Razor clams. This is perhaps one seafood I fell in love with after moving to Singapore and was first introduced to me as bamboo clams. They run about the length of my hand, shorter than a remote control, thereabouts. But like all other shellfish, when cooked properly, results in such succulent slivers of melt-in-your-mouth goodness and something truly sweet and fragrant even on its own.
For almost three years now, we’ve been eating Asian-styled bamboo clams:
Steamed with LOTS of butter, scallions and even MORE garlic.
Just the thought of it, wanting to describe it on my blog, is making my mouth water. Mmmm.
A first during our first month in Singapore was a trip to Tiong Bahru‘s famed and family-run Sin Hoi Sai restaurant, one that literally started as a hole in the wall decades ago, I was told, and operates early evening and closes before the sun rises.
Here’s another version with vermicelli at Long Beach Seafood here in East Coast Park. Mmmm….
Then last weekend, my husband and I, together with Sara and Alberto dropped in Osvaldo’s Spanish restaurant aptly named Ola Cocina Del Mar.
It was my first time to try a Western styled bamboo clam with generous layers of pancetta adding a burst of flavor with each juicy bite. It was love at first bite.
Having Spain run the Philippines for 400 years yielded Spanish-influenced dishes in our own home as well as family-run restaurants all over the city, something I took for granted back in Manila.
It’s been a frustrating three years since we moved here, trying to find that authentic particular taste I’ve been accustomed to. After discovering Ola Cocina Del Mar, finally, our search for some true Spanish flavours can be put to rest.
Cherie Altea Bitanga finds herself constantly making food, talking about food and around people who know food. Her daily adventures go beyond her own kitchen in Singapore, spanning from the nondescript holes-in-the-wall to sumptuous dining adventures. She believes in the art of slow food and scours places in hopes of bringing home unique spices, salts and oils. She is also the occasional artist and food writer who learned how to cook early in life by inheriting culinary family traditions from her motherland: the Philippines.
For over a decade, this blogger’s career as an ESL instructor provided a multicultural atmosphere working with diplomats, celebrities, nuns, priests, politicians as well as high school and college students from all over the world. When she grows up, she hopes to cook for a living to celebrate her family’s culinary legacy.
