888 Smash Burger and Milo Dinosaur Shake from BurgerLabo

BurgerLabo has smash burgers on their menu now. This one was with triple patty and onions. While nibbling on the crispy edges of the beef, I was thinking that it needed more salt but after having it with the sauce and cheese, I kinda figured that those were it. Not bad tasting, a little dry-ish but I guess that's to be expected. This was more Honbo than Shake Shack.

The shake didn't taste exactly like Milo dinosaur. Whatever it was, it seemed to be a lot maltier. There were also some crunchy bits of stuff in the powder, both of which also didn't taste like Milo. I don't know if it's just me. Hmmm...not bad though.

More Miznon

Back at Miznon. Tried the abu kebab pita which was stuffed with beef and lamb meatballs. Meatball's generously salted and I tasted pepper. Texture was coarse and the flavour's nice but I couldn't tell the beef and lamb in it. 

This red prawn pita's relatively new I think. Tasty spicing with a bit of smokiness on those firm meaty bugs. I like this better than the abu.

More food from Milan Shokudo

More food from Milan Shokudo. That's the keema curry beef doria. It's a rice gratin if anyone's wondering. Added extra cheese and an egg which made it more delicious. Curry's Japanese styled so it's a little sweet but nothing that I disliked.

Squid ink pasta with scallops. Nice and garlicky. Portions felt kinda small.

Tried their mustard cream chicken because we were curious about the mustard cream. It turned out to be cream sauce with a dollop of whole grain mustard. Chicken has a mildly spicy sweet marinate which I'm not a fan of.

牛車水亞婆鹵鸭 (Chinatown Ah Po Braised Duck), Commonwealth Crescent Food Centre

Sweet. We've seen the queues at this stall (#02-95 Commonwealth Crescent Food Centre, 31 Commonwealth Crescent) a number of times and wondered about it. We've finally gotten around to understanding those queues after getting a weekend breakfast.

牛車水亞婆鹵鸭's known for their braised duck. Teochew styled so the serving comes with white rice and no gloopy sauce. The style I prefer. This was half a duck and the bird was impressively tender, even the breast meat. Braising sauce was deliciously flavourful.

Couldn't resist a plate of their other braised items on the side - pig's stomach, sweet intestines (粉肠), eggs, duck liver and pig's skin. Not bad but my verdict is that the duck is their showcase.

Sauce on the rice is not the same as the one ladled over the duck. Spoon more from the duck onto the rice for more flavour intensity.

Atout's Autumn

We were here for the Autumn specials at Atout (un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept).

What caught our attention were stuff like their French fig salad with Mimolette.

Figs were tender and sweet.

They made ankimo/monkfish pate this year which was also "escabeche-d" with vinegar. So it's not very different from the cod liver that they normally have nor was it far from the anikmo ponzu from Japanese restaurants because of the vinegar.

Ankimo made a good spread over their sourdough.

Wine infused risotto with radicchio salad & aged Parmegiano Reggiano. Not bad tasting. That being said, I was hoping that there was at least half the amount red wine in it like I was imagining. There wasn't. That be my only gripe.

Roast pigeon was delicious. So was the jus. Said jus has a savoury rich sweetness that was a consumate pairing for the bird and also the sweet chestnut puree. That velvety chestnut puree...🤤

Ended with conference pear soufflé because we love conference pears. And also that this was the first time we've seen them used in their soufflé and we were curious. 

There's puree/compote and chunks of cooked pear in the soufflé. Soufflé was a sweet & eggy cloud of moist fluffiness. While the flavour of the pear came through for the dessert, it lacked a rounded aroma/taste. Still like the soufflé though.

Bitter black to close.

Revisiting Sek Tong Gai (食通街)

We came back to try something that was called fried rice in superior broth at Sek Tong Gai because we were curious about what the dish was. The Chinese name of the dish is 上汤烩饭 which is a little different from a direct translation. Anyways, this tasted like a soupy fried rice. Yes, soupy fried rice. Not exactly mui fan/烩饭. That superior broth/上汤 had a pleasant savoury sweetness. Bowl was loaded with diced chicken, shrimp, mushroom and cabbage. Pretty good with the soya sauce marinated chilli padi or the red vinegar you can help yourself to.

Gotta do some kailan for a balanced meal. But who are we kidding? That wasn't the real reason. Their kailan is delicious.

Revisiting Wild Child Pizzette

Yes we wiped the plates as a ritual of appreciation for the food. We enjoyed it that much at Wild Child Pizzette.

Spaghetti with almond pesto; there's also pine nuts and the cheese in there. Pesto was aromatic, savoury and nutty with a creamy texture that clung onto the noodles. Nicely done and those noodles had a nice bite to them. The white stuff on top was chilled stracciatella. 

Pizza asparagi which was a pizza bianca from the specials menu. This was topped with fior di latte, baby asparagus, caramelized onions and their salsa verde. Of the latter, I detected loads garlic, a good dose of anchovies and I'm almost sure there's coriander. Flavour's sharp, herbaceous and well salted. Now that I'm back at this, I've also noticed that their Neapolitan styled crust was different from the ones at Zazz or Casa Vostra. It's pretty good.

Another one of their specials was affogato with salted vanilla gelato. I appreciated the subtle variation with salted vanilla which didn't bring the original taste out too far. Where it didn't succeed becoming memorable was the coffee which lacked a rounded robustness.

Seng Kee Chicken Rice (新奇鸡饭), Commonwealth Crescent Food Centre

Noticed Seng Kee Chicken Rice (#02-78 Commonwealth Crescent Food Centre, 31 Commonwealth Crescent) the last time we were here. Got intrigued by their chicken laksa so I got one for breakfast today. The chicken liver and braised eggs were add ons. I like it. Gravy's tasty and coconut-y. Gotta remember to add the dollop of sambal yourself.

Bonus pig's skin and chicken heart. Actually, there was another piece of pig's skin hidden in the broth. Pretty pleased with this. Will come back another time to try their chicken rice.

Teo Chew Food Stall (潮州飯店), Bukit Merah Central Food Centre

Came across Teo Chew Food Stall (#02-34 Bukit Merah Central Food Centre, 163 Bukit Merah Central) by chance. The stall's located directly across from and facing Guan Huat. What caught my attention was how rustic/homely looking the dishes laid out were, compared to the troughs of oil glazed sheen in the franchised cai png stalls.

So I got a serving. $5.50 for minced pork, a fried egg, breaded fried chicken, stewed cabbage and stewed mustard greens (梅菜). I know right? What a deal. It was delicious and hearty. Will come back.

Kaleidoscopic kaya butter toast from Star Coffee

This was just a regular kaya butter toast from Star Coffee. They asked what kind of bread I preferred which initially confused me. It was actually a choice between colours. White, brown or this. I picked this because colours. Noticed that the kaya was layered above and below the slice of butter in the bread.

The Claw Taro Bowl from Jane Deer

Back at Jane Deer. The claw's made with some kind of milk jelly. This bowl was lighter than I imagined. There's sago, cubed jellies, watermelon chunks and a taro paste ball in a soup of coconut milk. The only thing I did not like were the tapioca flour nuggets of chewy stuff. What caught me unaware were those yellow jellies. I had no idea how they ended up tasted like brown sugar. 😕

Huang Tu Di Xi’An Delights (黄土地西安小吃), 321 Clementi

The last time we ate at Huang Tu Di Xi’An Delights was when they were back at Grantral Mall in Clementi Central. They've shifted some blocks away to their current location (#02-08, 321 Clementi, 321 Clementi Ave. 3) at a mall called 321 Clementi.

Their potato strips aren't flavoured like what we normally used to. They were 炝拌 instead of 酸辣 which we generally prefer. I'm not sure what 炝拌 means but they did not taste bad. I'm just not a fan of their rendition.

Marinated cucumbers not bad tasting. They're 凉拌 - which is a Chinese salad/cold dish kind of dressing which was savoury and not spicy.

I wanted get their rou jia mo again because they left an impression the last time we had them. They were as delicious as we remembered with those buns dripping juices/oil from the braised pork from almost each bite.

Noodle's called 油泼扯面 which translates into oil splashed dragged/pulled noodles.

The featured noodles were wide, hand pulled and doused with chilli oil that was mostly savoury and with moderated heat. The spice intensity was milder than the appearance suggested. This was extra spicy and it wasn't that spicy. It was delicious though with great texture from those noodles and the portions were huge.

Biang biang mian which featured the same wide noodles with their zha jiang sauce and tomato sauce with egg. The zha jiang has the dominant flavour from fermented black beans which I liked. Gotta come back some day for their zha jiang mian.

So, Xi'an's version of Fanta Orange which is probably Nutrigraded D. I don't know for sure but it tasted that way. 😬