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Abalone done in all ways
To a layman,
Goh Kai Kui has the best job ever. Imagine how, as CEO of food and beverage
company Goh Joo Hin, he can celebrate Chinese New Year every day just by
reaching into his office pantry and pulling out a can of New Moon abalone - the
company's signature product.
It's just a little disappointing to hear that
the 42-year-old doesn't eat it every day, although he professes to indulging in
the prized shellfish at least two or three times a month. Unsurprisingly, he has
tasted abalone cooked in every conceivable way, although the most unusual
version he has seen has to be an 'abalone appetiser made into a shape of a small
tree trunk wrapped in cabbage leaves and served with a mild, sweet special sauce
in Shin Yeh restaurant in Taiwan's 101 building,' he recalls.
Even so, it can't hold a candle to his most
favourite abalone dish, prepared by his wife - 'double boiled abalone with
Japanese dried mushroom', he reveals.
Indeed, the food-loving Teochew credits his
wife for shaping his taste buds over the years, preparing his favourite dishes
like Teochew-style steamed pomfret. 'She has had a great influence on what I eat
every day, ever since we got married.'
Her influence has meant that Mr Goh fancies
honest to goodness Chinese cooking, and nothing fancy or pretentious. 'Abalone
and high-end seafood have allowed me to better appreciate high-end cuisine as I
realise the effort and skill which go into preparing them,' he says. But, 'I
enjoy all types of food and it need not be expensive'.
That could range from the pig's blood that
'my father took me to eat when I was a child, which I initially thought I would
not like but I fell in love with it and I do not think you can find it anymore,
which is a great pity' to his favourite comfort food: Teochew fish porridge.
When it comes to corporate entertaining -
which he does three times a week - it would invariably be at a Chinese
restaurant like Taste Paradise or Thai Village Shark's Fin, which he says serves
the best shark's fin dishes. Other favourites include Imperial Treasure Teochew,
Peach Garden and Japanese eatery Sakae Sushi, where he satisfies his craving for
his favourite tuna belly sashimi.
When he entertains, he's also likely to order
an abalone dish, 'as it keeps me updated on the latest recipes for abalone', he
explains. Even when he's entertaining non-Asians, he has no trouble getting them
to eat it, probably because they are frequent visitors to Asia, he adds.
Still, that doesn't account for other
culinary faux pas involving other ingredients. Mr Goh recalls taking a group of
Italian suppliers to eat in a Beijing duck restaurant in China, and they
'ordered one Beijing duck each', he relates. 'They were utterly shocked when
they realised that it was the entire duck being served instead of the usual
small portions they were accustomed to in their home country.'
While it's mostly Asian food for him, Mr Goh
also enjoys European food, particularly foie gras, and has his favourite haunts
in Paris and Italy. But being the typical Singaporean, he also suffers from
Chinese food withdrawal symptoms when travelling.
On a trip to Chile, he says, he went to a
Chinese restaurant which looked promising, complete with 'decor and lighting
very similar to a Guangzhou restaurant I used to dine in in the late 80s'. The
restaurant also played traditional Chinese music, adding to the authentic
ambience. Unfortunately, they served 'the worst Yang Zhou fried rice' he had
ever tasted.
Naturally, he's not likely to be heading back
to Chile for Chinese food any time soon. As far as he's concerned, he likes
Singapore for having 'one of the world's best food quality and reasonable prices
compared with some other developed countries'. Even so, he is not averse to
trying out strange food in his back yard, like a dried, fried scorpion with
garlic bread he was served at a local herbal restaurant. 'It tasted like a
crunchy biscuit,' he muses.
Besides Singapore, 'Hong Kong, Taiwan and
Shanghai are the next best dining options' for him. Otherwise, he happily falls
back on his wife's cooking or when the whim strikes, he picks up the wok himself
and dishes up a mean 'fried tiger prawns with egg and a dash of Thai fish
sauce'. And maybe some sliced abalone on the side?
- 2008 February 25 BUSINESS
TIMES
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Chef Bing Lam gives the assurance that
Chinese New Year cuisine on the whole is fine, as there are a lot of vegetables
used in various dishes. Abalone and pineapples, for example are both kidney yin
tonic foods, restoring yin deficiencies (which refers to a shortage of body
fluids) in both men & women.
Abalone is good for relieving hot sensations
and coughs as well as sharpens vision. But since it's not easy to digest, it
should be consumed in moderate quantity.
- 2006 January 28 SINGAPORE
TIMES
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