Chinatown Beef King (牛车水牛腩王), ABC Brickworks Food Centre

I was drawn to this stall (#01-115 ABC Brickworks Food Centre, 6 Jalan Bukit Merah) by the simplicity of the setup. Did not noticed them previously and I wasn't sure even if they were doing the commonly seen Hainanese styled beef noodles. Anyways, I went with a bowl of dry kuey teow with tendons. Changed the profile of the gravy I did, with a couple of splashes of vinegar and the pickled vegetables. In a good way that is. Delicious then. With the tender bits of tendon and slurpy kuey teow. Will be back another time.

More サラダ (home made)

We threw together yet again another bunch of ingredients and fruit from the fridge. This time we had some seedless Kyoho grapes, baby spinach, Swish Chard; along with the tomatoes and cucumber left over from the last time. Those, some toasted pine nuts and the Stilton too. Dressing was made with a gift of home made orange marmalade.

Fatty Cheong (肥仔祥), ABC Brickworks Food Centre

I remember having eaten at Fatty Cheong (#01-120 ABC Brickworks Food Centre, 6 Jalan Bukit Merah) at least a couple of times previously. For some reasons, it's never been blogged. I could have thought them unmemorable and not worth bringing up. I cannot be sure. They get mentioned now and then because of popularity and after a while, my curiosity got piqued again. This time, I thought I would so to speak, put the pen to the paper. I could spare a little ink.

The food was not bad per se. Roast pork passed muster but isn't at the level of CH叉R or Roast Paradise. Not the tenderness, flavour nor crunch from the crackling. Roasted duck was relatively tender but very chewy and was not so easily removed from the bone. I'm of the opinion that boned in meat should be with minimal effort stripped off from the bone. I was sweating through my fork and spoon with this one. Brown sauce was okay. Chilli wasn't very spicy but had a nice flavour. 

And that was all she wrote.

Meatball porridge from Ah Chiang

I mentioned wanting to get the meatball porridge from Ah Chiang. These pork balls were made in house and coarse textured. Had a nice homely flavour of soy sauce and sesame oil. 

While I thought well of their kailan stir fried with garlic, today's plate tasted a little diluted.

Eating yu sheng here is as costly as paying for sashimi in Japanese restaurants. But one does get fatty salmon flavoured with sesame oil and sliced chilli. Can't get those in Japanese restaurants.

Cheesy 7 Durian pizza from Pizza Hut

Pizza Hut has a Cheesy 7 durian pizza which features seven types of cheeses. If anyone was wondering if all seven varieties can be tasted, it was just generally cheesy to me. To be fair, it didn't taste bad freshly made. I liked those crusty savoury bits of browned cheese. 

I just didn't take well to those dollops of durian. Sweet and cloying without a particular brand of fragrance like say, the mao shan wang variety which could be discerned. Was surfeited from the sweetness after two slices. As durian pizzas go, the one from Tino's was superior in flavour and less expensive. Without the 50% off from takeaway, the price for this was exorbitant.

Yaowarat Thai Kway Chap, Holland Village

First time having Thai kuey chap. Never had them in Bangkok though I've visited a number of times. Assuming that what we had was representative of how it is in Thailand, the obvious difference between this and the local variety is that the latter is accompanied by side dishes that are entirely braised/stewed. What we had from Yaowarat Thai Kway Chap (17A Lorong Liput, tel :  +65 8822 5637) were accompanied by dishes that are cooked in other ways.

Braised tofu. Texture was rough but tender. Nice.

I had hopes for the cabbage stir fried with fish sauce. This was a little disappointing from the lack of flavour from the fish sauce and that it was pretty oily. But the stir frying that they did was well done with speckles of char.

Stewed eggs in dark soy sauce. Not bad.

Followed the sheep and ordered their fried pork belly. While they were obviously no match for the specialists, I couldn't complain. The idea of pairing them with dark soy sauce and chilli never occured to me. Works.

This was fish sausage. Couldn't taste any fish in it. They were sweet, savoury and fatty - not dissimilar to lup cheong. Pretty addictive.

There was fried pig's large intestines. Nicely done with a light crisp exterior while the insides were tender with a bite. Quite salty though.

Spied their pig's stomach soup near the order counter and ordered a portion. Wasn't on the menu. The sliced pieces of pig's stomach were tender and chewy. Liked it. The soup/broth was exactly the same as the kuey (rice noodles).

Their kuey came in scrolls. Curled up rice rolls with more bite than the tender local variety. The broth was herbal, spicy and had a lot of pepper. I enjoyed it, even though it was a little more salty than I normally like. At $3 a bowl, it was pretty expensive.

Fried Kway Teow (炒粿條), Amoy Street Food Centre

Haven't had char kuey teow in a while so I decided to give this stall (#01-01 Amoy Street Food Centre, 7 Maxwell Road) a go. A hum-less plate. It's yet another one of those that I've passed by on occasions beyond count but I don't remember having eaten from them before. I was slightly disappointed.

This plate of would have benefitted much from more dark soya sauce and better caramelizations for their flavour. Believe there wasn't any lard because I couldn't taste any of it. Bean sprouts had a nice crunch. Tasted healthy with too little sweet or saltiness. It's not bad per se, just not what I was looking for.

Chilling out at Tokyo Soba

Was looking for something that wouldn't sit down heavy so a cold soba was usually the quick fix for that. This was a chilled kitsune soba with the sweet abura age from Tokyo Soba.

Topped it with extra portion of the abura age. Should I be admitting that they're a kind of guilty pleasure here?

Healthier options seem to be popping up recently - like this cold nebaneba soba that featured natto, tororo and okura. Not a bad eat though if natto's your friend and the slimy texture isn't a concern.

Yuan Chun Famous Lor Mee (源春驰名卤面), Amoy Street Food Centre

I remember having a bowl of lor mee from Yuan Chun (#02-80 Amoy Street Food Centre, 7 Maxwell Road, tel : +65 62911439) some years ago and also recalled not being impressed. But there was a suggestion to give them a try so I relented since the memory was hazy from the last time round and importantly, there wasn't much of a queue.

The first thing I noticed was that the gravy was viscous but not starchy. Not outright impressive in flavour by itself but tasty with the spoonful of vinegar and chilli. Speaking of which - these guys don't have chilli paste, only chilli padi which I thought produced a cleaner heat compared with the paste. I didn't taste any garlic as well. The toppings were so so and I don't mind eating again as long as I didn't have to deal with a queue.

Chilled yuzu-miso chicken and immunity boost set from Healthy Soba IKI

The lemon soba is still around so maybe they're considering to keep that on the menu for good. Or for at least a longer term which is also good news anyways. So I've decided to try something else - the yuzu-miso soba. While it didn't have the same clean citrus clarity as the lemon soba did, it still had an appetizingly tangy broth which also masked the raw flavour from the dou miao. Today, they were also pretty generous with the shirasu in the donburi.

The other bowl was from their Immunity Boost Set that featured okura, kimchi, shimeiji and natto. Aside from the dashi base, the dominant flavour came from both the kimchi and the natto. It's not for everyone. I didn't mind it but I'm still trying to get used to the sliminess.

サラダ (home made)

We threw together a bunch of ingredients and fruit from the fridge. Peaches, tomato, grapes, cucumbers, half a head of lettuce and some Stilton. Made a dressing with olive oil, apple cider vinegar, Korean yuja citron tea, salt and pepper.

Xiang Ji Lor Mee Zha Jiang Mian (香记卤面. 炸酱面), Old Airport Road Food Centre

Am usually not a lor mee person but seeing the bits of fish got me interested in a bowl from Xiang Ji Lor Mee (#01-81 Old Airport Road Food Centre, 51 Old Airport Road). Ordered mine with bee hoon and topped the bowl up with a dollar of extra fish. Enjoyed it, but that was after the gravy had lost most of the viscosity and the flavours from the garlic/vinegar/chilli paste had combined. Wouldn't mind eating this again but I'd like to give the other Tiong Bahru Lor Mee stall a try first.

Grilled 海老 and thoughts from Nakajima Suisan

Nakajima Suisan has progressed beyond just grilled fish teishoku for a while. We've had oysters, there's scallops and even large grilled prawns. Some of their old specials like the hon maguro nodo and fin (still hoping for the cheeks too) shioyaki have made their regular menu. Tried their prawns today and those were nice and meaty - meat easily stripped off the shells.

Those aren't taking over the mainstays anytime. People here still come for the grilled fish. The crowd seem to have gotten crazier. There are queues during off peak hours. Reaching the shop at opening hours simply means that you'd probably miss the first seating and have to wait in line. Here's still wishing that their kinmedai was bigger. 

Grabbing Shake Shack and their Common Man Coffee Roaster shake

Shake Shack has finally gotten their delivery act together and transcended beyond those kangaroos  and pandas that only do close proximity deliveries. They're now on GrabFood so we thought, why not? The food was boxed up so nothing was squished or moisturized by condensate. Tried their coffee shake for the first time. It's unique in the sense that they're using coffee by the local Common Man Coffee Roaster. Not bad a flavour from the espresso (I presume) - just a little sweeter than than I been expecting. 

Roast Paradise, Old Airport Road Food Centre

Wow, this was nice! I've been curious for quite a while now about what Roast Paradise (#01-121 Old Airport Road Food Centre, 51 Old Airport Road) has been doing for their meats and now I'm impressed. Tender layers of moist fatty pork supplemented by crispy cracking for the roasted pork (烧肉) and a shell of sweet caramelized surface for the char siew (叉烧). This was one queue I understood.

The stall has something called Hakka mee which I haven't seen or had from other roast meat stalls. Mee pok with minced pork, their concoction of fatty/greasy sauces and chilli paste which made a delicious bowl of smoky savoury noodles.

Li Li Kway Chap Braised Duck Pig's Stomach Soup, Tiong Bahru Food Centre

This (#02-28 Tiong Bahru Food Centre, 30 Seng Poh Road) was one of the stalls that was still open later in the evening when most of the rest had closed for the day. While my initial intention was to get kuey chap, I ended up being distracted by their pig intestine noodles. 

I enjoyed it. No alkaline taste in those yellow noodles. The braised intestines were firm and tasty, infused with the flavour of their braising sauce. The dollop of chilli paste added an appreciated warmth to their gravy. I'll be back another day to try something else.

Another annual ritual at Lawry's

This year's prime rib Lawry's came a little late. But - as how it is often heard, better late than never, yes? It's been a while since I didn't get one without the bone though. Honestly, I cannot discern enough of a difference in my meat to care. It's all good.

CB & J from Sarnies

It's been some time since we were at Sarnies during breakfast hours. Quite a very long while actually. Meanwhile, they seem to have come up with some menu exchange thingy with their sister branch in Bangkok which introduced this CB & J on their menu. Abbreviated cashew butter & jelly if one were to surmise from the ingredients. A nod to at peanut butter & jelly which is just a variant. 

Done their way of course. Brioche topped with their house made cashew butter and roasted grapes. There's some pyramid sea salt and honey that lent sporadic crunch with sweet and salty into the creamy nuttiness and grape citrus. Quite impressed that with all the ingredients in a mouthful, it did taste like pb & j. With thyme. I enjoyed this.

Revisiting Ah Chiang's Porridge

Unknowingly, I ended up ordering the same porridge as I did the last round. The one with century eggs and mixed pork with offal. It was only after I had gotten my bowl that I realized that. That time, I had thought that the ingredients were measly but it didn't seem to be so today. Note to self : get the meatball one the next time.

Obligatory greens of stir fried watercress with garlic. The flavour of their garlic stir fry was pretty good. But I prefer the texture of the kailan to these which were more fibrous.