Choo Choo Chicken, Bali Lane

This shop (33 Bali Lane) was one of numerous Korean fried chicken joints that have been popping up like fungi in recent years. Their fried chicken was fine - nothing I could tell that really defined them from the rest of the other shops. What I particularly enjoyed was their kimchi spam rice burger that was offered with their lunch sets and the shredded cabbage salad that had a tasty sesame dressing. Those fried chicken they have on paper cones has a honey garlic option. That honey garlic sauce actually tasted like it had honey rather than just being plain sweet.

For a moment there......

......the thought of jams made with meat crossed my mind.

More beefiness from Sandaime Bunji

We didn't get any tongue this time round at Sandaime Bunji. Haha!

There was though a US ribeye steak teishoku set in their lunch menu. That 300g of cow was nicely grilled but a little more cooked than the medium rare that we had asked for. Wasn't really an issue though.

The kickass item from their lunch menu was their wagyu round roast beef set. From what we were told, there's a limited quantity prepared daily. The bowl had 250g of shaven roasted beef on rice with barley. If the picture didn't already convey how good it was, I would like to add the adjectives tender and flavourful. Am pretty damn sure I would come back for this again. 

For dessert, we tried their chamame ice cream. An actual vegetable ice cream if you would. Chamame apparently is a variety of edamame. We were expecting a nuttier flavour but it tasted like sweet corn ice cream. 

Keria Japanese Restaurant, Cuppage Plaza

This was a small shop (#B1-28 Cuppage Plaza, 5 Koek Rd, tel : +65 6733 0654) nestled in the basement of Cuppage Plaza. You know - the homely izakaya kind of place? We've been to Cuppage Plaza countless times and never knew they existed until recently.

We had uni temaki. Tasty hand rolls with filled with sea urchin on shiso and rice.

That's cabbage stir fried with mentaiko. I found this very addictive. These would be just perfect with a bowl of steamed white rice.

We had momotaro tomatoes. Man these were sweet and juicy. Not to mention expensive as well.

We munched through a couple of chutoro maki too. Tasty and also rather dearly priced.

Their beef curry was one of the more memorable ones I've had in a while. The flavours were rich and packed a nice warmth from the heat along with very tender pieces of meat and tendon. This was a half portion with miso soup which was an option on menu.

Some meaty gyozas were also in the cards.

And something the menu described as 'pork steak wasabi soya sause'. Through the erroneous spelling and wrongly sequenced gramma, we found out that it was some kind of wasabi butter on pork loin. The butter made the pork very tasty though the meat was much tougher than what we had expected out of a slab of rosu.

Today was a first time for us with grilled soramame (broad beans). These were like a larger and more flavourful version of edamame. I like these.

Because ayu was in season, we just had to have them. The bitter sweetness from the head and belly from the grilled fish was amazing. The meat was tender with a light texture and there was also that flavourful skin. This was superior to the last ones we had from Kanda Wadatsumi.

Super Red Burger from McD

So that's the current gimmick from the golden arches, a red bunned chicken burger that's as red as the angry bird. With lettuce, a slice of tomato, a fried egg and pepper mayo on a fried chicken thigh. Crispy batter and real chicken meat. There was a bit of heat but it wasn't anywhere close to the previous Fiery Mala burger. In fact, this doesn't even get on par with the regularly available McSpicy. Something about it was smoky though. If you're wondering if it's any good, it's as good as it can reasonably be for something that you can get from McD. Now that my curiosity's satiated, I don't think I'll be having it again.

Revisiting PerBacco

So it's back to our rather recently discovered Italian restaurant. Honestly, the crowd here looked a little worrying on a Friday evening when you couldn't even get a table without reservations at neighbouring joints like Pasta Brava. While we appreciated the peace of a quiet spot (an experience uncommon these days) for dinner, it also means that business might not be good enough to sustain rental and profits. That being said, I hope these guys stay around for much longer.

By the way, the menu has changed a little since the last time. The green pea mint risotto is no longer on the menu; amongst others which we wanted to try. Prices seem to have increased a little and black summer truffle season is here. 

Frittelle Soffici e Involtini al Prosciutto e Scamorza

Started off with some prosciutto wrapped Scamorza cheese and fritters of some sort. The cheese and prosciutto were good, nothing unexpected yet the essence of an attractive enduring flavour. Assuming you like ham and cheese that is. Those fritters tasted like beignets. Almost like choux pastry with a crisp shell while the insides were soft with a core that was almost like custard. Savoury of course.

Linguine alla Carbonara di Astice

As the name described, this was lobster carbonara. Did it taste anything like regular carbonara? No it didn't. It was less cheesy and didn't have the aroma of black pepper or pancetta/guanciale/bacon. But the lobster flavour in the sauce reduced us to silence and slurps. This was pretty damn good.

Wagyu ribeye of, by my guess, middling marbling with some nutty sauce and shaven black truffle. This was rich, flavourful and satisfying. Even those fried potatoes on the side were awesome.

Tagliata di Agnello con Cipollotti Stufati e Salsa al Marsala

We had lamb too. With a Marsala jus and sweet braised shallots. Delicious little loins just like the last time.

Hai Xian Zhu Zhou (海鲜煮粥), Yishun Street 21

The last time we were here (#01-472 Choh Dee Place, Blk 233 Yishun St. 21), we saw quite a lot of people with their steaming bowls of noodles which looked pretty good even though it seemed that these guys are pretty well known for their porridge. Yes, it's the same Choh Dee Place as the one with the fried carrot cake. I got a bowl this time round - tom yam pork Koka noodles. Pretty generous portions of thin sliced pork, liver and what appears to be home made meatballs. All for a princely sum of less than four dollars. If you were wondering, it tasted like instant noodle seasoning with instant noodles. It sure was delicious though.

Breakfast food for dinner at MTR and other thoughts

I've disliked coriander for as long as I can remember. There are spectrums to dislikes and my relationship with coriander falls close to one the extreme end. Hence understandably so, when I realized that the rava idli from MTR was stuffed with them the first time I ate them, I was mortified. Mind still not fully latching onto the reality of these days when I actually eat one; half anticipating that I'll be spitting out a mouthful from reacting to the flavour. But no....that did not happen. I happily scooped another piece, warily eyeing bits of leaves and stem hanging out from the rice cakes - still unbelieving that I'm actually enjoying these. 

That's a chow chow bath. Breakfast kind of Indian vegetarian food. A plate with a scoop of the savoury kara bath and another of the sweet kesari bath. Semolina pudding/cakes the both of them. The former with ghee, mustard seed and bits of vegetables and the latter with ghee and cashew and raisins, flavoured with saffron. I learnt of their existence back in the day at Chellas. These ones here at MTR tasted better.

And to wash down, a cup of hot badam drink. Which is pretty much like their badam milk. Except that it's hot and not cold and was noticeably less creamy. But basically a sweet milk drink of almond spiced with saffron and cardamom. 

Diandin Leluk, Golden Mile Complex

We noticed Diandin Leluk (#01-67/68/69, Golden Mile Complex, 5001 Beach Rd, tel : +65 6293 5101) the last time we were here at BeerThai House. A bit of Googling told us that the restaurant had been around and well known for quite some time. Since we were exploring Thai food here, why not? Their iced green tea with milk was stronger and creamier than BeerThai.

That's some deep fried catfish with mango salad. The catfish meat seemed to have been shredded and deep fried into a crispy floss cake. I'm generally not so big on something so deep fried and crispy and it was pretty much the mango that kept me going.  Couldn't say that I could actually taste fish. Now that we know, we'll just stick to the regular som tam mamuang in the future.

Their pad krapow moo was quite tasty. There was a generous portion of the minced pork, savoury with some heat from the chilli padi. I would eat this again.

This was larb muang moo or is it just larb moo? A pork salad with innards - there were bits of chopped liver, intestines and maybe kidneys. The porcine flavours were a little too heavy for us. While I could work through this, I'm pretty sure we won't be getting it again. I had been expecting that vibrant hit of lime and mint like the larb moo from Gin Khao.

We had oyster omelette too. Not too bad, but this looked more like the local variety than the ones we had seen in Bangkok.

In retrospect, BeerThai had left a deeper impression than Diandin Leluk - but I don't think I'm going to discount this place without another try.

Lunch at Adam Road Food Centre

Been quite a while since the last time I came here. We were looking for something local and frills free so Adam Road FC (2 Adam Road) was as good as any with that regard.

Saw the maggi goreng at Ibrahim Mee Stall (#01-04) and decided to try it. Yes, it is stir fried instant noodles with crinkle cut fries drizzled with mayo and cheese sauce, a fried egg and the local Indian mutton steak. A greasy carbo plate with some protein and just a tiny bit of fibre from the bits of cabbage in the fried noodles. It wasn't too bad, but I think it could have been improved with a bit more salt and heat from the spices. There was nothing about it that would make me come back for again.

Here's kambing/mutton soup from Bahrakath Mutton Soup King (#01-10). What got me interested was seeing the proprietor in the stall snip chunks of boiled mutton from a large hunk to be put into the soup. Mutton that was tender. The soup was not bad -  I thought that the fat from the the lamb might have been well emulsified in it resulting in creaminess. The bread they had was dense and absorbed the broth pretty well. I'm definitely coming back again - I see brain, tripe and tongue on the menu.

I'm pretty surprised that I survived this without a post lunch coma!

A carrot cake breakfast from Choh Dee Place

Choh Dee Place is a local coffee shop (Blk 233 Yishun Street 21) in case anyone was wondering. I haven't had carrot cake for ages and decided to get a plate of black and white. This was actually pretty good if a little expensive. A portion of sweet and savoury with some heat from the chilli.

Ramen Gallery Takumen, Circular Road

This was my first visit to Ramen Gallery Takumen (66 Circular Road). The concept behind the shop was the feature of multiple offerings from different ramen-ya under a single roof. With regards to that particular concept, I had always been curious as to how it had worked and I found out today. It is as advertised but the shop wasn't run by the actual folks behind the respective brands. It was manned by a couple of Hokkien speaking aunties. So I'm guessing that all they do behind the counter is cook the noodles and everything else is made either from a central kitchen somewhere or imported ready for use with minimal preparation.

Isn't this place a little pricey for almost instant noodles?

Anyways, here's a bowl from Bigiya, a Michelin Tokyo Bib Gourmand winner. The more interesting of the bunch in my opinion. This bowl featured a fish and chicken broth with yuzu and had wheat noodles. My expectations were accordingly inched up because of their accolade (I should have known, right?), so a fair assessment would be that I was a little disappointed. I suppose I had been expecting a more of the yuzu flavour than just a hint and also better standards for their ajitama.  It wasn't a bad bowl per se, just nothing to get excited over or come back for again. On the other hand, the cheese gyozas were tasty.

Otoro katsu from Suigei Sake Salon

Suigei Sake Salon has a new teishoku set for lunch. One with otoro katsu! The side dishes included in this set were minced crab and sazae. No kegani croquette. Like their other lunch orders, it is limited to 5 sets a day.

The meat of the tuna was lightweight and tender. Amongst the condiments to be used for the otoro katsu, I felt the accompanying mustard and salt together were the better. Not so much the tonkatsu sauce.

Because the kegani croquette did not come with the lunch, we ordered it as an add on anyway. There was dessert, we took the pumpkin pudding again because the other option which was soya bean pudding didn't sound as good.

Lucca's Trattoria, Robertson Walk

Really? The year is just halfway through and Wine & Dine has already officially decided that this (#01-12 Robertson Walk, 11 Unity Street) was one of the top restaurants for 2016? I'm sure we can do better, no? Little wonder my regard for the publication has dipped progressively throughout the years.  

Food was ok, but I'm not sure Lucca's Trattoria was deserving of that accolade. I have little idea too what is that Lucca's style of cuisine that the restaurant claims to serve. Does Lucca even have their own cuisine type? Most of the menu items could be found in most of the other Italian restaurants around. I'll admit some of the stuff were inventive takes, but.... Lucca's cuisine.... really?

Service was brusque and superficial. Didn't know why the waitress even bothered asking how the food was when all we got in return was a blank stare. She didn't looked like she cared, only that she asked. Pretty sure that she wasn't going to bother to feedback to the kitchen.

That's their Caprese. Not exactly a showcase of the restaurant's capability. Except of one to import produce and perhaps, a bit of fanciful plating.

We had a shot at their Gorgonzola e Frutta pizza. Gorgonzola, dried prunes, dates and apricots. Sounded like my thing. Sounded' was the operative word. What was wrong with this picture you might wonder? Well, the pie glaringly lacked the mottled blue bits for one with Gorgonzola. While some of the flavour from the cheese were present, they were at the middle of the pizza. Did I just imply stinginess? You betcha ass I just did. A good half of it was nothing but crust and tomato paste. 

The chicken liver and bacon pasta with Marsala sauce sounded like it might have been good as well. The sauce oddly reminded me of those found in the pork and potato with onion stir fry that my parents used to do. Very Asian kind of flavours which I did not expect coming from a fortified wine sauce and butter. Their bacon was neither salty not smoky. Hell I couldn't even taste any of the pepper. While I couldn't say that I disliked this, I would not order it again. I had a hard time trying to reconcile that taste with the word 'Italian'.

Old House (老屋), Neil Road

We've passed by this shop (25 Neil Road, tel : +65 6223 1633) numerous times and have been intrigued by the "dinosaur prawn noodles" that they advertise at the shop front. I was of course under no illusions about the description. Anything that isn't at least the size of those Thai river prawns doesn't deserve to be called dinosaur prawn noodles and I was pretty sure these weren't.  

I was right about them. But the broth was intense from the crustacean flavours and pork bone. There was the aroma of pepper amidst the flavours and each mouthful left the lips glazed with grease. Prawns were pretty tender but the pork ribs weren't anything to write home about. At $15, it was also rather small portions.

What was unexpectedly good was their white lor mee. The creamy broth was sweet from the cabbage accented by just a little bit of smokiness from the scorched thin strips of pork belly. The chewy noodles were just what I was looking for. I'd come back just for this alone.

We ordered steamed sting ray topped with garlic and chilli. While I couldn't shake off the nagging feeling that this was frozen meat because of the odd texture, the ray was actually pretty tasty. It also bestowed upon us dragon's breath. Hahaha!

Sap Thai Food, Amoy Street FC

Wow, the food was not bad at all from Sap Thai Food (#01-58 Amoy Street Food Centre, 7 Maxwell Road). Their som tam mamuang was refreshingly tasty from the lime and fish sauce, boosted with those perspiration inducing chilli padi. Great textures from the toasted whole peanuts, fragrant thin strips of crunchy mango and things turned up a notch after I added some of those crushed peanuts and sugar. This mango salad packed more punch than the one from Gin Khao. I'd eat it again in a heartbeat.

The plate below is their fried Thai basil MaMa noodles. Yes, they're exactly those delicious chrome packet toasted instant noodles, stir fried with some krapow gai and topped with a fried egg. It's a pity they don't do pork here and these guys don't open in the weekends.