Niigata Food Fair stuff and the old black truffle fried rice from Tampopo @ Ngee Ann City

Haven't eaten at this branch of Tampopo for a really long time. The last time we were here might have been that one where we had their gyukotsu ramen. We were reeled in today by a couple of items that were featured in their Niigata Food Fair menu.

One of which was their amaebi rice flour tagliatelle. Couldn't tell if the tagliatelle was made with rice flour through the gravy/broth which had an intense umami sweet crustacean flavour. Think prawn bisque. Those amaebi also had a gentle but discernible sweetness to them. Nicely done this one. 👍🏼

Presentation has kinda...changed for their black truffle fried rice compared to how they used to plate it. Thankfully, it's still pleasantly greasy and sufficiently salty to be moreish.

The other Niigata Food Fair thing we tried was their matcha parfait. Notice a sprig of thyme. No cornflakes in this one. Plenty of intense matcha sauce. Nice.

Ah Jie Hokkien Mee (阿杰福建炒虾面), Ang Mo Kio

Pretty good tasting plate from Ah Jie Hokkien Mee (#01-2811, 721 Ang Mo Kio Ave 8). The stock had more flavour going on compared to the one from S.Park Kitchen. I also liked how eggy it was. Would be remiss of me not to mention those fragrant nuggets of golden brown fried lard which might be one of the better if not the best ones I've had on Hokkien mee. Not averse at all to coming back again.

Dinner at Bangalore Cafe

Happy dinner at Bangalore Cafe. The boss came over and commented that he hasn't seen us in a while. I'm still surprised that he remembered us and could even venture to narrow down to the month when he last did. 😨 Things were off to a good start with their delicious rava idli.

That's the tandoori gobi. Cauliflower. Tangy, smoky and nicely done.

A kichadi is a dish of spiced rice and lentil, texturally not dissimilar to pongal or uppuma. This one was their palak kichadi, a rendition with pureed spinach folded into the rice and lentils. It's both creamy and piping hot with a hint of cumin and garlic amidst other things. And ghee. Flavour was nutty even. Nice. Needs to be eaten hot.

There are possibly other good ways to end this well but...we know this one and we're happy with it. Lightly sweetened and creamy masala chai.

Plain Vanilla Bakery, Cluny Court

We've walked past and sometimes into various outposts of Plain Vanilla Bakery numerous times and have never eaten/bought anything from them until today. Why? The confluence of correct signs never aligned. Today happened because we chanced upon no queues and also an empty table in this tiny (relative to their other stores) branch (#01-03A Cluny Court, 501 Bukit Timah Road, tel : +65 8363 7615).

So we grabbed a couple of cakes. 

Dark chocolate marble loaf - dry-ish but not bad tasting.

If memory serves, olive oil cake with Earl Grey buttercream and strawberry jam. Didn't taste any olive oil and the Earl Grey was subtle. Tangy sweet strawberry jam was pretty good though.

Aburi chirashi and pitan tofu from Chirashizushi Shou

Been a while since we were last here. Seems that quite a bit of the stuff we've had in the past aren't on the menu anymore. Were the removed items open admission to failures that weren't good enough to stay on? I know I wouldn't remove stuff I knew they were making money......🤔

Pitan tofu to start.

Tried their aburi chirashi. Should have double yolked this. A bit more torching for the char would have definitely improved the seafood topping.

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.