Pavilion Banana Leaf, Westgate

Haven't paid attention to this particular corner of Westgate before and hence never knew when Pavilion Banana Leaf (#02-28 Westgate, 3 Gateway Drive, tel : +65 6270 3866) popped up. I liked what we had there.

A creamy rose milk while waiting for the food. If anyone was wondering, it tastes like bandung. A nicer bandung because the rose syrup tasted better. The milk was smooth and reminded me of those that are used in many chai we've had.

Chaat came first. I was initially a little disappointed by how their dahi puri looked - a disappointment that dissipated once we popped those crunchy balls which were an explosion of flavours into our mouths. Yoghurt, tamarind sauce and coriander mint sauce amalgamating sweet, sour and spicy with some underlying savoury from the sev and fillings in the puri. No onions in these ones.

A samosa dahi chaat followed. Similar saucing slathered over a crushed samosa. Equally enjoyable for the same reasons as the dahi puri.

We had fried mackerel. Meat was pretty moist under the spiced coated fish.

This was prawn kedaai rice. The menu described it as rice sautéed with shrimp thokku.

Kinda like a wet briyani if you asked me. Delicious infusion of savoury spices in the rice. Came with two sizeable meaty prawns. The raita on the side was good!

Because we felt like we needed more food, some butter and garlic naan accompanied by a creamy sweet paneer butter masala. Liked it. This was the indicator I needed to decide if I should try their butter chicken the next time.

They don't have one of the better masala chai in my opinion. Didn't pack the punch I was looking for in a milky spiced tea.

Capitol Bak Chor Mee, Food Opera @ ION Orchard

I've never noticed the name of the bak chor mee at Food Opera (#B4-03/04 ION Orchard, 2 Orchard Turn) until recently and the first thing that came to mind was wondering if this stall was the same as the one that we've previously had at the Food Republic at Capitol Piazza. One could presumably assume so because it's the same management folks but I'm pretty sure the people cooking aren't the same.

Saucing was definitely different. I don't remember specifically how they were different but I do recall having a better impression of the one back in Capitol Piazza. While this wasn't a bad bowl as bak chor mee went, this was also $9.20 with CNY surcharge. 😳 

Popeyes' Kimchi Cheese sandwich and Dino Choco biscuit

My regard for Popeyes dips through the years.

I mean, really? Collection? That's cheaper than a cheap handbag/shoe brand trying to sell the gimmick of the season.

We were here this time because of the Dino Choco biscuit. It honestly looked kinda nice on the menu. For some strange reasons, it wasn't order-able from the menu.

I would have respected them if they had product shot this instead of what they actually used. I wouldn't have been tricked sold but I would have respected the honesty. I construe this as intentional lie because there's no reason why their product show was the product shot if not to deliberately mislead.

Not that nice. I'm guessing that it would have been nicer if it was the same thing as the product shot. More condensed milk and Milo powder. But I guess they're too cheap.

Since we were already here, why not the Kimchi Cheese sandwich eh?

I wouldn't say it tasted like kimchi. It's cheesy but it's the powder or nacho cheese kind of cheesy. Also too much sauce. The original chicken sandwich was better tasting.

Revisiting Ramen Hitoyoshi (ラーメン人吉)

This was their regular tonkotsu bowl. Not much flavour from the charshu which was relatively tender but still chewy. Hard noodles also didn't stay hard for long.

We tried a bowl of the special charshu garlic tonkotsu - today's special charshu was so special that it tasted like bacon. It wasn't the tender, crumbly and smokey thin slices from the previous time. This was bacon. 

What makes their spicy sui gyoza was pretty much just the gyoza. Because chilli oil and vinegar are simply chilli oil and vinegar and both aren't made in house. The wrapping wasn't well done. Stuffings were falling out.

Kinoko butter yaki's buttery and garlicky. Not bad. Don't know why they thought onions would make it better though.

年年有鱼 at Etna

Our 年年有鱼 at Etna. Looking back (一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八, 九, 十), the most memorable item I've ordered from them came from the first visit.

We got those triangular slices of garlic bread today. Those were nice. The focaccia were good for soaking up olive oil or sauces.

Red snapper carpaccio with fennel was a special from their board. Didn't think much of it. If one stacked the thin slices of fish, it wouldn't be enough to make even a slice of sashimi. $26? Hmmm......

Picture of the beetroot tagliatelle looked pink but this was what we got. There's chunks of seabass and some bits of crab it it. The creamy sauce was not bad tasting at all but I couldn't identify the mascarpone or whisky that's supposed to be in it.

Salt baked sea bass was the most exciting.

For some reasons, I thought of the dying embers from the flames at Etna as the burning salt crust was cracked open.

Nice quality fish. This manager-guy-dude didn't look like he was very proficient with deboning and plating it. He attempted to "olive oil-Bae" it though, through an amusingly jaded look. Anyways...olive oil, salt, garlic and a bit of rosemary - that's all there was to it and it was delicious.

Grilled vegetables on the side for the fish.

As much as I didn't want to admit it, Da Paolo's Gastronomia has nicer pistachio gelato than Etna. Sounds sad but that's what it was.

Hapiha, Beauty World Food Centre

Hapiha (#04-55 Beauty World Center, 144 Upper Bukit Timah Road, tel : +65 9236 2430) describe themselves to be mediterranean fast food which I guess is kinda accurate. The menu feels Greek to me. Anyways that's their pork souvlaki on pita.

I enjoyed the freshness of the food. Loved the hot pita, crisp vegetables and the refreshing tzatziki. But the pork was tougher than I liked - would have been great if they had used tenderloin instead of loin because the former probably the only cut of pork where those wooden fork/knife they provided could be useful. 🙃 Don't mind coming back though.