Hooked, Upper Thomson Road

Here's a shark vindaloo from Hooked, a seafood/fish based restaurant that's been operating for some time now at Upper Thomson (203 Upper Thomson Road). Not majorly excited since most of the dishes are fish based with the other seafood on the back burner in the department of variety. But I wouldn't write them off despite their overly pricey crayfish which was $12.50 a pop for a very regular looking single crayfish. I had honestly expected one more at least and what's with the bland black pepper butter? Not recommended at all.

Back to the main dish, I did find the shark vindaloo rather decent and mostly because of the tangy spicy vindaloo gravy that was appetizing. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough of that gravy to match that mound of rice that came with it. The tender shark meat tasted very much like another fish to me so, yeah, it was okay. It sure looked like there was more shark meat on the picture in menu though. I'm not too sure about what to feel about the place. That being said, I wouldn't mind giving the place another try another time.

Sapporo Ramen Miharu, Gallery Hotel

I've been wanting to try the ramen from Sapporo Ramen Miharu (1 Nanson Road, GF The Gallery Hotel) for the longest time after being recommended. Despite the fact that I am within its vicinity fairly often, it hasn't happened until recently. I wonder why. I've had nothing but curiosity for this place. While I'm not one of the biggest of ramen fan, I enjoy them and especially like the cold variety that suits the weather here mostly. What's with all the Chinese/Cantonese speaking from the people working there?


You might have guessed that I picked their cold noodles. This koumi tsukemen was done nicely from the texture of their chilled springy noodles (great stuff) to the bodied flavour of the shoyu dip that accompanied it. I'll be tempted to order this again if I come back. What didn't turn out like I imagined was the hot broth; the ramen lost the chill after dipping them in. Not saying that this was a bad thing but it wasn't what I was expecting when I felt like having cold noodles.


There was a side of steamed gyozas which decidedly looked and tasted to me like Chinese dumplings minus the exceedingly thick skin. I found these to be more enjoyable than the fried variety and these have shrimps in them. There's chilli oil condiments on the table so don't forget to drizzle them on for extra oomph.

Fast breaking roundup

This one is just about some fast food breakfast options that we have here. They've been around for years mostly and I haven't really paid attention to them until lately when I had the sudden urge to.

   

I forgot what this is called but it's a sourdough sandwich with bacon, eggs and cheese. Possibly one of the better, if not best amongst the small realm of fast food breakfast sandwiches. The real bacon scored since we have too much turkey bacon around. What's nice about the sourdough sandwiches from CJ was that it came buttered. Those little wheels of hash brown nuggets were actually pretty addictive. I remember that they used to have some bacon cheese burger that uses these sourdough bread slices in the past, but it's no longer on the menu. I thought those were pretty good.

The bacon and eggs burritos were disappointing in terms of size. I was fooled by the menu into thinking that they were thick rolls filled with creamy scrambled eggs and bacon and cheese. The burrito itself was skinner than I had thought though it didn't taste too bad. Though it was more of an omelette than scrambled eggs.

A breakfast croissant from BK that tastes really bready rather than what a croissant should be like. It was tasty mostly because of the salty ham, but this is something that I probably could make at home.

These are a couple of "big" breakfast sandwiches from Burger King. Of course, it would be just wishful thinking on my part to expect them to be big because they are anything but. Again it was probably the generic salty sausage (tastier than McDs it seems there) patties that made them good to eat. I still dislike those fake bacon strips. What was clearly different were the hash brown nuggets here in comparison with CJ. These just didn't taste as good. Not even close.

The Banana Leaf Apolo, Race Course Road

I don't remember if I've ever visited Banana Leaf (56 Race Course Road, tel : 6293 8682 / 6293 5054). We came over for dinner with some friends who're back from Ozland missing the flavours of spicy local food. Not sure what was defining of their supposedly signature curry fish head. Not sure how are they much different from Muthu's as well. Also couldn't tell if the fish head was of better quality or not. That being said, the food wasn't bad. I have heard from friends whom have eaten here in the older dinghy days that the quality of the curry fish head were much better. Unfortunately or fortunately, I cannot relate. The premise does have an air of commercialism.

To the food - their rice was fine, but it took a long time to get refills. The vegetables didn't look nor taste as good as Komala Vilas. We had masala chicken which was generally fine in the most casual sense of the word.

Buddy Hoagies, Bt Timah

I came upon this place (170 Upper Bukit Timah Road, #B1-05 Bukit Timah Shopping Centre, tel : 6466 1505) recently and amongst the things to be had, the sandwich was surprisingly one of the better here. Food was quite affordable but you do get what you pay for. Their NY strip steak looked like something from Astons but didn't taste like it. Quite a far cry from that. It was a letdown from the start, arriving undercooked and had to be redone. The brown sauce on the side was on the other hand much better than I had thought. Tasted like something I could get at Hog's Breath.

I wasn't able to get a good picture of their mince beef and bacon sandwich which was pretty good. Without much frills as well. There was a delicious minced beef patty and real bacon amidst the vegetables, some cheap sliced cheese and mayo. Beats those fake strips of bacon at BK anytime.

A key lime pie from CPK

This was not what I had in mind after having that one at PS Cafe. California Pizza Kitchen's rendition turned out to be excessively sweet for me with a sugar rush in a bad way. While I agreed that there was a discernible flavour from the lime, the lack of the limey zest was quite obvious and the curd-y fillings tasted pretty milky. The crust was also pathetic - excessively sweet with the taste of honey, there wasn't anything crusty about it at all. Texture felt like a soggy muesli bar. I remember having had this years back and I recalled that it was enjoyable then. Something must have changed over here. It's either my taste or a changed recipe at work.