Qiji Traditional Fish Maw Soup & Minced Pork Noodle (麒记鱼漂汤 肉胜面), Sunset Way

Came across the menion of Qiji Traditional Fish Maw Soup & Minced Pork Noodle (#01-62, 106 Clementi Street 12). The noodles with fish maw soup sounded good. Sounded is the operative word.

These guys used a better mee kia than the mass produced factory ones. But I don't think it was handled well because after the saucing and tossing, the noodles ended up feeling a little slimy rather than firm and cleanly coated. While it looked like there were bits of fried lard there, we actually couldn't taste much of them.

Soup's peppery with a some sweetness, possibly from the cabbage. Liked it better with some of the minced garlic which made it more savoury. The fish maw was unmemorable - like soggy you tiao kind of unmemorable. Pork tasted floury and unnaturally textured. Not impressed.

More food from Maddie's Kitchen

Haven't eaten at Maddie's Kitchen for a while. Went zi char style with rice today.

Garlic kailan's pretty decent. Sauce with its savoury/salty garlicky flavour was great with rice.

There's sliced red garoupa with bitter gourd and fermented black beans. Did not expect the fish to be coated with flour and I would prefer that they hadn't been. Not bad tasting with those salty black beans.

Tried the minced pork omelette.

There's like at least as much onions as minced pork in the egg. Maybe more onions than pork. Tasted pretty good though. 

A breakfast of chee cheong fun, eggs and fish cake from Jia Ji Mei Shi (佳记美食)

I'm gonna say it, the bee hoon from Jia Ji Mai Shi is not great.

Ah Qing Traditional Lor Mee (阿慶古早味滷面), Smith Street Food Centre

So we succumbed to curiosity and tried Ah Qing Traditional Lor Mee (Red Zone, #02-094 Chinatown Complex Market and Food Centre, 335 Smith Street) because of the queues we've noticed about their stall. They're just next door to Jiakali.

This was the bowl with fried fish and fried chicken. Not a fan of how both fried meats were processed into small bits that they were textually similar, robbed of any intrinsic mouthfeel. That and the measly amount of protein for a $6 bowl. It was otherwise not bad once the sliced chilli, minced garlic and vinegar came into play.

Beef sang meen (生面) from Xing Long Food Stall (興隆菜社)

Possibly the first time at Xing Long Food Stall where the food was outright disappointing. This was supposed to be black bean sauce sang meen with beef. The sauce didn't taste like black bean sauce. At all. Beef was bicarbonated to death. Just on the threshold of morphing into an unidentifiable protein matter with blurry textures.

A note on the fried shallots at Shi Le Yuan (實叻園)

Revisiting Shi Le Yuan. Delicious like the last time. Note to self: their fried shallot in oil is really good with their kueh.

Revisiting 参香肉脞面 (San Xiang Bak Chor Mee)

Have been meaning to come back to San Xiang Bak Chor Mee for some time and that hasn't happened until recently. I hadn't realised that the stall has garnered a fandom. There were a lot more people in the queue than the last time. I wonder how much the loss of Mr Meepok contributed to it. 😬

Ended up with mee pok like the last time because it's been a while and the basic bowl was what I wanted to get back into what I remember enjoying about their noodles. The toppings were not in a separate bowl of soup like they were previously. Will try a noodle variation the next time. 

$15.50 chicken chop from Coffee Bee @ Singapore Science Centre

Coffee Bee seems to be the only eatery inside Singapore Science Centre (15 Science Centre Road), a place I haven't been to since I was a student. Think many would agree that $15.50 was pretty expensive for a black pepper chicken chop. One could easily get another elsewhere for half the price and more sides. Sauce was decent. Chicken wasn't exceptional but there also wasn't anything I had gripes over. Portions were kinda small. I wouldn't pay for this again.

Rustica, Crawford Lane

Came across Rustica (#01-65, 462 Crawford Lane, tel : +65 9030 8803) recently right next door to Tolido's Espresso Nook. They're a locavore restaurant using ingredients sourced from local producers and #localssupportlocal.

What drew our attention to them was a picture of their kaya toast which I had initially mistaken for something with avocado. Their rendition included house made whipped kaya and ricotta on top of a deliciously buttery brioche drizzled with gula melaka. I liked how it tasted and how each ingredient stood out. 👍🏼 

Bandung latte - which was rose flavoured coffee. Single shot. Not bad tasting. That said, I would have enjoyed it more if the coffee packed a bit more punch. Like with another shot.

Pandan latte which came with double shot as a default. Not bad.

These were iced on the menu but we could get the hot versions. Their menu looked like it had interesting takes of local influences. Don't mind coming back to try those.

Aziz Jaffar Muslim Food, Smith Street Food Centre

Came across this stall (Green Zone, #02-070 Chinatown Complex Market and Food Centre, 335 Smith Street) recently. We saw people getting their lontong which I thought looked good. Came over for a weekend breakfast. Not bad tasting lontong. It's less lemak than what I normally prefer but also tasty enough that I wouldn't mind coming back. Unexpected find in Chinatown. Too bad their ketupat's not fragrant. 

More stuff from Koo Kee (高記)

I like Koo Kee's yong tau foo with chee cheong fun. Like them "白" so to speak with just sesame oil and light soya sauce so that I can taste those rice rolls. Portions are kinda tiny though which leaves you wanting more. It's like getting a double cheeseburger from McD. 😬

The other thing that's worth considering was the steamed meat patty with rice - said steamed meat patty was pretty similar to the one from Steamed Society. There's a combo which comes with soup. Sichuan mustard green (四川菜) soup's not bad. Vegetables were pretty tender but with none of the spiciness.

Jalan Tua Kong Lau Lim (惹蘭大公老林), Tanjong Katong Road

There's a number of Jalan Tua Kong, some with associated 'Lim' noodles around. Did I even make sense? 😂 Of the limited ones I've tried, I'm ranking this one (248 Tanjong Katong Road) as the best.

This bowl appears to be what I understand as Teochew noodles, not bak chor mee even though they're pretty similar and lines get blurred over the years. Pretty generous amount ingredients and I love those Teochew meatballs - which are a mixture of minced pork and fish paste if you didn't know. Would have been great if there wasn't some of those kansui taste in the mee pok. That being said, it's not a deal breaker.

There's a bunch of other "local delights" which looked pretty decent. Got ourselves some butter sugar toast. Will definitely consider coming back.

Revisiting Huang Da Fu (黄大福)

It's been some years since I had bak chor mee from Huang Da Fu. We ended up here today because (New) MacPherson Minced Meat Noodles decided to pack up and move to Jalan Besar. This was the $4.50 bowl, noticeably smaller than the large bowl from the last time. Felt pretty much the same way as before about them. Not the nicer of mee pok texture and their lard was...don't bother with those.

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. 👎🏼

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.

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. 

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.