初二 lunch from Hajah Maimunah @ Jalan Pisang

Been a while since we last ate at Hajah Maimunah. 初二 of CNY was a good time as any and it also coincidentally marked the last day of their operations for this location before it will be closed for a month to focus on tingkat deliveries during the Ramadan period.

The food has mostly been good pretty much every time we're here - barring occasional inconsistencies which aren't common. We've had most if not all of these dishes before so there won't be much to say.

Except maybe for the terung belado which was squishy and tender. Nice with that belado salsa.

Perhaps just a reminder to self that we'll need to break out of the routine stuff once in a while...

...like their paru belado which I don't want to say no to. 😂

Today's assam pedas ikan pari was nicer than the last time. Stingray meat was less stiff.

We finished with some lopes and a green bean soup with coconut milk

Breakfast during 初一 and 初二

初一 Nasi lemak with extra chicken wings from Queenstown Lontong. I got a piece of tau kwa with it today which was unusual because it's not something they, or other nasi lemak stalls for that matter, include in nasi lemak. Not complaining though. I do feel that the rice tasted better when I had it in their old location at Tanglin Halt. I don't see many of the add ons that used to be available anymore too.

初二 Egg, onion & cheese prata from Prata Saga Sambal Berlada (一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七). Red onions lightly cooked down in the prata with milky saltiness from the cheese which is subsequently layered with a mutton-y dalcha and their signature sambal. Nice! 👍🏼

rumeL, Tiong Bahru Plaza

rumeL's (#01-107 Tiong Bahru Plaza, 302 Tiong Bahru Road) a mixed bag. Back when they were renovating, I thought the signs looked like they were promoting a generic Italian cafe with Neapolitan pizza. I think they're a bit more and less than what they claim coupled with some localised flavours.

That and the fact that their name is the reverse of 'lemur'. A Madagascan prosimian primate mascot? I struggle to decipher the meaning behind how they amalgamate. 😲 

Anyways there's a kaya butter pizza. Which was pretty nice. Peranakan styled pandan kaya. It's available for breakfast cheaper than their regular prices and can be gotten with soft boiled eggs and kopi. What's notable was their puffy sourdough crust which was kinda enjoyable. I guess I could call it Neapolitan-esque.

Even with some powdered parmesan cheese, the kaya flavour was dominant.

There's the localisation. Though admittedly these kaya-carb-soft-boiled-egg-kopi traditional breakfast has been a lot more marketing than reality. If it had been tradition, it hasn't been much for the better part of the past few decades. When it was, it might have been only for a couple of decades at best and never widespread. This is just the narration driven by capitalism.

Kopi's drinkable stuff.

Hot honey pizza wasn't spicy. Just sweet and cheesy.

Tiong Bahru Hainanese Chicken Rice, Ngee Ann City/Takashimaya

Tiong Bahru Hainanese Boneless Chicken Rice has opened a restaurant in town called Tiong Bahru Hainanese Chicken Rice (B2-36A Ngee Ann CIty, 391 Orchard Road, tel : +65 6900 4320). So they're no longer boneless? 🤔 Anyways, there's a slew of other stuff on the menu other than chicken rice. That seems to be how all these old chicken rice brands that expand end up.

Chicken's pretty decent. Quarter portion was bigger than I imagined.

Chook has jelly beneath the skin.

But it kinda feels a little different from eating them at Tiong Bahru Food Centre.

There's Hainanese crispy pork on menu too. I liked this even though I'm generally not a fan of crispy pork with the exception of the ones from the defunct Blk 38 Curry Rice. These were crispy, lardy and savoury. Loads of crunch and porcine flavour.

Even the curry that accompanied those crispy pork was delicious. 

The pickled mustard green were much more intense than those that I remember from their Tiong Bahru stall.

Bean sprouts quite nice. There're bits of salted fish in it.

Egg.

This outpost has chicken rice made using basmati and Niigata Koshihikari rice. Might come back and try those another time. 

Galette des Rois and Dulcet Rose at TWG

Came across galette des rois at TWG. It's pretty good. Pastry was flaky and buttery with a light frangipane filling inside. Sweet but not excessively so. So I did a bit of Googling after that about them came across how these were traditionally eaten from the 12th days after Christmas on Ephipany. Guess we caught the season for the pastry.

I fell back into the Dulcet Rose trap again!

McAffogato

I found McD's affogato a unexpectedly/surprisingly acceptable substitute for... a "proper" one. As much as they would wax lyrical about their managed processes for their food product from kitchen to customer, nothing much was standardised about these. The taste didn't appear to be consistent for reasons. Sometimes, it's milkier and other times, it would have really weak coffee flavouring. But I buy it as an acceptable substitute.