FOOD, TRAVEL & PHOTOGRAPHY

Nando's has began grilling it's African-Portuguese style flame-grilled chicken in Singapore from May 2010. My family and I went to try their Peri-Peri chicken on our 3rd attempt to queue (queue was too long on our previous visits).

We started off with "Petisco", a platter of flame-grilled chicken wings, mini chicken thighs and pitas. When the platter was placed on our table, I could smell the aroma of the flame-grilled wings filling the surrounding atmosphere. While I'm still trying to guess if it's charcoal-grilled or wood-grilled, my hands were already on those wings. The wings were grilled to perfection, with the chicken meat were still juicy and tasty.

Next we have a "Espetada", which is a dish of grilled chicken thighs served on a skewer. These thighs were juicy as well. However, I think they've spent too much time on the grill. Some parts of the skin were charred and this gave the chicken thighs a slight taste of bitterness.

We had a "Peri Platter" for our main course. The platter consist of a full chicken and 4 large sidelines. According to the menu, the chicken were marinated for 24 hours prior to grilling. The flavours indeed penetrated deep into those meat. Even the breast meat were tasty and yummy.

As for the drinks, we've tried the "Sparkling Apple", "Crimson Cola" and "Madeira Red". The Crimson Cola and the Madeira Red were too sweet for me. They probably have put in too much of the promegranate concentrate.

I will definitely visit Nando's again if I have the craving for Peri-Peri chicken and some extra cash to spare. It's rather expensive to have a dinner of grilled chicken for approximately S$30/pax.

There are abundance of websites explaining details on how to DIY a Mini Macro Studio. Many of the mini studios found on these websites were constructed using cardboard boxes and tracing paper. Storage will then pose a problem when the mini macro studio is not in used.  Therefore, I'm planning to DIY a "foldable" mini macro studio. I've found a website providing details on a foldable DIY mini macro studio. I decided to make some modifications and create my own DIY mini macro studio.

Materials Required:

4x Translucent Corroplast (Corrugated plastic sheet)

1x Tape

1x Cutter

5x Velcro tapes (optional)

4x File Binder (For 2 different levels of backdrop attachment)

1x Hole Puncher

1x Backdrop

Most of the materials above are readily available in bookstores. I've got most of them from Popular Bookstore. This DIY mini macro studio cost only a fraction of those commerically available mini studios.

Step 1: Place 3 pieces of corroplast (in the portriat orientation) side by side. Tape the edges and rememer to leave a gap so that the stack up nicely when folded. These tapes act as the hinges and these 3 sheets will form the left, back and right panel of the mini studio respectively.

Step 2: Cut the 4th sheet of corroplast to an appropriate dimension. Leaving some space at both the left and right edge (for the velcro tapes later). Using a cutter, slit the top surface (be careful not to make a through cut) and bend the corroplast. These left and right margins will be used to secure the left and right panel of the studio in place. Adhere the velcro tapes to the top panel's left and right margin, as well as the corresponding location on the left and right panel.

Step 3: Similarly, using the tape as hinges, tape the top panel to the adjacent top edge of the back panel. Remember to leave a gap in between so that they will fold up nicely. Here you are, the basic structure is completed.

Step 4: Using a cutter, slit a groove on the back panel to allow the file binder to be attached in their appropriate location. Next, punch holes on the the backdrop using the hole puncher. Now the backdrop can be attached to the back panel using the file binder. It's done and ready for shooting!

Completed Foldable Mini Macro Studio:

Photo taken with desk lamp on the right side.

Photo taken with desk lamp on the right, Flash gun on the left and onboard flash

If you would like to try out some other variations, you may wish to google for "DIY mini macro studio" or "DIY Light Tent".

The Ulitmate Crab Buffet is back for the 3rd year. Having missed two seasons, I'll definitely not want to miss this year's crab buffet. I had the opportunity to enjoy this sumptuous dinner with my family on Tuesday night. Though I called up on Sunday to make a reservation, I could only get seats near the 2nd line buffet (not the buffet line where the carbs are). But walking to the main buffet line isn't too far, so it's fine with us. 

At 7pm sharp, my wife and I had already started exploring the main buffet line. We started off with some Beer Stock Boiled Crab (Assorted) and Chilli Crab. The chilli crabs were not spicy at all. It's sweet and the gravy goes well with the Fried Buns. But I personally prefer spicy food. Therefore, I'm not particularly attracted by the chilli crab. However, the Beer Stock Boiled Crab is worth mentioning, especially the Snow Crab and the Dungeness Crab. The natural sweetness of these crab meat is just perfect. Their meat were soild (and stringy) as well. If you've ever ate string cheese, you'll know what I meant by "stringy". I think about 70% of the crabs I ate are the snow crabs and dungeness crabs. Some other crabs & food that I've tried include:

Cold Crab -  Below average, the texture of the flower crab meat that I took were not solid

Sliper Lobster - Average, nothing really special

I must apologise for the shortage of photos in this blog. My fingers were just too busy with the crabs and could not multi-task to press on the shutter. There photos shown here were taken before I started to lay my fingers on the crabs.

During my visit, I did not get a chance to try the Soft Shell Crab with Chutney Cream and the Salted Egg Flower Crab, as mentioned on the official website. I could not find them in the buffet line. You might probably find them during your visit.

Other than the food, the service were good as well. My plates (full of shells) gets cleared very quickly. the waiters were very responsive as well. 

If you are a crab lover and have yet to try "The Ultimate Crab Buffet", you got to be quick. The buffet ends on 27 Jun 2010. If you miss this season, you'll have to wait for the next crab buffet (probably a year later), and might be paying more as well. For your information, last year's crab buffet dniner is only priced at S$46++ (source: AromaCookery).

It's a boring Friday afternoon, and I'm already thinking of what to have for dinner. I suddenly have a craving for German food. A German pork knuckle and beer make the best companion for one to unwind at the end of a work week. I recall that my uncle recommended a restaurant at United Square that serves nice pork knuckle. So I've decided to try out the Brauhaus Restaurant & Pub at United Square, Novena. I quickly SMS my wife and my mum to arranage for a dinner at Brauhaus.

It's the World Cup season, and Brauhaus has live telecast of the World Cup matches. We were lucky enough to get a seat without making any reservations. The atmosphere was cosy with soft lighting. Waitress were friendly and has good rapport with customers. It seems like majority of the customers were regulars.

The drinks menu (or rather beer menu) is too much for me to comprehend. Therefore, I've asked the waitress to  recommned a clear beer that goes well with the Pork Knuckle that we'll be ordering. I was recommeded a German beer, "Franziskaner Kristallklar". It tasted like Erdinger with a zest of lemon. Maybe all German beer taste the same. My wife tried their fruit beer, "Floris Passion". This passion fruit beer is great, something that it's difficult to find in supermarkets. My mum took a non-alcoholic Cranberry juice. For the main course, we've ordered a Ostrich Fillet Steak, a Pork Knuckle (Small) and a Ribs of Lamb (which wasn't served to me due to a miscommunication between the waitress and the kitchen). The kitchen ran out of lamb and did not inform the waitress. When we've requested the waitress to check on our order after a long wait, she came back explaining the situation and kept apologising, "Sorry, it's our fault." (at least three times). Later, she came back with three slices of Oreo Chesscake (FOC), which a nice gesture in apologising to the customers. 

Atmosphere : 8/10 (Cosy, with soft lighting and live music) 

Service : 8/10 (Waitress were attentive & has a close rapport with customers)

Food : 7/10 (Generally, above average)

Price : 5/10 (Approx. S$40/pax)