Fast breaking roundup

Well, this one is just a little about some fast food breakfast options that we have here. They've been around for years mostly and I haven't really paid attention to them until lately, when I had the sudden urge to.


I forgot what this is called actually, but it's one of those sourdough sandwiches with bacon, eggs and cheese in them and it's probably one of the better, if not best amongst the small realm of fast food breakfast sandwiches. The real bacon used help me decide that and cheese scores points with me. What's nice about the sourdough sandwiches from CJ is that it comes nicely buttered and the proof of that is in the taste. And those little wheels of hash brown nuggets are actually pretty addictive.

I remember that they used to have some bacon cheese burger that uses these sourdough bread slices in the past, but it's kinda unfortunate that it's no longer on the menu since I thought they were pretty good.

The bacon and eggs burritos were slightly disappointing in terms of size since I was fooled by the menu into thinking that they were thick rolls filled with creamy scrambled eggs and bacon and cheese. The burrito itself was skinner than I had thought though it didn't taste too bad. Though it was more of an omelete than scrambled eggs.

A breakfast croissant from BK that tastes really bready rather than what a croissant should be like. It was tasty largely because of the saltish ham, but this is something that I probably could make at home.

These are a couple of "big" breakfast sandwiches from Burger King. Of course, it would be just wishful thinking on my part to really expect them to be big because they are anything but. Again it was probably the generic salty sausage (tastier than McDs it seems there) patties that made them good to eat. I still dislike those fake bacon strips. What was clearly different were the hash brown nuggets here in comparison with CJ. These just didn't taste as good. Not even close.

The Banana Leaf Apolo, Race Course Road

I really cannot recall if I've ever visited Banana Leaf (56 Race Course Road, tel : 6293 8682 / 6293 5054) in my life, but here I am at dinner with some friends who're back from Ozland and missing the taste of spicy local food. Honestly, there wasn't really much of a defining attribute to the taste of their supposedly signature curry fish head here in comparison to say another venue like Muthu's. So there really isn't much of a difference to be brought up. I also couldn't say that the fish head here was of the best tasting or freshest which I've had, but that being said, it wasn't all that bad neither. I have heard though from friends that have patronized this place in the older dinghy days when the quality of the curry fish head was said to be noticeably better. Unfortunately or fortunately, I don't have such memories to make these kind of comparisons. The premise does have an air of commercialism to me.

What I had in some minor enthusiasm, anticipated for comfort feeding in their rice and curried vegetables wasn't quite the thing I had in mind neither. The warm hearty rice was fine, but it sure took a long time to get refills and the vegetables on the side was subconsciously stacked against a much superior offerings from Komala Vilas. Perhaps their thali could present better options. The masala chicken's fine in the most casual sense of the word, but I don't really have anything else to say about it.

Buddy Hoagies, Bt Timah

I came upon this place (170 Upper Bukit Timah Road, #B1-05 Bukit Timah Shopping Centre, tel : 6466 1505) only quite recently and amongst the things to be had here, the sandwich was surprisingly, one of what I thought to be the better things that are offered here. The food was quite affordable, but the downside to the pricepoint here is that it wasn't really what I was looking for in terms of quality especially for their NY strip steak which despite looking like something from Astons, was quite a far cry from theirs. It was a letdown from the start, arriving very undercooked and had to be redone. The sauce on the side was also surprisingly, much better than I had though, tasting somewhat similar to what one can get at Hog's Breath.


Quite unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a nice picture of their mince beef and bacon sandwich, which was what I thought to be rather enjoyable without unnecessary sophistication. There was a good minced beef patty and real bacon amidst the greens, some cheap sliced cheese and mayo. Beats those fake strips of bacon at BK anytime anyday.

A key lime pie from CPK

This was really not what I had in mind after having that delicious one down at PS Cafe. California Pizza Kitchen's rendition turned out to be excessively sweet for me with a sugar rush in a bad way. Despite having a discernible flavor of the lime, the lack of the limey zest was quite obvious and the curd like fillings tasted rather milky. The crust in truth was simply pathetic. Overly sweet with the taste of honey, there wasn't anything crusty about it at all. In fact, the texture felt like a soggy muesli bar. I remember having had it years back and I recalled that it was rather enjoyable then, but something must have changed over here. It's either my taste, or a new recipe at work.

A hiyashi chuka from Ohsho

There has always been some kind of appeal at Ohsho and for me it's the fried rice. For others, it could be the old school charm of a tze char like environment. It seems that I've found sometihng else about them which I like. This cold noodle from Ohsho was actually pretty good. Not that I've noticed it on menu before which makes me wonder if this was an addition to the menu from not to far back. What was really enjoyable about this hiyashi chuka for me was the firm and springy noodles in that soy sauce that seemed to contain some kind of yuzu zest. The omelette strips on the side was actually still warm as it was fried and shredded as they did the noodles.

I wouldn't say that this can displace Ken's cold ramen anytime. The ingredients were a little different (e.g. ham strips here versus real strips of charshu at Ken, different style of eggs) but I think it's good enough as an alternative. There seems to be a sesame flavored version so I could just drop by another time for that. Something else that I could look forward too apart from their fried rice.

Four all beef special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions in a sesame seed bun

Well, it's really just an additional slice of the beef patty in each deck of the sandwich and though that I had suspected it was probably psychological, the patties felt thinner. So it's a four all beef special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions in a sesame seed bun now. The nice thing about the Mega Mac over my favourite bite from McD is that it has vegetables. I believe I'll still stick to ordering the latter for any fast food fix from this particular joint.

Five Star Hainanese Chicken Rice, Bt Timah

I had almost missed this place (6/7 Cheong Chin Nam Road, tel : 6466 3000) walking past despite knowing roughly where it was located since I had noticed it on numerous occasions previously. Five Star certainly didn't look like a very chicken rice place at all now that I've taken a much closer look with the plethora of other tze char items found on the menu.


I don't know if all that diversification is doing the place much of a good service for their core specialty since everything else looked pretty mundane and for a place that is supposedly famed for their chicken rice, it was definitely nothing outstanding in my books. Now I'm not saying that it's bad, but I don't suppose I would head out here again or even think about wanting to have chicken rice when I'm in the vicinity. The preserved vegetable with pork (mei chai kou rou) wasn't quite what I had hoped soaked in that mildly viscous gravy. Honestly, there are places that have diversified and done a much better job at the preservation of their core dish.

I'm surprised that no one has ever mentioned that their chilli sauce is seriously a tad too saltish.

Chellas ella ella, eh eh eh.....

It seems that my favourite spot for a nice cup of masala chai has gone noticeably upmarket with the prices of the tea going from $1.50 to $2.50. That's a whopping 66.6% increase in the cost and it seems that apart from having a different cup on serving, nothing much has changed with the tea. Man, this was some unexpected surprise after not turning up for a while. A new menu, new bits on the decor, and the place is still as crowded as ever. I may have to search for a new spot now for a similar nice cheap beverage. The only thing that I'm gonna miss if I stop visiting is the masala milk.

A recent eat at....

...guess where.