What is this called?

Can anyone tell me what's the name of this paste? It was one of those things that came with the south Indian rice meals from Komala Vilas. Pretty sure they're not the only people making it. What I could describe of it was that it was moderately spicy and very nutty tasting. Very good with rice. I had asked the server and he mumbled something that sounded to me like 'doe-way'. Any clues anyone?

Mini beefburgers from ICB

These mini burgers from Ice Cold Beer (9 Emerald Hill Road, tel : 6735 9929) were honestly larger than what I thought they might have been in size and to that, it was a pleasant surprise. As you can see from the photos, each of them toasted sesame buns is loaded with a juicy (well, that can't be seen), thick and almost ball like beef patty, a slice of tomato, onions and lettuce. Those patties don't really have much fillers there, so you're getting your dollar's worth of meatiness if that's what you're looking for. I wouldn't say that it's the best for that, but it was really not bad.The only thing that could have made it better was probably some nice salty cheddar over the top of the meat. Excellent with a pint or three of some like refreshing Hoegaarden. For $18, I really have no complains with food like this coming from a pub. Don't forget to try their prawn paste chicken wings as well.

I'll have to rank this close to the sliders down at Barracks for mini burgers to go for when I get the craving.

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.