What's with Smiths Fish & Chips

Feelings were a little mixed this time. Not long back, Smiths announced a wind up, citing unsustainable rising costs as the reason for closing shop. But it seems that closure has been postponed till July. The food here isn't cheap. At the prices they've been going at and for the duration they've been around, how have they been coping all these time?

There's house made lemonade which we've never noticed before. Very lightly sweetened and also pretty expensive a bottle.

Trying their spam fritters for the first time.

You know what? I like it. Deliciously salty just like...spam underneath the fried batter. No surprises here.

Got ourselves some cod and haddock & chips. The fish appears to have shrunk along with their portion of chips. At the prices they're charging, it's not making me look forward to coming back. Even though those chips today tasted exceptionally good.

I remember their giant Yorkshire pudding with onions and gravy from the last time. Liking it. 😬  

Pretty overpriced shepherd's pie considering the portions. Did not taste bad per se but wouldn't get it again considering that we can make something we consider better tasting. For what they charged, expecting double those portions would have been reasonable.

Refreshing the experience at Smiths Fish & Chips

Been a while since the last Smiths.

Ciders first and last.

This was new from their menu - or at least it was new to us; a giant Yorkshire pudding with caramelized onions and brown sauce. Not bad tasting. Onions were sweet and the sauce was savoury. I have a particular...idiosyncrasy if you would, of comparing Yorkshire puddings we have had to the ones at Lawry's. Because I feel they are a standard to be benchmarked against. Smiths' rendition is less greasy/buttery. Not bad tasting as a whole with the toppings but comparing pastry alone, Lawry's still takes the cake with it. 

Lamb doner kebab with cheesy chips. Got this because I liked the pita version from the last time. Unhealthily delicious with probably a little too much salt and loads of nice lamb-y flavour in reconstituted meat. Cheesy chips were cheesy chips and I liked those.

Tried a Welsh rissole for the first time. Looked inconspicuous.

I reckon it can be regarded as an English begedil. Mashed potatoes, corned beef and onions that's breaded and deep fried. Not bad.

Smiths Fish and Chips without fish & chips

There're a few items on the menu at Smiths that aren't fish & chips which I have been curious about.

Their burger was one of those. Meat tasted like it had fillers and a marinade - like a flavour from the 80s when people didn't know any better. There's cheese and onions and some barbecue sauce; the latter of which I'm glad was around because it kinda held up and kept me going. Buns were not bad though. I didn't think it was worth even half of what they were charging. Wouldn't get it again.

There's a doner kebab rotisserie and I ordered one in pita because lamb. Yes it was that kind of reconstituted protein texture but it tasted like lamb - which was more than can be said for some other lamb dishes out here. Anyways, it's lamb-y and salty and I liked it. Reminded me of HSPs in Melbourne. While the picture looked like it might have been 50% vegetables, that was all the vegetables there were. The rest of the pita's stuffing was all lamb. 👍🏼 

Tried a lorne/square sausage. First time having these. Texture underneath the greasy batter was kinda mushy unlike sausages I had imagined. Even luncheon meat had a cleaner crisp to their softness than these. Yes, luncheon meat. Not a fan.

Tanglin Cookhouse, Tanglin Mall

Upmarket legacy food from the British Indian times + generic cafe stuff with a smattering of local influences at Tanglin Cookhouse (#01-106 Tanglin Mall, 163 Tanglin Road, tel : +65 6235 9382). It's their take on them in this era anyway.

Mocha - something I don't have very often. I kept my expectations really low after hearing about how unsatisfying it might be and those really low expectations might have helped. Didn't taste bad. Generic coffee/chocolate flavoured milk. Wouldn't say that it's bad but I haven't much else to say about it also.

Tried their kedgeree. It's actually pretty nice tasting as a rice dish. Lots of flavour coming from the from the ingredients like smoked haddock, parsley, lemon, tumeric flavoured rice and a sweet tomato chutney that reminded me of butter chicken. Less curry-y than a smokier home made one I've previously had. Or possibly even the one from The Cellar Door ages ago.

Had mixed feelings on sticky date pudding. Loved the pudding, the banana and Nutella soil. I thought the savoury papadum with its bit of spice and savouriness paired well with the dessert. What I didn't like were the granolas which felt like an obligatory afterthought sprinkle and that diabetes inducing quantity of sweet toffee sauce. 

A Melton Mowbray pork pie from Marks & Spencer

First time we've seen these at Marks & Spencer so we bought one to try at home. Melton Mowbray pork pies are named after Melton Mowbray, a town in Leicestershire. We took ours out one day for an English-y cheese and pie and tomato soup lunch.

It is said that they were popularized amongst fox hunters from their region of origins. I'd take that tail tale, not the pie, with a pinch of salt from easily Google-able sources. There's probably more to it. From what I gathered, these pies are recommended to be eaten cold - or room temperature.

So we took it out from the fridge 30 mins - 1 hr before to "warm" them up. The distinct feature of a Melton Broway pie is the shape of its hand formed crust. They're under Protected Designation of Origin; so supposedly only pies made around a designated zone around Melton using the traditional recipe including uncured pork, are allowed to carry the Melton Mowbray name.

Not bad tasting meaty pork pies. Couldn't get much of the jellied pork stock. Crust was a lot less buttery than I had imagined and understandably so, it is not crisp.

Home made shepherd's pie

Home made with no peas, corn or carrot. But there's blue cheese in there somewhere. And goat's cheese too. The only vegetable in them were diced onions that were cooked with the minced lamb which subsequently had the rendered fat folded into the mashed potato with butter and pepper.

The Penny Black, Boat Quay

Penny Black (26-27 Boat Quay) has been around for years. I've always had the idea that if an establishment has survived as long as they did, they must be doing something right.  We noticed that they had some English pub grub going on in their menu and we decided to try.

Like these bacon faggots. I gathered that they were made from left over cuts and offal. The bacon that was wrapped around those had the hallmark flavour of stale oil. Unforgiveable. It also wasn't smokey or salty. I was expecting more texture based on the constituent ingredients of the faggot but it was just mushy.

We were hoping the pork pie would fare better.

The fillings were soft and mushy. Like 狮子头 but much more loosely packed. Not much flavour going on except for seasoning. Could have been largely bread crumbs. I'm not an expert in English pork pies but I expected better. Expected something like a pork pie I once had.

I've read some recommendations from TripAdvisor for Penny Black. Positive ones that is. Now I see how appalling the standards of those recommendations. Wouldn't recommend it.

Smiths : blue cheese dip and scampi

It's been a while since we were last at Smiths. What got me this time round was their blue cheese dip which I was sure they never had previously. For a dollar fifty.

So haddock and chips it was with that blue cheese dip. The blue cheese flavour was light. Still identifiable as blue cheese though and I'm pretty sure it wasn't meant to taste like a block of Stilton since it was something to go with their fried fish. 

We had been curious about the scampi and chips for a while so we finally got about to trying it. Those breaded scampi tasted like a cross between scallops and shrimp. Flavour was good actually but at $26 for only ten pieces, it was bloody expensive. Not getting them again.

Fish & chips from Lad & Dad

Got a portion of fish and chips from Lad & Dad based on a recommendation. Think it was haddock. It was a good call there. Loved their salted crispy batter which had a flavour that brought back memories of an old cafeteria from childhood. Fish was firm and flaky; I liked those mushy peas which were sweet and tasted of garlic. 

Bangers and mash from Lad & Dad

Bangers & mash aren't something I would normally order but I thought the ones from Lad & Dad (#01-79 Maxwell Food Centre, 1 Kadayanallur Street) looked good. Turned out to be a good call. The sausages were dense, flavourful from the bits of fat inside and salty which paired up nicely with the buttery mash potatoes and a splash of their savoury beef stew. 

Sunday roast at Oxwell & Co.

Oxwell & Co. has Sunday roasts so....well, we're here.

One of the brunchy alcoholic beverages they have is their Bloody Bill. Their take on the Bloody Mary using the Botanist gin and balsamic vinegar according to the menu. Don't know where that balsamic vinegar went. Having tasted and bought a bottle of Botanist not to long ago, I can say that there's not enough of it to register.

Jerusalem artichoke soup was so so. Nothing to get excited over and something I wouldn't bother with again.

Thought it was a Sunday roast, we had a pie. Albeit one that looked like a large char siew sou (叉燒酥). T'was actually pretty good. The stuffings were sweet potato, mushrooms and chestnut. Pastry was crisp and buttery. Came with a forgettable creamy mustard sauce. I recommend their Yorkshire pudding sauce with it. That, was delicious.

Their crispy skinned sea bass option looked a little sad on the portions. It's just two small pieces of fish. They were firm and flaky with crispy skin but it was too little.

I ordered this because I like Brussels sprouts. I like them even more with smoky bacon and maple butter. That maple butter also works well with their Yorkshire pudding.