Original Jalan Tua Kong 132, Sixth Avenue

I've heard about the Jalan Tua Kong noodle stall for some years and am aware that there are a few stalls. Personally, I don't know which was the original or the better. I was told that this was definitely not the original. This particular stall at Good Good Eating House (24 Sixth Ave.) was okay. If anyone's caught on that I'm not entirely impressed at this point, that would be about right. 

The toppings were generous and I suppose passed muster as a whole. Sliced fish cake, fish balls, sliced pork, minced pork, a single fish dumpling and a couple of shrimps. Chilli was gritty and packed a bit of heat. Ok, maybe I didn't like those flavourless shrimps very much.

Their mee pok was kinda disappointing though. The noodles were a little clumped together and didn't quite have that springy texture that I was looking forward to. Bummer. I wouldn't say that this was a bad bowl but it's definitely not one of the more enjoyable mee pok I've had. Wouldn't mind eating if I'm in the vicinity but it's not something that I would go out of the way for.

Another night at One Night Only

We're back again in O.N.O.. Doing a steady job of exploring their focused menu which we thought the restaurant has been doing a pretty good job of. I don't know if anyone has paid any attention to their sides; I think those are quite well done.

Their buttermilk fried chicken was kinda dark looking. The spice mix for the batter had a bit of heat and if I'm not mistaken, thyme. Bird was well brined with flavour getting into all of the meat. The pool of oil that gathered at the bottom of the fried chicken was a little off putting though. Between this and Clinton St., I prefer the latter.

But.....the creamed corn rocked. Those mashed potatoes they had, still have little chunks of potato in them. 

There's an aptly named No Frills Cheeseburger which quite kicks ass. Comparably so to something like say Wolf Burgers. And aptly named because they didn't overload unnecessary add ons to detract from the flavours of the meat and cheese beyond a piece of lettuce and a slice of tomato between the buttered brioche. That brioche didn't hold up very well from all the juices oozing out of the meat though. I'd eat this again. 

We had room for some malted vanilla shake this time round. 

Ma Li Ya Virgin Chicken (瑪莉亞處女雞), Chinatown Food Centre

I've been wanting to try the chicken rice from this stall (#02-189 Chinatown Food Centre, 335 Smith Street) for quite a while so here's a plate with a bit of almost everything. I'm glad it finally happened because I liked it. I'm impressed that the flavour and sweetness from their sauces permeated both the wobbly tofu (definitely worth considering) and even those chicken livers they had. Imagine. Sweet livers.

The chicken meat was tender with a similar light sweetness on the skin of the bird as the livers and tofu. And how fared the rice? They were good enough that one didn't actually need their garlicky chilli sauce. I did detect a hint of ginger in the rice there.

I'm thinking that this will likely become my go-to for soya sauce chicken in this food centre since I'm pretty sure that other Michelin starred one will continue to keep up their unbearable queues. While I'm readily admitting that they have a tastier soya sauce chicken, the truth is that it is no longer worth the time that one has to spend in the queue.

Economic bee hoon from Ye Xiang Fan (椰香饭)

The sign on the stall (#02-12 Tiong Bahru Market & Food Centre, 30 Seng Poh Road) reads Ye Xiang Fan (椰香饭) while an online search with the same address gets me Ye Jiang Fan. I don't know what gives but here's an economic bee hoon from these guys.

I kinda liked it. The bee hoon was not bad but not as tasty as those from Hup Lee though. In spite of their lighter tan colour than usual golden brown appearances, those "fish filet" tasted quite freshly fried and even had a light crisp. The only thing that I didn't think much of was the otah which would have benefited from more heat and was also a little lacking in aroma.

Lunching at La Strada

We've only had lunch at La Strada once and that was a long time ago when the restaurant was a very different place from what it is today. Things are more casual, prices easier on the wallet and the outfit more rustic these days.

That's pork sausage and braised lentils. The sausages were tender, filled with bits of gelatinous stuff that probably collagenous and was pretty porky. Porky in a good way of course if one should be inclined towards salty porcine flavours.

We had some Tuscan styled chickpea and kale soup. Vegetables in a lightweight chicken broth flavoured with some cheese. This was quite good.

Braised lamb shank with artichokes. I couldn't decide if the broth was tangy or just meaty. The meat from the shanks were fork tender and had soft gelatinous bits. A dish that's hearty in every sense of the word but there was something missing that I couldn't quite put my finger too. So while I enjoyed it, I don't think I would order it again.

Their sea bream fillet was generously portioned and much more delicious than I had imagined. The firm and tender fish simply sat well in the tangy broth with peppers, tomatoes, olives and capers which reminded me of ratatouille. With those ingredients, the entire flavour profile of the dish was just so appetizing.

Dessert options at lunch included melons. These were sweet and fragrant. We expected no less from La Strada even for something as simple as sliced fruit.

Or their Limoncello tiramisu which was also much better than I had imagined from the description on the menu. The aroma from the liqueur was present but not overwhelmingly so. Those bits of passionfruit broke the monotony of the mascarpone with chocolate shavings. I think I might just eat this again the next time I come back.  

Hua Kee Chicken Rice revisited

I realized that I've been getting food in this hood quite a bit of late. But I couldn't forgo the chance for a second take at Hua Kee. This time a plate of their delicious chicken rice with drumstick meat. It was every bit as tender and tasty as I remember. This stall is fast becoming my next favourite after Sin Kee. If only the queue wasn't so excruciatingly slow. 

Blackened catfish from One Night Only

Here's a not so blackened looking blackened catfish from One Night Only. I can't say that I recall having these before so I haven't really got anything to compare them to. But, I did think that it was quite enjoyable. The catfish was so tender that I'm surprised it came out in one piece. I liked that it was sufficiently salted.

By the way those biscuits and gravy were way better than the shockingly mediocre ones from Clinton Street Baking Co. Creamed corn here was amazing for me. It turned out to be milky sweet instead of savoury and for something that was sweet, it was unexpectedly addictive. Yeah we did get creamed corn. You can see the couple of kernels that I accidentally dropped on the table on the top left.

Joo Chiat Beef King, Tiong Bahru Market

I got enticed by the beef tendon kuey teow from the Joo Chiat Beef King stall (#02-35 Tiong Bahru Market & Food Centre, 30 Seng Poh Road). It was only much later that I recalled that I had ordered exactly the same thing from that branch at Chinatown Food Centre previously. Well, one thing for sure, their soup was consistently quite lightweight. I would have liked a beefier flavour but I've nothing against this one. I thought those rice noodles were quite satisfying. The only difference between this bowl and the previous time was perhaps, the tendons this time round wasn't as tender. I didn't get any radishes in my bowl today as well.

Note to self, avoid the coffee from the coffee stall with a long queue nearby (#02-33) and also the one from the stall call L21(#02-21). Bad coffee.

Serangoon Gardens Fried Prawn Noodle, Redhill Food Centre

Did these guys (#01-51 Redhill Food Centre, 85 Redhill Lane) used to come from Serangoon Gardens? Anyways this was quite a delicious plate of stir fried Hokkien hae mee. I'm getting a hit of the prawn flavours from the gravy that's nicely coated over the noodles. Chilli has got a good amount of heat going on and the whole plate plays nice together with the squeeze of lime and the fried lard. Will definitely re-visit. 

Magic Shrooms Burger from Wolf Burgers

This was not bad from Wolf Burgers. The Mushroom Swiss that's better than the Mushroom Swiss if you catch my drift; that comes with also sautéed onions and some truffle oil.

Traditional Hainanese Curry Rice (中国街海南咖哩饭), Redhill Food Centre

Let's do a little comparison on the food between this stall (#01-03 Redhill Food Centre, 85 Redhill Lane) and Hong Seng. The gravy and curry over here had much less punch and their stewed cabbages were much lighter tasting than the garlicky rendition from the latter. I thought the pork chops over at Hong Seng were tastier while the squid from this stall had a more springy texture. If you're confused as to which might be better, you're on the same track as I was. While I possibly feel that Hong Seng had stronger flavours going on and maybe are a notch up on the whole, I didn't dislike this at all and would have no qualms giving this another go.

Which might not be a bad idea since there was enough dishes that I was spoilt for choice.

Menya Sakura, Boat Quay

Menya Sakura (69 Boat Quay) had not even been on my radar until I came across the 1 for 1 vouchers for their foie gras ramen from JPassport. What was their foie gras ramen you might ask? It's apparently something that's on a limited run featuring sous vide foie gras wrapped in chicken charshu. Soft chunk of liver that was creamy and chicken that was super tender. There's pine nuts, some mushrooms, menma and watercress in this bowl.

I read that the broth was a mixture of chicken and shoyu. What I could definitively tell was it didn't taste like the sum of its parts. I might have imagined that there was something slightly herbal in the flavours and couldn't quite related it to any of the regular bases that most of the ramen use for their broth. Not getting any of the yuzu that's supposed to be in there as well.

I liked the chicken with foie gras and the ajitama but I don't think the rest of the bowl made much of an impression.

Re-revisiting Keria Japanese Restaurant

We're back in Keria. Today we had an interesting otoshi. It's a shumai and the stuffing was some sort of tofu with seafood flavour. A seafood flavour that was reminiscent of those frozen Ajinomoto shrimp dumplings that I used to eat as a kid.

We had some kanpachi sashimi.

And of course, their stir fried mentaiko cabbage too.

Keria has some delicious stir fried gyutan with negi. Those savoury sliced tongue were chewy and beefy, contrasted by a mild sharpness of the raw negi and the sweetness from the stir fried ones.

Their mini steak don came with some kind of wafu dressing. Sweet, tangy and a hint of ginger.

A bit more chewing had the fat in the beef melted and the flavour came through.

There was a spaghetti with aonori (green laver), some dried chilli and karasumi. The latter is dried mullet roe, the Japanese equivalent of bottarga. Interesting combination of the delicate laver, umami saltiness from the karasumi, garlic and a very mild heat from the dried chilli.

Unfortunately, their hamu katsu was a bore. It's a ham katsu that was so thin that there was possibly more breading than the ham which tasted like the cheap pink variety.