Trattoria Nonna Lina, Craig Road

Hey, I think I actually quite like this place (4 Craig Road, tel : +65 6222 0930) even though it was just a first visit. The people and the food here were humble and homely. But lesson learnt is that I should avoid ordering two cream heavy pastas at a time since it all got pretty darn heavy for lunch, encouraging the z monster right after.

The chilled chopped tomatoes from their bruschetta was surprisingly refreshing. I didn't quite agree with their Gorgonzola sauce in the pappardelle because it wasn't as pungent as I was hoping for. I suspect that it has to do with the cut of the cheese that was used which contains less of the blue mold and hence less stinky. But preferences aside, the food was very decent and generous in portions. Their carppacio di manzo tasted a lot more flavorful and tender than the looks suggested and their signature baby octopus with porcini in Prosecco reduction were so packed with good flavors that we mopped the sauce up with bread.

I quite liked their carbonara di mare. I think a balance was achieved from both the cheesy creamy portion with smokiness from the bacon and the clam/crustacean flavors that were mingling in the sauce. Textures from the bits of seafood and bacon were plentiful.

Revisiting MTR 1924

This was an anticipated return to MTR as we were rather happy with the experience in the previous visit. We dropped by over the weekend for dinner ordering some snacks and their Sunday menu specials.

We started with a couple of vada - a regular one and the curd vada, the latter which was soaked in curd/yoghurt and sprinkled with boondi. Frankly, I liked both. The one in the curd was more refreshing.

One of their Sunday specials was the neer dosa, which translates into water dosa. From what I had gathered, the origins of this particular type of dosa is Tulu Nadu, a region in Karnataka. It wasn't browned like the regular one and was chewier. The batter didn't have the sour of fermentation as well. This was served with coconut chutney and a mix of jaggery and grated coconut which made me feel like it could have been a breakfast item rather than dinner.

The other Sunday special was their pudina (mint) rice. Even though mint was used in the cooking, that fresh minty flavour was barely residual. Instead, this was largely a savoury dish. So delicious that we didn't have the slightest problem inhaling the bowl of it. I'm quite impressed by how these guys can dress up starch.

MTR apparently manufactures canned drinks as well. We had initially thought the drinks were made in the kitchen. Still the badam milk was smooth and sweet with bits of almond and flavoured with saffron and cardamom while the creamy lassi was rose scented. Another delicious meal.

The last customer at Punggol Noodles (榜鵝乾麵) on Sunday......

...was me. I had reached the stall (Hougang 105 Hainanese Village Centre, Blk 105, Hougang Avenue 1, #02-24) at about 1.30 pm and only knew that they were closing when they started refusing orders after mine. Lucky me.

Ordering food as they were winding down for the day also meant that options were limited and I had to settle for mee kia since they were out of mee pok. I think I like this stall. The noodles were well drained as the dry option should be, springy and the ingredients on top were both tasty and generous. One can also taste the bits of dried sole from their rustic looking and tender meatballs.

Hai Tang Lor Mee, Mei Ling Food Centre

I'm normally not one for lor mee because of the gravy. It's usually an almost tasteless, textureless and non nutritional excuse of a glop that is passed off as gravy. But I've had this (#02-14, Mei Chin Road Market, 159 Mei Chin Road) a couple of times before and I think I like it because they remind me a bit of the type that I used to eat as a kid. And also in some twisted logic that works for me, it was a lor mee with not so much lor. 

What really worked with them for me were the generous bits of hand ripped (some that is) deep fried fritters that created crispy textures to go along with the noodles that were just sufficiently coated with sauce. And then, the vinegar, chillis and dragon breath inducing chopped garlic bits are a bag of sour, savory with a piquant spicy and pungent that really gets you perspiring.  

Ah Kow Mushroom Minced Meat Pork Mee, Hong Lim Food Centre

By a large number of if not most accounts that I've encountered, Ah Kow Mushroom Minced Meat Pork Mee (#02-42, Hong Lim Food Centre, 531A Upper Cross Street) is a verifiable institution. The stall has been in been in business since 1945. That's 68 years of cooking the same thing every year for over half a century. On top of that, local media accolades line their stall front.

Boy was it underwhelming. I couldn't reconcile how the very same media who can award similar accolades to Tai Hwa present the same glowing reviews to Ah Kow which was really a different beast altogether.

Here's a large portion of their ba chor mee. The mee pok was so soggy it couldn't hold up to the viscosity of the sauce - the latter which was neither spicy nor has vinegar flavours even though this bowl was an option with both. I heard that they're using traditionally made vinegar imported from China. Couldn't understand how the reputation of that vinegar in the noodles came about when I can't even taste it. Even the other Lau Dai Hua down at ION was a better bowl in my opinion. 

Or maybe I just needed to help myself with extra lard and vinegar. But it certainly didn't excuse the dumplings that they included to be disappointingly boring.

To be fair, this wasn't a super lousy bowl per se. It didn't justify the 25-30 minutes I spent in the sweltering queue that I will never get back.

Mavalli Tiffin Rooms, Serangoon Road

From what I had gathered, Mavalli Tiffin Rooms (438 Serangoon Road, tel : +65 6296 5800), a.k.a. MTR, is quite the lauded institution in Bangalore which was started in Karnataka way back in 1924. It has quite a bit of an interesting history which I will not elaborate here. The chain of restaurants is currently run by the 3rd generation of the family that had started it. 

About half a year ago, they opened up here right in the middle of Little India serving food made with ingredients imported from their country. The food was great!

We headed here for a late breakfast over the weekend. The menu required a bit of perusal since certain items were only available on fixed days and time of the week. A late breakfast was also a little too early for their rava idli so we settled for the regular rice ones. These were soft, light and very tasty - especially when doused with the little steel container of ghee and their accompanied coconut chutney.

I hadn't had a kesari bath since the currently defunct Chellas. This was basically a pudding - or porridge as they described of semolina and vermicelli, done with ghee, cashew nuts, raisins and flavoured with saffron. Tasted exactly like I remembered them and good enough for returns.

Amongst a number of dishes MTR is known for, was their bisibele bhath. Which I read also originates from the state of Karnataka. The name translates from their language into "hot lentil rice". Essentially it was a hot spicy porridge with vegetables, curried, with tamarind annndd...a little steel container of ghee for enrichment. It has also been a while since I've last had these. It was great by the way. I liked those little crispy stuff on the side that they served this with.

Their masala dosa made from rice batter, black lentils and stuffed with potatoes was delicious stuff as well. This was quite different from the regular dosa/thosai that we have locally. The skin was crisp, had a little bit of chew in the middle and came in a hue of darker brown; flavoured generously with again more ghee. Ghee like butter, makes everything taste better.

The wash down was their filtered coffee which seemed to be some sort of specialty of theirs. It was okay, drinkable stuff but I'm not sure if Indian coffee is a thing for me.

Looking forward to coming back again.