Revisiting Tiong Bahru Hainanese Chicken Rice @ Takashimaya

That's their coconut fizz float which was basically a scoop of coconut ice cream in tonic water. Kinda liked this.

We were here to try something different from them. Something they called oven baked French poulet with Japanese rice which was prepared on order and had a 25 minutes waiting time. So we munched on some stuff...like their sweet and sour pork while waiting. Not bad this one. Crisp on the outside.

I don't know if this was French chicken because we also heard them mention kampong chicken. Meat was tender. The crisp skin had a flavour which reminded me of honey soya sauce glaze.

Under the chook was chicken rice with garlic. They used Niigata Koshihikari rice for that. Nice. 

Hong Yong Chao Zhou Yu Yuan Guo Tiao Mian (鴻榮潮洲鱼圓粿條麵), Jalan Bukit Merah Food Centre

Found out about Hong Yong Chao Zhou Yu Yuan Guo Tiao Mian (#01-09, 112 Jalan Bukit Merah Market & Food Centre, 112 Jalan Bukit Merah) recently. Apparently, they've been around since 1969.

The recommended noodle(s) of choice is kuey teow mee.

A $4 bowl gets one a bowl of noodles and a bowl of fishballs in a clear broth. Great flavour in the fishballs. While they were obviously smaller, the flavour of these fishballs were at least on par with Li Xin if not better. What's mentioned was that they're made with yellowtail as well. 

That inconspicuous clear broth was also packed with flavour.

The sliced chilli they provide are the regular ones with less heat as opposed to the smaller and feistier types which packs more kick. Chilli sauce was umami-laden. Gotta come back another time. Note to self: Open only weekends from 4.30am to 9.30am.

Fei Fei Roasted • Noodle (肥肥烧腊 • 云吞面), Hawkers' Street @ 100AM

I remember someone mentioning this stall once back at Yuhua Village Market and Food Centre. Never got to try them. Came across their outpost at Hawkers' Street at 100AM (#04-05/06, 100 Tras Street) and their beautifully caramelized char siew beckoned to us. As hard as it was to believe, it looked much better than it tasted. Not that it tasted bad but the meat beneath all the beautify red and black surface was a little dry and harder than we imagined.

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! 👍🏼