Lunching at Your Woul

Headed back to Your Woul to try their lunch sets priced at $9.90 and landed ourselves a heo dup bab and a jab che bab. These items turned out to be pretty good. The former was almost a riot of flavors (in a good way) from the fish roe, seaweed, sesame seeds and what tasted to me like some sort of powdery fish floss. I definitely would have loved for this to be in larger portions.

The jab che bab set as I've learn from previous experience were glass noodles and some assorted vegetables that came with rice. The rendition of the jabchae here was savoury and peppery compared to the ones done at Arirang. I couldn't say which one was better since I enjoyed them both.

I'm starting to like the chilled cinnamon and ginger date tea stuff that they serve at the end of meals.

Burger Shack, King's Arcade

This place (559 Bukit Timah Road, #01-01 King's Arcade, tel : +65 6466 3477) which was opened by Island Creamery wasn't too bad at all. The double burger from the menu had did come with nicely char grilled medium well patty which contained enough flavors to be both beefy with the grill aroma at the same time. Albeit, neither of which were as intense as I would have preferred. I guess having just some onions and a leaf of lettuce helps things not to be detracted from the original flavors they were trying to build here and it was probably a good thing that I forgot to ask for additional toppings of cheese. I did like the lightly toasted and airy buns which they used. Fries were pretty ordinary and I thought that having more variety of beers apart from just Tiger would probably spruce the place up in the arena of options.

Nothing over the top or mind blowing, but good enough for me to come back again to.

Arirang Korean Restaurant, Liang Seah Street

Unusual how we were led to this restaurant (1 Liang Seah Street, #01-07/08 Liang Seah Place, tel : +65 6333 0025). We were looking for a place to eat where we could pay by card because we had run out of cash. Coming in from Beach Road and hungry, this happened to be one of the first places that we came across that looked decent and with the recent Korean food craze we were in, it looked like it was a good idea.

We were quite glad that we gave it a chance despite the initial apprehension I had after seeing the crazy crowd seated indoors for their all you can eat "Korean" BBQ buffet.

We started off with a plate of japchae (sounding suspiciously like a Nonya chap chye) which was a large portion for something that came from the appetizer section. I was initially worried from the first mouthful that the sweet flavour of the vermicelli would become overwhelming like the jajangmyeon experience previously, but the taste actually grew on me. The sweetness were relatively mild and the play of textures between the chewy glass noodles and mix of vegetables were enjoyable. Will definitely put this under a re-order consideration.

The spicy seafood soup here put the one at Crystal Jade Ginseng Chicken to shame. It was a notch spicier. In the unassuming pot of orange broth beneath the vegetables and tofu, were 4 large prawns, mussels, fish and squid. In spite of being slightly overcooked, the natural sweetness of the prawns came through. This soup was a daily special of the week and the setback for it was an affordable $10. Considering that it came with rice and refills of banchan, I thought it was a pretty good deal.

What took us by surprise for the spicy beef soup was the beefiness in the broth which we had assumed would be subdued by the spiciness. Again, another interesting bunch of textures coming from the meat, sprouts, spring onions, egg and vermicelli. The fact that there wasn't really that much beef in them didn't even matter.

I think I'm willing to overlook the mediocre banchan and come back again.

Your Woul, Goldhill Centre

We liked the food at this place (165 Thomson Road, Goldhill Centre, tel : +65 6251 0123) enough that we came back for seconds on the very next day to do dinner again. The crowd on the weeknights helped convince us that we were eating at some place right.  But service sure did become very spotty once it got crowded. It was rather difficult to get any attention during those peak hours, especially with the refills of the banchan. There was definitely some preferential treatment going on around here. I'm serious.

Service aside, the food was unpretentiously hearty. A couple of notables from the banchan included the smoky sweet radish and fragrant fried anchovies. I haven't yet mastered the subtleties of kimchi. To me they were pretty much just a variation of different levels of sour and spiciness, so I couldn't really comment if it was good.

1st night

We opted for a kimchi jigae and a aal-bab set. The latter a stone rice bowl that came topped with what looked like tobiko. I guess what I liked about the spicy kimchi soup was the bodied aroma apart from just the obvious sour and spicy flavours. It was almost like there was miso in them. The aal-bab was a reminiscence of Chinese claypot rice with a medley of flavour from the pickled vegetables, seaweed and burnt bits of rice off the sides. Apart from the occasional pop between the teeth, I couldn't get much out of the fish roe.

2nd night

On the returning night, we grabbed a dong tae tang which was a pollack soup and a spicy stew of baby octopuses and pork belly. Beside the hassle of having to remove endless amounts of fine fish bones off the pollack, the food was all tasty with the sweet and savoury almost miso like quality of the soup filled with the big headed bean sprouts which I liked. Same for the nutty and spicy gravy which the sliced pork belly and octopus came in. The gravy from the latter made me order extra portions of rice.

I would love to come by for more of the food here. But I suppose it is time for me to give the other places a chance.

Crystal Jade Ginseng Chicken & BBQ, Ngee Ann City

Here was an opportunity to get reacquainted with some Korean food and even though this Crystal Jade (391 Orchard Road, #04-20 Ngee Ann City, tel : +65 6733 3229) might not have been the best place to start, it was convenient. The setup was much like many Korean outfits. There were tables fitted with a grill for meats. Things got moving after orders with a serving of banchan. I loved those big headed bean sprouts there.

The stewed beef ribs was pretty good at the start with generous portions and caramelized bits. After a few pieces, the sweetness became cloying and it started becoming a chore to finish. The meat was not as tender as I was hoping for and they certainly weren't the type that slid of the bone easily. Wasn't something that I disliked, but one could just eat a little before the taste became monotonous. Definitely for sharing between more than 2-3 persons.

Faring better in my opinion was the spicy seafood and tofu soup. The combination of savoury and spiciness definitely helped offset the sweetness from the ribs. I was actually expecting a larger variety of seafood from the name of the soup but I guess it was just shrimps and squid.

A Hamburg rosti from Shokudo

This was surprisingly not bad. I've never really given much though to this Marché styled, pseudo Japanese food market (252 North Bridge Road, #B1-44E Raffles City Shopping Centre, tel : +65 6837 3793) but in the midst of it all, there was actually something simple that appealed to facets of my craving. It could have been the buttery yet crispy rosti which was tasty or the nicely salted and grilled beef patty strapped with the grill aroma and bits of fragrant onion in them. Was definitely not the best of beef patties, but I wasn't expecting anything remarkable in the first place. I guess it did the job for a quick fix. 

What tasted strange was the sour cream on the side which had a texture like beaten cream from eggs instead of the usual kind.

Entre-nous Creperie, Seah Street

This was a Brittany based crepe place (27 Seah Street, #01-01, tel : +65 6333 4671) that I've been wanting to check out for a while. It probably wasn't so much of a coincidence that watching Bourdain in Brittany recently also helped ignite my interest in them. My previous experience with French crepes educated me that I probably shouldn't be visiting one of them if I'm seriously hungry. Even though they weren't exorbitantly expensive, the weren't filling either and it could get pretty expensive adding up.

la belle, -ile -en mei

i'ile aux moines

We started off with a couple of the cheesy (yes!) galettes. One that was curiously named i'ile aux moines which means 'island with the monks'? It definitely moved with the right notes in me as there was a pretty generous layer of creamy Roquefort on the insides exuding an aroma of the blue cheese. Perhaps the metaphorical monks being referred to here are the bits of walnuts that added textural character. The other galette was filled with a pungent (and nicely so) and creamy goat cheese drizzled with honey had me sold as well.

entre nous (salted caramel butter)

lemon and sugar

The crepes weren't too bad. Not that I'm any authority of these pancakes but I'd give them a small thumbs up for their flavours. The salted caramel was a robust buttery sweet and savoury piece while the lemon with sugar crepe came with freshly squeezed lemon juice that added a refreshing tart to the bits of sweetness from the sugar. Will definitely consider coming back again someday.

Chikuwa Tei, Mohd Sultan Road

Rising from the ashes of the old Wasabi Tei is Chikuwa Tei (9 Mohamed Sultan Road, #01-01, tel : +65 6738 9395).

Clearly, this place would be of interest to the people who once clamored to the drab 16 seater that once graced Far East Plaza. This new location by the former chef looked almost nothing like before and it seems that quite a bit has changed.

For one there was a larger menu now in the restaurant and there were actually a few wait staff manning the current premise which is much more spacious than before. The place even accepts reservations these days it seems. Changes as they were, did not come totally and some remnants of the old trademark of the now smiley chef could still be seen. Hell, even the cuts of the raw fish looked like before and their ankimo still looked like the maimed chunk of discolored wet clay.

After a few orders, one could also say that the quality of the food did not change but however, portions have become a little less generous and prices have gone up. Certainly, some of the dishes which I've never had the chance to order still came in rather large portions. Noticeably the hearty and comforting oyaku don which came a in a large steaming bowl of rice laden with the sweetish egg, chicken and onion over the top and a very nicely grilled squid which wasn't shabby at all. There were even the seasonal sawagani (small deep fried river crabs) which were lightly salted and nicely crispy and crabby in flavors.

Still, I think I would have preferred the old and regularly overlooked stall back in the day where one could not call up for a seat and had to queue 45 minutes in line waiting for the moment when either the chef of the wife would give the signal that we could enter and be seated. The slightly frantic but subdued shuffling of 16 pairs of feet into the restaurant where customers would quietly eye each other across the U shaped table as they got quickly to the seats and ordered quickly and then proceeded for the next wait over the preparation of the food.

What I had missed about that experience was a sort of anticipation of the unknown coming from the once dreaded service with a scowl.

sawagani

ankimo

sake

amaebi

oyaku don set

chirashi set

cod hot pot set

grilled squid

Hup Choon Seafood, Binjai Park

I was brought here once by a friend previously to this stall (1 Binjai Park, tel : +65 6468 4081) sequestered along a Y junction a little off the main Bt Timah road. I had thought that the food here was a rather good representation of local cookery (cze char) coupled with very affordable prices. The food was not different or fancy in any sense, there were the dishes commonly seen in such stalls and were rather well executed.

Sweet and sour pork was fried before being stir fried in the sauce. This left the pieces of meat with an outer layer coated with the sweet and sour sauce and yet was still a little crisp. This was one of the dishes I had the first time I was here and it's one of the better done ones I've had around.

The prawn paste mid wings were also well fried without excessive grease in the battered skin. Unfortunately, the flavour of the prawn paste could have done with a little more strength. What I personally liked about this was that the meat was quite easily removed from the bones without the use of fingers.

Oyster omelette was pretty decent with a good portion of the smallish fat oysters scattered into the fried egg. Again, I enjoyed this because it wasn't overly oily and the eggs were not fried to death.

These butter squids didn't taste very buttery at all and were in fact, just battered squid that were again, nicely fried with a crispy exterior and a hint of garlic and chilli.

Suitably greasy and spicy, the sambal kang kong was both crunchy and flavourful. I've had some pretty bad soggy greens from this dish on various occasions in the past and this was definitely not one of those knock offs.

Another obligatory vegetable dish of stir fried abalone mushrooms and spinach.

For a table of six with a round of drinks and rice, the bill came up to a mere $58. Very little for me to complain here. If not for the fact that this was a little out of the way, I could see my us coming down with some regularity.

Go! Go! Curry!, ION Orchard

Another chain restaurant that hails from the Shinjuku district of Tokyo which has been brought in by the En Group. Go Go Curry (2 Orchard Turn, #B4-54 ION Orchard, tel : +65 6509 4555) is one of several tonkatsu places that defines itself with their special blend of Japanese curry which is quite the different thing from the usual. For one, it was barely even spicy.

The rich tasting gooey stew like sauce (the curry) had a thicker consistency than regular Japanese curries. The flavors were both sweeter and also perhaps meatier? There wasn't any option for the choice of cuts for the pork katsus, which along with the chicken versions, featured a thinner breaded crust which I kind of liked. The lean meat was still a little juicy on the insides while the cheese options as an addition paid for topping wasn't as appealing as I was hoping for. The gravy could have been much warmer to facilitate the melting of those strips of mozzarella.

Still I thought it was a decent option for curried (or gravied) katsu rice to be had in town and until I've had my take with more from Ginza Bairin, I couldn't really say which one is the better.