Lontong Sedap, Margaret Drive Hawker Centre

I've previously had the lontong from Lontong Sedap (#01-25 Margaret Drive Hawker Centre, 38A Margaret Drive) back in their old premise at Tanglin Halt Food Centre. Got a nasi lemak for breakfast today. Did I detect a faint lemongrass flavour in the rice? Anyways, pretty decent plate with standard quality ingredients. Rice was moist and savoury with some coconut richness. Sambal's sweet but not annoyingly so with heat and infused with ikan bilis flavour.

Yong Kiang Chicken Rice (永強鸡饭), Ubi

Yong Kiang Chicken Rice (1st Stop Food Junction coffeeshop, Blk 3014 Ubi Road 1) is in the same coffeeshop as Mei Mei Roast and Da Sheng Minced Pork Noodle. What piqued me about them was the minced pork stuffed fried tau kwa which...isn't something that one normally finds in chicken rice stalls. Said tau kwa was slightly crusty edged with meat stuffings which was lightly flavoured with five spice. The chicken thigh I got today was a little boney but the rice had pretty good flavouring. Chilli seems more vinegary than lime-y.

Hakata Ikkousha, Chijmes

Our first time at Ikkousha at Chijmes (#F1-07 Chijmes, 30 Victoria Street, tel : +65 6338 8460) and the positive impression imparted today was telling; that my prior opinion of them might be biased, or tainted by the cloistered experience from their shop at Tanjong Pagar which gave me the impression that they have become mediocre through the years.

I didn't feel that way here. What surprised me from this shop at Chijmes was their bonito tonkotsu bowl which had that thalassic smokiness overlaying the pork bone broth, upturning my prior impression of what this bowl was about.

First time getting their mentai don. We knew what it was and while it was probably easily available in ramen shops, we didn't visit ramen shops to eat these. Just didn't happen that way. We did today. Like I said, we already knew what it was. But as I shovelled the first mouthful of that moist warm rice smudged with salty spicy roe laced with nori and spring onions, the thought that came to mind was "fuck me this was good". 😂

This was the tonkotsu shio. I don't know precisely what's the difference between this and the regular tonkotsu aside from the intensity and flavour. This one was cleaner and lighter. Almost like bak kut teh broth minus the herbs and pepper. Not bad when one is in the mood for something less heavy.

God Fire Level 4. Had it previously so I know I could handle it.

Noticed bits of chilli in the broth which I didn't encounter the last time.

Never seen so much gyoza on a plate before.

Single serving with mala sesame dressing from Gong Yuan Ma La Tang (宫源麻辣烫)

This single serving portion came with the same big bowl as the shared ones we've been having previously. 🤔 Anyways, this was 中辣 mala sesame dressing compared to the 小辣 bowl we tried the first time. Rich and nutty as such sauces tend to be. Surfeit does kinda creep in after a while so the trick is a few squirts of vinegar which leaves it still creamy yet much easier to inhale.

At Newton Food Centre after all these years

I haven't eaten at Newton (500 Clemenceau Ave North) for a really long time. The last time was duck macaroni from Kwee Heng. It's been that long. And I felt like a tourist. 😂

As I took in this unfamiliar ground, I wondered which were the stalls that ripped off tourist and chalked up the bad rep in past. 😂

Hokkien mee from Newton Old Signboard 25 (#01-25) was not bad. I like their creamy and robust crustacean stock for the noodles. Not to mention as well their delicious spicy sambal. Might try the clam or oyster version the next time.

Okay-ish black radish cake from Heng (#01-28). Oysters from the oyster omelette were plump and metallic tasting.

Tried the sambal petai from Alliance Seafoood 27 (#01-27). Their rendition has squid and ikan bilis. The petai tasty fume-y. 😂 Like they were emitting gas as we ate them. There were some crunchy bits in the dish which I thought might be crushed peanuts though I cannot be certain. Wouldn't say this was bad tasting but I'm not a fan. That is probably because I've been biased by/used to/spoilt by the no nonsense rendition with just petai and minced pork at Sin Hoi Sai. No fillers like onions to bulk up the plating and mess with the savouriness.

Their weak looking fried rice with the despised red floury goo was actually pretty delicious. Not because of the red floury goo. What's the red floury goo? Old school yang zhou fried rice used bits of char siew. Evolution and lack of pride reduced the char siew component to crab sticks. These red floury goo were even further down that evolution, replacing crab sticks. A replacement of the replacement. A devolution of a devolution.

More eating at Hajah Maimunah @ Jalan Pisang

Was looking forward to this lunch back at the flagship of Hajah Maimunah. Will just be pointing out a few of the notables.

Rice with rawon gravy and serunding. Gravy was a lot less intense than I imagined for something that has buah keluak as part of the ingredients but the serunding compensated with its spicy sweetness. One thing that's definitely not lacking from the food here is flavour.

The stingray here was not as good eating as the one we had at their branch at Clementi. It's not bad by any stretch. Meat's stiffer than what I had expected.

Paru belado was outstanding. Believe it or not, the first thought that came to mind was tenderloin.

Pacuk paku masak lemak - fiddlehead ferns in a coconut rich spicy gravy.

The gravy for their tahu telur seemed different...unless I remembered wrongly. I was anticipating something like kecap manis but this was more like rojak sauce with the belanchan in it. Love it though. Tofu was crispy on the outside and wobbly tender on the inside.

Our first pengat pisang....a sweet coconut soup with sweet potatoes and bananas that were on the verge on disintegrating in it. The tanginess from the bananas had seeped into the soup. Damn this was good.

I'm not sure if these were kueh salat or if there's another name for them. The one with the white bottom layer is made with sago and coconut and the other was pulut hitam. Nice.

More food from Tsui Wah (翠華)

Late-ish dinner at Tsui Wah at Clark Quay Central. I think I've figured out why I find their borscht appealing. Must be the sugar.

Got one of their sizzling plate with grilled king prawn and chicken steak. Mostly because I remember wanting to come back for their chicken. Pretty surprised by the size of that king prawn. Not bad. 👍🏼

Hot Ovaltine. Tasted a little thin. I like their Horlicks better.

Was curious about their salted egg lava French toast.

Decent. Salted egg didn't seem to taste like those in liu sha bao.

One week + later......

Breakfast. They've a few breakfast sets plus a bunch of stuff from the a la carte section. 茶走 and 啡走 were defaulted with light sweetness.

One of the sets included minced pork & century egg porridge with noodles. The latter wasn't the stir fried chow meen like I imagined. These were like noodles from wanton mee.

Continental breakfast was pan fried salmon in a lemon butter sauce, scrambled eggs (barely discernible salt and no butter), some nicely buttered buns and chilled coleslaw. Decent tasting plate. Wished they would do salmon rare/medium rare on the inside but that'll probably be asking for too much out of them.

I like the egg tarts from Tai Cheong and Tong Heng better. Mostly because of the egg custard which I feel is better than the ones here.

Momolato, North Bridge Road

Came across Momolato (723 North Bridge Road) while seeking sanctuary from the sweltering heat. 😂

This was called Shotgun. Iced coffee with kunafa.

I'm actually not sure if it's just iced coffee because the texture's frappe and it tasted like it might have been coffee ice cream than iced coffee. Decent coffee strength. More pistachio flavour than I imagined from the kunafa.

Aburi cheese katsu from Tonkatsu by Ma Maison

Tonkatsu by Ma Maison has limited aburi cheese katsu. Rosu with Camembert and cheddar.

Nice melty cheese both on and inside the katsu. Pretty rich tasting and delicious. Nice with mustard.