Small Potatoes Make The Steak Look Bigger

Quite apparent from the location of this stall (31 Tai Thong Crescent, tel : 6281 9293) along with the dexterity and speed of the man behind it whipping up a small frenzy - catering to a full house of crowd, this joint is a veteran amongst several that serves prawn and pork rib noodles and have been doing so for a long time. Hell, they work almost every day of the year and apparently only take a day off only once a month. I've been hearing some good things about them and decided to come down to try their noodles which are supposedly one of the best.

On hindsight, I would venture that the main draw of Hoe Nam would be the slightly peppery prawn and rib based soup which was good, but decidedly not something that registered as the most satisfactory experience for me. No discredit to the folks that have been running this place for ever here. It simply wasn't mind blowing in the department of flavor. Nor were the noodle definitive in any manner that made them truly outstanding since it was mostly flavored by the chilli and fried shallots. And have I mentioned that the abalone clams tastes like where it came from? Canned?

I could see how having pork intestines would be a very attractive option (for me) since these don't seem to the the regular choice of add on for noodles. The permutations of what one could desire on their noodles based on the available choices is quite staggering in fact. From my option of clam, rib and intestines, the last was enjoyable and the pork ribs were rather decent if no exceptional. In fact, they were meatier than Ah Hui's ribs, of which the latter store still felt to be a more satisfactory option for a prawn and rib noodle with all things considered. Even though I had deliberately not opted for prawns in a prawn noodle place this time.

What I thought was rather good were the plain old fried fish cakes that were sold on the side. These and the intestines could just be what that could make me consider a re-visit. If I could ever convince myself to face the mad crowd again.

Finally got to drop by at Pho Lan (44A Prinsep Street, Prinsep Place, tel : 6835 9441) after wondering about them for a while now. Legend claims, from the sayings of this place at least, that the word 'pho' could have been a French derivative of pot-au-feu which roughly translates into "simmering pot in a stove or fire."

To be honest, I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I was thinking that it could have been better for their pho which to my disappointment, wasn't served with a broth that was hot enough resulting in a rather raw flavor for the bean sprouts. Still, those guys were rather obliging in heating the soup noodles up (in a pot, not microwave mind you) which then resulted in the thinly sliced beef being a little too cooked for my liking. There was also a noticeable flavor of cinnamon in the broth which I wasn't expecting. I've to say that this was quite a light tasty pho on the whole, and while at that, it certainly also didn't match Pho24 in terms of the beefy flavor nor portions of both the rice noodles and beef which I thought was rather skimpy.


There was a chao tom (shrimp paste on sugar cane) on the side which tasted quite shrimpy. It reminded me of something that I had at the Prima revolving restaurant back when I was a kid where they had some shrimp or crab based ball that had a stick of sugar cane stuck in them. This one here just didn't taste as sweet.

I should give the pho at Madam Saigon a try.

This Hainanese beef noodle store (Blk 22 Lor 7 Toa Payoh Lor 7, #01-06) which has its small share of media accolades pasted on the front unfortunately proved to be very unremarkable. Presumably, it's suppose to be one of the better beef noodle places, but I was hard pressed to distinct it from a generic one from food courts apart from the salted vegetables and a different chilli. Right down to that starchy gravy and mass produced beef balls. The tendons were very tender and the accompanying soup was a little sweetish, but I'll definitely not go out of my way for this stuff. The little bit of positive shine for today would be that, I've discovered that Benny that used to operate out of Maxwell has shifted to the coffeeshop just a block away (Blk 18?) from this hawker centre.

This sinjiro ramen from Menya Shinchan wasn't the towering bowl as I recalled from the last visit from a neighbour's seat, but I've got to say that it was still huge and filling the same. I'm not sure if this is a one off incident or that perhaps, after numerous feedbacks about the portions, those guys have finally decided to reduce the mountain of boiled cabbages. Speaking of which, I thought was quite enjoyable as they tasted crunchily fresh with that drizzle of soy sauce over the top. There was also a large amount of bean sprouts underneath the soup with all the ramen. I must admit that the accompanying chopped garlic on the side and the ground pepper did help to keep things going.


The spicy mazesoba was expectedly very similar to the non-spicy version that I had previously. Duh, I guess it was pretty obvious what the main difference was. The pile up in the bowl looked like it matched the size of the sinjiro so I guess this is pretty large a portion too. Somehow, in the midst of that spicy nutty gravy, I got reminded of ba chor mee and I guess this could be loosely construed as a Japanese equivalent of that. Using ramen. With a slice of cheese.

Ultimately, I think what draws me in Menya Shinchan is the option of "hard noodles" which makes them more al dente than usual of ramen and that there is a variety of combinations to the broth which seems to exceed that of most other ramen joints. And this is one of those uncommon occasions that I actually forgot to ask for the aji tama. Grrrr....

Did an unexpected take out from this rather unique looking pizza establishment (Pizza da Donato, 8 Sixth Avenue, tel : 6219 7562) down at the Bt Timah side of 6th Ave which I had just realised that some one had recommended quite a while ago. There's a actually a bunch of other stuff like lasagna, sausages, calzones and desserts available here apart from the shiny pizzas that are on display.

The crust on the pizzas of Donato wasn't of the really thin variety as Italian pizzas usually go by, but it definitely wasn't overwhelming and turned out to be not bad on the whole. Special mentions goes to that four cheese pizza which was generous with that pungent gorgonzola and probably had more than twice that blue cheese in each slice of than the whole of one back at Mama Lucia. There was some pizza sandwich like thing filled half with ham and cheese and the other half with wilted spinach. The latter stuffings was pretty good.

I can definitely consider this place again when I next have a pizza craving and there seems to be quite a variety of toppings which I could interest myself in.

I wished I had discovered this place earlier. This roast meat stall (Jin Xing Hong Kong Cantonese Roasted Meat, Blk 214 Serangoon Ave 4, #01-88) was definitely an excellent find. What was unexpected was that this coffee shop is also precisely where the Botak Jones at Serangoon is located and for the first time, the Botaks did not seem to be holding the monopoly of the business at the food place. Jin Xing's store it seems, is a place where you can get your tender roasted meats cut in hearty chunks and pretty generous portions which seemed to be the case for both the roast pork and duck. The availability of those honey glazed roasted ribs as well was a definite bonus for me.

The only thing that could have been improved on was the rice which I thought was a little grainy and the chilli which wasn't really spicy, but honestly, I'm willing to overlook one small thing over the rest of the offerings from the store. I'm definitely returning again at some point.

I've eaten these bean curd from this particular store (2 Short Street) quite a few times and have always thought them to be pretty good, but without the wow factor that many people seem to be crediting them for. This would be however, the first time that I'm getting the fried dough fritters with them and I've just realized why there was a need to have so much of that syrup in the bowls of bean curd which I had always thought was overly excessive because it was all too sweet. Yes, it's great for dipping those fritters, to soak up those greasy strips of fried flour which makes them good in a mix of savory sweet manner. This really makes me give a second take on having bean curds here and a feeling within tells me I'll return sometime soon for more.

Now, this bento styled serving from Imperial Bak Kut Teh (90 Circular Road) was certainly quite the unique thing, if not gimmicky in appearance. On the other hand, the bento boxes does serve to actually portion the sides that come with their meal sets. These guys apparently used to do delivery of their food and offer discounts for NTU students, but it seems that the delivery options are no longer available now. The rendition of the soup here contains a noticeable touch of herbal sweetness and a generous amount of pepper. There wasn't so much of the garlic flavor and in the end, it was quite acceptable, if not the preferred type that I like. The cost of one of these bento based sets was rather affordable and comes with what you see (salted vegetables, tau pok, tau kee and some cut up chewy dough fritters) and a bowl of the pork ribs with soup which is refillable.

I must say that the tender meat on the ribs were cooked well to the point where they slid of the bone quite easily though I would have preferred the size of them to be much bigger. The tau kee (dried bean curd sheets) was great in that dark sauce.

Unfortunately, they didn't seem to have the large boned prime rib that I like and were also out of those braised intestines which looked like they could have been pretty good as well.

This is just a random bun from the stopover on the coach to KL. It was just a mayo slathered thing with some spicy dried shrimps on top. The weird thing about those dried shrimps was that they tasted hollow. It was as if, those shrimps were just shells and I had a feeling like I was biting into something akin to cockroaches. It sure felt a little unnerving.

Dropping by at Zang Toi West 57th St. Cafe (LGF 032, Lower GF Bukit Bintang Plaza (BB Plaza), tel : (603) 21485563) in Sungei Wang, we saw their signature banana chocolate cake on display and decided to give it a go. The soft dark brown cake came in a pretty generous portion with pieces of banana in between the layers and then drizzled over with some chocolate sauce. Upon tasting, I realised that more of the chocolate flavor came from the sauce rather than the actual cake. It was heated up before serving and turned out pretty good with that scalding hot soft bananas. There was also a drink that was a float in a mixture of ginger tonic and blended green mango juice that was quite refreshing as well. Against the common grain of drinks that are usually served, this wasn't excessively sweet and actually did something for thirst. Something that I should bear in mind the next time I want get a drink down in that mall.

Here's a pecan topped cinnamon roll from Cinnabon down at Plaza Low Yat (B.G1, GF Low Yat Plaza, Bukit Bintang, tel : (603) 21483651) . Apparently, it's another one of those internationally franchised cinnamon roll places. These cinnamon roll joints back home seemed to have disappeared since the days of Saint Cinnamon (does anyone recall them?) which I thought was pretty good when you ate them fresh. These ones were pretty similar to those which came in a variety of toppings. Though it was quite strange that the cheese version came with powdered Parmesan cheese. It still tasted slightly lukewarm and not too stiff so this one came from a batch that was probably done in the morning. The pecans were still crunchy as well.

And this would be a strawberry lamington from Starbucks down at the front of Berjaya Times Square while I was actually trying to get my double grande mocha. What piqued my curiosity was the big shreds of coconut that coated the cake instead of the usual thin dessicated bits. Well, it was just a regular cake as I had expected with some weak strawberry jam in the middle, but the coconut was really what mattered to me and redeemed the lamington by itself.

I dropped by for a cuppa down at Plaza Low Yat (Lot LG-31, LG-32, Lower Ground, Plaza Low Yat, 55100 Kuala Lumpur, tel : 03-2143 1722) and realised that this white coffee wasn't too impressive at all. I had asked for the "kao" option which was thicker than the usual brew and while it did taste thicker than the regular coffee, it wasn't really fragrant at all. In fact, the thick option from Yat Kun was probably better than this one. I guess this branding is another one of those chain store gimmicks that is trying to build something out of nothing much.

I'm not truly big on fast food (not those I've had anyway), and in fact, I avoid them quite often unless I get a craving or when alternative options are worse. But I guess there are some times, when I do go out and look for certain things, especially when I'm out of the country. If you're still guessing, here's a 2 piece original chicken from KFC and a Coney Dog from A&W. I'm sure you might be able to surmise that since there isn't A&W back home anymore, and that the Coney Dog had been some kind of old favourite when I was younger, nostalgia demands the duty of a serving.

The original chicken here do not taste as oil soaked and are in fact, larger pieces than the shrivelled and overfried looking ones back home. The skin seems to be crispier and we had a takeaway which stood up pretty well after a few hours when I ate them on the coach back home. The slogan from old man Sanders had always been 11 secret herbs and spices in their birds. The 12th "secret" it seems, is that KFC in Malaysia uses fresh chicken. Not frozen nor chilled, and hence the difference in taste of the meat. I found them to be pretty enjoyable and got carried away into one of those moments when I decided to get my fingers "lickin good" dirty.

I recall the declining years of A&W back home. The dogs were sloppy. There wasn't an effort to heat up the buns, and the gravy over the top was almost watery and there were barely any onions. They were honestly, quite pathetic. Now my memory gets a new lease for recollection by this one which had all the things that wasn't there in the last of the Coney Dog days. Surprisingly firm and meaty was the mass produced sausage with a decent sauce and onions wedged in a heated hot dog bun. The floats was also something for the sake of memories since it really isn't anything about them apart from a foolish attempt on my part to resurrect some fragments of childhood. Hell, I don't even like floats these days.

Here's some of the stuff we had for dinner at Restoran Sai Woo down somewhere in the middle of Jln Alor. I've eaten here a couple of times in some of my previous trips down into KL when I stayed in one of the small hotels along Bt Bintang. This particular place is quite popular for their barbequed seafood amidst the stretch of roadside hawkers and has always been crowded as far as I've encountered.


One of the draws for me here is the oyster omelete which is done in a style that is quite different from how it is back home. The omelete and flour is basically spread thin over the pan fry and turns up like some sort of crispy crepe with egg, topped with chopped garlic. The oysters, which do not have any overwhelming taste (quite fresh from every single time I ordered them) and then placed separately on top. I chanced upon them some years back and have eaten them a few times. But I actually don't know if it's just this stall or if all the other ones in Malaysia or at least KL do in a similar manner.


In my previous trips, I've tried their stir fried beef kailan, seafood porridge and frog porridge. This time round, it was just this grilled stingray and some satay from a stall nearby. The satay was quite ordinary. I didn't feel that the peanut gravy was viscous enough though. Again, it's a comparison from what I've had in various bbq seafood outlets back home for the grilled stingray where the chilli is spread across the ray and grilled where this one, just grills the fish plain (with salt) and provides the chilli on the side. The difference in serving style gives you the option to eat it unspiced which was actually pretty good on its own where you could actually taste the meat unsullied by too much condiments. Not to mention that the seafood here is quite fresh as well. There was also a takeaway squid which we were given the impression that it would be grilled, but found out that it was merely stir fried.

Prices here seems to have gone up. I remember them being much cheaper.

I've definitely been looking forward to re-visiting Nando's and this trip certainly was planned from the onset that we would have their chickens at least once. So here we were down at the outlet at Sungei Wang (Sg. Wang Lot C 026, Sungei Wang Plaza, Jln Sultan Ismail, 50250 K.L., tel : 03- 2148 5555) where all the held back anticipation was set loose on the fiery Peri Peri butterflied chicken plates.


Looking back, I should have gone for the lip numbing extra hot option, but it wasn't lost altogether since the peri peri sauces were always available for anyone who needed the extra sourish spicy kick. I thought that the chicken could do with a little bit more char grill to get that aroma out on the meat though. Chicken was followed by the chicken liver with that roll which came out crispy warm on the outside, soft on the inside. Needless to say, it made a good dipping platform for all the extra hot spicy gravy which the grilled livers were slathered in.

I don't have the actual address of this 24 hour place behind some police headquarters even after doing a bit of searching on the internet, but if you know of this area, it's definitely worth the effort to take a walk down to the end of Jalan Galloway (Kuala Lumpur City 50150), a lane located just beside Swiss Garden Hotel. This is a singular road side stall that serves pretty good and freshly prepared roti canai (known as roti prata as well), ayam goreng and teh tarik amongst other things. I think I did see a little painted sign in the stall which says Cafe Safari. Ignore the tacky name.


What was enjoyable about the non-excessively greasy roti canai (the counterparts of roti plaster and roti pisang as well) is that it wasn't as heavy down in the stomach as those back home. The roti pisang featured cooked sliced bananas within which was piping hot and ready to disintegrate in your mouth. This was also my first time having a banana based prata with chicken curry and dahl and I must say that it was pretty good. After having a a couple of these washed down with the very decent teh tarik, I felt that I was ready for more. For 4 of those rotis and a two teas, it was just RM$7. And a good tea (RM$1) that they brewed and pulled where the art of it seems to have eluded many an Indian store back at home featuring watered down concoctions. We liked it enough that we came back for more in the following morning to do a takeaway of a generous portion of breakfast which included apart from the mentioned rotis, thosai and fried chicken. Of course, washed down with that teh tarik.

The original intention was to have dinner at this Lebanese place, Tarbush (No. LG 16, Starhill Gallery, Jln Bukit Bintang, 55100 Kuala Lumpur, tel : (603) 2144 6393) and ordering from the regular menu. But as it was at this time in the fasting period for the Muslims, the only option that was available for dinner was buffet styled.

The spread in the buffet included the usual array of dips with flatbread, tabouleh , rice & pasta, meat pastries and various meats. The food was not surprisingly, quite good despite the fact that the non meat items were quite heavy on the lemon. The braised lamb shoulders were tender and the tandoori chicken was a tad burnt. The funny thing initially about the dips was that the hummus was so creamy and tasted so much of sesame that it was almost a tahini. Later on, I realised that it was indeed a mix and that it was something that they had on menu. The baba ghanoush had texture like the hummus. And a stewed cauliflower dish contained mostly ground mutton. Meat options pretty much ruled the table. And from the dessert section, there was a really good rose scented creamy milk pudding (mahalabia?) which I couldn't get enough of despite being quite stuffed.

The variety of the spread wasn't very extensive, but they were mostly quite good. It seems that there's a practice of quality over quantity here. The only reason that makes it difficult for a return is that there's quite a variety of middle eastern places to be found in the KL city and one could be spoilt for choice.

This was actually quite a random pick out of the few stores that were operating in the middle of the day at Jalan Alor (close to the intersection from Bukit Bintang) after we had hit KL in the afternoon. It turned out to be not too bad and could've been better if the weather wasn't so blazing hot. I hadn't any idea what their spicy pork noodles could be like and the first glance reminded me of a very reddish tom yam. In the end, it was simply a bowl of soup noodles with sliced pork and pig liver and probably very generous portions of chilli powder. Was there anything about it that was worth mentioning? Well, I guess I could say that the spicy soup still tasted of the pork that seemed to be cooked in them and that the noodles didn't have the usual yellow noodle flavor that I dislike. It was otherwise, as it seems.

This is one of those really nice Chinese vegetarian bee hoon down at Chen Yi Vegetarian in Holland Drive Food Centre (44 Holland Drive, #02-26, Holland Drive Food Centre, S120044) which I discovered some years ago. Quite a bit of the items on the bee hoon are made in short order, noteably the crispy mock duck made of dried bean curd sheets which was hot and crispy. The cabbages was soft and not soggy. I wonder if the store has ever adjusted for inflation and the increasing cost of food ingredients in the recent times. For $2, it certainly made a cheap and tasty breakfast.

Now Mamma Lucia's Italian joint (11 Unity Street, #01-07 Robertson Walk, tel: 6738 0242), just next door from their churrascaria place turned out to be quite disappointing a visit. I've been wondering about the place for quite a bit and the food always looks to be pretty decent on someone else's table. Until today, I had the impression that they wouldn't be too bad since the places that truly are mediocre gets weeded out by the nearby competition and there are quite a few Italian joints in the vicinity of Robertson Quay. I guess there could be just a good reason why the prices here are kept that low. Frills are almost non existent. Not even a cloth napkin. No more of their walnut sauces. And the dips tastes canned.


I was wondering what I'd get for a $15 prosciutto e melon and laid the expectations low for them. It did turn out acceptable and the melon was rather fragrant even though I thought that it could have been ripened further. This was a little too crunchy for my likings. And the fronds of rocket at the top simply looked like they couldn't care less.


Very unfortunately for their gnocchi alla gamberetti, and/or possibly for myself, I just had to compare them with what Porta Porta does for a prawn cream sauce. This one was rich in tomato, a little too tangy and had too little flavor of the crustacean if any. The prawns in the gnocchi tasted exactly like those that were used in the sister outlet next door, which meant that they were a tad overcooked. The good news to this is, I know which place does a better prawn cream pasta for sure and it ain't here.


To plunge further downhill, the pizza Gorgonzola e rucola arrived initially without the rockets. I cannot imagine how an overlook like that could occur considering that this wasn't too complicated a deal. And when informed about the situation, the pizza was brought back with that you see. Seems a little haphazard in arrangement and made it a tad difficult to eat with all leaves and stalks. I was also very disappointed at how pathetically little, the quantity of Gorgonzola cheese there was on the pizza. With burnt crust edges and a soggy base that wasn't really thin, this was truly a lack of effort.

I doubt I'll ever return.

This is known as a baseball soto coming from a store by the name of Noor Muslim Food down at Tanjong Pagar Railway (30 Keppel Road, S089059). I was quite intrigued by the name on the menu and guessed that it might have to do with the large begedil (potato ball) that's on display at the front of the shop. Turns out that the dish is indeed those big begedil that has the insides stuffed with minced mutton. An order of it comes in a bowl ladled over with that soto broth and some chilli and fried shallots. And those green herbs that I've forgotten to tell them to omit. The egg covered fried potato ball disintegrated quite easily after being cut open, becoming mashy in the broth like some kind of of porridge. It was pretty good though, being spicy and all, but I think it triggered the MSG alarm.


Over at the other end of the same canteen, we ordered a serving of chicken briyani from a store call Ali Nachia Dam Briyani. In all honesty, when one orders briyani from a supposedly dum briyani store, one expects dum briyani. Makes a whole lot of sense doesn't it? I wasn't expecting them to pick out a piece of fried chicken from a metal pot to plop it over the top of the rice and then ladle some of the gravy over. I really can't complain about the taste of the rice and fried chicken, but what passed off as raita and achar on the sides was a very watered down version of what I expected. Curry was passable.

This certainly wasn't really what I had in mind at the start so do watch out there if you do order from this store. You might actually have to specifiy the type of briyani you want if you're looking for the dum version.

This was seriously an unplanned visit which also happened to be the result of trying to search for some place to quell a calamari craving. In the end somehow, a pasta turned up and a dessert too. Lol. Not that I'm complaining here, but so far, I have to admit to liking Da Mario and having it filed aside as a place for less expensive but still hearty Italian food.

That being said, the calamari was pretty good. Light on the crispy batter, mildly salted and I didn't even think that the tatare sauce was necessary. I had the unique experience this evening of having a large squirt of lemon juice heading straight for my eyes (seriously, it couldn't have been better positioned) while trying to squeeze that wedge over the fried seafood. I thought it felt like a scripted funny moment in Mr Bean with canned laughter, except that I certainly had not planned (nor ever will) to have lemon juice in my eyes.

There was a spaghetti al tartufo nero which I missed back at the first visit because they were out of truffles. Portions were heartily generous for both the pasta and the shaven black truffles in a light Gorgonzola sauce that wasn't too saltish. I think we had one that was perceptibly past al dente tonight. Having the notion that the truffle might be overwhelmed by the sauce I was wondering how the flavors would turn out, but as it was, both flavors contended amicably if you catch my drift. So while I wouldn't have minded a stronger Gorgonzola there, it could have well taken out the flavor from the fungus if it had been so.

Last visit, we had to leave out the zuccotto della cassa because there was simply no more room. In retrospect, we didn't really miss anything great. This was merely some pistachio and almond based semifreddo in a dense chocolate cake shell. The frozen cream centre did taste more of the almond than the pistachio and the cake was just unremarkable. Now I know I can safely discount the desserts here and just shoot straight for the food.

This must be the first time that something like these have turned up at Isetan since it's been mostly Japanese and Korean fairs that have made their presence felt in this little corner of the departmental store. Truth be told, after numerous visits, it has started to become a tad boring with the usual stuff in circulation that eventually looks to be a recycled event. Let's hope that this marks the beginning of more of such small food fairs from elsewhere apart from the usual suspects and this Spanish one (9th - 18th Sept), although tiny was probably a good start.


The main draw of the fair for me was probably the Spanish hams which are the counterparts to the prosciutto de Parma of the Italians. I managed to sample some bits along with a couple of variety of chorizos. I don't know if it was really any sweeter but I could taste that there was more depth in the aroma of the sliced jamon which was as mentioned, sliced thicker than the usual encountered for parma ham. I could certainly imagine, if this one being the lowest grades of the major jamon to be considered amongst the artisan Spanish hams, the jamon iberico could probably be something very noteworthy on the palate. Unfortunately, I haven't had the opportunity to try them and they don't seem to be available in this fair.

There was a also a variety of cheeses, largely from sheep and inclusive of a blue variety (Valdeón) to be had along with an an assortment of wines, preserved produce, date cake and pastas. I didn't manage to get them all on photo, so there's a little more to see if you head down yourself. Today also marks the first day of their ham slicing demonstration which ends in 3 more days.


Now it wouldn't be proper or characteristic of me at all to just view and just simply walk away without getting anything especially when it's something that new, so here's a borcadillo (baguette) with that jamon serrano and some freshly fried churros with a chocolate dip. Frankly speaking, it was a nice sandwich on heated bread with butter and their Tomaca sauce and all, but there's really nothing majorly exciting over it. I would presume that such a ham would be better savored on its own with little to detract from the natural flavors. Fresh churros are also, nice since there is probably none of them around outside of restaurants. It seems that Alegra, a Spanish restaurant down at Clarke Quay are part of the team that's doing this little fair as they are the counter that's selling all the "street food".

Edit 10.33pm
I've been informed that these fairs do rotate quite a bit, so I've probably never had the chance to see them happen.

After having these fried oysters with rice for a couple of times already down at Romantic Kobe (177 River Valley Road, #B1-50 Liang Court Shopping Centre, tel: 6333 0630) , I'm glad to say that it's been good and it looks that they could be keeping some consistent standards here. At least I hope that to be the case. This place was certainly leagues ahead of that defunct outlet at United Square. The main draw for the kaki fried curry were the oysters themselves rather than the curry which was quite ordinary of the usual sweetish Japanese types. While it made the rice much more appetising, the latter tasted quite similarly from other various places. The oysters were just big, fat and juicy and tasted fairly fresh (as they can get here). Really, there is nothing much more I can say.

There's always been some sort of crowd whenever I happen by the vicinity of North Bridge Road just across the street from Bugis Junction at the turn of Liang Seah and I thought that the ba chor mee looked pretty good. As it turns out, this was a rather decent but regular bowl of a local favorite. The options here were pretty simple. There seems to be just a size for the noodles portions and one can request for addtional toppings for a dollar more. The mee pok turned out quite firm and none too starchy and the chilli wasn't too bad as well. The toppings included minced meat, liver, some sliced pork, two meatballs and some mushrooms. Otherwise, I couldn't really say that anything else in there was distinctive in any manner. It's not bad if you decide to grab a quick bowl to satisfy a craving though. Definitely wasn't as memorable as the one from the fat hero in the west.

This place down at Lucky Plaza (304 Orchard Road, #02-63/64 Lucky Plaza, tel: 6732 1803) wasn't too bad considering the variety of stuff that the restaurant was selling. I'm definitely not so experienced in the realms of ayam penyet here, having only tried a few places locally and not knowing how the actual ones could really be like. I've had even had one in Bintan where the chicken was simply just fried and not even smashed. So the ayam penyet kreme here actually ranks pretty well in taste with their tender fried chicken really beaten up and easily removed from the fractured bones. Not to mention that the tauhu goreng and tempeh tasted freshly fried and that the weak looking chilli on the side was actually quite spicy. The actual portions are actually much smaller than it looks here on photo.


Down on the side, we ordered a tauhu telur and a longtong cap go meh. The latter is actually some sort of longtong in a coconut rich gravy with a chicken drumstick and a keropok on the top. The gravy was quite good, being one of those things that makes me want to eat beyond just one serving of rice, but was otherwise just a longtong with measly bits of boiled vegetables. I thought that the tauhu telur looked rather small, but the good thing about it was that it didn't appear overfried and that it came with a bowl of nutty sauce with shrimp paste that upped the appetizing factor for the dish.


This savory sop buntut (oxtail soup) wasn't too bad too tasting mildly of the beef, a noticeably pepperish aroma and fried shallots. I noticed afterward that they had grilled oxtails and ayam bakar on the menu too. Definitely could consider a re-visit some time.

I remember eating these key lime pies for the first time a few years back in California Pizza Kitchen and they had etched themselves in my memory that I still remember such a dessert was around. Recently, I've discovered that these are actually available in PS Cafe (290 Orchard Road, #03-41/44 The Paragon, tel: 6735 6765) and they're actually the state pie for Florida sinec 2006? Anyway, as I have learnt, the original ones are apparently yellow in color from the lime juice and egg yolks that are used to make the fillings and that the traditional pie makers frown upon the green coloring that is added. Not that I particularly care about that. Lol.

I kinda like these which come at $12 a slice from PS Cafe. It's pretty pricey for a slice of pie but this has got to be one of the more memorable ones that I've had since that upside down apple pie from Morton's quite a while back. The stiff and creamy fillings in that buttery crushed cracker crust are full of that limey zest which was really quite arousing for the palate and on a positive note, didn't bring on the feeling of sugar overload for me. This stuff is actually quite appetizing.

I don't normally like to eat this stuff because I find them cloyingly sweet and once a year, some of it has to go around because of the Mooncake Festival some of them will inevitably end up with my family. The only fond recollection of those that I enjoyed was something that Raffles Hotel once sold and that was mostly because, the fillings were cream cheese and raisins. I was actually kinda sad that those aren't available anymore. Anyway, this is one of those rare instances where I decided to eat some and thought that they weren't too bad. Having those salted yolks to offset the sweet lotus paste is really important for me while eating them mooncakes.

I'll probably want to see how one of those quadruple yolk mooncakes are like though since no one I know have ever bought them.

Woah, that was quite a bit of good food here down at Valentino's (11 Jalan Binka, S588908, tel 6462 0555). I daresay it's one of the better Italian places around in terms of cost and appreciation value ratio and certainly was very encouraging for a return visit. And it's taken me such a long time to come down for this first time. This must be one of those places that lives up to its hype eh? Since almost everyone has good things to say about the restaurant. Thanks to fatpig for organizing the dinner.

Service here was a notch up in the warmth that was also very discreetly patient towards a table of people whom were late for the reservations and was taking some time with deciding on what to order. For a rather busy restaurant, the magnanimity of the host was unquestionably obliging. That aside, I enjoyed the food.

The table started off with some ubiquitous looking loaf with an excellent emerald green dip of what I made out to be pesto with parsley, anchovy and garlic along with some cheese based starters and then, some imported vongole which came in a delicious spicy sauce that formed instant kinship with the bread on the table. I was quite impressed by the small meaty shellfish. Following closely were the mains of pizzas, pasta and a very good tenderloin that's made itself quite unforgettable in my books.

This was very good, if rather small for the cost. Tasting rather delicate of that usually stronger goat cheese aroma (or pungence if you will), it was certainly as tasty as it looked cloaked in that crispy prosciutto de Parma and the combined grease or both ham and cheese.

I must say that this twisted looking bundle of lightly flavored and chilled creamy mozzarella was both appetizing and refreshing with those sweetish tomatoes. Enthusiastic and hungry, I really couldn't find anything that I could complain about with this. I realised that the last statement shouldn't be viewed in any negative light despite how I said it.

Valentino's crab and squid ink pasta in tomato cream sauce easily makes itself up to one of my personal top few in preferences. This was at least on par with that tomato cream tagliatelle from Da Paolo plus the bonus of small chunky bits of crab meat.

The tenderloin drenched in a mild Gorgonzola sauce was definitely my highlight of the night. I was initially a little apprehensive at the estimation of 170-200g steak, but I guess the choice paid off well tonight based on the satisfaction level. The creamy sauce seeped in its identifying flavor wasn't overpowering of the blue cheese and the tenderloin was expectedly, tender. In the right doneness of medium rare too. What else can I really say except that this was really a steak well done and with consistency prevailing, I would have no qualms ordering it again even though the cut is of one that is normally smaller than what I would normally go for. A nice side of small potatoes there and I had to just mop up all the sauces with the salad.

The pizzas here were quite tasty, but nothing really in the leagues of being remarkable. Expectedly, it had a generic thin and crispy crust that was barely able to support the toppings they had. I personally preferred the aroma of the bitterish rocket on Parma ham versus the bismark of bacon and egg. Not that any one was in any way inferior to the other, in fact, the runny yolk certainly scored quite a bit in my eyes for the latter pizza.


There was more than a handful of desserts going around the table so I'm going to just touch on what made the deepest impressions. The house made profiteroles was decidedly the one that reached out to me despite them being the simplest cream bolstered choux pastry coated in a milk chocolate that wasn't too sweet. Apparently, their profiteroles used to be brought in frozen, but are now made here. Couldn't have asked for much more out of these actually. Well, they could do with more chill, but these were quite enjoyable. A chocolate and pear tart didn't quite turn out quite as delicious as I had hoped. With a light whipped chocolate and a limp buttery crust, the tart tasted tired and felt like it's been around for a little too long. The slices of pears were amazingly thin though.

Great coffee here too.

Hey, this stuff is pretty good. Lao Liang (Jalan Berseh Food Centre, #02-37, 166 Jalan Besar, S208877), a Teochew stall serves up this chilled (plus that handful of crushed ice bits) gelatinous and probably collagen rich pork trotters in jelly. The taste of this stuff can be considered as rather light and even refreshing when accompanied by their home made plum sauce with crushed peanuts that they provide with the dish. The flavor's quite subtle with the taste of pork coupled with a firm jelly like texture melded with some light crunch from what looks like the skin of those trotters to me. The shark meat that this stall also serves tasted pretty much like freshly boiled fish. While nothing exciting, it was pretty good with or without their chilli sauce.

The order of some of the kuey chup assortments was pretty decent as well. It includes a broth drenched mixture of stuff like pig skin, tau pok, eggs, sliced pork belly and tau kwa. The small portions are really quite small here, but the food is certainly enjoyable. The only gripe is that mild, yet perceivable coriander/cilantro flavor in the gravy over the rice which I personally would rather do without. And that there was additional charges for extra servings of that delectable plum sauce if you wanted more.

I've only learnt about this Indian street snack recently, a thing known as sort of vegetarian burger known as vada pav or wada pav and apparently they're quite the popular thing in their country. Apparently there seems to be another store down at Lau Pa Sat that also sells this thing, but I got this from Maakan Mumbai (18 Raffles Quay, Stall 60, Lau Pa Sat Festival Market) based also on a recommendation. After some sniffing around, this didn't quite turn out to be what I expected. For one, the cold and dry bread wasn't even heated. Certainly not like that pan fried in that chilli powder and butter that would have upped the taste factor considerably. The deep fried spiced potato patty tasted sweetish instead of savory (in my mind, i was imagining something like a begedil ). Is that how they're suppose to be like?

I've been waiting to try out these chicken rice balls for ages despite being told that there was really nothing much to them apart from the fact that the rice are merely shaped into balls rather then served the regular way. But I'd like to think sometimes that experience is the best teacher in life and nothing replaces the act of actually eating them, so I just had to come down to this store in the coffeeshop at the end of Dickson Road (Boon Hwa Food Centre, 43 Jalan Besar). The truth be told, I wasn't really impressed by the taste nor the portions which were quite small for $3.60. Two balls of rice is apparently a little below the demands of my appetite and the dryish chicken drizzled with dark soy sauce wasn't anything exceptional to be writing about. I had also imagined the rice to be more firm, akin to ketupat instead of crumbling apart when I dug my spoon into them. The chilli however, was pleasantly filled with a spicy kick and the meal came with a bowl of herbal ba kut teh soup(?). Any better players for these stuff?

I could almost sense myself repressing a silent snigger as I saw this place (Blk 127, Bukit Merah Lane 1 # 01-230, Alexandra Village, tel: 6270 5464) at first glance. I'm not sure if I had actually smirked. In my mind I had somehow ominously envisioned the Joker and Vlad the Impaler standing side by side since this store was situated just next door to Funny Lasagna. In the end, there was nothing really sinister looking about this Dracula place, as it was not comical in any sense for their neighbour.

Romanian food is frankly, something I've never had before and didn't think I would experience here. Having little idea of what they would consist of apart from the multicultural influences, I took their word from their claims since the food itself does look pretty rustic and I certainly could imagine them being something that originated from poor men's fare. Anyone who's in the the know, please enlighten.

We started off with some sour Romanian meatball soup (is that ciorbă de perişoare?) of sorts and home made sausages.


The sour soup tasted pretty much like borsch minus the ruddy hues that one commonly associates with them. In the broth was a bunch of cut pieces of potatoes, carrots and enough chopped parsley for their flavor to be quite pronounced in the soup along with some other herbs which I couldn't make out. The meatballs which are quite generously portioned, are again of a make that one can see ties to country of poor origins where meat could have been expensive and starch fillers pad the insides. In this case, there was rice in the peppery tasting meatballs. Dracula must have made it rain tonight for me to enjoy this stuff. Ahem!

The home made sausages I must comment was quite excellent. Greasy, salty and filled with grits and bits of unidentifiable stuff. These sausages aren't packed that tightly and the cases are definitely not snappy. In fact, the innards fell apart and spilt as I tried to cut them. One noteable mention which I feel must be brought up was the flatbread like thing (it tasted more like Turkish bread actually) which the sausage was served with. This stuff was definitely freshly made, as evident from the taste.


This dish is described as fried meat with polenta and cheese (is this sărmăluţe cu mămăligă?). One irony I realised, with cornmeal being something that isn't expensive and the variety of food that we get, this is probably the largest serving of polenta I've ever had. Ever. It was hearty. It was good. The salty mixed meats in the middle are a bunch of chicken bits and ground meat which I couldn't really identify. Could have been pork. All slathered in some very light creamy cheese that tasted almost like yoghurt.


This dish looked dubious initially since they had a templated dish of various meats that looked suspiciously like the local Hainanese styled westerns. To digress a little here, there was even a Romanian steak of sorts and when enquired about, the server merely said "the chef's Romanian, the boss is Romanian and hence, the steak is Romanian". Lol. In any case, this lamb was surprisingly quite good despite the fact that it was a almost well done. The meat retained tenderness and had an appropriate amount of fat. The original flavor of the meat was quite impeccable despite being covered in that peppery mushroom sauce. I saw the chef peeling a truckload of potatoes back in the kitchen which I'm positive are about to be cooked and mashed for servings. Nothing comes with fries here and you know where your mashed spuds are from.

I'm certainly not adversed to trying more of their food another time.

This is a place (697 North Bridge Road, tel: 6298 6320) with a history that is older than this nation, so I shall concede to the assumption that the 100 year old establishment definitely knows a great deal about their murtabaks and briyanis than most others. Of which the former, I've personally found to be one of the better, if not best that I've had. The crowd as I was expecting, was nothing short of vibrant. I certainly have no memories of having eating here before. I might have had take aways, but it's as good as a clean slate for me since any previous recollections do not take root.

The noteable trait about Zam Zam's murtabak is the additional layer of prata that's folded over an inner layer. The external piece is coated on the top with egg and blanketed with a generous topping of ground mutton and fried to a crisp, giving it the granular texture. So in effect, the murtabak is crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. The onions were lightly cooked to the point where there was still a light crunch instead of being soggy or overly raw. Fillings were also in a good area between being too loose and some very compact omelete type. In short, there's a good moderation that must have appealed to the masses.


I managed 2 murtabaks for sharing and between the beef and the mutton, the latter is definitely the superior in terms of taste due to the stronger aroma of the ground mutton. The curry wasn't really spicy and was more dominantly saltish. In fact, I thought that it was a little flat. The fried chicken on the side wasn't even dignified with a heat up.


I hear that their neighbour, Victory is a close rival to this place so maybe, I could just pop over another day and see if which one would win in a shootout.

I'm not sure what's the status of this place, but it is one of those pseudo kelong built along some rock outcroppings close to the shoreline connected to the beach via a bridge kind of place. Half the structure was probably concrete. There wasn't much options for eating out from the resort since the closest location for a food place (Melayu Square) was a 45 minute drive out of Bintan Beach & Agro Spa Resorts. It was definitely a place opened by the resort itself and the only live seafood available were crabs.


The food was mostly passable with a very regular stir fried kailan, a fairly spicy tom yum soup that was heavy on tomato and lemongrass and a rather well done sambal kang kong which was crunchy and had a robust flavor of dried shrimps. Of worthy mention, there was a sun and moon fried rice (woah!) and a butter oat squid.


The mentioned sun and moon fried rice was stir fried with a generous use of coconut milk. That was probably the most distinctive feature of it, evident from the taste that is certainly more flavorful (and rich as well) than the the regular seafood counterpart which became quite boring by comparison. Speaking of seafood, there was barely anything beyond some small chopped pieces of shrimp in the rice. I had definitely expected better in that department. Frutti de mare aside, the damp rice which had the color of nasi kuning was quite enjoyable. Those butter oat squids were similar to cereal-ed seafoods that one can find easily in our local restaurants. The main difference was the use of quite a bit of eggs in the mix with the oats that formed the batter of the squids. And this is the first time I'm eating these cereal seafood done on squid. Nutty, sweet and mildly spicy, this was actually quite good.

Also, I now know that I can give their local beer a pass the next time.