Sushi Tei after all these years......

I used to like Sushi Tei years ago. They were really pretty decent at least for their cooked food department. Used to be top dog for the conveyor belt sushi chains until the current king of the hill, Itacho Sushi which is noticeably more than a notch better.

I don't think so much of them these days. The signs of a "local" business stain the establishment and their food with the same old unimaginative marketing slogans and localized food proportions which are tipped towards one specific cost/profit spectrum. I'm positive that QC must be a major issue for a chain with so many outlets. That and perhaps, my palate had undergone metamorphosis.

Once in a long while, I end up there.

Like many chain outlets, part of what helps Sushi Tei thrive are "promotions". Which includes dish concoctions of "seasonal" ingredients. Currently, there seems to be some new creations by their various outlet "chefs".

Here's something known as spicy ban ban ji ramen that purportedly uses a spicy sesame sauce. For a local establishment, the word spicy seems to be interpreted liberally towards a specific and almost-nonexistent end. My three year old niece was slurping noodle and sauce, apparently enjoying it. I personally found the lack of fragrance from the sesame sauce disappointing. Chicken was cold and hard and is probably something that was boiled and packed into fridges for easy use. I think grilling the chicken would have done wonders but then who am I to say eh? I'm quite sure can do this at home with bottled sesame dressing. This has got nothing at all on the hiyashi tan tan mien that I previously had from Ichibantei.

On the other hand, the rice stuffed squids were actually pretty good. Not that this was imaginative by any stretch of imagination as part of Sushi Tei's creation challenges. These stuff have been made available from the Japanese fairs over Isetan and Takashimaya for years already, and wow, today they're a creation from some competition. 

I liked that the flavours seeped into the rice. The squid was a little dry and chewy from the grill but I think real grilled squids need that bit of bite.

And then, there was a cheeseburger interpretation of an American sushi roll that came in Singaporean portions. Truly fusion indeed. There were even sliced cheddar, chopped onions and lettuce strips to complete the textures and flavours of the strips of cold chewy cow. Jokes aside, what needs work would have been fattier sliced beef that hadn't been cooked to death. This one component would have done some serious elevation on the roll to another level.

There......finally outta my chest.

Home made ham and crispy cheddar sandwich with black truffle paste

Pan toasted with some butter of course.

Delicious Boneless Chicken Rice, Katong Shopping Centre

I got to hear about this particular chicken rice stall at Katong Shopping Centre (865 Mountbatten Road, #B1-85/87 Katong Shopping Centre) from some friends, but hadn't had the opportunity to come by until today.

Delicious Boneless Chicken Rice was memorable for me because of a few things. The chickens that they served were pretty meaty and weren't boneless at all in spite of their name. The meat was tender and reminded me more than a little of the ones at Ming Kee. Their chicken was also topped with crispy deep fried bits of garlic which was something one doesn't get from other chicken rice stalls. They also had the saltiest sesame/soy sauce that I've come across.

Their yellow looking rice more subtle in the aroma than the colour let on. It was also a little too dry from what I normally prefer. Fortunately, their chilli was up to the job as accompaniment. 

What I found myself liking were their creamy chicken livers and their tasty soups. One loaded with soft cabbages and the other, pig stomach. Most delicious cabbage soup from chicken rice stall. There's achar (lightly pickled here) on unlimited refills - achar with chunky pieces of pineapple which were actually good with the chicken rice.

One can even order sides of char siew, roasted pork belly and lup cheong (with large chunks of lard) from them. I didn't have room to try them all in a seating

I wouldn't mind eating here even though it felt like sodium overload with loads of garlic. Definitely not regularly. Different from the revisitabilty of Sin Kee which is still the top of my list to date.

Bakmie Jakarta by Jiak Bak Mee, Killiney Road

This was interestingly. An Indonesian and halal rendition of ba chor mee that uses minced chicken instead of pork. The place (117a Killiney Road) also claims that their noodles are hand made daily. Hmmm......

I ordered one of their bakmie ayam specials which had a little bit of everything with their curly noodles in ketchup manis. First impression was that noodles were ok. I would love a little more bite in them. After finishing the noodles, I realised that I had totally forgotten about their home made chilli sauce that they had on every table.

Noodles aside, the only item that I really thought was good were their beef balls. The crispy wanton was simply just that. Didn't care for it. The fried chicken was puny and little to write home about. Portions as a whole was small for a hungry person and extra noodles costed a princely $1.50.

What I found myself liking that I had seconds of was their soda susu. Which was soda with condensed milk. Never had them before. It was the condensed milk that got me.

Would I eat here again? I suppose I wouldn't mind if I'm in the vicinity. The small portions here were still larger than the Kolo mee stall down the road which costed more and came in even smaller portions.

Indulging in some festive burgers from &Made

In other related news, I got suckered in by the promise of foie gras and lobster down in &Made. :p

How was it you ask? It was the same dry aged beef patty (still as good as I remember) from their B Burger that was retrofitted into their toasted sesame buns with options of either a surf and turf styled chopped lobster in mayo or a pan fried foie gras and some celeriac slaw. The former was poorly thought out since the flavors of the delicious beef masked all presence of the rather small portions of lobster. Honestly I was imagining a quarter or even half a roasted tail. That would have worked. Worked well!

On the brighter side, the foie gras topped burger was mouthwatering. I guess it had worked because there was enough of the liver to go around that their flavors oozed into the beef patty as you held them up between the buns and squeezed until the sandwich was short enough not to unhinge jaws. Decadent? Sure. The celeriac really was just texture.

And there was a hot caramel lava cake. Not bad, the supposed molten caramel heart didn't quite melt completely. Timing needs work. The crispy coated ice cream on the side was salted caramel.

Re-revisiting Eastern Chicken Rice

It's been a while since my last visit to Eastern Chicken Rice. Thanks to the declining standards of the food from Uncle Sim, I've manage to break out of the cycle of getting snagged before I hit the end of the food centre to get to this corner.

It was reassuring that this little stall still tasted like how I remembered it. There are no superlatives to be used here. Just the plain old competently done local favourite where I've pretty much said all there is to say. A trusty stall to get my fixes without frills.