Prata Wala, Tiong Bahru Plaza

Woah, this was pretty good stuff at Prata Wala (302 Tiong Bahru Road, #01-12 Tiong Bahru Plaza). I remembered their greasy prata and not so spectacular teh halia from the outlet at Nex, but this was really quite a different experience. Definitely a pleasant surprise.

I could start with the vegetable briyani which featured moist and aromatic grains of basmati rice that was good enough to eat on its own. Portions were generous. The sambar was delicious in its own bean-y way and I guess that they only thing that wasn't up to scratch was the limp papadum which I was quite willing to overlook.

Here's another rendition of butter chicken which I would definitely come back for. This one by far, comes the closest resembling Jaggi's. There was a little more tomato flavour and the spice packed just a little more heat. But those were still nicely paired with the characteristic smoky flavour and creamy textures of the gravy smothered over bits of tandoori chicken.

And those delicious squids they had with sauce tasted a little of sardines and sambal. Another great option that we picked up by chance.

Here's their plaster prata that featured slightly molten yolk. The fish curry on the side was actually spicy.

And the milky sweet beverages to sooth out the spices at the afterward.

De Burg, Ghim Moh

I was initially a little excited after hearing about this place (Blk 10 Ghim Moh Road, #01-78, Stall #3) that me and a couple of colleagues headed down during lunch. I opted straight for the larger 200g patty option which sounded much more substantial than the smaller one at half its weight.

I couldn't say that I was impressed on the whole. While it did feature the texture of coarse hand chopped meat for the patty and the burger was sturdily piled up, the flavour lacked definition. The beefiness was subdued even by the discreet application of the BBQ sauce and mayo with bacon strips. I was also expecting a bit more of the char aroma from the medium done patty. The lack of cheese flavors in a bacon cheeseburger wasn't what I was expecting as well.

It's definitely one of the better ones around from coffeeshops, but didn't make the cut that I would crave for them and specially head back again.

Medzs, Orchard Central

I came across this place (181 Orchard Road, #B2-01/02/03, tel : 6238 9028) a couple of weeks back by chance while wandering from Centrepoint to the basement of Orchard Central and made a mental note of it since it looked interesting and was also not open for business yet. So I gather that it must have started out quite recently. The concept of place works pretty much like Marché, but is actually run by Food Junction.

One basically gets issued cards which are used to pay for the various food stations that comprises of food from Turkey, France, Morocco, Spain and some other places. Picked up a platter of salty fatty charcuterie that featured jamon serrano. It seems that they have jamon iberico on the menu as well.

The cheese section was just right next to the charcuterie so I swiped up some goat's cheese, parmigiano reggiano and a savory nutty Spanish one call Manchego.

The salt baked beef from the French station was actually pretty good.

Lamb tagine was very disappointing. I do not remember the last time I've had these things, but the flavours were too diluted and the lamb had virtually lost all its characteristic gamey flavours. Having coriander in them worsened the already present ill disposition. Will definitely have to give that Moroccan/Tunisian station a total miss the next time.

Desserts didn't look like they were really interesting either. I was hoping for some of those milky rice pudding things, but I guess this place was just not ready to go there yet. What we're saw were pretty much the run of the mill cakes, pastries and ice cream.

Still I'm probably coming back again for some of those nice looking kebabs with rice and chilli from the Greek station another day.

Old Hong Kong Kitchen, Square 2

After three visits, there are definitely things going on around here (10 Sinaran Drive, #02-80 Novena Square 2, tel : +65 6397 7023) that I liked. In spite of a poor show of staples like the ubiquitous char siew bao with skin that was a little hard and fillings that were, we managed to find some redemptive dishes that made us come back.

Like the competently done har gao and the XO sauce carrot cake that wasn't overly greasy and was well textured with the accompanied egg and crunchy bean sprouts. I definitely loved the bean curd skin wrap with chicken, fish maw, pig stomach and mushrooms along with their collagen filled shark cartilage soup with conpoy and fish maw wanton. The latter two of which have become my regular favourites.

The plate of colourful stuff was supposed to be sautéed scallops with goose liver sauce. What I didn't expect was that it consisted of mostly bell pepper fillers. It was a mistake that will not be repeated.

This place is probably a little pricier than Imperial Treasure which I feel does a very good job of dim sum, but not so much that I wouldn't consider them again when I feel like a little change. Maybe I could try dinner another time.

Gattopardo Italian Grill & Pizzabar, Hotel Fort Canning

I have been wanting to give Gattopardo (Hotel Fort Canning, 11 Canning Walk, tel : +65 6338 5498) a try for quite a while now. In retrospect, it had turned out to be a case of anticipation that finally met up with a series of mixed feelings.

What had caused those mixed feelings over a place with good service and delicious Sicilian food you might wonder? I guess I had expected a little more out of their sardines alla Beccaficu with stuffing of breadcrumb, olives, pine nuts and raisins. I would imagine that such a combination would result in a play of textures and flavours. I couldn't have been more wrong. The stuffings felt like a paste - a blob of cooked polenta perhaps and was overwhelmed in both textures and flavour by the sardines. I did enjoy those fresh warm sardines, but I guess that was pretty much all there was to them.

Next up was their seafood stew served in a terra cotta pot. Didn't quite think that presentation scored with that since the pot was obviously not used for the cooking. The broth was infused with the flavours of seafood and tomatoes, but it had ultimately felt like a seafood ratatouille. Didn't think it was worth that they had charged since it was pretty much the usual seafood for a signature stew.

The pizze Arrotolata was a hearty one. What did I like about it? The fillings were milky and chewy with generous stuffing of mozzarella; porky and greasy with the bits of suckling pig meat and fat. All of those aforementioned cheesy and porky goodness was further bolstered by a robust platform of flavorus from the porcini mushrooms.

I guess I had also been expecting bits of crispy suckling pig skin in there which there wasn't. And I guessed that their supposedly smoked mozzarella tasted exactly like the regular ones and that it would have been great if they hadn't forgotten that grape sauce which was suppose to be in the pizza. Wow, talk about mixed feelings.

Ordering desserts is usually a good thing for me since I would not have bothered if I had felt that the rest of the meal wasn't worth the time or money to invest further. Their rum baba turned out to be an excellent choice as the rum infused cake was amazingly light. It must have been really soft and airy if it wasn't soaked in the rum. Would have been great if there was more cream to go along and the lime sorbet was a nice touch.

Itacho Sushi revisited......

Here was a fish and rice filled dinner that we had. It was a much better experience than the first visit when I wasn't very impressed at all. I still feel the same about their aburi-ed items. It certainly lacked a full body scorch aroma which I was expecting but the rest of the items were not too bad. Put into consideration also that ION was definitely a convenient location.