Archive for July 2013

Freshly Prepared Wok Meals @ Eazie Salads Wok Smoothies

Wednesday, July 31, 2013 by Denise 0 Comments A⁺ a^-

If given the option to choose between hot meals and cold meals, I will definitely opt for the former. It is pretty common for Asians to have hot meals for every meal in a day, from breakfast to supper. A typical example would be porridge for breakfast, noodle soup for lunch, rijktafel for dinner and mee mamak goreng for supper.

There is this particular take-away food joint in the Hague which is my favorite place for hot meals, name Eazie. In Eazie, food are prepared fresh right in front of you (the tai-chow or wok-ing style) and customized to your exact taste. There are a wide selection of ingredients to choose from. The ingredients are fresh and high in quality. You are free to select your own ingredients and sauce to go with your rice or noodles. You even have the option to choose your preferable type of noodle if you go for the noodle dishes. It is indeed a well adopted concept and differentiated from the conventional Chinese Restaurants.

I personally adore this concept as it well suits for a picky-geek like me. I do have problems sometime when specifying my 'special request' at the tai-chow 大炒 stalls back home. I either get incorrect orders or rejected requests. This can be pretty annoying and sometimes I just give in and just stick to the 'standard'. Perhaps the best option I have is to remove the 'least favorite' from my noodle one-by-one. It may take some effort and time but still better than getting my order mixed-up.

A standard order costs around €6 per portion (pretty huge portion) and is definitely cheaper than the hot meals your get from normal Chinese Restaurants. A plate of Kung Po Chicken with rice can easily costs you €12 per portion, a 50% premium over Eazie.

Just in case you are curious how to order from Eazie, here are the 4 simple steps:
Step 1: Select your meat from a choice of fish, chicken, beef, prawn or lamb
Step 2: Select your choice of sauce from garlic, Thai curry, black chili, Bombay curry, sweet sour, Japanese Teriyaki to Sate sauce
Step 3: Select your choice of carbo from steam rice, fried rice, Japanese Udon to ramen
Step 4: Choose 5 types of vegetables from the veggie counter

Quite a great concept to be adopted in Asia. I do hope someday in near future, we will have the food joint like Eazie in Malaysia. Eat healthy, live Eazie!

Yummy Moon Cake in the Netherlands

Saturday, July 27, 2013 by Denise 0 Comments A⁺ a^-

So sweet of Jay! He got each of us a mini moon cake immediately after he spotted them being sold in the Amazing Oriental Grocer.

It takes another 2 months to Moon Cake Festival but the local Asian grocers already have them sold on the racks. Wise approach indeed as consumers has longer time to sample the variety of moon cakes on sale. The taste of mooncake has evolved tremendously since the past decade, from the classic lotus paste or red beans filling to the current mixed fruits, cheese, coffee and chocolate flavour moon cake. Comes in an assortment of flavours, from sweet to savoury, consumers are simply spoilt for choices.

A standard size of a moon cake could be cut into 8 bite-size pieces for sharing. I hardly could finish a standard size moon cake all by my own and hence the mini moon cake just prefect for me. The mini moon cake is about the size of a cup cake, just in case you are curious about the size.

I am not sure what are the flavors available but mines was the green tea lotus paste filling. I was delighted to find a small piece of salted egg yolk in my mini moon cake. Such a satisfaction after the first bite! Bitterness of the green tea cut through the sweet taste of the lotus paste and the savory egg yolk harmonized both the savory and sweet taste. A cup of tea would be just perfect to go with the moon cake.

Perhaps I should stock up on some mini moon cake soon. Yup, mini moon cake included in my shopping list this week :)

Little Farm Sanctuary at Clingendael Park @ The Hague

Thursday, July 25, 2013 by Denise 0 Comments A⁺ a^-

Blue sky, crystal clear stream, herds of white sheep munching green grass on the wide lawn. You wouldn't need to travel far for such picturesque scenery in The Hague. This little farm sanctuary is actually located at Clingendael Park, 15 minutes by bus from Den Haag Centraal train stattion.

The main attractions of the animal farm are none other the flurry donkeys and goats. These farm animals are tamed and friendly. They welcome a pat from the visitors. Kids can get close to them and feed them with grass.

Little Farm Sanctuary at Clingendael Park

I am fascinated with the doll-liked furry pair of donkeys. It is not common to have such thick fur donkeys back home. Don't they look adorable with long fur covering their eyes?

The goat is even cuter. Check out his reaction when being fed to, with its eyes closed. Such an indulge! From certain angle, it seems like he is kissing my hand ...

Then he put up a miserable face, begging me to feed him more ... oh dear, I just adore this shot!

Another candid captured at the sheep field. Two little lambs whispering with each others when they saw the strangers. From the stream of photos, I can relate to their dialogue.

Big bro : There come the strangers.
Little sis : Opps ...
Big bro : Stay away from them. Mum told us, never talk to strangers.
Little sis : Eemm ... I'm scared. Let's stay close to mum for protection and MILK ...

This is another interesting shot at an outskirt farm while I traveled to Harlem. I was in the train and I quickly grabbed my camera for a quick shot when I saw this little lamb taking a nap on the green lawn. Unlike the sheep in Clingendael animal farm, the adult sheep have been shaved for their wool.

I have a soft spot for goats and lamb, mainly because I used to have a baby lamb as pet when I was only 5 years old. I recalled feeding my 'little lamb' with milk in a milk bottle. Sweet memory indeed!

The Review of Song Phi Nong Thai Restaurant in The Hague

Sunday, July 21, 2013 by Denise 0 Comments A⁺ a^-

I hardly recall the main reason why Phoebe picked Song Phi Nong Thai Restaurant when I first suggested to have Thai food for lunch in the Hague. Somehow we did not get the chance to try out the restaurant as it serves only dinner crowd. We totally forgot about the restaurant until last Friday evening when we passed by the restaurant, it sparked our interest to give it a try.

The menu is pretty standard and we decided to order the same dishes we had in Thai Box sometimes back for comparison -- the Thai combo starter, tomyam kong and red curry chicken.

The Tomyam Kong was so-so, slightly lacked the required punch combo of spiciness, herbs and sourness of a typical tom-yam dish. Perhaps these version is modified to suit local taste-buds? Nevertheless, the plus point for this mild tasting tomyam was the fresh and succulent shrimps. For the tomyam, Thai Box's fairs way better.

The appetizer platter combo was slightly smaller in size, but cheaper. The pandan chicken and the grilled chicken skewer were good while the rests were just average in taste. The fried shrimp roll tasted like frozen variety. Usually frozen food does not taste that good. Perhaps the sauces accompanying the dish did play an important role as the taste enhancer. Not a highly recommended dish even though I did enjoy the spicy satay sauce. Again, my vote goes to Thai Box for the appetizer platter.

The main dish, red Thai curry chicken however came in as a surprise to us. Full of flavors but not over-powered by the coconut milk. Unlike the offering in Thai Box, I did not find a thick layer of chili oil in the red curry chicken, hence this was definitely a healthier version - less oil and less fat (not overloaded with coconut milk too). I like the dish very much especially the aubergine. Soft and flavourful and there instantly melt into my mouth. Moreover, it was served steaming hot with the lighted candle underneath the little wok to preserve the warmth. For a rather fair price of €13.90 for this quality dish, my vote got to be Song Phi Nong for the main dish.

With the final score at 1 vs.2, you know who the winner is. However, this is just my personal point of view as food judging can be pretty subjective and is very much dependent on individual taste-buds and preferences.

I do have a very good impression with Song Phi Nong and will sure return to try other dishes. The service is impeccable and most importantly the food are not over priced.

Song Phi Nong Thai Restaurant
Wagenstraaat 177
Den Haag
Tel: 070 36150 96

Operating Hour
Tue - Sun 17:00 till 00:00
Close on Mon

p/s: Apologies for the quality of the photos (shot on my iPhone 4).

Delicious Gochujang Korean Roasted Chicken with Pita bread

Wednesday, July 17, 2013 by Denise 0 Comments A⁺ a^-

Korean barbeque is something I really enjoy when eating with friends and family members.
Usually it takes a minimum 2 pax to setup the charcoal grill (build-in grill at diner's table) in Korean restaurants, so it is definitely a dish to best enjoy in a group. Although bulgogi, the grill beef tenderloin is the most representative form of Korean barbecue, most of the Korean restaurant also serve grilled chicken and pork in their menu.

I recently bought a tub of Gochujang sauce (Korean hot pepper paste) from Wah Nam Hong supermarket but had not idea what to do about it. With great cravings for Korean barbeque, I had an idea to make the roasted gochujang chicken breast fillets and eat it with pita bread and Romaine lettuces as a complete meal.

The roasted gochujang chicken breast fillets turned out to be absolutely delicious, with the added Korean spicy kick. It seriously worth the effort to roast my own Korean BBQ. For those who is keen to experiment the dish, here is the simple recipe to share.

Ingredients
1 chicken breast fillet
1 tbsp of gochujang sauce
1/2 tbsp of sesame oil
1/2 tbsp of light soy sauce
1/2 a fresh lemon
some cooking oil
some honey
some salt
some pepper

Instructions
Step 1: Place the chicken breast fillet in a zipper lock plastic bag. Add-in the gochujang sauce, sesame oil, soy sauce, salt and pepper
Step 2: Pound the chicken fillet with a rolling pin to soften the fillet for better absorption of the marinate mix. Marinate the fillet overnight in the fridge (Remember to bring the marinated chicken fillet to room temperature at least an hour before baking)
Step 3: Brush some cooking oil on the fillet and pop into the oven to bake for 10 minutes at 195°C
Step 4: Turn over the chicken fillet. Smear some honey on the fillet and bake for another 5 minutes
Step 5: Squeeze in some fresh lemon juice on the chicken fillet and roasted gochujang chicken fillet is ready to be served

A great homemade barbeque meal indeed, minus off the worries of walking out of the restaurant smelled like a piece of smokey bacon. A happy Sunday afternoon !

Tasty Soto Ayam @ Dayang Indonesian Restaurant, The Hague

Saturday, July 13, 2013 by Denise 0 Comments A⁺ a^-

I still have 'unfinished business' with Soto Ayam (chicken veggies soup), the famous Javanese cuisine. I have been very eager to try out the dish since months ago but to no avail. For two occasions, I missed out the chances to sample the dish when I patronized Indonesian restaurants. On the first occasion, my colleagues wanted the rijsttafel instead of the individual set meal. While during the second occasion, the restaurant unfortunately ran out of stock for the Soto Ayam.

Lady luck was by my side and finally I got my first taste of Soto Ayam last weekend at the Dayang Indonesian Restaurant. I am familiar with Mee Soto and Lontong Soto, but Soto Ayam with rice was my first time. I seriously like the dish very much and I was totally hooked after the first bite. Comparing the taste back home and the one here, I like the latter better as it is richer and more flavorful.

The complex and tasty flavors originated from the myriad of spices used which also resulted in a creamier and thicker broth. It is just a perfect dish to go with the rice.

Having crackers soaked in the soup was also new to me, perhaps this is the Indonesian way to enjoy Soto. Soggy cracker or lumpy cracker in the soup is not my favourite but I have to admit this was really good. The crackers tasted a bit like thin tofu after soaked-up the essence of the soup. 2 thumbs up for the dish!!

The Nasi Rames on the other is not as great as the Soto Ayam. We were disappointed with the variety of side dishes provided. Paying the same price, you will get 5 side lines in Istana Indonesian Restaurant as compared to here, you only get 3 side lines - 1 veggie, 1 meat and 1/2 an egg. The portion was rather small too, even small eater like me find it not filling at all.

For the drinks, I ordered myself the Ais Campur. It tastes like sirup bandung back home but accompanied with some jack fruits, coconut flesh and grass jelly. Seriously, I prefer our ABC (Ais Batu Campur) better as this ais campur is way too sweet for me and the shaved ice were just too chunky. Anyway, biting on ice is bad for your teeth.

Overall, my experience dining at Dayang was a good one. The lady who served us was really friendly. My great compliment to her excellent service. Regardless of limited resources (she manned the restaurant alone during lunch), we still get served in speed. From order till our food was served (steaming hot), the whole process took a mere 15 minutes.

Inside Madurodam, the famous Miniature Park in the Netherlands

Wednesday, July 10, 2013 by Denise 0 Comments A⁺ a^-

Spotted anything bizarre with this photo? For those who are residing in the Hague, you could possibly guess where exactly the place is. Yes, this was actually a shot taken from Madurodom, the famous miniature park in the Netherlands.

Named after the World War II resistance hero George Maduro, the miniature park has been opened for public access since 1952. Madurodom houses the miniature model replicas of famous Dutch landmarks, castles and public buildings such as Het Loo Palace, Peace Palace, Dom Tower, Schiphol Airport, Rijkmuseum, Keukenhof, railway station etc.

Madurodum is an ideal place to explore the interesting 'places & buildings' in the Netherlands, especially for short-stay visitor who would like to find out more about the Netherlands but with limited time.

The typical canal with raised mechanical bridge for safe passage of boats.

Madurodam, the Miniature Park of the Netherlands

The famous Buitenhof in The Hague during Prince day, the official opening of Parliament session.

The familiar blue & white KLM Royal Dutch's airplane at the Schiphol Airport, the mini version of course.

A scene of the famous Dutch cheese aution at the Alkmaar cheese market.

The replica model of the International Court of Justice a.k.a Peace Museum in the Hague City.

The residence palace for Princess Beatrix, Huis ten Bosch Palace.

Keukenhof in 1:25 scale. Looks pretty real ya.

The Shell petrol kiosk.

The Amsterdam Arena when the football match is taking place.

Getting There
From The Hague Central train station, get onto Tram #9 (towards Scheveningen direction) and get down at Madurodam tram stop.

Admission Fee
You may opt to either purchase the ticket over-the-counter or online. Apparently, it is much cheaper to purchase the ticket online.
                                Over-the-Counter      Online
Children < 3 years             Free                    Free
Children 3-12 years           €10,50                €9,45
Adults                              €15,00                €13,50

Upon entering the park, you will be given an ID card to access the interactive facilities in the park. Just flash the card to the scanner to play the interactive video set at some of the locations. Please do not forget to return the card upon check-out from the park. Just drop the card into the box placed at the exit door.

To find out more about Madurodum, check out their official website at http://www.madurodam.nl/

Salami & Cheese Omelet with Pita Bread

Sunday, July 07, 2013 by Denise 0 Comments A⁺ a^-

Salami & Cheese Omelet with Pita Bread

Guess I am not the only one cracking my head on what to do with the almost-expired left-over pita breads.

The flour tortillas and pita breads bought from supermarket are usually sold in dozen. Very often only half of the breads would be used and the remaining unused breads would be ended-up in the trash. I bought the 8pc pack pita breads from AH for €1. Serious, I struggle to finish the whole pack. After two meals, I still have half of the pack to go.

Food wasting is not my principle and with my creative juice flowing, I came out the idea to clear another 2 slices of pita bread with cheese, salami, egg and lettuce. My latest creation is a great lunch idea of Salami & Cheese Omelet with Pita Bread.

Golden brown pita bread
Pita bread can be pretty dry and bland tasting. The plain pita is usually pale in color and uninviting in the looks department. For more flavourful and appealing pita bread, I first smear a layer of butter on the pita bread. With the buttered surface facing the heated pan, slightly press the pita bread so that the melted butter can be evenly coated on the pita breads. Next, toast the pita breads in the oven for 5-7 minutes until the the breads turn crispy and golden brown.

Crispy and golden brown pita bread

Salami & Cheese Omelet
Beat an egg in a bowl and add in the diced capsicum, salt, pepper and mix well. Next, pour in the egg mixture on a heated pan to make an omelet. Once the omelet is in shape, add in the salami and cheese on one half side of the omelet. Gently fold the other half to cover the fillings with a spatula, to form a half moon shape. Carefully flip the omelet over and continue to cook for 1 minute.

The toasted pita breads and omelet is now ready to be assembled. Layer a Romania lettuce on a pita bread, follow by the salami and cheese omelet. Top the omelet with another slice of green lettuce and pita bread. Cut them into half and serve.

There you go, the Salami & Cheese Omelet with Pita Bread. Easy peasy ya ...

Salami & Cheese Omelet with Pita Bread (into half)

A Great Bowl of Bakso @ Warung Bude Kati in The Hague

Tuesday, July 02, 2013 by Denise 0 Comments A⁺ a^-

It did not cross my mind to order a bowl of bakso (Indonesian beef ball, usually serve in soup with noodles or vermicelli) for lunch, instead I just craved for a bowl of steaming soto ayam. My wish for the day was not granted as the soto ayam was out-of-stock and I ended up ordering the bakso.

Feeling a bit disappointed, I wasn't too eager to look forward to my lunch. However, little did I know this normal looking bowl of bakso apparently turned out to be surprisingly good and wow-ed me tremendously after the first bite.

The beef balls were indeed the highlight of the dish, succulent in texture, juicy and with no trace of gamey smell. The broth tasted extremely good and it went so well with the glass noodles. The chopped coriander leaf and mustard greens added the refreshing taste to the overall dish. Not to mention, the tender beef brisket and chewy tendons accompanying the dish completed the perfect bowl of bakso. It was nothing short of delicious and perfect to satiate your cravings for bakso.

I was truly delighted with the bakso as it was as good as the one I tasted in Bali years back. I remembered I was not satisfied with just a bowl but two. I even had bakso in the Bali Airport for dinner before boarding the plane home. Somehow, I had found the similar and authentic taste here in the Netherlands. This bakso really made my day!

There is nothing more satisfying than having a glass of icy cendol in a sunny afternoon. Unlike the cendol back home, the Indonesian version here is slightly richer with extra coconut milk. Instead of red beans, it is filled with jack fruit chucks. Quite a great drink for thirst quenching.

For those who are wondering which restaurant I actually patron for the above sumptuous Indonesian cuisine, it is non other the Warung Bude Kati Indonesian Restaurant at the Hague. The restaurant serves quite a wide range of Indonesian food including the famous rijsttafel. Read more about my post on Rijsttafel at Warung Bude Kati, The Hague

During my recent revisit to the restaurant, I discovered that Warung Bude Kati actually offers quite a great lunch deal to it customers. Taking this Nasi Campur Cilik set as example, for €8.50 you are served with 8 side-dishes with rice. Top-up with another €2.50, you can enjoy 2 sticks of sate. Quite a great deal!!

Denise's Wonderland

Freshly Prepared Wok Meals @ Eazie Salads Wok Smoothies

Yummy Moon Cake in the Netherlands

Little Farm Sanctuary at Clingendael Park @ The Hague

The Review of Song Phi Nong Thai Restaurant in The Hague

Delicious Gochujang Korean Roasted Chicken with Pita bread

Tasty Soto Ayam @ Dayang Indonesian Restaurant, The Hague

Inside Madurodam, the famous Miniature Park in the Netherlands

Salami & Cheese Omelet with Pita Bread

A Great Bowl of Bakso @ Warung Bude Kati in The Hague

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