Putien has changed

The menu at Putien  (一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八, 九, 十, 十一, 十二, 十三, 十四) has been streamlined. Some new dishes have emerged and and a bunch of others are no longer available. Even their corn juice has been removed. The vibe felt different as well.

This sambal white water snowflake (叁巴水莲) was one of the new items. Crunchy and not much intrinsic flavour from the vegetable. Tasted much like sambal kangkong. Good with rice.

Oyster festival is back so we got some la zi oyster (辣子鲜海蛎). Greasy crunch on the exterior and creamy on the inside. Much like how they were the last time we had them.

From the oyster festival menu was a black truffle oyster noodle (黑松露海蛎烧豆面). Not much of the black truffle flavour. Noodles were slippery and chewy. Not bad tasting.

Geylang Abalone Chilli Noodles (芽笼鲍鱼辣椒面), Broadway @ Sim Lim Square

The signature abalone noodles from Geylang Abalone Chilli Noodles (#B1-08/26 Sim Lim Square, 1 Rochor Canal Road) looked better on their menu. The actual bowl appeared a little underwhelming. Chilli was savoury and has a slight mala-esque heat.

Their meatball were those that has another meatball inside. They're slightly sweet. Not a fan. The rest of the ingredients were pretty ordinary. Mee pok was soft and without the bite that makes them enjoyable. At least now I know.

Henry Charpentier, Great World

Have passed by Henry Charpentier (#01-K103 Great World, 1 Kim Seng Promenade, tel : +65 6235 6303) here numerous times. First time sitting in for cakes.

White peach shortcake was delicious. Both the cake and cream were light and silky. Love those peaches.

Their rendition of the Black Forest gateau was also nicely done. It's not the same as the alcohol infused ones like the defunct Stuttgart Blackforest Boutique S-Café or The Corner Grill or Atout. This like the white peach shortcake had that trademark lightness that Japanese cakes tend to have.

Tsujiri Premium, Great World

Tsujiri Premium (#01-117/118 Great World, 1 Kim Seng Promenade, tel : +65 9830 5988) took over the spot that used to be The Dark Gallery. It's mostly matcha beverages, confectionary and desserts here if anyone was wondering. Their matcha as I've read are harvested from the Uji region of Kyoto and Gemini mentions good quality tea leaves with rich flavour and aroma.

Left's matcha cappucino and right's matcha latte. Visually a little different with the foam but I couldn't really tell the taste apart. Maybe one was a little milkier? I like the lightly sweetened latte better at Maccha House.

Pistachio basque cheesecake was a little nutty and mostly creamy. Didn't dislike it but I don't think it's pistachio-y enough that I'd want to get it again.

We were intrigued by their koji croissant with matcha fillings. The croissant was described as being infused with the essence of koji.

Couldn't tell if it was. Tasted like a regular croissant. Flaky, crispy, a little buttery and all. The creamy bittersweet green tea filling was nice.

Sin Ming Roti Prata Faisal & Aziz Curry Muslim Food, Sin Ming Road

 

I've heard of Sin Ming Roti Prata (#01-51, 24 Sin Ming Road, tel : +65 6453 3893) and their mention for years. Have finally gotten to try them recently.

Their coin prata is apparently talked about. Closest to a croissant I've had as pratas go. Firm with layers, nicely browned and crispy. Kinda nice with sugar.

Cheese plaster's pretty good too. It's the plastic square cheese here so the milky saltiness comes through the prata and egg. Nice. 👍🏼

Competently done kosong they have too with a bit of crisp and a good chew to the texture. Old school-ish. Like.

Got a bunch of sides to go with the prata. The fried chicken's outstanding. Great flavouring and moist meat underneath that dry-ish looking crunchy skin.

This was a Milo kopi from the coffeeshop, not from the prata stall. Shockingly Unexpectedly nice. Both Milo and coffee were thick. Did not see that coming. It's a better mocha than many mocha out there, albeit a local rendition. 

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 mound 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.