Singapura - The Alternative to Indian Curry Houses

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Parent Category: Travel Info

Category: Places To Eat

Published on Wednesday, 04 July 2012 17:44

Written by Elaine Ing

Here in Manhattan, there’s a new kid in town.

In the Murray Hill area (affectionately known as Curry Hill -- on Lexington Avenue between 26th St. and 29th St.), Singapura is great alternative to the standby Indian curry houses. 

Singapura offers foodies an introduction to Nonya (or Peranakan) cuisine, which is a unique blend of Chinese, Malay and other influences (such as Thai, Indonesian and Indian). A true traveler knows that Singapore is known for two things -- its shopping and amazing cuisine. No where else would a true foodie eschew star chef-run restaurants to line up en masse at hawker stands before the daily special runs out. 

NYC has come come a long way from the days of cheap dogs and pretzel vending carts. However, Singapore has had a long tradition of serving the best food in these government-regulated hawker food stands. 

Singapore (derived from the Malay word Singapore) is a true blending of different cultures -- Chinese, Malay, Indian and English, with each being officially recognized. As well, the variety of food representing different ethnicities is seen by the government as a symbol of its multiculturalism. 

Nonya cooking is the result of blending Chinese ingredients and wok cooking techniques with spices used by the Malay/Indonesian community. The food is tangy, aromatic, spicy and herbal. There are regional variations in Nonya cooking, however the standby dishes are clearly present in Singapura's menu. 

The smallish interior of Singapura offers a cozy alternative to the hustle and bustle outside, and harkens back to a time gone by. The earth-toned/ wood panelling interior with hanging lotus blossom lamps with abacuses (abaci) now reused as hanging frames in lieu of pictures, is not what you'd find in a typical Chinese restaurant. Even the chairs are chosen with care -- they are laden with mounted brass lion head door knockers (perhaps in reference to Singapore's moniker as "The Lion City-State?”). 

The meal brought me back to my days as a tourist in Singapore. I salivated over the menu and was not disappointed. The meal started off with Roti Canai (a flaky pancake served with a potato curry), Laksa Noodle Soup (a spicy noodle soup dish) and Tamarind Shrimp (grilled shrimp which came with a variety of sauces). The main meal consisted of Malay Fish Curry (Tilapia), Devil's Curry (a spicy chicken dish) and Lamb Rendang. The first two curry dishes were absolutely wonderful, however the lamb curry was lacking a bit on the sauce. 

Singapura's dessert menu was rather minimal -- only two options were available: Mango Sticky Rice and Fried Banana. My guest and I tried both but perhaps we were so full from the main meal that we weren't really that impressed with the dessert choices. 

Overall, Singapura is a delight. I like being able to have Singaporean food without having to trudge all the way down to Chinatown. The interior is delightful and the cuisines extremely well-affordable. Staff was extremely helpful and accommodating, and the food not as intimidating spicy as one would think.

Though it just recently opened in April 2012, Singapura is here to stay. 

Singapura
106 Lexington Ave. (at E. 27th St.)
New York, NY 10016
212-684-6842

singapuranyc.com

Cooking Channel Chef G. Garvin's Great Grilling & Travel Guide

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Parent Category: Travel Info

Category: Places To Eat

Published on Friday, 15 June 2012 19:26

Written by Brad Balfour

Summer is upon us and so is the smell of grilling wafting in the air. To assist us in our quest for finessing fine grilling exercises, the Cooking Channel has called on one of its vets, G. Garvin -- who has enjoyed popular success as chef, author, entrepreneur, and television host -- to entreat with some of the best cooking to be found nationally. Starting May 29th, the Atlanta native debuts his new show, Road Trip with G. Garvin.

Though he built his culinary repertoire during childhood, his earliest experience came with cutting and peeling vegetables alongside his mother in the kitchen of Atlanta’s Jewish Home for the Aging. So besides the obvious local inspirations he has a taste of another kind of orthodoxy to influence him.

Raised by a single mom, surrounded by four sisters, the 13-year-old Garvin traded after-school football practice for a job at Atlanta's Old Vinings Inn, soaping dishes and soaking up the inner workings of a high-end kitchen. Two years later, he became the youngest cook at the downtown Ritz-Carlton, where he held seasonal positions.

 Garvin moved west, initially in 1988, to open the Ritz-Carlton’s Rancho Mirage resort in Palm Springs. At 20, he moved to Europe to further his culinary training and served as Jean Pierre Maharebacha’s apprentice. Then he got kitchen positions in Hamburg and Warsaw, while documenting everything he learned. After nearly two years, he returned to Atlanta to become sous chef of the award-winning Italian restaurant, Veni, Vidi, Vici. However, the lure of the West Coast drew him back, this time, to Los Angeles. 

 During the ‘90s, he served as Morton’s executive chef, where he orchestrated dinner for the second Annual Vanity Fair Oscar fete, as well as a lavish banquet for the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. 

 With doing “really good food” as the goal, Garvin ended up at the former Hollywood watering hole Kass Bah, where he shaped a creative menu appealing to both gourmands and show-biz execs alike. A year later, he became executive chef at the restaurant Reign, which became a smash and earned Garvin great reviews and his highest salary.

Yearning for both business and creative success with food, he left there to independently cater high-profile events, including two exclusive dinners for President Clinton, a private brunch for Senator Hillary Clinton and meals for other notable clients. 

After two years, he teamed with a catering client to open a restaurant. In fall of 2001, G. Garvin’s opened to critical acclaim, then expanding two years later to more than double its size.

Plans for a series of cooking DVDs brought him to the attention of TV One in early 2004, where his enthusiasm seemed perfect for a new network looking to provide lifestyle programming for the growing foodie audience. It was then that Turn Up the Heat with G. Garvin came to fruition and now this summer, his latest show, Road Trip with G. Garvin.

Q: Cooking is something you’ve always done. Did you start out doing Jewish food since your mom worked at The Jewish Home?

 GG: My mother did. I was in the kitchen, doing what I could, considering most of it was culture. Just hanging out with my mom and watching what she did. Then she’d go home and make her own version of meatballs. A little bit, but not too much.

Q: Why is there such a fascination with food now?

GG: People are learning to understand food in a way that it’s not just something you do. You don’t just eat to live. The science of food, the development of recipes, the new science, it’s become not just something to do, it’s become a lifestyle.

People are savvy, where people don’t have desires to be chefs; they have desires to learn how to cook, and make great meals, and understand why you’d do a pinot noir with chicken and steak and pinot grigio with seafood and pasta. There’s a lot of intelligent information about food where before there may not have been.

Q: When you grill, do you grill everything? What can’t you grill? Guess you can’t grill watermelon.

GG: Nowadays you probably could. Grilling is a method, just like sautéing or baking, or broiling. You can braise your leg of lamb or grill your leg of lamb. For my show and the show we’re doing, not everything is grilled.

But this time of year, there are certain focuses for people. But if you want to grill it, figure out a way to do so. I love throwing fish on the grill. I work out five days a week, so I throw it on the grill, it’s all smoky from the wood, and have it with a salad. If you have a desire to grill, you certainly can, but you just have to create a method.

Q: I guess it depends on what sauces you use.

GG: The bigger issue, and what people tend to forget is, when people grill, they tend to create a big flame and turn it and turn it and get the grill marks, the key components when I grill are hot, medium, and warm. 

Start with whatever your cooking with a hot flame, if you’re using a sauce, put it on at medium so it coats well because of the warmth. The problem people have is grilling and burning. If you start it super-hot, you get grill marks and flavor, slide it to the medium side to actually let it cook, then finish it on the warm side, it allows you to sauce it while grilling and getting that flavor without burning.

Q: Are there meats or foods you haven’t used that you want to explore like, say, ostrich?

GG: I have never used ostrich. Alligator I love, I have cooked rattlesnake and bison in the past. So I would think that the next thing for me, I’ve been thinking about a good dish with some alligator.

Q: Have you tried grilling insects?

GG: I have not.

Q: Supposedly people do a lot with grasshoppers.

GG: I’ve heard that and seen different people do that all over the world. It’s going to be less about me, and more the demographic that I’m cooking for. It would be a hard sell. I think people are more open minded about where things are going with food, but I think it’s key to talk slowly. 

Q: You could throw it in as a side dish.

GG: We got people comfortable with escargot. There are certain cheeses that they have with worms that people are eating in France, I think it’d be a hard sell in America. But people are open to getting themselves prepared for something. You certainly have to ease your way in.

Q: Frogs, too.

GG: Frogs legs are great, I love them.

Q: I never tried them grilled.

GG: The grill is a great component. It gets you out of the kitchen and into the backyard or park. Grilling can really be fun.

Q: How large do you like your grilling environment to be?

GG: I’m a big guy, so I like a big-boy pit. I like to throw a whole tenderloin, whether it’s pork or beef, side of ribs, whole side of salmon, we actually did that in Houston. Grilled a whole side of salmon, with brisket and some shrimp. I like big, smoky, loud, big-boy grills.

Q: How about tuna -- do you put the whole thing on the grill?

GG: You can, but tuna is one of those delicacies. When I think tuna, I think cerviche, carpcio, tartare. Navy black, I used to do a blackened pepper and mint with shitake tuna, but I don’t know if I’d ever throw the tuna onto the grill.

Q: Do you ever worry about carcinogens that supposedly occur in some foods during grilling?

GG: I’m just not qualified to answer that question, unfortunately, so I couldn’t answer that question intelligently. Grilling has been around as long as I can remember. It has changed, absolutely. It’s not harmful but I’m not a doctor. If there is a concern, people should grill in moderation, but I cannot speak intelligently on that philosophy.

Q: Guess it depends on what you grill with.

GG: There is some concern. Oak wood, open flame, it can’t be too harmful. It’s the way of the caveman. Throw it on the grill with a natural flame and oak wood.

Q: So your preference is oak wood?

GG: Yeah, absolutely.

Q: You have your On the Road series and then you have your grilling. Are those separate environments or do they interweave? 

GG: They sort of work together. The name of the show is Road Trip with G. Garvin and there are some episodes where we do grill, but primarily, it’s about road trips, finding unique restaurants, finding great things about those places and working with those people and those places.

Q: Where do you like to travel when on the road -- where do you like to go?

GG: What we love is that we love to see something in a community that all the locals are talking about. A mom and pop spot that’s not visible to the regular traveler. Whether it’s a burger, or a sandwich, or pasta, or pie, we can’t adhere to the culinary streets, if you will.

Q: What places do you want to visit?

GG: We’ve gone to Austin, Houston, Nashville, Atlanta and New York. I’m looking forward to going to Virginia, Chicago and Philadelphia. I’m really looking forward to Vietnam, Peru and Brazil. I’m hoping we can go to a lot of great places where we can find some great dishes.

Q: How small do you get or big do you get?

GG: We get Nashville small and we get Austin big, so it’s a little of both. We get Lfayette small. But there’s big flavors and big things going on in places like Austin. We hit Charleston, which was a great place, but small. We got both.

Q: When did you decide to move back to Atlanta after living in Los Angeles?

GG: It’s because I grew up in Atlanta. I started my food career there. When we decided to do this show, the network wanted to do the first episode in Georgia, so that was one reason. I’m opening a restaurant in the Atlanta airport, that’s reason number two. I opened a studio in Atlanta where we shoot videos and host parties. It just made good food business sense to go to Atlanta, so I did.

Q: You already have the media profile, so you’re not losing something by not being there.

GG: That’s a great point. Outside of the weather, thank god that I’m busy enough that I don’t need to live in Los Angeles to work. I’ve earned the right to live outside of Los Angeles. I love LA, most of my adult life has been there, it’s a great food town, but I also love where Atlanta is going as a new food mecca. There’s all sorts of genres of food. The scene is growing and I love being there.

Q: You didn’t want to live in NY?

GG: It just never came up. I almost did, but right from Atlanta I got a job in California. I’ve always been responsible, never really packed my bags and took a chance. I went to California, loved working there, and that’s where I ended up. New York has always been on the radar, but I’ve been lucky enough that I’ve gone to places where people have interests in southern food.

Q: Will the fascination with haute cuisine encourage us to diet better or will we gorge ourselves?

GG: People are smart enough now to…one thing I argue is that people are more food intelligent than they’re given credit for. Listen, people like to splurge some times, but everyone has their own personal health requirements.

People are smart enough to know what works with them. That’s the one thing I’ve always argued when I have a show or a restaurant, I say people are more food intelligent than we give them credit for. I don’t think anyone is gonna over-do it. A small few will, as always, but the overall feels is that are going to indulge less and learn to be responsible.

Where to Eat in Israel: Top Restaurant Picks

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Parent Category: Travel Info

Category: Places To Eat

Published on Sunday, 29 April 2012 02:58

Written by Janna Gur

Israel is a tourist's Eden, but restaurants have not traditionally rated among its "bucket list" attractions. Now a foodie can make a special trip just to explore the local culinary landscape.

Here are a few of my top favorite Israeli restaurants, and I'm happy to say that the country has many more truly excellent choices these days.

Many tourists tend to regard Tel Aviv as a transit place, en route to somewhere more scenic or holy. But in terms of variety, quality and originality, Tel Aviv's restaurant scene is on par with that of European capitals and it may be a small version of New York. 

I would start with The Dining Hall (23 Shaul Hamelech Boulevard, (0)5-79443036). It's inspired by a kibbutz dining hall, only the food is very unkibbutz. It's nouvelle Israeli cuisine with a lot of Jewish ethinic and Middle Eastern influences -- and with a chef's touch. It's huge and bustling with long communal tables. The restaurant is right across from the Performing Arts Center and the new wing of the Tel Aviv Museum. So it's great for a pre- or post-theater dinner or lunch. Plus it's affordable.

In Israel you can go out for great food very late, so if you´ve been to the opera and you're done at around 10:30 pm, you can cross the square and the kitchen will be open. You can have a proper starter, main course and dessert or a lot of small plates and share them. The chef is Omer Miller, and he's 30 years old. He´s very famous now in Israel now; he has his own show.

Another restaurant I really love has a funny name, Abraxis North (40 Lilenblum Street 0-5-46786560). Here I'll start with the chef because he's the real story: Eyal Shani. He was one of the forefathers of the Israeli culinary revolution. He started his first restaurant, Oceanus, in 1989 in Jerusalem and then moved to Tel Aviv.

Eyal is a very controversial figure, but he´s a genius. His menus read like modern poetry. His description of a dish might be something like, "Tomato salad made from tomatoes both for and from old women at the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem."

He is truly creative and, for me, one of two or three of the best chefs in Israel. Eyal studied cinema. Like many Israeli chefs he didn´t formally study cuisine; he's self-taught.

You have to experience his food to really understand his philosophy. Eyal Shani's style of cooking is taking simple, fresh ingredients and making them sing. One of his dishes is called "Baby Cabbage." You receive a whole purple cabbage on a plate. You don´t even know how to start attacking it. You take bites and it melts in your mouth.

He first braises it for hours and then sautes it with butter and I don't know what else, and it's absolutely amazing. He also does magical things with cauliflower and tomatoes, and he makes the best focaccia, which comes hot off the wood-burning stone oven, or tabun. His chocolate dessert served in a paper cone is unbelievable.

Another place Eyal Shani owns is called Miznon, which means "buffet" (21 Ibn Gvirol, (0)3-716 8977). It´s more of a kiosk, not a full-fledged restaurant, so it´s perfect for lunch. Everything is served in a pita. But what he puts in the pita is a different matter! He makes the best cauliflower in the world. He first cooks it and then bakes and roasts it, and serves it with sour cream. He also does a wonderful take on chicken livers with green onions. For dessert he cuts off the top of the pita and fills it with chocolate spread. It's such a funky place and really upbeat.

A quick word about dress codes in Israel: no matter how upscale the restaurant, you can wear what you want. Israel is still very casual. I always say you can only be overdressed.

Orna and Ella is a Tel Aviv classic (33 Shenkin Street, 03-6204753). It´s been around for almost 20 years and it´s still going strong. Neither Orna nor Ella studied cooking; they were university students when they started baking cakes to support themselves, and that progressed into a buffet and then a restaurant.

It's very women friendly -- we call it "girls food" -- with lots of vegetables. The bistro's signature dish is Sweet Potato Fritters, served with sour cream and chives. Another is simply Rice with Vegetables. It's very feminine cooking, devoid of ego and simple, but wonderful.

There's a lovely new farmers market at Tel Aviv's port. On the weekend it's an open market, and during the week it has an indoors market. Downstairs is a really good Spanish tapas restaurant called Tapas B'Shuk, or Tapas in the Market 03-7162757). The food is very tasty and the open kitchen adds to the ambiance.

In Jaffa the Haj Kahil family has opened up a new restaurant next to the clock tower in the square (18 Raziel Street, 05-79428347). This Haj Kahil establishment serves unique salads and authentic Galilean specialties, including stuffed leg or lamb, which is a symphony of Levantine flavors. The food is delicious and different. It´s not what Israelis perceive as Arab food, like humus and skewered meats -- it's much more and the first upscale Palestinian restaurant in Tel Aviv.

In Jerusalem there are more good kosher places than in Tel Aviv. I really like Angelica (7 Shatz Street, 05-79442884), which is an elegant kosher restaurant with lots of seasonal grilled dishes. The owners recently opened another kosher place, called Grand Café (70 Derech Bethlehem, 02-5702702) in Bakaa, a beautiful neighborhood in the German Colony. In addition to its impressive Israeli breakfast and delicious fare throughout the day, it's a magnet for foodies with a sweet tooth thanks to the fabulous cheese cakes, almond tarts and fruit pies.

There's a lovely kosher restaurant by the Machane Yehuda market called Topolino (62 Agrippas Street, 02-622 3466). It's vegetarian Italian, reasonably priced and it's really wonderful. In the market there's also a lot of what we call "Jewish soul food," which is mainly Kurdish or Iraqi or Morrocan with all kinds of soups and stuffed vegetables, and they're all kosher of course. These are very simple places -- any one of them would be a good bet. You´ll spot them by the long lines.

The reason there are so few good kosher restaurants in Israel is that you have to close down for shabbat and holidays, and this is where you make your money. So restauranteurs shy away from that. And many of them don't want a mashgiach (supervisor) meddling in their kitchen. It's a pity, since about 30 percent of the Israel population keeps kosher. So many people are completely cut off from this incredible food revolution we're having. Luckily, though, one of the things Israeli chefs do best is vegetables, so those who don't mix meat and milk can find many vegetarian options.

Around the Sea of Galilee, there's Kze Hanachal (Paz Gas station, Kibbutz Genossar entrance, 04-6717776), which looks deceptively like a tourist trap because it's huge and lots of tourist busses stop by. The food is inspired by Lebanese and Jordanian cuisine, and it's really interesting and different. It's jointly owned by an Arab and an Israeli.

The best restaurant in northern Israel is Muscat, in the Mitzpe Hayaim Hotel Spa, 04-699 4555), between Rosh Pina and Safed. Here you can taste excellent Galilean cooking in a luxurious setting, and they source all their produce from a huge organic farm that surrounds the hotel.

[Janna Gur is the bestselling author of The Book of Israeli Food and editor-in-chief of Israel’s celebrated food and wine magazine, Al Hashulchan (On the Table)]

TEL AVIV/JAFFA

The Dining Hall
23 Shaul Hamelech Boulevard
05-79443036

Abraxis North
40 Lilenblum Street 
Tel Aviv
05-46786560

Miznon
21 Ibn Gvirol
03-716 8977

Orna and Ella
33 Shenkin Street
03-6204753

Tapas B'Shuk
Tel Aviv Port Market
03-7162757

Haj Kahil
18 Raziel Street
05-79428347

JERUSALEM

Angelica
7 Shatz Street
05-79442884

Grand Café
70 Derech Bethlehem
02-5702702

Topolino
62 Agrippas Street
02-622 3466

GALILEE

Kze Hanachal
Paz Gas station, Kibbutz Genossar entrance
04-6717776

Muscat
Mitzpe Hayaim Hotel Spa
04-699 4555