Cinta Hainanese Chicken Rice, Sg Hawker @ Changi Terminal 1

Pleasantly surprised by the quality the of the chicken rice from SG Hawker at the transit area of Changi T1. The chicken was tender, chilled and even had a layer of jelly beneath the skin. Not to mention a solid lime-y chilli to go with the rice. 

Pin Sheng Chicken Rice (品勝滑雞飯), Bukit Merah Central Food Centre

Finally got to try Pin Sheng Chicken Rice (#02-51 Bukit Merah Central Food Centre, 163 Bukit Merah Central). If you didn't know what the fuss was about with this stall, word was that the proprietor used to be the head chef at Boon Tong Kee.

All drumsticks today. Meat's exceptional. Smooth and easily slurped off the bone. Reminded me of the chicken from Margaret Drive Chicken Rice. That one that used to be call Sin Kee. 

Tried their char siew and they turned out not bad. They don't look the nicest and it's definitely not the well caramelised and glazed variety that many prefer. This one was unassumingly tender with a light smoky sweet sauce.

Rice was darker than most. Portion feels a little small. Not bad tasting. Fantastic with their lime-y garlicky chilli sauce.

Will come back.

Koo Kee (高記), Tiong Bahru Plaza

Koo Kee has relocated from the food court upstairs to the basement of Tiong Bahru Plaza (#B1-136 Tiong Bahru Plaza, 302 Tiong Bahru Road). I haven't eaten much of their stuff for years because they're kinda like the fast food of yong tau foo. What bugged me mostly were the portions for what they charged.

To be fair, they don't taste bad.

The Koo Kee set's actually not bad. You know...with the chilli and bean sauce and all. They were out of kang kong today so they gave me xiao bai cai. Noodles portions were/are kinda small. That hasn't changed from what I remember. What might have changed was that I remember them tasting more flavourful.

What's also nice imo, is their laksa yong tau foo with chee cheong fun. Gravy's thin - don't think or expect anything close to Peranakan styled laksa. But it's savoury, has some heat and tastes like it has MSG. And I dig this bowl.

They're selling desserts too it seems. The black sesame paste is kinda thin. Not the kind of standard one can expect from specialised Chinese dessert shops.

Otah and afterthoughts at Dickson Nasi Lemak

Been a while since we were last at Dickson Nasi Lemak. The takeaway from this visit was that while they weren't a bad nasi lemak, there were things that I didn't like as much and there are alternatives. Those alternatives reduces the appeal of Dickson's rendition. Things considered, I'd easily choose Punggol Nasi Lemak over this. Also did not like the crunchies that were extra hard. 

Otah was nice. Fishy, spicy and savoury. A little small methinks. 

粥, Amoy Street Food Centre

Not bad tasting pork porridge from 粥 (#02-118 Amoy Street Food Centre, 7 Maxwell Road). We were here on a Sunday morning and this stall was one of those that was opened. Beneath the piping hot creamy porridge were slices of pork, pig liver and meatballs. Reasonably priced and has option for additional ingredients.

Choon Hoy Parlor (春花馆), Capitol Singapore

Choon Hoy Parlor (#01-84A Arcade @ The Capitol Kempinski, 15 Stamford Road) is by Dylan Ong of The Masses - the latter has incidentally relocated from their old premise at Beach Road to just next door to Choon Hoy Parlor. Story I read was that the restaurant was opened by Dylan in honour of his mother and that it bears her name.

The menu in broad strokes includes classic styles and updated takes on what's commonly regarded as heritage/traditional Teochew dishes. Have been curious since I first read about them.

But first, a Pandan Coconut Highball. Which is alchemised from pandan essence, 海之蓝, coconut water and soda. Took a few sips to get used to it and after that, I kinda enjoyed it. Not sure how to describe this.

Started off with some pork trotter aspic with a dip they aptly named garlic chilli zhup. The aspic didn't wasn't one of the more memorable ones I recall having but it also wasn't bad at all. The garlic chilli zhup was nice - aside from the two named ingredients, there's probably vinegar?

That's the roti bakar - coffee butter and salted egg kaya with lumpfish caviar on toasted bread. Those lumpfish caviar lent a bit of seafoody flavour, so they weren't just salty. Nice.

Mocha prime pork ribs. A lot more delicious than the description on the menu which mentioned Vietnam inspired egg yolk espuma. Sauce was a creamy caramel smokiness that could have passed off as a velouté of pork floss (肉松) or bak kwa (肉干); if you could imagine that. Meat from the ribs were chunky, pretty tender and fell off the bone easily. That and those crushed pistachios.

Found their assam stingray moreish. Good quality ray, great savoury tanginess from the tamarind broth accented by ginger flower and pineapples! 

Morel Silkie chicken consommé's pretty good. Flavoured also with cordyceps and sweetened by red dates.

These was called Taiwan dou miao & taugay. Haven't had dou miao that looked like these before. There's salted egg yolk and anchovy powder to intensify the savoury garlicky flavours. Great stuff with rice. 👍🏼

Speaking of rice, there's one with lard and soya sauce called A Lil Lard, A Lil Soy, A Lil Love Rice. It's been znged with fried lard, fried garlic bits and light soya sauce. So delicious with the garlic chilli zhup from the pork aspic. Super with the assam broth from the stingray. Also awesome with the dou miao & taugay.

We finished with their Trio of Orh Ni. A bit of a misnomer since the main blobs were the paste of purple sweet potato, pumpkin and yam. That's coconut ice cream on the side.

Fish stomach ee mian from Mr Batang Fish @96

Finally got to try the fish stomach from Mr Batang Fish. Meat's more tender than their regular batang slices - which were also delicious in case the wrong idea was conveyed. Will come back for more.

French toast from Ah Seng (Hai Nam) Coffee

Got some homely tasting French toast from Ah Seng (Hai Nam) Coffee while waiting for Mr Batang Fish to get ready for the day. It might not be apparent from the picture above but there's already butter and kaya in between the slices of egg soaked bread.

More fish soup noodles from The Ship

 Yeah, this one.

50 cents serunding from Aneka Ulam

Just realised that I got exactly the same thing as the last time. Anyways, I noticed a tub of serunding and asked for some. They charged me 50 cents for that little pile. First time paying for serunding. Don't recall if they charged for it the first time I ate here. These shredded spiced coconut have been part of condiments (for the stalls that make them) as far as I know. Food's still delicious but I'm not paying for the serunding the next time.

Rat tail noodling at Authentic Teochew Tradition Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle (潮州传统香菇肉脞面)

First time getting bee tai bak/老鼠粉 from Authentic Teochew Tradition Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle.

Not bad tasting. The old uncle was at the front of the stall prepping dried sole with a permanent scowl etched on his face.

Uncle Ah Teck's Noodle House, Chinatown Food Centre

Uncle Ah Teck's Noodle House (Green Zone, #02-051 Chinatown Complex Market and Food Centre, 335 Smith Street) opened at the unit that used to house the defunct Jiakali. Chef was apparently from the hotel industry and the stall only does laksa.

This was the bowl with prawns. Flavour from the broth was serviceable - that's nowhere in the same leagues as Janggut Laksa or even 928 Yishun Laksa from the lack of dried shrimp infusion. Not a bad tasting bowl to be fair but I won't have a hankering for it anytime soon. Not with the plethora of options at Chinatown anyways.  

More assam stingray from Dalila's Kitchen

More nasi padang from Dalila's Kitchen. Assam stingray and sayur lodeh. I've had these a couple more times and the size of the ray appears to be luck of the draw. Today's portion was sized like a meaty chicken thigh instead of the previous one I had which looked like it was a 2X2 setup of Chicken McNuggets.

天天有鱼 (Tian Tian You Yu), ABC Brickworks Food Centre

Came across Tian Tian You Yu (#01-142 ABC Brickworks Food Centre, 6 Jalan Bukit Merah). These guys share the same stall units as Soon Lee Fish Soup and a little bird whispered, having seen the staff from both stalls wear the King Grouper Fish Soup tops. So I guess they're all the same?

No complains with their sliced grouper. It's not necessarily the better tasting ones out there, but it was also not of mediocre quality. Those brown bits were fried cai por (preserved radish).

Also decent-ish lu rou fan. Sliced pork belly was pretty tender and the gravy's passable. This bowl actually rocks with some of the fermented bean sauce. 

Chicken rice from Food Republic @ Breadtalk IHQ

That's the cheapest $5.50 plate. Not bad tasting. Portion was a little small. The chilli was a little more sweet than it was lime-y.

Hong Lim Curry Puff (芳林咖喱角), Alexandra Village Food Centre

Came across this stall (#01-53, Alexandra Village Food Centre, Blk 120 Bukit Merah Lane 1) and was curious because the Hong Lim curry puff stalls that I knew of were Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff and Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff Original. They're apparently the Halal branch of the former. Tried their yam puff. 

Crispy skin's a little bland and the hot yam paste filling were just lightly sweetened hot yam paste. Would prefer the paste to be a little sweeter. It's a decent pastry but also kinda forgettable.

106 Nasi Lemak, Alexandra Village Food Centre

Noticed 106 Nasi Lemak (#01-12, Alexandra Village Food Centre, Blk 120 Bukit Merah Lane 1) from a while back and finally got to try them. I liked that the coconut rice has sufficient taste from the coconut milk and was adequately salted for flavour. Sambal's not annoyingly sweet - just needs a smudge to add to the rice. There's a molten yolked egg and their fried chicken drumstick was not bad too. Decently done Chinese nasi lemak.

Mutton soup from Umar Ali Cafe

Recently tried the sup kambing from Umar Ali Cafe. Won't be comparing this with the one with Bahrakath Mutton Soup King. 😏 I think it's not a bad one here. It's not as thick as some others but they've gotten in adequate spices, heat and flavouring that made it pretty drinkable. Lamb bits were flavourful and arguably tender. Also, this has got to be the first time we've gotten toasted bread to go with the soup. Lightly crisp on the exterior and pillowy with some toastiness. Nice.

The Old Stall Hokkien Street Famous Prawn Mee (老檔馳名福建街蝦面), Alexandra Village Food Centre

A queue formed at the stall (#01-58, Alexandra Village Food Centre, Blk 120 Bukit Merah Lane 1) even before it was opened. Anyways, there's a story to be told out there about these guys claiming to be the first prawn noodle here and how they've retained the original recipe all the way back from a couple of generations. I think the story has holes. But we're not going there.

Pretty good. Nice prawns, piquant chilli sauce and yellow noodles without the lye flavour. That broth on the side tasted like a solid crustacean bisque minus the brandy and cream. Will be back.

Shashlik Restaurant 10 years later

It's been about a decade since the last time we were here. Seems that time wasn't our last after all. Depending on how one interpreted that last post, it technically it still is because we didn't have any shashlik today. 😏 

The restaurant's ownership has been passed down to the sons of a previous co-owner. Things have changed a bit.

While the restaurant looked mostly the same, it also did look a little sharper.

Bread's as good as I remember. It's soft. And warm so that it melts the accompanying butter nicely.

The sweetness from the bread paired so well with the pat of salted SCS butter. Additional serving of bread and butter after the first complimentary one are 60 cents each. Because it was so good, we paid for it.

Borscht/borshch was not bad - with an extra scoop of sour cream. Beefy and tangy, smoothened by said cream.

Wanted to try some stuff that we've never had before. Like their stuffed portobello mushrooms, which were topped with minced chicken and I think bacon bits, slathered in a cheesy tasting milk sauce.

Finally tried the egg millionaire after seeing it on their menu for so long. It's chopped up hard boiled eggs with bacon and a bit of cheese that were baked in their shells. They taste exactly like how one would imagine them.

This was their baked fish in mushroom sauce. Menu states halibut. In a mushroom béchamel sauce. I'm not sure I can relate from the flavour of the sauce but it was creamy and not unpleasant as a whole. Did not taste bad.

What unexpectedly turned up as a pleasant surprise was their beef stroganoff. Tenderloin strips with a savoury brown sauce and soft melted onions. According to the menu, that's basmati chicken rice there but I couldn't quite tell. A little pricey methinks but it was delicious.