A Cultural Melting Pot

The dishes that ultimately Distinguishes us above Others

Thai Prawn Pepper Fry

Hot sharp piquant and fiery. That is the 'clearing out' taste sensation one is left with the aftermath of onslaught. Prawn cutlets are fresh succulent and naturally sweet. They blend deliciously with a tangy fashion in a distinctive mix of tamarind sauce , sambal paste, belachan, grated tomatoes, fiery ginger garlic, and freshly chopped hot peppers.Tamarind is available in paste or sauce form from the nearest specialist grocery stores and it is generally used in curries, relishes and Tom Yum soups. As it has a sour, acidic flavour, a good replacement would be lemon or lime juice.

Other added ingredients are more complementary and supportive in terms of presentation and taste. In this dish I chose to use red and green strips of diced capsicums and so in the tradition of what Thais are generally eating I will include as well a few tit bits of fried bean curd. but they are certainly not as critically crucial and vital as the mixture of sauce that the prawns dish will turn out to rely. The Teahouse Thai Prawn Pepper Fry remains an All Time Greats since 1978. And that indeed is not really an understatement.

Malaysian Sambal Goreng

In Malay it means it is a mixture of meat and seafood cooked in mixed spice and Sambal sauce. This is a popular combination dish in our restaurant . Most go for the variety of fresh vegetables, bean curd and meat and seafood cooked in a tasty sambal belachan sauce Yet again like our Sambal Ayam Ketchap this is a unique dish to Dom's Teahouse that is second to none.

Breast Chicken With Whole Chilli & Cashew Nuts

A very Thai dish cooked in their traditional way by using even imported Thai dried chillies. Apparently it goes down very well with our customers down at the Bay. Partly because we use only choice quality of breast chicken fillets and no other cheaper chicken cuts. The secrets in this dish is a combination of sauces that makes up for its dissimilar and distinct flavour.

Beef Rendang (aka) Rendang Daging

The sinew of our underlying strength lies in the fact that for years I have developed a changing strategy. Whereby staying the course ( sounds like George Bush?) of intense competition and wearing times it literally means adopting a measure of everchanging strategem seeking subterfuge in a more emboldened form of multiculturalism having to multi-task and synergise constantly at a menu that represents a cluster of food which has been increasingly harmonised as one hell of a cultural melting pot. But with some certain clear exceptions perhaps the Beef Rendang remains truly the same Rendang that we set out in the very outset.It has indeed surpassed its time.

Rendang in Malaysia and Indonesia is cooked with beef though occasionally it sometimes can be with chicken. Back in the villages amidst the breeze underneath the swaying palm trees and idyllic setting further away from our madding crowd their festive cooking takes virtually a whole day. A slow process if you ask me for a fast track person. In fact many hours it will take to cook rendang in order to allow the meat to absorb in the mixture of spices condiment and coconut milk and till all the liquid has almost disappeared the natural oil oozes out and meat remains tender and soft. Because the dry form of rendang is rich and thick in coconut gravy and concentrate in spice this dish is therefore ideally served along plain steamed rice.

Dom's Teahouse Malaysian Beef Curry (Gulai Daging)

Human beings are good carriers. Not the disease I mean but of interchanging ideas. The British popularise this curry business in Europe and elsewhere since 1830's when Queen Victoria was at the Realm of Pax Britannia and W E Gladstone doing the biddings at her behest.You take the pick . I didn't particularly take to their Malligatawny soup, do you ? Nevertheless, the best curry house in the world is in London's East End . Elsewhere Curry burger with a Beer is a hit. As a matter of fact geographically speaking Malaysia and Singapore is at the crossroad of 2 ancient civilisation and these young countries just couldn't possibly escape the influence of China and India for the last thousand of years.

Curries differ from region to region in accordance to the local ingredients being called into use. Indian uses cumin tumeric and saffron. They are more likely to use potatoesThai tend to use kaffir lime leaves lemon grass and chillis. In Malaysia where coconut is abundant the milk is ever present in curry dish and sweets too come to think of it. Malaysian and Indonesian also use the dried form of shrimp paste in their curries.

Fried Rice in The Making

The boss slave himself at the helm dutifully shuffling away conjuring up yet perhaps another masterpiece.This time he is doing an Indonesian version of spicy fried rice.

Indonesian Nasi Goreng

The classic Indonesian and Malaysian fried rice. Some has a fried egg on it. But I thought I would do better by beating lots of eggs together fry them in a pancake pan individually then pile them tidyly together in a stack and slice them into long nice looking shreds before strewing them onto the rice dish. This dish is stir fry with belachan (shrimp paste) sambal oelek bajak ketchap soy sauce and other spices. Materials include shredded raw onion chicken pieces shrimps shallots and fresh bean sprouts.

We do consider ourselves very lucky to have a strong contingent of Dutch elements in our community down at the Bay. For the Asian Teahouse with its Sambal Bajak and Sambal Oelek must have reminded them to some extent the old East Indies & Malacca when they were then former colonies of the then Dutch Netherlands. Any European bound global tourist will tell you that Nasi Goreng along with Bahmi Goreng is a popular Asian dish in Holland's restaurants today.