Fish stomach ee mian from Mr Batang Fish @96

Finally got to try the fish stomach from Mr Batang Fish. Meat's more tender than their regular batang slices - which were also delicious in case the wrong idea was conveyed. Will come back for more.

French toast from Ah Seng (Hai Nam) Coffee

Got some homely tasting French toast from Ah Seng (Hai Nam) Coffee while waiting for Mr Batang Fish to get ready for the day. It might not be apparent from the picture above but there's already butter and kaya in between the slices of egg soaked bread.

More fish soup noodles from The Ship

 Yeah, this one.

50 cents serunding from Aneka Ulam

Just realised that I got exactly the same thing as the last time. Anyways, I noticed a tub of serunding and asked for some. They charged me 50 cents for that little pile. First time paying for serunding. Don't recall if they charged for it the first time I ate here. These shredded spiced coconut have been part of condiments (for the stalls that make them) as far as I know. Food's still delicious but I'm not paying for the serunding the next time.

Luxe with hash brown in blueberry bagel from Two Men Bagel House

Something's off. I didn't seem to be enjoying this Luxe from TMBH ( 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, 二十四, 二十五, 二十六, 二十七, 二十八) as much as I thought I would. Maybe I'll just milestone this and move into the MYOB for a bit starting the next time. I see that the Forged Gras is part of the protein option these days. 😏

Leaf Corner, Tai Seng Point

Chinese vegetarian restaurant located in a dingy second floor of a building (#02-01 Tai Seng Point, 11 Irving Place, tel : +65 6931 8869) a minute's walk from Tai Seng MRT. This was described as olive fried rice but if you've had any of them before, it's actually preserved olive leaves rather than olives. I've mixed feeings.

The brown crispy stuff on top which were supposed to be mock meat floss were pretty good. It's sweetened and tasted pretty close to the real thing. I was told they were made from mushrooms. What I didn't take to was the lack of olive leaf flavouring. Fried rice was a tad oily that I tasted it in my burps through the afternoon.

HE SHENG Hong Kong Flavor Expert Beef (和勝港式牛肉汤), Chinatown Food Centre

Came across HE SHENG Hong Kong Flavor Expert Beef (Red Zone, #02-100 Chinatown Complex Market and Food Centre, 335 Smith Street) recently and was curious enough to try.

Here's a tendon only bowl. Some pieces of those tendon were really tender and others were chewier/gummy. Broth was flavourful and salty. Maybe a little too salty but also comes together pretty nicely with the salted vegetables and their house made chilli.

They have grilled beef ribs which isn't a typical offering from the local beef noodle stalls. These were arguably tender but the exterior was kinda hard. Not something I'd get again.

Some pistachio kunafa chocolate snacks

This post has been languishing in the mouldiness of draft status for months and it's now finally in the light of day. So to speak. I've gotten a few of those emergent kunafa chocolate thingys because they're kinda in many places over the past year and also to quell a curiosity by answering the question on how these fare against kunefe.

Got this cake bar from 7-11. Tasted not bad. Not excessively sweet with a sheath of chocolate around the crusty kadaifi that's layered over chocolate cake. Texture like chocolate cake with a light crunch.

Of the three, this one by Chocoelf was the most identifiable as kunefe/kunafa. Got a good crisp crunchiness from the kadaifi and chocolate wasn't overly sweet. Better tasting one of these three.

This can be found in 7-11. Okay-ish tasting, not great quality dark chocolate. There's a bit of crunch from the kadaifi but in a blind taste, I doubt anyone can tell it's kunafa. I wouldn't say it's bad but I wouldn't get it again.

Cheese Volcano pizzas from Domino's

Cheese sauce was a little sweet? Also not enough to go around which was disappointing. Pizza was...edible I guess. Will not be getting these again.

Pistachio dandanmian from Liu Lang Mian (流浪面)

This pistachio dan dan mian from Liu Lang Mian was apparently on limited run. The nut element in the bowl was according to the menu, roasted pistachio paste. Not a bad bowl. I liked how the pickled cucumbers and sharpness from the onion cuts through the creamy nuttiness of the egg richened sauce. I only have one gripe. 

Couldn't tell that there were pistachio involved.

Rat tail noodling at Authentic Teochew Tradition Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle (潮州传统香菇肉脞面)

First time getting bee tai bak/老鼠粉 from Authentic Teochew Tradition Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle.

Not bad tasting. The old uncle was at the front of the stall prepping dried sole with a permanent scowl etched on his face.

Grilled Fish Keisuke, Tanjong Pagar Road

 

Nice! Keisuke has opened up a (mostly) grilled fish teishoku shop on the unit (101 Tanjong Pagar Road) that used to house his tendon-ya Ginza Tendon Itsuki which ended business earlier in the month. We (also read as 'I') needed this in between bridging the crazy queue at Nakajima Suisan and the pricey Suju.

They've stepped up with the condiments in this shop featuring a briny mentaiko ika, a beefy savoury gyu shigure ni and a salty spicy karashi tanaka.

Teishoku comes with rice, miso soup and a fried egg. They're bottomless along with the condiments except for that fried egg and the protein of choice.

Which made it dangerous because the condiments were intensely flavoured and well salted to pair with rice. I had seconds.

Gratuitous molten yolk porn.

We had the gindara and akauo misozuke yaki. Grilled black cod and Pacific Ocean perch that's been marinated with miso in English. Both fishes were nicely done with crisp skin and a layer of light smoky sweetness from the marinate. I look forward to coming back - I spied gyutan and kinmedai.

Uncle Ah Teck's Noodle House, Chinatown Food Centre

Uncle Ah Teck's Noodle House (Green Zone, #02-051 Chinatown Complex Market and Food Centre, 335 Smith Street) opened at the unit that used to house the defunct Jiakali. Chef was apparently from the hotel industry and the stall only does laksa.

This was the bowl with prawns. Flavour from the broth was serviceable - that's nowhere in the same leagues as Janggut Laksa or even 928 Yishun Laksa from the lack of dried shrimp infusion. Not a bad tasting bowl to be fair but I won't have a hankering for it anytime soon. Not with the plethora of options at Chinatown anyways.  

More assam stingray from Dalila's Kitchen

More nasi padang from Dalila's Kitchen. Assam stingray and sayur lodeh. I've had these a couple more times and the size of the ray appears to be luck of the draw. Today's portion was sized like a meaty chicken thigh instead of the previous one I had which looked like it was a 2X2 setup of Chicken McNuggets.

Fried pineapples from Mrs Banana

Got these from Mrs Banana at Takashimaya. Not bad tasting. The exterior was crunchy and the pineapple inside were sweet and moist. Said pineapples are available in either sliced pieces or smaller bites. We got the latter. I would have been happier if not for the fact that a quarter of this cup at the bottom was filled with just crunchy bits.

天天有鱼 (Tian Tian You Yu), ABC Brickworks Food Centre

Came across Tian Tian You Yu (#01-142 ABC Brickworks Food Centre, 6 Jalan Bukit Merah). These guys share the same stall units as Soon Lee Fish Soup and a little bird whispered, having seen the staff from both stalls wear the King Grouper Fish Soup tops. So I guess they're all the same?

No complains with their sliced grouper. It's not necessarily the better tasting ones out there, but it was also not of mediocre quality. Those brown bits were fried cai por (preserved radish).

Also decent-ish lu rou fan. Sliced pork belly was pretty tender and the gravy's passable. This bowl actually rocks with some of the fermented bean sauce. 

Kinki, Japanese unagi and yellow croaker at Nakajima Suisan

Another satisfying breakfast at Nakajima Suisan (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).

Pretty surprised that they have kinki. Seems like they're also pushing the envelop with that since kinki isn't cheap and this was the most expensive set we've ever gotten at $49.90. That being said, I recognise that this was a lot less expensive than what most places charges for a fish like this. If you didn't know, there's a prawny flavour to the fish and it was delicious.

There's also a limited quantity unagi kabayaki teishoku featuring Japanese eels. Equally as pricey as the kinki but sadly not great. Meat was a little mushy. Don't expect the standards that one gets from Man Man/Unagi Tei. Or even Uya and Unatoto for that matter. Won't be getting this again.

Their yellow croaker is still available and still huge. Great value for quantity and the fish, though leaner and less flavourful, wasn't bad at all.

Natto, shoyu and rice.

Sakunthala's Restaurant, Syed Alwi Road

First time eating at this branch (88 Syed Alwi Road, tel : +65 6297 0895) of Sakunthala's. We've previously eaten at their other branches at Race Course Road, Dunlop Street and Safra Mount Faber. Their food so far have been hits and misses for me.

Had their Mysore mutton briyani. Not a fan of their Mysore mutton. The spice paste was spicy and nutty which I liked but the meat was a little hard and stringy. Hard and stringy's a dealbreaker. The rest of the stuff on the plate was decent.

Their onion uttapam was nice. The pancake was lightly browned with a crisp exterior and a toasty aromatic sweetness from the shredded onions. Their chutneys were serviceable but not memorable.