Revisiting Chin Mee Chin Confectionary

Been a long time since we were last here at Chin Mee Chin Confectionary.

It's no longer that capsule in time even though vestiges remain.

They kaya toast appears to have changed for the better. It's not longer served like a regular sandwich. It's now an open faced one which created a more favourable kaya butter to bread ratio. I like this current rendition. Kaya's lumpy yet a smooth spread. Pretty eggy too.

There's a kaya custard puff done in the style of old custard puffs from local bakeries. I like that kaya & custard filling in it. Puff's soft and lightly chewy like the old school ones. In spite of appearances, they aren't crusty or crunchy.

The gula melaka chiffon is what it is. The palm sugar flavour's there but not in your face. But it's a chiffon and that's meant to be lightweight.

Got their kopi tid lo today. Same sentiments as the last time I was here. I rather Toast Box anytime. 

Mum Mum 31, Alexandra Village Food Centre

This stall (#01-50, Alexandra Village Food Centre, Blk 120 Bukit Merah Lane 1) has onde onde flavoured putu mayam. Presumably, the green idiyappam is pandan flavoured but I don't think I tasted that. Loads of flavour coming from the gula melaka though. This was served warm from their steamer. Not bad.

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

So because it was mee pok 白 without the other condiments, I realised that there's a noticeable yellow noodle taste which the chilli has masked in the previous time. Still edible but 白 is probably just good for their kuey teow only.

Heng Kee Hainanese Curry Rice (興記海南咖喱飯), ABC Brickworks Food Centre

Not bad curry rice from Heng Kee Hainanese Curry Rice (#01-110 ABC Brickworks Food Centre, 6 Jalan Bukit Merah). Curry didn't pack much heat but was creamier than the one from Yuguo Curry Rice nearby. Pleasantly surprised by the smokey long beans. Pretty generous portions as well. Closed on weekends.

Basmati and Niigata Koshinikari chicken rice from Tiong Bahru Hainanese Chicken Rice

Back at Tiong Bahru Hainanese Chicken Rice. Here's a side by side comparison of the "newer" types of rice which they've made chicken rice with. The mouthfeel of each was somewhat aligned with the way they looked. The basmati one tasted thin, dryer and kinda felt less whole if you catch my drift while the plump Niigata Koshinikari tasted more full, moist and oily. Personally, I though the basmati was good pairing with the chilli while I preferred the Niigata Koshinikari without.

Now that I've tried both, I'll be sticking to the regular jasmine rice which I prefer. It might be familiarity speaking but I thought it has a better texture somewhere in between these two.

Killiney Kopitiam, Smith Street

So we found ourselves at this branch of Killiney Kopitiam (29 Smith Street). Should have picked up on the foreboding vibes with my Spidey senses.

Bak kwa fried rice was under salted. Otherwise it was passable and a bit oily.

What bothered me were the hard clumps of rice that were in it.

Not an expert on Killiney's curry chicken here but this one was substandard/mediocre by my measure. Pretty sure it was much better tasting when I had them years ago at their outfits at Killiney Road and Purvis Street. This just wasn't good curry. There was something about the depth and flavour which appeared thinned out. Chicken tasted stiff. Have they fallen or is it just this branch in the touristy part of town?

Will not be back.

Revisiting Kreta Lembu

Breakfast at Kreta Lembu with a side of rock tunes from the 90s. This was their soto ayam. Egg's an add on.

The broth got pretty spicy after the sambal was swished into it. Nice heat in the cinnamon-y spicy broth which was awesomeness if not for the haze. There were generous shreds of chicken-y chicken along with bean sprouts and ketupat in it.

Came across some French toast thingy which they mentioned contained curry beef.

It's actually beef rendang inside. Pretty solid beefy one. IIRC, this was just a buck. 👍🏼

Pretty decent teh tarik here.

Spicy Hubby, Centrepoint

This was the Spicy Hubby (#01-55/56 The Centrepoint, 76 Orchard Road) of the Spicy Wife - a new eatery by Spicy Wife Nasi Lemak. We were here because we were curious about their ayam gepuk.

But first, some sparking calamansi to wash away the some of the humidity and haze. Pretty sure I tasted cordial in it so I don't think it was just those preserved plums, calamansi and a slice of lemon flavouring it.

Decent tasting nasi ayam gepuk. Coconut rice aside, this felt on the whole better eating than Ayam Gepok Anakmak. Speaking of rice, portion was pretty small. I actually ran out of rice before the gajus sauce and sambal. Sambal also did not pack much heat. 

Their nasi goreng ayam berempah was a different beast from the nasi lemak at Spicy Wife. Chicken here was chopped up and noticeably less moist. Those ikan bilis were crispy and not hard so thumbs up to that. Rice also appeared to have a more pronounced flavour.

Coffee Queen, Marine Parade Central Food Centre

Coffee Queen (#01-01 Marine Parade Central Food Centre, 84 Marine Parade Central) has a few outlets. Have had coffee at this branch and the one at Maxwell a few times. This stall, in my opinion, and its branches have one of the more drinkable coffees around that I know of.

They also have Horlicks tea - a beverage I don't see anyone else serving even though it wasn't the most difficult or wildly imaginative drink to whip up.

Not bad actually. Tasted like a mixture of Horlicks and tea, no surprises in it.

Kun Ji (坤記), Marine Parade Central Food Centre

Heard about Kun Ji (#01-025 Marine Parade Central Food Centre, 84 Marine Parade Central) and their duck rice. There were a couple of lessons learnt in trying to get a plate here.

i) The stall didn't open at 9.30am on Friday as stated by Google. We were asked to come back at 10am as they were still doing prep

ii) At 10am the braised duck and char siew still weren't ready and they informed us that it'll be another 30 mins to half hour before those were.

We ended up with the roast duck rice. Added roast pork and stewed mustard greens (梅菜). Portion was pretty generous. Duck's serviceable, they're not those with crisp skin with an under layer of flavourful fat kind. Skin's a little chewy. Roast pork was serviceable - didn't like the bones in it. 梅菜 was tender but definitely not one of the more tender ones around. All in all...serviceable but not very memorable.

That roasted chilli though was delicious. Much more so than those from most of the other roast duck stalls. Inhaled the rice easily with it.

One week later......

I like the braised duck more than the roast duck. Seemed to be a bit more tender. Managed to get some char siew this time round - these were somewhat different. They looked like the old school char siew with red dye, but they were of a more tender cut and thicker sliced with some sweet sauce flavouring them. Didn't taste like those "red dyed cardboard".

Chef Foong Pork & Seafood Noodles (大佬峰 猪肉 & 海鲜汤面), Pasir Panjang Food Centre

The thing that caught my attention with this one (#01-39 Pasir Panjang Food Centre, 121 Pasir Panjang Road) was that the chef was formerly a senior sous chef at Google. I hadn't any idea what that could have meant but I saw some pictures and was curious enough to come down.

Even though most of the menu consisted of various configurations of pork and seafood noodles, the one that beckoned was their curry chicken dry noodles. The visuals looked promising.

I like it. Flavour from the curry reminded me of those from years back. Quite similar to the ones that my grandma used to make. Thick, creamy and in my opinion, drinkable. Mee kia didn't turn soggy and the curry clung well onto them. Liked those potatoes in there too. The only gripe was that the meat from the chicken drumstick felt stiff.

Nonya Chendol, Old Airport Road Food Centre

Pretty decent durian chendol at Nonya Chendol (#01-115 Old Airport Road Food Centre, 51 Old Airport Road). I've had them previously from both Redhill Market Food Centre and Whampoa Market. I think the one at Redhill is no longer around.

Wen Hua Yuan (Boneless) Hainanese Chicken Rice, Old Airport Road Food Centre

I gathered that this chicken rice stall (#01-119 Old Airport Road Food Centre, 51 Old Airport Road) has been around for ages but I've only noticed them recently. They're just a couple of stalls away from Roast Paradise.

Not bad. Passes the checkboxes for tender smooth chicken (I had thigh today), garlicky limey chilli and adequately flavoured rice.

Banana prata from Jom Makan: Prata Saga Sambal Berlada

Trying the banana prata from Jom Makan: Prata Saga Sambal Berlada (一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八, 九). First thing that came to mind was......had they meant for this to be eaten with their ikan bilis infused sambal? 

I didn't think it paired that well because of how intensely flavoured the sambal was. I'll comment from experience that I think it's better with their dalcha but I'm guessing most people would be perturbed to even consider a banana prata with a mutton-y dalcha. Anyways, those bananas inside were okay, wasn't superb. It was a passable banana prata, but not as memorable as the ones from Ya-Mahyuddin Al-Jailani or Umar Ali Cafe.

N.M. Abdul Rahim, Ayer Rajah Food Centre

Have heard some good things online about the mee goreng from N.M. Abdul Rahim (Stall #60 Ayer Rajah Food Centre, 503 West Coast Drive) who's apparently been in in business for some decades. Here's a plate with extra keema. I didn't think there was anything noteworthy about it. Just to be clear, it wasn't bad. Just regular tasting. Generically savoury sweet with a bit of heat but not as dry as I was looking forward to.

Ah Huat Hokkien Prawn Mee, Lengkok Bahru

Ah Huat Hokkien Prawn Mee's (#01-387, 55 Lengkok Bahru) located just next door to Happy Noodles. What's not usual about them is that the guy behind the wok was an Indian dude. Mayhaps he's Ah Huat? 🤔

This was the $6 plate. One can choose the degree of wetness for the Hokkien mee. I wanted mine dryer. Also asked for extra sambal belachan and lard not realising that the based amount they provided was already pretty generous. Anyways, I liked this. It had some smokiness. Pretty good crustacean flavouring from the stock in the noodles. 猪油渣 was a little soft but nicely flavoured. Prawns tasted natural and meaty. I wouldn't mind coming back for this.

Tried their black radish cake. $5. I also liked this. While they weren't as caramelized as I was hoping for, there was adequate black sauce and its sweetness in it which I enjoyed.