Chik's Crib: 2025

10 August 2025

A Weekend in the CBD and SG60 Celebrations

Staycation August 10, 2025 0

We recently went for a staycation in Singapore’s CBD. It’s probably not too exciting for office workers who commute there daily, but we were stocked to spend the weekend. We had our wedding at the Westin and thought that it’ll be nice to return for our anniversary.

The view from the Westin's Infinity Pool

I’m no countryside mouse, but I’m not used to city parking and did a double-take when I arrived: the rates were $1.10 for every 10 minutes. We parked for less than an hour, and we were already charged $5.50. How do people park their cars here? But thankfully, whole day parking was available after 6pm on Fridays and we had a complimentary parking pass for the rest of the weekend.

We didn’t plan it this way, but our stay coincided with the nation’s preparations for the upcoming National Day. There were road closures around the area and we had to shelve some of our plans to go around the city. But on the bright side, there’s plenty more activities to see, including fireworks on some of the rehearsal days. In fact, I suggest that everybody planning to stay in Singapore’s CBD should have their trip happen over one of the National Day rehearsal’s weekends. In hindsight, there’s no better week to visit.

Having drinks on the 60th floor while admiring the preparations for Singapore’s 60th is right on theme.

One of the best places to see the rehearsals is over at Chuān @ The Sixtieth, a bar where we went for drinks one evening. It’s located on the 60th floor of UOB Plaza overlooking Padang Field.

From our bar’s vantage point, you can see the parade grounds. As the parade proceeded, the Red Lion parachutists dropping into the midst of the CBD was a sight to behold from our table. We got a front row seat, better than anybody who went to the actual event.

The bar have tea-based cocktails, and following our recent obsessions with these cocktails that begun in Osaka, we got My Pu-Er Lady (a concoction of pu-er tea with Roku gin) and another cocktail containing matcha, lemongrass and whisky.

We went back to Westin at sunset. We splashed in the water as the sky darkened around us, and not long afterwards, the fireworks started.

Viewing the National Day rehearsal’s fireworks from Westin’s infinity pool - the views partial but still decent - was another real treat.

If you’re after another location that gives an excellent view of the National Day parade and fireworks, then Skai is another great option. It’s located in Raffles City, attached to Swissôtel The Stamford on the 70th floor and overlooking Padang Field (from the other end).

We sat at Skai Bar, the bar within the restaurant, and it’ll be another great place to visit to watch any fireworks.

Lau Pa Sat is a short walk away from Westin and we visited everyday. It’s an icon of Singapore’s hawker centre culture. I’ve never been there before our trip (the horror!), but I’m now proud to say that I’m a convert. It’s a well-known tourist stop, but tourists liking something doesn’t preclude things from actually being good. Case in point, Jumbo Seafood Restaurant, which I enjoy. Though I once got ragged on for it by a colleague who - wait for it - isn’t even from Singapore. It’s my family’s favourite seafood zichar restaurant.

The large industrial-sized ceiling fans at Lau Pa Sat makes the complex a lot more cooling than regular hawker centres. And I was blown away by how good the satays were from their famed Satay Street.

We had our satay alongside gorgeously grilled prawns from Stall 8 courtesy of a recommendation. At $0.80 a stick, it’s cheaper than the ones sold outside my house. These were also much more generous in portion sizes and could be the most delicious satays that I’ve had. The tables and chairs, set out al fresco style and wet from a passing shower, didn’t even dampen my mood. What luck for the rain to have just stopped right before our visit:)

The weekend also falls within the period where Singapore Botanic Gardens commemorated the 10th year of its UNESCO designation. There were light shows scattered throughout the gardens. We brought a picnic mat, drinks and snacks, and sat on the grass by the colonial gazebo to enjoy the open air concert in evening time.

We also visited the newly reopened Oceanarium in Resort World Sentosa. Some sections of the old Sea Aquarium remain, but I was most excited to visit the new section showcasing jellyfishes. Just take a look at these otherworldly beauties!

Fried Egg Jellyfish. No, really.

The display aquariums of jellyfishes may have been the most strikingly beautiful sight that I’ve seen. I don’t think I’ve seen jellyfish in the flesh before, and the pictures don't do them justice: their rhythmic movement appearances were truly spectacular. The entrance fees are worth it just for the jellyfish section.

And here's the nursery where wee jellyfishes are brought up.

But mostly, we tried to spend as much time as we could around the hotel. It’s Wellness Week in Westin hotel, with complimentary classes (hello early morning Yoga and Reformer Pilates!). On our previous stay, we missed out on the jacuzzi, which is available to all hotel guests, but we made full use of it this time around. We alternated between the warm jacuzzi, the hot steam room and the cold rainfall shower. The hotel massages were also going for half-price on the Saturday of their Wellness Week (!), and we thankfully managed to snag up the last slot for the day.

One nearby restaurant that we’d been to before is the Majestic Restaurant at Marina One just across the street from Westin. We had really good dim sum there when we visited last year after a post-wedding banquet stupor. The serene walk through all the greenery in that building was on point. Their Crispy Prawn Rolls was terrific, as was the Steamed Rice Rolls with Prawns (hmm. I sense a pattern). Anyway, I also remembered they had a terrific fried eggplant with pork floss, but looking at the menu now, perhaps they’re discontinued that?

If you made your way to the Orchard area, you might enjoy dining at Sen Ryo. It's a Japanese restaurant that I’ve been to for a while now, mainly during any free weekdays for their terrific lunch sets. We went for their omakase this time around, which also has a weekday lunch special. It’s worth going for.

All too soon, our stay ended.

There's a sweetness in discovering something by happenstance, without planning for it. It was pure delight to see the fireworks from the infinity pool and the parachutists jumping off the plane from our table at the bar. We could not have asked for a better way to see the celebrations. What a wonderful stay this had been.

03 August 2025

Charcoal Series: Easy Smoked Chicken

Recipe August 03, 2025 0

A Weber grill is great for barbecuing all sorts of meat, but where I find slow BBQ really shine is elevating cheap cuts of meat into something truly fantastic.

Pork shoulders are one of my favourite things to slow roast. The same long and slow heat that works well for hunks of meat also has an amazing effect on whole chickens. The protein and cartilage becomes fall-off-the-bone tender. It’s tender in a way that I have never been able to replicate in an oven.

Here’s a chicken that I’ve done under two hours. The chicken is so incredibly tender, I tugged the drumsticks right off the chicken. This is what I'd done on my first ever try, and there's no reason why you couldn't get similar success on your first attempt either.

Essentially, I just seasoned my chickens with salt and pepper, left the chickens uncovered in the fridge for a few hours to dry the skin out, then tossed them over the grill for an hour (untouched!) until they were cooked thoroughly. There's nothing more than that. It's easy.

True, there's a million more little things that you can do that will bring incremental benefits. A whole chicken from the fridge has a hollow cold interior that's difficult to heat up evenly. The thigh meat also needs more time to cook thoroughly while the breast meat is prone to drying out at such cook time. Spatchcocking the chickens, i.e. cutting out the backbone and 'unfolding' the chicken before roasting is a way to turn the hollow structure into a flat structure, is one way to ensure more even cooking. But then again, it's a lot more work, and my cook-outs showed that even with my minimal effort, the chickens still turn out great. And honestly, I prefer the aesthetics of a whole chicken.

I’ve also kept the seasonings simple with just salt and pepper, because let's not complicate this. Try for yourself to see how easy roasting chicken on a grill can be, and how terrific the chickens become, with the smoke fragrance front and center with nothing else but salt and pepper.

Chickens have the mildest, most neutral flavours out of all the meats, and soaks up the smoke fragrance like nothing else. it’s the perfect canvas for beginners.

Smoked Whole Chicken

I don't use the Snake Method for chickens, which is the only thing to watch out for, mainly because the low temperature dries out the chicken skin without crisping it, which makes it a bit rubbery. A two-zone fire works far better for chicken, and I now smoke two chickens at a go, it seems almost wasteful to just smoke a chicken when there's so much space on the grill. If your grill fits two chickens (and why shouldn't it!), you should do the same.

INGREDIENTS
Equal amounts (by weight, not volume) of salt and black pepper

STEPS
1. Combine the dry rub in a small bowl, and then rub it over the chicken. Place the chicken on a rack over a baking tray, then refrigerate uncovered for a few hours, or ideally the night before.

2. When ready to grill: Light a full chimney of charcoal, and wait for about 20-30 minutes until half of the charcoal is ashed over. Pour the lit charcoal onto one-side of the grill. Add 1 chunk of smoking wood on the charcoal, if using. Set a disposable aluminum tray on the other side of the grill, under where the chicken will be, to collect the dripping from the chicken to avoid gunking up the ash. If you have potatoes to cook, you can add the potatoes to the tray. Set the grilling rack over the grill and oil lightly.

3. Insert a thermometer probe into the chicken thigh, if using. Place the chicken breast-side up on the cooler end of the grill. The chicken thighs should be oriented closer to the burning charcoal and breasts further away, as the thighs can be cooked to a higher temperature without drying out. Cover the grill. Let the chicken thigh gently cook to an internal temperature of 170F, which would take about an hour. The final target internal temperature for chicken is 174F.

4. When the internal temperature of the chicken is near 170F, place the chicken on the hotter side side of grill directly over the charcoals. Grill over high heat for a few minutes, until the skin crisps up. Remove from grill, rest for a few minutes, and carve.

Protip for beginners: If you had misjudged the amount of charcoal needed and used too little to finish the chicken, just transfer it to an oven to finish cooking. Honestly, we've all been there. The bulk of the smoking would have been completed by the first hour, so there's little harm done (except to your ego). Ditto if you're cooking potatoes under the chicken and they're still underdone.

27 July 2025

Charcoal Series: Steaks (Reverse Sear)

Steak July 27, 2025 1

When ribeyes are left on the ribs, they're called tomahawk steaks, named after how they resemble the traditional Native American weapons. It's usually a cut reserved for restaurant dining: after all, the long rib bones attached to each ribeye make them hard to fit in a regular home oven. But there’s plenty of space on a grill, and it was interesting to try cooking one of these beauties. Having a grill isn't just for smoking meats!

Reverse searing is the foolproof way of cooking steaks, and is perfect for a free afternoon when I’m not after something challenging to do. I do reverse searing a lot in an oven where the temperature is easily controlled, but it’s also surprisingly manageable over charcoal even if the temperature runs higher with this recipe. I take a more relaxed approach here than in the oven. We don't need to be overly preoccupied with the grill temperature here! After all, the steaks usually come up to temperature in 30 minutes, which is barely enough time for any adjustments of the grill vents to have an effect on the temperature anyway. As long as you have a thick-cut steak (at least 1.5-2 inches), and a pile of lit charcoals, you should be good to go. Just keep the steaks on the other side of the charcoal, crack a beer open, and relax - it's the essential grilling experience.

Grilling steaks over charcoal gives a dry, crisp and singed edges with a noticeable smoky taste. I like the results from grilling more than searing with a cast iron pan. The bone’s a bit superfluous, to be honest, and takes up valuable real estate. But it looks grand like nothing else, and I’m all about the vibes. If you’re having a steak cookout, perhaps just buy plenty of regular ribeyes, and one tomahawk for the feels.

Charcoal Series: Steaks (Reverse Sear)

INGREDIENTS
Steaks (with a thickness of at least 1.5 inches. For thinner steaks, just sear directly over the fire.)
Salt and black pepper, for seasoning

STEPS

1. Season the steaks with salt and pepper the night before grilling. Place the steaks on a metal rack set over a tray to collect any drippings, and leave the steaks uncovered in the fridge to dry out the surface of the steaks.

2. When ready to grill: Light a chimney of charcoal, and wait for about 20-30 minutes until half of the charcoal is ashed over. Pour the lit charcoal onto one-side of the grill. Lightly oil the grates.

3. Place the steaks on the cooler end of the grill, and cover the grill. Leave the steaks to cook to the desired internal temperature. (For a medium rare steak, you are aiming for an internal temperature of 115F for this stage, which would take about 30 minutes).

4. When the steaks come up to temperature, transfer them to directly over the charcoal. Sear each steak for a total of 4 minutes, while flipping the steaks over every minute. (2 minutes total on each side).

5. Remove the steaks from the grill. Reverse-seared steaks do not need to rest, and can be served immediately.

Variation: for a more flexible serving time, you can precook the steaks first by cooking the steaks with 15-30 lit briquettes, and then remove the steaks from the grill when at desired internal temperature. Allow it to sit at room temperature until ready to proceed. When ready, pour about 3/4 chimney worth of lit charcoal onto one-side of the grill, then sear each steak for a total of 4 minutes while flipping the steaks over every minute. (2 minutes total on each side).

20 July 2025

Charcoal Series: Smoked Chicken Thighs with BBQ Glaze

Recipe July 20, 2025 0

I hate to admit it, but figuring out how to grill chicken took me far longer than I thought it should. Grilling chickens, which take around an hour or so, sounds like the easiest thing in the world, especially after I had done 8-hour cooks with pork shoulders.

But despite their much shorter cook-time, chickens are tricky in their own way. Chicken skin becomes rubbery and chewy at the low smoking temperatures of the snake arrangement (see the pork shoulders link on this arrangement), and will need a different charcoal arrangement. Chicken are also milder in taste compared to beef and pork, and smoking for too long in the grill will cause the smoke flavours to overwhelm the chicken. For me at least, 30-45 minutes is the sweet spot for cooking chicken. Go beyond that timing and chicken starts to taste a little too much like ham.

So back to the drawing board.

For chicken, I used a two-zone fire setup. You want all the lit charcoal over on one-half of the grill, and an other-half that is lower in heat. The chicken thighs cook in the cooler half (with cool being a relative term), until they’re cooked through with an internal temperature of about 174F. Then, they’re glazed and transferred to the hot side of the grill to finish up over direct heat for a couple of minutes.

This recipe is a combination of cheap ingredients - chicken, salt and pepper, BBQ sauce and apple cider vinegar - but like every smoked protein, the end result is greater than the sum of the parts. The chicken thighs become wonderfully smoked and tender, and coated with a complex sweet, tangy glaze. Now that’s something worth building a charcoal fire for.

Charcoal Series: Chicken Thighs with BBQ Glaze

Recipe adapted from Mad Scientist BBQ

INGREDIENTS

2kg chicken thighs + drumstick (Maryland cut), skin-on

Salt and black pepper, for seasoning

250g store-bought BBQ sauce

80g apple cider vinegar

STEPS

1. Season the chicken thighs with salt and black pepper, ideally the night before.

2. When ready to grill: Light a full chimney of charcoal, and wait for about 20-30 minutes until half of the charcoal is ashed over. Pour the lit charcoal onto one-side of the grill. Add 1 chunk of smoking wood on the charcoal, if using. Set a disposable aluminium tray on the other side of the grill, under where the chicken thighs will be, to collect the dripping from the chicken to avoid gunking up the ash. Set the grilling rack over the grill and oil lightly.

3. Place the chicken thighs on the cooler end of the grill, and cover the grill. Let the chickens cook to cook to an internal temperature of 174F, which would take about 30 minutes to an hour. Switch the chickens closest to the charcoal with the chickens furthest away from the charcoal about midway through (~20 minutes), to ensure the chickens cook at the same rate.

4. While the chickens are smoking, prepare the glaze by stirring BBQ sauce and apple cider vinegar together. The consistency should be quite runny and should flow smoothly from a spoon.

5. When the chickens are cooked, coat the chickens with the glaze and then transfer them to the directly over the charcoal. Sear for a few minutes on both sides until the glaze thickens up, then remove from heat. Serve immediately.

13 July 2025

Matsumoto, Nagano: Osaka in Spring (Part 5)

Travel July 13, 2025 0

One of the best things that we’d done on this trip was to go to Matsumoto Castle. It’s a historical building dating back to Japan’s warring period (Sengoku Jidai). It is one of the few castles in Japan that has survived in its original form, unlike many others that were destroyed by war, natural disasters, or deliberate demolition. It is one of only twelve original castles left standing in Japan. The castle is a dark sleek fortification set against the horizon. It was not built for beauty, but it was beauty nonetheless.

The castle was deeply military in design, a necessity borne out of a volatile era of civil war. It was modern for its time, and incorporated architectural accommodations for the use of early European muskets which had made their way onto Japan’s shores.

Matsumoto City was our rest stop after completing the Alpine Route. We stayed overnight to decompress after lugging a large duffel bag throughout the mountains, but we really should have stayed for two nights. It’s a mid-sized city, with an excellent cuisine and brewing culture. We tried to fit in as many attractions as we could in our brief 24 hour stay, but we did leave without visiting a few places. I wished we spent another night here.

We climbed all the way to the top of the castle on the sixth floor, which was cunningly designed to give 360-degree sight of the castle grounds even as the entire level was concealed from those standing at ground level.

Amidst the rafters on the top floor, there is a shrine dedicated to the Guardian Deity of the temple. In the peaceful era that followed, the top floor was extended to incorporate a moon-viewing platform.

The gardens of Matsumoto Castle

We visited Ishii Miso afterwards, a 6th-generation miso brewery that had been operating for over 150 years. This brewery, located in a quiet part of Matsumoto, was another of this city’s highlight. They still make the miso by traditional methods, which includes ageing the miso in cedar barrels up to three years. We joined the free English tour, which are held at 11am and at 130pm, no reservations required.

I didn’t expect the English tour to be given by the brewery president Mr Ishii himself, who brought us around the warehouses introducing the different barrels of ageing miso. The three-year red miso was rich and deep in flavour, and as delicious as promised. All the products that we sampled were excellent. I initially thought that their miso ice cream would be a novelty gimmick, but it turned out to be the best ice cream that we had in Japan. No kidding. A couple of boxes of red miso and several packs of their excellent miso peanut candy also made their way back home with us.

We went for lunch at Kobayashi Soba. The waitlist was formidable, and mainly consists of locals in office clothes. We wrote our names down on the waiting list at the entrance and joined the other people sitting by the side. The day was cold and we warmed our hands with cups of hot tea that the staff had provided.

We had a good lunch with perfectly fried tempura and huge huge portions of soba. For example, this is a single serving of soba, served on a tray alongside a bowl of duck broth.

Condiments such as sliced spring onions, minced radish and wasabi are provided to be added to the dipping broth to elevate the flavours. And like other soba restaurants in Japan, we were given a hot kettle of pasta water at the end of the meal (okay it’s not pasta, but you guys know what I mean), to add to the dipping broth and drink it as a soup.

We also had some delicious craft beer from Matsumoto Brewery. They’re a bit stronger and more flavourful than the typical Asian mass-produced beers that you’ll get from the convenience stores. We had a stout and their seasonal May special, and my regret was that we had no time to try the rest.
We found a delicious candy store 山屋御飴所, where the candy is pounded into thin films and studded with peanuts. They come individually wrapped and are wonderfully crisp and sweet. The candy factory, where they’ve been making candy since 1672, is just right across the street from the store.

We had a wonderful visit to Matsumoto in part because of our stay at Natural Hot Spring Azumi no Yu Onyado Nono Matsumoto, an onsen hotel. The hotel has a no-shoes policy, and both staff and guests have to remove their shoes at the lobby. This would have been unthinkable in any other country in the world but Japan. We watched as they cleaned the wheels of our luggages before wheeling them into the hotel. The entire hotel was spotless over our stay. We padded around the hotel in the onsen-approved socks that were provided, and walked around bare feet in our hotel room. There was not a speck of dirt to be found.

Supper is included, with bowls of fresh ramen available after a hot onsen soak. (You can try go to nearby convenience stores to buy onsen eggs and other toppings for your ramen. We didn’t, but I don’t think they’ll mind if we did. It’s a pretty casual take-a-bowl-and-move-on line.)

Most of the shops of Nawate Shopping Street are closed by evening time, but there are a few malls within walkable distance. We found a really popular line of Canmake cosmetics in one of these malls, which had been sold out everywhere else from Osaka to Kyoto. We also tried originator of the Sanzokuyaki (twice-fried chicken cutlets), served with plenty of cabbage.

While exploring the city, we came upon the sculptures of Yayoi Kusama outside the Matsumoto City Museum of Art, who was born in this city.

No matter how you feel about her art or on her attention-grabbing ways, it’s not hard to want to cheer on her triumphs after reading her life story as the underdog. While she is celebrated here now (the museum’s top attraction is the exhibition on her sculptures), and even some of their public transportation still bear her touch, it doesn’t look like she’ll return to the place of her childhood strife.

We left Matsumoto 24 hours after arriving, which was far too short a time to spend in Matsumoto. We couldn’t go to the wasabi farms in the area (which a pair of tourists from Switzerland told us was great), visit the local sake brewer, or drink the fresh spring water from Kitababa Yanagi Well, or even try other local delights like horse meat or oyaki (stuffed dumplings). Someone up there must’ve heard us lamenting, because the Shinkansen line that was supposed to bring us back to Osaka ran into delays. We were meant to reach Osaka at 630pm, but we were stuck on the platform for over an hour and only reached Osaka close to 9pm. BUT, on the bright side, there’s no other country better than Japan to experience train delays in. Can I point out how incredible it is to have several convenience stores and even a ramen restaurant right there on the train platform?

We didn’t eat at the ramen restaurant in case the trains started running again. But I grabbed a Katsu-Sando, something that I wanted to try since arriving. And doraemon-style, I rooted around in my overnight bag for the Alpine route and pulled out that half-drank sake bottle to pair with the sando.

I think a bit of sake lends a touch of class to an otherwise impromptu sando dinner on a train platform. Other people *ahem* called this public drinking. We agree to disagree.

Recent Japan Travels:

Osaka in Spring 2025: Osaka City (Part 1)

Osaka in Spring 2025: Kyoto and Uji (Part 2)

Osaka in Spring 2025: Hida-Takayama and Shirakawa-Go (Part 3)

Osaka in Spring 2025: Toyama and the Alpine Trail (Part 4)

Osaka in Spring 2025: Matsumoto, Nagano: (Part 5)