Dry tan tan ramen from Baikohken

This looked to be a bowl loaded with mostly vegetables from Baikohken at Takashimaya (391A Orchard Road, #B2-01-04 Takashimaya Food Hall, Ngee Ann City, tel: +65 6235 3483 ), but there was actually flat noodles (similar to mee pok) underneath the mound of beansprouts and negi. The tan tan element in this bowl of ramen, came from a very viscous sauce of creamy orange filled with a nutty sesame aroma and a tiny bit of heat. I'm not sure if there was any peanut butter in this, but the was pretty mild and before halfway through, the flavors lost dimensions and became flat. 

What had saved this bowl of ramen for me, was their very fragrant and spicy pepper (table condiment) that added a layer of their aroma and some spicy kick that kept me going. The whole bowl of noodle felt pretty heavy because of the flavors and very sticky sauce. I don't think I'm ever going to order this again but I certainly don't mind checking out the soup rendition another time.

Lolla, Ann Siang Road

These small plate joints have been trending for a while starting with Spanish tapas bars and lately have picked up a notch. Of a kind that's no Españolas. Lolla (22 Ann Siang Road, tel : +65 64231128) is a relatively new one that's been up and running for about a month now. The owners are no strangers to the F&B scene.

The place does not take reservations except for a private room dining. Eating is a walk in business and seats aren't that plentiful since they're all at the open-kitchen counter.

baguette with Beurre d' Echire

Fastest prepared and to service was baguette with the Echire butter. The baguette was....well, just a baguette. Freshly toasted, crispy and not tough. The salted butter possessed the light touch of cream and was both buttery and smooth. Beurre d' Echire is an artisanal cultured butter with generally a higher content of butterfat (flavour!).

beef tongue escalopes

The roasted beef tongue was tender and had the light touch of that beefiness. The pairing of the mustard/aioli thingy unfortunately reduced those light flavour to being underwhelmed when eaten together.

squid ink pudding with sea urchin

I've always had difficulty describing the flavour of squid ink. I recognize it, but am so far unable to be articulate to a satisfactory degree in describing that flavour; calling it seafood-y is probably the thing that works for me right now. The squid ink pudding was undoubtedly 'seafood-y'. There was also the light sweetness. Together it was sublime. Pause. Now imagine them in tandem with the bouquet and natural sweetness of the uni. Elevation. A notch higher.

I could eat this stuff for starters and then dessert.

We had seconds and that was the end of it. I hear from the people working there that quite a few of the customers tend to be defensive when their uni bowls were getting cleared. Most would like them to be scraped clean before they were removed.  I guess I must be normal here.

I would have really loved for the portions to be bigger. Here's 'good things come in small dosages' slapping me in the face.

 

an interpreted chutoro tartare

Chunky cubed chutoro rather than sliced. In soy sauce and sesame dressing with chives and pepper. Flavour was clean and very Japanese without being overpowering on the natural taste of the tuna belly. The quality of the cut of tuna was pretty good.

scrambled eggs with Bottarga di Muggine

This was sublime dish number two for me. Sublimity is sadly not going to do me any favours for my cholesterol, but life is short. The old excuse 'but I don't eat this every day' seems fresh enough to be reused again today.

Creamy scrambled eggs topped with generous crumbles of bottarga. It was a dish that worked for me in the arenas of texture and taste. The salty and briny roe with just that little hint of bitterness contrasted as it should on the platform of just scrambled eggs. The soft crumbly said roe likewise juxtaposed for texture against the smooth creamy eggs. Eggs on eggs, how awesome is that eh?

lamb chops

Lolla's lamb chops were pretty damn good. Seared on the outside, medium rare on the inside and natural flavour from the lamb present. Fatty meat. All checked. Again, the mustard like sauce did no favour to the meat. I think these guys are doing pretty good with the freshness of their ingredients and should have could consider to let these produce shine on their own merits. Salt and pepper would have sufficed for me. The sauce while tasty, was an overkill for the meat.

doughnut with lemon curd

Lemon curd was tasty even though it looked much more sauce-y than a curd. Doughnuts were ordinary, but made an excellent choice for a light after meals.

I quite liked the food here. Service was impeccable. Even though what came out of the kitchen was big on flavour, the portions I felt were a little small and each item a little pricey. But with their scrambled eggs and squid ink uni pudding on menu, I definitely wouldn't mind coming back.

$13 steamed fish head at Chinatown Food Centre and others...

There's a number of Chinese cooked food stall cloistered at a section of Chinatown Food Centre selling steamed song fish (a freshwater carp) head in a lard bolstered hot sauce of fermented beans, ginger and plum for a very affordable $13. A few of them seemed to have staked their claim to fame by either having appeared on the newspaper or television locally at some time (should one even trust those?).

Here's one from Cheng Ji (Blk 335 Smith St, #02-190, Chinatown Complex Food Centre), a stall that is located one just one fruit juice stall away from what seems to be a competitor, An Ji which I've eaten at once before.

What's common for these steamed fish heads is that one does not only just get fish heads. The dish actually include a generous portion of meat that makes about a quarter to a third of the entire fish. I would have loved for these steamed fish heads to have been done using a salt water fish instead, but the plum and ginger sauce does help mask some of those muddy earthy flavour. I daresay what gets people coming for the steamed fish heads was the freshness of ingredients which might have been a result of a very fast turn over in business for these stalls; which in turn is because of the quality ingredients. Virtuous cycle.

 

A very decently fried and fat juicy mid wings they serve with no excessive oil found soaked in their crispy batter. This must have meant that they have fried them in really hot oil? Unfortunately these were also suppose to be prawn paste chicken wings and the flavours from that prawn paste was lacking. Everything else was perfect, especially with a squeeze of lime that added a refreshing zing.

Like the wings above, the belachan on their kang kong cuttlefish was really mild. Would have liked them more if the sauce had a more robust flavour.

Sigue siendo mi número uno del arroz con pollo?

So, I went again over the past weekend for lunch. I'm guessing that it's been at least 10 visits in the past year or so. And I have been making comparisons to the other mention worthy chicken rice stalls that I've eaten at.

I suppose Sin Kee still works for me placed in the top of the list. Chilled tender chicken that one can slurp off the bones while maintaining meat texture. Tangy and semi spicy chilli sauce. Light but well flavoured rice. I wouldn't suppose that they were the best in each, but synergistically still the reigning lead for me. But wait.... I didn't quite like the thick bumpy skins that they have sometimes on the bird. But that's just me being picky.

Strange that I never felt so strongly about them years ago when they were down in Margaret Drive. Nevertheless.

Tapas at 126

Wan Tou Sek (126 Eating House, 126 Sims Ave, tel : +65 67464757, +65 67454869) is a local hotspot for rustic dim sum that has managed to evade my mentions even though I've eaten there on a few occasions. What makes the place a magnet is that it's open 24 hours daily and the food options have no lack in variety. Here's a short on one of the visits which just scratches the surface of the menu.

century egg porridge

Century egg porridge could be considered a staple in dim sum joints. Find myself liking this bowl quite a bit. What I particular enjoy is the light clarity of rice perfumed with sesame oil and scatterings of the spring onions. There's pretty generous portions of century eggs in there as well.

char siew bao

Another main stay of dim sums. The taste of the barbequed pork fillings was nicely caramelised with sweetness and slight smokiness. Definitely not mediocre like some.

pork belly rolls

The skins of these are the same flour used for the char siew bao. Those are rolled thinly, draped onto strips of sweet marinated pork belly and steamed to the point where the fat is soft and melting. Definitely to be enjoyed hot.

steamed chicken claws

These sweet and savoury steamed claws weren't shabby at all. The soft and flavourful skin came off the bone pretty easily.

chee cheong fun

I believe the sweet brown gravy for the rice rolls at 126 are unique. I've never had anything like or similar to them anywhere else and they're the reason why I like them here. Another item to be enjoyed piping hot.

steamed pork ribs

Pork ribs here bolstered by fatty meat and lots of garlic.

otah

The steaming otahs here were spicy, lemongrass-y and packed with fish meat. Need I also say, delicious?

glutinous rice

I was initially a little wary of the glutinous rice since they appeared dry rather than plump and moist. Upon first taste, I found them to be a very nicely done rendition. The fried shallots added flavour upon flavour.

deceptively named as just steamed chicken

This was just described as steam chicken on the menu - which was an injustice to a steamed chicken that was cooked to the point where the meat was tender and easily fell off the bone. There was a balanced herbaceous sweetness that was present in the meat and the jus at the base. Great dish to order with rice.

deep fried frog legs

Might have found the frog leg rendition of Ikea's deep fried chicken wings here. The flavours on the fried exterior were deliciously savoury.
  

deep fried pig intestines

Crispy, savoury and chewy these were. Definitely one of my favourite things to order here.

The Cajun Kings, Jalan Riang

This visit to The Cajun Kings (15-1 Jalan Riang, tel : +65 6284 4426) was a first on a few levels for me. For one, I believe that there has yet to be a Louisiana/Creole fashioned seafood boil establishment on our local shores before as I can remember. And I'm eating Dungeness crabs for the first time!

What can one expect from this joint you ask? A focused smattering of shellfish like clams, lobsters prawns and crabs along with Cajun-y sides of dirty rice, spicy gumbo and deep fried okra to name a few for starters.

Wading through our first dips, some of the deeper impressions were their thick, hearty and spicy gumbo which was another first for me. Having no basis for comparison, I would venture to guess that they're probably as good as the original stuff gets since recipes as such are often sundered to myriads of renditions. The chopped liver filled dirty rice gets a thumbs up for flavors and I certainly had no complains for the buttermilk frog legs. Except maybe larger portions?

Seafood was great. Those Red Sea prawns were so fresh that the natural sweetness of the shellfish shone through a rich sambal sauce that had already packed a respectable amount of heat. I think the trade off with Dungeness crabs versus the regular mud crabs are their smaller claws; in comparison with the latter which tends to be "meatier". However, there're loads more meat in the legs. Freshly executed from the tank with dips of lime and salt/pepper to go with.

I hadn't enjoyed eating this messy in a while.