Arnold's Fried Chicken, City Plaza

The sealed in juices in the fried chicken thigh seeped out onto the plates as I peeled strips of cooked meat from it. I'm usually not really big on fried chicken, but these ones from Arnold's, (810 Geylang Road, #02-99/101, City Plaza, tel : +65 6746 2372) - I be liking them. 

It's definitely because of the fresher tasting chickens which they claimed to be from the farm rather than the freezer. Not forgetting the thin and spicy crispy batter and their chilled and chopped coleslaw which could improve on the portions. Not surprisingly these put the monopoly by old man Sanders to shame. The gripe I have with this joint is that we're "forced" to pay extras for choice parts. If not, you'll probably end up with mostly the less meaty cuts that everyone else seems to avoid asking for.

Shin Yeh Restaurant, Liang Court Shopping Centre

Woah, this was some pretty expensive Taiwanese porridge down at Shin Yeh (177 River Valley Road, Liang Court Shopping Center, #02-19, tel : +65 6338 7337). The restaurant which originated from Taipei was set up and opened here in collaboration with the Tung Lok Group. 

This was so far, the most I've ever paid for Taiwanese porridge. Apart from the complimentary pickled zucchini and muah chee that was presented right at the end, the rest of the food along with three bowls of sweet potato porridge totalled almost $80. That being said, it was mostly delicious. From the sauce soaked tender braised intestines that still had bite to the also tender braise pork belly which had quivery layers of fat that dissolved in your mouth. The steamed minced meat was savoury and accented with a borderline sweetness from the sauce while the roasted mullet slices were both salty and smoky at the same time, reminding me of strangely - a less crumbly Parmesan cheese. A definite run for all those Italian restaurants working with measly bottarga crumbles. 

All in all, Shin Yeh did a respectable rendition of the pork based dishes and scored with the mullet roe which was something we would never find in other Taiwanese porridge establishments locally.

pickles pickles

braised pig intestines

braised pork belly with bamboo shoots

steamed minced pork with salted yolk

roasted mullet roe and cuttlefish with turnip and leek

muah chee

The of two pieces of muah chee they gave with the bill were quite good. Must have been a combination of warm gooey rice dough rolled with fragrant and finely ground peanuts with sugar that did the trick. Moreish even after we were all so stuffed from all the food.

Komala's Deli @ Northpoint

The crave for Indian food continues as I endured the insufferable weekend crowd of the grease ventilated basement food court of a Sunday afternoon at Northpoint. This was definitely not going to be the laid back and quiet lunch I would have preferred to have where I can lounge over my caffeine laced beverage of choice. Here, one loitered in hopes of catching a recently emptied table, get your food, eat up and then leave.

As with the other of their outlets, Komala's Deli here does a brisk business which translates to a good turnover for their cooked meals for their kitchen. This in turn meant that there will be a good chance of getting orders that were freshly made. We did end up with some freshly made idlys and vadai, a dosai of a variety of fillings made to order and of course the not so great chutneys that they have. Those did the trick and were filling as well. Not beyond consideration the next time I feel like having something vegetarian.

Oriole Cafe & Bar......Take 2

This revisit to Oriole came about because we didn't get to try their coffees the last time round. Since the owner and head barista here were winners in the National Barista Championship for the past 2 years, I'm guessing that they must be pretty good.

The food as with the previous time fell short. A side of thick cut fries arrived without the shaven Parmesan cheese. The excuse being that the cheese was tossed with the fries and had melted in. So to me that essentially means that the portions that they had used, if it was used at all, was minute and the fries must have been sitting for a while before they reached the table. Neither of which sat well with me. That particular staff was seen walking back into the kitchen counter after grabbing a bottle of powdered Parmesan, probably trying to use them from our request for more of the cheese which I thought was really just bad form without excuse. It took another server with initiative to approach us and return with the shaven cheese.

I understand that this was just a cafe and that one might not expect pristine service/top notch servings, but really, one shouldn't advertise on the menu if one cannot deliver.

The Cubano sandwich wasn't too bad. I guess the basic elements of ham, melted cheddar, pickles and a sweet chilli mayo under the hot iron press in bread turned up pretty decent. Probably the first point of redemption for me here since I don't think I would mind eating this again if I returned.

This was one of those weekly specials that was actually a Gorgonzola based risotto with kenya beans and roasted Hokkaido scallops. I was honestly hoping for it to be good, but again, was disappointing. If you've noticed, I've often griped over the insufficient use of that blue cheese, resulting in a less than desirable level of aroma (or pungence) from the cheese. This time round, I couldn't taste any blue cheese at all. Nada. Zilch. What was served was creamy risotto with some flavor of cheese and slightly undercooked grains. Scallops was deceptively dry and certainly didn't taste all that fresh to me.

The silver lining at Oriole dawned from their brews. I found myself a little taken in with their rich chilli chocolate mocha that worked a lingering spiciness down the throat which was almost subtle. That spiciness here was the sort that was a mild fiery warmth rather than a harsh burn. I hadn't really known what to expect initially, but I guess this was something I guessed grew onto me as the sips went by.

Oriole's piccolo latte is what I think of as a real coffee lover's latte. To explain in short, I normally regard regular lattes are coffee flavoured milk. Not coffee. This one packs the punch of an additional shot of espresso bringing the milky brew up a noticeable notch in aroma and strength of coffee. I dare say that they were fairly robust as well.

Will be back for more of their coffee. One more shining ray of hope in our coffee market I must say.

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.