Dong Bei Ren Jia (东北人家) has changed

Dong Bei Ren Jia (东北人家) has changed. We haven't been around much in recent years to know exactly what has changed but the quality of the food doesn't seem to be appealing anymore. Pretty sure that the neighbouring Dong Bei Xiao Chu (东北小厨) was better eating.

This was lamb stir fried with cumin and spices. The cumin seasoning was weak considering that it's one of the base seasoning for many "东北 food" and the lamb was lean with little of those mutton-y flavour.

They're not all disappointing. 酸辣土豆丝 was decent. But these are like staples and possibly hard to mess up. I was hoping for a little bit more heat there.

Pork trotter jelly's decent eating. There're much more options around these days.

Time for us to suss out the little unpolished gems scattered around the island.

We've perhaps outgrown here.

Pickled cabbage and pork dumpling came across as little muted. 酸菜 tasted washed out and the pork was lean and not flavourful.

The recent experiences with 酸菜鱼 or just the golden broth at places at Tai Er, Xiang Xiang Hunan Cuisine and Qing Hua Jiao X Jing Yue Rong have made us realize that the rendition here felt a little lacking. It's by no means mediocre but...lacking.

For now it's goodbye.

Zhu Jiao Shu Shi (竹脚熟食), Tekka Food Centre

Came across this stall (#01-284 Tekka Market & Food Centre, 665 Buffalo Road) and was reeled in by their economic bee hoon amongst other things. But I've to start somewhere so it's bee hoon with cheap hotdogs, fried egg and fish cake. A little greasy but old school kind of tasty. This also marks the second time I've had food from a Chinese stall in Tekka Food Centre.

Mashi No Mashi, Guoco Midtown

Mashi No Mashi (#01-04 Guoco Midtown, 124 Beach Road) from Hong Kong has been springboarded into Singapore. They're a self professed ramen shop run by the Wagyu Mafia group from Tokyo.

Every mention of their name and the colour theme of their restaurant reminded me of magic and muscles. You know it if you know it.

There's ramen, rice and small plates which features wagyu - and a laid claim of being the first 100% wagyu ramen in the world featuring a broth of Kobe and Ozaki beef bone stock. 

There's Sapporo Black on tap.

Their ultra wagyu ramen was nice. Broth was beefy and the noodles were Hakata styled thin with a good bite. Those thin slices of wagyu were smooth and readily dissolved in the mouth. This I could come back for.

Not impressed by the wagyu bak kut teh. It came with the peppery herbal broth which most people would recognize as bak kut teh infused with a pleasant beefiness. Meat was tender but I couldn't tell it apart from another decent quality beef. It's sadly underwhelming.

Would not have known this was their 100% Ozaki beef gyoza if not for the menu. Tasted like guo tie (锅贴). Albeit a well done one with nice toasty skin. Won't be getting these again.

Couldn't really tell the wagyu siew mai was beef either. Also a little sweet. Remember my thoughts about sweet siew mai? That said, it was otherwise a nicely done siew mai with very moist and tender meat stuffings. However that's not gonna fly for me at $5 a pop. Also won't be getting these again.

There's wagyu jerky that's made in house. Nice and beefy with a sprinkle of pepper. Not gonna be getting these again also.

Tried their banana brulée.

Banana's not cooked through like say....goreng pisang. To be fair it was torched with sugar and not fried. Its warm though. What didn't work for me were sweet and bitter from caramelized crust which overwhelmed most of what could be tasted from the banana.

Welcome to the Black (Tap) Parade

It's been a while since we ate at Black Tap (一, 二, 三, 四,五). About a year and a half by estimates. I've been looking forward to this.

In all the times we've been here, we've never imagined getting one of their Crazy Shakes. Reason is kinda obvious. But because there were more of us today, we got a Cinnamon Bun Shake. I'm not ashamed to admit that I liked it. Great cinnamon-y vanilla shake with crunchy stuff, cream cheese and cream. Old fashioned flavours. Hell the cinnamon bun put a smile in me. 

I got their Old Fashioned burger today. It has shiitake mushrooms which I'm usually not a fan of but this burger was delicious. The hefty patty was beefy and the Swiss cheese subtle. Very happy with it.

Black Tap's coffee shake wasn't great. Wouldn't say it's good even. Wouldn't get it again. Coffee was weak-ish and not satisfying as a flavour. Shake Shack makes a better coffee shake than this.

A banana lassi from Mohd Hanifa Drinks

We were seated near Mohd Hanifa Drinks (#01-255 Tekka Market & Food Centre, 665 Buffalo Road) and decided to get a banana lassi from them. I was initially a little concerned seeing that there were no bananas in the stall......

The proprietor Houdini-ed for a short while after taking my order, returned with a couple of bananas and proceeded to blend them with a few spoons of curd and crushed ice. This was nicely done. Great banana flavour infused into the lassi which wasn't made dilute by excessive ice. There was just enough to chill the drink. Will come back for it.

Prata Saga Sambal Berlada, Tekka Food Centre

If anyone's wondering, that's two double egg pratas that's banjir-ed and has extra sambal on the side from Prata Saga Sambal Berlada (#01-258 Tekka Market & Food Centre, 665 Buffalo Road). There's even a piece of surprise lamb tendon on top of those prata if you could tell. I'm not a fan of that dalcha because it had a sweetness which I did not expect. What impressed me was how everything rounded up beautifully when paired with the spicy sambal. Will definitely be back.

Mushroom triple cheeseburger and taro pie from McD

Flavour for the season at McD is their creamy mushroom cheeseburger. This one's the triple cheeseburger version. Why creamy? Because there's some creamy pepper mayo thing inside. For a triple cheeseburger, it felt kinda puny.

Not bad tasting though. Not much of the pepper mayo getting through but definitely feeling/tasting those mushrooms. I like this - it's just a little too damned small for what they were charging. Half of its price tag would sound fair.

That's the custard taro pie. Also enjoyed this. The taro fillings and the custard taste separated - which I thought might not have been the case since both were wet and hot and ready to slide into each other. Not complaining.

白鸡尾, livers and egg from Hwa Kee Lemon Chicken Rice (华记柠檬鸡饭)

Re-revisiting Hwa Kee Lemon Chicken Rice and this time is for the 白鸡尾 that never happened in the first time. Competently done meat from the chicken thighs that was tender, layered by a nice application of soya sauce and sesame oil. I'm ranking the fried lemon chicken and this poached one on top among their chicken offerings.

Ye Lai Xiang Teochew Porridge (夜来香潮州粥), Bukit Merah View

We've passed by Ye Lai Xiang Teochew Porridge (116 Bukit Merah View, #01-217) on some occasions but have never encountered a queue as long as this time round when we intended to get some. This was the same coffee shop that houses 吉隆坡正記葉子楣手工包點 and Sheng Ji Fishball Noodle.

Ordered a bunch of dishes that could conceivably be considered favourites amongst the commonly seen offerings from Teochew porridge stalls.

That's fried pork belly that's been marinated with fermented red bean curd (南乳). Not freshly fried by the time we got our portions but the flavour's not bad. I can imagine how much better they might be if we had gotten a fresh batch.

This was chap chye with red fermented bean curd. The stewing liquid has a pink hue which was probably not so obvious in the photo. For the record, that fermented bean curd flavour was there but not in your face.

We love us some hairy gourd (节瓜) with tang hoon sometimes.

Nice salty minced pork with fermented black beans. Rice thieves!

Stewed tau kee (dried beancurd sheets). These aren't the better ones around but it got the job done.

Otah's decent. Would love for them to pack more heat but I'm not complaining.

Farhana West Coast, Tekka Food Centre

Pretty decent Indian rojak from Farhana West Coast (#01-262 Tekka Market & Food Centre, 665 Buffalo Road). The breads were freshly refried on order and that dip was filled with crushed peanuts. What got my attention though were the thick slices of paru goreng. Check out the lattices on them. They were tender like fish cakes. Can you believe it?