Jaggi's revisited

I've been craving for Indian food since I came back from Hong Kong. This was a trip to get some frills free comfort food within fairly easy reach. It's been quite a while since we were last at Jaggi's. and we have been meaning to come back for some time. As things turned out, we came back for dinner twice over three days to catch up on what we've been wanting to eat. 

A plate of white rice slathered with some meaty keema, some chicken tikka, their unique smoky and creamy butter chicken, aloo gobi and their kashmiri "candied fruit cheese" naan which was a one of a kind deviant against the more traditional varieties. I them to be tasty in their own ways. No real dried fruit nor nut, just candied cherry and some cheese.

Would have been close to a perfect ending if I could have finished with that masala milk from Chellas. But the milky masala tea here came close.

The New Yorker from Seah Street Deli

Essentially, this was their rendition of the classic pastrami on toasted rye from Seah Street Deli (1 Beach Road, Raffles Hotel, tel : +65 6412 1110). There were fennel seeds in the bread which added a dimension to the flavours. I kinda liked this. Even the fries on the side tasted a lot better than it looked. Probably one of the better tasting sandwiches around town that I've had. Though I have a couple of gripes. A little more generosity with the pastrami would definitely have upped how I ranked the sandwich. Same with the paper thin slices of Swiss cheese. While I understood that this was Seah Street Deli, $23 was kinda pricey for a sandwich.

Omakase at Kaiho Sushi

This omakase dinner at Kaiho Sushi was quite a let down. Even when we were already expecting no prawns, salmon and beef, it just didn't feel up to scratch. Was unexpected considering that their lunch sets were decent and good value for their location and offerings. On retrospect, this felt much like a fish dinner since it was mostly that. And pretty regular fish offerings at that. If I remember correctly the bill turned up just a little less than the dinners I've had at Akashi but was noticeably less impressive. I guess the only new thing here was the sardine tempuras and an interesting house made strawberry sake that was the highlight of the meal. Even the toro and uni didn't seem as satisfying.

some simmered fish....probably tuna

sashimi moriawase?

asari butter itame

ikura, uni, maguro and hamachi

tempura sardines

fish head soup

the strawberry sake

An end-try for Hong Kong....

Yes, I did have dim sum. In old school tea houses. Several times. Just didn't take photos of them mostly. One of the things that I've never tried before now was a steamed bao/roll of sorts that had lup cheong in the middle. Man that was some good greasy fatty roll I wish I could find back home. And those amazing roast geese that I couldn't get enough of.....

 

Stinky tofu (臭豆腐) from a street stall in Mongkok

It was the smell wafting though the streets that made me realised that there was one of these stalls around. I recall only having had them once back home somewhere in Geylang and was told that I should try them in Hong Kong or Taiwan where they were suppose to be better. These things are likely to be an acquired smell more than taste since they tasted essentially much like deep fried tofu with a crispy skin and hot soft insides. It wasn't really much of a stench at all for me and these stuff were pretty enjoyable for the cold weather, especially when it gets slathered with the salty and spicy chilli sauce.

Under Bridge Spicy Crab (橋底辣蟹), Wan Chai, Hong Kong

I was looking forward to try these crabs here and our friends over in Hong Kong had by coincidence planned a seafood dinner at the very same restaurant (Shop 1-2, G/F, Chinaweal Centre, 414-424 Jaffe Road, Wan Chai, HK, tel : +852 2834 6268) famed for their typhoon shelter crab that was once featured in Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations. Apparently the origins of this dish started in the typhoon shelters in Causeway Bay and have now been elevated, like many other popular dishes, into restaurants inland.

Expectations held high (which is often not a good thing), we tucked into the crab shortly after it was served. In truth, the crabs were just passable decent. I thought they had been a little overcooked. Flesh stuck to shell and it didn't taste all that juicy or sweet. Perhaps, that's the way it is for deep fried crabs. What was outstanding was the generous mound of garlic bits that had chilli, shallots and scallions. The spiciness took a little while to peak from the first mouthfuls of the fried garlic. Damn excellent stuff when mixed with the fried noodles that the restaurant serves. I wasn't paying much attention to much of the other dishes after that. Apart from the bamboo clams which were served also with more garlic -- and an interesting porridge that featured minced pork and loads of little oysters. The spicy crab was memorable to some extents but I doubt I'll be craving for them anytime soon.