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.

Noodles 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. 😬

Guan Huat (元發酿豆腐), Bukit Merah Central Food Centre

Guan Huat (#02-31 Bukit Merah Central Food Centre, 163 Bukit Merah Central) was mentioned recently so I thought it was worth taking a look because the stall has apparently been in business for more than four decades. Indeed, it was one of the more enjoyable yong tau foo experiences we've had. We picked mostly beany tau kee/tau kwa stuff (some with fish paste) which were boiled or fried along with pig's skin, egg and meatball from what I could recollect. They were all delicious, well made and rounded up nicely in their creamy laksa gravy. Will come back.

Note to self: laksa gravy only available from 11am.

Bobby Brown in sesame bagel from Two Men Bagel House

I've been eyeing this from Two Men Bagel House ( 一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八, 九, 十, 十一, 十二, 十三, 十四, 十五, 十六, 十七, 十八, 十九, 二十, 二十一, 二十二, 二十三) since the last major refresh of their menu. I suppose it's the closest thing to the Elvis on chocolate chip bagel which you could once get from the Holland Village shop. Anyways this featured their house bacon, banana brulée, Nutella and cheddar which was pretty good paired with the aromatic sesame seeds on their bagel. Deliciously messy.

Shrimps, steak and apple pie at Luke's Oyster Bar & Chop House

It's been a while since we were last here (一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八, 九). The restaurant has upheld their standards for good quality food.

The prices have gone up to commensurate that preserved standard. We were here for lunch. The lunch menu is for some reasons never available online.

Corn bread which has been good from the first time we've had them.

It started with $39, then $48 and now it's $54. Yes it's jumbo shrimp cocktails which we've of late taken interest in for some reasons. This one at Luke's featured big shrimps which were gently sweet, deveined and meaty. What's impressive was their cocktail sauce which packed a Tabasco styled vinegary heat, some brininess if I hadn't imagined it and that's paired with the traditional tangy sweetness. 👍🏼👍🏼

I have missed this!

Today, I discovered that their accompanying mustard on the side is a house mixture. There's some form of salt in it and maybe other stuff and I like it with their tenderloin au poivre. Just like how I "discovered" their Béarnaise the last time. So now it's between salt flakes, Béarnaise and their house mustard. First world problems much?

Dessert was their Grandma's apple pie. Nice cinnamon infused slices of cooked apple nestled within a fried pastry (yes, tasted fried like our favourite fast food, not baked) topped with maple pecan ice cream and julienned green apple sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. Nice!

(New) MacPherson Minced Meat Noodles (麦波申肉脞麵), Commonwealth Crescent Food Centre

I've heard MacPherson Minced Meat Noodles mentioned numerous times over the years. They've a new branch opened up at Commonwealth Crescent called (New) MacPherson Minced Meat Noodles (#02-73 Commonwealth Crescent Food Centre, 31 Commonwealth Crescent). So here's a look without the family and/or online drama.

Not bad tasting with good noodle texture. The dominant flavour was the braising sauce for the mushrooms with some lardiness but it wasn't as mushroomy as the bowl from Lian Kee. Pretty satisfying bowl as a whole but the portions were kinda small.

A couple of weeks later...

Came back to try their 小碗面 which coincided with a rainy morning. Not bad tasting and good texture coming from the mee kia. I can confirm at this point that their chilli doesn't have a lot of burn and that appeared to be the same for sliced ones in soya sauce. Soup's decent and very drinkable - pretty light on the salt though so a splash of the light soya sauce helps.

Scrambled Egg Rice Keisuke, Bugis+

This spot (#04-01 Bugis+, 201 Victoria Street) has been held by Keisuke for a while now. It was originally their omu rice shop which later become their aburi kaisendon shop. Both of which I've never eaten at. I wanted to try their kaisendon today but discovered that it has become Scrambled Egg Rice Keisuke. The concepts that gestate here appears transient not by design. 

Anyways, I liked it. It's comfort food. The base item is a bowl of scrambled egg on top of rice. One can add toppings. This bowl that I've gotten has atsugiri ham cutlet (which was the same thing I had at Keisuke Plus but smaller) and aburi mentaiko with cheese. Ham's salty and a little smoky. Don't mind coming back.

Hong Kong Jin Tian (香港錦田), Havelock Road Food Centre

Been quite a long while since I last got food from Hong Kong Jin Tian. The last time I did, might have been when they were still operating along Jalan Bukit Ho Swee. Their current premise is at Havelock Road Food Centre (#01-03 Havelock Road Cooked Food Centre, 22A Havelock Road).

This was takeaway with char siew, duck breast and duck liver. Some thoughts - char siew was dry-ish though not tough. Duck breast was pleasantly tender but there's bits of bone on some ends. The kailan was not fibrous like last time. Rice was moist and tender. Not bad as a whole.

Song Fa Signatures (松發家己人), Paragon

Song Fa, the bak kut teh brand has a new restaurant at Paragon (B1-06 Paragon, 90 Orchard Road) that...have expanded on their offerings beyond their regular bak kut teh shops.

We had sliced snakehead bak kut teh. Basically slices of the fish in bak kut teh broth just like what we had previously. Fish appeared to be much softer than what I know of snakehead. This was reminiscent of dory. Just not as mushy. Not bad though.

Much prefer the pig's stomach in chicken soup which had a more robust flavour and peppery kick. Tripe was tender and chewy. The broth in one was much more satisfying then the fish bkt.

Pickled mustard/kiam chye.

There's a signature pig's trotter fried rice. This was basically like the fried rice version of pig's trotter bee hoon. Pretty decent.

Teochew orh nee crème brulée. In between the top caramelized layer of sugar shell and bottom layer of custard, was orh nee. Tasted like how it sounded. 

Outlet exclusives and nostalgia at PS. Cafe Paragon

How should I begin? PS. Cafe has outlet exclusives which are dishes that are only served in respective outlets. They're also currently reviving a series of previous limited edition dishes as part of their 25th anniversary. We came to the branch at Paragon for their outlet exclusives, getting a blast from their past and I'm embracing my personal nostalgia with them.

But first a honey milk latte. I was almost ready to write it off but it was actually kinda nice with decent coffee layered with flavour from honey.

One of the two outlet exclusives here is their Original Laksa Leaf Pesto - spaghettini with king prawns, fishcake and sambal Kenya beans. Noodles were tossed in a sauce of cream with laksa leaves and something tangy I couldn't put a finger on. Prawns were pretty tasty and so were those sour and spicy sambal Kenya beans. Not bad if I might say so.

The other outlet exclusive was their turkey cranberry sandwich. Remember that one? My nostalgia. It's still around. From my virgin PS. Cafe experience like 18 years ago. I cannot be sure if it tasted similar but I thought it did. I still love this. Smoked turkey, mozzerella and bacon bits rounded up with mayo & cranberry jam between buttered bread.

Said cranberry jam also made salad on the side less boring. 😏

So that's the lemon steamed pudding. Apparently from 2009. Same kind of pudding as their ginger one with earl grey sauce and sticky date ones; both of which I've had a number of times and have somehow not talked about in this blog. 😳 Anyways, sweet and lemony and I like it like the other two.

Milky pickled vegetable soup noodle from GO Noodle House

Came across the milky pickled vegetable (奶香酸菜) broth option from GO Noodle House recently. Got a bowl with sliced fish and beef tendon. It's pretty darn good with the salty tanginess from those pickled mustard, some creaminess and a bit of heat that left a prickle down the throat. Will come back for more.

Surrey Hills Grocer, Raffles City

Stopped by Surrey Hills Grocer (#03-42 Raffles City, 252 North Bridge Road, tel : +65 8332 1024) for...sweets.

Maple bacon twist was not bad with the maple sweetness and salty thing going on. Those cinnamon donut balls on the other hand were a little hard and dry. I was thinking they might have warmed these up since we were eating in but I guess it did not bother Surrey Hills Grocer that someones out there were getting fried bread that's cold, a little stale and not exactly in the best way experienced.

Really? I'm not feeling it.

This coconut lime tart was pretty good. Lemon curd tangy sweetness and bitters from the lime on a buttery crust. Not so different from PS. Cafe's key lime pie.

The Mini Pecan Manuka Matchabon at Cinnabon and the...

We've been missing the Bon Of The Week from Cinnabon mostly because I never knew that there was a list for them. The last we had was the mini maple blueberrybon. We came across this mini pecan Manuka matchabon by chance. A mouthful of a name.

Much better than I imagined. You could taste that Manuka honey along with a noticeable hint of bitter from the matcha kneaded into the rolls. Nice this one. 👍🏼

Never been into Biscoff flavoured stuff much but this flavour works for their buttery mini Biscoff cookie butterbon. Another nice one.