Din Tai Fung Taiwanese Restaurant at Bishan Junction 8, Singapore

Din Tai Fung (鼎泰丰) Taiwanese Restaurant (N1 21.039 E103 50.943) is located at Bishan Junction 8 Shopping Complex, Singapore. I love to taste their Xiaolongpao 小笼包 (Little Dumpling) since the first time I had it at Taipei 2004. Let me start with their History...

History
"The founder of DinTaiFung was Bingyi Yang, born 1927 in China’s Shanxi Province. In the summer of 1948, Bingyi Yang decided at the age of 21 to leave the KMT-CCP Civil War in China behind. He boarded the ferry “Hualien” and decided to seek his fortune in Taiwan with an uncle there. With the help of his uncle’s wife, Yang found his first job in Taiwan – as a deliveryman with “HengTaiFung”....“DinTaiFung” soon stopped selling oil entirely and became a full-fledged restaurant. This was also where the legend of how “DinTaiFung” became an international brand began." Source from Here.

We were invited by my brother in-law in one of the Sunday afternoon to take our lunch at Din Tai Fung Restaurant. I will definitely won't miss this chance because it's been more than 6 years that I never have a chance to taste the Delicious Xiaolongpao (little dumpling) again! :)

Nice and tidy Taiwanese style in the restaurant

Once we ready, my sister in-law did the order. I'm anxiously waiting for the dumplings to serve on the table...
The first dish that served on the table was the Famous Din Tai Fung Appetizer.

Appetizer

Follow by the Steamed Cold Chicken (Forgive me, I don't know what they called it in English). It was really as cold as just took out from the fridge! And...the chicken was gentle and succulent! 

Steamed Cold Chicken

One of the Din Tai Fung Signature Dish : Special Recipe Noodle.

And my Favorite!! Xiaolongpao 小笼包 (Little Dumpling) !!

Famous Xiao-long-pao 小笼包 from Din Tai Fung

Accolades
Din Tai Fung is known internationally for its xiaolongbao. Din Tai Fung was ranked as one of the world's top 10 restaurants in 1993 by The New York Times.

You gotta be careful when you bite on the dumplings, because the juices might just spill everywhere!! Haha!

We also ordered their Famous Fired Rice with Pork Chop. It was also one of the Best dish of that day! I never taste it before at Taipei, first time in Din Tai Fung of Singapore.

Signature Fried Rice with Pork Chop

Even I cannot really remember 100% of the taste of Din Tai Fung at Taipei, but I can assure that the dishes serve in this restaurant are as good as the Main shop in Taipei!
Delicious!

Rated : 4.5/5

We will definitely come back for more!!

Operation hour :-
Week day and Saturday : 11am - 10pm
Sunday : 10.30am - 10pm
Public Holiday : 10am - 10pm
Official website : http://www.dintaifung.com.tw/en/index.asp

Location map of Din Tai Fung, Singapore

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Romania/CZ -- Czech 9 Gates Festival in Bucharest

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

This year, the annual (and of late traveling)   9 Gates Festival of Czech Jewish Culture is being hosted in Bucharest, Romania.

The schedule includes:

EXHIBITIONS

Neighbors who Disappeared
The project Neighbors Who Disappeared provides young people (12-21 years old) with an opportunity to search for neighbors who "disappeared" from their neighborhood - particularly during the Second World War. Students and children in the same schools children go to today, and what were the reasons for their sudden departure.

Tribute to the Child Holocaust Victims
The second stage of the project called A Tribute to the Child Holocaust Victims addresses again young people aged 12-21 and proposes tht they work independently on the stories of people who lived with their neighbours in a harmony until WWII and who were then mostly marked, restricte, persecuted, and finally liquidated. This projct’s topic, however is in the first place the life of the children and youngsters in the same community where children-participants live today.

FILM
Short Long Journey, Czech Republic, 2009, 82 min.
Director: Martin Hanzlicek
Producers: Fedor Gal, Jarmila Polakova
„About people, not only about Jews, about the evil in us, not only about the holocaust, about the present not only about the past“
In April 1945 Vojtech Gal was murdered on the way from Sachsenhausen to Schwerin. In April 2008 his son walked the same route in an attempt to find his father’s grave and leave a testimony. He was accompanied by friends, film makers and fellow pilgrims. They did not understand everything they came across. They could not comprehend some of the people with whom they talked. But it never occurred to them even for a moment that they were travelling without aim and meaning. They give harsh personal witness of their journey, anticipating neither agreement nor tolerance.

Diamonds of the Night, Cehoslovacia, 1964, 64 min.
Director: Jan Nemec
Screenplay: Arnost Lustig
Diamonds of the Night is set in Czechoslovakia during World War II. Two Jewish youths escape from a concentration camp-bound train. Captured by local peasants on a charge of stealing bread, the boys are sentenced to a firing squad. The men prepare to execute the boys, but simply laugh as they walk away instead of executing them. The ending is ambiguous: The men either actually spared the boys, or they could be walking into the afterlife.

MUSIC
Concert Naches
The Klezmer band NACHES interprets the traditional and the not so traditional folk music of the East European Jews. The band has taken part of many important Klezmer festivals, for example Klez- Fest in the UK.

For a full schedule click HERE

Romania -- Historic synagogue in Iasi under restoration

 Photo (c) Simon Geissbuehler

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

The historic 17th century Great Synagogue in Iasi, in northern Romania, is under restoration. The Swiss historian and diplomat simon Geissbuehler (who has written widely on Jewish heritage in Romania) visited the site last week and provided the picture above. He said the synagogue is empty, and that some work has been completed on the foundations, but that workers on the site did not have a time frame for the work's completion.

The synagogue was built in 1671 and is the oldest surviving synagogue building in Romania. (Before World War II, there were more than 110 synagogus in Iasi alone.) The synagogue has simple lines and tall dome and is set in a small garden, almost totally surrounded by new buildings. Inside, a huge, elaborate Ark, surrounded by frescoes, fills one end of the hall. The former women's gallery for years housed a small exhibit on local Jewish history, organized in the 1980s.

Romania -- Jewish culture festival next week in Timisoara

Just found out about this Jewish Culture Festival, which takes place in Timisoara, Romania next week -- May 24-27.

It is co-sponsored by the local Jewish community as well as the French Cultural Institute and features the internationally known actress Maia Morgenstern (who played Mary in the controversial Mel Gibson movie "The Passion of the Christ.")

Timisoara is a beautiful city, and its Jewish community is one of the largest of Romania's communities outside Bucharest.

Permanent Jewish settlement dates from the mid-16th century, and the oldest tombstone in the  Jewish cemetery is that of a rabbi and surgeon named Azriel Asael, who died in 1636The city's three remaining synagogues include the imposing, Moorish style Citadel Synagogue, designed by the Viennese architect Carol Schuman. It was built in 1864 -- the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph attended a formal dedication ceremony in 1867 and has a monumental façade, with small side steeples and a rose window over the horseshoe-arched entry. The prolific Budapest synagogue architect Lipot Baumhorn designed the so-called Fabrik Synagogue, which was built for the Neolog community in 1899 on Coloniei street. The building was one of Baumhorn's most ornate synagogues, with fanciful domes and carving and a gorgeous interior featuring huge pipe organ beneath scalloped double arches surmounting the lavishly decorated Ark and bimah.When I last saw it, some years ago, it was abandoned and in sorry dilapidated state....

Onn Kee Bean Sprout Chicken Rice at Ipoh, Perak

Onn Kee Bean Sprout Chicken Rice (N4 35.639 E101 05.057) is located along Jalan Yau Tet Shin of Ipoh old town, the shop is just next to Lou Wong which is selling the same dishes (Bean Sprout Chicken Rice).
We had tasted the Lou Wong chicken rice, this time we wanna try his competitor - Onn Kee Bean Sprout Chicken Rice.

It was full indoor and outdoor session during we walked in...10 minutes waited for our table.

Took our order as same as we had it at Lou Wong Restaurant. The boss (who prepare the chicken) seems like not as friendly and patient as the staffs in Lou Wong Restaurant...

The Famous Bean Sprout from Onn Kee Restaurant

The chicken looks better than Lou Wong Restaurant

Not to forget the chicken feet

Actually, I don't take chicken feet, because I don't really enjoy and don't wanna waste it! So my wife had it all! :)

The Herbal Tea drink provided by the shop

Overall, Satisfied!

The Damage : MYR40.00 for 2 adults and 1 child included drinks and A pack of 'half chicken'! Hehe! Gonna taste it again later....Reasonable price.

Now, I don't know which shop to step-in (between these 2 shops) during our next visit?! Both are equally good!

Location map of Onn Kee Bean Sprout Chicken Rice at Ipoh, Perak

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Germany and Poland -- Fire (Worms) and Flood (Auschwitz)

There has been an arson attack on the historic (rebuilt) synagogue in Worms, Germany, apparently by pro-Palestinian protesters who took out their anger at Israel by attacking a synagogue that had been built in the 11th century, destroyed by the Nazis, and totally rebuilt from the rubble and reconsecrated in 1961. It forms part of  a museum complex -- including the "Rashi House" Museum -- but also is used at times for services. The great 11th century Jewish scholar Rashi studied here, and the old Jewish cemetery in Worms is the oldest suriving in Europe, aside from the Jewish catacombs in Rome.

Reports said fires were set Sunday night at eight spots around the synagogue, but the fire department acted quickly and there was no serious damage. Police were reported to have found at the scene eight copies of a letter  that read, "Until you give the Palestinians peace, we will not give you peace."

Meanwhile, severe rains and flooding in southern Poland forced the closure of the Auschwitz Museum and Memorial at the former Nazi death camp and threatened the camp's archives.

Padang Brown Lok Lok, Penang

Padang Brown Lok Lok  (N5 24.861 E100 19.003)
My last visit here was about 10 years ago! My parents like to bring me here when I was a kid...during that time, everyone at Penang just named it The Padang. And I only realised this time the area called "Padang Brown", I believe the Restaurant on Penang Hill was named from the same person 'David Brown'. (Correct me if I'm wrong)

The Padang Brown Hawker Center of Penang

We were having our lunch here after the Qing Ming Festival. I missed the Lok-lok very much, and I felt comfortable and enjoy having the lok-lok even under the hot sunny day! :)

The Lok-Lok

The empty table was fill up in a minutes! And it has everything on the table...

"Lok Lok is similar to a steamboat where fresh food is skewered on bamboo sticks and cooked in a pot of boiling water, dip into the special sauce and you are in for a great time trying 30 over different varieties. For example fresh clam, cuttlefish, fish ball, sea snail, jelly fish." Source from here.

Beside the foods, I also love the chili sauce very much! Which mixed with dark sweet sauce which I cannot find elsewhere at Johor.

The Chili and the Dark Sweet Sauce for the Lok Lok

Some photos of the Lok Lok...

Spring roll with crab meat

The Jelly Fish

Beside the Lok Lok, I also ordered the Penang Assam Laksa. And surprisingly, it was delicious! Almost the same standard as the Famous Ayer Itam Assam Laksa!

The Damage for the Penanag Padang Lok Lok : MYR55.00 included drinks for 4 adults and 1 child. My stomach was full and it last me until 10pm dinner! Haha!

Location map of the Padang Brown Lok Lok of Penang

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