High Quality, Reasonably-Priced Northern Indian Cuisine

HEAR:
Click here to listen/ download podcast for this week’s aromatic episode!

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Our Makan Kaki Pastry Chef Janice Wong is back this week to tell us about another one of her favourite places to eat at. When she’s craving excellent Indian food, Little India Institution, Jaggi’s is where she heads.

This family-run restaurant (the second generation is now in charge) is well-known for its Northern Indian delicacies that really hit the spot. Chef Janice recommends their Naan, whether it’s garlic, cheese or plain. These delightfully fluffy baked flatbreads go beautifully with Jaggi’s array of aromatic curries, which come in both meat or vegetarian options. Chef Janice adores their cauliflower curry as a veggie choice and especially likes their Chicken Masala, which isn’t too spicy (she can’t take too much heat), yet is subtly layered with tons of flavour.

What she really appreciates about Jaggi’s is that the food is served in small plates so it’s not too filling or cloying – you can order 3 types of different curries and easily finish everything, which is very high quality and very reasonably priced.

TASTE:
JAGGI’S NORTHERN INDIAN CUISINE
37/39 Chander Road, S(219541)
Open Mon – Fri: 11.00am – 3.00pm; 5.30pm – 10.30pm
Weekends & PH: 11.00am – 10.30pm
Tel: +65 62966141

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Charming Italian in Serangoon

HEAR:
Click here to listen/ download podcast of this week’s pastarrific episode!

SEE:
Hello Makan Kakis! Looking for a palate cleanser after all the Chinese New Year feasting? Or maybe a charming spot for a Valentines’ tete a tete? Let’s go for a rustic Italian meal then! This week, our Foodie Friend Chef Shen Tan reveals a recent discovery she’s willing to trek from the West all the way to Serangoon Gardens for. Casa Manini is a little Italian restaurant that serves up good, honest, family-style cooking and is a wonderful find if you’re craving pasta. Everything is reasonably-priced and prepared by the chef who serves up his own personal family favourites. In fact, this place has a great back story – according to Shen, the chef and his wife used to work for Bulgari before taking the leap from fine jewellery to fine Italian food!

Hailing from Lombardy in Italy, Chef Fulvio’s Lasagna and Pasta Carbonara are Shen’s absolute favourites, particularly their signature pork and beef Lasagna, which she says is so hearty, rich and down-right delicious.

Take a Chance on this Popiah!

Hello Hungry People! Meet our new Makan Kaki, William Seah! He’s the co-owner of The Wine and Gourmet Friends, a new wine bar serving up Asian Tapas and delicious drinks at Bukit Pasoh Road. In this week’s episode, we chat to William about his new F&B venture, his foray into the wine business (can you believe he used to be severely allergic to alcohol?) and of course, we talk about what he likes to eat. After all the Chinese New Year Feasting, Popiah seems like a nice, light respite… unless you like yours the way William does – full of extra Lup Cheong (Chinese Sausage)! Being a Hokkien born & bred, William grew up celebrating Chinese New Year with homemade Popiah, painstakingly made from scratch & with love by his parents. Till this day, they still celebrate the festive period with Popiah, so you could say William KNOWS good Popiah! That’s why he was delighted to discover a renowned Popiah place in Bukit Merah, because theirs tastes just like his family’s Popiah and really activates those childhood taste memories…

HEAR:

• Click to listen/ download podcast of William introducing us to his winebar.
• Click to listen/ download podcast of William’s switch from TCM to the wine business and also how he approaches wine and food.
• Click to listen/ download podcast of Williams’ Popiah recommendation.

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William loves the popiah here at Good Chance Popiah because it tastes just like his family’s, authentically Hokkien and a third generation family-run business, whose youngest members have now taken over and are extremely friendly and helpful – be sure to look for brother and sister duo Kai Chun & Kivi who are only too happy to show you how to make the perfect popiah!

Everything comes together so well, thanks to what William believes is the most important ingredient – the veggie filling. Beautifully seasoned and rich in depth of flavour, the bang kwang (jicama) is flavourful and binds everything together. Cabbage, Turnip, Carrot, Bamboo Shoot, Leek, Dried Tofu, French Bean and dried shrimp are used to make their beautifully braised filling. From there, you can add whatever topping you please, in whatever quantities to create a Popiah to suit your tastes.

Curry Noodles & Chinese New Year Goodies

Hello Makan Kakis, this week we have a brand-new Foodie Friend! Please meet award-winning pastry chef Janice Wong, who’s as much an artist as a chef with her innovative, boundary-pushing creations and the founder of 2am: dessertbar, 2am: lab and Janice Wong Singapore.

Renowned for her gorgeous chocolates, she popped by the Gold 905 studio to chat about her latest Chinese New Year Collections, including her favourite Pork Floss & Bak Kwa Sesame cookies, hand-dipped chocolate-covered Pineapple Tarts and limited edition edible Piggy Banks with Gold Coins, all of which you can see here or purchase at her stores in Paragon & Raffles City

From Kaffir Lime to Laksa Leaves, her visits to Hawker Centres inspire many of the punchy flavours in her confections and Chef Janice is constantly challenging herself to find that sweet spot between innvoation and consistency. So have a listen to our on-air conversation and also find out where she likes to go for local flavour inspirations. You’ll want to scroll down especially if you love Curry Noodles!

HEAR:

• Click here to listen/ download podcast as Chef Janice talks about her stores, restaurants and her passion for all things chocolate.
• Click here to listen/ download podcast as Chef Janice talks about her latest Chinese New Year Goodies.
• Click here to listen/ download podcast as Chef Janice recommends where to go for her favourite Curry Chicken Noodles!

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Chef Janice really loves a good bowl of Curry Noodles and having grown up in the Hong Lim area, her top choice can be found at the renowned food centre there. In her opinion, it all boils down to their super-special chilli, which is made in huge batches once every 4 days and has a secret ingredient that she suspects may be black bean. What you get is a really nice flavour that extends the length of taste for the chicken broth.

Kway Chap: Year of the Pig with a Little Duck Thrown In!

Greetings & Salutations, Greedies! Happy New Year and we’re back after a teensy hiatus, just in time to welcome a returning Foodie Friend who can always be counted on to bring us new & unusual makan recommendations. Since we last talked food with Chef Shen Tan, she has embarked on a wildly popular private home dining supper series, cheekily called OWNSELF MAKE CHEF, featuring quality ingredients and ingenious riffs on familiar, local dishes. What you get is South East Asian flavours you’ll recognise, but elevated and no less delicious – sop buntut with Wagyu beef or twice steamed Nasi Lemak with grilled King prawn and lard sambal, anyone? With 13 (and counting) specially curated themed menus, Chef Shen’s culinary creativity is on the up and up! She even offers cooking classes now (fully booked till March, but hey, book now and you can get a class in April!), so that you can eat and learn how to make her bold style of food.

HEAR:

• Click here for Part 1 of my catch-up with Chef Shen & Ownself Make Chef.
• Click here for Part 2
• Click here to listen to this week’s piggy, ducky, beautifully braised episode!

SEE:

And of course when Chef Shen isn’t busy cooking up a storm for her guests, she’s out and about discovering new makan obsessions to share with us, one of which is a Teochew braised duck that she absolutely adores. Melvin is a second generation hawker who is carrying on his father’s legacy with this stall at Chinatown Complex. His mother still helps him and business is brisk because they serve really delicious food!

MAKAN KAKIS BEST OF 2018!

DEAREST FOODIE FRIENDS,

Season’s Eatings! As we celebrate the end of another delicious year, enjoy this culmination of our month-long retrospective of this year’s tastiest eats & most popular makan recommendations. Thanks to your votes on Facebook and your support here on our little blog, here’s the very best of Makan Kakis – 2018’s TOP 3:

1. Old Seng Choong and Cat & The Fiddle cakes owner Chef Daniel Tay’s favourite Fishball Kway Teow.
2. Home-cook, Fashion Designer and Theatre Practitioner Oniatta Effendi’s go-to Nasi Jenganan & Rawon.
3. Chef Anthony Yeoh’s Pasar Malam discovery of light, airy, crispy Wadeh.

Makan Kakis Best of 2018 – Part 3

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

We continue the festive feasting with these next contenders:

• Ownself Make Chef Shen Tan’s Wanton Char Siew Noodles recommendation.
• Gurmit Singh’s all-time favourite Char Kway Teow.
• Home-cook, Fashion Designer and Theatre Practitioner Oniatta Effendi’s go-to Nasi Jenganan & Rawon.

Makan Kakis Best of 2018 – Part 2

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

We continue the festive feasting with these next contenders:

• Chef-Owner of Summerhill, Anthony Yeoh’s Penang Special Prawn Mee obsession.
• Chef-Owner of Le Binchotan, Jeremmy Chiam’s favourite Bishan Kway Chap.
• Vernetta Lopez’s favourite old-school Bak Kut Teh.
• Chef Anthony Yeoh’s Pasar Malam discovery of light, airy, crispy Wadeh.

For a little extra fun, head on over to Facebook now and vote for your favourite makan place out of these four selections!

To Listen/ download the podcast of this week’s Best of 2018 episode, CLICK HERE!

For last week’s list, click here: Best of Makan Kakis 2018 – Part 1.

And do tune in to Gold 905 every Thursday all this December for our four-part special, featuring the best eats of the year!