Searching for a venue with a homely dining experience and a great gastronomic experience? Enter Portico Host!


With its alfresco dining ambience and a strong belief in providing its customers with a good dining experience, Portico Host whips up delicious cuisines for their customers. They are a boutique home-grown F&B with 2 concepts under its name - Portico Prime and Portico Host, with an ultimate aim of providing customers with a comfortable dining experience.

Their cuisines specialise in reinventing classic homely dishes with a touch of finesse and has obtained a host of awards - Chope's Diner's Choice Awards New Restaurant of the Year 2014, OpenRice's Top Ten Best New Restaurants of 2014 and Wine & Dine's Singapore's Top Restaurant 2016 and 2017. This young restaurant does not appear to be losing steam as they are providing new creative menus for their customers to enjoy.


The first dish in their new menu contains avocado, onion, caramelized walnut, chili bacon and a touch of citrus dressing to accompany the grilled squid. Squids might not be the most popular amongst people and can be extremely hard if not well-cooked. However, the ones prepared in Portico Host are more succulent than hard and provides an enjoyable chewy texture that brings out the flavor of the squid. The light touch of chili bacons and citrus were creative outlets that provided a unique and zesty squid tasting experience.



Technique is important in the preparation of chicken breast meat and it was thoroughly well-executed in this dish. From its appetizing appearance to its surprisingly flavorful meat, every inch of this dish had experience written all over it. The quail egg was also an interesting complement to the dish that I enjoyed. I would say that the huge plus point about the entire dish was its well-framed arrangements that already attracts customers to have a share of this meal.


Duck leg confit can be a rather premium dish to try out. This duck leg confit is immersed in port wine sauce and red pepper coulis, unlikely sources that are used during the preparation of the dish that went well with the soft tender portion that is served. Purple cabbage stew and potato mesh also provided balance to this dish in terms of color and taste - especially so when it comes with the purple cabbage stew on its plate. The portion is not too large and provides a meal with contents that are just about right for a satisfying meal.


The BBQ pork rib brought the dining experience here up another notch. Its sizeable portion along with potato wedges and grilled veggies can be quite heavy for a dinner experience. All this however, is forgotten when you do take the first bite of the bbq pork rib. It tasted sweet, tender yet crispy at the same time. Yes, it is crispy in certain portions which shows how perfectly prepared these ribs are. The meat portions nearer to the bone are largely tender and thus, provided interesting combination of bites while having this dish. It is slightly pricey for a student but it is definitely worth a go if you are looking for a tasty and filling meal.


Don't be deceived by the spaghetti-like appearance of this dish. With laksa leaf tossed with coconut broth replete in this dish, "Sing Chew" spaghetti surprised me so much with flavors that are synonymous with laksa - a famous traditional chinese cuisine. Clams, mussels, prawns and squids complemented the taste of the sauteed "laksa-like" spaghetti amazingly in terms of texture, appearance and taste. Personally, I struggle with spicy food but this dish had so many elements to it that I loved. A huge must-try if you are down over in Portico host.


Who doesn't love desserts? Sprinkled with "edible soil" fragments and espresso bits, this tiramisu is a dessert lovers' dream. There were no signs of sogginess in this tiramisu and everything about it was perfect. The mascarpone cheese and vanilla sponge were soft and melts on your tastebuds as you slowly consume and ingest them. Espresso bits strewn across the dish also made this dessert experience fun with each steady spoonful of dessert. A huge must try when you are dining here!


The mastermind behind this delicious menu served is none other than Chef Earn, the Senior Head Chef of Portico Host. Chef Earn has had a host of splendid achievements under his belt. His experience includes the management of a 2800-strong Western sit-down dinner in 2016 and also 4600 strong Asian sit-down for Far East Organisation in 2015.


The ability of Chef Earn has earned him rave reviews for being adept in preparing quality food in spite of it being huge events that are being organized. Tung Lok Group and Kitchen Language are also some of the companies that he has worked with. His avid enthusiasm towards Fine Modern and Asian Cuisines has led him to churn out creative dishes that are well-presented in Portico Host.

From now till 25th September 2017, there will be a promotion available for NUS and NTU students!

- If you are a NUS/NTU student/staff/alumni, simply present your identification to the counter to enjoy "15% OFF" at Portico Host

- Quote "Kah Yong" to enjoy an additional free soft drink on top of your NUS and NTU discounts if you order a main course!


So if you are free, do head on down to Portico Host, which is only a short 5-10 minute walk away form the MRT to get your dose of a homely dining experience!

So with that, Peanut will sign off for now!

Getting places in Hualien is almost as good as impossible if you do not get on cabs/hire cabs throughout your entire time there. The area to cover within Hualien is huge and the buses are way too rare and infrequent. It sometimes makes me wonder how the locals are able to get from place to place and perhaps that is why the high number of motorbike users in the area are not much of a surprise to me. 

In Hualien alone, there are 2 distinct night markets namely the ZhiGuang Night Market and Rainbow(彩虹) Night Market. As you have known thus far, I have been doing editions of food posts based in Taiwan and it will carry on for awhile. The food posts will come together with posts on my experiences in specific places in Taiwan and it won't be long before I begin those posts. So do stay tuned to my posts as I complete and upload them entirely by next week.

As of now, here are some of the decent food types that I have tried in the more established and older Zhiguang Night Market in Taiwan.

Porridge stall:

The porridge sold in Zhiguang night market defied my stereotype of how it usually will taste like - watery but still full of flavour. Instead, the porridge base provided was not overtly watery and it is coated with you tiao that was scrumptious and pleasant to savour and bite. 



It was not too filling which was great since I wanted to try a few varieties at the night market and the flavours were uncommon or rather, unseen before. Jade(翡翠) fish porridge appeared as green as what it's name suggests, and it did not disappoint. 

The picture below depicts the prices of the porridges they offer.


Fruit Juice Stall:

Long queues signify the quality of a shop and this was of no exception. The fragrance of the fruits in this stall could be scented whilst queuing and this was testament to the freshness of the products the stall offers. The juices offered are richly flavored and my suggestion would be to not go for those famous milk tea flavours like taro from this stall. They are way better niche in terms of their authentic fresh fruit juices.



BBQ Corn:



The BBQ corn in Zhiguang night market is one of the eye catchy attractions there mainly due to the fact that it has a huge poster showing how celebrities love the corn. This shop that is fast approaching its 50th year in service and offers delightful BBQ corn to satiate your hunger. 



Corns are placed on 2 huge platters at the counter and you pay according to the mass of corn chosen. There is an option of selecting if you want a spicy flavour and it is definitely a unique way of serving the corns. 



This stall eradicates all traces of corn being tough to bite as the one you consume is going to be coated with a worthy sweet sauce that matches it's softness- delicious! No wonder it is a huge hit for the locals present at the night market.


Despite losing out on its size, Zhiguang night market will be here to stay because of its good quality food on offer in their array of food and drinks. 


So with that, Peanut has left a marker on another food place.

Stay tuned for more adventures!

Signing off,
KY

Throughout my 10 days in Taiwan and many more days in my past few trips to this country, I have never been short of the beautiful natural scenery that Taiwan is able to offer. Jiufen street provides an alternative to the mountainous areas that Taiwan is able to offer with ease.


With its rustic environment and panoramic seaside and skyline views, it is hard to ignore exploring Jiufen when you plan an itinery for Taiwan. What comes really well with a scenery to admire is good food and Jiufen has a host of options that it is able to provide.


So here's my top 6 list of good foods to try in Jiufen.

How to get there

Take the HSR from Taipei -> Ruifang Station(costs around NT78) -> At the station, you can choose to take the shuttle bus outside the station or choose to take a cab at NT180 to go to Jiufen


To return to Ruifang, you can take the buses 825 and 827.(costs NT15)

Doroyaki Ice Cream


Japanese Doroyaki anyone?

Doraemon's favourite pancake dish is truly made a reality right within Jiufen street. The only difference is that this Doroyaki is filled with ice cream instead of red bean paste. The taro ice cream that I chose matches seamlessly with the pancakes not just on appearance, but on its taste as well. It didn't really matter that it was the cold season in Taiwan, this doroyaki, albeit cold, is still able to work up a truly worthy sensation in your mouth - sweetness of pancakes along with the oozing ice cream filling.


The wide variety of ice cream flavours include red bean, matcha and taro just to name a few.

One Doroyaki ice cream costs NT40.

Fishball soup

Yeap. Your eyes aren't playing tricks with you. This simple fishball soup is probably the best tasting dish within Jiufen street. There are around 3 shops that sell fishball soups but one of them stands out amongst the rest. This famous stall not only serves deliciously bouncy quality fishballs, they are also sold at a cheaper cost as compared to other outlets in the vicinity.


NT50 can get you a bowl of 5 different flavoured fishballs including the spicy otah flavour as compared to the more expensive NT60 just to get the same dish in the other outlets.


The soup base has a rich spring onion taste that is refreshing and delightful.


Taro Ball


Within Jiufen, I tried 2 of the most famous taro ball shops to satiate this big fat appetite that I can't seem to contain. These 2 shops are namely the 阿柑姨 and 赖阿婆 brand and I decided to try the warmer version of the taro balls because of the cold weather during my time there. So based on comparison, I believe that 阿柑姨 brand trumped the other.


The taro ball bowl provided has got bigger peanuts and more taro balls to accompany the usual sweet potato and taro balls in a soup base of green beans, red beans and boiled peanuts. Furthermore, the resting area has got a panoramic view to savour unlike in the other outlet that it is competing for business with.


One taro ball bowl costs NT40.



Tea tasting


Tea tasting is an interesting activity to try in rustic Jiufen and there are plentiful of tea-tasting places within Jiufen itself. I did not manage to dine in because of the cost(at least NT160 must be spent to dine in)but I still managed to try certain flavors in this particular outlet that is portrayed in the picture above. It would definitely be extremely endearing and comfortable to sit in this café-like place while admiring the beauty of Jiufen. Just imagine yourself tasting some hot tea in the cold weather while having a panoramic view to take in. Truly fantastic.


The flavours were plentiful including the usual chrysanthemums and green teas as well as the unique mandarin orange flavored tea.


One fully filled teapot costs around NT100 and could even exceed NT200 depending on the flavour you choose. The shop does sell some typical Taiwanese food as well to accompany the aromatic teas it is able to offer.

Ice cream wrap


Another delightful dessert place in Jiufen. This stall that sells Ice cream wraps have decent thin and soft popiah like wrapping skin plus sweet sticky peanuts that goes with the ice cream flavour that is of your choice.


There is only one such stall in Jiufen street and the shop assistant was really receptive towards me taking pictures of them. The flavours on offer are close to the range provided in the Doroyaki shop and it also matches the quality of the ice cream it offers. Once again, the taro flavour is a must try from this place.


One Ice cream wrap costs NT40.

Escargots


Passing by the streets of Jiufen can be an amusing experience. This shop provides one of those amusing experiences. It is not often where you can actually witness the preparation of an Escargot, let alone in the streets or night markets. Watching the shop owners digging and ripping out the flesh of the escargot was an experience, one that is so appetizing that you would simply want to try it straightaway.


The portion of the Escargot is huge and there were differing softness and texture for different portions of the meat. The middle portion melts in one's mouth while the inner and outer portions were more chewy and certainly had strong traces of seafood scent and taste. The sour and spicy sauce was the gem in this dish.

One set of 3 escargots comes at NT100, while buying one costs NT40.


In that particular day in Taiwan, I planned a trip to not just Jiufen, but to Shifen as well. I will probably give more details of my time in Shifen in one of my upcoming posts but that would be a post devoid or rather, lacking in food as most of the food stalls were closed as my friend and I got carried away with the lanterns and fireworks there. Lack of food? No worries. Shifen has plenty more to offer apart from food.

Doing a food post in the middle of the night has always been torture since it usually never fails to make me hungry. I think I should probably logout and take a rest.


So with that, Peanut has left a marker on another food post.

Stay tuned for more adventures!

Signing off,
KY

Milk & Honey brings a new level of fun to yoghurt tasting. It has a total of 9 signatures that you can choose from the menu and if none of them fits your preferences, you have the option of customizing what you want to have on your parfaits. There are a total of 6 layers that you can feel free to choose from namely the topping, sauce, top tier, middle layer, decoration and base. Each segment has a wide variety to choose from that makes you spoilt for choice.



The signatures that I got to try were the appealing flavours of Mango Passionfruit, Coffee Addict and the irresistible Royal Honey. The best of the lot had to be the Royal Honey flavour. The other flavours were decent but at most slightly above average unlike the Royal Honey Flavour. The Mango was not sweet enough while the Coffee was too mild to leave a deep impression in me.


The Royal Honey however had a strong taste that was not too sweet and not too sour. The only part that was sour was the decoration/topping that looked like a slice of lemon which was placed on top of the yoghurt.


It had several distinct layers of flavours which included the scrumptious popcorn-like crunches at the top of the cup as well as the biscuit that is coated with sugar that fizzes in your mouth.(much like those sweets dipped in sugars that kids love) Along with the main yoghurt base, this was truly the best flavour out of the 4 that I tried.

The signature flavours are expensive which ranges from $7.80-$9.80 and the cheaper option would be to try parfaits that are self-customized. Customization of parfaits would come along with a complimentary small sized cup of yoghurt that makes the experience in the shop more value for money.


For those looking for that bit of fun and quality in your yoghurt experience, Milk & Honey would definitely fit the bill.

So with that, Peanut has left a marker on another food place.

Stay tuned for more adventures!

Signing off,
KY

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