J & J Foodhub, Toa Payoh Central

J & J Foodhub is located in Epic Haus (#01-170, 177 Toa Payoh Central) - the same coffeeshop that Tai Wah Pork Noodle is in.

Was intrigued by their ilocos empanada. - a pastry stuffed with minced pork, grated papaya and egg. Hmm...this didn't look like the fried orange pastry images I saw online. This was red and didn't look fried.

The fillings were okay. The part that bugged me was the bland pastry which was really hard around the edges. What I really liked from this stall was their laing - smokey, fishy (plenty of dried anchovies inside) and packed with heat in coconut milk. The flavour reminded me of otah. Note to self: laing only available on weekends.

Kreta Lembu, People's Park Centre

Kreta Lembu (#03-48 People's Park Centre, 101B Upper Cross Street) was one of those eateries which we've walked past numerous times and wondered if they were good. They're located just beside the bridge that links People's Park Centre to Chinatown Point.

Got a nasi minyak today with gulai lemak pucuk ubi (curried tapioca/cassava leaves), sambal telur and a dish of cubed paru with shrimps - a combination which I've never encountered before in a creamy sweet and slightly spicy gravy. Nice. Love the tender tapioca leaves in the lemak gravy and the buttery rice with raisins and sliced almonds. 

Pasarfish X Chef X, Clarke Quay Central

A bit of quick context.

 

Pasarfish is a platform to educate environmental conservation and local fishery with the objective to promote sustainability in the local seafood supply chains. According to their mission statement, which I quote, their goal is to "To preserve Singapore’s seafood heritage sustainably through outreach and research".

Chef X is an initiative by Far East Organization to allow local home-based/private chefs a sandbox to operate their own commercial restaurant within Clarke Quay Central.

So Pasarfish X Chef X (#03-103 Clarke Quay Central, Eu Tong Sen Street) is....you can kinda connect the dots here.

The current chef came up with some dishes, some of which are of Teochew origins. Sounded intriguing.

Chilled grey mullet with tangerine oil, scallions and chilli. Variation of the steamed grey mullet found in Teochew restaurants/stalls. That tangerine oil tasted much like the sweet & sour sauce used I remember from steamed squids in Teochew porridge stalls which some may know as kek yew. Because the fish was chilled, the meat is a little more dense and less tender.

This was called U-yummy - fish sauce coconut kaya with ti poh (dried sole) butter on pretty good tasting home made bread which I'm not sure if they're sourdough. Lots of umami sweet saltiness from the kaya that came with a layer of smokiness from the butter. Nice and intense flavours.

That's their Fash - a hash with corn and eggs fried in fat from the grey mullet belly with Parmesan cheese. Interesting seafood-y take on the dish. Not bad.

Something called Abu鱼yu Congee. Fish porridge made with fish bone broth with aburi-ed fish. Don't know what fish it was. Came with some XO sauce on the side. Flavour was light and pleasant with a bit of sweetness. I liked it more than I thought I would.

Tobimisu - tiramisu with tobiko. One can only taste the tobiko if it's eaten with those on top of the tiramisu. Otherwise, the amount of roe folded into the mascarpone cheese was sufficient just to add popping texture and little else. Flavour's not as weird as it might sound. Has alcohol.

This was the Fish Fan - a flan made with fish sauce and other secret ingredients which the chef shared and I forgot. Lol. Eggy and umami. That sauce tasted just like the glaze used in the fish satay snacks that used to be popular back in the 80s I think. 😲

Revisiting Milkfish (& Broth)

It's been a while since we were last at Milkfish. It seems that they've renamed themselves to Milkfish & Broth. The menu has changed a little bit with a few new broths that one can choose from.

The chilled tomatoes on the side have been replaced by pickled pumpkin slices and what appears to be Shine Muscat grapes. I consider this an upgrade.

They've introduced a miso glaze option for their grilled milkfish and I like it. It's a nice change up from/add on to the previous soy glaze. Not that it was bad.

Prawn rolls/hae cho are still the same.

Tried the tomato broth with seafood. Flavour of the broth has a thalassic quality with tanginess from tomatoes.

Nora's Kitchen, Amoy Street Food Centre

Happened by Nora's Kitchen (#02-91 Amoy Street Food Centre, 7 Maxwell Road) by chance and decided to try their lontong. Those brown stuff on the side were fried paru.

Not bad after the sambal and serunding have been swirled into the gravy. Decent lemak level with savoury sweetness and some heat. Their paru was pretty good - they looked like they might be hard but the insides were relatively tender and chewy.

KFC Curry x Sambal Zinger

So there...the curry sambal Zinger that uses instant/frozen prata as buns from KFC. Fried chicken's fine. Prata was a tad greasy. Curry's actually not bad tasting. That being said, one would taste mostly just curry which presumably serves as a dip. Couldn't taste much else; was almost done with this before I remembered that there was supposed to be sambal in the sandwich because I didn't notice it through the curry. It was also a mess to eat.