Indian rojak with paru goreng

Hey, this stall down at Tekka Food Centre (Haji Johan Indian Muslim Food Temasek Indian Rojak, 665 Buffalo Road, #01-254) was pretty good. Though the activities in the back felt a little haphazard, the proprietor was whipping up an endless chopper frenzy dicing customer picked orders for the quick deep fry before serving. What I liked most from the variety of picks was the paru goreng (fried cow lungs) which was lightly crisp on the outside and chewy on the insides.

We had a pick of tempeh, hard boiled eggs, cuttle fish, fish cakes, fried cow lungs and even ngoh hiong that paired up with the sliced raw onions and green chillis with the sweet nutty dipping sauce. The stall and their operations definitely looked a old school compared to the templated Indian food stalls in food courts these days. Judging from the quick turn overs, the food was probably fresher.

A bánh mì from Baguette

If you're wondering if why this bánh mì looked a little unusual and haven't quite figured it out, it is because there is no coriander. That aside, this sandwich from Baguette (10 Sinaran Drive, Novena Square 2, tel : +65 6397 2078) was pretty good. I liked how the pickles, ham and pate lent additional texture to the slightly crispy loaf that was nicely warmed up just as they were making the sandwich. The unsubtle flavors were a nice riot of sour from the pickled vegetables, a bit of spiciness from the red chilli slices and a healthy dose of saltiness from both the meat and the fish sauce. If only they had cost less, it would definitely have given Subway a run for the money. These things don't really fill up as much as I would have liked. I don't mind coming back though.

A ox liver lunch from Colbar

I find this strangely addictive even after having had them for a few times already. Must be the nice char.

Pizzeria Mozza, Marina Bay Sands

I'm skipping the introduction to this place since everyone else seems to enjoy writing about celebrity chefs and their restaurants. Didn't make sense for me to add another tiny voice to it. Pizzeria Mozza practices dual seating for their meals. Generally don't like that of a restaurant since the pressure would then be on me to vacate shortly after I eat. It gives the feeling of being rushed through the meal even though there is probably sufficient time allocated into each seating slot. That being said, I liked this place (2 Bayfront Ave, #B1-42/46 The Shoppes @ Marina Bay Sands, tel : +65 6688 8522) and will make plans to come back another time.

chicken livers, capers, parsley and guanciale

We started off with an order of chopped chicken livers on bruchetta. Man this stuff was surprisingly refreshing for something that came with chicken liver, bacon and toast. The taste of the toppings were not as "livery" as I had expected. It was more of a balance between the tart and savoury married with a granular meaty texture riding atop the crisp of the bread. I am guessing that those flavours were probably because of the bits of parsley and capers. I could have sworn that there was lemon juice in there, but hey, I don't know any better. Good enough for seconds I'll say.

cauliflower fritti

In my mind, the cauliflower fritti I was envisioning looked a la Tenshin. Lol. The reality was that they came with a hard crispy batter that had fortunately not held on to too much of the grease. The batter was much harder and crispier than I had imagined. I doubted that they would have broken if I had dropped one of them onto the floor but I never found out.

I'm not generally a fan of deep fried batter so what helped this along was their spicy mint sauce which I thought was pretty good. A tart and minty dip that cut through all the batter.

crispy goat cheese with Umbrian lentils

This was a pretty respectable breaded and fried goat's cheese they had there. Again, it was a play of some of the basic flavours putting together savoury and the sweetness from the lentils. And also the bitter from the rockets if one liked them. I would have preferred more lentils here.

fresh goat cheese, leeks, scallions, garlic & bacon

The pizza was pretty impressive. It was quite a while since I've gotten excited over pizza. So the crust of the pizza that people talk about. That crust was very different from any pizza I've tasted. It reminded me a little of Taiwanese scallion pancakes (cong you ping), dough fritters (you tiao) and roti prata. It was layered, airy and had a nice crisp.

Was this good? Sure, if you like goat cheese. And melted bacon fat over sweet scallions and leeks. And sweet garlic bulbs that were baked till they would disintegrate into your mouth. I know I did. Even though it looked a little grassy.

caramel copetta with marshmallow sauce & salted Spanish peanuts

I made room for dessert because their caramel copetta sounded interesting. The gelato component was a little smokey and bitter while the marshmallow sauce was simply sweet. Topped with a rich bittersweet caramel and what I thought to be the best part of all - toasted and salted peanuts which added a new dimension to the texture and the "after-chew" aroma. Another successful marriage of saltiness and sweet if I had to make a call.

Mario Batali loves his salt!

Sole Pomodoro, MacKenzie Road

This was lunch over some beer, a couple of glasses of wine and pizza over at Sole Pomodoro (19/21 Mackenzie Road, #01-01, tel : +65 6884 3671).

Starting bites included some light and refreshing buffalo mozzarella and boiled salami with a lime mayo that seemed to have misplaced the citrus element of the lime. The cheese was light and milky, served Caprese style. The boiled meat of the salami appeared crumbly in texture and didn't have much of flavour.

speciale

siciliana

calzone tradizionale

The pizzas were pretty much as they had looked. Thin crispy crusted pies that became a little soggy after a while, soaked from the grease and folding from the weight of the toppings. The speciale could have done much better in my opinion with more of those miserable bits of prawn and of course, Gorgonzola. The siciliana was in spite of appearances, very nicely spread with the salty anchovies. Don't think the traditional calzone should come with shiitake mushrooms. Those mushrooms aren't part of tradition are they? Their particular type of strong flavour also ruined the calzone for me.

I didn't think that there would be anything in particular that would make me come back. That said, I'm not saying that they sucked. The food was passable. Just a little pricey for the location.

Teck Hin Fried Hor Fun, Ghim Moh

I've never really liked stir fried hor fun with starchy gravy. It was more because of the starchy gravy than anything else and I have never understood it. To that, I've also never enjoyed stir fried beef from hawker stalls because they tasted nothing like cow to me. Not in the slightest bit in their texture or taste. Maybe it was the sweat drenched proprietor behind his flaming wok fueled by a queue, I decided to make an exception and gave the stall a go. Here was a serving of Teck Hin's (Ghim Moh Food Centre, Blk 20 Ghim Moh Road, #01-44) fish and beef hor fun. The freshly fried hor fun turned out to be pretty decent, imbued with the char aroma from the wok that was enjoyable. On hindsight, I should have opted for just fish slices. I still don't think much of the pre-made viscous gravy that was ladled from plastic containers and the unidentifiable meat substance tasted exactly like how I had expected it.