Sakana Hiraku (魚光る), Stanley Street

So I read that Sakana Hiraku (14 Stanley Street, tel : +65 8940 2824) is from the guy behind eateries like Ramen Soshiji and Sakutto Tempura & Oyster. They're a relatively new grilled fish teishoku shop in town.

What's featured prominently online was their ginshake salmon belly set which features both salmon and its belly that's been marinated in shio koji. Meat from the fish has that sweet salty flavour from the marinate and was nicely grilled with some crisp bits.

Aside from salmon, there're a few other fishes that one can pick. This was their hokke. Not bad tasting, but has bones to deal with. There's a choice between the white and red miso soup for each of the sets. Go for the red.

The servers recommended their house made chilli. Tasted much like yuzu kosho.

This definitely works!

Blue Label Tavern, Stamford Place

Blue Label Tavern (#01-01 Stamford Place, 61 Stamford Road, tel : +65 9821 9362) is by Blue Label Pizza which is in turn a pizza branch out from Luke's Oyster Bar & Chop House. What appeared to be different from Blue Label Pizza are the cheaper prices which is corresponded by smaller sized pizzas and a smaller selection of them. And some.

Beers and wine by glass benefit from a happy hour here. It's $10 a for a glass of their Blue Label Ale. Profile's much like a white beer/weissbier.

It's also a little pricey considering that it looked like it was just a little more than their drinking glasses and it's definitely not a pint.

They've a BLP X SMU smash burger. Cheaper, smaller and less sides than the Travis Burger which one can find at Luke's during lunch. This one has a choice of one side and we went with their tangy chicken fat potatoes.

While I typically don't like too many things stuffed into my burgers, Luke's has somehow managed that by their balance of ingredients that didn't drown out the meat and cheese for their Travis Burger. Same applied for this BLP X SMU smash burger. Small, but I liked it with their salty crusty smashed patties.

First time trying their The Original Famous. Apparently a blend of 5 cheese which I couldn't tell but the pizza's pretty decent.

Haven't had their cookies and stout shake for a really long time. Cookies were nice but I'm not getting that stout from the shake today.

Oyster rice & sausages from Donki

Some take away from Donki. Those aburi oysters with teriyaki glaze on rice were pretty good tasting. Sausages were salty, fatty and in snappy casing. The brown sauce on the side came with the sausages - tasted like HP Sauce.

Onigiri Gon (おにぎり 権 ), Fortune Centre

Lunch at Onigiri Gon (#01-18, Fortune Centre, 190 Middle Road). Shop seats only about a dozen and queue starts before they open for the day. Once seated, each onigiri is made to order so there could be some waiting time.

One can order these a la carte or in sets. I got the 3 piece onigiri set meal which came with a choice of pickle (kyuri shiokouji/shio koji marinated Japanese cucumber) and soup (aosa misoshru/seaweed white miso).

Which were the 3 lucky ones you might wonder?

• Niku soboro + ranou shoyu - Base was minced meat. Added shoyu marinated egg yolk which is charged separately. Not bad tasting with the egg adding creaminess on top of the shoyu umami.
• Mentaiko + cream cheese - Nice one. Base was mentaiko. Added cream cheese which bumped up the richness and lightly mellowed the edges off the salty mentaiko. My favourite among the three.
• Karashi tanaka - Spicy pickled mustard greens with chilli. Salty and a little spicy. A tried and tested pickled vegetable and rice pairing. This one was runner up.

Seaweed miso soup was nice and smoky.

Pretty happy with the onigiri. A few things to note. The cost does add up with each additional top up. Seaweed and rice tends to stick to the serving paper. Onigiri wasn't very compact so they tended to fall apart while eating.

N.M. Abdul Rahim, Ayer Rajah Food Centre

Have heard some good things online about the mee goreng from N.M. Abdul Rahim (Stall #60 Ayer Rajah Food Centre, 503 West Coast Drive) who's apparently been in in business for some decades. Here's a plate with extra keema. I didn't think there was anything noteworthy about it. Just to be clear, it wasn't bad. Just regular tasting. Generically savoury sweet with a bit of heat but not as dry as I was looking forward to.

Ah Huat Hokkien Prawn Mee, Lengkok Bahru

Ah Huat Hokkien Prawn Mee's (#01-387, 55 Lengkok Bahru) located just next door to Happy Noodles. What's not usual about them is that the guy behind the wok was an Indian dude. Mayhaps he's Ah Huat? 🤔

This was the $6 plate. One can choose the degree of wetness for the Hokkien mee. I wanted mine dryer. Also asked for extra sambal belachan and lard not realising that the based amount they provided was already pretty generous. Anyways, I liked this. It had some smokiness. Pretty good crustacean flavouring from the stock in the noodles. 猪油渣 was a little soft but nicely flavoured. Prawns tasted natural and meaty. I wouldn't mind coming back for this.

Tried their black radish cake. $5. I also liked this. While they weren't as caramelized as I was hoping for, there was adequate black sauce and its sweetness in it which I enjoyed.