Sunday, February 09, 2025

Umar Ali Cafe, Havelock Road

Umar Ali Cafe, Havelock Road

Umar Ali Cafe (719 Havelock Road) has taken over the spot vacated by Boon Keng New Taste. Which is just as well since the closures of the chain of ABC mamaks have also inadvertently disappeared ABC Food Corner leaving this stretch of Havelock Road bereft of decent prata outpost(s) that operate into the night. 

Umar Ali Cafe, banana egg cheese prata
Umar Ali Cafe, banana egg cheese prata

Competently done banana egg cheese prata. Not gonna be tagging more adjectives to this and I'm deeming the shop good for returns based on this one. We're gonna have to see how the others fare from here.

Umar Ali Cafe, teh halia cino

Love their teh halia cino. Nice prickly heat from the ginger in the hot tea.

A few days later......
Umar Ali Cafe, roti tissue

Shatteringly crispy roti tissue. Glad that there was a light hand with the sugar glaze

Umar Ali Cafe, strawberry cheese prata

That's their strawberry cheese prata. If you didn't already know, it's "strawberry jam" and not actual strawberries in it. Said "strawberry jam" is a mostly syrup concoction with likely artificial strawberry flavouring that some might not even classify as jam. But all's good once you've made peace with the ingredient. That cheese - I was expecting the plastic wrapped sliced variety but instead it was something crusty and cheesy on the exterior which was equally nice. 

What surprised me here was that the person who plated this actually thought that whomever ordered it actually needed more sugar. ðŸ˜µ

Umar Ali Cafe, susu halia

This susu halia was not on the menu but we figured they'd be able to whip up one since they already have the ingredients. They did. It's sweet and spicy from the ginger just like the teh cino hala. Or was that teh halia cino.

Another few days later......
Umar Ali Cafe, bee hoon goreng putih keema egg

Off menu request which they obliged. Bee hoon goreng putih + keema + egg. It ended up being a whopping $8.50 but it sure was delicious. They were pretty generous with the ground mutton. I'm gonna just hope that they maintain this standards consistently while my fingers are crossed.

Umar Ali Cafe, sweet lassi

Note to self: Don't get the sweet lassi again. It's diluted and ice blended. It's my first ice blended lassi and this didn't taste good.

Yet another few days later......
Umar Ali Cafe, ghee thosai

Ghee thosai. Thin, light crisp, nice and buttery. Delicious with the bit of saltiness from the dal and coconut chutney. The orange chutney's spicy.

Umar Ali Cafe, Havelock Road

Saturday, February 08, 2025

Chun Kee Fishball Noodle (春記魚圓麵), Bukit Merah Central Food Centre

Chun Kee Fishball Noodle (春記魚圓麵), mee pok

Have noticed Chun Kee Fishball Noodle (#02-37 Bukit Merah Central Food Centre, 163 Bukit Merah Central) from previous visits but never tried their fishball noodles until now. This was a bowl of mee pok with chilli. Wouldn't say that said mee pok had the best of textures but it was a not bad tasting old school bowl which was straightforward. 

There's sliced pork and minced pork in this bowl as well so it's one of those hybrid fishball and minced meat noodles. Love the savoury heat from their chilli. Don't mind coming back.

Chun Kee Fishball Noodle (春記魚圓麵), Bukit Merah Central Food Centre

Friday, February 07, 2025

New Year specials at 2it & drink

2it & drink, Valley Point

Been a while since we last ate at 2it & drink. Looking back, it's been almost a decade since they've set up shop at Valley Point. The restaurant feels like it has become a fixture in this parts. Anyways, this was a couple of specials over the weekend before CNY.

2it & drink, porcini tagliatelle duck ragout pistachios

Home made porcini tagliatelle with duck ragout and pistachio - flavours were kinda mixed up and I couldn't tell when the porcini ended and ragout started or when pistachio happened. But it was pretty tasty as a whole. Would have loved for this to be served piping hot instead of just warm though.

2it & drink, pizza bak kwa

Thee Pizza Bak Kwa was basically their Margherita with some bak kwa and a sprinkle of black sesame. Not the most novel of ideas but I didn't mind it and it's something that's available uniquely in this part of of the world. Bar none. I did feel if they had used bak kwa that was a little sweeter, it could have been nicer, to the effect having candied bacon. ðŸ˜¬ 

2it & drink, Valley Point

Wednesday, February 05, 2025

The double double double Egg McMuffin and Samyang buldak hot sauce

Egg McMuffin and Samyang buldak hot sauce

Another zhng up the muffin with hot sauce for breakfast. I tried something similar previously with the Sausage Egg McMuffin.

Egg McMuffin and Samyang buldak hot sauce

This time round, it's the Egg McMuffin. All the add ons are kinda expensive.

Egg McMuffin and Samyang buldak hot sauce

Using the black bottle Samyang sauce this time.

Egg McMuffin and Samyang buldak hot sauce

Looks good already. And hell yeah it was satisfying. I kinda knew what to expect from the last round. Spikes of salt and heat that I was looking forward to.

Egg McMuffin and Samyang buldak hot sauce

Samyang's hot sauce is definitely the a way to go to elevate that breakfast muffin.

Between Ramen Dining Keisuke Tokyo's Jiro style ramen and Brothers Ramen's megamen......

Ramen Dining Keisuke Tokyo, jiro style ramen

I'm gonna go with Brothers Ramen's megamen. Especially that dry megamen. This Jiro style bowl bowl didn't even live up itself not a couple years back. Something has changed. I said I liked the megamen a bit more then. Now I think I prefer the megamen quite a bit more.

Ramen Dining Keisuke Tokyo, jiro style ramen

While I wouldn't claim that the bowl as fallen into the realm of mediocrity, it just didn't taste as satisfying as the first time I had it.

Ramen Dining Keisuke Tokyo, jiro style ramen

What was outright disappointing was the charshu which I left mostly untouched because it was dry and hard. This was just no good. I expected better out of this.