Shashlik Restaurant, Far East Shopping Centre

This was a walk down memory lane as I recalled my very first visit down to Shashlik (545 Orchard Road, #06-19 Far East Shopping Centre, tel : +65 6732 6401) more than two decades ago. The number of subsequent visits after up to this point was less than the number of fingers of my hands. Back in that first visit, I was told it was Russian food. Well...to be honest, it did descend from a former and supposedly wildly popular Russian restaurant in the sixties called Troika which folded up in the eighties; their former Hainanese employees then banded up, bought over the business and created the Shashlik we all (and our parents) knew. And throughout the decades after that, little has changed as I know. 

Their piping hot and sweet loaves that one could melt SCS butter with used to be free flow back in the past. Now it's just one complimentary piece per person. And it's almost magical.

As much flair and effort it took to prepare their Irish coffee a la minute, it didn't quite make the standard as coffee goes these days. They're still using the old styled Hainanese coffee which has been pretty much blown away by the espresso roasts in these decades. Still, I ordered one out of nostalgia and also probably to appreciate the fact that no one really quite flames your glasses and whiskey for your coffee at the table side anymore.

Of course, we couldn't pass on the order of their "famous" borscht - which was really a minestrone mellowed with sour cream. As far it was from the actual thing, this interpretation was a pretty decent soup. Since I haven't had the original before, I'm also left wondering if this tomato based one beets the real deal. Hahaha....

Their oyster soup looked unimpressive. In fact, abysmal would be pretty accurate. It looked like the simplest of Campbell canned soup without life, colour or depth; and anyone would probably mistaken it for that until the first sip. Briny and full of that oyster-ly flavour. And it came with two oysters. Pleasant surprise eh?

These chicken livers with caper sauce were something I had never realised were on menu. But then again, it's not like I'm a regular. They were tender, livery and awesome......with all that richness enlivened by them tart capers. 

Their steak a la Russe was pretty much a steak with mushroom sauce. The quantity of mushrooms and the sauce looked pretty disappointing and I was on the verge of condemning it until I realised that the meat that they had used tasted like a hanging tender. Lean, soft and quite packed with flavour. It was a rather pleasant surprise.

Unfortunately, the shashliks at Shashlik aren't exactly the best of items to order in our opinion. Thanks to the great job they have done with their marinade, most of the natural flavours of the meat were lost. But - that's how they roll.

We ended the meal flashy by ordering a flaming dessert. A cherries jubilee that was flambéed with butter, brandy and cream and then served with ice cream. 

Woh Hup, Hong Lim Food Centre

sauteed kailan

I discovered the existence of this place (Hong Lim Food Centre & Market, 531A Upper Cross St #02-55, tel : +65 6535 8813) from the newspaper and it turned out to be a pretty damned good recommendation. The atmosphere brought forth a reminisce of the times when I was little and eating out with my family. Right down to that blasting furnace of a stall front and the grease slicked table tops that never truly gets cleaned up from the oil stained rags that are used to wipe them.

But the food was heartily good. From the fresh and crunchy sautéed kailan to their flavourful black bean sauces and also some very nicely done steamed baby squids which were sweet, savoury and delicious. What got my attention too was a their stir fried bean sprouts with bits of fish liver, intestine, roe and stomach. That was pretty unforgettable. Pretty much everything we had ordered was faultless with the exception of the minced meat omelette which suffered from a far too heavy hand with the salt.

I can definitely see myself heading back.

steamed baby squids

minced meat omelette

a very straight forward and crisp old school deep fried chicken

fish stir fried in black bean sauce

bean sprouts stir fried with fish viscera

Mentaiko tonkatsu from Tonkichi

Between this one and Tampopo, I think I like this better. The mentaiko was less cooked and comparatively more oozy. And that mean more flavour from the roe between the layers of pork.

Skirt, W Singapore

Skirt is a lovely place (21 Ocean Way, tel : +65 6808 7278). A contemporary steak joint clad in some swank facing the marina, that houses an Argentinian parilla and their own ageing cabinets for cuts of meat from various sources. Great smiley service. Have been wanting to come here since I first heard of them.

bread with chorizo oil and seaweed dip

The seaweed dip works with their freshly toasted bread. To be tried to understand.

roasted tomato, basil soup

grilled baby vegetables, Roquefort

braised and grilled beef tongue, shallot, scallion, beef salt

We started with some soup, grilled baby vegetables with some crumbled pungent Roquefort and beef tongue. No real complains here but I think I would have been more impressed if the soup was smoked tomato rather than just roasted.

sheathed weapons for the real battle...looks so druidic

Donald Russell Irish Grass fed Hereford 21 days dry aged tenderloin

This was meat from a Hereford cattle, branded by Donald Russell. If you're wondering what does that mean, it's generally a recognition for meat that's dry aged for 3 weeks on the bone. The cows graze on grass mostly and are certified to have no growth or appetite hormones administered in their diet or any other form.

Which means what? That one is eating meat that's organic and natural as far as an administration can ascertain that's matured for enhanced flavouring. Fluff aside, it was a lovely cut of tenderloin, done in a good spot of none too bloody medium rare.

asparagus, quail egg, burnt butter

The asparagus from the sides were fresh and crunchy. The burnt butter was unsalted and hence, a bore without additional condiments.

Blackmore Australian full blood 9+ Wagyu skirt

Blackmore full blood is pedigreed from Wagyu that doesn't contain any inferior bloodline in the family tree. In short, the cream of bovine as far as quality categorization goes. The skirt was lovely, intensed in flavoring with minimal fat. Possibly not the best cut to get one's eyes glazed over for Wagyu, but still pretty enjoyable meat there.

some flamed Granny Smith apple crumble

Mr Rawon Hong Kong Seafood, Yishun Central

I had initially mistook this place (Block 935, Yishun Central 1, #01-45) for the other Mr Rawon near the Darul Makmur mosque that might have relocated here, but it turned out that they were different altogether. The difference came from the quality of the food. It was a notch better at the latter location which also had a larger variety in both dishes and condiments. Still there was enough of some of my favourite staples going around like the paru goreng, sotong hitam and a decent begedil. But I scratch my head over the name.

The most important meal of the day for $10

Filled with wholesome intestines, pig skin, braised pork belly and eggs. This!

Coocci Contemporary Japanese, Commonwealth Crescent Market

smoked chicken

The operative word for this stall (#02-92, Commonwealth Crescent Market, 118 Commonwealth Crescent) is 'contemporary'. Beyond aesthetics which are nice by the way, it was a little difficult for me to categorise this as Japanese food and I probably wouldn't have recognized it as such if not for the name of the stall. Even the short grained rice that they used was not sticky at all, which was unusual there.

chicken roulade

Now that we've gotten past the superficial, the food was pretty good and good value as well. Be it their light and tender apple wood smoked half spring chicken that was aromatic in tandem with some black pepper or the torched chicken roulade that arrived with somen in a lightly sweet and savoury broth of pumpkin and chicken. The tori nanban laced with tartar sauce was pretty decent too. For what they were charging, their food, especially that smoked chicken certainly represented unbeatable value.

tori nanban

For what appeared to be a two person show in the stall, I'd give them marks for effort, given all the preparation they had to do. Certainly no qualms revisiting if I'm in the vicinity. 

Blue skies and mentaiko cream

Wow, did the winds of change blow in our favor today. The sudden return of clear skies made things look pretty HD. So much has been taken for granted that we didn't realise until it got all smoggy. Like eating out which became a whole lot more daunting a task with everyone not feeling well and not wanting to be out anywhere outside of work.

This was a trip down to Meidi Ya for some grocery top up and hence a quick dinner as well. Pecori is still around fortunately and they've finally gotten round to serving their mentaiko cream rice with shrimps like they show in the menu. Sushi Ikeikemaru still has that crazy queue at dinner time and I'm buying stuff to fill up the space in the fridge which we've been trying hard to free up. Seems like normalcy has returned for a bit.

San Laksa Steamboat, Telok Blangah Road

I quite liked the laksa broth for steamboat here (404 Telok Blangah Road, tel : + 65 6275 7069). It had initially appeared to be a little thin but the wisdom of that was that after some cooking, it thickens up. Considerably. Unfortunately, that was all about it that was really appealing for me. The dishes weren't of even good quality and the plates of relatively tasteless meat were too thin even for shabu shabu standards. Certainly didn't like the powdery tasting pig livers that they served. Most of the options were pretty run of the mill. If that was the quality of food we were getting charged for a la carte orders, I would think that the cheap steamboat joints along Beach Road would be a better bang for buck. 

More meat from Hippopotamus

Nice intense flavouring and char grill from the tender hanger steak and rack of lamb from Hippopotamus. As family styled as they look, they actually serve pretty decent meat. Not to mention also their delicious Roquefort sauce that comes as an option for all orders.

Tsukemen from Menya Musashi

That's the black chashu tsukemen from Menya Musashi (1 Vista Exchange Green #B1-08, tel : +65 6694 2515) with triple portions of noodles from Star Vista. I admit, I got defeated by the portions which were much more than what the picture showed.

While the broth appeared black, it was basically a black layer of oil that was floating above their base tonkotsu broth which also didn't quite pack the punch I was looking for. The noodles from the tsukemen were much chewier than the regular noodle in broth bowls which was a good thing but I ultimately didn't feel impressed by the whole thing. These cold sliced charshu simply didn't do it for me and the menma was pretty pungent.

Chicken rice at Malaysia Boleh

Well, this wasn't too bad a rendition coming from Ipoh Buntong Bean Sprout Chicken Kuitiew/Rice at Malaysia Boleh (Jurong Point 2, #03-28, Jurong West Central 2). It's pretty much similar to what we are well acquainted with as local chicken rice. The meat was smooth, tender and this set option comes with a healthy serving of crunchy boiled bean sprouts and a side of real chicken soup. Too bad for me that the chilli that they use is so heavily laced with ginger.

Uncle Leong Seafood, Punggol East

what's the horror behind the taxidermied quad claw crustaceans Uncle Leong didn't say?

Let's begin this with Mellben.

I was introduced to Mellben some years ago. Back then, the first taste of the broth from the crab bee hoon was mind blowing. I had never had anything that tasted like that. In fact, the milky and crabby broth left such a deep impression that it gave quite a bit of leeway to the subsequent decline of standards.

The last visit to Mellben that I made was probably about half a year back. While the crab broth was still good, it was nothing like the earlier years. Fast forward to today, I managed to try the ones at Uncle Leong (6 Tebing Lane, #01-03, Punggol East, tel : +65 6441 1848) for the first time. Never had the chance to visit them when they were back in AMK. These two are related though I am not exactly sure how. While I felt that the crab bee hoon was a passable okay, it wasn't up to the standards of what was served in Mellben today. Remember what I said about about plenty of leeway. A pale shadow here of the old Mellben but arguably, a decent soup still.

What's well known about them is that they have their suppliers that provide them with really large crabs and they're generally fresh and meaty which is the way most people like them. The ones that come with the bee hoon are generally better in my view as they they don't get overcooked as often - which results in flesh that gets stuck onto the shells.

Those golden sand crabs which are a signature at Uncle Leong aren't as impressive as I would like. The creamy buttery sauce spiked with peppercorns and fried curry leaves somehow lacked body.

Maybe it's time for a re-visit to Mellben just to compare broths.

stir fried nai bai with garlic

Guinness pork ribs

crab bee hoon

jin sha (golden sand) crab

corridor of claws