Sweet Dots (甜心点点), 100AM

Chinese dessert/小吃 shop (#03-16 100AM, 100 Tras Street) in similar vein to Yat Ka Yan/Mei Heong Yuen/Jin Yu Man Tang. Also trying a pistachio paste for the first time. It's apparently their signature and available in limited quantities. Sure. It's not dissimilar to other Chinese paste desserts. Pistachio flavour was present but not exactly robust unlike how some black sesame paste can be. Not exactly impressed but also didn't dislike it as well.

Ivan's Porridge is back!

After what seemed to be months of closure, Ivan's Porridge is finally back! I have missed the smoky chilli with their bee hoon.

They've mentioned that they'll be taking more frequent breaks moving forward.

Taichiuo shioyaki teishoku from Nakajima Suisan

Came across a taichiuo shioyaki teishoku 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, 二十四).

Taichiuo is commonly known as beltfish. Never had them before.

Meat's tender and flaky. Doesn't seem to be distinctive otherwise. Lots of bones along the edges.

Zhen Xiang Hainanese Chicken Rice (臻香海南鸡饭), BK Eating House @ Jurong Gateway Road

Came across Zhen Xiang Hainanese Chicken Rice (BK Eating House, 134 Jurong Gateway Road, #01-309) by chance while looking for lunch. What decided for me were actually those slabs of pork belly char siew hanging with the chicken in the stall. This turned out to be a pretty good find. Got the poached thigh. Chook was competently smooth and tender, well sauced with a pleasant sesame oil flavour. That and a light but adequately flavoured rice with a lime-y garlicky chilli which had a pleasant heat. That char siew though - was well caramelized, fatty and savoury sweet. Nice.

Da Po Curry Chicken Bee Hoon Mee Chicken Rice (大坡咖喱米粉面.鸡饭), Hawkers' Street @ 100AM

It's been years since we've last had curry noodles from Da Po at Golden Mile. These guys have an outpost at the new Hawkers' Street at 100AM (#04-05/06 100AM, 100 Tras Street). Here's a bowl of their curry chicken bee hoon mee. This was salty creamy richness with moderate spiced heat that was picked up by mixture of yellow noodles and bee hoon. Buried in it was chunks of tender poached chicken, potatoes, some pretty nice tau pok and a couple of thick slices of pig's skin. Love this. Will come back for it.

Revisiting Springleaf Prata Place @ Thong Soon Avenue

Been like a decade since we last ate at this Springleaf Prata Place. In recent times, there's the Springleaf MRT Station which makes the location much less inconvenient for people who don't live in the vicinity. Was a packed Saturday morning and we turned up not expecting the crowd.

Teh pandan's not bad - better than I imagined. Teh was adequate and the flavour from the pandan came through. Masala tea's also okay-ish. Note to self: Gotta siu dai.

Finally got to try their Impossible Murtaburger. Instead of lamb like the regular Murtaburger, there's an Impossible patty. The flavour also reminded me more than a little of a Ramly Burger. You know that there's too much sauce when you cut off a corner from a little piece and so much squirts out.

Otah prata which I felt was also a little too sauced up inside. There's mayo and mustard which kinda buried the otah.

Roti bomb. Crispy and sugary.

Lamb shank briyani's pretty good. Meat easily fell off the bone. Rice was savoury and pleasantly spiced. Nice nutty masala with a bit of heat as well.

Les Ducs, Ann Siang Hill

A few bouillon styled eateries have popped lately. Les Ducs (8 Ann Siang Hill) along with Bouillon Gavroche were a couple of them.

Sourdough was smoky. Nice with butter.

Foie gras terrine's...okay. A bit pricey methinks. The foie flavour seemed muted, not like what I remember of them from Brasserie Gavroche.

Pretty meaty steamed prawns. Love their cocktail sauce that we even saved them for fries.

Not a fan of their roast chicken leg with mushroom sauce. Skin's a bit chewy and the meat's pedestrian. Sauce felt a little thin didn't taste particularly mushroomy; definitely wasn't the creamy variety that I had in mind. Also not something that I'd associate with French and sauces. I'd rather the roast chicken leg from Cold Storage. Seriously.

Not bad tartare de boeuf.

Tartar was tangy, a little herby and creamy. Didn't seem to have capers though.

Their ham and Comte cheese coquillettes was basically a French mac & cheese. Nicely done.

Pretty nice chocolate mousse. Had the expected smooth creaminess with dark chocolate notes and importantly, not overly sweet.

I like their crème Mont Blanc. White pudding-y bottom reminded me of yoghurt. Top's chestnut cream and meringue.

Thye Hong Singapore Fried Prawn Noodles (泰豐), Food Opera @ ION Orchard

One might mistakenly arrive at the conclusion that this plate that I came across from Thye Hong Singapore Fried Prawn Noodles (#B4-03/04 ION Orchard, 2 Orchard Turn) might be the close to perfect plate of char kuey teow - going by the definition of myriads of retarded parrots out there about what that should be. Parrots that mostly yap about wok hei and haven't a mind sufficiently prehensile to grasp other characteristics of the dish, not to mention articulate them. 

I don't know what might be the perfect plate. This one has charred noodles and was smokey for sure. That smokiness was as much from caramelisation as burnt bits and speckles of carbon. Much more in your face than say Outram Park Fried Kway Teow Mee. There was much less dark soya sauce flavouring than the appearance suggested. Those guys at the work also looked like hired hands rather than veterans. It didn't taste bad though.

Mee kia from You Yi Minced Meat Noodle (友谊肉脞面)

$5 mee kia from You Yi today. Portions were still substantial even though it's reduced compared to the $7 bowl. No fish maw as I anticpated but I noticed a couple of wantons which I don't recall from the last round. Asked for extra chilli today - that'll be the way moving forward with them.

Will stick to mee pok in the future.

BBQ drumstick rice from Golden Rooster

Not bad drumstick rice from Golden Rooster. Even though it didn't taste like it was fresh off the...whatever it was they use for their bbq chicken. Portion felt a little small though. Will stick to the half chicken the next time.

女皇镇驰名油条 (Queenstown Famous You Tiao), Alexandra Village Food Centre

I've never noticed this stall (#01-72, Alexandra Village Food Centre, Blk 120 Bukit Merah Lane 1) until recently.

What got my attention were their banana balls.

Had a skin like hum chim pang - a little doughy and chewy. Inside was mashed banana. We returned for seconds and got a batch fresh off the fryer. Nice! 👍🏼

Plain Vanilla, Yong Siak Street

I was just saying not long ago that we never come into Plain Vanilla (1D Yong Siak Street) because of the crowd. This somehow happened.

Niçoise salad. Tasted like Niçoise salad with fishiness from anchovies and tuna.

Got the portobello mushroom & Stilton flatbread because Stilton. In the end, it was mostly mushrooms and rosemary I tasted with occasional nuttiness from the pine nuts. Not so much the blue cheese. 😔 Felt like they were trying to do something and half assed it because they were afraid.

This was nice. Bacon, scrambled egg and halloumi sandwich with chipotle mayo. Buns were soft and the in betweens were deliciously hearty. Every element in here was bold and discernible; unlike the wannabe flatbread that tried to involve Stilton and failed right at it.

Menu called this tomato veloute soup with grille cheese soldiers. The non-fancy name could be cream of tomato with grilled cheese. Passable but I'm pretty sure I preferred the one from Josh's Grill.

Unremarkable ice mocha. Would have been enjoyable if they made this a lot more gao in consideration of all the ice in there. But that's me.

Bouillon Gavroche, Mandarin Gallery

Brasserie Gavroche has opened a less pricey Bouillon Gavroche (#01-16/17 Mandarin Gallery, 333A Orchard Road, tel : +65 8522 0998) in town. While the restaurant is definitely easier on the wallet, one also needs to understand that the price tag commensurates with the quality of the food.

Decent warm goat cheese salad but that goat cheese...let's just say we've had better flavoured ones. These were crumby and tangy but not so much....goaty? Which I thought was the point.

There's crevettes sauce thermidor - or prawn thermidor. Not bad crustacean-y bechamel and those prawns were nice and smoky. Liked the mushrooms in it too.

Ordered their butcher's cut steak with peppercorn sauce. The cut of the day was sirloin. Meat's dry-ish...almost like dry aged meat on the interior surface but minus the funk and flavour. Quite disappointing. Going on record here that Ma Maison has better sirloin steak.