Revisiting Nummun Thai Kitchen

Back at Nummun Thai Kitchen. We got a table as soon as they were open for dinner service. Shortly after that, a queue had formed outside. That queue had gotten even longer when we were leaving. 😅

Pretty creamy tom kha gai and delicious one as well filled with chunky chopped up pieces of chicken thigh meat. Broth was a rich concoction of sweet, savoury and tanginess. This was the second orange hued tom kha rendition we've encountered after E-Sarn Thai Corner.

Stir fried kailan minus pork belly. The original dish came with those and the order app allowed omission of the meat. Sweet. Kailan were stir fried in a light oyster sauce so it was the typical sweet and savoury taste.

This was the crab omelette which we did not successfully get the last time.

It was as good as it looked - I was half expecting those crab chunks to be relatively tasteless but they had real crab flavour in them. Loved it with or without their nam jim.

Salt baked sea bass required a 45 minute preparation time. Was nicely done. Underneath the leathery skin, the meat had all the moisture locked in.

Don't remember the last time I had a red ruby but I liked this rendition. I always had the idea that it wouldn't be something that I enjoyed but this one was pretty likeable. Did not expect jackfruit but I'm not complaining.

Yappari Steak, VivoCity

Yappari Steak (#02-110 VivoCity, 1 HarbourFront Walk) is a new-ish hot stone steak/beef place from Okinawa. We got ourselves a couple of their hot stone steaks and some other stuff.

Like their gyu suji nikomi; or beef tendon stew. Japanese beef tendon stew isn't a hundred percent tendon - there's also meat in it. This one was was beefy, savoury yet a little bit sweet and I thought I detect a tiny hint of ginger in it.

Paired pretty well with the free flow of rice that came with orders of their hot stone steaks. A bit of tendon, a bit of meat and a bit of fat makes good toppings.

Add some wasabi, mix and you get something awesomely beefy and nose piercing.

And then there were curly fries because it was mentioned that those were fried in beef tallow. Couldn't tell from the taste but those fries were nice. Even better with their punchy mentai mayo on the side. Yappari Steak has gotten us carb loading even before the meats were served. 😅

The 'Yappari Steak' is a top blade cut. Which is also known as flat iron. Lean but flavour packed and reminded me of hanger. This was 300g. Meat was rare in the middle but you could get it to the doneness you prefer on that hot stone.

Nakaochi karubi is rib finger - meat strips between the rib bones. 200g here. Less iron-y than the Yappari and more flavour from the fat. Also a bit more sinewy. Not bad tasting. Noticed that these were served with paper towels on top of them to minimize the grease splatters.

Soup and salad arrived much later. They overlooked. Both are bottomless as well. Soup's kinda nice with plenty of pepper. Both meats were good with the sauces, wasabi or just salt and pepper. Don't mind coming back. Would be great if they could improve on ventilation though. 

The La Nonna pizza, scallop saffron risotto, misinterpreted bruschetta and mullings....from La Nonna

I've sometimes wondered what kept La Nonna in business all these years. Maybe it's their loyal customers. The food is passable. They're not bad tasting per se mostly but it also mostly wasn't memorable. 'Mostly' because I remember their squid ink and cinq formaggi pizzas with some fondness. The rest of the stuff I've had from before were things I didn't even deem worthy of a picture. Not to mention that service from their more veteran staff sometimes feels like attitude coming from somebody's crabby la nonna - 🤔..., maybe that's the reason why the name of the restaurant.💡 

I didn't think it was incorrect to interpret that their bruschetta would have a combined topping of what was described in the menu. Tomatoes, sautéed porcini, goat cheese and truffle paste.

This was what they served. Not that any of them was bad tasting but it was way more bread-y than I was expecting. Would not have gotten this if we had known.

That's the La Nonna pizza - their signature pizza. Topped it up with Parma ham. Not bad but I think this was one of those times when I found the truffle paste tiring. It's that one element that didn't age well.

The saffron risotto with scallops was delicious. Nice stock umami with cheesiness in rice that had the saffron flavour I was looking forward to. Love the browning on the scallops and those fish eggs on top. This I don't mind coming back for.

 

Peach Garden, Thomson Plaza

It's been a long time since we've eaten at Peach Garden. This could be our first time at this branch in Thomson Plaza (#01-88 Thomson Plaza, 301 Upper Thomson Road, tel : +65 6451 3233). We had dim sum. The impression we had overall was that they were pretty competent. Nothing much in particular was out of the ordinary.

This was a small portion for their baby abalone and roasted pork fried rice. $30. Their small portion by the way feeds 3 sufficiently with dim sum or 2 comfortably otherwise. Those baby abalones didn't have much flavour but the roast pork were delicious and nicely salted.

流沙包's not bad.

These were vegetarian sauerkraut dumpling. There's coriander in them. Otherwise, they were a little spicy and sour which didn't seem apparent on appearances.

Orh nee in coconut - coconut milk was thick and creamy while yam paste was fragrant. I'm not sure if it's shallot oil. There're two versions of this dessert. The other doesn't come in a coconut. You get to scrape the coconut meat of the insides of the fruit for this one.

Pulut hitam with ice cream was also pretty good.

Prata with coconut chutney and sugar from Anwar's Kitchen

The coconut chutney usually accompanies thosai, vadai and idli. We had this with prata at Anwar's Kitchen. Chutney's lightly salted, coconut-y and with a little bit of spice. Wasn't an odd pairing with prata - just not usual. Sugar with prata has been a thing here since...I was a kid so it's the next natural thing. What's not usual is sugar mixed with said coconut chutney on prata. 👍🏼 I gotta do this again someday.

Pandan cheese milk martabak from Smile Martabak

Finally got to try a sweet martabak from Smile Martabak (#02-34 Funan, 107 North Bridge Road). This was the pandan cheese milk - product photos looked somewhat better. Pancake felt kinda thick compared to the fillings so it ended up feeling floury. Cheese also tasted really cheap. Not impressed. Prefer those at JTown Cafe.

Stinky Roll from 99 Old Trees

So these Stinky Rolls were pretty much the only thing from the menu at 99 Old Trees we haven't tried yet. Until now that is. They're good. Pretty generous layering of some sort of creamy mao shan wang custard in there.

Wagyu beef broth ramen from Keisuke Plus

I did not like this bowl from Keisuke Plus as much as the other wagyu broth from Mashi no Mashi. While it did taste beefy at the start, the flavour suffered from diminishing returns. It got less beefy as we went through the bowl. Noodles were also too soft for their 'hard' option.

Wagyu's thin sliced and pretty tender.  See that lump of minced ginger camouflaged in there? I did not like it. Why would that be necessary if the key component to this bowl was the wagyu. Did not make sense to me.

There's a wonton hidden in it. I'm assuming it's beef as well but the dominant flavour that got through was sesame oil. Tasted very Chinese. Now that I've tried it, I know. Will not be getting this again.

Mee kia from Ah Seng Teo Chew Minced Meat Noodle (亞誠潮州肉脞面)

Tried the mee kia bowl from Ah Seng Teo Chew Minced Meat Noodle. Saucing was pretty dry today. Noodles were a little soft. Will likely stick to the mee pok in the future. They've also removed the option for portions so it's just $6 bowls now.

Uncle Peter Hokkien Mee, Lengkok Bahru

Don't know who Uncle Peter (#01-387, 55 Lengkok Bahru) is. The Hokkien mee was okay tasting. Not as dry as Hainan Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee which is the style I prefer.  Nothing about it was outstanding. What got me through the plate were the squeeze of lime, the sambal and those fragrant crispy fried lard. Would have gotten monotonous if not for those. The coffeeshop seems to have seen rotation of the tenants. Sim Lim Square Bak Chor Mee and 6th Avenue Nasi Lemak are no longer around. 

Outram Park Fried Kway Teow Mee (歐南園炒粿條麵), Hong Lim Food Centre

The mark of a master stems from the ability, the will and the exercise of both in their craft. Sounds fancy but I think that appeared to be the way with Outram Park Fried Kway Teow Mee (#02-17 Hong Lim Food Centre, 531A Upper Cross Street). One of the basic premise of those mastery is oil control which I found is excellent here. Not excessive yet sufficient.

For context, I've known of their existence for a long time and have never entertained the thought of queueing for a plate of their char kuey teow. Today was happenstance. There were two people in the queue so we thought, why not?

It's not bad tasting. This was the $4.50 plate. Like I mentioned, not excessively greasy. Can't discern the wok hei. No lup cheong because they don't do that. I requested for no hum. This plate has chilli. Tastier than it looked with a moderated sweetness from the dark soya sauce.