Time flies...

It has been more than 3 years since the last post... I guess I've sort of "given up"... It's always more enjoyable eating the food than blogging about it. I mean, God knows the number of times I've eaten half the amount before realizing that I've forgotten to take pictures... haha... Besides, there are so many food blogs nowadays... Ok, enough of excuses...

Just wanna pen my thoughts on food enjoyment:

In Mandarin, a common description of a good dish is 色、香、味俱全. Literally, it means, full of "colour", "fragrance", and "flavour". It is not coincidental for the words to be in that order. One approaches a dish firstly through sight. A ghastly looking pot of goo will never taste good because psychologically, the mind would have dismissed it. How many times have we seen Japanese dishes that are so appealing aesthetically that we could not bear to eat them?

Next is smell. It has been proven that if one is not allowed to smell the food one is eating, one will not be able to tell what is being eaten (assuming of course that texture is constant, eg all blended into "baby food"). That is also why all food tastes bland when we are suffering from flu and blocked noses.

The last is taste.

Ever so often, when critics judge a dish, they only comment on the taste and texture. They have missed two-thirds of the criteria for a good dish.

Psychologically, our memory is not as good as we think. According to the book "How customers think", our memory is actually a creative product of our encounters, beliefs and plans developed at a preconscious level. Therefore, food will always taste better in the company we love (positive emotions affecting our judgment). Food will always taste better when the environment evokes positive memories (eg., noodles served in "cockeral" bowls in old hawker centres). In fact, food will also taste better if we have to wait/queue for it (a belief that long queue = good food).

Understanding the above will enable us to embark on our journey of becoming a food critic... haha... or at least act like one. :)

Heart and Soul - the key ingredients

I always believe that if one puts his heart and soul into providing good food for people, he will be able to have a successful business. Just wanna give 2 examples:

a. Teochew Char Kway Teow @ Margaret Drive

The queue at this stall is never ending. The char kway teow by this one-man-operation is good. But I believe the reason for the success for this uncle is also his attitude that is definitely worth top marks. He frys every plate of char kway teow individually. Using only eggs and cockles (no fish cake, no chinese sausages), he whips out plate after plate of moist and delicious char kway teow with a smile that never leaves his face. Ever willing to accommodate special requests (although there's not much room for variety with limited ingredients...), he is never hot under the collar even working in front of the hot stove.

Word has it that there was once a loyal customer who has travelled far to eat his char kway teow. But alas, he has sold out all his noodles. Not willing to see his customer disappointed, he suggested to the customer to go to the fish ball noodle stall to buy a bowl of raw kway teow and mee. He then heats up his wok again and fried a plate of char kway teow just for his customer... absolutely FREE! He said that since the customer has already paid for the ingredients elsewhere, it is not fair to pay more for the same plate of char kway teow. Now that is SERVICE!


b. Rui Xing Coffee Stall @ Bedok Central (hawker centre next to market, NOT the bus terminal)


There are at least 5 coffee stalls at this hawker centre. Rui Xing is the only one with long queues. Not only that, they close shop as early as 11:30AM!!! Full effort is put in to every cup of coffee. He even makes sure that every cup is pre-heated with hot water before the coffee is poured into it. This will ensure that every cup of coffee is piping hot as it should. The coffee powder used is made from fragrant, charcoal grilled beans. But more importantly, he is generous in the usage of the powder, thus giving full flavoured coffee that packs punch!

Both stall owners knows that life is more than just work. The char kway teow seller sells only at night while the coffee seller only the day. They know when enough is enough. They would rather spend the rest of the time doing what they like to enjoy life instead of breaking their backs to earn more. For that I respect them. There's more wisdom here than what is taught in universities...

What the duck!

Have not posted for a while... just wanna show the pix of the duck noodles that I lurve so much!!