Showing posts with label Bread and Butter Pudding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bread and Butter Pudding. Show all posts
The Ascot: Breaking in the new dishes
Labels:
Bread and Butter Pudding,
british,
bukit timah,
desserts,
Grandstand,
hidden finds,
pubfood,
restaurants
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Never have I wrote so many repeated reviews for the same establishment in such a short span of time; however with such a friendly pending invitation from owner, Sylvester of The Ascot, I couldn't resist the urge of returning once more to the grounds where I would be tasting some of the new offerings on the menu. Reinvention never sounded sweeter.
In the unadorned, almost austere interiors of The Ascot, the diner's attention is wholly focused on his company (Thank goodness for the mine) and the salubrious combination of addictive liquid diet and culinary subsistence.
We started off with the Cold Cut Platter ($20.50), featuring 3 types of cold cuts served with silver onions, gherkins, scotch egg & homemade ciabatta bread. A staple on the menu at The Ascot, this star quality dish proves that some of the finest things in life don't have to be complicated. The highlight of the dish being the scotch eggs, these crumbed balls of sausage meat hide a delicately "poached" egg in the center that sees a crisp on its exterior, while the creamy yolk ties in the entire mouthful like a blissful sigh.
While you're at it, try the Strawberry spinach salad with crumbled blue cheese, pistachios, bacon & avocado ($19). Before you decide that such a combination is way too weird for you, hear me out; this works. At the end of the day, you have a surprisingly delightful bowl of rainbow colours that is sweet, acidic, savoury and nutty all at once. The sweet slices of strawberry, natural bitterness of the spinach leaves, sour raspberry vinaigrette, creamy, ever so pungent blue cheese all comes together to render an eclectic mix of tastes and textures that I promise will have you rethinking you skepticism at the start.
Wash down the meal with a Pint of Dead Pony Club's Pale Ale($16); yet another brilliant offering of BrewDog Brewery.
Comfort foods such as the Fisherman's Pie keeps things snugly familiar here at the Ascot, break through the warm crust of mash to uncover a heartwarming mix of poached salmon, smoked haddock and hake all enrobed in a delicious white sauce. Despite it's unassuming facade, this dish would certainly have you breaking out the diet.
Another new dish on the menu is the Lamb rack served with asparagus and potato lyonnaise with mint sauce ($32.50); not your typical British fare, this did not tie in so well with the whole British soiree theme. However, that being said, any desperate carnivore would be satisfied with this meaty course. The rack, neatly trimmed, were cooked to perfection, it's pink flesh humming with the romance of that rendered down mint infused pan juices.
For some sweet endings to the night, order the Classic Bread & Butter Pudding ($10.50). I adored the crumbly cubes of brioche, sticking out from the saccharine rubble; that had browned so beautifully in the oven. Warm and comforting, every spoonful draped with the richness of cream, milk and butter.
The Deep-fried Mars Bars in batter($10.50) not so good for your waistline was heaven on the lips for a brief moment. The melted innards of the mars bars creating an amalgam of emotions when combined with the fried batter.
Last but not least, the Eton Mess ($8.50), macerated strawberries, fresh cream and crisp meringue create a riot of colors. It's general make-up giving off a balanced tone of sweetness and muted acidity. To be honest, I much preferred the Bread and Butter pudding; but then again, any women would be drawn to this sunny homemade dessert that flaunts the humble fresh cream.
Read my other reviews on The Ascot here and here.
A major thanks once again to Sylvester for hosting the dinner!
The Grandstand
200 Turf Club Road
#01-16
Singapore 287994
Tel: +65 64620881
SPR.MKRT: Supermarket sans the vowels
Labels:
Bread and Butter Pudding,
cafe,
chiffoncake,
desserts,
hidden finds,
pumpkin,
soup,
tanjong pagar
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This cafe-cum-retail space boasts an atmosphere of conviviality, and I was hoping that its food doesn't fall short behind this spirit. Named SPR.MKRT, I was first befuddled by it until I realised it was nothing more than the word "supermarket" with the vowels extracted out; undeniably, it is a rather cool monogram for an up-and-coming establishment in this well-trodden zone.
After reading numerous reviews, I was expecting a crowd no less on a Wednesday night, strangely, what I encountered was only a thin whisper of guests that passed through the kitchens that night, most of them settling in the calm private interiors of the cafe with work in tow and a cup of joe. Perhaps the cafe sees the most traffic come lunch time and during it's more popular weekend brunch periods... , I took this opportunity to go trigger crazy.
Visiting the cafe with Li Tian of Dairy and Cream (whom I got to know from a recent Food Panda media invite session over at Chili's), we seamlessly devised a plan to attack the desserts for dinner. Pity there were only two to choose from that night, hence our choice to do both complete with a soup to share.
The Azuki Vanilla Chiffon was a bit of a let down, at first, when we were presented with a dried piece of cake that we suspected was portioned out much earlier in the day and left to sit out on a plate prior to being served to us. After a subtle prompting, we were then offered another fresh piece, sliced and portioned from the centre of the chiffon cake. This in all honesty, fared a little better, it's large aerated pores holding in a little more moisture than the former. Taste wise, we enjoyed the thin wall of azuki cream enveloping the sponge and yearned for a higher ratio of cream:sponge; that aside, the dessert was rather forgettable.
Available that night was the Curried Pumpkin Soup ($9); the result of this combination leading to a confusing blend of flavors on the palate. Mostly, our sense were assaulted by the strong powers of the pepper added, and strangely, not the curry. The sweetness of the pumpkin that my taste buds strained to attain a familiar grip on was washed out completely by the overwhelming use of vegetable stock and the jarring layer of oil floating on the top. It was a frustrating attempt at making a pumpkin soup that failed to deliver in terms of texture and flavor.
Saving grace of the meal had to be the Bread and Butter Pudding ($6.00) which came with a minuscule pitcher full of damm good vanilla sauce on the side. The pudding, a blend of varying textures throughout, crisp, nicely browned edges near the top and a moist, chocolate chip studded centre. Comfort food at it's best.
That being said, I probably wouldn't be planning a revisit very soon. My advice to the rest of you who are, check out their website for daily specials should you want to check out a specific menu item.
2 Mccallum Street
Singapore 069043
Hours: 8am-9pm (Mon-Fri), 9am-4pm (Sat)
Tel: 6221 2105
Website:http://www.sprmrkt.com.sg/
SHF #45: Berries
Labels:
Bread and Butter Pudding,
desserts,
events,
sugar high fridays
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SHF #45: BerriesAnd as promised! my dessert for this round of sugar high friday shall be revealed in this post. But first lets give a quick run down of the situation (just in case u folks there are a bit caught up in questions like 'what is SHF?' and yada yada..). Firstly, Sugar High Friday a.k.a SHF is an blogging event created by Jennifer at the Domestic Goddess where bloggers and bakers around the world come together to make something sweet out of the surprise theme or ingredient that is decided upon by the host in liason with the Jennifer. The round up will then be posted up on a friday for everyone to enjoy.. and alas the sugar high friday. In this case, the theme as provided by Susan of foodblogga is berries!!! *whistles*.. let the show begin.
So to begin with, a baked this loaf of pretty pink bread using strawberry yogurt as my base for the dessert to come. the recipe is as follows. For you guys out there who are keen on getting a good soft cottony loaf of bimbotic treasures with a slight hint of berries. This is the loaf to try.
Yogurt Bread
Ingredients
250g bread flour
15g sugar
3g salt
3g yeast
100g flavoured yogurt (i used strawberry)
60g fresh milk
25g egg (about half an egg)
30g butter
Method
1. Place all dry ingredients into the bread machine and mix using a whisk.20mins in dough cycle
2.Add in all wet ingredients and mix for 20 mins in bread machine under dough cycle.
3.Stop the machine and use a wet spatula to scrape the dough from sides of container, pulling the dough toward the center of the mixture.
4. Remove spatula and repeat the kneading process for another 20mins cycle until the dough form a ball on top of the blades.
5. Remove dough from machine and knead by hand on a well-floured surface till the dough is smooth and no longer sticky. Shape the dough into a large ball.
6. Put the bread dough in a slightly greased large bowl . Cover the bowl with a damp cloth or cling-wrap and leave it to proof in a warm place till double its size (about 1 hour).
7. When proofing is completed, punch down the bread dough to release the air.
8. Divide the dough equally into three portions. Knead each portion till smooth and shape it by rolling it tightly into a rectangular shape (action similar to rolling a swiss roll)
9. Place them into a loaf pan.
10. Cover the loaf pan with a cling wrap and allow the dough to go for second proofing until double its size again.
11. Egg wash the top of the bread and bake in preheated oven at 160C for 30 minutes until the top turns golden brown.
Moving on, i had to wait till sunday (which was regrettably the last day for submission) before i could complete the whole dessert which is a good thing for me since the bread could afford to be a little stale for this recipe.
*presto*
Double Berry Whammy Bread and Butter Pudding!
now isn't that a mouthful.
With inspiration drawn from Donna Hay's Modern Classics 2. I created my own version of the marmalade bread and butter pudding which was published. Instead of using marmalade, i decidingly used blueberry jam to spread on the breads. Infused a bit of strawberry creme liquer in the custard mixture for that extra touch of decadance and stuffed fresh berries all around the pudding. for the complete recipe. Please refer to here.
This was extraordinary straight out of the oven with the berries burst and overflowing its rich purple juices all over the bread. The peeping crust heads creating such a crisp and crunchy contrast to the soft pudding below. And the icecream.. Burnt Caramel flavoured (from island creamery).. i just can't have enough of that...
bread and butter pudding
Labels:
Bread and Butter Pudding,
Cheesecake
·
done! *PHEW*..feeling on top of the world now after completing a task tt i've been delaying for a long time. so its time to celebrate..with wat else but a bowl of warm, chunky marmalade bread and butter pudding fresh from the oven. heavenly... Put together in a jiffy, i savoured every texture with much familarity. Buttered marmalade accented the taste of the otherwise mild flavoured dessert. it crunchy top of burnt bread crusts was highly addictive. accompanied by a handful of sultanas and demera sugar, the crispiness of the upper level complimented the custard like consistency of the bottom. categorised under comfort food for me from now on...
thanks going out to zh who dropped over to have a slice and have a nice chat with my mum... haha
thanks going out to zh who dropped over to have a slice and have a nice chat with my mum... hahaorders came in last min and i again it was back to some kitchen action after tuition. thank goodness i had all the ingredients on hand (erm..not all.. but with a bit of ingenuity, all problems were resolved. no glitches!). Blueberry Cheesecake for the lady.. hope she'll enjoy it. it had a flawless exterior.. until the evil bunny appeared. ARgh.. come back here u little imp *running ard the hse after the bunny*..
oh gosh..tired again..*yawnz*
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