Fast breaking roundup

This one is just about some fast food breakfast options that we have here. They've been around for years mostly and I haven't really paid attention to them until lately when I had the sudden urge to.

   

I forgot what this is called but it's a sourdough sandwich with bacon, eggs and cheese. Possibly one of the better, if not best amongst the small realm of fast food breakfast sandwiches. The real bacon scored since we have too much turkey bacon around. What's nice about the sourdough sandwiches from CJ was that it came buttered. Those little wheels of hash brown nuggets were actually pretty addictive. I remember that they used to have some bacon cheese burger that uses these sourdough bread slices in the past, but it's no longer on the menu. I thought those were pretty good.

The bacon and eggs burritos were disappointing in terms of size. I was fooled by the menu into thinking that they were thick rolls filled with creamy scrambled eggs and bacon and cheese. The burrito itself was skinner than I had thought though it didn't taste too bad. Though it was more of an omelette than scrambled eggs.

A breakfast croissant from BK that tastes really bready rather than what a croissant should be like. It was tasty mostly because of the salty ham, but this is something that I probably could make at home.

These are a couple of "big" breakfast sandwiches from Burger King. Of course, it would be just wishful thinking on my part to expect them to be big because they are anything but. Again it was probably the generic salty sausage (tastier than McDs it seems there) patties that made them good to eat. I still dislike those fake bacon strips. What was clearly different were the hash brown nuggets here in comparison with CJ. These just didn't taste as good. Not even close.

The Banana Leaf Apolo, Race Course Road

I don't remember if I've ever visited Banana Leaf (56 Race Course Road, tel : 6293 8682 / 6293 5054). We came over for dinner with some friends who're back from Ozland missing the flavours of spicy local food. Not sure what was defining of their supposedly signature curry fish head. Not sure how are they much different from Muthu's as well. Also couldn't tell if the fish head was of better quality or not. That being said, the food wasn't bad. I have heard from friends whom have eaten here in the older dinghy days that the quality of the curry fish head were much better. Unfortunately or fortunately, I cannot relate. The premise does have an air of commercialism.

To the food - their rice was fine, but it took a long time to get refills. The vegetables didn't look nor taste as good as Komala Vilas. We had masala chicken which was generally fine in the most casual sense of the word.

Buddy Hoagies, Bt Timah

I came upon this place (170 Upper Bukit Timah Road, #B1-05 Bukit Timah Shopping Centre, tel : 6466 1505) recently and amongst the things to be had, the sandwich was surprisingly one of the better here. Food was quite affordable but you do get what you pay for. Their NY strip steak looked like something from Astons but didn't taste like it. Quite a far cry from that. It was a letdown from the start, arriving undercooked and had to be redone. The brown sauce on the side was on the other hand much better than I had thought. Tasted like something I could get at Hog's Breath.

I wasn't able to get a good picture of their mince beef and bacon sandwich which was pretty good. Without much frills as well. There was a delicious minced beef patty and real bacon amidst the vegetables, some cheap sliced cheese and mayo. Beats those fake strips of bacon at BK anytime.

A key lime pie from CPK

This was not what I had in mind after having that one at PS Cafe. California Pizza Kitchen's rendition turned out to be excessively sweet for me with a sugar rush in a bad way. While I agreed that there was a discernible flavour from the lime, the lack of the limey zest was quite obvious and the curd-y fillings tasted pretty milky. The crust was also pathetic - excessively sweet with the taste of honey, there wasn't anything crusty about it at all. Texture felt like a soggy muesli bar. I remember having had this years back and I recalled that it was enjoyable then. Something must have changed over here. It's either my taste or a changed recipe at work.

A hiyashi chuka from Ohsho

There has always been some appeal at Ohsho. For me it's the fried rice. For others, it could be the old school charm of a cze char environment. Seems that I've found something else about them which I like. This cold noodle from Ohsho was pretty good. Not that I've noticed it on menu before which makes me wonder if this was an addition to the menu from recent times. 

What was enjoyable about this hiyashi chuka for me was the firm and springy noodles in that shoyu sauce which was perfumed with yuzu zest. The omelette strips on the side were still warm as it was fried and shredded as they were preparing the noodles.

I wouldn't say that this can displace Ken's cold ramen anytime. The ingredients were a little different (e.g. ham strips here versus real strips of charshu at Ken, different style of eggs) but I think it's good enough as an alternative. There seems to be a sesame flavoured version so I don't mind coming back another time for that. Something else to look forward to apart from their fried rice.

Four all beef special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions in a sesame seed bun

Well, it's really just an additional slice of the beef patty in each deck of the sandwich and though that I had suspected it was probably psychological, the patties felt thinner. So it's a four all beef special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions in a sesame seed bun now. The nice thing about the Mega Mac over my favourite bite from McD is that it has vegetables. I believe I'll still stick to ordering the latter for any fast food fix from this particular joint.

Five Star Hainanese Chicken Rice, Bt Timah

I had almost missed this place (6/7 Cheong Chin Nam Road, tel : 6466 3000) walking past despite knowing roughly where it was located since I had noticed it on numerous occasions previously. Five Star certainly didn't look like a very chicken rice place at all now that I've taken a much closer look with the plethora of other cze char items found on the menu.

 

I don't know if all that diversification is doing the place much good for their core specialty since everything else looked pretty mundane and for a place that is supposedly well known for their chicken rice, it was nothing outstanding in my books. Now I'm not saying that it's bad but I don't suppose I would head out here again or even think about wanting to have chicken rice when I'm in the vicinity. The preserved vegetable with pork (mei chai kou rou) wasn't quite what I had hoped soaked in that mildly viscous gravy. There are places that have diversified and done a much better job at the preservation of their core dish. I'm surprised that no one has ever mentioned that their chilli sauce is way too salty.

Chellas ella ella, eh eh eh.....

It seemed that my favourite spot for masala chai has gone upmarket. Prices of their tea went from $1.50 to $2.50. That's a whopping 66.6% increase. Besides changing cups nothing had changed with the tea. This was an unexpected surprise after having not been visiting for a while. There was an updated menu, a bit of new decor and the place was still as crowded as ever. I may have to search for a new spot for a similar cheap beverage. The only thing that I'm gonna miss I never come back is the masala milk.

A recent eat at....

...guess where.

Ballsy?

So apparently, the local fast food joints of McD and Burger King are suddenly embroiled in some form of competition in an attempt to measure which has the larger e-peen in the form of their quad stacked patties in their burgers. Damn, didn't anyone notice how many 'in's I had used in the previous sentence? I was (being me) nonetheless intrigued despite somewhat knowing what to expect out of them and here's the supposedly ballsy option from BK which features 4 patties and their crappy turkey bacon slices. It didn't quite pack the satisfaction as the triple whopper did and it's probably because there wasn't any onions. Then again, the triple whopper didn't have so much cheese. They probably would have won McD hands down if they had used real bacon, but that aside, really, it's cheaper to just eat this. Doesn't take a lot of balls really.

Ristorante de Parma, Kensington Park Road

This post took a while to be completed due to other "pressing engagements" which I've had over the past fortnight. Heh. Anyways, this was a long overdue commentary on my visit to Ristorante de Parma (14B Kensington Park Road, Serangoon Garden Estate, tel : 6281 3380 / 6280 1096) at Serangoon Gardens. One of numerous outposts of Italian restaurants secluded amidst private housing estate which I've been hearing about and haven't had the chance to visit until now.


We started off with some pomodori al forno and a mixed mushroom soup with pine nuts. Despite being described as just tomato baked in the oven, it contained bits of minced crab meat inside and was topped with a bit of mozzarella cheese. The portions of the crab would have benefitted with more generosity. Mushroom soup was creamy, comforting and passed muster. I liked that those pine nuts added fragrance to the soup. Wouldn't have minded more of them.


Didn't personally find the selection for the mains very interesting (in the realm of my humble opinion at least) but we managed to try their 4 cheese tagliatelle and pizza di menzo. Not enough Gorgonzola in the sauce for the pasta. Your mileage may vary of course. Not much to say about the pizza except that it was decent, fairly meaty and was better than those back in Finalmente Gastronomia.


Their tiramisu was not bad despite the lack of alcohol in taste. This was possibly one of the better done I remember having. The dessert was creamy and moist, yet not overly so. It would have been great if I could taste the marsala wine. Was there masala wine even?

Screening Room, Ann Siang Road

I suppose I can say that I've found another place for pretty good steak down at the Screening Room (12 Ann Siang Road, tel : 6221 169) along Ann Siang Hill and it happens to be at a rather unsuspecting looking location that does proper restaurant food along with gastrobar snacks along with movie screening options to go with your food. It must be coincidence that a place like this is located within proximity to Les Bouchons and L'Angelus which serves very decent steaks as well.

What I'm talking about here were their wagyu new york strip and boneless ribeye (both at a decent 340g) from Australia. Admittedly, I had expected a little more flavor out of the cattle type that the meat is gleaned from and the servers weren't even informed of the meat marbling grade. Since it was suppose to be wagyu, I would presume the grading to be much lower than they had claimed, but it still didn't stop them from being the properly medium rare done hunks of juicy pieces of cow, professionally browned on the exterior without char while the insides remained prerequisitely pink and moist. Not that I mind a little bit of char at all for the fragrance.

Clean and straightforward with a little salad on the side with extra options for side orders which we then decided to go for the duck fat potato cake which was basically a hefty potato lump patty deep fried in duck fat and seemed to be infused with a very distinct flavor of rosemary. I'll say all these warrants a return in the future.

Natural cut fries from Carls Jr

Wow, Carls Jr now has these natural cut fries with skin on and they're actually not too bad. If you are wondering, it does taste different from the regular fries that other fast food places offer and that's in a good way. There seems to be more flavor in the mealy strips of potatoes compared to the flatter tasting regular shoestrings. It seems like I've found my favourite fast food french fries for now.

Some dinner stuff from Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐)

assorted vegetables and tau kwa strips

It's been quite a while. Possibly two years or more since I've last visited Din Tai Fung (290 Orchard Road, #B1-03 The Paragon, tel : 6836 8336) and the previous times were not at this particular outlet.

Most of the food were pretty much as I remembered them. I liked their vegetable and meat buns. More delicious when they're hot. I've discovered that the portions of meat to vegetables in those are 1 to 9. One of the things that I hadn't seen on menu before are the assorted vegetables with strips of those hard tau kwa which I liked. Their xiao long baos are still one of the better around.

the 90/10 vegetable and pork buns

xiao long bao

chilled drunken chicken

fried rice with pork chops

noodles....neat....kind of

braised beef noodles

Japanese sweet potato soup from Ah Chew

While down at Ah Chew for their papaya double boiled in milk we came across this dessert. It tasted just like most sweet potato soups with ginger. Except that it's Japanese sweet potatoes and they were less fibrous than the local variety. Unless I get a very specific craving for these, I don't think I'll be having them again.

Pho from Madam Saigon

That brimming bowl of pho at Madam Saigon was pretty good. I got the special pho which featured thin slices of beef, brisket and beef balls with additional tendons I spied on their menu. My bowl was loaded with ingredients. The lightly spiced beef balls tasted home made with grits. The broth also didn't match the beefiness from Pho24 and like Pho Lan was served lukewarm. Does anyone know if cooked bean sprouts are a preference or are they meant not to be thoroughly cooked?

We supplemented our pho with the Vietnamese pancake which we had previously. Couldn't resist it.

Song Fa Bak Kut Teh, New Bridge Road

Despite the appearance of Song Fa (11 New Bridge Road, #01-01, tel : 6533 6128) with all that crowd, I didn't feel like it was one of the better ba kut teh around town. The soup was less peppery and robust in comparison with Imperial and definitely wasn't on par with the Sin Min outlet down at Kelantan Lane. The lack of kick was a bit of a let down. Refills of the soup fared even worse. Must have been a separate batch of that broth there. I'm going to put this at the bottom of the list of options if I ever get a craving. What was good was the cloves of garlic that were so soft and you could just suck them out of their skins. Their bowls of clear soup mee sua with pig kidneys was always welcomed on a cool evening.


Despite the seeming popularity of the pork rib soup, I thought that their braised fallopian tubes in dark sauce was actually the better dish. They seem to taste better than the usual ones I've had in kuey chup stores.