Sakunthala's Restaurant, Syed Alwi Road

First time eating at this branch (88 Syed Alwi Road, tel : +65 6297 0895) of Sakunthala's. We've previously eaten at their other branches at Race Course Road, Dunlop Street and Safra Mount Faber. Their food so far have been hits and misses for me.

Had their Mysore mutton briyani. Not a fan of their Mysore mutton. The spice paste was spicy and nutty which I liked but the meat was a little hard and stringy. Hard and stringy's a dealbreaker. The rest of the stuff on the plate was decent.

Their onion uttapam was nice. The pancake was lightly browned with a crisp exterior and a toasty aromatic sweetness from the shredded onions. Their chutneys were serviceable but not memorable.

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.

Even more food from Bangalore Cafe

Another compilation of eats from Bangalore Cafe.

Breakfasts......

That's an open butter masala dosa. It's kinda like a fermented rice flour hotcake with podi, a lump of the masala potato thingy on top and butter. This opened version looked little like the regular masala dosa. Not bad tasting.

Thatte/thattu idlis seem to be making their appearances here. First it was the ones at Murugan Idli (here and here), then MTR 1924 @ Brickfields and now at Bangalore Cafe. This rendition was similar to the thattu ghee podi idli from Murugan Idli - podi powdered and ghee greased for deliciousness.

The Diwali Thali......

Obviously this happened during Diwali. The other thalis were't available so we didn't have much of a choice. But I'm glad we experienced this. The jalebi's too sweet for starters. Am not entirely sure what the semi circular thing below the jalebi was but I think it's a dal holige - supposedly sweetened lentil stuffed flat breads. Tasted kinda like a chapati with jaggery inside. Nice.

Pleasant surprise came in the form of curried pineapples. That orange blob at 10 o'clock. Gravy was citrusy sweet and spicy with heat. 👍🏼

This was when the poori and the idiyappams have been added by the servers, along with scoops of vegetable korma and sagu. Left paper cup's payasam and the right is...some sweet mung bean soup flavoured with cardamom.

Then came white rice......

While it may not be visually obvious because of the mess, I was offered spiced ghee rice and I accepted.

Strangely, the papadums came at this point.

The carbs overflow continues with curd rice.

I was offered more ghee rice which I happily accepted. That came with a generous ladle of sagu.

We were given a banana at the end. Nice.

Even though we were stuffed from the Diwali thali glutton-y, I wanted to try the carrot halwa. Sweet and nicely done here.

The week after Diwali......

Venturing into newer territory here because we've started coming for lunch instead of just breakfast. I also think that the owner recognised me. Drats! I must maintain inconspicuity. I made up the last word.

Dahi puri - this tasted a little different. Probably because of what they filled up on the puri shells. Speaking of puri shells, these got soft pretty fast. Faster than usual.

These were hara bara tikka as the menu calls them. Peas and potato patties with cashew. Flavour's bland-ish but they were pretty darn good with the mint chutney. 

There's a vegetable Hyderabadi biryani which was flavoured/infused with mint & palak. Did not expect it to be green. First thought that came to mind was the palak rice we've previously had at Kailash Parbat. This one just wasn't as ghee rich.

As with most if not all cooked mint, the flavour diminishes greatly. Couldn't taste any of it at all but it was a savoury and pretty delicious green briyani. There's bits of paneer inside too.

Happy breakfasting at Ya-Mahyuddin Al-Jailani

Back at Ya-Mahyuddin Al-Jailani, getting a couple of favourites for breakfast.

Today's bananas in their banana egg cheese prata were back to those old tangy sweet ones. 🥳 I was half worried that it'd be those that tasted like plantains that they had used previously. These were so good with the salted cheese.

More of the maggi goreng mutton with extra keema. I wouldn't be exaggerating much if I described this to be half noodles and half keema. This was so good.

Teh halia to finish.

Egg prata from Prata Galaxy

First time having prata at Prata Galaxy. Got a couple of telur. Pretty decent tasting and old school-ish style. It wasn't neither fancy nor excessively oily - attributes that I appreciated. 

Fish curry was tamarind forward but not getting much/any fish flavour in there. Mutton curry's creamy and thick but not exactly infused with lamb-y flavour. That being said, they aren't deal breakers. Don't mind getting prata here if I'm in the area.

More food from Bangalore Cafe

Back at Bangalore Cafe for more deliciousness.

Tried their chow chow bath. If anyone was wondering, a chow chow bath is a serving that consists of a khara bath and a kesari bath. Both are semolina pudding/porridge thingys. The former is savoury and while the latter is sweet and flavoured with cardamom and saffron.

Pretty good khara bath here with cashews, onions, mustard seeds and curry leaves, flavoured also with ghee.

That's the Mysuru masala dosa - also known as Mysore masala dosa. The Mysuru/Mysore version is supposed to be a bit spicier from some chutney but these don't appear to have that. These ones were stuffed with curried potatoes (maybe the spicy chutney is in here) like regular masala dosa and had noticeably more diced onions in them. Not bad.

ABC Multi Cuisine Restaurant, Havelock Road

ABC Multi Cuisine Restaurant (715 Havelock Road) opened up at the unit left behind by Kheng Nam Lee Teochew Porridge. I wonder if they're related to the old ABC Food Corner at the other end of this row or any of the other ABC named mamaks around the island before they shuttered.

Tried a couple of stuff like bee hoon goreng putih chicken hariyali tikka and a nasi goreng putih chicken tikka. Food's decent tasting if not exceptional. Also a little oily. Currently, I think better of Umar Ali Cafe nearby compared to these guys but we'll see.

Bangalore Cafe, Syed Alwi Road

We've only noticed Bangalore Cafe (80 Syed Alwi Road, tel : +65 9011 6000) in the recent couple of months on our way to Murugan Idli Veg. Restaurant. Pretty sure they're quite new to the area. Decided to come try their food because I spied rava idli on their menu - something that Murugan Idli doesn't even do.

They've pretty competent freshly fried vada/vadai which has a peppery fragrance from the peppercorns inside. No qualms coming back for these again. Their sambar is oddly a little sweet. Coconut chutney is slightly gingery.

This was a risk I felt like I needed/wanted to take - a coriander filled rava idli. 🤘🏼 Remember me just mentioning that I spied it on their menu? 

This was the third place we've had rava idli; the first was MTR at Serangoon Road and the other was MTR at Brickfields at Kuala Lumpur. And happily like both previous locations, the bits of coriander has had most of their flavour steamed out to the point that I could enjoy the rice cakes; rice cakes that were infused with ghee. 😬

Mangalore buns - just like those we had from Kalam Restaurant and MTR 1924. I noticed cumin in these.

One week later.......

Came back the following week and had their cheese masala dosa. It appeared to be a little greasy but still pretty good tasting with the cheese adding their salty sharpness to the curried potato fillings in the ghee laced pancake. Nice. 

Masala chai was good the first time we were here. Not overly milky and a great balance of creaminess, sweet and flavour from the tea. On our second visit, the tea was quite different. Too much milk and a little weak with the tea flavour. So I'm guessing they aren't consistent

As we go on at Umar Ali Cafe

Part 4 of the compilation of eats from Umar Ali Cafe. Probably the last one for a very long time. ABC has opened up another branch at the old premise of Kheng Nam Lee Teochew Porridge.

Mee hoon goreng mutton. Pretty tasty. Love the sunny side up.

The mutton came in little bits. Not keema but diced bits. 

Samosa. Skin reminded me of epok epok/curry puff.

In retrospect, with the skin and the curried potato fillings, it's pretty much a pyramid shaped curry puff.

Their chicken malai tikka was smoky, salty and piping hot. If anyone's wondering, the chicken's marinated in cream/yoghurt and spices before getting onto the grill. Not bad tasting with the lime and onions cutting through the creamy saltiness.

A few days later......

Egg briyani. Briyani was kinda disappointing. Flavour was thin, unlike the robust savouriness from the rendition at Anjappar.

Mutton keema masala's actually delicious but I'm never getting it again because of all the chopped up bits of coriander. Too bad for me because I liked their creamy nutty masala.

Maggi goreng also pretty good. Default is non-merah. Today's fried egg has crusty edges unlike the previous time so now I know the type of egg we get is...a game of chance depending on who's frying them.

An undefined number of weeks later......

They introduced idli on the menu. Available only for breakfast so we came by to try. These were small and a little bit..."rubbery". Fermented rice flour flavour there at least.

Bananas for the banana appam apparently uses what's available, not a specific type. Bananas we got this time weren't the same as the ones from the last time. These paler yellow variety, whichever they may be, had a more flat flavour. Felt a little déjà vu-ish of the banana prata experience at Ya-Mahyuddin Al-Jailani.

A few months later......

Nasi goreng merah mutton keema like what we've had previously. This one was just so moreish.

Tried their double egg chilli prata. Basically a rendition of their double egg with slice chilli padi sparingly scattered in. These packed pretty substantial heat. 🔥