$1 soy sauce chicken from Canton-i

Get them before they're history!

But I digress.... this soy sauce chicken from Canton-i was honestly not too bad coming from someone who normally doesn't really fancy them. I would have to say that in the department of meat tenderness, I would have to give it to the Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken place down in Chinatown which I felt, was a little better on the overall. The was definitely a better balance of sweet and savory and the skin felt like they were more delicate. Still, a dollar for a whole chicken these days in a restaurant is a deal not to be passed up.

Cocotte, Dickson Road

It was heartening to discover that another rustic bistro styled French restaurant (2 Dickson Road, Wanderlust Hotel, tel : +65 6298 1188) has opened, even more so that the food was actually enjoyably hearty. In line with the communal theme of the restaurant, we ordered a bunch of stuff for sharing so that we could taste a variety. Still, we were spoilt for choice because many things looked good.

We started things off with some appetizers which included a very tasty slow cooked and subsequently deep fried tripe. I've had tripe in various forms but these breaded and deep fried ones were a first. Thought they were pretty good. We ordered pork rillettes were pretty decent. I discovered today that French mustard with butter on baguettes were delicious. The pissaladière as I have learnt is a sort of onion paste tart. The soft and flaky pastry was nicely done though I had expected more in the way of anchovies. It was described as an onion and anchovy tart after all.

pork rillettes

pissaladière

fried tripe

Moving on to the mains, both Cocotte's roasted pork collar and boeuf à la ficelle were outstanding in their own different ways. 

The former was a nicely done pork dish with delicious fatty bits slathered in a creamy Dijon mustard sauce. On the side, buttered Brussels sprouts that came with expertly toasted almonds which were impressively fragrant. 

At another end of the spectrum was their boeuf à la ficelle which was a simple beef broth poached tenderloin with baby vegetables on the side. Flavoured by some crystals of salt. So much of the natural sweetness remained. Oh yes, I liked the accompanying gruyère on toast too. 

The steak tartare didn't quite look as minced as I thought. It was all good after the condiments went it with a mix. I was thinking that this would benefit from some capers and more chopped onions.

roasted pork collar in creamy Dijon mustard sauce

boeuf à la ficelle

steak tartare

After meals were a citron tart and a small selection of cheeses. We finished the tart before moving on to the cheeses. On hindsight, I thought that the sourish and fruity lemon tart would have been good with the cheeses. It had a buttery base with fillings that packed a nice lemony punch. Lucky me got the section with the candied orange peel.

citron tart

fromage

Gyudons from Yoshinoya

Yoshinoya has come up with a few variations to their beef bowl lately. Here's a look at their tamago and rutan beef bowls which features a half boiled egg and a hard boiled version respectively. The egg from the latter was only briefly stewed in sauce.  Not much of the brown was on the surface.

While I'm not a fan of these guys I've to admit that there aren't anyone place else I know of that makes a savoury gyudon. Without sweetness in the sauce. With the egg in the bowl, I might just start dropping by again.

Maggi goreng from Jalan Kayu Prata Cafe

This wasn't bad at all. I wasn't too sure of what to make out of a "Jalan Kayu" branded stall right smack in town (60B Orchard Road, #01-16A The Atrium @ Orchard, tel : +65 9237 9005) but it looked like it attracted it's fair share of clientele. Beside having better dressed cooks, the place looked and smelled the part of a Indian coffee shop/eatery. What I liked about the maggi goreng with mutton was that it wasn't too wet. There was a spiciness that was respectable. Nice enough that I would definitely consider this again if I'm around town.

Breakfasting at Selera Johor

This ad hoc breakfast trip turned out to be more interesting than I had anticipated. I was brought by a friend who recommended me to this little food centre (Selara Johor Food Court, Plaza Larkin, Johor Bahru, 80350) located just beside Plaza Larkin where there was a pretty tasty mee rebus stulang. A supposed landmark of sorts of the locals. For some reasons, the stall had ran out of prawns and we couldn't get to order "the works". Still we ended up with a simple yet different mee rebus which wasn't too bad in my opinion. The gravied noodles had some savoury fritters sprinkled over the top. There was a nice consistency to the gravy and the flavour was precise.

Just across from that mee rebus stall, there was something called kachang pool which turned out to be what I think of as an Asian version of chili con carne. The minced meat and bean stew wasn't very spicy, but the chopped fresh onion and green chillis with a squeeze of calamansi made them pretty irresistible with their thick buttered toast. Bonus points goes to having an egg in there was well.

Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice & Noodle, Chinatown Food Centre

I've eaten at this stall (Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice & Noodle, Blk 335 Smith Street, #02-127 Chinatown Complex Food Centre) a few times by recommendation. Have never been a person for soya sauce chicken until this particular one. Surprising even myself, these few visits have seen me standing in line under sweltering heat for the food. Maybe it's because I felt the queue actually made sense. 

One of the reasons why the queue endures is that the food here is affordable. The chef/proprietor doesn't yield under the pressure of the said queue. Apparently, all the meats are done by himself. What I liked about the chicken was the tender meat and sweet soya sauce concoction that's been infused into the skin of the bird. 

The other item that got me coming back was the delicious char siew which was a nice balance of sweet and savoury deliciousness. The stall stings on the portion of neither. The pictures doesn't do any justice to the flavours.