Lobster Buldak Ramen from Liu Lang Mian Noodle Bar (流浪面)

This was a limited time bowl from Liu Lang Mian. Included half a mentaiko mayo lobster, seafood Buldak tare, ajitama, scallions, tobiko and seaweed.

I was initially a little bit concerned because I've had some experiences (mostly enjoyable) with Buldak's hot sauces. Turned out that the noodles were manageably spicy (for me), but it still packed substantial heat. I liked it. Pretty satisfying with those thick noodles. Loads of umami from the toppings. Lobster was decent.

Kuro Kare, Havelock II

Heard about Kuro Kare (B1-32 Havelock II, 2 Havelock Road) and their signature 36 hours curry which has over 25 ingredient including dark chocolate, apples puree, tomatoes, onions, honey, mirin, ginger, butter, roasted flour, milk along with their custom spice blend. Yes I aggregated that list much like how Gemini does - from different sources online. 

There's Suntory on tap. 😬 Pricey but was worth the chilled malty reprieve from the heat. So much so that I got a second mug. 😬

One could get curry rice with a choice of protein here. Curry's nice. It had a deep savoury flavour with a bit of tang and was much less sweet than what I was expecting from Japanese curry. I also liked that it wasn't overly starchy.

Iberico tonkatsu was competent. No tonkatsu sauce, just salt and mustard which didn't overly complicate the flavours.

Steak's decent with a bit of sinew/silverskin.

A&W, Jewel

We haven't eaten from A&W (#B2-209 Jewel, 8 Airport Boulevard) for a long time. Stopped by for some food after our late night arrival back to Singapore. 

The root beer tasted weird. The first thought that instinctively came to mind after the first sip was if it was made from tap water. Pretty sure I tasted something like a mild chlorine flavour in it.

That's their cream cheese burger. Not sure what cream cheese was it that they used but it tasted more like mayo/cream than cream cheese to me. Will not get it again. Not good.

Curly fries be curly fries.

Pie & Mighty, Pakenham, Melbourne

Surprise pie breakfast from Pie & Mighty (24 Lakeside Blvd, Pakenham, Melbourne, tel : +61 3 5940 5588)

I have yet to master the runes emblazoned on these pies.

Perhaps someday I will.

Spicy Mexican - has some nice heat from the chili inside. There's beans, sour cream and cheese in it. I think the sour cream did it for me. Nice.

Chunky Beef's pretty decent. Meat's relatively tender. I think I like the plain beef one from Country Cob Bakery a little bit more though.

This one as goat's cheese, mushroom and beef. I liked it mostly for the flavour that goat's cheese brought to it.

Beef Vindaloo's not bad tasting with the tangy heat from their vindaloo gravy.

Couldn't tell the difference between this vanilla slice and the one from Country Cob Bakery.

Not bad apple and rhubarb crumble. The tart was stuffed. Wasn't as sweet as I thought might have been as well.

As a whole I had the impression that Pie & Mighty seemed to be of better quality than the other pie shops we've tried so far, keeping in mind that we're new to Aussie pies.

Home made si chet kauk sway

Si chet kauk sway or Si chet kauk swee. Home made. Garlicky. Tasted like the chicken version of bak chor mee. Crystal! 👋🏼

Supper Inn (宵夜店), Celestial Avenue, Melbourne CBD

This old school Cantonese restaurant (Level 1/15 Celestial Avenue, Melbourne, tel : +61 3 9663 4759) which opens late into the night is apparently an institution in Melbourne's Chinatown. From what I gather, it's been in business for almost half a century.

The portal and the path beyond was filled with scripts from past visitors that attempted to immortalise their visits in very small ways.

We had half a roast duck. The bird was much better tasting that its mundane looks suggested. Fat under the skin, tender even for breast meat and adequately flavoured. Plum sauce was the proverbial icing on the cake if one was into the icing.

A popular dish from their restaurant was their pippies in XO sauce and Chinese donuts (it's 油条/油炸鬼 and a separate charge applies). Pippies are clams if anyone was wondering. These were sautéed in a mildly spicy umami brown sauce with 油条 below. Clams were plump and not bad tasting. The XO sauce didn't taste like the ones that I am familiar with.  

I was looking forward to their blood curd congee. Did not like it. It has a flavour like pig intestines that hadn't been properly processed and that flavour was also present in the blood curds. I was disappointed by it.

There's a special fried rice on their menu which is what many would typically recognise as yang zhou fried rice. Eggs, bits of char siew, prawns, bean sprouts and spring onions. Flavour's passable, not memorable. I think it lacked smokiness or fish sauce. Or both.

There was a claypot braised lamb brisket special when we were there. Sauce was nice and there's adequate intrinsic flavour from the lamb. Would have been great if the lamb was much more tender but it kinda stopped being good there. Pity.

Crystal's fried rice and mohinga

Another home cooked special. Thanks Crystal! The fried rice was so good with the balachaung - those spicy fried onions, garlic, dried shrimp, and chilies thingy. Mohinga is a Burmese fish broth with rice noodles. I liked it for the fish flavour in the broth. The only other fish broth I think might share similarity in flavour was the one we had from Porta Porta ages ago. Odd but true.

A fish briyani

This one was a home cooked special. Apparently this briyani was a blend of Indian and South African styles. Notice that there are chunks of potatoes in it. Deliciously savoury with a great spice infusion.

Operator Diner, Lonsdale Street, Melbourne CBD

Operator Diner (Shop 2/130 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, tel : +61 3 8395 6341) is an American styled diner in the CBD.

Long black's sour. Flat white was......ok.

Got ourselves a breakfast muffin call Usual Suspect. Went big with the bacon and sausage combo which is topped with poached egg, cheese, their BBQ bacon chutney and a hash brown on the side.

Muffin was too wobbly to eat by hand. Not bad tasting. The sausage was pretty tasty.

Had an order of their Love Me Tender (chicken tenders) because they mentioned blue cheese sauce. Sauce was cheesy but we didn't get any blue cheese flavour and it was pre-mixed. How did we know it was pre-mixed? We asked if they could have it with more blue cheese and they told us so. Pretty disappointing. The tenders and fries were nicely done though.

Some drink called The Big Apple - single origin coffee (not that I could tell), apple juice, spiced chai, brown sugar foam and cinnamon. Not bad.

Pecan pie was too sweet. Didn't think much of it.

Apparently, Zac Efron was here. Filming. Pretty sure they marked the seat he was at just like what was done when Harry met Sally at Katz's Deli. I just never found out which one was it.

Hosted home BBQ

BBQ from friends that hosted us in this trip. There were drumlets and lamb t-bones and duck fat potatoes.

And also the obligatory salad, beans, corn and hotdogs. Those dogs were good.