MAKING ORIGINAL CENDOL!

Cendol has always been one of my favourite desserts here.  It originated from Indonesia and the word ' jendol ' in Javanese means 'bulge' or 'bump' which refers to the green wormy bulgy like jello!
This dessert exists in South East Asia including Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and of course Indonesia.

The Singapore and Malaysian versions have red beans in it.  Don't ever mention that to any Indonesian as it is a sin to put red beans.  The Teochew people did that!  I prefer the original Indonesian version with no red beans.  You can keep your beans.

How to Make Es Cendol Part 1

Cendol Recipe :-

30 pandan leaves, roughly chopped (aka screwpine leaves)

100 gm green bean flour

1/2 tsp alkaline water

1/2 tsp salt

3 tbsp sugar

650 ml water

Method:-

Put chopped leaves, water and whiz in a blender. Strain to get 625ml to 650ml of pandan juice.

Combine pandan juice and green pea flour in a mixing bowl. Stir well

to mix before passing through a sieve.

THE ONLY TAO KWA PAU SHOP IN THE WORLD!

The Original Tau Kwa Pau in Katong, home of the Noisy Nyonyas!

The previous locations at the junction of Joo Chiat Rd and East Coast Rd. They are now at Dunman Food Centre, Onan Rd.

The "original" Tao Kua Pau shop was on the left corner and the fake one is in the right corner dirty coffee shop.

The shop front in the kopi tiam of the previous location in Joo Chiat.

Growing up in Katong, you can't help but have the taste of Tau Kwa Pau etched in your brain.  It was originally across the street where Mary's Corner now is which serves the fake ones!  Mr Chew's dad a Teochew, started it in 1959 and says it was a Teochew/Baba invention. 

Mr Chew doing his thing dicing the filing.

It's a deep fried Tofu pocket and the filling is made of diced cucumbers, boiled eggs, deep fried yam cracker and deep fried fish balls.  The fake ones are just made of a whole tofu with a cross shaped cut and filings scattered on top.  That S&*T don't cut it for me, it MUST be a pocket tofu so you can hold it.

They sell about 600 a day.

The sauces served with it is a braised duck sauce (the shop also sells Teochew braised duck)  and the other a red chili sauce with green chilies inside.
Make sure you tell the shop NOT to cut the tofu as it's better in it's whole form uncut so you can eat it like a burger.

You are now ready for heaven. Trust me, it's better than a Big Mac.

They cost only $2.40 for a pair (last I saw) which is half the cost of a latte at Starbucks and I bet it tastes better too.
They have 3 menus: breakfast  2, lunch 4 and dinner 6... I'm just kidding!

So look no further as this is the only Tao Kwa Pau shop in the world!  Welcome to the real Katong.

Nothing like some Kopi Ping with it.

HOW TO WATCH THE TOUR DE FRANCE AND EAT GOOD!

The Tour de France has always been just a vision to me since I was a kid growing up in Siglap on the east coast of Singapore.  One afternoon whilst I was having my busy day of coffee and watching CNN,  a lady walked in to buy a print and asked me what I was doing that summer of 2005.  I told her I wanted to go see Lance Armstrong win his 7th title.  She smiled and asked if I wanted to work during the Tour; it was a no brainer.  A month later I was shooting Lance Armstrong with his then girlfriend Sheryl Crow in St Etienne!! This is how it all started and has been going on every July.  So don't call me in July as  I'm shooting straight men in colorful spandex going up mountains with shaven legs.

Lance, warming up with Sheryl Crow and his kids in St Etienne, 2005.

Here it goes.  The Tour is 23 days with 2 rest days in between.  It's never the same route every year and always covers the Pyrenees and the Alps.  It can start outside France and weave its way into France and always finishes on a Sunday in Paris.  For example, the Tour starts in Belgium next year and is there for 3 days before it hits France.  The daily stage races start about 11am and end about 430pm.  So your  schedule is usually have breakfast at 8am ,  drive to the start by 10am to have another bite and wait for the start.  When they go off, you drive about 200km to the finish which would be about 3 hours down the road.  You then get stuck in a jam as all the roads are closed by the arrival town.  You look for parking and walk about 2 km to the finish line which is packed already.  After the race you get stuck in another jam going out of the town to your next hotel hopefully not too far.  By the time you get to your next hotel, it's about 8pm-9pm.  You do this about 23 times.  Welcome to Le Tour!!

Your love pad; a typical room during the Tour booked through Logis de France.

You might get lucky and stumble on a great hotel when you're driving around.

Hotels will be the nightmare for you in terms of availability, location and the P Diddy luxe factor!  The route is usually announced in November and it's a mad scramble for rooms.  The Tour would have already booked for the 3000 personnel way before that so it leaves you pretty much with nothing close to the start and arrival towns.  Don't worry people, I will hook your ass up!

I use these 3 sites :
www.booking.com  :  this is for the both the normal hotels and some smaller boutique hotels.
www.logisdefrance.com : for bed and breakfast hotels and even some larger Chateau like properties.
www.karenbrown.com : the most luxe P Diddy factor site impress yo lady type pad but it's limited to the more popular areas.  You can book through the property's website directly.

For the mountain stages, I usually book and try the ski resorts directly as they have a listing of the rooms and lodging on their websites.

As for car rentals I use Hertz.com or Europcar.com
Book a GPS but I still find maps (Michelin only) useful as it also helps you look at alternative routes if you want to chase the peloton.  Get an unlimited (I logged 3500km the last time) plan and pick it up from the train station or town you're starting from.  As for the final car drop off, I usually drop it off at the train station the stage before Paris so I don't have to drive it up to Paris.  TGV train tickets can be booked on the www.raileurope.com.  As everyone will be on the train to Paris after the time trial you must make a booking for about the 7-8pm train as the time trial ends about 5pm.

A good way to watch Le Tour if you can't afford to spend 23 days away from your Big Macs and Starbucks,  just do the last mountain stages (about 3 days)  and then the time trial before Paris and of course Paris on Sunday.  Most of the race is decided on the last mountain stages and time trial anyways.  This will only be a 7 day trip for you.

The crowd at the start of each stage.

So now you have an idea of the route and the hotel booking sites.  What's the strategy for booking the hotels?  There are various ways you can do it.

1.  Book the hotel the night before by the starting town so you can roll up and watch the start the next day.  You can then chase the peloton using an alternative route and wait for them to pass and drive off again to another spot to catch them.  You would then need another hotel at the finish that night.  But I usually prefer to get to the next start town so I can cut down on the driving the next day to the start.  As the stage finishes about 5pm, by the time you get out from the jam it would be about 7pm and if you're lucky, you drive an hour to your next hotel in time for dinner.

2. Another way would be to book a hotel in between stage towns so you can use that as a 2 day base and stop your girlfriend from bitching about changing hotels everyday and keep that relationship.

3. For the mountain stages, you don't have a choice but to book the finish towns of the ski resort at the  mountain finish.  This is because the roads are all closed early morning and you have no way up the mountain the next day but to bike or walk your booty up 15km with your wine and cheese and your girlfriend moaning by your side!

The Tourmalet Mountain stage in the Pyrenees.

Luz Ardiden in the Pyrenees.

The mythical Alpe D'Huez Mountain in the Alps with a million people.



THE FOOD

A spread at a truck stop in Lourdes.

You will not be disappointed with the food on Le Tour.  Big tip, do not ask them where the MacDonald's are if you want to enjoy your trip and not get thrown out of the country.  Even in the most simple Logis de France 60 Euro room, a great meal will always be waiting for you.  A dinner set would be about 18 Euros.  The more elaborate P Diddy Chateaus would be about 25 Euros - 40Euros.  As for breakfast,  the hotel usually serves very simple coffee and bread/jam  and some cold cuts.  If you want to look for a Starbucks, you got to be the biggest idiot in the world.  Yes, the meals are way cheaper than Marina Bay Sands and you don't have young Russian girls walking around.

My goat cheese salad in the Pyrenees.

Duck and rib Cassoulet a speciality in the Toulouse area.

Entrecote, my favorite steak on L e Tour.

The marches are the way to go when you're waiting for the race to start as you can taste the specific cuisine from the region.

A crepe from La Creperie in Forcalqueur in eastern Provence

My Provencal salad in Forcalquer on the way to the Alps.

The breakfast in my little bed and breakfast near Toulouse.  This was a rarity! It's usually a croissant and coffee.

Don't forget your instant Tom Yam noodles too in the mountains to stay warm!

My Yakun Singapore style half boiled eggs with soy and white pepper; yes, I brought them all the way to France!

SAVE THE ANIMALS - TV SPOTS I DIRECTED WITH SOME FREINDS OF MINE!

I've had the chance to work with Tony Leung on " Hero " and " Lust Caution " and he has always been a class act.  I want to say some bad things about him but I can't!  The dude is just sickening nice!  Alot of women would LOVE to be that gibbon sitting on his lap, trust me.

Joan Chen has been a friend since her Last Emperor days when we met at a jazz bar in Singapore...not just any bar..a JAzz bar!  We've been friends ever since and has always been there to help my butt along when I was just a starving student trying to start out in Hollywierd.  At one stage during the video, Frankie the python was giving Joan abit too tight of a squeeze and it was the first time I saw a Chinese gal turn white!

THE ULTIMATE BAK CHOR MEE?

The usual line you will see.

I've always wondered where the ultimate Teochew Bak Chor Mee (minced pork dried noodle) was and i think i found it after much asking around.  The Hill St Tai Hwa Pork Noodle stall on Crawford Lane was mentioned by so many people and also by my NS buddy Seetoh aka Makansutra;  yes, we fought for our country together in Pioneer Magazine!  I arrived at about 11am and just looked for the famous line!  There it was and i started my wait like the rest of Singapore.

This stall was originally in a coffee shop  by Coleman Bridge on Hill St, moved to Hill St Centre, moved again to Marina Sq and finally here to Crawford Lane.

Fresh noodles in the casing in front and Mr Tang's helpers prepare the noodles for each order.  Notice they are wearing gloves?  That's a good sign or they get canned.

Mr Tang preparing each bowl for the customers with the lady who you will meet who takes your orders, looks on.

Mr Tang mixing the magic potion sauce.

Anthony Bourdain-No Reservations, Singapore

For you peeps that missed the first show I did with Tony for No Reservations, here it is.  We had no script, no rehearsals, he just turned up and we just had fun taping it with 3 cameramen running around with no lights!  He makes Singapore look great unlike some of the other shows on TV.  We started after lunch and shot for 4 hours and then fed the crew with my Hay Mee Prawn Noodle and he said it was pretty much the best meal he had that trip.  He did some sorry Clarke Quay restaurant that trip with wheelchairs as seats which he hated but was forced to do it.  Seetoh hooked him up with some Shark's head meal which was great.  It's amazing the following he has around the world as when this show aired, I got a barrage of emails from all over the USA.  I even get it now after each re run!  Alot of people asks me how is Tony and what he's really like.  He is what he is on TV, simply loves Asia especially Singapore.  Easily  the best food show on TV with Emmys to show for it.

Please also check out : www.russelwongphoto.com

Anthony Bourdain-The Layover, Singapore

Anthony Bourdain or Tony for short, and I have been friends for a while and we met when I was shooting his publicity for No Reservations.  We hit it off the first time we met although he hated photo shoots.  Started bringing him to a couple of places for The New York Times and on the next trip even came over for a home cooked meal.  He's always been true to himself, a good friend  and honest and that's why he is a success and we all like him for the no BS vibe.  Says everything we have always wanted to say but didn't have the courage to.  The video attached was shot in July as he called me up to be in the premiere episode of his new show The Layover which aired in the USA last Monday.  Our scene was Samy's Curry on Dempsey Road, my hang out down the road from my studio.  I've been going there to then the Civil Service Club since Army days when I was fighting for my country from 9-5.  The chicken marsala will kick your ass and you will want more.  This is pretty much the ONLY descent meal you will get in Dempsey Road Disneyland.  Look no furthur.


Please also check out : www.russelwongphoto.com

Hainanese Chicken Rice

This is my site about just sharing what I love with everyone and even hooking you up with the good things in life.  Be it a hotel or some good food around the world; I will try and hook your ass up real good! NO BS, just the good stuff.

To kick it off, this is my favorite all time dish, Hainanese chicken rice from Tong Fong Fatt in Ghim Moh market.  They also have a branch in Maxwell Road market to the right of Tian Tian.  New York City based 3 star chef Jean Georges loves this, not that I care, over Tian Tian the usual favorite of Anthony Bourdain.  The soy gravy is light and tastier.  When it comes to local Singapore food,  we all are the 3 star chefs, not them!  Rock on baby. Ain't no white guy gonna tell us about our chicken man.  I know all my brudders here on our sunny island feel that way.

Tony and Jean Georges are close friends and I have pointed them in the right direction and they have been very open and they DO get it.  Don't get me wrong.  Alot of people that travel to our part of the world and even those that even live here DON'T.  They rather eat overpriced , over cooked, over bastardized, over hyped,  over decorated interiors ; us Singaporeans don't give a rat's ass about the atmosphere, the food on the plate IS the atmosphere bonehead!  Like I always say to my friends visiting, when you see a table cloth, run like you stole something!!  My advice to the people that don't get it is stay on the dark side and leave ma chicken rice alone!  You make it look bad, it doesn't wanna hang with you baby!  You're safer at Starbucks dishwater and Coffee Beaner and Dried Leaf suckin down a dried muffin and chatting about your maid problems and children play dates.