Popeye’s and Frienzie Bistro and Bar @ Punggol East

Popeye's @ Punggol East
Popeye's @ Punggol East

When we shifted into Punggol back in 2003, we felt that the whole place is so nice and quiet. It was clearly the perfect place for cafes and chill out places. Only after EIGHT years did it really happen. Now we have Popeye’s and also Frienzie Bistro & Bar, soon we’ll have a seafood restaurant and a sports hub. How nice.

Popeye’s

Popeye’s started its business at Punggol on Christmas of 2010 at Punggol East and it was the start of good things to come for us Punggolians. We went there for lunch on the opening day and like any digital native, I checked in on their Foursquare venue and posted the above picture up.

Till date which is less then one month since its opening, there is already 837 check-ins with 533 people in total and 18 photos uploaded onto Foursquare. There is also a flurry of foursquare venue’s being added. Clearly some people could not find which was the correct one to check in hence close to 15 were actually created. I manage to merge them together and now, if you want to check in, pls check-in to this one.

Address
10 Tebing Lane #01-05
Punggol, Singapore 828836


Frienzie Bistro & Bar

Frienzie Bistro & Bar
Frienzie Bistro & Bar

This place opened just last weekend and the place looks great! I’m looking forward to have my first meal and drink there tomorrow night. They serve Pasta, Pizza’s, etc. I will update this post again tomorrow when I have a closer look at their Menu.

On Foursquare, the same thing happened again. People went crazy and started creating quite a few venues. I’ve just sent in a merge request, let’s hope it gets fixed soon and people start checking-in to the right venue.

Address
10 Tebing Lane #01-02
Punggol, Singapore 828836

Pancake OCD

Pancake OCD
Pancake OCD

Do you have any of OCD? I have lots.

My kids always need me to cut up their Pancakes for them and this happens alot. Sometimes there are semicircles. DOes this happen to you too?

Maybe Strictly Pancakes should run a contest or something, or maybe even a gallery of pancakes being cut up by parents for kids.

Salmon Portobello

nickpan cooking

I’ve not cooked in a long time and have been hoping to go back into the kitchen. So today, i finally manage to make something. I woke up telling my wife that i’ll make Salmon with Portobello mushrooms for dinner.

After Cleo’s afternoon class, we headed to the super market and bought the necessary ingredients. Pearl asked me what i needed to buy and as a very experienced cook that i am, on my mind i only knew i needed to buy some Salmon and Portobello mushrooms. :) Clearly from here on, you know exactly how excellently professional i am in the kitchen.

Salmon Portebello with garlic and rasined butter rice

With much direct hints from my beloved wife, i managed to get alot more that just the key ingredients as i clearly did not do an inventory check of what we already have at home. All is well, we paid, we were on our way home to prove what a good cook i am.

I did see on TV how difficult it is to fry fish especially to still have the skin intact while ensuring it does not stick to the pan. Now this is the only thing that was still in theory in my head. By right if its deep fried enough, it should not stick to the pan right? Also i remembered going to a Sushi joint where they ran out of Salmon Skin which apparently was a key ingredient in a high end sushi, so i clearly did not want my salmon skin to be destroyed.

Kids version

Washed some asparagus and let them soak for a bit. Chopped lots of garlic and started frying them on hot olive oil. Ahhhh…. the BEST smell in the world, better than any perfume. Sprinkled some chopped garlic on the Portobellos and popped it into the oven to bake for the number of minutes my wife said which i clearly cannot remember right now.

Pearl washed the rice and set it for cooking. The cool thing is she use a normal pot and not a rice cooker.

Boiled the asparagus with some salt, then when it was done, Pearl poured away the hot water and put ice on it. I went like HUH?? Apparently according to her it brings out the rich green colour. ITS TRUE! Its called “Shocking” the vegetable to “Seal” the colours see Blanching and Shocking Vegetables. OMG! my wife is such a pro.

RAWR!

Its time for the main ingredient. I reused the oil that i used to fry the garlic as i think the oil should have turned into an amazing garlic aroma-ed magic oil. The salmon was towel dried, then slowly laid down with the skin side down. The concept in my head was to make the skin deep fried so that it does not stick to the pan and YES! it worked! When it was fried enough, slowly i lifted the fish like a price tag loosely stuck on a plastic wrapper. Slowly but surely the skin peeled off the pan onto nickpan’s hand, i think i’m the man, the pan man. fLiPpEd it and wahlah, its now on its way to cook the other side.

Cheers!

Plates are now out and asparagus laid out neatly. The portobellos takes its place rested on top of the shrooms and more garlic are sprinkled everywhere.

By this time, the rice was done and butter was added together with raisins which later was all mixed together.

When the salmons were done, they were slowly lifted out and laid across the greens. It looks great. Sprinkle even more garlic.

Its time to serve. Its time to take pictures like a good Singaporean.

The kids had theirs, we had ours.

Pearl also opened a bottle of wonderful Mascato. Yum… Cheers!

It was a good night. It was a good good night.