can find something new.
Here we have the best-looking: blue berries, by Jell-O brand. A food-loving university colleague was so nice to bring me this flavor along with some other Jell-O boxes. Thank you again (I know you'll be reading this :P)! The flavor was decent, but I mostly liked this jello because of the color... I love blue, in anything lol.
The following green jello is lime-flavored and contains no sugar (artificial sweeteners... I try to avoid them though). It's Jell-O brand too and I bought it in Singapore. It tastes the way dish liquid smells, not so yummy...
Here is a japanese brand I cannot remember, but it's black grape jello and was very delicious. Realistic flavor and the right consistency. I've bought some grape jello again (with different packaging) and hope it turns out well... more on it when the time comes.

Last but not least my funny creation made from orange-flavored jello. I put some banana slices, whipped cream and peppermint sirup over it... it did turn out yummy! Just the peppermint sirup wasn't really necessary.

That's it for now on jello...