Eat May Know (食就知), Bendemeer Market & Food Centre

The quest for glutinous rice buns plods forward another step. Found this at Eat May Know (#01-32 Bendemeer Market & Food Centre, 29 Bendemeer Road).

The proprietor had no clue what this tasted like which I thought was odd. His answer to whether if these buns were sweet or salty was that they were neither. These glutinous rice buns were sweet for as far as I've encountered them. This wasn't different. Not getting the five spice flavour in this though it was still kinda enjoyable.

Recently at Tim Ho Wan (添好運)

Back at Tim Ho Wan @ Great World. There appears to be new items on their menu.

Like this morel mushroom crystal dumpling which we've never noticed the last time. Not bad tasting. Judging from the size of the morel caps in the dumpling, the mushrooms weren't small.

Pan fried radish cake.

The description of their steamed layered cake with olive kernel sounded interesting - like candied lard, olive kernel and coconut. Never had olive kernels before. Didn't taste like much. Couldn't discern any candied lard or coconut in it too. Tasted mostly salted egg.

Crispy shrimp in red rice rolls. Nothing particularly outstanding except for the citrusy roselle sauce which kinda was the one thing that made this delicious for me.

Something called lard buns with sesame paste. These buns were supposed to be made with lard infused dough but I couldn't taste the lard in the them. Fillings tasted like it had crushed peanuts and sesame intead of just sesame. Didn't taste bad.

Sea salt cream cap almond milk tea. I'm wondering if they meant almond milk and tea or was it almond and milk tea. Tasted nutty and milky.

Song Fish Soup (宋鱼湯), Hawkers' Street @ 100AM

This was a bowl of fish maw mixed fish soup from Song Fish Soup at Hawkers' Street at 100AM (#04-05/06 100AM, 100 Tras Street). It's milky looking because we requested for milk to be added. Not bad tasting broth - I could taste a splash of hua diao in it. That being said, it's not as full bodied or impressive because the bar for which we're measuring it against has risen because of Hai Kah Lang. Will skip the fish maw option the next time because they aren't great. Not feeling like I'm getting much sliced fish compared to the fried ones out of this bowl too.

Toa Payoh 93 Soon Kueh (大巴窑93筍粿), Bendemeer Market & Food Centre

These soon kueh from Toa Payoh 93 Soon Kueh (#01-14 Bendemeer Market & Food Centre, 29 Bendemeer Road) tasted better than the ones used in Yong Xiang Carrot Cake - that being said, I don't know if being pan fried made me like those less.

Yong Xiang Carrot Cake (永祥菜頭粿), Bendemeer Market & Food Centre

Came to try Yong Xiang Carrot Cake (#01-35 Bendemeer Market & Food Centre, 29 Bendemeer Road) because they have something that's not sold anywhere else.

Said unique item is their stir fried png kueh and soon kueh - both stir fried like their radish cake with eggs. The skins of both kuehs weren't as crusty as I had imagined and the one for the latter was kinda thick. Now that I've tried it, don't think I will ever get them again. 

Radish cake was decent if unremarkable. What I gather was that they've been doing this for a long time and the queue kinda spoke for that. Their style involves chopping the radish cake into small bits. I usually prefer chunkier cuts.

白鸡尾饭 from Da Po at Hawkers' Street @ 100AM

It's been a while since I've last had chicken rice at Da Po and that was at their stall at Golden Mile. This branch at Hawkers' Street @ 100AM kinda reaffirmed my faith in them. Solid plate with tender meat and creamy livers drizzled with that light soya sauce and sesame oil. Even got a heart today. Chilli's lime-y and gingery. If there was a gripe, it'll be that the thigh was kinda small.

Longjing (绿茶餐廳), Suntec City

Longjing (#01-384 Tower 5, Suntec City, 3 Temasek Boulevard) is supposed to represent Zhejiang food. I looked up Zhejiang cuisine online and 'non greasy' seems to be a characterisation of their food. Someone out there must be bullshitting but I don't know who.

Cold spinach with tofu and pine nuts. Light on the palette and somewhat refreshing for the temperature and lack of intensity. Why doesn't this get mentioned much? Maybe it's not exciting. One would have to force a paragraph out just to describe it. Like what I just did.

Fried rice with truffle and roast pork's (黑松露烤肉炒饭) not bad tasting. Savoury would be the word. Kinda reminded me of the black truffle fried rice from Tampopo.

Not bad tasting dry pot spicy cauliflower (香锅花菜). It's not lard-ed up like the one from Nong Geng Ji or Xiang Xiang but it's similarly spicy and savoury.

Dong po rou (文火东坡肉) was not bad tasting. Sweet and just a little tangy. But I don't have these enough to know how well they measure. I was imagining the meat to fall apart more easily...like say great char siew from KL but I might be over imagining. 😂

Some dessert moulded in the shape of Leifeng Pagoda (雷峰塔) in Hangzhou. Tasted like sugar, gelatine and milk.

Ming Heng Boneless Chicken Rice (銘興起骨鸡饭), Jalan Bukit Merah

Came across Ming Heng Boneless Chicken Rice (#01-1688, 111 Jalan Bukit Merah) at the coffeeshop in the perpendicular block from Jalan Bukit Merah Food Centre. This was thigh meat (鸡尾) and an egg for $4.60. Portion felt a little small and the flavour in the rice was a little light - but I think it's decent and a totally legit plate.

One Ton Mee (一頓面), Bendemeer Market & Food Centre

Kolo mee from One Ton Mee #01-09 Bendemeer Market & Food Centre, 29 Bendemeer Road). Came with standard issue savoury saucing, salty minced pork and char siew. And a few wantons. Like three.

Didn't that just make it wanton mee with kolo mee squiggly noodles and minced pork? Anyways, the bowl was decent tasting if unextraordinary. What upped the ante and impressed me though was their sambal which packed considerable heat. I asked for more halfway through for that extra oomph to help inhale the rest of the bowl and it left my lips burning. It was worth it though.  

Zeng Ji Hainanese Boneless Chicken Rice (曾記起骨鶺飯), Marine Parade Central Food Centre

Trying out another chicken rice stall (#01-52 Marine Parade Central Food Centre, 84 Marine Parade Central) from Marine Parade Central Food Centre. This one has a longer and slower moving queue. Got the serving with half 白 and half 烧. No additional charge for request for thigh meat. For some reasons, the details elude me but it was all round a pretty good plate as I remember it. 

Xiu Ji Ikan Bilis Yong Tau Fu (秀记江鱼仔釀豆腐), Smith Street Food Centre

We've seen the queue at Xiu Ji Ikan Bilis Yong Tau Fu (Green Zone, #02-88 Chinatown Complex Market and Food Centre, 335 Smith Street) almost every time we're in the vicinity. Finally killed the cat to join that queue to find out what they might have been doing right.

One can get the basic bowl for $4 which includes noodles and 4 pieces of their yong tau foo. I topped up a couple of extra pieces. Not bad tasting. Came with the standard soya bean soup. I kinda liked the gentle savoury saucing they drizzled over the noodles. Watch out for those ikan bilis to avoid getting stabbed in the gums.

Tai Wah Pork Noodle (大華肉脞麵), Hawkers' Street @ 100AM

I've been disappointed by Tai Wah Pork Noodle more than a couple of times due to the inconsistency of their bcm standards across different outlets. Hence I was understandably wary of their noodles from new outpost (#04-05/06 100AM, 100 Tras Street). This was a $6.50 bowl of mee pok 白. Turned out that it was actually pretty good. Noodles were firm with a nice bite and the bowl was pleasantly lard-y. The meatballs may not be as stinky and there's less flavour of dried sole in the wanton, but I think I will come back another time for a bigger bowl.

One week later......

This was the larger $8.50 bowl. One more dumpling and meatball from what I could tell. The amount of noodles seemed the same. So it's still kinda small-ish for that what they're charging but still a solid tasting bowl. Quite sure their branches in coffeeshops are slightly cheaper than this one in the food court.

Preserved olive vegetable chicken fried rice from Tea Garden

Last meal before flying back. It's back to Tea Garden again - not that there's much options at Subang Airport. Just to trivia drop here, preserved olive vegetable (橄榄菜) is actually made from mustard greens simmered with olives (and other stuff). It's not the leaves from the olive plant. The product is salty, sweet and umami at the same time and makes great flavouring for...many things.

Anyways, decent rendition of the fried rice. Would prefer it if there were more of the preserved olive vegetable. The bits of chicken in there were really tiny. There were also a few goji berries in there. Yup, it's just a few. 

Duck Duck Fried Kuey Teow (得得地), ICC Pudu, Kuala Lumpur

More food from ICC Pudu (Jalan Kijang, Pudu, Kuala Lumpur 55100). We were curious about what made the duck kuey teow special since the name of what they sold was much larger than the name of the stall on the signage. I gather that duck eggs have a richer flavour from what I've read but I'm not getting any of that here. Tasted like regular kuey teow. There's not even much duck eggs in the plate. Not memorable.

Auntie Mei's Crispy Popiah (媚姨香脆薄饼), ICC Pudu, Kuala Lumpur

Noticed this stall at ICC Pudu (Jalan Kijang, Pudu, Kuala Lumpur 55100) and was curious about what made the poh piah crispy.

Got a regular one and another topped with chicken floss. The floss was stuck to the poh piah by a drizzle of something that might be peanut sauce.

The wrap was loose and the rolls fell apart as we tried to pick up each slice. The fillings included some fried batter which made them pretty crunchy as poh piah went. The one with pork floss seemed to have more fresh vegetables and less stewed turnip compared to the regular one.

Uncle Soon Fried Rice, Wisma Cosway, Kuala Lumpur

Uncle Soon Fried Rice (Lot 1.25 Wisma Cosway, 88 Jalan Raja Chulan, Bukit Bintang, 50200 Kuala Lumpur) is just next door to Francobolli. Tried a plate out of curiosity. Not bad tasting per se but there was too much residual grease. That sambal belachan definitely helped. None of the guys in the shop looked like they could be an Uncle Soon.

Ah Fook Cheong Fun Yong Tao Fu (阿福肠粉酿豆腐), ICC Pudu, Kuala Lumpur

This stall at ICC Pudu (Jalan Kijang, Pudu, Kuala Lumpur 55100) was mentioned as a recommendation before. Judging from the queue, they appear to be the stall to get yong tau foo.

Tried the curry version. The selectable toppings were pretty good quality. Chee cheong fun was decent if unremarkable. Not feeling it for the curry though which was somewhat powdery. I was hoping that it would be the Nonya-esque style of curry with coconut milk but this wasn't it. If we ever came back, we'll try the sweet sauce/chilli instead.

Ann Nasi Lemak, ICC Pudu, Kuala Lumpur

I've read about this stall from ICC Pudu (Jalan Kijang, Pudu Kuala Lumpur 55100) a few times before. Curiosity got the better of us since we have also never eaten at the occasionally mentioned ICC Pudu which we wanted to check out.

Nasi lemak's decent tasting. One can choose from the available dishes/toppings at the stall. Love the flavour infused curried pig skin which were springy and tender. Sambal's pretty rustic...everything appears hand processed, especially the generous chunks of chopped onions. There was also some coconut bits which might have been serunding? Appreciated the adequate flavouring in the rice. Don't mind coming back.

A few days later......

Quite surprised by the difference today in the rice. It was lumpier and the santan flavouring appeared to be thinner. For some reasons, that rice downgraded from 'not bad' to 'forgettable'. What's happening? Sambal petai's not bad in this plate - the minced pork that came with it reminded me of hae bee hiam. Not a fan of their rendang pork. There's a flavour in it that I couldn't put my finger to which I would have preferred not there.

This plate felt like a different experience from the last time. 🤔