Ssada Gimbap (싸다김밥), Great World

From what I've read described of Ssada Gimbap (#01-109/110 Great World, 1 Kim Seng Promenade, tel : +65 8267 3730), they appear to be to Korea what cha chaan teng are to Kong Kong. Their food a recognizeable array of ubiquitous fare with minimal frills.

This was their fire tonkatsu - the one with buldak sauce. On the side - mayo-ed salad, spicy bean sprouts, a mount of rice, kimchi and takuan.

Meat's a little dry and not the most tender around. Something I managed to easily looked past because of the hot sauce.

Gimbap's were...well, the restaurant's named after them. The ones here were pretty big and well stuffed. This has aged kimchi and tuna. Not bad. Will not mind coming back to try others.

Appreciated the free coffee. It's not great but it's sweet and hot.

One week later......

Ssada Gimbap also has an unexpectedly moreish kimchi jjigae. I liked that there was enough spicy sour from the kimchi with flavour of anchovy in the stew. Such good pairing with the rice. The slices of pork in there were relatively tender.

Ippudo's yuzu tonkotsu ramen this year

Ippudo's yuzu tonkotsu ramen is back on a limited run this year. It was unexpectedly disappointing even though it looked exactly the same as the ones they did in the past. Couldn't put a finger to what precisely had changed in the broth. Maybe it was less fruity and more salty. I definitely did not enjoy this like I did the previous time.

EatAlley, Orchard Gateway

I've been wanting to come to EatAlley (#B2-12 Orchard Gateway, 277 Orchard Road) at Orchard Gateway for some time. Finally did and also at an off peak hour.

This was called a bento on the menu if I remember correctly. Char siew bento with added roast duck. Pretty decent. Was expecting more out of the char siew because while it was better than run of the mill, it's not up there. Their wanton mee looked pretty good so maybe I'll try that the next time.

The other stall I was curious about was Uncle Beh Pork Noodle which features their 猪肉粉. Basically pork soup and noodles. Got ours with bee tai bak. Pretty good quality meat/offal here. The sweet intestine (粉肠) was outstanding and the pork soup, deliciously garlicky. It's kinda pricey though and I'm guessing that such quality wouldn't be that difficult a find at a lower cost in Malaysia.

Back at Tongue Tip Lanzhou Beef Noodles (舌尖尖兰州牛肉面)

It's been a while since the last time we ate at Tongue Tip Lanzhou Beef Noodles. We noticed that there're updates to their menu.

There's beef tendon noodles available dry or soup - a viable option, at least for me, compared to the past where one could only have them in their not so interesting slices of beef. Tendons were a little chewy, not so tender and had a nice beefy stew-y taste.

Side order of sauerkraut...or more accurately, 酸菜. Love how these added a nice acidity to the noodles and dumplings. What dumplings? See below.

Didn't expect them to have lamb skewers (羊肉串) on menu. It's nicely grilled but ultimately a failure because it's not identifiable as lamb. Not cheap at $2.50 a skewer. Will not be getting them again for sure.

An order of their prawn dumplings/虾仁水饺 again to ascertain if the last time we had them wasn't a fluke. These are still good. Skin's a bit thick but the prawn stuffings are legit. Pretty good eating if you soaked them in the 酸菜 broth too.

Breakfast at Royal Spicy Dosa

The menu at Royal Spicy Dosa might be staggering and they're open early for breakfast, but all that stagger doesn't exist in the morning because most of those items aren't available. So we found out the hard way.

Pongal here was dryish, with texture like dry mashed potatoes. Yellow lentils and rice weren't as integrated. Also no ghee flavour. It's like an entirely different dish from the porridge-y kind that's more common around. Almost stodgy but pretty good tasting with their sambar and/or coconut chutney.

Ghee roast was thin, crisp and buttery. 

Both the pongal and dosa came with some kesari on the side. Unlike the common variety, their kesari wasn't yellow or orange. Flavour's the same though and I liked that they weren't overly sweet.

Passable masala tea. Pretty milky.

Hannah Mayham in cheddar & jalapeño bagel from Two Men Bagel House

Hannah Mayham falls under the Classics at 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, 二十四, 二十五, 二十六). Odd because I've never noticed it it until their recent menu revamp.

It's not exciting a bagel as some of their others but I don't think this one was meant to be. Smoked chicken and turkey ham, Biscoff bechamel (which I cannot identify), Emmental, honey mustard, Lao Gan Ma chilli and pickled jalapeño. One could construe it as a glorified spicy ham and cheese sandwich. I thought it was not bad mostly because of the chillis which packed it a punch.

The House Chungdam, Duxton Road

Noticed The House Chungdam (#01-01, 72 Duxton Road, tel : +65 8336 2068) only recently. Place looks pretty and the menu offers premium looking cuts of meat for barbeque along with jeons and jjigaes. This was lunch.

There's a lager on tap going at an attractive $10 at happy hour. Taste reminded me of Tiger which meant more tang, rougher with the fizz and less character compared to the likes of Suntory or Asahi. A lesson was learnt here and won't be getting this again. 😬

Appetizer came with lunch. From the left, cheese kimchi jeon, a skewer of sweet stewed mushroom & quails egg and some japchae. Kimchi jeon's pretty good...will a la carte it the next time.

Quite impressed with their kimchi jjigae bansang. Why? The jjigae had a nice balanced flavour of fermentation rather than just coming on with a strong sour. Said flavour got more apparent once the stew has cooled a little. Rice was moist and tender...the ultimate pairing one could have with the jjigae. What the picture doesn't show, were the strips of "disintegrate in your mouth" pork belly in the stew. 😏

Banchan on the side were mostly tangy and competent. Notable were the kimchi which packed some heat and the ojingeojeot (pickled squid); both of which would either enhance the intensity of the jjigae or just good eating as topping on that delicious rice.

There was a yukke bibimbap. Not the typical looking bibimbap I'd admit. This one appeared to be more refined. Was served with the same banchans as the kimchi jjigae.

Flavour's also not typical. Not in your face here with the sesame oil and also no gochujang. There's a sweetness to it which I couldn't put a finger to but it was on the whole delicious.

We were curious about the cheese potato jeon which quietly incorporated bits of bacon for salt and smokiness. The menu mentioned that they used fluffy textured potatoes from the mountains of Gangwon - the location being the birthplace of potato jeon. Cool trivia which I hadn't any means to verify and the jeon wasn't exactly fluffy. This was Korean rosti and there's no way one could construe it otherwise. And hell yeah it was delicious. 

Du Du Dumplings (嘟嘟饺子), Tiong Bahru Plaza

We've noticed Du Du Dumplings (#02-111 Tiong Bahru Plaza, 302 Tiong Bahru Road) for a while. They've taken over the space that used to be Nana Curry. Like Paik's Noodle, it was another one of those eateries where we told ourselves repeatedly "the next time" and it didn't smell like that next time would come. Until it finally happened. Damn glad we did try.

This was their 凉拌小菜 which was essentially tofu strips with some julienned carrots. Sans coriander here. Nothing about the look gave clue to its deliciousness. The proprietress mentioned that it was tossed in an oil of their concoction and that's all we knew. Man this was good.

They've three styles of freshly made dumplings which one could choose with a selection of stuffings of choice. This was the boiled one (水饺) with minced beef. Delicious. Could taste something which I'm pretty sure is star anise flavouring the meat. Also juicy.

There's roasted chilli oil similar to the one that Tongue Tip Lanzhou Beef Noodles uses. Looks dangerously red, packs aroma and only has a little heat.

Pork & prawn fried dumpling (极品三鲜煎饺). A little greasy but still enjoyable. Love the prawn flavour in the stuffings.

Got their steamed dumplings with pork and cabbage (白菜猪肉蒸饺). Same star anise flavour in the meat as the beef dumplings. These were also juicy.

Interesting carbs named Dudu pasta (嘟嘟面耳). As the Chinese name may infer, these were kinda like orecchiette. Texture's doughy with a bit of chew compared to orecchiette. The tomato broth was sweet. Not bad.

Will come back.

Ube & sweet corn shake from Shake Shack

Flavour of the month from Shake Shack. Tasted like ube with coconut. Not tasting the sweet corn in this one.

Beef char kuey teow from Maddie's Kitchen

This beef char kuey teow must have been added to the menu after the last time we were at Maddie's Kitchen. Not bad. Some smokiness, a bit of sweet from the dark soy sauce and they used the same tenderloin from their hor fun. It's a tad greasy though.

Etna, first quarter 2025

It's been a couple of years since we were last here at Etna (一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八, 九, 十, 十一).

Their Angus beef carpaccio was moreish - salted umami and earthiness coming from thin slices of brown mushroom and shaven Parmigiano Reggiano. Layered on, were some shaven black truffle. The majority of the truffle flavour came from the oil though. There's something crunchy in there...maybe salt flakes. One of the more memorable carpaccio we've had in a while.

Pizza umbricella - topped with mozzarella, stracciatella, prosciutto cotto and shaven black truffle.

The pie was loaded with ingredients. Plenty of ham and milky richness from the cheeses. Crust couldn't hold up with the weight of toppings. Cornicione was a bit dense. But otherwise, not bad.

Special of the week was a blueberry risotto; with a light Gorgonzola sauce, marinated shallots and breadcrumbs. Love how much blueberry was infused into the rice with just a mild sweetness and a bit of berry tanginess while keeping it savoury as well. 👍🏼

Pistachio tiramisu to end.