Saturday, April 25, 2026

Revisiting Dian Xiao Er Prestige (店小二臻选)

Dian Xiao Er Prestige (店小二臻选), ten wonder duck 十全药材烤鸭

Back at Dian Xiao Er Prestige. The duck of choice today was the Ten Wonder Herb (十全药材烤鸭); a departure from our usual Angelica flavoured one. Flavour's different but had a similar herbal sweetness in the sauce. Couldn't say I didn't enjoy it but I have a feeling we'll probably end up choosing the Angelica again the next time. 

Dian Xiao Er Prestige (店小二臻选), seafood bee hoon fish sauce 海鲜鱼露米粉

Pretty good tasting seafood bee hoon with fish sauce (海鲜鱼露米粉). But I'm not so sure about the fish sauce part because I'm not tasting it. Note to self: Gotta ask them to exclude the 芹菜. 

One week later......
Dian Xiao Er Prestige (店小二臻选), claypot shrimp paste cauliflower 虾酱干锅花菜

Didn't get duck today. That's the claypot shrimp paste cauliflower (虾酱干锅花菜) - savoury and garlicky with a hint of ginger and a bit of heat flavoured by small dried shrimps and bits of pork lard. 

Dian Xiao Er Prestige (店小二臻选), steamed sliced fish soy sauce 港蒸生鱼片

Sliced fish with soy sauce and fried shallots. Decent tasting but portions felt kinda tiny. The cooking method was simple and the dish was light that we inhaled those slices of fish with ease. 

Dian Xiao Er Prestige (店小二臻选), iberico pork char siew

Not bad Iberico char siew. Nice caramelization and one could taste the nam yu flavour on them. More savoury than sweet so they appeared to be more Hong Kong styled than local/Malaysian style.

Dian Xiao Er Prestige (店小二臻选), rice

Noticed their steamed white rice for the first time. The texture was grainy yet moist and tender. Nice.

Dian Xiao Er Prestige (店小二臻选), Great World

Friday, April 24, 2026

Khoon Kee Tasty Prawn Mee (坤記大蝦排骨麵), Redhill Food Centre

Khoon Kee Tasty Prawn Mee (坤記大蝦排骨麵), hae mee

Pretty good tasting hae mee from Khoon Kee Tasty Prawn Mee (#01-58, Redhill Food Centre, 85 Redhill Lane). Prawns where fleshy and sweet while the saucing was deliciously salty. Will come back again.

Khoon Kee Tasty Prawn Mee (坤記大蝦排骨麵), Redhill Food Centre

Thursday, April 23, 2026

Revisiting Cenzo

Cenzo, club street

We finally made it back to Cenzo.

Cenzo, sparkling water

Sparkling water is a couple of bucks and bottomless.

Cenzo, wagyu tartar cannoli

Wagyu tartar cannoli wasn't memorable. Wouldn't have known it was wagyu if the menu hadn't mentioned.

Cenzo, garlic bread whipped lardo burnt honey

The lardo tigelle with truffle honey which we liked from the last time has become garlic bread whipped lardo burnt honey. This one was nice...cheesy, savoury and tinged with sweetness. But I couldn't shake the feeling that the tigelle was nicer. 😅

Cenzo, gramigna pistachio pesto burrata

There's a lot of pistachio stuff going around lately. Most of them are second rate. I'm also being kind by just labelling them second rate because the honest description would conceivably be 'con job'. Not this gramigna with pistachio pesto though. It's not just nuttiness in the pesto, it's pistachio specific nuttiness here. With actual crushed nuts. Enriched by burrata.

Cenzo, lamb porchetta

What I had been looking forward to was their lamb porchetta. You read that right.

Cenzo, lamb porchetta

This was awesome. Serious crackling cushioned by a layer of flavourful lamb-y fat over meat. That and its unique blend of bite, greasiness and crunch. Why so? It doesn't have the same mouthfeel as regular porchetta because of the size. Pretty rich and heart clogging. 👍🏼

Cenzo, tiramisu

Tiramisu to end.

Cenzo, club street

Wednesday, April 22, 2026

Kolkata Beckons, Race Course Road

Kolkata Beckons, Race Course Road

I came across the mention of Kolkata Beckons (52 Race Course Road, tel : +65 6291 5244) some time back and have been wanting to give them a try. The restaurant is part of the Fifth Season group which also runs Tangra Chinese. Food is Bengali. Like Mustard...and probably a slew of other places I don't yet know of.

Kolkata Beckons, malai sweet lassi

That's the malai sweet lassi. As I understand, malai refers to the layer of cream that is formed after boiled milk is cooled. Not uncommonly used in gravies in North Indian dishes. This one had them folded into their sweet lassi for extra richness. Nice. We were cautioned that it induces food coma. 😅

Kolkata Beckons, peas kochuri

Tried their peas kochuri which was a fried bread spread with peas and chilli and some spices on the inside. On the side was sada alur torkari - which translates into and is also literally descriptive of 'white potato curry'. What apparently differentiates the sada alur torkari from regular curry is the lack of turmeric. And hence, white.

Kolkata Beckons, peas kochuri

Couldn't actually discern much of the peas. They looked like pooris and tasted much like hum chim pang. 😬

Kolkata Beckons, mangsher chop

Mangsher chop.

Kolkata Beckons, mangsher chop

A fritter of spiced potato and mutton which could conceivably be viewed as a cross between curry puff and croquette, served with mustard on the side.

Kolkata Beckons, badshah malai kofta

We had an order of badshah malai kofta. Badsha is Persian for ruler/king/emperor so presumably, this might have been a dish for royalty in the past.

Kolkata Beckons, badshah malai kofta

It's described as a fruit stuffed paneer. The flavour's sweet, lightly savoury and cheesy. The cheesy part was not typical of paneer that I know of and I'm not sure where's the fruit part. Deliciously rich though. Remember the bit about malai earlier?

Kolkata Beckons, basanti pulao

More carbs in the form of basanti pulao. The rice which had cashews and raisins was infused with saffron and slightly sweet. Was a little thrown off at the start but it kinda latched onto me. 

Kolkata Beckons, Race Course Road

Tuesday, April 21, 2026

So we're back to Man Man again (formerly also known as Unagi Tei)

Man Man Unagi Restaurant, Keong Saik Road

For some reasons, Man Man has decided to call themselves Man Man again after an attempted rebranding to Unagi Tei ().

Man Man Unagi Restaurant, hyogo oyster hitsumabushi

We were here tonight for their fleshy tare glazed Hyogo oysters. These were creamy and plump. Stole all the limelight from their unagi. I'm pretty glad that they're no longer giving us the ends of the wasabi root and grater to make us sweat work for it. On the other hand, I'm sad that the Suntory kuro has been taken off their menu.

Monday, April 20, 2026

Beef katsus at Kimukatsu

Kimukatsu, beef katsu

Trying some gyu katsus at Kimukatsu. The regular mille feuille rendition which they called beef katsu was actually kinda nice. One could taste the light beefiness in the thin layered meat beneath that crispy panko.

Kimukatsu, gyu katsu

The other one which featured a slice of whole meat which was called gyu katsu was forgettable. Not particularly beefy and most of it was more cooked than the medium rare we asked for (we were given a choice). That Miyazaki gyu katsu from Ginza Anzu is still the best we've had.

Kimukatsu, Takashimaya