Makan Kakis Best of 2018 – Part 1

It’s time once again for Season’s Eatings and as we celebrate the end of another delicious year, welcome to our Makan Kakis special – we’re looking back at 2018’s most popular makan recommendations!

So let’s kick off the festive feasting off with these yummy gems:

• Masterchef Australia 10 Winner, Sashi Cheliah’s favourite Apam and Char Kway Teow in Singapore.
• Owner of Char Restaurant, Anthony Ung’s last meal Kampung Chicken Rice!
• Old Seng Choong and Cat & The Fiddle cakes owner Chef Daniel Tay’s favourite Fishball Kway Teow.

For a little extra fun, head on over to Facebook now and vote for your favourite makan place out of these three selections!
To Listen/ download the podcast of this week’s Best of 2018 episode, CLICK HERE!
And do tune in to Gold 905 every Thursday all this December for our four-part special, featuring the best eats of the year!

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Nostalgic Bakes

HEAR:
Click here to listen/ download the podcast for this week’s episode – hot & fresh out of the oven!

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This week, our Makan Kaki Chef Anthony Yeoh of Summerhill Bistro in Sunset Way shares with us his discovery of more eats in his ‘hood, in particular a super-nostalgic bakery that serves up the very taste of our childhood! Balmoral Bakery is an institution for Sunset residents and it’s the good, old-fashioned kind of confectionary you’ll find in most HDB estates.

Awesome Apam & Char Kway Teow!

Greetings, Greedies! This week, we welcome new Makan Kaki, MasterChef Australia Season 10’s winner, Singapore born & bred Sashi Cheliah! We had him on the phone just a few days ahead of his hero’s home-coming and you can have a listen to / download the podcast of our chat.

HEAR:

• Sashi Interview Part 1
• Sashi Interview Part 2
• Sashi’s Local Makan Recommendations – Apam & Char Kway Teow!

So Sashi’s return this weekend will see him at habitat by honestbee for cooking demonstrations and a meet and greet with fans & food lovers. The event is free and open to the public.
Date: 24 & 25 November 2018 (Sat & Sun)
Time: 2pm-3.30pm and 5pm-6.30pm (2 sessions each day)
Location: habitat by honestbee, 34 Boon Leat Terrace, S(119866)
Dishes he will be cooking: Sambal Prawn with crispy prawn heads and herb salad (24 Nov) and Roast Lamb with pea puree and beer battered cauliflower (25 Nov)
For more details, you can visit their fb page.

And now, read on for Sashi’s go-to places for his favourite local eats! He doesn’t get to return to Singapore often, so he’s making the most of this weekend to visit his old hawker haunts!

Wanton Mee – Wan of Singapore’s Most Wanted!

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Click HERE to listen/ download podcast of this week’s saucy episode!

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Hello Foodies! We see the return of last week’s Makan Kaki, Head Chef of Burnt Ends, Jake Kellie, who’s off to Western Australia this weekend to headline the Feast in the Forest at the Margaret River Gourmet Escape. We caught him just before his departure to recommend more makan and he offered up his favourite Wanton Mee stall at Hong Lim Food Centre, which sees relentlessly long lines at lunchtime. Of course, Singaporeans know that a long queue means good things at the end of the wait and Chef Jake is no exception – he’s willing to wait in line because their noodles are just that good! A typical visit to Ji Ji Wanton Noodle Specialist sees Chef Jake start off with some crispy, tasty, deep-fried Wantons that are packed full of minced pork and shrimp.

To follow-up, he gets a bowl of dry Wanton Mee with Char Siew. He loves the fat, juicy parcels of boiled dumplings floating in soup, which he scoops into his noodles and mixes in with the sauce. This way, the soft, pillowy, boiled Wantons take on lots of flavour from the sauce mixture.

Late-Night Chinese Food

Meet our new Makan Kaki, Jake Kellie! He’s the award-winning Head Chef of Burnt Ends, a modern Australian barbecue restaurant just off Keong Saik Road and he’s also representing Singapore at Western Australia’s festival of food and wine, the Margaret River Gourmet Escape (November 16-18). He’s bringing his Burnt Ends barbeque skills to the Feast in the Forest event at the gorgeous Leeuwin Estate, where he’ll be cooking Wagyu beef and Octopus en papillote, amongst other delicious things. The highlight of this feast has got to be the 5m long grill pit, so have a listen to Chef Jake talk about his headlining fiery, smoky feast here.

HEAR:

• Click to listen/ download podcast of Chef Jake talking about his approach to food and where their kitchen crew like to go for late night eats.
• Click to listen/ download podcast of Chef Jake’s go-to Northern Chinese supper place.

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In what has become a late-saturday-night ritual, Chef Jake and the rest of the Burnt Ends Kitchen crew make it a point to unwind after service at this casual Chinese eatery which is a stone’s throw from where they work. Dong Fang Mei Shi (东方美食), or Oriental Chinese Restaurant, is a wildly popular  Northeastern & Sichuan Chinese restaurant that sees brisk business in the heart of Chinatown and it is the perfect place for hungry chefs at the end of a long day, because the food is hearty, tasty, reasonably priced and the place is open till 7am!

Chef Jake’s absolute favourite thing to order is the Pork Rib with Eggplant – a piquant, saucy dish that marries crispy chunks of pork rib with tender eggplant that has soaked up all the flavour from the tasty, spicy, sticky, savoury gravy. Chef Jake likes to get some man tou to run through the dish, mopping up all those delightful juices.

Margaret Drive Hokkien Fried Prawn Mee

HEAR:
Click here to listen or download the podcast to this week’s wet & wokalicious episode!

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Greetings Greedies! Boy, have we got a treat for you this week! Our Makan Kaki Chef Anthony Yeoh (Chef-owner of Summerhill) casts his culinary net once again around his Ghim Moh neighbourhood to bring us his recent discovery. Remember the good old Margaret Drive Hawker Centre?  Lots of delicious things were served there, but sadly it’s since been demolished and all that’s left is a barren field. All the hawkers disappeared, leaving many of us wondering where they went. Well, Chef Tony can tell you where at least one of those hawkers moved to – the fried Hokkien Mee stall is a quite a new to Ghim Moh Market & Food Centre, but it always sees long queues and sells out quickly. Whenever Chef Tony visits at noon, everything’s been snapped up and the stall’s neon red CLOSED sign is all lit up.

When Denise paid them a visit just before dinner time at 5pm, sure enough, said neon sign was on, but delicious smells were wafting from within. The chef-owner was hard at work, prepping for dinner. At this point, there were already 5 people queuing in anticipation for the stall’s opening. When his wife finally arrived, the neon sign flipped from red to green and finally, it was OPEN for business!

So why is this stall so popular? Is it nostalgia? Possibly. But Chef Tony says this is really good stuff and it’s the broth that makes this Hokkien Mee so special. It has a natural sweetness from a combination of squid, prawn heads & pork bones bubbling away in a giant pot right next to the wok. The broth is rich, savoury and is what makes this Hokkien Mee so delightfully sloppy, wet and messy – exactly how Chef Tony likes it!

Taufik Batisah on Hot Chicken, Steak & Nasi Padang

WATCH:

In this video, Taufik Batisah introduces Denise to some of the signature items on the menu of his restaurant, Chix Hot Chicken, including the INSANE HOT CHICKEN (so spicy it made them both cry!)

HEAR:

• Taufik tells us all about his new restaurant venture, Chix Hot Chicken!
• Taufik fills us in on what else is in store this month for Chix Hot Chicken & also shares where likes to go for his favourite steak and Nasi Padang! Scroll down for descriptions, pictures and locations!

SEE:

These sliders are arguably one of the BEST things on the menu! Huge, juicy pieces of boneless chicken, coated with a super crispy batter, sandwiched between two small, pillowy buns and slathered in their house-made tangy pink mayo. You can order the chicken in the level of spice you prefer and it packs a powerful flavour punch. So, so good!

Klang-Style Claypot Bak Kut Teh

WATCH:

click to watch the video!

HEAR:
Listen or download the podcast for this week’s makan session with Chef Damian D’Silva, Judge on Masterchef Singapore!

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This week, our Makan Kaki is Executive Chef of Singaporean Heritage Restaurant Folklore & Masterchef Singapore Judge Damian D’Silva! A self-professed true blue Singaporean, he loves slurping soup, and eating with his hands, that’s why he’s recommending we try his favourite Klang-Style Bak Kut Teh. Generally, you’ll find two kinds – the dark, herbal kind and the lighter, peppery kind. What’s wonderful about this particular stall in Upper Changi, is that their Bak Kut Teh is a unique combination of both the herbal and peppery, giving you a beautifully balanced dish that is not too herbal nor in-your-face-spicy!