Thursday, July 26, 2018

Of offals and turtle shells at Toa Payoh

Master Shifu, lamb noodles

I was looking forward to giving the noodles at Master Shifu (#02-30 HDB Hub, 500 Toa Payoh Lorong 6) a go because I liked what they did with the lamb broth at their parent restaurant Chuan Yang Ji Mutton Steamboat. So I got myself a bowl of lamb offal sliced noodles (刀削面) only to be disappointed by how bland the broth was. To be more precise - it was floury, a little herbal and had just a little of the mutton flavour. Couldn't even save itself after I had dumped in the salted vegetables and roasted chilli. Even Curry Times made a better lamb broth.

It's too bad because they did a bloody good job out of the sliced lamb meat (they didn't give me offal) which was in the bowl. Tender, appropriately salted and readily falling apart in the mouth with fats.

Lau Pa Sat Pig's Organ Soup Bak Kut Teh Kway Chap

So we moved on because I never finished the bowl of lamb noodles. Was brought to this Lau Pa Sat Pig's Organ Soup Bak Kut Teh Kway Chap at Super 28 Coffee Shop (184 Toa Payoh Central). Yeah, that stall name was a mouthful. I don't know if these folks were originally from Lau Pa Sat though.

This single serving portion featured added on braised intestines. The braised stuff were flavoursome. Loved that braised-in taste of their hard boiled egg. Also liked that their kuey had a rice-y flavour which is often missing from other bowls.

Hoong Woh Tong, guilin gao

Moving on to desserts. I've had guilin gao since I was a kid. Was told that it was made with turtle shells. From what I've heard, not everyone makes these bitter jellies with them. I don't know if the guilin gao here (Koong Woh Tong, 190 Toa Payoh Lorong 6) contains actual powdered turtle shell but the herbal flavour for theirs wasn't too intense. Ducking into this shop for a bowl was definitely a reprieve from the warm humidity.

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