Hong Ji Claypot Herbal Bak Kut Teh (宏记砂煲药材肉骨茶), Ang Mo Kio

Hong Ji Claypot Herbal Bak Kut Teh (First Coffeeshop, #01-138, 107 Ang Mo Kio Ave 4) is in the same coffeeshop as S.Park Kitchen. They serve the herbal style bak kut teh here.

This was an order with small/sweet intestines (粉肠), pig liver and stomach with a side of 油条. Offal were arguably tender and the broth was...not overly herbal. Don't mind eating again.

I was today years old when I realized that I could upsize at Good Pig Trotters Fried Bee Hoon (好猪脚米粉)

So I asked for 加米粉 at Good Pig Trotters Fried Bee Hoon today and realised that there's a larger serving which has always been available. Now I know.

Tempura-EN, Great World

Tempura Makino rebranded into Tempura-EN (B1-112/113 Great World, 1 Kim Seng Promenade, tel : +65 6257 8733). The a la carte tempura menu appeared to be mostly similar but some of the stuff they used to have previously are no longer available.

Garlic shoyu butter corn - the butter and the fried garlic made it nice. Corn's...corn. Nothing particularly outstanding about their tempura. The rebranding did not seem to have improved the quality of their specialty.

We came here for their kaisen hitsumabushi. Not their tempura. 😬 Since it was a hitsumabushi, it came with instructions on how to eat as well. You know, the one that suggests that you should taste it first as is and then perhaps add a little something as you go along.

The last part is typically where you finish the remaining portion with their broth. Personally, I think you should just eat it the way you want to. The bowl came with cubed seafood including some scallops and a large prawn. 

The broth was tai dashi. It's deliciously umami. Having it over the seafood and rice feels like the Japanese version of Teochew styled fish porridge. It's also great drinking on its own.

S.Park Kitchen, Ang Mo Kio

S.Park Kitchen (First Coffeeshop, #01-138, 107 Ang Mo Kio Ave 4) blipped on my radar recently. They're a local western food stall with a couple of things that piqued my interest. Garlic butter sauce and Hokkien mee. Yup, Hokkien mee at a western food stall.

Said garlic butter sauce looked much like a chopped garlic salsa. It's deliciously salty, garlicky and buttery. Pretty good with their crunchy chicken cutlet which was well fried without excessive grease on the breading. Nice coleslaw and decent fries on the side too. Portion was ample.

I'll classify their Hokkien mee as competent but not the most memorable. Not bad tasting but I prefer more punch to the flavours. The stock's gentler than I imagined from appearances. Didn't pack the same intensity as say Shiok Hokkien Mee and definitely could benefit from more salt. No complains otherwise. Chilli's pretty good. If anyone was wondering, that was the $8 plate with an extra portion of lard (猪油渣) which is chargeable.

Pistach & Morty in sesame bagel from Two Men Bagel House

Rick & Morty vibes much from the name of this one? 😏 Anyways, Pistach & Morty from TMBH ( 一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八, 九, 十, 十一, 十二, 十三, 十四, 十五, 十六, 十七, 十八, 十九, 二十, 二十一, 二十二, 二十三, 二十四, 二十五, 二十六, 二十七, 二十八, 二十九, 三十, 三十一). According to them - hazelnut, salted walnut, kataifi, Mortadella, whipped Brie, balsamic glaze and cranberry compote.

現実 <- The only nut I picked up was pistachio and I'm not sure if it came from the Mortadella. That green stuff tasted nutty so I'm guessing it's pistachio butter. Nice crunch from the kataifi and a deliciously rich cheesy creaminess from the Brie with the fruitiness of the cranberry compote cutting through it all.

Paradise Classic, One Holland Village

Somewhat surprised that Paradise Classic (#01-33 One Holland Village, 7 Holland Village Way, tel : +65 6551 5558) delivers on its name. It serves classics from the zi char arena. Then again, what's classic might differ from one generation to another. This was recognisable as such for me at least. 

Ice lychee tea. It's classic styled. Tea and canned lychee, sweetened/flavoured with the syrup from the can. Quite nice.

Got a large yang zhou fried rice (扬州炒饭). I did not realise that large feeds 3-4. I was thinking 2. But it's all good since we could tar pow back what we couldn't finish. Decent tasting with real char siew and non-sus looking prawns. Would have been nicer if there was some fish sauce for some of that nuanced saltiness.

Another classic...sweet and sour pork. Crunchy surface, fat in the meat and pretty chunky cut. There's canned pineapples in there, no less. Not bad tasting.