What is Good Service?

What is ‘good service’ at a restaurant? Time and again, many people have asked me this question. Having been a food panelist for more than 12 years, this is a question you will never escape from your friends.

I must say that it is very difficult to isolate what elements are brought to the table by the waiter and what can be attributed to training and the house style. For example, I've had very good and very bad service at the same restaurant……… then how do I rate this restaurant?
In cases like that, I feel like it's the waiter that brings everything and therefore it becomes clear there is little training. Some people want to be "friends" with their waiters; others just want the person to efficiently deliver the food and clear the table. How a waiter approaches and chats up a table could also be part of the house style.

At Pete’s Place, the staff is there at every juncture, almost appearing like magic; they seem to know when to approach the table. And they know when to make themselves scarce. In this case, it's clear that they are not only veterans but adhere to a certain style.

The Rtiz, I guess has a rigorous training program for its staff. The staff has a certain approachable demeanor that's consistent regardless of who is working your table.

In addition, good service staff does special things to accommodate the guests that might not necessarily be strictly classified as service, but gives the overall effect of making the customer feel special. If diners are sharing appetizers or a dessert, the waiters volunteer to split the portion. If it is rains, the customers are asked “Do you need an umbrella to go to your parked car?” Babies get a bit of attention. The elderly get special attention. Pregnant ladies get attention and soon you find out that everyone is treated well equally – that’s good service.
At Spice Queen, our service staff is well trained and we get lots of accolades all the time.

I'd love to know where you've had the best service, and what made it special.

SPICE QUEEN – My Restaurant!

Do you know I have a restaurant? It is the SPICE QUEEN, located at Race Course Road, in Little India of Singapore!The theme and décor are in keeping with all things simple, chic, modern and inviting and I wanted it to be a great place for the young and old to relax, eat and drink and leave the place with pleasant memories. The theme is “Indian spice” and therefore I do have lots of Indian dishes and some Asian dishes with the Indian spice influence. We serve uniquely Singaporean Indian cuisine, South Indian and North Indian cuisines. Well, I do have an assortment of pakoras – you may think it is no big deal and that it is only a pakora…….but I developed this pakora batter mix! So if you are ever eating at Spice Queen (I fondly call my restaurant SQ) and you like our pakoras, you can buy our Pakora Mix and make the pakoras at home!! Phew! I forgot an important element – the Tamarind Sauce that is sold with the pakoras in the restaurant. It is ‘simply irresistible” as one customer said.Then I have this classic Singaporean dish called the Belachan Chicken. It is chicken wings marinated in spices and shrimp paste and then coated with a special flour mix and deep fried. You are wondering where the “Indian spice” is in? The secret is our Green Chillie Sambal that is served with the chicken pieces. It is a sambal so good that you may want to eat it with everything else…..and you can buy our marinated chicken pieces to fry it at home at your own convenience and buy a bottle of green chillie sambal too! Just ask our good service staff. Talking about service staff, do you know one of our customers actually wrote in our Guests Book “the service we get at this restaurant is better than that from a famous 6-Star hotel in Singapore!” Well, you must come to my restaurant to experience good service.
Wait, I have one more starter – the Tauhu Telor. It is not the usual Indonesian style tauhu telor. I use egg tofu and the secret sauce is what makes our customers ask me “what is in this sauce?” and in case you are wondering what I told them – “try guessing” Everyone has an idea of what a briyani is. I love briyanis too but then I never wanted to indulge in too much briyani because of the way it is laden with saturated fat. At SPICE QUEEN restaurant, we cut down the saturated food and give you a very light briyani, whether it is chicken, fish, vegetable or mutton (OK, mutton has a bit of saturated fat but you know, we have most of the visible fat trimmed)As for the seafood, our best seller is still the fish head curries – we do have the Assam Fish Head, which is Indonesian inspired and the traditional Indian Fish Head curry. The Assam type does not have any curry powder in it but the Indian fish head is made of good quality curry powder that we sell. As Spice Queen, I do believe that I should only use some of the best spices available. We can also cook you a fish slice in Assam gravy or fish gravy if you do not like fish head.Mutton in thick gravy is one popular meat dish of the restaurant and try the Mutton Methiwalla, very Punjabi dish with fenugreek leaves.The vegetables are cooked ala minute – it means we cook after the order is taken. That means you don’t get soggy, discolored over cooked vegetables that are bad for health at our restaurant. We have enough food in the menu that is suitable for the vegetarians too.
Oops…..I forgot to tell you!! My favourite in my restaurant is the Cheese Podi Naan! Fluffy naan stuffed with cheddar cheese and spicy sesame powder – you must try this and must eat it hot!I also have a selection of yummy desserts. Sshhhh…….I don’t want to tell you about it. Read about it in our website and see pictures of the seductive desserts. http://www.spice-queen.com/

More details about the restaurant –
Spice Queen
24 & 26 Race Course Road
Singapore 218548

For enquiries and reservations call - 62552440

We are opened every day except Mondays and from 11.30 am – 3.30 pm and 6.00 pm till 11.00 pm.

Love and Care from Friends & Relatives while on a Diet

Do you know that it is very difficult to live on a special meal diet? Not because I can’t but because the loved ones around me don’t allow me to! And they don’t even know that they are doing this to me L
To be on a diet or on a special meal diet is not that easy. You can quit smoking, you can quit drugs but you can’t quit eating altogether right? And the loved ones and friends eating near you and around you stop you right on the track. So if you are my friend, your support is very important when I go on a special diet.
It is important to appreciate your friend’s motivation and in order to understand the best way to be supportive, find out from your friend the reason for her wanting to go on this diet example - is she trying to lose weight or body fat? Or is she dieting because of health concerns like diabetes or high cholesterol or does she want to look and feel younger?
What you can do as a close friend or a relative is not to tempt your friend. When going out to eat, suggest restaurants with healthy menu options. Since alcohol is high in calories refrain from ordering that in front of your friend. Don’t give your friend presents that are food related example - do not give a box of chocolate when you return from your holiday! Try to eat in and eat healthy food together and always have healthy snacks in your fridge if your dieting friend is visiting you.
Give moral support to your friend by giving comments like “since you started on your diet, you seem to be more energetic” or “your skin is looking very good now”. Refrain from telling your friend “you are not fat” or “you don’t need to go on a diet”. You will have to take note that diet is supposed to be on improving health than on losing weight!
While you are with your friend, you need not be a food police. Don’t constantly point out to her that “you should not eat this” and or “don’t eat that”. And another important point – do not announce to the whole world that she is on a diet…….your friend may not like that. Be supportive but not control. It’s the dieter’s responsibility to be in control of her food. Because she is the one who is going to suffer the consequences. Trust me, it is normal to backslide some and have cheat meals here and there.
You can join your friend in the whole process of dieting, even if you are skinny to the bones – diet for health reasons. Eat a healthy meal and support your friend and in the process look after yourself!

Good, Hot Stuff

These days, I feel that I'm addicted to chillies. If I'm eating noodles, I'll always need fresh cut chillies especially small red fiery hot, bird’s eyes chillies in soy sauce to go with it. When I eat out at my restaurant, SPICE QUEEN, my staff ensure that a small sauce plate of chillies or sambal comes along with my food.
But I was not like this when I was younger. My father used to cane me because I refuse to eat certain dishes because that would be the only dishes my mum would have cooked for the day. I used to be such that I rather go to bed hungry than eat something spicy hot.
Now it is different. It is chillies and more chillies in my life. Since most of my friends are non-Indians, many have the notion that chillies are bad for health. Some of my Chinese friends told me that eating chillies causes pimples to surface on the face and trust me I never had pimples when I was young or now. Then my German friend, Kristie Buss, told me that chillies can cause diarhoea and stomach upsets. Another Indian friend said “chillies can cause loss of memory and also promotes blindness or eyesight problems”.
I think chillies are great. They are beautiful to look, to touch, to smell and to cook. Not only that, they are great fresh, dried, ground, crumbled, pounded, cut into strips, pickled, and the list goes on.
Today, a friend said that his doctor said chillies can cause ulcer. And so I did further research on my favourite subject – SPICE. Do you know that some people classify chillies as a ‘fruit’.
Chillie became extremely popular in India after it was first brought to India by Vasco-da-Gama. Chillie found its way in Ayurveda, the traditional Indian medical system. According to Ayurveda, chillie has many medicinal properties such as stimulating good digestion and endorphins, a natural pain killer to relieve pains. A survey conducted in Singapore in 1994 shows that the incidence of gastric ulcers is more common among the Chinese than among Indians and Malays who eat far more chillies. In another study on animals, it was found that the active ingredient capsaicin in chillies, increases gastric blood flow and protects the stomach from damage. It also encourages the healing of experimental gastric ulcer. It seems taking a dose of chilli actually protects the stomach from subsequent damage by aspirin or alcohol.
By the way, if you want to relieve yourself off a fiery mouthful of chillie, do not reach for ice water!! Drink milk or yoghurt as capsaicin dissolves very well in the presence of fats. Hence, the Indians always serve raita, a light salad with yoghurt dressing as an accompaniment with all their fiery hot dishes.
Chillie has also been used to help relieve arthritic pain. And ironically, that burning sensation stimulates the release of endorphins, which make us feel good - which explains why some people like me just can't get enough of the stuff!!!

what is a good sambar?

I love sambar. Hello, it is not a deer. Sambar is a curry, a gravy with lots of lentils and vegetables, slightly sour and oh so aromatic. Yumyum…….. But which is the original sambar? Anyone know anything about the history of sambar? I have eaten many types of sambar from the time I was a kid. I thought my Periamah’s sambar was so aromatic. She would grind the fennel, coriander seeds and cumin seeds in the ‘ammi’ or grinding stone and incorporate these into the boiling dhall. She used a firewood stove; the pot will be so black on the outside and the inside is where one of the most delicious sambar would be boiling. My mother used to make her sambar quite thick, with lots of tur dhall; she would sometimes add a handful of mung dhall to thicken it as she said. We, Singaporean Indians hardly rely on the pressure cooker. The advantage of boiling dhall in a pot is that you get this aroma of the dhall and garlic wafting from the kitchen and permeating into every room of the house and the outside. The hunger will start about 1 hour before the sambar is made. An aunt used to add a bit of coconut milk to her sambar to ‘sweeten’ it as she said; another Malaysian Indian friend of mind would fry some pounded dried prawns and add to her keerai sambar……..very delicious.
Then of course the vengaya (shallots) sambar of Saravana Bhavan in India is drinkable.
Nowadays, I see more of the restaurants using pumpkin pieces in their sambar, I guess it is to sweeten the gravy naturally instead of using jaggery like some would do. I do hate the MTR kind of sambar, unless of course the person grinds the masala herself/himself instead of relying on the plastic bag.
The sambar I once had at a railway station in Kerala is very memorable too. Someone told me that it must be the Palagat brahmin’s style of sambar. I could smell lots of asafetida (perungayam) but it was so sumptious. Another friend of mine said he had a good sambar in Coimbatore. He said the sambar was of blackish green (very unappetizing to look at it it seems) but he also said that it was the best sambar he has ever had in his entire life. Apparently, a lot of ground coriander leaves and grilled onions were ground and added to the sambar. Sambar with radish and drumsticks ….mmmmmm mind blowing.
I love my sambar with lots of potatoes. When eating, I will mash the potatoes lightly on my plate and pour the sambar over it, add a teaspoon of good ghee or butter and just eat. No need for rice! Or have a meal of hot sambar, fried dried fish and a vegetable poriyal.
My husband says a good sambar must be runny; I like it thick and so the argument about the best sambar never end as you may have something to say too.

the Smell of Coffee

“Mmmm... There's absolutely nothing better than first thing in the morning, waking up to the smell of freshly brewed coffee....” said my friend. I too love the smell of coffee. I've never been able to drink it though, but I love the smell just too much! Over the years, I have tried drinking coffee from various establishments. I have bought and tried all brands of coffee powder, but it just does not agree with me. I am envious of all those who can enjoy coffee. I know what I will do if I can drink and enjoy coffee; I will buy one of the best coffee machines and brew myself gourmet coffee everyday. Alas, I can only do it in my dreams. But even though I don’t drink coffee I love to sit at a café, sip Earl Grey tea and inhale other people’s coffee. The smell itself is addictive.
Do you know that a number of perfume counters have coffee beans for people to smell in between smelling different perfumes? Do you know why smelling coffee beans enhance our ability to smell different perfumes?
Well perfumes are a mix of many different molecules of smell and that's why the smell of a good perfume "unfolds" over many hours, as the various molecules gradually evaporate.
Repeated exposure to a particular smell causes "adaptation". Do you remember all the bad smells in your environment you are so used to that you no longer think “this is awful” and hold your nose? Coffee beans are a pungent olfactory stimulus that is quite different from the components of most perfumes. Therefore, smelling coffee beans is a way of cleaning your "olfactory palate." This process is something like eating crackers or sipping water in between samples at a wine tasting. Olfactory adaptation is diminished by smelling coffee, so you can sample more perfumes.
The husband used to say that I should have been born a dog as I am constantly smelling and sniffing the air for smells of food. Perhaps I can smell better because I am forever smelling coffee!!

Kids Love the Kitchen

As a kid, I loved to be in the kitchen when my mother was cooking. Kitchens are where everything happens. It’s not just where meals are prepared – it’s usually the hub of the home, where family and friends get together to spend time. Cooking and eating together is about more than nutrition for the body. It’s also the experience of connecting and interacting with family members, to feed relationships. Try to choose one meal that everyone comes to the table. It doesn’t have to be dinner. This is a challenge as everyone has their own activities (especially as children grow), but starting early promotes the importance of family time together, and also demonstrates a healthy attitude towards food and eating.
Peeling of onions and garlic cloves were one of the few tasks I learnt at that time. This is so because I did not have to use a knife. I know all kids love being involved with preparing food. That is why they are so likely to get in the way in your kitchen. They're interested in what you're doing, while you may be ignoring them. So rather than push them away, draw them in. While you are cooking, teach your child what a recipe is and the importance of following directions in order for a dish to turn out right. Teach them mathematics in the kitchen!! Ask you child “How many half cups do you need to equal a whole cup?” Ask him to measure “2 cm of ginger” or weigh “500 g of flour”. Teach him the skills of doing work in sequence. You may be able to create a sensory awareness in you kid by teaching him using a variety of textures, tastes, smells. Let him taste and smell. Let him touch and feel.
You can be an English teacher right in the kitchen. Teach your child new words like the ingredients used in the cooking, the cooking terms eg, frying, braising etc. And show off your science skills. Teach your child why protein turns white after cooking or why bananas turn brown after being exposed to air for a long time. You child will learn team work when working in the kitchen with you. Teach your child all about hygiene in the kitchen and about bacteria and germs. And don’t forget that you can teach your child history and geography from the kitchen too. It’s good if you can set an example by referring to a cookbook for recipes. Children learn just by seeing that their parents use books as references.
Research shows that children who grew up helping their mothers in the kitchen grew up to be adults who are confident, helpful and happy.

Chocolates, women's favourite

Since I was a kid, I always liked chocolates. I realized that most of my brothers were never interested in chocolates the way my sisters and I were. I used to wonder if this is so because of ‘culture’. We seldom give chocolates as a gift to men but women are so used to receiving chocolates. What is it about chocolate that is so wonderful? I believe you enjoy chocolate just as much as me right? It always feels so nice to have it melted in your mouth, delivering its wonderful taste right through your tongue, right?
Chocolate is the perfect mix of sugar and fat to turn on almost every appetite triggering nerve chemical in the brain. The sugar in chocolate sparks the release of a nerve chemical called serotonin and might lower another nerve chemical called NPY; the end result is a sense of well-being – the way we always feel when eating chocolates. The sweet taste also releases endorphins in the brain, giving us an immediate euphoric rush. The fat in chocolate enhances flavour and aroma.
Chocolate contains caffeine that provides a mental boost and phenylethylamine which stimulates the nervous system, increases blood pressure and heart rate, and is suspected to produce similar feelings experienced when a person is "in love." Chocolate also contains a substance called anandamide that sort of gives you the effects of marijuana and boosts the pleasure you get when you eat chocolate hahahha……….
My friend a food writer argues with me that craving for chocolate is really the body's craving for nutrients, such as magnesium. But I argued with her that if that is the case than why don’t people crave for peanuts or other magnesium-rich foods? I think that chocolate cravings usually can be satisfied only by chocolate.
Sinful is how women has always described chocolate. But despite that it seems that 99% of all women love chocolate. As for me, I need to go for a Kit Kat break now! mmmmmmmm………..you want some?

How to make great finger chips?

CHILLI FINGER CHIPS
Finger chips are quick to prepare and are a low food cost. They're popular all year round, any time of day or night. To make good finger chips the potatoes need a high solid content to ensure a distinct, mealy texture and hearty flavour as they also absorb less oil, producing crispier fries. This low moisture content also means less shrinkage after frying. Russet potatoes will produce good finger chips. You can enhance the homemade appearance and flavour by not paring the potatoes.

500 g potatoes
salt
oil for deep frying
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon fine salt

METHOD
1. Scrub the potatoes clean and cut them into even sized finger like pieces. Soak the potato fingers in salted cold water for five minutes and wash or twice, drain and pat dry before cooking to remove the excess starch that causes them to clump together (and from keeping them from sticking to the pan while cooking).
2. Spread over a towel to remove excess moisture to avoid water spattering and to reduce fat absorption
3. Heat oil. Always use clean oil to fry potatoes. Make sure oil is the proper temperature. Frying potatoes in cold oil will result in more oil absorption by the chips. When the chips don't sink when dropped in and bubbles remain on top of the oil it means the oil is in the right temperature.
4. I personally found the chips get a crispier finish if I blanch the chips in hot oil to pre-cook and then finish them in a final fry before serving. The finger chips are completely cooked during the blanching stage where a lower temperature is recommended to allow the potato to cook slowly without becoming golden brown. After blanching, allow the chips to cool to room temperature or, preferably, refrigerate fries in uncovered containers.
5. Fry until golden brown.
6. Drain on absorbent paper. While it is still hot, sprinkle with chilli powder and salt and toss well.

Note: Very good finger food..........taste better when eaten with the fingers ;-)

My fingers - the best utensils

My mother would break up small morsels of food with her fingers before feeding it to me when I was very young. I trusted the love that was transmitted through her fingertips. I could eat everything that she fed me coz I knew it was the right temperature and that it won’t burn my mouth; the food would have been broken to fit my mouth and mixed with the right amount of curry so that I could swallow the food and make it slide down my esophagus. I am one of those who believe that Indian food should be eaten with the fingers. Eating Indian food with our fingers improves the taste of the food greatly.
Eating with the fingers is sensual and liberating. According to traditional Indians one's taste buds can actually get awakened with the touch of one's fingertips. We are not just eating with the mouth alone, but also with the eyes, nose and fingers………. visual presentation, aroma and difference of textures are what make the difference between a good meal and a great one, right?
Our fingers are very sensitive to touch and so can help our enjoyment of food because not only are the fingertips centres of acupressure, but each fingertip relates to one element of the universe: air, water, earth, fire and ether. Another important reason is that our fingertips transmit emotions. Our fingers happen to be the most hygienic eating tools that we have.
And who said the other races don’t use their fingers? The Japanese use their fingers to eat sushi; the British eat their fish and chips with their fingers, the Americans eat their burgers and corn on the cob with their fingers and people from practically every country in the world use the fingers to eat something or another.
Well, to enjoy food, use your fingers. But keep your fingers clean, wash your hands before you eat. Keep nails short and if possible no nail varnish. Eat only food cooked with good authentic ingredients otherwise you end up with yellowed fingernails due to the use of adulterated ingredients in the cooking.
Well good food is always "finger licking good" not "spoon licking good" right? It's 'tastier' to lick our fingers than a metal spoon or fork.

It's heavenly smelling or what?

Did you notice that when you walk down a shopping centre picking up the scent of freshly baked bread, coffee at Starbucks, the smell of durian or even popcorns, you will find yourself longing to eat these things. You will feel an appetite for food. I feel that somehow good food and smell seem to be linked to one another. But then on the other hand this does not necessarily mean that everything that smells good also tastes good right? For example, a rose smells so good, but it does not taste very good. But I guess whether a food product is edible or not is usually determined by its smell. After all burnt or rotten food does not smell very good. Ahhhhhhh……. It can be confusing. When I go to the market to buy seafood, the place stinks. When I am shelling the prawns or scaling the fish, the smell is not pleasant either. But the seafood taste fantastic after cooking! The smell of durian or some cheeses (like sweaty feet) can kill you but it taste so heavenly.But then I think whether people think something smell bad is very personal and culture related. Not everybody likes durian or asafoetida. And food that is tasty to some people, may smell terrible to people of another culture.We have heard of people saying 'you are what you eat'. I think this is so true! Try eating one teaspoon of fenugreek daily for 1 month and your whole body including your head will smell of fish curry! You will smell like what you eat. You may not know what you smell like but those around you who eat food that are different from yours will notice it. That’s why we hear remarks that “she always smell like curry” or “the Caucasian smells of butter and cheese” or the “Punjabis smell of ghee” etc. People who eat a lot of garlic will smell garlicky. So there you are, the next time you meet someone, focus on her smell and guess what she has been eating before she saw you I am very sensitive to smell. I notice stale foods, strong flavours or even the difference between different brands of flavoured foods. I can notice small changes o flavour and smell in food. But I have met people who never noticed the smell of food. The smell of petrol and paint can nauseate or kill me on the spot if I don’t move away from the situation. These smells can cause adverse reaction in my body eg. give me a terrible headache or cause me to vomit. My friends and relatives think I am overly fussy. It’s very difficult not to notice smells. What do you think?