Sloppy Joe Cheese Wedges

I absolutely adore chips especially potato wedges. With the excess Sloppy Joe fillings leftover, I decide to made Sloppy Joe Cheese Wedges - a decadent version of Carl's Jr Chili Fries. 


Sloppy Joe Cheese Wedges

• Potato Wedges
• Sloppy Joe
• Mozarella Cheese

To control fat intake, I decide to oven cook the potato wedges with toaster oven. You need 30 mins to attain the crispiness of the deep fried version. If you're hard press for time, feel free to fry it in the deep fryer. As for making the Sloppy Joe, please refer to my earlier post on Sloppy Joe Pizza Naan. Line the wedges on baking dish and top it with Sloppy Joe and mozzarella and shove it into the toaster oven and toast for another 5 to 10mins till the cheese melts.

No Frills Crispy Fried Chicken Buffet - Dallas Fried Chicken & Ribs PMPO

To usher the first day of New Year 2010 is very simple for me, I just manage to book 2 prime seats for Avatar 3D at Cathay Cineplex at the last minute quite a impossible feat I would say. After the movie, we wander aimlessly along Orchard until we settle at PoMo aka ex-Paradiz Centre that got a face-lift and we chanced upon Dallas Fried Chicken & Ribs, a UK Fried Chicken Franchise with a Fried Chicken Buffet $11 per pax from 3pm to 6pm.

We decide to give it a "GO" as we were very famish and avid fried chicken lovers. Before that, I had read several mix reviews on Dallas. But I decide I should try Dallas with an open mind to see how they scale against leading Fried Chicken Franchise like Popeye & KFC. At buffet price of $11, it is a steal consider KFC family feast of 8 pieces chicken easily cost $25 and Popeye 3 pieces can easily reach $9.90.

The $11.00 buffet covers all the items in Dallas menu from Fried Chicken Wings, Nugget, Fish or Chicken Burger and Rolo (which is a chicken prata wrap) and 1 can of soft drink of your choice. We decide to go for the main highlight of the buffet and order 6 pieces of Dallas Fried Chicken. It took about 10 minutes or so and piping hot fried chicken was served to us on a tray layered with . The freshly fried Dallas Chickens were so fresh it literally "cooked" our fingers when we attempt to handle it. Adverse hunger had reinforced our fingers to withstand the heat and we managed to take a bite into the freshly fried chicken.

My first bite instantly conclude (freshly fried) Dallas chicken can easily KO Popeye & KFC off the fried chicken crown as the chicken is so succulent and juicy with crispy skin. In the flavour department, Dallas resemble KFC's original fried chicken. If you expecting the crispy outer crust like KFC's crispy or Popeye's, you will be disappointed. As I prefer the KFC's original flavour fried chicken (as compared to those crispy crust fried chicken) make Dallas's an ideal KFC replacement as you can never get this level of crispiness with KFC's original.

After having our 9th piece of fried chicken, I decide to order a fish burger as I hitting my limit and decide to give their fish burger a try while my friend settle for Rolo to end our buffet spree. Don't expect a MCD fillet`o'fish here as the fish fillet is those normal cheap fish fillet you can get at supermart. As for the Rolo, the prata wasn't fried crispy enough. Overall, the Rolo is still pliable if you not that fussy.

To objectively conclude my review, I would say Dallas is a no frills fried chicken restaurant that offer above average fried chicken (if you're avid KFC original fried chicken fan) with strength in price and freshness. Do note, Sometimes, you might be serve with those pre-fried chicken that was kept in the warmer. (For Buffet Only) You can tried ask the Dallas staff to fried a fresh batch and they will kindly oblige to your request (if they do not have too much fried chicken on the warmer). But be prepare to wait for 30 minutes, if you want your fried chicken to freshly fried.

Adult Themed Burger King - BK Whopper Bar (Clarke Quay)

After having a hearty lunch at Bismillah Biryani, we decide to go jalan jalan in the search of new food haunts. After traversing through Suntec City, we finally set foot at Clarke Quay and surprise to find a BK Whopper Bar that differs from the regular BK outlets.

Upon stepping into the BK Whopper Bar, we thought we enter a night joint as the interior is dimly lit with rolls of plush leather seats on one side (Link1) and round top tables and chair on the other side (Link2).    

As we move those the cavernous passageway, we are greeted with BK flash menu. You won't find your average BK Rendang or BK Fish Burger here. BK Whopper Bar had revamp their menu (Link) and even give you to option to customise your own burger with topping of your choice. The most significant difference you find in Whopper Bar is alchoholic beverage (Tiger & Heinenken Beer) is available making it a more adult theme fast food outlet and first of it kind in Singapore.   

One of the BK Whopper Bar menu offering caught my eye, Angry Whopper - jalapenos, onions with a splash of Angry Sauce. I'm a fan of hot sauce therefore I proceed to order Double Angry Whopper meal set with 500ml Heinenken Beer priced at $15.90. The burger was made fresh in big open kitchen behind the cashier counter giving me a visual eye candy.

When I take my first bite into Angry Double Whopper, my first impression is BK Whopper Bar beef patties are significantly thicker than other outlets. The Angry Sauce wasn't that tantalizing as the spicy level is not up to my mark yet but the jalapenos do pack a bit of punch. The major displeasure I had with Angry Whopper is the burger bun start to disintegrate as I take further bites as a result my hands are both drenched with the sauce. Luckily, the restroom is just next door for me to do a quick clean up. Overall, it is a valiant effort for BK to revamp their product line. But BK Whopper Bar need to do a lot more if they plan to compete with local and oversea burger house that are offering freshly baked (non-disintegrating) buns and localize flavour meat patties like tandoori chicken.       

Dory Fish Herb Nugget

I had very bad experience with those "Ready To Fry" fish nuggets retailing in major supermarkets. They are a major disappointment as most are either thickly coated with flour or the fish nugget filling is fish meat blend into a mush then re-constitute into a nugget. The taste is not one who would desire.

Lately McCormick release a new product Fish Nugget Mix to address this issue. I bought a pack at NTUC Fairprice at promotion price of $0.99. I decided to give it a go since I got some Dory Fish available to experiment with. The dish came out quite appealing as the nugget is not too thickly coated and the herbs in the crispy nugget crust really compliment the dory fish well. The result is further justify by.the thumbs up given by my mum and her students.

   Dory Fish Herb Nugget

• 2 pieces of sutchi fillet slice nugget to nugget size
• 1 pack of McCormick Fish Nugget Mix
• 1 egg whip and dilute with a bit of water
• cooking oil

Make sure you wash and drain the sutchi fillet before you slice the sutchi fillet into nugget bite size. Dip the sutchi fillet in the egg wash and coat it with McCormick Fish Nugget Mix. Heat up a frying pan with cooking oil for 5-10 mins, fry the nugget until it turn golden brown. Drain and serve it hot with tartare sauce or mayonnaise.  

East Meets West - Pork Satay/Kutupat Vs Hot Chili Chicken Chipolata HotDog

It is very fortunate to live in a heartland whereby you have 5 different supermarkets located pretty close to each other as you will be spoiled for choice with different exclusive offers given. After rummaging through the offers this week I decide to whip up a East Meets West Saturday lunch today with the offer items I gathered on Friday. Hot Chili Chicken Chipolatas HotDog not exactly a True West (LOL) as I don't have hot chili at moment and substitute it with beef keema that I had cooked in excess.

Pork Satay/Kutupat Vs Hot Chili Chicken Chipolatas HotDog

• 1 Gardenia Hotdog Bun (Hotdog Bun free from NTUC with Purchase 1 Loaf of Bread)
• 1 Chicken Chipolata ($4.95 10 Pcs Chicken Chipolatas Promotion from Carrefour)
• 1/2 Cup Mozzarella 
  
• 5 Sticks City Pork Satay ($7.00 Promotion from Sheng Siong)
• 2 Kutupat ($3.20 Promotion from Sheng Siong)
• 1 Beef Keema (substitute for Hot Chili)
  

City Pork Satay are sold in a pack of 20 stick with peanut sauce. Empty the peanut sauce in microwave bowl and heat it under high settings for 11/2 minutes. Heat up the electric grill and coat it with oil for 5 minutes then grill the satay each side for 5 minutes and ready to serve. For cooking the Kutupat, boil a pot of water with salt added add in the kutupat rice pack sure it is fully submerge into the bowling water and boil it for 45 mins or more, turning it at times until it is fully bloated up. You can do it the day before as the kutupat need to cool down adequately so that you can cut it without the rice sticking to the knife.

Heat a frying pan with a drizzle of oil, fried the chipolata until the skin start to turn crisp. Slit the the hotdog bun length wise and insert the chipolatas into the hotdog bun. Drizzle the hot dog bun with Beef Keema and top it with mozzarella cheese. Microwave it under high setting for 1 mins till the cheese melts.

Smoked Black Pepper Duck Toasted Sandwich

Rice & noodles dishes are the common dinner choice for average Singaporean in heartland heavily populated by food court or hawker centre. I personally don't like to eat the same kind of food that you can commonly find in food court or hawker centre.

One can say fast food can offer alternative economical dinner option, but the fast food serving have shrunk considerable over the years and their menu still stagnate with the same offering. Even new fast food item are rehash from their current menu without any novelty, so you left with not much choice or option.

Smoked Black Pepper Duck Toasted Sandwich is one of the few unique sandwiches I created so far for my dinner and managed to capture on my PSP camera. As most of them tend disappear into my stomach way before they get a chance to be photograph. LOL     

Smoked Black Pepper Duck Toasted Sandwich

• 12 Pcs of KSP Smoked Black Pepper Duck (no longer retail in Sheng Siong try contact KSP)
• 1/2 Tomato Sliced Thinly
• 4 Pcs Bread
• 1 Hard Boiled Egg Sliced
• 2 Slice of Cheddar Cheese
• Sandwich Maker (Any Brand)
  

For those who frequent Saizeriya (an economical italian/western restaurant located at Liang Court) will notice there is a smoked duck in their menu. The smoked duck offer in Saizeriya is source from KSP. By sheer luck, I manage to purchase it from Sheng Siong during the CNY period. As it's no longer retail in Sheng Siong, I take great care not to deplete the smoked duck too fast and keep some even until now.


Boil the egg with Burton Egg Timer until it hit Medium indicator and chill it with cold water and peel it. Use the egg slicer to get equal portion of egg slices. For the smoked duck, you need 6 slice with 2-3mm thickness as too thick, one will find the smoke duck too overwhelming in the sandwich.

With sandwich maker, place in the following order bread, smoked duck, slice tomato, slice egg, cheese and finally the bread. Close the sandwich maker cover and power it and toast until slight brown. There you have a hot tasty sandwich as alternative meal for your dinner with just 15 mins cooking time.   

French Garlic Bratwurst with Bacon Mash, Mesculin Salad & Butter Pepper Baby Carrot

With the recession ongoing, cost cutting is like decree that everyone have to adhere whether they like it or not. Despite the brave front everyone try to put up, it is evident this recession affect everyone. I also can't escape the effect of this recession but being a bargain hunter for food condiment I go to even bigger extreme to cook great tasting food at fraction of its actual price.

This dish is the cheapest and fastest western food I ever cooked. Why fastest? Cooking time only 15 mins is needed. Why cheapest? The total ingredients cost only $2.17. Enough talk on with the cooking procedure.

  
French Garlic Bratwurst with Bacon Mash, Mesculin Salad & Butter Pepper Baby Carrots

• 1 French Garlic Bratwurst (6 pcs pack at $6.95 at Carrefour Promotion)
• 3 Tablespoon Idaho Bacon Mash Potato Powder (1 pack at $1.75 at NTUC FairPrice Promotion)
• 1 Small Bowl of NTUC Mesculin Salad Pack (1 pack at $3.75)
• 1 Small Bowl of Emborg Baby Carrot ( 1 pack given free by NTUC FairPrice)
• 1 SCS Unsalted Butter Disposable Pack ( given free when purchase SCS cheese)
• Pinch of Ground Pepper
• Pinch of Salt
• Few Squeeze of Ajinomoto Mayonnaise

If you left the bratwurst pack in the freezer, you might have issue in separating it. Here is a tip you can separate each bratwurst easily without throwing all of them into the microwave to defrost. With the pack fully still seal, hold one side of the pack and hammer it on a solid bar counter or table. At impact, the bratwurst will separate into each piece.


Put 1 frozen bratwurst into the microwave set to defrost 1 minute. Heat the grill until ready to grill or until the ready to grill indicator light up, oil both side of the grill with sufficient oil so as to have nice grill mark on the bratwurst. Put the bratwurst on the grill and close the top grill cover to grill for 15 mins. Which it is grilling you can start preparing the rest of the sides.


In a microwaveable bowl put in half a cup of water and microwave it at high setting for 2 minutes. Scoop 3 tablespoon of Idaho Bacon Mash Potato powder into the bowl of heated water and stir until all the powder absorb all the water. The powder will expand and you have your Bach Mash Potato ready.


Next, pour baby carrot into a microwave bowl and sprinkle pinch of salt and ground pepper on the carrot and add in the butter. Use a microwave glade wrap and seal the bowl and microwave on high settings for 3 minutes. After that, give it a stir to ensure all the carrots even coated with melted butter and pepper.


You can start setting up the plate with the side. After 15mins, the grill bratwurst will be ready to serve with the side.

   

Tired of Your Regular French Fries

It been a while since I updated the blog. Been busy with work since the new year started, nevertheless grocery shopping is always a stress reliever for me than being a chore for most people. With the shopping list that I drafted out in my mind, I decided to make my first stop at Bugis Junction to see the renovation progress with the basement. To my surprise, I found a rather interesting food stall (Yella Fellas) in Bugis Junction basement selling only French Fries. Yes French Fries not those you find in KFC, MacDonalds but Fries that are straight cut from russet potato and serve with assorted gravy (beef gravy, etc), dip sauce (wasabi mayo, salsa, cheese, etc) and condiments (crab meat, etc).

Unlike fast food french fries, Yella Fellas Fries are made straight from russet potato and did not undergo treatment to increase it physical mass while the potato pulp is seriously missing which is common in fast food restaurant fries. I found one particular Yellow Fellas French Fries combo rather unique as the french fries is served with real Spicy Crab meat topping and I decided give a try. Unfortunately, it is only available by 12pm and I was too early. Rather than waiting 1 hour, I decide to settle for the next best combo The Poutine - French Fries drizzle with beef gravy and serve with premium cheese $4.90 (not those cheese sauce you see KFC cheese fries but cheese cubes)

After 15 mins wait, I was serve with a piping hot tray of fries drizzle with beef gravy and cheese. Pardon the lack of photo as it is hard to take a picture with a PSP cam with one hand holding the tray while trying to fix the camera device to my PSP. My first impression - the fries is rather crisp on the outside but full of pulp in the inside which is nice and do not have the oily aftertaste you get from those fries in fast food restaurant. The beef gravy is a disappointment as it taste like instant gravy sauce (Gravox, Erin or Bistro) as I was expecting to see bits of ground beef coupled with beefy thick stock similar to the beefy sauce they serve in MOS burger. The premium cheese (cream cheese) serving is rather generous but it doesn't look goes that well with hot fries as it start to disintegrate, I would prefer if they serve with Feta cheese as they tend to be more resistance to heat.

Overall, it is a valiant attempt to bring novelty to Singapore boring F&B scene where there are so many food outlet selling similar food items (Donuts, Taiwan XXL Chicken etc). Yellow Fellas really need to strengthen their toppings in order justify the price for their fries. For those bored with fast food french fries and wanted something new and exciting can give it a try.