Dinner at home

Uncle Sim's curry chicken

This was pretty good stuff coming from the claypot curry stall (Whampoa Drive Blk 90, #01-66) which is just a few units away from the cooked food stall of the same name. I was just a little bit concerned when it arrived at the table bubbling at the surface exuberance. Fortunately, there wasn't any accidents involving burstings of hot fluid. 

What I liked about this curry beside the curry itself were the chicken wings which were cooked to the point that you could easily remove the meat from the bones, making them relatively easy to manage with utensils. This curry had a good amount of coconut for a rich flavour and a decent amount of spice. While this wasn't the thickest of curries that I've had, it was sufficiently flavourful and the creaminess came across. I'm sure you can imagine what it would be like to slather this over a plate of steaming rice. Which is why there we also had an accompanying plate of said rice with some vegetables for a balanced diet. Lol. Couldn't get past their minced meat ladened steamed egg with bits of century/salted egg.

 

Steeples Deli, Tanglin Shopping Centre

Beside the old school charm of a deli, I didn't think much of the sandwiches Steeples Deli (19 Tanglin Road, #02-25 Tanglin Shopping Centre, tel: 6737 0701). These folks from what I've heard were the very first deli in business in this country. I might not mind eating here occasionally if I were living or working in the vicinity but I just didn't think the food was good enough for a special trip down. Not to mention that we were faced with the grumpy lady proprietor who looked like she had a perpetual scowl etched in her face or the two Chinese guys in the kitchen that behaved like they were only interested in putting each other of out of their miseries. These two persons had given me the impression that making sandwiches were a just job for them and it also looked to me that they have probably never eaten what they've made before.

The deli had actually run out of pastrami and corned beef was used as substitute for the Reuben sandwich. A stringy corned beef it was with portions that could do with a lot more generosity. It was just strange that the sandwich maker actually took pinches of the meat and placed them on a weighing scale to determine that tiny amount he wanted to put into the sandwich. Their sauerkraut looked as yellowed and stale as the lettuce on the side that I almost forgot that it was actually sauerkraut. It appeared desiccated like old shredded cabbage and wasn't good at all. And then, just about enough of the thinly sliced cheese to cover the beef.

The portions for the food wasn't large. The steak sandwich did come with a nice sized piece of meat, but it wasn't satisfying at all. I was disappointed at the lack of beefiness from the marinated meat which tasted mostly of salt and basil. Seriously, onions don't cost so much so what's with those portions? The most enjoyable thing we had was the chocolate peanut butter shake which could do with a bit more viscosity.

Butterhead in a juice

I came upon this in Marketplace at Raffles City and was quite intrigued by it since lettuce wasn't something you normally found in juices. To quell my curiosity, I bought it for a go at this interesting drink. The first scent that hit me was a quite overpowering "green" smell from the lettuce. I remember crinkled noses. After taking my first few gulps of the thick greenish fluid, I found that this wasn't too bad at all. The lime flavour was predominant followed by a very recognizeable lettuce taste. Couldn't detect the kiwi at all. It turned out quite invigorating. The down side was that, it wasn't really thirst quenching.

The BBC pork chop rice

It has been about 10 years since I was first introduced by a friend to this particular stall which was then located in an air conditioned coffeeshop just beside Allson Hotel. Since then, it had moved to the food court in Shaw Leisure Gallery and now currently resides in another food court at Bras Brasah Complex (Coffee Express 2000 Food Court). As far as consistency went, nothing much has changed since the first time I've had these pork chops which are fried on order. Which was incidentally the thing that make them good. No cooled grease nor soggy batter on the pieces of meat. It's all fried upon order.

They're $3.30 a plate and if my memory served, it has been going at that price for a very long time too. There is nothing very fancy to their plate. A tasty piece of pork chop with rice, some cooked (probably frozen) corn/carrot/peas and salted vegetables. The eggs cost extra if you want and they're actually pretty good for hard boiled eggs. Notice that the colour of the braising sauce seeped into the egg whites from all the simmering. The egg was flavoured rather than just coloured from the sauce. I like to mix the vegetables and the rice together with the chilli. Makes everything more appetizing.

Botak Jones, Yishun

Seems that Botak Jones has yet opened another outlet (Blk 732, Yishun Ave 5) recently so I thought I'd drop by and grab a bite for a very late lunch so as to avoid the crowd. Picked up a gammon ham and cheese sandwich with a side of jalapeños which turned out to be pretty good as the pickled chilli worked its spicy kick on the salty ham and cheese. Hmmmm......Does anyone else do a ham sandwich like this? The heartiness of it won me over more than anything else. I also decided to try a small serving of their whoppass chili con carne to see what it was about. Apparently, it just a spicy ground beef bolognese which came with whole jalapeños inside. Similar to most other chili. This stuff was not too bad as a stew.

added 27/07/2008

Encouraged by the previous visit above, I dropped by for another late lunch. This time it was for the chili dawg.

The dog turned out to be quite large and slathered with a generous portion of the chili con carne and chopped onions. Was pretty good. Not something that you could actually eat with your hands considering all the mess from the sauce and that you'd probably need to have a rather large mouth to fit the dog and the buns. Probably one of the better tasting dogs I've had but then again, it would have been nicer if I could eat this with my hands.

Curry chicken at Killiney Kopitiam

I've never really known about the curry chicken here (67 Killiney Road) until quite recently. I had the distinct impression that the claim to their so called fame is by the kaya toast and coffee but lo and behold, this stuff was actually pretty good. There was enough spice and coconut in the thick gravy to make me happy and curry like that makes me want to eat a lot of rice. At the end of one these, one would have to battle the z monster though.

Freshly Baked by Le Bijoux, Killiney Road

Beware for you gaze upon death by chocolate salty balls. Lol! Kidding. This was quite a delicious salted caramel chocolate mousse tart from Freshly Baked (57 Killiney Road, #01-01, tel: 6735 3298). I liked that the light chocolate mousse wasn't excessively sweet. The salted caramel added to the tart a swab of savoury sweetness that was accented by the cocoa powder. Creamy and rich as a whole....and made crunchy by those chocolate balls. Quite a few sensations triggered by a tart eh?

We decided on a piece of brownie which didn't look promising at all from first glance. Sometimes... just sometimes it pays to go against instincts in the spirit of adventure. Because one just might discover something good unexpectedly. This was definitely not one of those times. I didn't like the brownie. It lacked the fudge factor. There wasn't enough chocolate in it too. It didn't even have enough chocolate to match many other regular chocolate cakes. What in the world was it doing there as a brownie, I don't know.

Burgers from Dubliners

Well, here's a burger from the Irish watering hole Dubliner (165 Penang Road, #01-00 Winsland Conservation House, tel: 6735 2220) and it pretty much looked like any of the other burgers that they serve here. The differences are the cheeses and whether if there was bacon or not. I'd say that the burgers here were pretty decent with a nice firm patty that wasn't too crumbly. Decent if not spectacular. My gripe was that it could've been a little bigger since the patty was noticeably smaller than their very regular sized bun. This was in no way a match for the one at Molly Malone's which had better toasted buns and a heartier patty.

The unexpected surprise was the salad on the side. It was a mix of romaine lettuces, rocket, diced tomatoes and bits of onions tossed with some mayo dressing. What's good was that this guys really tossed the salad instead of giving a token dressing drizzled over the top. Which coated the greens nicely and the raw onions added a much appreciated depth. A sharp aroma not over the top. So despite its relatively simple appearances, this salad was actually pretty good.

I had a blue cheese burger and as I've mentioned, was pretty decent but lacked the satisfaction of volume. I recall something similar which I prefer. Also, crinkle cut fries aren't really my thing.

Riverside Indonesian grilled chicken rice

What was majorly compelling for this Riverside Indonesian BBQ stall (68 Orchard Road, Level 6 Kopitiam Food Court, Plaza Singapura) at Plaza Singapura was the coconut ladened curry which made the rice irresistible. That and the convenience of the location in spite of their ever present queue. So I'm back here again and this time round, I decided to try the chicken option which included a grilled chicken thigh. In truth, the chicken was probably cooked in advance already and just brought out from the kitchen to be grilled just for a little bit before being served. The result was a soft and totally unremarkable skin that wasn't even crispy in the slightest. At least that curry and slice of omelette was pretty good still.

Sin Sian Yuen Roasted, Chong Pang

Wow, this roasted duck stall (Swee Sian Yuen Eating House) at Chong Pang wasn't bad at all. With these portions for four persons inclusive of rice, it costed about $20 which I thought was pretty reasonable for a coffeeshop. It would have been great if they deboned the duck, but I'm certainly not complaining here.

I'm talking tender lean slices of meat with just that little bit of fat underneath the layer of crisp skin. An accompanying order of roasted pork was also pretty good as well with their crispy crackling. And their rice was the soft type which I liked even without any accompanying gravy. This shop would be good for returns just like Circular Sumptuous Square.

Porn Croque Madame

We came by the new Canelé outlet (1 Scotts Road, #01-01A Shaw Centre, tel: 6738 9020) for some coffee. I had previous mentioned that a spot for a good simple cuppa would be La Strada but now we've found somewhere that serves the same brew for a dollar less. Then the croque madame on the menu beckoned. We gave in. It was actually not bad. The portion was larger than I had expected. Since this was basically cheese and ham and eggs on toast, I won't say more beyond that I enjoyed this in its heart clogging goodness. A picture paints a thousand words, so more pictures for your ogling pleasure....

Dim sum at Shang Palace

Headed down for some morning dim sum at Shang Palace (22 Orange Grove Road, Lobby Level Shangri-la Hotel, Tel: 6213 4473) after hearing about the early bird discount of 30% for the early seatings. I suppose that I had expected more of them since they were a restaurant located in Shangri-la Hotel, but I left without being impressed. Honestly, it wasn't bad at all. I was just hoping that it might have been something noteworthy. Apart from the pretty delectable custard and salted yolk bun which tends to burst and spill their scalding contents if you took a bit too big of a bite, I couldn't really say much about the food. Here're most of the stuff that we had...

J.Co Donuts

These donuts were so incredibly soft and light, I could actually down three of them pretty easily. I guess that's the dangerous thing about them since they felt almost like nothing and true enough as they say, one is never enough. Tasted better than I had expected. I suppose what made the regular glazed one a winner was that it wasn't excessively sweet like Krispy Kreme. So despite of being a fan of the old school grease and sugar coated rings, I thought these new generation of lightweights stood up well for themselves. Sure wouldn't mind getting more of them from time to time.

Miso ramen from Santouka

This bowl with miso broth from Ramen Santouka wasn't memorable at all. The flavour wasn't as full as I had been expecting and I much preferred their shoyu broth which is probably my favourite after having tried the shio the last time round. This set which I got came with a mini charshu don. The soft and thinly sliced pork cheeks were still as good as I remembered them from the last visit.