山, Havelock Road Food Centre

The name from the signage just says 山 (#01-18 Havelock Road Cooked Food Centre, 22A/B Havelock Road). They're the only duck rice stall in this food centre. I'm usually inclined towards the Teochew styled braised duck but I needed to get lunch in the vicinity.

It was okay. Nothing particularly special about them. I was given some pretty standard dry-ish slices of duck breast meat and rice that was somewhat beady. That being said, it didn't taste bad.

A couple of pies from Swisslink Bakery & Cafe

We've had pies from Swisslink Bakery & Cafe from Sunset Way (#01-07, 109 Clementi Street 11, tel : +65 6778 7858) a couple of times previously so here's blogging it. They could be considered a neighbourhood bakery which is known for their pies and puffs. Has been around for a couple of decades or so. 

This was part of a take out dinner of pies with curry fish head from Springleaf Prata Place just around the corner.

We were shooting for the regular chicken pie which were sold out so we ended up with the chicken sherpard's pie. Stuffings under the mashed potato were pretty generous but here's a couple thoughts. I couldn't tell that the minced meat was chicken and the stuffing was a little too sweet. I didn't dislike it but I don't think I'll get them again.

But it did pair well with the tamarind based fish head curry which we got from Springleaf. 

I like their apple pie and it was the main reason I wanted to come here. It's made with a buttery pastry crust encasing sweet tangy chunks of tender apple fillings that are infused thoroughly with cinnamon. Raisins too. Don't know if there were any other spices though. If one were to be looking for a simple well made apple pie minus frills, this would be it. 

Takeaway from Shen Ji Chicken Rice

Have been meaning to come back to Shen Ji for their chicken rice but it never happened. Fortunately, chicken rice survives travel pretty well so not being able to eat at the stall is not necessarily a problem. Liked it as much as I did the last time we ate at the stall. I also liked that they deboned the drumstick. Anyways with the additional livers and hard boiled egg, it was a reasonable $5.

Keria Japanese Restaurant - before dining out is out.......again!

It has been a while since we were last at Keria and since we have somehow gotten ourselves into an impending lockdown again, this was a last dinner eat out. We've eaten here a number of times (一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 十 十一 十二 十三 十四) and it's always been a little pricey but we've always left happy. Speaking of lockdown, how in the world did we get to where we are? KTV activities that were previously so hidden in the shadows that no one knew it was happening?

Today's otoshi was spinach with tofu and some strips of salmon with ikura. Looked very put together in short notice compared to some of the previous ones. But then again, there's no need to prepare them since we won't be able to eat in the restaurant anymore for a while.

Nursing some Kirin while waiting for the orders to be processed.

While browsing the menu, we found something we were definitely gonna order. Lumb ruck!

We didn't forget our favourite mentaiko cabbage. Today's cabbage looked like it trapped a lot of the mentaiko. It was also a little less smoky than usual.

We've seen the natto omelette on the menu for some time but had never ordered until today. This was very loaded with natto and their nutty/coffee-ish flavour. Nice.

Here be the lumb ruck! They were a little small but it was $12 for two ribs so we couldn't complain. But while the ribs were small, they were tender and appropriately greasy with some good flavour. Just salt and pepper with a light hint of rosemary.

Stir fried gyutan from Keria has always been pretty dependable.

Who can begrudge uni ikura don eh? We didn't.

Because the lumb rucks were tasty, we had seconds as a pre-dessert.

And finally the coffee jelly. Till the third week of August then.

Café Ma Maison, Mandarin Gallery

Café Ma Maison (#02-33/34 Mandarin Gallery333A Orchard Road, tel : +65 6235 6411) opened a while ago taking over the unit that was previously occupied by Antoinette. As the name implies, this was a cafe outfit from the Ma Maison group so it doesn't have the same range of food as their other restaurants.

I was curious about their truffle katsu sando so we got some while wondering if these were really gotten from Tonkatsu by Ma Maison just next door. One could choose between rosu or hire. This was the former with the tell tale strip of fat. The katsu had been brushed with tonkatsu sauce, a smidgen of mustard and a bit of the fine strips of cabbage - but the truffle flavour was barely discernible. Meat was a little hard. Maybe hire minus the tonkatsu sauce would be a better configuration.

Fruit sando was awesome. There was a lot of cream though.

Gotta remember that Ma Maison's Americano isn't the run of the mill diluted brew. This was stronger and more fragrant. With a couple of spoonfuls of the excess cream from the fruit sando, this was reminiscent of the Café Antoinette Crème that Antoinette used to serve here. A ghost of the past.

As mundane as their root beer float looked, it was actually pretty nice. As nice as root beer floats could get that is.

The aji katsu is back at Tonkatsu by Ma Maison

Was looking forward to the seasonal return of their aji katsu. One of the better fried fish I remember having that didn't need sauce while the rosu katsu was good with mustard and a bit of salt. 

Pumpkin and sweet corn paste from 一一五糖水 (Yi Yi Wu Tang Shui)

More dessert from 一一五糖水. We came on a Sunday to try their pumpkin and sweet corn paste because it's only available on limited specific days of the week. I thought it was quite nice. The main flavours were coconut and pumpkin with corn. Wasn't too sweet which was how we liked it.

Old Master Roasted Grill 老师傅烧腊, Chinatown Food Centre

I noticed this stall (#02-119 Chinatown Food Centre, 335 Smith Street) a stone's throw from Chang Ji Gourmet the last few times I was here and noted that they had good looking char siew so here's a plate with char siew and roasted duck drumstick. Both roasts were pretty good. Char siew had a nice caramelized exterior and fat laced meat while the duck was tender and flavourful from the roasted skin/fat. Would come back again.

123 ZÔ Vietnamese BBQ Skewers and Hotpot, Geylang Road

123 ZÔ (747 Geylang Road, tel : +65 9669 9655) is a relatively new Vietnamese grilled skewer and hotpot restaurant close to the Paya Lebar side of Geylang. While Vietnamese restaurants aren't uncommon here, most of them have a templated menu which included mainly just pho, maybe some bún and bánh mì. Bbq skewers and hotpot was not something we've had before.

I got curious about some tamarind and peanut drink. The former ingredient was sour and sweet which made it not particularly thirst quenching. It was fun to drink with the bits of fruit to chew on though. The nuts were on the verge of becoming stale so they weren't so nice.

Green mango salad was not bad. Lots of dried shrimp in it. But because I had one at Uncle Ho Tuckshop not too long back, I had to compare. That one was chilled and much more refreshing than this which was room temperature. This one had plenty of basil just so that you know.

The idea of this trip was to get some grilled skewers because these were what they were known for. We got chicken hearts, chicken gizzards and beef wrapped in betel leaves (bo la lot). The gizzards were pretty tasty. Special mention goes to the whole chicken hearts which were outstanding.

We had barbequed frogs. The ones 123 ZÔ used were small frogs and there were burnt ends which added that smoky flavour to the meat.

What we found outstanding and memorable were their grilled baby octopus which were super. These were very very tender.

Grilled quails were also quite nice. Smoky and had crispy charred bits which made them delicious.

These were grilled pork chops that were not on the menu. Pretty good munching because it was meaty and not too tough.

The other thing that wasn't on menu were grilled pig's udders. I think that would be the clearest description of them. These were fatty and chewing them brought out flavours. I thought it was a good idea that they included grilled lady's fingers to break the monotony from the meat.

A shared bowl of bún bò huế to finish with the warm spicy broth.

I kinda like this place.

Zazz Pizza, Cross Street Exchange

Zazz Pizza closed for a little while and resurfaced in a new location (#01-108 Cross Street Exchange, 18 Cross Street, tel : +65 8199 9909). We came over to the current spot because we've had good experiences with the food.

One of the new items introduced into the menu with this re-opening was their braised lamb fettuccine. Yes, thats fettuccine with a rich meaty tangy stew-ish meat sauce of tender braised lamb. I don't know if anyone cares but I cared that they applied rosemary in a way I liked. Meaning complimentary and not excessive.

This pizza mortadella is a new pie. Mozzarella, stracciatella cheese, mortadella ham, cherry tomatoes and pistachios. Good combination of flavour from the milky cheeses and the porcine quality of the ham. The quality of their pizza was as good as I remember which was the main reason why we came back. If there had been any difference between the ones from the old location to this one, it was negligible.

There was rich and creamy mascarpone in their tiramisu. What I thought was lacking was the flavour from the coffee and a bit of alcohol would have added to it.

Danger Close, Alexandra Village Food Centre

Came across this stall (#01-05 Alexandra Village Food Centre, 120 Bukit Merah Lane 1) after lunch and grabbed a drink. From what I gathered, they do concoctions of sparkling teas, nitro cold brew coffees and there were even a couple of taps for craft beers. This was their Grey Lady - tasted like jasmine tea with citrus and fizz. Just the refreshing beverage for the warm weather. It was described to be smoky but I couldn't seem to get the smokiness.