Hee Kee Desserts

Our tastes and sense of adventure when it comes to food nowadays knows no bounds.
We used to stick to what we knew and what we were familiar with. Even if something new came along and was  Halal, it might take awhile for an idea to catch on. But now, anything is possible.

One particular thing that we all seem to fancy is dessert!
You'd be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn't take at least a little enjoyment when indulging in their sweet tooth every once in awhile. Traditional Chinese-style desserts that are Halal is definitely a rarity in Singapore.

Well, finally we have somewhere to go to enjoy such delicacies!!

Hee Kee Desserts is located in Jurong Point which is quite a ways away for us East-siders so we made sure to cover the whole lot since we made the trip!

Traditional Steamed Milk Pudding ($3.50)

I know a lot of you are going "It looks so... boring..."
Well let me tell you - some of the best tasting things ever are the ones you least expect!

As plain as this looks, it was one of our faves! The milky flavour was divine and so smooth. It was not overly sweet so you can really taste the milk in the pudding. A lot of you might compare this to beancurd and it's pretty close but I'll prefer milk to soy milk anyday!

But if you REALLY insist on adding something to it, they have a Red Bean variation. Also, try the Almond Milk Pudding, Ginger Milk Pudding or the big one - Egg Yolk Pudding!
All traditionally steamed of course!

And just how smooth is the pudding?

Really smooth!!

Mango Cheong Fun ($6.00 for 2 pieces)

When we heard 'Mango Cheong Fun' we were a bit wary. The only 'Cheong Fun' we were familiar with was Chee Cheong Fun and we could not imagine any mangoes being associated with that. But oh boy were we surprised (in a good way).

The Cheong Fun skin was actually infused with coconut that you can actually taste!
And what awaits within the delicious white skin?

A nice big juicy piece of mango awaits you within! And what a combination when you eat the mango with the coconut-infused skin. You can really appreciate it if you're looking for a sweet and fresh flavour in your desserts.

I have to say that I was really surprised with this one. Not only was it something I didn't expect but I was very impressed with the innovative nature of the dessert. Damn creative right!

And speaking of innovative...

Durian Pancake ($3.30 per piece)

Hee Kee seems to be teasing us a lot by offering us stuff that is wrapped up.
First was the Mango Cheong Fun and now this. But we are not complaining! Far from it!!

Behold! The Durian Pancake! I actually nicknamed this 'The Golden Pillow' but then I realized that name was already taken... So instead... I shall call this... 'The Golden Cushion'!!

It's basically a coconut-infused crepe (that's oh-so-fluffy) that envelopes what is probably the favourite fruit of so many people. DURIAN!!! Oh yeah! The King of Fruits is ready to be devoured at Hee Kee and we recommend you enjoy it by ordering the Durian Pancake.

Now look at that. Super generous serving of durian all wrapped up within the crepe!
And just so you have a bit of variety, there's some whipped cream in there too but don't worry you durian lovers will still get to savour every single morsel.

And if you're looking for more durian, Hee Kee also has Durian Pudding and a few dishes that incorporate Sago with durian too!

Personally for me - as long as got durian means confirmed power!

Hee Kee also has other desserts with fruits as the main attraction by the way. They have a whole series called 'Manog Mania' and other desserts feature fruits like Rock Melon, Papaya and Watermelon too!

Durian Sauce with Sago ($5.80)

You all probably know we have a couple of obsessions here on The Halal Food Blog.
(I'm talking about obvious ones!) One of them is Poached Eggs and the other is... Salted Egg Yolks!
Maybe it's something about the 'runny' nature of the 2 but there's just something about them...

And the reason we mention this is because.. There's Salted Egg Yolk at Hee Kee!!

Salted Egg Yolks Glutinous Rice Balls in Osmanthus Sweet Soup ($3.80)

So here are these golden orbs of goodness... Dumplings made from glutinous rice containing some of the most delicious fillings ever known to man... Salted Egg Yolk! In fact you can see some already seeping out from the side there LOL

Okay so it's more of Salted Egg Yolk custard paste but it still counts and the salted egg yolk flavour still prevails when we take a big bite of those balls.

I don't know about you but I'm going ZOMG right about now...
And as always, we try to capture the perfect video of the oozing salted egg yolk but again we FAIL!!

But trust us. If you like Salted Egg Yolk, then try this dessert. Before this, we only had salted egg yolk for dessert in the form of a pau so this was a new experience for us. And the glutinous rice balls were not too thick so they had a good bite to them. Plus, they're swimming in a bowl of sweet Osmanthus broth which gives it a nice balance because it's really light.

Whole Coconut with Coconut Ice Cream & Peanut Crush ($8.80)

 If the first thing that comes to your mind when we say "dessert" is ice-cream, well they have it too!
And it's not going to be those sundaes that are over the top and too sweet... this is the natural stuff!

So you get a whole coconut complete with shell which they have hollowed out for you and fill it up with with really tasty coconut ice-cream! You can really taste the coconut flavour and the sweet flavour was just nice. They even have the coconut flesh which the scrape off the sides for you! Topped off with some crushed peanuts and you're all set!

And as an added bonus, they will serve you the coconut water from the coconut itself!
Nothing goes to waste here!!

Curry Chicken Ball ($3.80)

If you're like me and you need a little something else before you start on your desserts, fret not because Hee Kee also has something special in the form of their curry!

You can choose from the Chicken Ball (it's actually Chicken Luncheon Meat! ZOMG so good!) or the Curry Fish Ball. They both come with some really tasty curry and some tau kwa too! Perfect small bites to get you started on the road before your desserts!

And I have to say I was quite surprised by how tasty the curry was! To be honest it looked to be on the watery side but boy oh boy was it packed with curry flavour! Apparently it's a take on the popular Curry Fish Ball which is really popular in Hong Kong. Well, it made me wanna have prata after that!
LOL

Hee Kee really gives us the chance to sample and enjoy some traditional desserts because it's quite rare to find the ones that are certified Halal in Singapore. I'm talking about special desserts like Almond Paste, Taro Paste, Black Sesame Paste, Glutinous Rice Balls, Steamed Puddings and even Beancurds.

If you really wanna go all-out, they also have Birds Nest which is prepared traditionally in many variations like Red Date Soup, Rock Sugar and even Coconut Soup too!

If you're ever in the area, you should really drop by. In fact, it might even be worth making the trip all the way to the West because to be honest, the desserts here are pretty exceptional and we're glad that such a place exists that we can enjoy such desserts that we don't normally get to enjoy so often.

Hopefully they open one in the East or Central soon! *hint hint*

Hee Kee Desserts

JP 2, Jurong Point
1 Jurong West Central 2, #03-54/55

Tel: 6743 8480
www.facebook.com/heekeedesserts

Operating Hours:
11am til 10pm Daily

Mooncakes Special 2014 - PrimaDeli

Next up our special Mooncakes series this year is the collection from Prima Deli!
I know that Prima Deli is the name that comes to mind when you wanna get cakes and waffles (!!) but they also make some pretty good mooncakes too! And we're going to run them down with you!

That picture above is from Prima Deli's website and gives you a view of all the mooncakes they have to offer. Looks good right? But do they look like that when you buy them too?

So there are 9 exciting and pretty interesting flavours for you to enjoy in their box set. They also have traditional flavours like Pure Lotus and White Lotus with Yolks but we're gonna cover just the special edition flavours they have okay.

And for you fans of Snowskin Mooncakes, you'll be happy to hear that they're ALL Snowskin!!
And they're also Mini mooncakes so you'll be able to sample them all without being too full.
So let's go through them one by one.

Mini Green Apple

Mini Orange with Valrhona Chocolate Pearls

Mini Soursop with Guava

Mini Black Sesame with Mochi

Mini Strawberry Chocolate

Mini D24 Durian

Mini Mango Lemongrass

Mini Oreo Chocolate

Mini Cranberry Cheese

So there you have it! 9 special flavour creations from PrimaDeli for this Mid-Autumn Festival!

Of all the 9, I have to say that the Mini D24 Durian was definitely the best. You can really taste the durian! The Mini Mango Lemongrass came in second place (most probably because I happen to like Lemongrass!) The rest of the mooncakes were... well...

I have to say that I found the mooncakes very sweet. A little too overwhelmingly sweet to be honest. And even though I have a sweet tooth and these were just mini mooncakes, I still found myself feeling very 'muak' after awhile.

Maybe this is partly because I kinda like the traditional baked mooncakes. And on top of that, I prefer the traditional Lotus Paste variety. Never really took a fancy to the whole snowskin craze. I can see why people like it but I guess I'll never catch on.

And and here's a tip - make sure you keep them refrigerated because the snowskin will go really soft and mushy on you really really quickly.

You can drop by any PrimaDeli to pick up your mooncakes.
They have some special discounts up til 8 September and Citibank cardholders get some extras too.

So if you like fruity and sweet Snowskin Mooncakes - head down to PrimaDeli!!

One Cupcake A Day - Serawa Durian Cupcakes

I am very sure you guys remember our first post on One Cupcake A Day and their super unique Savoury Cupcakes. That means you'll remember that we mentioned that they also make the more traditionally sweet cupcakes too!

Well, just because it's a sweet cupcake does not mean it can't still be creative!

I know there are plenty of bakeries out there now that specialize in cupcakes or desserts with a more traditional twist. By traditional, I'm talking about flavours like Ondeh-Ondeh and all kinds of other Melayu Kueh. But One Cupcake A Day has come up with something completely new.

Serawa Durian Cupcakes

That's right. You read correctly. Serawa Durian Cupcakes!
Maybe I don't go out hunting for cupcakes so often but I do see quite a lot on FB and Instagram and this is the first time I'm hearing of a Serawa Durian cupcake!

What exactly is Serawa Durian anyways?
Well, I guess it's fair to call it a type of jam, like Kaya, but with Durian instead of Coconuts and it's got a bit more texture. Basic recipe will be Durian, coconut milk and sugar I think.

So here we have a Vanilla cupcake with Serawa Durian filling (and you can see it's really generous) and it's topped off with cream cheese frosting and a little bit of santan and gula melaka drizzle.

If you love Durian - this is for you. If you love Serawa Durian - this is for you.
Even if you don't, you should try this because you can't get this anywhere else as far as I know.
It's really a nice bite and great for dessert and also to bring along when visiting people or to bring for a party or pot-luck. Confirmed talking point one!! Confirmed no one else bringing Serawa Durian cupcakes (unless the also ordered from One Cupcake a Day!)

It's $3.50 per cupcake so just nice you can grab a box or 2!
You can check out their Instagram for more great pictures of all the yummy makan they make and you can place your orders via onecupcakeaday@gmail.com

But guess what!! GREAT NEWS!!!

One Cupcake A Day will be at the Pesta Raya 2014 being held at the Esplanade!!

Between 29-31 August, head down to the Esplanade for Pesta Raya 2014 where you can catch some great shows including musical acts and plays too! Som really famous names are going to be there!


But for a famous name in cupcakes - head down to the Pasar Pesta    located at the Esplanade Upper Concourse between 5pm to 9pm and that's where you can get your fix of delicious and unique cupcakes!!


One Cupcake A Day will be featuring not only their superb Serawa Durian cupcakes but also their familiar favourites like Uniquely Melayu (aka the Nasi Lemak Cupcake!!), Gado-Gado Satay and also new and unique flavours like Pengat Pisang, Onde-Onde and Kampong Mix!!


So remember to head down to Pesta Raya not only to catch the great shows and acts on display but also to get some power cupcakes too!! Spread the word to your friends and make an outing with the family that weekend!

One Cupcake A Day

www.onecupcakeaday.com
http://instagram.com/onecupcakeaday

Order at  onecupcakeaday@gmail.com

Ramadhan Special 2014: AquaMarine

We've been to AquaMarine a few times in the past including our first visit when we found out they were certified Halal, our second visit during Ramadhan 2013 with their special spread from Che Sahroni and even our third visit when they had a special spread of Turkish Delights!

Well, Ramadhan 2014 has come along and it was about time we paid AquaMarine another visit and this time it was for a special event organized by AquaMarine and Suria!



That's right the celebrities were out and about at AquaMarine for a good cause - a charity event to benefit the Jamiyah Childrens' Home! Nurul Aini, Sleeq, Hyrul Anuar and Reyza Hamizan were in attendance with all the kiddies from Jamiyah Childrens' Home tucking into the sumptuous feast offered by AquaMarine.

But more on that a little later, I'm sure some of you would like to see what goodies AquaMarine has in store for us this special Ramadhan. And trust us - they do not disappoint!

As usual, we'll go in stages okay!! Salads and Appetizers first!!

Welcome to the feast!!

Selection of Cheeses including Rambol, Terroir President, Lanquetot and a whole wheel of Parmesan

That's right - A WHOLE WHEEL OF PARMESAN!!

D.I.Y Salad Station

Cold Cuts Selection including Roast Beef Pastrami, Chicken Ham and Turkey Breast

Smoked Salmon

Okay let's take a breather for awhile. Because to be honest, those first few pics basically represent how we spent our first 30 minutes of the buffet. Seriously!!

And come on - you know that I'm the Smoked Salmon guy right??

Well, if that's not enough or not your thing...

Thai Style Glass Noodles and Chicken Salad

Beancurd Salad

Prawn Salad with Bean Sprout and Vegetable Chili Dressing

Fish Platter

Spicy Topshell Salad

And I know that the next set of pictures is going to be a favourite for a lot of you.
The famous Cold Seafood spread at AquaMarine is always a crowd-puller!!

Red Flower Crabs and Fresh Oysters

Slipper Lobsters and Black Mussels

Tiger Prawns and Scallops

Spanner Crabs and Ocean Snails

Alaskan King Crab Legs

Freshwater Prawns

Holy moly look at the size of those Freshwater Prawns!!
In fact, look at that fantastic spread!! It's got something for everyone from Oysters to Prawns to Scallops and even Alaskan King Crabs (yes, the same ones from The Deadliest Catch)!!

And guess what, we've only covered like 2 of the appetizers sections so far!!
Bring on the rest!!

Breaded Prawns

Vegetable Tempura

Assorted Sushi

Salmon Sashimi

One of our favourite sections at AquaMarine has got to be the Japanese cuisine!!
The Sushi is excellent just like the Tempura. They also have other faves like Edamame and even Cha Soba too!

But all you Sashimi fans can rejoice! AquaMarine serves up some of the best grade Sashimi we've had and it's oh so good!! You have your choice from Tuna and of course, everyone's favourite, Salmon Sashimi!! Superb!

And that picture of the Sashimi above, that's #nofilter by the way so you can see the quality!!

Next up - some entrees including local delights and the STAR ATTRACTION too!!

Satay

D.I.Y Laksa Station

Whole Roasted Lamb

That's right! AquaMarine has brought back on of the fan favourites of its Ramadhan spread!!

The Whole Roasted Lamb is ready for your dining pleasure! Succulent lamb is perfectly roasted and freshly carved for you! Comes with all the usual accompaniments and a great experience for all you meat lovers (like us) out there!!

Singapore Style Hokkien Mee

Chinese Herbal Prawns

Chicken Tikka

In addition to the Indian Spread (complete with Naan!), check out the Chicken Tikka!
Tops marks for taste and top marks for presentation!!

Fresh Pasta Station

Lemon Chicken with Toasted Almonds

Topshell Braised in Szechuan Sauce

Baked Salmon

Let me tell you something folks. You simply MUST TRY the Baked Salmon.
If you think it looks good in that picture, just wait til you eat it!

It's got a nice crispy breaded crust and juicy salmon underneath. Nice fresh citrus flavour to go along.
This was really one of my favourites of the evening. Seriously.

D.I.Y Kueh Pai Tee

Baked Fish Fillet with Lemon Butter Sauce

Stir-Fried Hong Kong Kai Lan

Whole Roasted Chicken

Chef's Signature Black Pepper Crab

Well if it's the Chef's Signature Dish then you have to try it right!!
There were also plenty of other stations including the Bread Station, Soup Station and more main dishes being served but the picture are missing because we were too busy eating!!

But one section we definitely will not miss out is the Desserts section!!

They have some traditional kueh-mueh of course...

Kueh Lapis

Egg Tartlets

And there were also some really creative (and super yummy) creations there too!
Feast your eyes!!

Durian Mousse Cake

Raspberry Lychee Sable Breton

Lemon Dome

Apple Chutney Mousse Cake

Apricot Mousse with Walnut Crumble

Chocolate Brownie

Salted Caramel and Chocolate Tart

That Salted Caramel and Chocolate Tart must really be the bomb because we didn't even get to try it at all LOL. It was snapped up so fast we missed the chance!! Never mind... next visit!!

But you know what else is the bomb?

Durian Pengat

JENG JENG JENG!!!
ZOMG Durian Pengat is always a winner am I right? Am I right???

There's some quality Durian Pengat here and it was so so delicious. We could be stuffed to the heavens and we'd still have space for this! Simply super!!

But if Durian is not your thing... Don't worry they have some other familiar favourites too.

Bread and Butter Pudding

Pulut Hitam

Raspberry & Mango Ice Cream

Fruits Platter

Dragon Fruit

But of course, besides the food, we were also there to support a good cause.

AquaMarine and Marina Mandarin are really top of the tops for tying up with Suria to benefit the kids from the Jamiyah Childrens' Home. It's nice to see such a generous gesture and also nice to see the kids come down and have such a great time not just enjoying the delicious food from AquaMarine but also with the celebrities from Suria who came down as well.

Reyza Hamizan with Hyrul Anuar and Friends

Sleeq

Us with Hyrul Anuar

Us with Nurul Aini & Sleeq

Once again, a big thumbs up to AquaMarine, Marina Mandarin and Suria for organizing this event for a good cause!! Looks like the kids really enjoyed themselves!!

Well fret not everyone! You may not have met the celebs but you still have a chance to whack all the delicious food including the Whole Roasted Baby Lamb!!

Prices for the buffet are as follows;
(Iftar Buffet is available for Dinner from 6.30pm to 10.30pm Daily)

Mondays to Fridays
Lunch (12pm til 2.30pm) - $58++ (Adult) / $29++ (Child)
Dinner (6.30pm til 10.30pm) - $70++ (Adult)

Saturdays, Sundays & Public Holidays
Tunch (12pm til 4.00pm) - $48++ (Adult) / $24++ (Child)
Dinner (6.30pm til 10.30pm) - $80++ (Adult) / $39++ (Child)

And don't worry... they have Kurma for Iftar and also a prayer room too!

Aquamarine

Marina Mandarin Singapore
6 Raffles Boulevard
Marina Square

Tel: 6845 1111
www.aquamarine.sg

Operating Hours:
Breakfast: 6.30am - 10.30am
Lunch: 12.00pm - 2.30pm
Dinner: 6.30pm - 10.30pm