There are many legends revolving around the Mid-Autumn Festival. It is said that mooncakes first came about in the Sung Dynasty when the Chinese rebelled against the iron fist of the Mongols. By concealing secret messages within the sweet filling of pastries, they managed to orchestrate the rebellion.

Obviously, mooncakes today carry no political purpose, but if you happen to be down at the annual mooncake fair at Takashimaya, you’ll find they’re still very much capable of stirring the senses within moon cake lovers.

City News braved the hordes to bring you the top ten mooncakes available this year.

1. Bakerzin: Snowskin Sesame Truffle

Its snow skin blackened with bamboo charcoal powder, we love how this elegant little confection goes down … oh so smoothly. Chomp right down to its core and find a nice white chocolate truffle in the middle of the dark, subtly sweet paste. The winner this year, in our opinion.

Rating: 9.5/10

2. The Peninsula: Egg Custard Mooncake

This mooncake comes in at number 2 on our list for being a sheer buttery bliss!

Rating: 9/10

3. TWG: 1837 Tea Mooncakes

We love TWG’s black and white snowskin mooncakes. Their yin and yang look with silver dust twinkling on the skins give off a nice classy look, and the taste is just as good. The white one comes filled with chocolate mousse and a blackcurrant marmalade tea infused core, while the black mooncake is filled with rich praline cream with orange marmalade at its core.

Rating: 9/10

4. Bakerzin: Snowskin Pink Champagne

This little mooncake is ice cream inspired. Although you can’t really taste the champagne in the confection, the super soft and smooth skin makes the taste linger in your mouth for a long time.

Rating: 8.5/10

5. Conrad: Mini Snowskin with Pineapple/ Mango

The exotic fruity fusions are extremely refreshing, much like eating ice cream sorbet in a mooncake.

Rating: 8.5/10

6. Shang Palace

This is as traditional as a moocake gets. You can taste the fine quality of the white lotus paste in this one. Great for those who love their mooncakes neat and traditional.

Rating: 8.5/10

7. Royal China

The white lotus paste comes with a yolk. It has a slight perfumed after taste that stays in
your mouth for a short while, in a very pleasant way.

Rating: 8/10

8. Sheraton

Yet another good old-fashioned, quality lotus paste filled mooncake.

Rating: 7.5/10

9. Tung Lok

Rating: 7.5/10

10. Eater Palace : Yam paste

This Teochew mooncake reminds us of eating of sweet yam dessert, just stuffed into a mooncake instead, and deep fried to crispy perfection.

Rating: 7/10

Chong’s Yummy Favs: Tang Dian Wang

Ginseng with bamboo shoots and chicken

“I live on good soup, not on fine words,” mused Moliere, famous 17th century French playwright and avid soup lover.

For like-minded modern Singaporeans missing the comforts of good ol’ home-boiled soups, Tang Dian Wang is the urban answer to your nostalgic cravings. The restaurant combines chic modern concepts with Shanghainese touches to good effect, with the main dining hall softly lit by large Chinese lanterns and old-school Shanghainese tunes playing in the background.

Dominating the menu are double-boiled soups, which arrive in hearty servings that are easily good for four to five persons. Our favourite soup was the ginseng with bamboo shoots and chicken, which came chockfull with meaty chunks of pork and chicken, and tasted every bit as healthy as it sounds.

Simmered Bee Hoon with Roasted Duck & Runny Egg

While our meal took an early nosedive with the disappointing Lotus Rice (which ironically is a signature dish), the other stir-fried dishes are above average renditions of old-time favourites. The Chicken with Fragrant Chives & Onions was tender and juicy, and the Double Style Rib was pleasantly sweet and savoury. The Simmered Bee Hoon with Roasted Duck & Runny Egg sent us down memory lane with the chef’s accurate re-creation of the dish. The Steamed Cod Fish with Chye Poh was a pleasantly unique creation, despite being on the pricey end. The oiliest thing we had from the menu was the Kway with Preserved Meat, which was fortunately worth the calories as the noodles were springy and flavourful.

Chicken with Fragrant Chives & Onions	Steamed Cod Fish with Chye Poh

Overall Rating:

The Girl-Next-Door is ready for the next stage of her career.

Breezing back into town for her world tour, Stefanie Sun is a woman on a mission.

After two years of silence and fending off the flurry of speculation from fans and media that accompanied it, Sun is now itching for her next breakthrough. At the official press conference on 29 May for her “The Answer is…” concert in Singapore, the petite songbird says, “For a long time, people have always associated me with the girl next door. I like being the girl next door, but I think I’ve already established that. I’d like to do more than just sing and be sweet and pretty.”

Her latest world tour, she explains, is part of her foray to step beyond her current boundaries. “The concert this time is going to be quite experimental for me in terms of showmanship.”

Her concert in Taiwan kicked off with a huge bang, featuring the singer in outrageous futuristic costumes, singing against an extravagant buffet of new technologies such as holograms as well as multi-faceted stage designs, vastly different from her usual comparatively more somber image. The singer admits to trying on over 100 different costumes before settling on the final wardrobe. The concert also featured other celebrities like Jolin Tsai and Aska Yang. Despite a hitch in the evening, when many concertgoers headed to the bathroom during Yang’s performance, the event remained a success.

When asked if she was nervous about her next stopover concert in Singapore, she confessed that “the worst was already over”, referring to her concert in Taiwan. Sun admitted to feeling very stressed out before her Taiwan concerts, because of the great pressure she felt to impress her fans with her return to performing.

She also confessed that she sets high standards for herself. “My parents would keep asking me to come home and eat, but I kept saying, ‘I have no time! I have no time!’ On hindsight, these were actually really small things. I could have handled them. That’s one area I need to improve on.”

Looking back on her years in the music industry, Sun describes her first eight years as the most formative for her as an artist, but these last two years have been the most vital in developing her more as a person. “I’ve grown very quickly in the last two years,” she says.

Looking slightly worn out but nonetheless patient and approachable, the star answered the wave of questions about her personal life and direction from fans and journalists with careful thought, alternating replies in English and Mandarin. She was refreshingly honest about her personal struggles, offering glimpses of her soul-searching on the road of fickle fame, as well as what she had been going through during her hiatus. When asked how she managed to stay true to herself, she admitted it was a “never-ending struggle” for her. “Sometimes you feel like a fraud. It’s hard to say you like everything about yourself.” But she attributed her stability to the role of her friends and family.

Returning to showbusiness has not been easy. “I don’t know if everyone will love me, but I had to try. If you don’t try, you won’t know.”

Apart from her new artistic direction, Sun also now sports long tresses for the first time in her career, sparking remarks that she was doing it for her boyfriend, Nadim Van Der Ros, a Hollander.

Why the concert’s mysterious title The Answer Is…? Sun explained that there were many questions that arose from concerns about her upcoming plans, especially after her break from music. Personally, Sun has her own questions to ask, and she concludes: “There is no one definite answer in life.”

However, it’s clear that she has now emerged with fresh new experiences to share with her fans, in this new evolution of Stefanie Sun.

The heartbeat of one of Singapore’s fastest rising small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is the simple and refreshing belief of “prospering thy neighbor” along with yourself.

On that principle, Pinnacle Motors became one of the main sponsors of the SME Fiesta. Says CEO Valerie Tan: “It is the very core of entrepreneurship that when others prosper, you prosper with them. The SME Fiesta was a dream to bring together like-minded entrepreneurs and business people to market their expertise, services and products.”

Started with the desire to contribute to the current economy and job market, the SME Fiesta was a showcase for businesses and their products, capitalizing on the heavy human traffic thronging Singapore Expo over the Easter weekend.

The SME Fiesta is only one of Pinnacle’s contributions to society. In December 2007, the company also threw a party for a children’s home, repainting and refurbishing its premises. In 2008, it also introduced cars that ran on compressed natural gas, which reduces the carbon emission coming from vehicles on Singapore roads.

As proof of its belief that prospering others begats prosperity, Pinnacle Motors enjoyed a chain of successes in 2008, including being the first company in the region to attain the coveted ISO 9001: 2000 certification by TÜV SÜD. Pinnacle Motors is a leader in the car industry and its brand recall among Singaporeans is high, having been in the limelight often for its phenomenal success, particularly in the last year.

PHOTOS: Xaiver Tan

In the midst of the moans and groans of the current bleak economy, Pinnacle Motors projects a voice of refreshing optimism. The company now has a disarmingly bold target to reach 100 countries in the next few years, from the 40 it now already reaches. Tan explains: “Even in these difficult times, there is good business to be made. The potential for the car industry is still great and we have every intention of being part of that growth. As for establishing Pinnacle International in 100 countries, we are not limiting ourselves to merely car sales; we are also involved in the export of car parts, CKD (complete knock down) cars, CNG equipment and car accessories. Our goal is to meet the car needs of our target markets.”

Her advice to companies on staying successful in the recession: “Do not be affected by the negative news you hear every day. It should not affect you if you know your destination and the routes to take. Indecisiveness is the riskiest response to the uncertainties of an economic crisis and staying focus on your course is crucial.”

Ultimately, she feels the key to success lies in one’s own self-belief. “There are two businessmen. One thinks he will succeed and the other thinks he will fail. Who do you think is right?

“Both are.”

Where: Peranakan Inn
Address: 210 East Coast Road, Singapore 428909
Operating Hours: 11am – 2.30pm, 6pm – 9.30pm
Contact No.: 64406195

In the Peranakan fever that has been heating up Singapore since Channel 8’s Little Nonya drama hit the Cannes festival, we’ve decided to dig up some real Peranakan flavour here in hometown Singapore. Yep, the French may be enjoying all the action now, but we say the goldmine of Peranakan culture’s still available here, especially at delightfully authentic Peranakan haunts like the Peranakan Inn.

Ayam Buah Keluak	Nonya Chap Chye

The restaurant is decked in unpretentious coffee shop-style, but their reasonably-priced dishes pack plenty of punch. The restaurant impressed on the first dish, passing with flying colours on the quintessentially peranakan dish, the Ayam buah keluak, which is the buah keluak nut accompanied with chicken in dark assam gravy. The restaurant goes the extra mile to stuff the nut with meat and re-cook it, so the nut is not overpoweringly bitter.

Babi Pongteh	Iteh Tim

Stoked with the first dish, we went on to crowd our table with a myriad of other peranakan must-have dishes, like their Nonya Chap Chye (vegetables braised to sweet perfection), Babi Pongteh or pork in fermented soya bean gravy (you could almost feel the motherly love here), Iteh Tim or duck and salted vegetable soup (the baba answer to chicken soup comfort), Ngo Hiang and beautifully spicedotah.

The accompanying little dishes of sambal were a stroke of genius, adding just the right amount of burn-in-the-tongue for authentic baba food. Each dish was served in clay pots that looked every bit as though they’d leapt off granny’s stove, and went great with white rice.

Ngo Hiang	Steamed Tapioca

The meal ended with a simple dessert of soft, sweet, steamed tapioca; a comfortingly tame end to our spicy buffet spread.

Overall Rating:

As told to Elizabeth Low

Popular for its ‘hotel-standard’ dim sum, Victor’s Kitchen in Sunshine Plaza’s looks surprisingly nondescript in the old mall it sits in. However, do a simple Internet search on the place, and you’ll find its simple appearance belies its fame among ‘foodies’ in Singapore. The stall’s excellent dim sum has spawned piles of enthusiastic reviews online, gushing about its succulent prawns and gourmet standards.

We say, one of the best things about the place is its incredibly fresh shrimps. Basically, any kind of dumpling with shrimps here is worth sampling. For instance, the shrimps in the Har Gao we got were huge, succulent and juicy, with all the bounce of the freshest shrimp.

The other thing we really enjoyed was the Chee Cheong fun. Needless to say, the shrimp wrapped in the stall’s silky white skin (made on the spot too) was faultless. The one filled with crispy fritter or you tiao was an interesting match however. The you tiao, cocooned in soft chee cheong fun skin, was still surprisingly crispy, making an interesting clash of textures in one dish.

The stall also offers steamed carrot (or really, radish) cake, which is a healthy alternative to its commonly deep-fried cousin. Though steamed, the dish is by no means short on taste, as it comes coated with a tasty sweet soy sauce and a home made XO sauce which completely satisfies.

Their steamed Lor Mai Kai then, is a mish mesh of great flavors in one compact rice cake, topped with dried scallop, salted egg yolk and a hunk of sausage and meat.

The restaurant’s Char Siew Baos are winners too: little fluffy white cushions filled with chunky, roughly chopped char siew bits.

Generally, we found the quality of the dim sum really matched its hype. In fact, we’re so stoked we just had to rush back to join the crowd of raving reviewers to write this review.

Overall Rating:

There is a Chinatown in just about every country, each one a busy hive of Chinese culture. It is no different in Singapore. In our nation’s climate of rapid modernization and urban progress, sometimes a quick visit to Chinatown with its old-fashioned noise and hustle-and-bustle can be a breath of fresh air.

And what’s a trip to Chinatown without sampling some good old Chinese fare? For this particular visit, we decide to go straight for the Chinese desserts.

Tucked away in the row of shop houses on Temple Street, Mei Hong Yuen Dessert is our destination of choice. Famous for its traditional Chinese desserts and pastries, such as almond cream and sesame paste soup, the little dessert shop is even listed by WikiTravel guide as a must-go for tourists in Singapore looking for authentic Chinese food fare.

We order ourselves a little feast of steam carrot, pumpkin and yam cakes, which are all delightfully soft and yummy for a light afternoon snack. We also sample their Cantonese dumplings, which are nice and large, stuffed with a tasty filling of yellow beans, egg yolk, mushrooms and pork.

Treats like their signature Mango with Pomelo and Sago and Herbal Jelly are cooling refreshers for anyone coming in from the humid, crowded streets outside. The Mango with Pomelo and Sago is particularly addictive: a generous pile of mango combined with thick puree and sago, sitting on top of a little hill of crushed ice.

The Herbal Jelly is a great remedy for the heat; its “cooling” and slightly bitter jelly is doused with smooth, sweet honey. Apart from that, Mei Hong Yuen specializes in Sesame and Almond paste desserts — hot and cold. Another two not to miss.

All in, this little dessert house stands as a worthy tribute to Chinese tradition. And the best part is, it’s tasty tradition for just a couple of dollars.

Rating:

If you’re craving for a good crunchy piece of tonkatsu (at a reasonable price, of course), make your way to the quiet end of Takashimaya’s food floor, and amid the hodgepodge of little food stalls, you’ll find Romankan Yokohama.

Despite its non sequitur European décor (with its servers decked in French maid outfits), this little Japanese stall has some delightful offerings. The speciality is Japanese katsu, which is served either with rice or between slices of bread.

Romankan’s curry gravy is excellent, unlike the diluted offerings masquerading as Japanese curry in some other eateries. In fact, this curry is chock full of shredded meat and mashed carrots; drinking it was almost like downing a nice Japanese gumbo. However, it is a very mild curry, which may disappoint spice lovers. On the bright side, you can feed it to kids.

The pork cutlet is superb: light and crispy on the outside, while the pork on the inside is a nice thick column of juicy meat. The bunch of shredded raw cabbage that comes with it makes a refreshing complement to the meat and gravy.

On the side, we order the fried prawn cutlet, which oozes the natural sweetness of fresh prawn with every bite.

The stall’s bestseller, the Cutlet Sandwich is yet another lip-smacking variation of their katsus. Juicy, crisp pork fillets sandwiched in freshly baked bread, crunchy lettuce and tomatoes, topped with their special Japanese sauce and mayonnaise — there you have one extremely satisfying quick bite.

Rating:

Where: Playground @ Big Splash, Blk B, Unit #01-08/09, 902 East Coast Parkway

Calling all caffeine lovers!

This week on Chong’s Yummy Favorites, we have ventured beyond Singapore’s Starbucks-mania to find life beyond the Starbucks coffee cup in Old Town White Coffee.

While providing a contrasting ambience from the polished Starbucks, Old Town Coffee manages to bring the old world charm back into the coffee culture. Famous for their signature Ipoh White Coffee, this café also offers patrons a spoonful of Ipoh with their authentic cuisine.

The pleasant and warm environment along East Coast Parkway makes it the perfect lunch getaway from the usual bustle of the city. Despite this Malaysian-franchise being set-up fairly recently in Singapore, this eatery has been regularly packed with coffee-sipping patrons. Living up to its reputation, the Ipoh-inspired dishes served are lip-smattering too.

For starters, there is the Ipoh Nasi Rendang Chicken. The rice was fragrant and the chicken was juicy and tender, rolled generously in its deliciously spiced rendang gravy. The dish was also accompanied by old-fashioned “achar,” or pickled vegetables, a tribute to the flavours of yester-years.

The Old Town Ipoh Chicken Hor Fun livens the senses upon the first sip of the flavorful broth. It had just the right hint of fragrant sesame oil lingering in the aftertaste. It promises to leave you hankering for more after the first bowl. The hor fun was silky and smooth, sleek on the tongue before sliding down the throat. On top of all these, try the peanut butter french toast. It is sinfully rich and promises to break all calorie count, but it’s really yummy. On the whole, a fantastic concoction to evoke the 70’s nostalgia mid-meal. Polish off your meal with the iced Xi Mut Milk Tea or the rich, aromatic Ipoh White Coffee.

Before you pack up and leave for Old Town White Coffee, remember to pass by the automated teller machine becasue they accept only cash.

Rating:

Dian Xiao Er
Where: Vivocity #02-137/8

Set amidst the mirror-floored sophistication of VivoCity’s modern hallways, Dian Xiao Er Restaurant stands out with its charming traditional Chinese décor. Painstakingly modeled after the tea houses of ancient China, the restaurant looks like it popped out of a wu xia xiao shuo (martial arts novel), complete with rustic wooden beams and red Chinese lanterns.

Service was pleasantly fast, and perks included early bird discounts for dining from 11.30am to 12.30pm.

The restaurant is famed for its Herbal Roasted Duck. The skin of the duck was thin and crisp and well roasted, and its juicy meat nicely infused with herbal. This dish lives up to its reputation.

We also ordered the Fried Rice with Seafood and XO sauce: the rice had a pleasant wok-fried smokiness to it, and the mild spiciness of Dian Xiao Er’s special XO sauce gave a nice oomph to the flavor of the rice.

Their exotically named Mongolian Spare Ribs chalked up another point for the restaurant with its unique sauce, blended with chilli padi for a wicked kick in the taste buds. The meat is also fantastically done, tender yet with a slight crisp on the outside.

Also, other must-tries include their home-made tofu and juicy Dong Po Pork.

All in, Dian Xiao Er offers an excellent meal in double-quick time — a lunch hour dream spot!

Rating: