Nasi padang from Mr Rawon

Very delicious selection of rice and dishes there (Block 291, Yishun St. 22) just minutes of walk from Darul Makmur mosque. It kinda helped that this was over a rainy afternoon where all the spices and gravy made the food so comforting. This was my first time trying the dark keluak gravy over rice. I did like it but I also couldn't fathom what I liked about it. There were some nice chewy paru goreng, tempeh, begedil and cauliflower/broccoli that formed a mixture of savoury, spicy and sweet flavours (mound of brown shredded coconut on the side). I have this place marked for returns.

Heng Gi Goose and Duck Rice, Tekka Food Centre

This stall down in Tekka food centre (665 Buffalo Road, #01-335 Tekka Market & Food Centre) is apparently an institution for Teochew styled braised duck and has been in operation for decades. I had previously never been one for braised ducks until the recent induction to these Teochew styled rendition which had made me reevaluate my preferences. Another reason why this place captured my interest was probably because of the fact that they had goose which is altogether relatively uncommon here.

So, there went a half and half mix of duck and geese along with my usual works of hard boiled eggs, liver and tau kwa accompanied with their vinegar based chilli sauce which spiced the spot, in a manner of speaking. In retrospect, I couldn't really tell what was the difference between their duck and goose. The bottom line however was that I liked what they did for their generous portions of tender sliced meat and a greasy dark sauce which added a dimension of fragrance when eaten with the rice. I would have to say that Tai Dong had a much flavourful sauce, but I couldn't really decide which one was the better stall since they were both very nicely done. I'm gonna have to file these two up as equals in terms of preference.

$1 soy sauce chicken from Canton-i

Get them before they're history!

But I digress.... this soy sauce chicken from Canton-i was honestly not too bad coming from someone who normally doesn't really fancy them. I would have to say that in the department of meat tenderness, I would have to give it to the Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken place down in Chinatown which I felt, was a little better on the overall. The was definitely a better balance of sweet and savory and the skin felt like they were more delicate. Still, a dollar for a whole chicken these days in a restaurant is a deal not to be passed up.

Cocotte, Dickson Road

It was heartening to discover that another rustic bistro styled French restaurant (2 Dickson Road, Wanderlust Hotel, tel : +65 6298 1188) has opened, even more so that the food was actually enjoyably hearty. In line with the communal theme of the restaurant, we ordered a bunch of stuff for sharing so that we could taste a variety. Still, we were spoilt for choice because many things looked good.

We started things off with some appetizers which included a very tasty slow cooked and subsequently deep fried tripe. I've had tripe in various forms but these breaded and deep fried ones were a first. Thought they were pretty good. We ordered pork rillettes were pretty decent. I discovered today that French mustard with butter on baguettes were delicious. The pissaladière as I have learnt is a sort of onion paste tart. The soft and flaky pastry was nicely done though I had expected more in the way of anchovies. It was described as an onion and anchovy tart after all.

pork rillettes

pissaladière

fried tripe

Moving on to the mains, both Cocotte's roasted pork collar and boeuf à la ficelle were outstanding in their own different ways. 

The former was a nicely done pork dish with delicious fatty bits slathered in a creamy Dijon mustard sauce. On the side, buttered Brussels sprouts that came with expertly toasted almonds which were impressively fragrant. 

At another end of the spectrum was their boeuf à la ficelle which was a simple beef broth poached tenderloin with baby vegetables on the side. Flavoured by some crystals of salt. So much of the natural sweetness remained. Oh yes, I liked the accompanying gruyère on toast too. 

The steak tartare didn't quite look as minced as I thought. It was all good after the condiments went it with a mix. I was thinking that this would benefit from some capers and more chopped onions.

roasted pork collar in creamy Dijon mustard sauce

boeuf à la ficelle

steak tartare

After meals were a citron tart and a small selection of cheeses. We finished the tart before moving on to the cheeses. On hindsight, I thought that the sourish and fruity lemon tart would have been good with the cheeses. It had a buttery base with fillings that packed a nice lemony punch. Lucky me got the section with the candied orange peel.

citron tart

fromage

Gyudons from Yoshinoya

Yoshinoya has come up with a few variations to their beef bowl lately. Here's a look at their tamago and rutan beef bowls which features a half boiled egg and a hard boiled version respectively. The egg from the latter was only briefly stewed in sauce.  Not much of the brown was on the surface.

While I'm not a fan of these guys I've to admit that there aren't anyone place else I know of that makes a savoury gyudon. Without sweetness in the sauce. With the egg in the bowl, I might just start dropping by again.

Maggi goreng from Jalan Kayu Prata Cafe

This wasn't bad at all. I wasn't too sure of what to make out of a "Jalan Kayu" branded stall right smack in town (60B Orchard Road, #01-16A The Atrium @ Orchard, tel : +65 9237 9005) but it looked like it attracted it's fair share of clientele. Beside having better dressed cooks, the place looked and smelled the part of a Indian coffee shop/eatery. What I liked about the maggi goreng with mutton was that it wasn't too wet. There was a spiciness that was respectable. Nice enough that I would definitely consider this again if I'm around town.

Breakfasting at Selera Johor

This ad hoc breakfast trip turned out to be more interesting than I had anticipated. I was brought by a friend who recommended me to this little food centre (Selara Johor Food Court, Plaza Larkin, Johor Bahru, 80350) located just beside Plaza Larkin where there was a pretty tasty mee rebus stulang. A supposed landmark of sorts of the locals. For some reasons, the stall had ran out of prawns and we couldn't get to order "the works". Still we ended up with a simple yet different mee rebus which wasn't too bad in my opinion. The gravied noodles had some savoury fritters sprinkled over the top. There was a nice consistency to the gravy and the flavour was precise.

Just across from that mee rebus stall, there was something called kachang pool which turned out to be what I think of as an Asian version of chili con carne. The minced meat and bean stew wasn't very spicy, but the chopped fresh onion and green chillis with a squeeze of calamansi made them pretty irresistible with their thick buttered toast. Bonus points goes to having an egg in there was well.

Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice & Noodle, Chinatown Food Centre

I've eaten at this stall (Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice & Noodle, Blk 335 Smith Street, #02-127 Chinatown Complex Food Centre) a few times by recommendation. Have never been a person for soya sauce chicken until this particular one. Surprising even myself, these few visits have seen me standing in line under sweltering heat for the food. Maybe it's because I felt the queue actually made sense. 

One of the reasons why the queue endures is that the food here is affordable. The chef/proprietor doesn't yield under the pressure of the said queue. Apparently, all the meats are done by himself. What I liked about the chicken was the tender meat and sweet soya sauce concoction that's been infused into the skin of the bird. 

The other item that got me coming back was the delicious char siew which was a nice balance of sweet and savoury deliciousness. The stall stings on the portion of neither. The pictures doesn't do any justice to the flavours.

Run Ji Cooked Food (润记熟食), Chinatown Food Centre

Spurred by the delicious meal of braised duck at Tai Dong, I was encouraged to seek out another similar stall to continue changing my opinion of braised duck. Run Ji Cooked Food (Blk 335 Smith Street, #02-140 Chinatown Complex Food Centre), a straightforward stall as such was another which was brought to my attention recently.

Being hungry, we pulled little punches and topped up the order of the bird with innards and eggs. I enjoyed this one as well even though they didn't have a sauce which was as flavourful as Tai Dong. The interesting thing that set this stall apart from the rest was that they had hae bi hiam (spicy dried shrimp) as a topping option for the rice that they served. While it wasn't one of the best I've had, it did add a dimension to the relatively tame flavour of the sauce. The food wasn't mind blowing but it was also a simple and comforting meal with little fuss. I couldn't say that I would mind returning.

Revisiting Canton-i

Encouraged by the wanton noodles from the previous visit at Canton-i, we decided to return to try some of the other items that they have on menu.

This would be the equivalent of the twin roast meats with rice. Surprisingly good was their char siew, which was nicely caramelized with the sweet fatty half of each slice melting nicely in the mouth. The roast duck was unfortunately lean and dry. The lack of fat also rendered the meat of the duck a little bland.

Nicely done too, was their stir fried Chinese chives & bean sprouts with dried shrimp, dried cuttlefish and cashew nuts. The dried shrimps used were of a much larger variety than usual. The flavors from the sauce of this stir fried vegetable dish was robust and definitely paired very nicely with white rice. Can't really break down what that was in there apart from the listed ingredients, but it was good stuff.

The XO sauce radish cake was decently executed and probably might have made a better better dim sum or breakfast order rather than dinner because of the grease, but we had wanted to try them out. Each piece was coated with a light layer of crisp with creamy insides.

Another order of wanton noodles here. This time round, we opted for the dry noodles. Strangely, the firm and chewy texture of the noodle that was experienced previously was less apparent in this than the one in the soup rendition.

There wasn't that much in the way of desserts on menu, so we settled for the jiang zhi zhuang nai. Milk curdled in ginger juice. Moderately spicy and sweet and textured like very soft bean curd, this was not bad at all.

Back in Anatolia

Decided to head here (14 Scotts Road, #02-58/59 Far East Plaza, tel : +65 6836 3352) for lunch because of some kebab craving that sparked off by Deli Turk. Invariably, comparisons were made since it was just a day ago that we were eating Turkish food.

Here's just talking about the doner kebabs here and the most obvious difference was in the serving of the meat. I had noticed that the spits were only switched on when the order was taken on a quiet weekend lunch and presumably, things were not as warm compared to a busy spit. Still, the beef kebab was pretty tasty and the half green chilli added a nice spicy depth to the food. Chicken was kinda boring and the cold fries which had been laying around somewhere were totally forgettable.

Regarding their "special" rice. It's merely the same butter rice that was used with the frozen peas/carrot/corn and some almonds.

Deli Turk, Suntec City

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I used to work in the vicinity. Deli Turk (3 Temasek Boulevard, #03-004, Suntec City Mall, tel : +65 6336 8082) was yet another one of those places that I must have passed by countless times and overlooked until today when I decided to give these guys a try. Even though I thought that the proprietor looked like a insurance sales person with a chip on the shoulder.

We started off with a safe order of hummus which was quite generous with the lemon and also had enough paprika to almost paint the dish Szechuan. Lol! I thought it was strange having chopped spring onions sprinkled on the top since that really added to the effect of making the dish look really Chinese and spicy. But all was good with the nicely chilled and creamy chick pea paste served with warm bread.

This yoghurt slathered dish, Kara lahana domasi was something we got off the daily special menu. The tubular shapes were cabbage leaves stuffed with rice and minced meat. It was altogether quite good.

The lamb doner kebab was delicious with sufficient gaminess from the meat on top of moist butter rice. In spite of the grease from both the meat and rice, I did feel that portions were a little small. My not so spider sense detects a repeat order item here in subsequent visits.

The kunefe was a dessert that was recommended by the grumpy looking proprietor and wow, this was pretty good stuff indeed. I would come back just to have them again. It appeared to be a shredded filo pastry like tart/thing/disc with unsalted cheese on the inside. The pastry which was lying on cream was sweetened by a topping of syrup and served piping hot with a shower of crushed pistachio over the top. The texture of the kunefe allowed it to soak up the cream from the bottom, so it ended up being cool yet warm, and was both crispy and juicy (from the soaked cream) at the same time.

Nantsuttei, Parco Marina

Finally visted this ramen-ya (9 Raffles Boulevard, #P3-06 Parco Marina Bay, Millenia Walk, tel : +65 6337 7166). I've been curious about them since the time I read about them opening up here. Thinking to beat the novelty crowd, I had decided not to be in such a hurry to visit them like I did for Ippudo but apparently the queues have not abated. Good thing that the turnover was pretty quick. I may just have found my favourite tonkotsu ramen shop!

Overlooking the other options, I went straight for the maru-toku negi chashu-men which was their basic ramen with additional portions for the negi and chashu. The rich creamy broth was lightly accented by the flavour of the black ma-yu which was to me a bit of a curiosity. It was a fragrance rather than a intense flavouring of garlic that had been fried multiple times. Their slightly stiff slices of chashu relented after being soaked in the broth for some moments having the fat softened. Resisting the temptation for more enhanced flavours, I gave the extra garlic options a pass this first time. Just so that I can experience their ramen straight up as they were done. Got a little enthusiastic over the order and forgot my usual topping of egg.

On the side, we gave their Fuufu Enman Gyoza (amusingly named Happy Couple gyoza by translation) a shot and it arrived slightly burnt. They were just small gyozas, albeit a little meatier than I was expecting.

Definitely coming back again.

Skinny Pizza, Raffles City

Yet another outlet has opened for Skinny Pizza (252 North Bridge Road, #B1-63/64 Raffles City Shopping Centre). What drove us to visit this time was their expended menu which looked like it has much more than what we remembered from the last visit.

We got ourselves the 'salami & pesto' pizza this time round. Turned out to be one which we thought was pretty good with a smattering of different flavours coming from the salty salami, bitter rockets, sweet roasted capsicum, sour from the bits of chopped olives and pungence from the crumbled goat cheese. I'm surprised that I even managed to list all of them out.

Nibbles on the sides now come in a three item option (costing a little less than three separate orders) which we decided to take advantage of. The truffle fries were an obvious choice. We picked a seared brie crusted with pistachio and garlic grilled prawns with cauliflower cous cous. Damn, the cous cous (which was just finely shredded cauliflower) was good! I wished they had been more generous with the portions though.

Dessert was a rumbaba which was served with a shot of rum. I'm not sure how these cakes are done traditionally but I thought this rendition was pretty good with the vanilla bean sauce and preserved orange rinds.

There was a red latte which was basically roobois tea with milk. If the color of the drink wasn't apparent, this was a robust brew of the tea. Didn't taste as milky the looks might have suggested. There was definitely more tea in this stuff.

Bontá.....omakase

Leaving things up to the hands of the chef is spruced by the appeal/appal of mystery. One does not know what one might get. For many, the anticipation of the delivery works magic. It's not something that I do very often and if I did, it's usually for Japanese food and it's more of the fact that it allows me to sample what's good for the day/week rather than getting a surprise. Maybe I lack adventurous spirit. I don't really like surprises (still saying this even though I'm generally willing to try weird stuff) and I want to know what I'm going to eat. No disparagement to Luca and his selection, but I guess this was just one of those meals which I didn't choose and turned out to be not too exciting.

Pumpkin flower fritters stuffed with cheese would be something that would catch my eye if it turned up on menu. I'm not sure how eating these were suppose to go but the flavour was mostly cheese and some bits of vegetable texture which didn't quite identify itself as anything. I noticed that the rockets looked a little tired. Lol.

Nice refreshingly tasty tomato hearts, a light and a creamy mozzarella. Parma ham tasted a little washed out. Definitely not a perky nutty aroma which I was hoping for.

This was affectionately termed the kuey teow a la Papermoon. It was a mimic of a certain pasta dish which a friend had over at Paper Moon at Milan. The pasta was al dente, tomato based sauce wasn't overly tart and there were chunks of scallops and some shrimps. I'm guessing that this didn't taste as good as the original since it was an attempt to duplicate. Sure didn't blow my mind there.

This is the first time for me with goose confit. I'm not expert with them, but I thought the meat was a little too dry and lacked identifying flavour.

Desserts....