Mincheng Bibimbap, Tiong Bahru Plaza

Mincheng Bibimbap (#02-136 Tiong Bahru Plaza, 302 Tiong Bahru Road) replaced Paik's Noodle at Tiong Bahru Plaza. These guys are like...Chinese bibimbap?

I'm not feeling for their kimchi. I'm not sure why but I didn't like it.

I'm normally not a dolsot bibimbap person. But technically this wasn't a stone bowl...😂. I picked the one with pork and cheese and I needed the cheese to melt.

Wasn't bad tasting. I guess the main difference from Minchang's bibimbap and the Korean ones we've had is the flavour of the sauce (I'm not sure what this was but it didn't taste like gochujang) and there's salted mustard greens (梅菜) in it. Still not a fan of these in hot bowls.

There's a seafood tofu soup. Seafood-y tasting with clams and some sus looking prawns.

In retrospect, one can definitely tell the difference between the bibimbap here and some of the nicer Korean variety which will have a price tag that commensurates with their quality and/or quantity.

Fatt Choy Eating House (發財餐館), Haji Lane

Not impressed as a whole with Fatt Choy Eating House (10 Haji Lane).

Pork lard fried rice was a little underwhelming.

There's lard and dark soy sauce flavouring in it for sure but the fried rice was bland and definitely not great fried rice by any stretch of imagination.

This helped.

This was their original Roxy laksa. I've never had the original and I didn't think that those would have tiger prawns. Those prawns were nice and unexpectedly sweet by the way. The broth even had a particularly prawny crustacean dimension to it.

Not a fan of their ngoh hiang. Didn't like the crispy fried bean curd skin. Much prefer the regular skin. One could taste pork and prawns in them but it wasn't enough to save it.

I've had my share of lamb skewers and I'd rank these at the bottom of the list. At $18, they were also the most we've ever paid for lamb skewers. The meat looked aburi-ed, not grilled. While it had the prerequisite cumin flavouring, it didn't pack the oomph and also would have benefit from having a bit more salt. Lamb was chunky, chewy and lacking of a good fat to meat ratio that would have brought out better flavours. Waste of money. 👎🏼

Revisiting Santi's

Mixed feelings about them like the last time. Didn't get what I wanted because the actual menu wasn't what they had on their website. They explained that the site wasn't updated but the current menu as been around for about a week now. Add four days more to that as I'm writing this because it's still the old menu online. 😬 Getting lackadaisical vibes from this place. 

Anyways, this was their smoked miso leek rigatoni. Both leek and miso were... subtle. Not getting any of the sharpness from the leek and I might not have known it was miso in the sauce if not for the menu.

This was the mortadella panuozzo - pizza sandwich thingy. Was looking forward to the one with Parma ham but that's from the old menu. This definitely could have been better. 

Too little slices of really thin mortadella inside which were overwhelmed by the other stuff. Stuff like some Lao Gan Ma-ish chilly thingy and stracciatella - which was a pretty good combo actually. I liked this as a sandwich. But I would love to taste mortadella when I order something with mortadella.

Teochew St. Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle (潮州街香菇肉脞面), Smith Street Food Centre

Been wanting to try the bak chor mee from this stall (Yellow Zone, #02-023 Chinatown Food Centre, 335 Smith Street) for a while. This was their $6.50 signature noodle. Pretty loaded with the works. I was initially scoffing at how soft the mee pok was but it for some reasons grew on me. Saucing is pretty wet here. I liked the quality of their toppings. Special mention goes to their stewed mushrooms and the fragrant combination of ti poh and lard. Verdict was I enjoyed it with the sliced chilli. Will come back.

Idli and eggs from Sri Aachi Aappakadai Pte Ltd

Came by Sri Aachi Aappakadai Pte Ltd for idli and egg kalaki.

The chutney treatment was quite different from the last time.

Egg kalaki was loaded with onions. It's not bad an omelette but I'm not a fan of the overwhelming sharpness from so much onions. I like the one from Anjappar at Brickfields better.

Bakuton ramen and a couple of other stuff from Ippudo

Ippudo has a limited time Bakuton ramen which was a Jiro styled bowl. I was skeptical but I decided to try it anyway.

Looked pretty but there was far too much fat in that thick slice of chashu. Even after soaking in the broth, the fat wasn't melty. Far from it. For many, this doneness and texture would fall within the "gag zone". Think the base broth had the flavour of soy or dashi. This has nothing on Keisuke's Jiro bowl and Brothers Ramen's Megamen (regular or dry).

I'm leaving this at their chahan was uninspiringly mundane. Wasn't a bad fried rice. Just...ordinary. 

The tastiest thing we had were crispy fried button mushrooms with truffle mayo cheese/sauce thingy which had an infusion of truffle flavouring that wasn't overpowering. 

More breakfasting at Bangalore Cafe

Here's getting more breakfast at Bangalore Cafe.

I'm on the verge of declaring my favourite rava idli here but I think I should get it again at MTR just to convince myself which one is better.

Bisibele bath tasted better than it looked. Aside from the robust warm savoury spices in the porridge, there's also boondi for some contrasting crunch.

Neer dosa's texture was a little different from what we've had at MTR and Kalam Restaurant. It's more moist/wet. Sweet coconut/jaggery was also more coarse/rustic and I didn't mean that in a bad way. There's the other coconut chutney infused with cumin that came with the dosa as well. It's not the same as their usual coconut chutney which doesn't have cumin. Not bad tasting.

Set C for 2 meal from Putien Mama

That's the Set C for 2 meal from Putien Mama. There's a selection from a couple of proteins and a vegetable dish going for $28.80. Which isn't a bad deal.

Ended up with some things we liked like their sweet and sour pork with lychee.

And their fermented red rice wine chicken.

Tried their luffa with pork lard for the first time. Both the gourd and lard soaked up that delicious savoury gravy. If anyone hadn't realised, all their sauces were rice thieves.

Tsujiri Premium Tanjong Pagar, Tanjong Pagar Road

Ducked into Tsujiri Premium Tanjong Pagar (94 Tanjong Pagar Road) to escape the heat. This space was a lot more zen-esque and pretty than the old spot at Great World. The world 'sanctuary' might be appropriate here.

Some matcha beverages.

Matcha Yakult latte - nice. Tasted much like the name described. A pretty gao matcha with Yakult.

Their strawberry matcha milk cap was pretty good too. The pic above was before the extra shot of matcha. Better with the extra shot methinks because of the stronger green tea intensity. 

Nasi lemak from Faith Nasi Lemak (信心椰浆饭)

Finally got to try the nasi lemak from Faith Nasi Lemak. This was the Set B at $5 which edged it into the category of pretty good value. The rice wasn't as aromatic as I hoped so this was one where the sambal definitely helped. A couple of things did bother me. That chicken thigh was a little dry. 魚柳 was freshly fried but a little too greasy for my liking. 

Bee hoon kuey teow soup from Uncle Beh Pork Noodle

Note to self: The soup rendition of pork noodles from Uncle Beh Pork Noodle was less intense and garlicky than the one from dry bowl. Gotta remember that. Still a pretty good eat though.

Some stuff from Hoshino Pancake

Stopped by Hoshino Coffee at ION (#B3-22 ION Orchard, 2 Orchard Turn, tel : +65 6509 8638). Mango pancake's nice. Odd thing was, it was the smell that caught my attention. It smelled like bananas.

There's a "Paris Brest" on menu. Did not taste anything like one. There's barely any hazelnut flavour. Instead of praline, there's just real nuts stuck on top of the pastry. This was merely a cream puff that may or may not have looked like a Paris Brest.

Piadini Italian Streats, 111 Somerset

From the story that's been told, the owner of this stall (01-K8, 111 Somerset, 111 Somerset Road) was impressed much by the piadina that she previously had in Rome that she set up shop here selling them.

Got the one with Gorgonzola. Did not expect lettuce in there because the menu only mentioned arugula. Sadly, I couldn't taste much of the Gorgonzola. The crushed nuts in the piadina didn't taste particularly fresh as well. Didn't even notice the olive oil or balsamic vinegar that's supposed to be in it. Kinda disappointing.

Some breakfast from ABC Multi Cuisine Restaurant

Breakfasting at ABC Multi Cuisine Restaurant. Teh halia's fine and the Nescafe tarik didn't look like it went through much tarik-ing. I like these beverages better from Umar Ali Cafe next door because they're made better in my not so humble opinion.

Okay-ish roti banjir. It's not a bad rendition but I prefer Umar Ali's because that one was more umami from the dalcha and fish curry. This one had a sweet sambal.  

Their mutton dosa/thosai used rice flour with little fermentation. It's apparent from the taste.  

I got this because they mentioned that the mutton they used was keema. This set my expectations looking forward to only keema. Did not expect the eggs and shredded red onions inside. Suspect this might have been what they put in their murtabak. Didn't think much of this because I found the onions disruptive for both taste and texture.