Fu Xiang Chicken Rice, Toa Payoh Central

This place (J99 Eating House, 186 Toa Payoh Central) was a good call for chicken rice and the stall certainly had the queue to back up the quality of their food.

Let's see what they did right here. The flavour in the rice was a little lighter than I expected and it was a little bit greasy. Still within what I considered the boundaries of a properly done chicken rice and this case just meant that their ginger/garlic chilli sauce gets put to used. Now to the better accomplishments...

The turn over must have been quick that their roasted chickens had the opportunity to be served warm and still with that slight crisps on some of the edges of the skin. Their livers were just so pleasantly creamy and the roasted pork was tasty with their lightly crisp crackling and balanced meat to fat proportions. Sure puts some of the supposedly branded names to shame.

I was told that this particular coffee shop is well known for their ban mian as well. 

Rajah Inn, Tiong Bahru Plaza

We have passed by this place (302 Tiong Bahru Road #02-13/14/15, Tiong Bahru Plaza, tel : +65 6835 0080) at least a couple of times before and had never really paid attention until the last time when we realised that there was actually a porridge buffet going on and that the spread was actually rather decent looking. So we came here to eat at the next opportunity to be in the vicinity.

For less then ten bucks, a modest spread of staple dishes that can be found commonly in Teochew porridge stalls with sweet potato porridge, fried bee hoon and fried rice. I actually liked most of the things we had, including that braised pork belly at the end that surprisingly had fats that dissolved in the mouth and the not so spicy, but lemak laden chicken curry. Don't come here expecting to be blown away by the food. It's a small simple selection of properly prepared comfort food that's familiar. 

Kian Seng Seafood Restaurant, Ang Mo Kio Industrial Park

Was introduced to this place (4013 Ang Mo Kio Industrial Park 1, tel : +65 6458 2552) via a friend that doesn't live anywhere close to here. The tze char was pretty good and on the whole, wallet friendly enough to visit with some regularity.

Unfortunately, the spinach with three eggs was a little disappointing for me. It was suppose to be a recommended rendition that was better than the usual offerings, but it tasted rather regular to me and the starchy sauce didn't help. I was expecting a base of broth.

The fried rice was nicely done. There was enough oil and char aroma (I mean wok hei) and almost no excessive residual grease. I think that's a fairly reliable benchmark dish there for tze char. It means to me that the cook has measurement and control over the base ingredients which is rather lacking these days. Yeah, they used crab sticks.

Ngor hiong was pretty ok I guess. I prefer the types with chunky textures which this one doesn't quite have. Needs more water chestnut. The accompanying sticky plum sauce made up for it.

These steamed cabbages with dried scallop was probably my favorite of the bunch tonight. The flavors permeated which lent the savory aroma from the scallops to the soft vegetables. It was also the most expensive item, costing almost a third of the total bill at the end.

And then, deep fried pork collar marinated in nam yu (fermented bean curd). The meat was relatively juicy, moderately fat laced and had enough chew for texture. Tasty.

The taste of the broth from the steamed frog legs with chicken essence was rather unexpected. I was expecting a deeper savory punch akin to a soy based flavor. This one was herbal and lightly salted. Still it was good enough that we drank it to the last drop after sucking all the tender meat off the bones of the frogs.

Kian Seng's orh nee uses a generous blanket of thickened coconut milk. So no fried shallots nor lard to be found; which I feel are essential ingredients to a solid (fragrant) rendition of this Teochew dessert.

SweetSpot Deli, Marina Bay Sands

Woah, sweet! This (Bay Level, L1-30, The Shoppes at MBS, 10 Bayfront Avenue, tel : +65 6688 8584) was definitely the best one yet and was incidentally also the answer to an indirect question that I had some time back. The mixed thin slices of warm layered Pastrami and corned beef paired with savoury melted Gruyère and the Russian slaw for texture....I think you know where I'm getting at. Oh yeah, throw that between buttered & toasted rye as well.  

While this wasn't NY sized, it was a still very generous fillings by local standards. Hmmm....this is a tough one against the hot Reuben from Nassim Hill Bakery. The latter just had that amazing bread which this one didn't, but this pretty much takes the cake for everything else on the middle. Not to mention that it's actually less expensive here.

The pastrami with mustard on rye paled side by side in comparison. It wasn't a mediocre sandwich per se, but their Reuben really blows this one out of the water.

Matzo ball soup was serviceable sick person's food. But I've had better chicken soup.

This was an unusual lemon meringue pie/tart that they had. Unusual because of the meringue which was so eggy that we had initially thought that some of the egg flavour came from the lemon curd. Until we scraped the fillings off separately to taste, then realise that all that egg came solely from the meringue. After a while, it was just unsettling considering that the eggy-ness actually powered over the lemon curd.

Wee Nam Kee Hainanese Chicken Rice Restaurant, United Square

I haven't been eating at Wee Nam Kee for years so we decided to check out their current location (#01-08 United Square, 101 Thomson Road) since they had just shifted from the original Novena Ville not to long back.

The queue was pretty long, service was still trying to gain its own footing and the prices were much higher than I had expected. In the end, the chicken rice turned out to be just passable. I don't think the poached chicken are in the same leagues as Boon Tong Kee and certainly have nothing on Sin Kee.  It was just not smooth or even tender enough (a little too chewy sometimes) for a start and made me wonder what made so many people queue for them. If I have craving for chicken rice in the vicinity again, I'm sure I'll like it better at Big Bird with their ferocious chilli sauce just around the corner. Another place I can cross off my list.

The Diamond Jim Brady

Still one of the better prime rib in town.