Texas Chicken's charcoal chicken for Halloween

I came with minimal expectations for the gimmicky charcoal chicken Texas has on limited run this October. It turned out to be better than I had imagined - even redeeming the last run we had with them.

Batter was crunchy and nicely spiced with heat while the meat from the bird was moist and tender. They delivered on that front and I couldn't ask for more. What's more though, was the impressive spicy smokey dip on the side which was the proverbial icing on the cake.

Even the Sjora lychee berry drink was sweet and delicious. What surprised me was that it was Nutrigraded B, no worse.

The only gripe I had was how much they were charging. $15.90 for this measly portions and to swap the powdered potato for coleslaw required a top up of $1.50. Each additional piece of charcoal chicken was $6.50. 😲

Foong Kee Traditional Charcoal Roaster (豐記), Commonwealth Crescent Food Centre

Foong Kee closed down a couple of years back when they were operating at Keong Saik Road. They've re-opened again at the food centre at Commonwealth Crescent (#02-90 Commonwealth Crescent Food Centre, 31 Commonwealth Crescent) recently and the queues are already there. Notice that their signboard still says 6 Keong Saik Road in an attempt to call back to that era? Were their roasts the same?

I did not think so. I had the triple roast (三拼). The duck was dry-ish and a little tough. While the char siew was not bad tasting, it also didn't taste like the bu jian tian that they used in the past. Roast pork was mediocre compared to the one with outstanding crackling we had in the past. The standards of their roasted meats have obviously taken a nosedive.

Sim Lim Square Bak Chor Mee (森林肉脞面), Lengkok Bahru

Heard a bit about these guys (#01-387, 55 Lengkok Bahru) who have apparently been around for a couple of decades operating at Sim Lim Square previously. They closed up their business last year and re-opened recently at this current location. Hey, doesn't the first couple of Chinese characters in their name mean 'forest'? 🤔

Here's their signature bowl. I enjoyed it. Vinegary but without the weight of Tai Wah/Tai Hwa, a little lardy and shot through with a bit of nice heat from their chilli. Came with a freshly fried dumpling and fish cake which isn't the run of the mill. Delicious bowl but portions were a little small.

De-veganized veggie delight pizza and mushroom risotto at Zazz Pizza

What's a de-veganized veggie delight pizza you might wonder? Zazz Pizza (一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八, 九, 十, 十一) has vegan pizza options with vegan cheese. This was the vegan delight with stuff like olives, artichoke, bell peppers and eggplant. It got de-veganized by having the vegan cheese replaced with mozzarella. And I added Gorgonzola. 😬

The product shot definitely looked better on menu. Olives were whole and the toppings didn't look as melted. But it didn't taste bad. Just not enough Gorgonzola which I thought they were pretty stingy with considering that they charged for it and this ended up way above $30 for a vegetarian pie.

Finally tried their mushroom risotto. I thought it was pretty well done with a good balance of flavours from the mushrooms, truffle cream and cheese.

Extra wanton at Legend Wanton Mee (传奇雲吞麵)

This I thought was a better configuration at Legend Wanton Mee than what I had previously. Extra wantons which I prefer instead of the char siew. That said, the char siew slices I got today looked just sad compared to the ones from the last time. A $2 top up gets 3 wantons. Pricey. No red chilli sauce this time round - just the sliced pickled green chilli which doesn't wipe out flavour on those noodles. 

King Of Fried Rice, Happy Hawkers @ Kim Tian

So the menu at King of Fried Rice has expanded a little since the last time I've had them. This was the branch at Happy Hawkers at Kim Tian (201 Kim Tian Road). There's a chicken chop plate now which featured a pretty large slab of freshly fried chicken thigh that's marinated with the same thing as their pork chops - that DTF five spice pork chop kind of flavour. Meat's moist and piping hot under the crisp golden brown. For $6.90 (without the additional fried egg), I couldn't complain. Now I'm intrigued by their bacon fried rice.

Ding Ji (鼎记), Jalan Membina

Ding Ji is (#01-01, 26 Jalan Membina) located at the same coffee shop as Long Ji XO Fish Head Bee Hoon. They're a franchise with multiple branches under the Fei Xiong Group. This was their signature noodle bowl of mee pok - pretty decent assembly and quality of ingredients. Chilli was not bad. Don't mind coming back to get another bowl of something else and it helps that they do late hours.

O.BBa Jjajang, Tanjong Pagar Road

The main reason why we were here at O.BBa Jjajang (77 Tanjong Pagar Road, tel : +65 6221 8254) today was primarily because of jjajangmyeon which I had kinda opened up to recently. Also a good opportunity to get some K-grub along this K-stretch. 

Banchan's not bad. Very decent kimchi which we got thirds of and I love that mashed sweet potato thingy. Think that was made with sweet and regular potatoes. We got that refilled like 5 times.

I believe this was Sichuan preserved mustard green (四川菜) and onions. I kinda like this too.

Some of the pieces of meat from their tangsuyuk were relatively tender and some were tough. Those crispy noodles were nice though - they've a toasty flavour like the local crispy noodle (生面). While I gather that there are lots of references made with this dish to Chinese sweet and sour pork, they don't taste the same. Something about the sour/tanginess that's different.

That being said, the sweet and sour sauce was enjoyable. Did not expect it to be served in a Pyrex measuring cup though.

Kimchi jeon with cheese. The non-cheesed edges were nice and crisp while the middle with cheese was....cheesy. Hah! This was the first time I've had a kimchi pancake where I could taste the squids inside so that's nice. It's a little greasy but not unenjoyable. 

We ordered the jjajangmyeon with truffle. That's a lump of truffle salsa on top.

It's actually not bad. The sauce reminded me of the dark soya sauce in tau you bak. With truffle flavour. My cautious optimism grows.

Mandus...tasted like the frozen ones from the supermarket. Not a bad eat but I don't think I'll get them again.

Original Botak Jones, Depot Road

Came by the Depot Road branch of Botak Jones (Yue Hua Coffee Shop, 118 Depot Lane) for some grilled chicken. It's that same place where Wong Kee Noodle is. I remember the days when they would breathe bustling life into the location they set up stall. Things are very different today.

Anyways that's their Lots of Chicken Platter - I got it because all the three grilled chickens they have on menu are on it. I was also hoping to relive some of their Cajun Chicken nostalgia. There's the option for chicken thigh instead of breast meat these days.

Today I learnt that I don't understand what made me like their Cajun Chicken in the past. It's not a bad tasting chicken but it's not great either. Something to do with the sauce just like the BBQ piece which wasn't the BBQ flavour I had in mind. That made the black pepper piece the better tasting of the lot as simple as it looked/sounded.

Lao Wu Ji Mutton Soup (老吴記羊肉湯), 532 Ang Mo Kio Ave. 10

I've been hearing good things about Lao Wu Ji Mutton Soup at Sunday F&B (532 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10, tel  : +65 9085 3832). While I'm normally not big on Chinese mutton soup because of the herbal nature of the broth, there have been a couple of exceptions - like Ivy's Hainanese Herbal Mutton Soup at Pasir Panjang Food Centre and Ming Shan at Chinatown Food Centre.

Am pretty glad to discover that Lao Wu Ji Mutton Soup shares a similar quality where the herbal taste wasn't overly strong. This was a bowl of mixed mutton - decent tripe, nice tender meat from the rib but the mutton balls were kinda flat tasting. But an enjoyable local Chinese styled mutton soup for me nonetheless.

This place is the same coffeeshop as Hong Feng HK Roasted Delights.

Lava egg toast from Star Coffee

I remembered wanting to get the garlic toast set after the last time but I ended up today with the lava egg toast instead from Star Coffee. Essentially just butter/kaya toast with soft/half boiled eggs on top. If anyone was wondering, I ate it with some drizzles of dark soya sauce and pepper.

More dim sum from Ah Yat Kitchen (阿一厨坊)

Trying more dim sum from Ah Yat Kitchen.

Competent char siew sou. Light crumbly pastry encasing char siew and sauce fillings. Pretty much the baked pastry version of char siew bao.

Unfortunately, their ee fu noodles aren't great. Noodles were softer than I like and the sauce was weak. I wouldn't call it a bad rendition but I'll never get it again.

Tried their mini abalone siew mai back in the day when Ah Yat Kitchen was located in the Food Republic at what is formerly known as Capitol Piazza. Maybe I didn't think much of it then. Noticed that the mini abalones today were tender and pretty tasty from both the abalone's natural flavour and the braising sauce. Not bad.

Pan fried yam with pumpkin in between. I like this. What's appealing were the fragrance on the crispy exterior and the moist pumpkin in the middle. No sweeteners were added and there's some toasted sesame seeds on top as well. These were also much larger than the ones from Chao Yue Xuan.

Nice astringent iced milk tea for the hot weather. Would have been great if it came in an ice bath rather than having ice dilute the tea but we take what we can get.

Hong Feng HK Roasted Delights (宏峰港式烧腊), 532 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10

We thought the roasts looked good from Hong Feng HK Roasted Delights (Sunday F&B, 532 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10) so here's an order of an upper quarter of their dang gui roasted duck. It was pretty decent. Breast meat was more tender than I had imagined. Noticed a thin layer of fat beneath the skin. All good drenched in the light dang gui sauce and check out the goji berries.

In case anyone was wondering, Sunday F&B is the name of the coffee shop.

Tracy's Sarawak Kitchen (品記小厨), Geylang Lorong 25A

Tracy's Sarawak Kitchen (8890 Eating House, 90 Geylang Lor 25A, tel : +65 8863 5836) is literally just beside Aljunied MRT. The proprietress is Sarawakian from Kuching and what the stall offers is presumably a showcase of food from that part of Malaysia.

The menu states this as Kuching QQ noodles and it's what most of us here would identify as just kolo mee. Love the texture from those thin curly noodles. Savoury and oiled, textured with salty minced pork. It's probably just me but I would have preferred this without the char siew. One can help themselves with the fried lard from the stall.

One of the dishes they're known for is their money cai longevity noodle. The Chinese name is 马尼菜 which sounds like mani cai. I Googled and they're also referred to as sweet leaf or star gooseberry. I'm not sure what I tasted because I don't think it had much flavour. But the eggy noodles with the fried lard were so delicious.

Tried their Hakka braised pork. They're relatively tender but not so tender that one didn't need teeth. Here's me wishing it was the latter. Meat's braised with a sweet nutty sauce that's a little reminiscent to me of babi pongteh or rendang. It was good for a few pieces before surfeit crept in.

Cai Ji Fried Fish Soup (財記炸鱼湯), Chong Boon Market & Food Centre

So......Cai Ji Fried Fish Soup (#01-10 Chong Boon Market & Food Centre, 453A Ang Mo Kio Ave 10, tel : +65 9660 9020). Been hearing a bit about them lately so here we were.

Inevitable that comparisons will be made to 453 Fish Soup because we've just had it while waiting. This was also delicious. We ordered the 2 in 1 bowl with both batang and red grouper slices which also came with minced pork. The flavour in the background was garlicky from the bits of fried garlic they added instead of ti poh like 453 Fish Soup. There's discernible sweetness from the vegetables as well and I thought this one was a bit more savoury.

So that's $9 for the soup, $2 for the additional milt and $4 for the fried fish roe. Portions were pretty generous.

Hell yeah they were generous with the fried fish roe as well. Milt's a bit more well done then 453 Fish Soup but it's equally delicious.