Dracula Romanian Food, Alexandra Village

I was repressing a silent snigger as I saw this place (Blk 127, Bukit Merah Lane 1 # 01-230, Alexandra Village, tel: 6270 5464) at first glance. Not sure if I had actually smirked. In my mind I had ominously envisioned the Joker and Vlad the Impaler standing side by side since this store was located just next door to Funny Lasagna. In the end, there was nothing really sinister looking about this Dracula place as it was not comical in any sense for their neighbour.

Romanian food was something I've never had before and didn't think I would experience here. The food did look pretty rustic and I imagined them as dishes that might have originated from the poor back in the day. Anyone who's in the the know, please enlighten.

We started off with some sour Romanian meatball soup (is that ciorbă de perişoare?) of sorts and home made sausages.


The sour soup tasted much like borsch minus the ruddy hues that one commonly associates with them. In the broth were a bunch of potatoes, carrots and enough chopped parsley for their flavoor to be quite pronounced. Along some other herbs which I couldn't identify. The meatballs were quite generously portioned. Of a make that one can associate to food of perhaps peasants of history where meat could have been expensive and starch fillers were used. In this case, there was rice in the peppery tasting meatballs. Dracula must have made it rain tonight for me to enjoy this stuff. Ahem!

The home made sausages were pretty good. Greasy, salty and filled with grits and bits of unidentifiable stuff. These sausages weren't packed that tightly and the cases were also not snappy. The stuffings fell apart and spilt as I tried to cut them. Notable mention goes to the flatbread (it tasted more like Turkish bread actually) which the sausage was served with. This stuff was definitely freshly made as evident from the taste.


This dish is described as fried meat with polenta and cheese (is this sărmăluţe cu mămăligă?). You know what's the irony? Cornmeal isn't expensive and this was probably the largest serving of polenta I've ever had. Ever. It was hearty. It was good. The salty meats in the middle were chicken and some other minced meat which I couldn't identify. Could have been pork. All slathered in some light creamy cheese that tasted like yoghurt.


This dish looked dubious initially since they had a templated dish of various meats that looked suspiciously like the local Hainanese styled westerns. To digress, there was even a Romanian steak of sorts. When inquired about, the server merely said "the chef's Romanian, the boss is Romanian and hence, the steak is Romanian". Lol. In any case, this lamb was surprisingly quite good in spite of the fact that it was a almost well done. The meat retained tenderness and had a nice amount of fat. The natural flavour of the meat was definitely there despite being covered in that peppery mushroom sauce. I saw the chef peeling a truckload of potatoes back in the kitchen which were to be cooked and mashed for servings. Nothing came with fries and you know where your mashed spuds are from.

I'm certainly not adversed to trying more of their food another time.

Singapore Zam Zam Restaurant, North Bridge Road

mutton murtabak

Zam Zam is an Indian Muslim shop (697 North Bridge Road, tel: 6298 6320) with a history that was longer that that of this nation. I shall concede to the assumption that the 100 year old establishment definitely knows a great deal or three about their murtabaks and briyanis than most. The former I've personally found to be one of the better, if not best that I've had. The crowd in the restaurant as I had expected was nothing short of vibrant. I don't recall having eating here before. Might have had take aways previously but it's as good as a clean slate for me.

What's quite unique about Zam Zam's murtabak were the additional layer of prata dough that's folded over an inner layer. The outside piece is coated with egg, blanketed with a generous topping of ground mutton which were then pan fried to a crisp - giving it the granular texture. So that murtabak would be crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. The onions were lightly cooked that there was still a mild crunch. Not under nor overdone in my opinion. Stuffings were also in a good space between being too loose and overly compact. I suppose that moderation must have appealed plenty to the masses.

beef murtabak

We managed 2 murtabaks for sharing. Between the beef and the mutton, the latter was definitely the superior in terms of taste. There was a stronger aroma coming from the ground mutton. While their curry wasn't too spicy and had pre-requisite saltiness, I felt that it was a little flat tasting. We ordered some fried chicken on the side which weren't even dignified with a heat up.


I hear that their neighbour, Victory is a close rival to this place so maybe, I could just pop over another day and see if which one would win in a shootout.

A Bintan resort lunch

I'm not sure what's the status of this place, but it is one of those pseudo kelong built along some rock outcroppings close to the shoreline connected to the beach via a bridge kind of place. Half the structure was probably concrete. There wasn't much options for eating out from the resort since the closest location for a food place (Melayu Square) was a 45 minute drive out of Bintan Beach & Agro Spa Resorts. It was definitely a place opened by the resort itself and the only live seafood available were crabs.


The food was passable with a pretty regular stir fried kailan, a fairly spicy tom yum soup that was heavy on tomato & lemongrass and a rather well done sambal kang kong which was crunchy and had a robust hit of dried shrimps. Of worthy mention, there was a sun and moon fried rice (woah!) and a butter oat squid.


The mentioned sun and moon fried rice was stir fried with coconut milk. That was probably the most distinctive thing about it, evident from the taste that was certainly more flavourful (and rich as well) than the the regular seafood counterpart which became quite boring by comparison. Speaking of seafood, there was barely anything beyond some small chopped pieces of shrimp in the rice. I had definitely expected better. Frutti di mare aside, the damp rice was quite enjoyable. Those butter oat squids were similar to cereal-ed seafoods that one can find easily in our local restaurants. The main difference was the use of quite a bit of eggs in the mix with the oats that formed the batter of the squids. And this is the first time I'm eating these cereal seafood done on squid. Nutty, sweet and mildly spicy, this was actually quite good.

Also, I now know that I can give their local beer a pass the next time.

Small Potatoes Make The Steak Look Bigger : Year Two

Another year has passed for Small Potatoes Make The Steak Look Bigger. And here I sit, wondering to myself what should I say for this marker entry that places a milestone of 2 freaking years of taking pictures with my trusty old camera phone. Some changes are surely bound. I cannot really say when and how, but it will happen. Just like it has all along. Sometimes behind the wheel - the machinations that drive this blog, and sometimes, the digital canvas that you read upon. Hopefully, the unchanging constant would be that - the show must go on.

"The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can..."

as sung by Gandalf the Grey

The Omnivore's Hundred

Andrew, an English food writer and also the co-author of the blog called Very Good Taste has come up with a list of food that he feels all omnivores should at least try once in their life. He calls this list The Omnivore's Hundred. Apparently the response to this list was quite good so I'm going to do this just for the heck of it. To join in the fun, one simply just has to...

1. Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2. Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3. Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4. Optional extra: Post a comment at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

Here's mine with some commentary in italics where applicable.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros - I'm gonna count this in
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht - not the traditional beetroot kind though
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi - I've always gotten the sweet one
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar - ...but not together
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat's milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu - assuming it's just the sashimi version
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald's Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV - Amsterdam's Maximator!
59. Poutine - this has got to qualify
60. Carob chips
61. S'mores
62. Sweetbreads - I'm not too sure of this but...
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs' legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake - I've had churros
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain - goreng pisang!!
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini - not together
73. Louche absinthe - not tried this version, only a less potent one
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

63/100

Redemptio

Awesomeness! The recent less than satisfactory experience in "thosaimediocrity" has been pushed away to be forgotten by this redemptive egg & ghee thosai and its onion counterpart from Sri Kamala Vilas. Needless to say, there was a whole world of difference to be found in this crisp and freshly griddled pancake. Served warm as should be as well. The buttery flavour of that ghee was quite cheesy tasting while those lightly cooked onions inside were sweet. Not to mention the tastier sambar and coconut chutneys. This meal felt so good that I followed up with a vadai. Despite that they were a little cold at the end of the day, the vadai remained soft and dense. I shall quest for some fresh vadai someday.