Remnants of mycelium routers on a scorched civilization of bacteria and more scrumptiocity at Zazz Pizza

This was another satisfying meal at Zazz Pizza. One shielded from the blistering heat of this recent super hot weather. This was our 4th visit at this Cross Street Exchange restaurant.

So, the calamari. I'm normally not big on them because they're usually....well, calamari. They're everywhere. Often relegated into menus as an afterthought amongst appetizers because they're for some reasons obligatory or maybe simply because they're popular and they sell. Many are terrible. Zazz's has a dry crunchy batter without excess grease - which was a good thing if you're wondering.

Mixed mushroom pizza this time - this one had a lot of mushrooms. Chanterelles, portobello, porcini mushrooms and even wood ear fungus. Perfumed with thyme and truffle cream and then richened with pecorino cheese. We added ham for good measure. 

There's a pappardelle (made in house) with braised veal cheek. Steaming hot and delicious. Those cheeks were fall apart tender in a richly flavoured meaty sauce with mushrooms. Pasta was superb. This was as good as if not better than their braised lamb fettuccine.

The affogato felt like a good way to end this.

Chui Xiang Kitchen (醉香小厨), Casuarina Road

Not bad cze char food at Chui Xiang Kitchen (126 Casuarina Road, tel  : +65 6458 4567).

That's a braised chicken and chestnuts wrapped in cabbage in a claypot dish - a signature of Chui Xiang Kitchen. Great flavours from the savoury braising sauce which has infused the contents of the claypot and subtle sweetness from the cabbage and goji berries. Chicken was slurp off the bone tender. One should preferably do this dish with rice on the side.

Omelette with chai por was competently fried but I didn't taste much chai por in it.

We had stir fried kailan with garlic for enjoyable obligatory fibres in the meal.

There's a stir fried bee hoon with seafood which was also a signature dish of theirs. Nicely done with a wok hei along with browned caramelized edges and a solid stock flavour that was infused in the noodles. 

Sweet and sour pork was okay.

Haven't had these crispy baby squids for ages. These were smoky, sweet and...crispy as the name implied. Nicely done as well.

Couldn't pass on trying their stir fried French beans with minced pork. Saltiness coming from said minced pork which also added to the texture of the crunchy beans were great pairing with steamed rice.

This steamed rice.

My last bowl from Ginza Kamo Soba Kyudaime Keisuke......

Ginza Kamo Soba Kyudaime Keisuke is ceasing business in a few days so we came by for our last taste of their delicious duck broth before it's all over. I'm going to miss it when it's gone. We were told that they weren't able to import ducks in anymore for some reasons so that ends that. And I thought we only had fresh chicken problems...

Nasi lemak with plant based chicken from Ikea

It has been quite a while since I last had nasi lemak from Ikea. Prices appeared to have gone up with this plate that included plant based chicken at $5.50. What's plant based chicken? I'm not sure. But they go with the generic claims to make healthy and sustainable food more affordable and desirable. That these plant based foods require less resources to make on top of reducing individual's carbon footprint blah blah blah...

These looked like little chicken nuggets and actually tasted like them. Albeit one that was a little dry and a bit stringy. If I didn't know what I was ordering, I might not have noticed.

Xian Ji Porridge, Eng Hoon Street

I've been asked by a few people over more than a few years if I've tried that shop with watercress porridge (#01-72, 57 Eng Hoon Street) at Tiong Bahru. I gathered that they had eaten there and they liked it to some extent. The shop has for some reasons always slipped my mind until recently. Not bad tasting porridge. Didn't understand the watercress which I felt added nothing but vegetables stuck between the teeth.

What I didn't like was the rest of the experience. $9 for mixed pork porridge with dough fritters wasn't cheap. I asked for century eggs for the porridge to which the proprietress acknowledged but I didn't get any at all. No idea how much a bowl typically costed. While I enjoyed it somewhat and hadn't any complains about the ingredients, am probably not coming back. Ah Chiang or Old Shifu, both in the vicinity, were equally enjoyable and less expensive.

A couple of bowls and gyoza from Kanada-Ya

Some quick notes on the recent visit to Kanada-Ya.

That's the black garlic ramen - something that I've never quite understood. There's a toasty garlic flavour that gradually diminished as we went through the bowl. It's not a bad layer on top of the tonkotsu but it seemed a flavour that didn't endure. One had to eat something else and go back to rekindle the garlic taste.

Nice heat from the spiciness gekikara bowl which was a concocted with mixture of miso and tonkotsu. In the end, the mixture was its own thing which didn't have a strong characteristic from the component broths. Not a bad tasting one but not something I'd think I'll look forward to the next time.

Wasabi mayo gyozas - There's a light smoky taste but I couldn't tell if it came from the sauce or the gyoza skin. Not bad though. Could eat this again. 

Dapur Penyet, Centrepoint

These guys are hidden at the back of Centrepoint (#01-59 The Centrepoint, 176 Orchard Road, tel : +65 : 6734 2840) and open daily.

I was intrigued by their ayam geprek with mozzarella. Never had one of these before. From how it looked, shredded mozzarella was sprinkled over the smashed fried chicken thigh and torched. Some of the half melted cheese were still slightly cold. Not bad tasting actually and I wouldn't mind eating this again. Chicken had a familiar light garlicky flavour.

Ayam bakar in the spiced kecap manis sauce was delicious as it usually were. That came with a spicily moreish sambal on the side that was also infused with the flavour of onions and ikan bilis.

Didn't realize that their tahu telur was a small one. I had imagined the size of these to be similar to those we've previously had at Tambuah Mas. Liked the eggy taste. Needs more of the nutty gravy on the side though.

White asparaguses and brunch at Huber's

The white asparagus season is upon us for this year. Huber's (一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八, 九, 十, 十一, 十二, 十三) has gotten theirs from Germany and expectedly put out a limited time menu for the ivory shoots said to be grown in darkness. We were here to brunch on them.

But first some Ice Dazzle Berry Macchiato. Coffee with the citrus of berries mellowed with cream. This was kinda nice.

The unexpected surprise was their cream of white asparagus with curry and a strawberry & onion compote. Creamy and curry scented white asparagus-y soup accompanied by the tart sweetness from the spiced strawberry/onion. 👍🏼

Croissant with cooked ham and raclette cheese from their breakfast menu. Because we were here at the confluence of breakfast and the day menu. I liked this. For the buttery simplicity and the light pungent cheese.

White asparagus with Hollandaise, buttered boiled potatoes and Swiss farmer ham.

Same stuff with Tasmanian grass fed beef in mushroom cream sauce. 

White asparagus mousse with strawberry coulis for dessert. There was a lot of that white asparagus flavour in the mousse.

No white asparagus in this coffee. Just a regular one.

NBCB, Orchard Central

This spot was where Omakase Burger used to be. I had previously tried the cheese burger from NBCB (#04-23 Orchard Central, 181 Orchard Road, tel : +65 8872 0160 ) when they started their business which was available on delivery only. I thought it wasn't bad tasting then even though the buns were thoroughly soggy. 

Now that we've had the chance to have them freshly made, it didn't seem to taste as good. It was a very juicy cb for sure 😂 but the patty seemed to lack flavour. There was also too much saucing which I'm interpreting as an attempt to mask the blandness. Pretty disappointing. 

I'm gonna take this opportunity to compare them with a bunch of other burgers we've had in the recent couple of years which I think are alternatives. Just a couple of years or the list will get too long.

• 2280 - Their double cheeseburger was less expensive and tasted better. Nicer tasting fries also.
• Employees Only - The EO Smash Burger was obviously superior in every aspect. Reflected on their price tag as well which I would gladly rather pay actually. 
• McD - Sad but true case, the factory mass produced Angus cheeseburger was a nicer eat. Cheaper and more enjoyable
• Jollibee - Aloha burger was a different quality which has resulted in a different beast but I'd rather eat it too. Cheaper and more enjoyable.
• Astons Specialities - Same price but I'd pick them over it because of the cleaner flavour.
• Hammee's - Cheaper and definitely better tasting cheese burgers. 
• One Fattened Calf - Not necessarily cheaper but the meat quality was superior and I like them better. Nicer fries
• Ordinary Burgers - Cheaper and much better tasting cheese burgers.
• Phat Burger Bro. - Obviously better done burgers and they're a bit more expensive as well. Nicer fries here as well.
• Shake Shack - No way NBCB can beat Shake Shack's cheese burgers in terms of taste.
• Omakase Burger - They are not around anymore, they aren't cheap but they're doubtlessly superior.
• Five Guys - I definitely rather eat Five Guys who are just a little bit more expensive. The customization options blows NBCB out of the water.

Fries are okay. Tasted like those from Long John Silvers. Absorbs the cb juices well. 😅

The bandung milkshake was kinda nice. Creamy, milky and just enough of the flavour from the rose syrup.

Ebi Bar, Cuppage Plaza

Heard about these guys (#B1-21 Cuppage Plaza, 5 Koek Road) and had gotten curious enough to come down and try their take on an upscale prawn noodles. Didn't like how they processed orders. It's a bad combination of a poorly designed digital menu that one had to navigate on mobile and the need for email to even get an order done. 

I've read words like "rich" and "umami" from online publications about their broth. How did these people even get their jobs?

Broth was sweet and crustacean-y but it didn't taste rounded - not exactly a sweetness which I enjoyed. Rich and umami weren't words that came to mind. Didn't finish it. Didn't think much of the noodles also. I'd easily pick Da Shi Jia over a bowl here.

Those tiger prawns were meaty but otherwise not memorable. Preferred the prawn balls which were formed from chunky lumps. Chicken charshu thingys were okay but I don't think these were a selling point.

Achar was not bad. I liked the nutty quality that they managed to get into the flavour. I prefer it more sour. Also too little jellyfish. Pretty sure they're trying to make this achar sound special with the name because there's too little jellyfish. 

Ngoh hiang was so so. That's just my opinion. It had a nice crisp skin but my truths is, these can't beat the home made ones that I'm used to from Nonya grandmothers and mother-in-laws. Also, I'm not big on five spice powder.

These prawn dumplings were a little odd. There were openings on the surface. Like prawn stuffings clad in smooth ripped jeans. Not bad tasting as spicy prawn dumplings went. Those from Abundance were way better.

A jalapeño double cheeseburger from Burger Bar New York

Burger Bar New York was suggested for lunch today and I didn't mind another go at their burgers. Nothing was customized for this jalapeño double cheeseburger. I mentioned previously that I felt that their patty needed a bit more salt and that hasn't changed. To add on to those previous thoughts, I saw what I had today as a catchall burger. There's a bit of everything and you do taste a bit of everything. Other than the heat from the jalapeño, nothing in particular stood out because there was a lot of everything. Very juicy though.