A kouign amann from Tiong Bahru Bakery

We had this in the mid afternoon which probably meant that the pastry had been sitting at the display for a while throughout the day already. I was actually a little surprised that I quite liked it. I was thinking that it could have been pretty good thing if only we have had that kouign amann fresh out off the baking tray, but with none of the actual baking done in-house, there would never be such a thing as fresh pastries from the oven. 

The last of the crisp was still clinging on for this one. The buttery caramel flavours were largely what held it together and I’d have to admit that stripping this apart by its banded layers and dipping it into coffee was still a pretty good thing going on.

Wong Kee Noodle, Depot Lane

This shop (Blk 118 Depot Lane) was an interesting find online that represented a break from the mindless monotony of local wanton noodles. The last of which in turn represented a facet of what might be wrong with the hawker identity today with most of the current stall owners doing what has been done for a long while without evolution. A sure sign of laziness or a lack of will simmering under a veneer of risk adversity (there are exceptions). Most of them run of the mill wanton noodles aren't even that great tasting 

Perfect cosmic alignment for the enactment of the Darwinian law.

But I digress, Wong Kee serves pretty decent wanton noodles. Coupled with a good location, natural selection would not be harsh on them. The quality of their wanton are easily a couple notches above the local garden variety - bearing more resemblance to those found in Hong Kong in size, filled with gristly minced pork. Not necessarily the best I've had but the best should never be the enemy of the good. Their char siew was the variety that was more savoury than sweet and had what I considered to be sufficient prerequisite burnt ends to make enjoyable char siew. At least mine had. 

Their mee pok had a good firmness. What differentiated their noodle offerings were the spinach and tomato variety. The latter (those red ones) was served with their house made tomato sauce which I was sure I had tasted oregano in them.

Jin Zhan Ji (金斩鸡), Kovan Food Centre

If I had to describe this chicken rice stall (Blk 209 Hougang St 21, #01-19) to myself, I probably would not have found much appeal to it. But as it turned out, I rather enjoyed their chicken rice. Their rice was a little dry and greasy and was actually pretty well flavoured by both the chicken stock and garlic that it wouldn’t even need the chilli. That being said, all that chook grease essence is definitely going to linger for some hours after as one would discover when the round trip completes.

Their overcooked livers were unfortunately little to write home about. The boiled chicken was however rather tender; if not having the firmest of flesh with skin that looked a little bumpy too. It reminded me more than a little of that rather well known stall down in Yishun Central. While it's neither horrific nor exactly my style, I'm not complaining. If you're into a lime-y chilli sauce, this place makes a decent rendition. 

Cantonese Delights, Hong Lim Food Centre

I hadn't realized that this stall's location (#02-03, Hong Lim Food Centre, 531A Upper Cross Street) was just adjacent to Woh Hup until I got into the queue. It took a while - 20 minutes or so, but that curry fried chicken noodle was actually worth it. Those chicken tasted freshly fried, crisp on the exterior and the noodles were blanched to a firm doneness which had the prerequisite bite which I enjoyed. It's a dollar more for the additional char siew which were pretty decent.  And I liked the curry enough to slurp up the last of it after finishing up. I've no qualms about coming back for this again.

More sandwiches from Smoke Shack

Montevideo

Yes, these are the sandwich guys (2 Amoy Street, #01-01 Far East Square, tel : + 65 6557 2214) that used to be down at the basement of Republic Plaza. I've seen nice pictures of their sandwiches and somehow, I never get that whenever I'm there. My opinion of them hasn't changed very much from the last time. Good but not great. Would be nice if portions were a little bigger. I could definitely get something from them if I'm in the vicinity, but wouldn't go out of my way just for it. I would love for more blue cheese and apples in their smoked duck sandwich though. 

smoked duck, apple, blue cheese

Traditional Handmade Yong Tau Fu, Whampoa Food Centre

I liked this. For $3.30, it was also a darn good deal. As much as this stall (#01-32, 91 Whampoa Drive) looks like another ubiquitous yong tau fu shack, it was noticeably better than the run of the mill. While it might be true that one cannot have the choice pick of the ingredients, the ones that they had tossed in were pretty good. Those tofu with meat paste even had chunks of water chestnut inside. Don't the minced meat ladled over the noodles look tempting? Am coming by another time for their larger portions. 

Basmati nasi lemak from Island Cafe

Wow, this was very nice indeed. The fragrance of pandan and coconut infused into the savoury basmati rice - and maybe a secret ingredient or two? This beats the other basmati nasi lemak at Selera Rasa hands down. But then again, this was also a lot more expensive. And for the additional we're paying for over here, one gets a very competently done beef rendang which wasn't too sweet (awesome!), a couple of tasty sambal shrimps, properly roasted peanuts and also nicely done sambal on the side. So good was the sambal and the rice that I had to eat them separately as not to muddle up the flavours. Things like these and that delicious wagyu beef and black bean sauce hor fun that keeps me coming back to Island Cafe.

More chicken rice from Mat Noh & Rose

This was an unplanned re-visit to Mat Noh & Rose. We had known that we'd be back but hadn't expected it to be so soon. This time round, we opted for the chicken breast and fried livers on the sides. I'm going to be boring here and state that both were delicious. Apparently, the stall uses only fresh chicken, not the frozen variety. Which explains the tenderness of the breast meat. And the sides of livers came with 3 hearts today!

The orange ciabatta toast from Good Morning Nanyang Cafe

Buttered, kaya-ed and sporadically flecked with the aroma from the bits of orange peel.

Hong Kong Street Chun Kee (香港街珍记), Ang Mo Kio Ave. 5

There seem to be a few of these Hong Kong Street Chun Kee outfits around. I have no idea if there's any relation between them or if any of them are the original stalls. Does anyone know? The first one I remember eating at was at Alexandra. This particular stall (Blk 151, Ang Mo Kio Ave 5) happens to be located in the same coffeeshop as the Soi 19 Thai wanton noodles.

Objectively, the food here was pretty decent. I'm pretty sure many people remember the branding for the sum lou hor fun and their X.O. fish noodle soup. Both of which are competent but seem to lack a little something I can't readily wrap my head around. Meanwhile, the back of my head seems to think that the old stall back in Alexandra was better. Memory can be a fickle mistress.

Honestly, I'm not too concerned if this particular outfit is the original or not. I think the food is good enough for revisits.

Café & Bar Gavroche, Tras Street

foie gras terrine

Le Parisien

tartine with smoked pork belly and Reblochon cheese

I had previously eaten at their brasserie just across the road and liked the food, so here's some lunch from the cafe (69 Tras St, tel : +65 6225 4869). The menu was straightforward with little beyond some charcuterie, tartines, salads and some sandwiches. And in the simplicity of the offerings, I found their Parisien sandwich appealing. Cooked ham and butter between sliced crisp baguette. I think I could probably recreate everything that I had here after a trip to a deli.

Imakatsu, Star Vista

Another quick one. This was a second visit to Imakatsu (1 Vista Exchange Green #01-17,  tel : +65 6694 6148), another tonkatsu specialist that has opened up here not too long ago. I get the impression that they're advertising the fact that their chicken tenderloins are a specialty of the restaurant. Haven't tried those, but probably will another time. While I rather liked what I had so far from the restaurant, I'm wondering if they have what it takes to endure on this sunny island. Actually, I hope they do.

I checked out their tonkatsu stuffed with sliced garlic previously and I thought those garlic flavours came through rather nicely. Enjoyed that. My only complain over that one was that it was a little small. Much smaller than the other fried pork options on the menu. Today, I picked the extra large minced meat cutlet. It turned out to be pretty good too. The minced meat was spiced, peppered and well mixed with chopped onions. Packed none too tightly at that and it was still both moist and slightly crumbly. With a little bit of salt that they had on the table and a smudge of mustard, it was totally enjoyable. I had seconds of their Koshihikari rice with it.

Mat Noh & Rose, Whampoa Makan Place

Just a quick update on my first visit to Whampoa Food Centre after their recent renovation. Pretty sure that I hadn't seen this stall (#01-27, 91 Whampoa Drive) beside Granny's Pancake prior to the renovation. Certainly not one with an unusual name like that. Anyway, they claimed to sell authentic ginger fried chicken rice. I haven't a clue what that was but it certainly looked like very agreeable fried chicken. That turned out to be delicious. The fried chicken was quite tender and each order came topped with some crispy crumbs which might have been what the ginger was about. There was even option for adding deep fried chicken skin amongst the other offal.

I thought the rice deserved mention. It was moist, savoury and well flavoured. One could pair them with their chilli sauce; which was a nice balance of heat and sweetness rather than mostly sweetness. This won't be the last time I'm seeing this place for sure.