Dinner at home

Uncle Sims curry chicken

This hot claypot is pretty good stuff coming from the curry store (Whampoa Drive Blk 90, #01-66) which is just a few units away from the cooked food store of the same name. I was just a little bit concerned when it arrived at the table bubbling at the surface with some exuberance. Fortunately, there wasn't any accidents involving burstings of hot fluid. What I personally liked about this curry apart from the curry itself was the chicken wings which were cooked to the point that you could easily remove the meat from the bones, making them relatively easy to manage with the utensils.

This curry had a good amount of coconut in it for a rich flavor and a decent amount of spice. Granted that this wasn't the thickest of curries that I've had, it was good enough in flavor and the creaminess came across in taste rather than the viscosity. I'm sure you can imagine what it would be like to slather this over a plate of steaming rice on a cool day. Which is why there is also an accompanying plate of them with a token of greens for a balanced diet. Lol. And a piece minced meat laden steamed egg with bits of century egg in it as well.

Steeple's Deli, Tanglin Shopping Centre

Apart from exuding the old school charm of a deli, I didn't really think much of the sandwiches offered by this place (19 Tanglin Road, #02-25 Tanglin Shopping Centre, tel: 6737 0701) that's suppose to be the very first deli that is in business in this country. I mean, I certainly wouldn't mind eating here now and then if I live or work in the vicinity, but any further incurred effort to visit really doesn't justify with all things considered. And I haven't begun yet with the grumpy lady proprietor that looked like she had a perpetual scowl on or the two Chinese guys in the kitchen that looked like they were interested in putting the other of out of their miseries. These two guys really gave me the impression that making sandwiches were a just job for them and it really looked like they probably have never eaten what they've made before.

The deli had actually run out of pastrami and corned beef was used as substitute for the Reuben sandwich. A stringy corned beef it was with portions that looked like it could do well with a lot more generosity. It was just strange that the sandwich maker actually took pinches of the meat and placed them on a weighing scale to determine that tiny amount he wanted to put into the sandwich. The bed of sauerkraut looked as yellowed and stale in color as the lettuce on the side that I almost forgot that this was actually sauerkraut. It appeared dessicated like old shredded cabbage and wasn't good. There was just about enough of the thinly sliced cheese to cover the beef and that was it.

The portions here aren't what one would consider large. The steak sandwich did come with a decent sized piece of meat, but it didn't come close to satisfying at all. I must comment at my disappointment at the lack of beefiness from the marinated meat which tasted mostly of salt and basil and seriously, onions don't cost so much. The most enjoyable thing was probably the chocolate peanut butter shake which could do with a bit more viscosity.

Butterhead in a juice

I came upon this in Marketplace at Raffles City and was quite intrigued by it since lettuce wasn't something you normally found in juices. To quell my curiosity, I bought it for a go at this interesting drink. The first scent that hits you was a rather overpowering "green" smell of the lettuce. I remember crinkled noses. After taking my first few gulps of the thick greenish fluid, I found that this wasn't too bad at all. The lime flavor was predominant followed by a very recognizeable lettuce taste to the juice. Couldn't detect the kiwi at all. But on the whole, it really was quite an invigorating taste. The down side was that, it wasn't really thirst quenching.

The BBC pork chop rice

It's been about 10 years since I was first introduced by a friend to this particular store which was then located in an air conditioned coffeeshop just beside Allson Hotel. Since then, it's moved to the food court in Shaw Leisure Gallery and now currently resides in another food court at Bras Brasah Complex (Coffee Express 2000 Food Court). As far as consistency goes, nothing much has changed since the first time I've had these pork chops which are fried on order. Which is incidentily one of the things that make them good. No cooled grease nor soggy batter on the pieces of meat. It's all fried as you get them and as far as fried ones go without getting into leagues of tonkatsu, these are juicy as well.

They're $3.30 a plate and if my memory serves me, it's been going at that price for a very long time too. There's nothing very fancy to it. A very decent piece pork chop with rice, some cooked (probably frozen packaged) corn/carrot/peas and salted vegetables. The eggs cost extra if you want them and they're actually pretty good for hard boiled eggs. You can notice that the color of the brown sauce seeped into the egg whites from all the simmering and the egg is flavored rather than just colored brown from the sauce. I like to mix the vegetables and the rice together with the chilli, makes the whole deal rather appetizing.

Botak Jones, Yishun

It seems that our popular local western food chain Botak Jones has yet opened another outlet (Blk 732, Yishun Ave 5) recently so I thought I'd drop by and grab a bite for a very late lunch so as to avoid the crowd that tends to form. Picked up a gammon ham and cheese sandwich with a side of jalapeños which turned out to be a pretty good idea as the pickled chilli worked up its little spicy kick on the flat salty ham and cheese. It also seems that the sandwiches now make use of some chewy ciabattas that are similar to the chewy muffins from McDonalds instead of regular sliced bread. Hmmmm......Does anyone else do a ham sandwich like this? The heartiness of it won me over more than anything else actually. I also decided to try a small serving of their whoppass chili con carne to see what it's about. Apparently, it's like a spicy ground beef bolognese which came with whole jalapeños inside. This stuff is not too bad as a stew I would say.

added 27/07/2008

Encouraged by the previous visit above, I dropped by for another late lunch. This time it was for the chili dawg.

The dog turned out to be quite large and slathered with a generous portion of the chili con carne and chopped onions.I guess this was pretty good, but it's not something that you could really eat with your hands considering all the mess from the sauce and that you'd probably need to have a rather large mouth to fit the dog and the buns in for a satisfying bite. Probably one of the better ones I've had locally, but then again, it would have been nice if I could eat this with my hands.

Curry chicken at Killiney Kopitiam

I've never really known about the curry chicken here (67 Killiney Road) until quite recently. I had the distinct impression that the claim to their so called fame is by the kaya toast and coffee but lo and behold, this stuff is actually pretty good. There's enough spice and coconut in the thick gravy to make me happy and curry like that makes me want to eat a lot of rice. At the end of one these, one would have to battle the z monster though.

Freshly Baked by Le Bijoux, Killiney Road

Beware for you gaze upon death by chocolate salty balls. Lol! I'm kidding, but this is actually quite a delicious salted caramel chocolate mousse tart from Freshly Baked (57 Killiney Road, #01-01, tel: 6735 3298) . I liked the fact that the light chocolate mouse wasn't excessively sweet and that the lightly salted caramel compliments the tart with a swab of savory sweetness that is accented by the cocoa powder. It was still creamy rich on the whole....and made crunchy by those chocolate balls. Quite a few sensations triggered by a tart eh?

We decided on a piece of brownie which didn't look promising at all from first glance. Once in a while, it's a good idea to go against the grains of your instincts in the spirit of adventure because you just might find something good that didn't look apparently so. This was definitely not one of those times. I didn't like the brownie. It lacked the fudge factor. There wasn't enough chocolate in it too. It didn't even have enough chocolate to match many other regular chocolate cakes. What in the world is it doing there as a brownie, I certainly don't know.

Burgers from Dubliners

Well, here's a burger from the Irish watering hole Dubliner (165 Penang Road, #01-00 Winsland Conservation House, tel: 6735 2220) and it pretty much looks like another of the other burgers that they serve here. The main differences are the cheeses and whether if there's bacon or not. I'd say that the burgers here are pretty decent with a nice firm patty that isn't too crumbly. Decent if not spectacular. The main gripe was that it could've been a little bigger since the patty was noticeably smaller than the regular sized bun. This was in no way a match for the one at Molly Malone's which had better toasted buns and a heartier patty to boot.

The pleasant surprise here was actually the salad. It's a mix of romaine lettuces, rocket, diced tomatoes and bits of onions tossed with some mayo like dressing. What's good is that this guys really tossed the salad instead of giving you your token dressing drizzled over the top. So the dress coats the greens nicely and the raw onions added a much appreciated layer of flavors. A sharp pungent aroma not over the top. So despite its relatively simple appearances, this salad is actually pretty good.

I had a blue cheese burger and as I've mentioned, was pretty decent but lacked a certain satisfaction in volume. I recall something similar which I prefer. Also, crinkle cut fries aren't really my thing.

Riverside Indonesian grilled chicken rice

The compelling factor of this Riverside Indonesian BBQ store (68 Orchard Road, Level 6 Kopitiam Food Court, Plaza Singapura) Plaza Singapura is the coconut laden curry which makes the rice simply irresistible. That and the convenience of the location despite their ever present queue. So I'm back here again and this time round, I decided to try the chicken option which includes a grilled thigh. In truth, the chicken is probably cooked somewhere else already and just brought out from behind the kitchen to be grilled just for a little bit before being served. The result is a soft and totally unremarkable skin that isn't even crispy in the slightest. Oh well, the curry and slice of omelete is pretty good still.

Sin Sian Yuen Roasted, Chong Pang

Wow, this roasted duck store (Swee Sian Yuen Eating House) at Chong Pang wasn't bad at all. With these portions for four persons inclusive of rice, it costed about $20 which I thought was pretty reasonable for a coffeeshop store. It would have been great if they deboned the duck, but I'm certainly not complaining here.

I'm talking about tender lean slices of meat with just that little bit of fat underneath the layer of crisp skin. An accompanying order of roasted pork was also pretty good as well with their crispy crackling. And the rice was the soft type which I liked even without any accompanying gravy. I guess this store would be one for returns along with the recent place at Circular Sumptuous Square.

Porn Croque Madame

I actually dropped by the new Canelé outlet (1 Scotts Road, #01-01A Shaw Centre, tel: 6738 9020) for some coffee. I remember saying that a good place to come for a cuppa would be La Strada, but now I've found somewhere that serves the same brew for a dollar less. Then the croque madame on the menu beckoned. I gave in. It was actually not bad. The portions of this was larger than I had expected. Since this stuff is basically cheese and ham and eggs on toast, there isn't anything much that I can say to describe it apart from the fact that I quite liked this in its heart clogging goodness. Since a picture paints a thousand words, more pictures for your ogling pleasure....

Dim sum at Shang Palace

Headed down for some morning dim sum at Shang Palace (22 Orange Grove Road, Lobby Level Shangri-la Hotel, Tel: 6213 4473) after hearing about the early bird discount of 30% for the early seatings. I suppose that I had expected more of them since they were a restaurant located in Shangri-la Hotel, but I left without being impressed. Honestly, it wasn't bad at all. I was just hoping that it might have been something noteworthy. Apart from the pretty delectable custard and salted yolk bun which tends to burst and spill their scalding contents if you took a bit too big of a bite, I couldn't really say much about the food.

Here're most of the stuff that we had...

J.Co Donuts

These donuts are so incredibly soft and light, I could actually down three of them as snacks quite easily. I guess that's the dangerous things about them since they felt almost like nothing after you ate them and true enough as they say it, one is never enough. I've got to say that they tasted better than I had expected. I suppose one of the winning factors that makes the regular glazed one a winner is that it wasn't excessively sweet like Krispy Kreme. So, despite being a fan of the old school grease and sugar coated rings, I thought that these new generation lightweights stood up quite well for themselves in my books. Sure wouldn't mind getting more of them from time to time.

Miso ramen from Santouka

This ramen with miso based broth from Ramen Santouka while palatable wasn't very memorable at all. The flavor wasn't as full as I thought and I very much prefer the shoyu broth which I can quite safely say now is one that I like best after having tried the shio version the last time round. This set which I got comes with some bits of charshu on rice and scallions and the nice surprise from that regular sounding bowl of rice is the sprinkle of toasted sesame that upped things on the fragrance factor. The soft and thinly sliced pork cheeks are still as good as I remember them from the last visit.