Easter Brunch at the Ritz Carlton (Singapore)

We have never been to an Easter brunch buffet. It's actually a little strange to call it brunch because it doesn't even start until 12pm! So it really is a lunch rather than Breakfast+Lunch! This was a champage brunch and there were other cocktails available including Easter Egg Jelly Shots.

Jelly Shots

Jelly Shots

Cocktail

Champagne, Apple Juice, Cocktail

The usual dining room is under renovation so Ritz Carlton had set up an air conditioned tent in the garden further adding to the Spring - Easter feeling.

The food was fresh and there was a big enough spread for you to be able to try everything. Whilst the range of food wasn't huge, I actually don't mind that because it gives you the option to really try everything and even come back for seconds on your favourites. For us, we are happy as long as there is a seafood station serving fresh oysters in the buffet and boy was it fresh. There was none of that metallic taste that you often get when you eat raw oysters.

One of the best things about the brunch is if you have kids, there was loads of entertainment for them. Or maybe it's also their trick so that you don't eat too much :p There was an Easter Egg Hunt, where whoever collected the most eggs (top 10 I think it was) got a prize of a humongous chocolate Easter Egg! And lucky us managed to nab 1, I was more proud of my little girl as she did it all on her own! The others that won it had their parents helping them.  There was also animal ride alongs and little sideshow games where you get as many prizes as you want regardless of whether you actually won or not.

Getting hand painting from the roving artists.

Animal Rides

Easter Egg Hunt time!

And we won a HUGE chocolate egg!

This balloon looks like a fairy, but is actually a dog.

The talented balloon artist.

Carnival Games!

More Carnival Games!

I think I should just let my pictures do the talking.....enjoy!

Iberico Ham

Pasta Station

Tandoori Bread

Dessert with Edible Lace

Choux Puff

Not so good macaron.

 

Sunday Brunch at Rokeby Bistro

I had always wanted to try this place but because of its location, smack bang in the middle of the private housing estate, parking has always been a big problem because there are only a handful of public parking for the few restaurants that are there. Luckily on this Sunday lunch time we managed to find a spot. 

For a Sunday lunch time I was also surprised at how quiet it was. There were a few occupied tables and a few reserved tables. As we browsed the menu we were going to order the steak, unfortunately we didn't realise that the Mains menu on Sundays is only served after 3pm! So I guess maybe that's why it wasn't that crowded. The brunch menu was pretty much limited to toast or various Eggs Benedicts served with brioche. There are also a few waffle options.

We ordered a Berry Smoothie, Eggs Royale, Eggs Blackstone, Plain Jane Waffles with Vanilla Ice cream. 

The Berry Smoothie was not that great. There was this weird taste in it that I can't put my finger on, is it an artificial berry flavouring? Dunno but we had a hard time finishing it. My morning home made berry smoothie tasted better. 

Eggs Royale and Blackstone are more or less the same. Royale has smoked salmon in it and Blackstone has a few tiny strips of streaky bacon (seriously skinny strips). But each one had 2 perfectly poached eggs which was topped with a rich (underseasoned) Hollandaise Sauce, some butter head lettuce served on a thick slice of brioche toast on a bed of wild rocket dressed with balsamic glaze. This was quite good and a really filling meal. 

My friend had previously mentioned to me that the waffles there are great. Well it wasn't too bad, it was light and fluffy and crispy - which is how I like my waffles. But it's too bad that our waffles were slightly burnt 😯 and you can only slightly hide the burnt taste with the ice cream and syrup. The ice cream was ok, smooth and creamy but I think it was vanilla ice cream with a hint of banana flavour.

I'd definitely go back to Rokeby again because I want to try the Mains and Appetisers. Best of all there's no GST and Service Charge 👍✌

Airfried Crabsticks Round 2!

We just can't get enough of Airfried Crabsticks, they're so tasty and you can even eat it with rice!

So I did some experimenting, this time made one with Nestum Cereal and Curry Leaves, kind of like Cereal Prawn. The cereal didn't quite stick to the crabsticks, I don't know why eventhough I've put a spoonful of oil. I could smell the cereal and the curry leaves though so it was nice and fragrant. 

The other flavour was a Hot and Spicy Seaweed flavour. I used the Big Bang brand, ripped the sheets in small pieces and used a hand blender to crush them up, then added them to the shredded crabsticks. It's also important to add a spoonful of oil so that the seaweed will stick. You will get some seaweed dropping off in the airfryer but it's ok.  

After the seaweed has been mixed in.

Towards the end of cooking it's better to cover the crabsticks as they'll fly up into the coil as they dry up. Make sure you stir every few minutes.

 

Yummy Yummy! 

From reading the airfrying groups people mentioned apart from Dodo brand crabsticks, Li Chuan one also airfries well. So I gave it a go. Straight away as I was shredding the crabstick I realised I didn't like it. It just wouldn't unroll and shred into wide strips like Dodo does. Instead it was more like matchsticks size. The taste isn't that great either compared to Dodo one. But it does crisp up faster and I noticed that they don't curl either as they crisp up. So I guess it's a matter of personal choice, in future for me, I will stick to Dodo frozen one.

The extra brown one is Dodo Brand, the Lichuan one on the bottom you can see doesn't curl up.

Airfried Crab Sticks

Since Chinese New Year is just around the corner, the airfrying groups on facebook are filled with pictures of Airfried Crab Sticks made by different people.

I have tried it a couple of times before but always they wouldn't end up very crispy or the crispiness was uneven, meaning some would be brown and some would still be kind of white and chewy. Actually my little one prefers it chewy rather than crispy!

From trial and error, I realised I had been cooking it at too high of a temperature at 200C. I'm lazy and most times just keep the temperature at 200C. But now I realised that when you lower the temperature to 160-180 degrees, it slowly dries out the crabsticks giving you a more even crunch and colour. You do have to keep on opening every few minutes or so and stir the contents around to loosen them because they do stick together when you first put it in. I also think that adding a drop of oil to coat the crab sticks before you cook them helps in maintaining their crunch, so I added a drop of Coconut Oil, hey anyway it's an oil that's actually good for you!

This time I used Dodo Brand of Crabsticks, and really I must say, they are the best ones I've made so far (don't know if the brand made a difference). Perhaps I should make more and share around to the in laws (and suck up a little) :)

After finished cooking.

During Cooking.