Samar, Bali Lane

I had tried looking up this place sometime late last year when I visited Alaturka and saw that the older premise at Kandahar Street had closed. Stuck upon the doors, was a crude paper sign which read that they have moved to somewhere in the east side. So I was actually taking a stroll down to Cafe Le Caire and was surprised to come across the current location for Samar (17 Bali Lane, tel : 6398 0530). We decided to give these guys a try instead and pend Cafe Le Caire for another time.


I don't know how long has the establishment been located at the current premise in Bali Lane, but the feeling I got was that they hadn't been here for too long. They seemed to be out of several of the items on the menu and the place was quiet. Which made it a sanctum to escape the bustle of being at the outskirts of the city. In fact, in the second storey of the restaurant was a rug strewn area with low coffee tables that one had to enter without footwear. With a couple of shishar smoking customers around and the covered up windows, it looked like some sort of a Middle Eastern opium den. The place had such a getaway feel that we lingered around for more than a couple of hours, rooted to the peacefully atmospheric......albeit slightly musty smelling sanctuary.


The food in this place revolved around the usual styled grilled meats, Arabic flat breads, dips and various caffeine and milk based beverages. They were out of saffron and couscous for today which was a bummer. So we ended up getting a serving of the hummus and a grilled meat platter which I had originally thought to be a large serving meant for two. It turned out that it was probably just good for one hungry person. The hummus had more lemon juice than most but was otherwise quite the norm. It came with freshly made bread which were pretty good. What we liked was the lamb from the meat platter which was tender that when we tried to pick a rib up, the meat promptly slid off the bone. There was also a small potato which seemed to be infused with spices before it got baked resulting in a dull shade of orange-y brown rather than the usual yellow. I'll could come back for the lamb someday.

I was quite taken in with their honey milk drinks. Since they were out of saffron, we grabbed the almond and rose flavoured ones. The former was honey and milk blended with almond. It was a sweet milk which was lightly accented with almond flavour and many sediments at the bottom of the drink. I don't know how these guys did their rose milk, but it didn't look or taste much like bandung. The milk was actually snow white and the rose flavour was much more aromatic.

Service was slow but very polite. These people apparently take their time to prepare the food, but it did feel worthwhile assuming you were in not hurry to eat and leave.

Char shio, shio ba, arh heng peng

I came across Tuck Kee Roasted Meat (#08-17, Golden Mile Food Centre, 4679 Beach Road) stall by chance when I was in the vicinity. This combination of meats is a particular favourite. So there's the roast duck, char siew and roast pork. I'll go with it's not bad. I'd come back again. What I thought distinguished them was the plum flavoured sauce which was more appetizing compared regular brown ones. The char siew was tender and a bit sweeter than I'm used to. No excessive fat under the skin of the roasted duck breast for this one.

Of shrimps and durian

I was looking at the options for a very late breakfast and made an interesting find of a durian chee cheong fan (rice rolls) down at Beach Road in the Golden Mile Food Centre (#01-86). I've read about them sometime back in the past before and it was some store that was mentioned down in Geylang. The chee cheong fans from the store are all made as you order them, so there aren't any pre-fabricated ones lying dry in some heating mediums waiting to be bought. I thought this durian rendition was pretty good with a rather generous filling of durian puree. It wasn't the most fragrant of durian flesh that I've had, but it was decent. It would have been great if the ground peanuts had been more fragrant rather then tasting flat and lacking of any toasted aroma. On the other hand, the shrimp fillings of the second one which I've gotten weren't anything special at all.

Portuguese Egg Tarts from Lisboa Bakery

This was a place that I probably wouldn't have visited if not for a fact that a co-worker lives nearby. Lisboa (Blk 642 Bukit Batok Central, #01-150, tel: 6563 5423) is a bakery selling Portuguese-styled confectionery so naturally, egg tarts come to mind.

PET aka Portuguese Egg Tarts

I was given a box of these by said co-worker during tea break one day. The crusts look weak, dry and maybe a bit unappealing while the surface of the egg custard didn't not look as charred. Although their looks were not appealing, I decided to give them a try because the strong egg aroma coming from the tarts weakened my willpower to refuse them.

Did not regret as they tasted quite good. The crusts were not too oily and were crispy at some parts. The egg custard were soft and fragrant, making me want to pop another tart in my mouth after I finished the first. I was hoping that the surface was more charred and the tarts were warm. This was my afternoon salvation nonetheless.

Egg tarts anyone?

Milk tea pudding from Tampopo Deli

I picked this one up from Tampopo Deli (#B1-16, Liang Court Shopping Centre, 177 River Valley Road, tel : 6338 7386) thinking that it might taste of milk tea. I was wrong. The little container of milk turned out to be just as it was. A little container of milk. There wasn't any enchantment in them to magically unlock any hidden flavour in the pudding. Nada.

More breakfasting at Simply Bread

Funny how firsts can be quickly succeeded by seconds and before you realise it, the third arrives. Then it becomes what we term as a habit. It was just about a week back that I was mentioning about the rarity of myself doing breakfast and what do you know? I'm up for another one again. Actually enjoying this and am looking forward to another the next weekend. By the way, that was quite an expensive sandwich that you see up there. It costed more than $20. If you haven't yet penetrated the disguise, it's the roast beef sandwich from Simply Bread with 2 sunny side ups, 2 strips of bacon and aged cheddar slices. I was overcharged by about $4.50 already for the sandwich before the add ons and those eggs actually costed $6! To add on, Simply Bread simply didn't have a contactable email address from their website and their staff are apparently unaware at all of any feedback avenue for the company.


The sandwich was verifiably, great. Why wouldn't it be considering that it got stuffed with a generous portion of roast beef topped with eggs dripping with runny yolk/sliced cheddar/bacon and then slathered across with whole grain mustard. Almost unhinged my jaw getting a good large bite. Will be hard pressed to find a better sandwich. For now. Was expensive though The cost did leave a a little bitter aftertaste.

The sausage brunch platter which was a varietal of the ham steak version that I had previously. Was pretty good as well. I didn't expect these meaty sausages to be packed so taut in their snappy cases. The first couple of bites were literally bursting with juices. The style of the eggs on the side can be chosen. In the case of omelette, there is also the option for fillings as well. I picked mushroom. There were also rolls with bacon and scrambled eggs which they have over at the counter.  Weren't as good since they was pre-made and left sitting for a while. They never heated those before serving.