Kampong Corner, Sembawang Road

I've eaten at this nasi padang stall (602B Sembawang Road) a couple of times previously. The noteworthy thing for me included a chicken liver dish, their rather tasty paru and generally comforting food with a good amount of spices and richness in the gravies that were great accompaniments to both their respective dishes and nasi putih (white rice). Special mention goes to the sayur lodeh for the lontong which featured a heart clogging and delicious flavour in the gravy that's further enriched when added with shredded coconut and their sweet and spicy sambal (chilli paste). It's one of those things to crave for during rainy days.

Gæst, McCallum Street

salt boiled potato, lemon and salt marinated leeks, hazel nut and rye crunch, watercress, smoked mayonnaise

I read about this Nordic deli (21 McCallum Street, #01-01 The Clift, tel : +65 6634 0922) opened by a couple of Danish a few months back.  The food menu's relatively simple with focus on a few sandwiches made from their brand of sourdough that's baked daily, a couple of breakfast options and a salad of the day. 

roasted pork with crackling, orange marinated red cabbage with parsley, red apple, mustard mayonnaise

You know what? The sandwiches were really good quality and easily one of the better ones I've had. The fillings were fresh and the variety formed a medley of flavors & textures between the nicely done bread. The smoked mayonnaise from the potato sandwich was certainly memorable. I think these guys could impart a thing or three about sandwich crafting to everyone else.

Katanashi, Boat Quay

Asahi on half and half - Super Dry and Kuronama

This was a lively little izakaya (77 Boat Quay, tel : +65 6533 0490) that serves up some fun food. Nothing too sophisticated that was prepared entirely from scratch, no grills on sticks, no exotic sounding seafood to be found but there were loads of friendly staff providing relatively quick service and top of the lung greetings. There were definitely some items on the menu that scored better than the others. Like the torched shime saba which was delicious, an udon that came with rather generous portions of mentaiko that paired off with tangy spicy kimchi and the hanpen stuffed with cheddar that came with a mentaiko mayo dip. Tasty explosions of flavor there.

I noticed that they had a daily specials menu which we didn't get any of this time round. Perhaps, the next time.

shime saba, aburi-ed

mentaiko kimchi udon

cream cheese, honey, toast

tar tar - maguro and avocado

Hanpen cheese

takoyaki in tomato and cheese

I forgot what this is called, but it's bean sprouts, meat sauce and spring onions.

Katanashi Fried Chicken

warabi mochi, chestnut ice cream

an unexpected visitor

Urap

That's referring to the pile of vegetables on the left corner which a co-worker informed is called urap, a salad of sorts of Javanese origins. I haven't seen or heard of these before until recent months. Boy have I been missing out.

Basically, it consisted of lightly cooked long beans, kang kong and bean sprouts that's done up with the slightly sweet brown shredded coconut (kinda like those that are served in lontong) and bits of finely sliced chilli padi. This packed in a light sweetness along with a deep savoury base that's accentuated with heat from the chillis. Along with that, lots of crunch and texture from the mixed vegetables. Good stuff.

Ramen Bari-Uma at United Square

A couple of things registered about Ramen Bari-Uma. First of which was the tonkotsu shoyu broth which I didn't dislike but couldn't quite form an opinion on. The second was their flame scorched charshu which I remember enjoying. We came by their second outlet (#B1-08 United Square, 101 Thomson Road, tel : +65 6354 3711) at United Square for a quick dinner.

Their Charshu-Uma bowl featured pork that was both tender and crumbly with lattices of soft fat that barely held the slices together. It didn't look as impressive as the picture on the menu (I know...) nor taste as good as the first time round.

What also got my attention this time round were the noodles. It's a little softer than I like. I'm still searching for that properly done harigane texture.

The Artichoke Fried Chicken

That's the fried chicken from Artichoke which was basically their take on a Southern fried chicken plate with a Mediterranean/Middle Eastern twist. It featured chicken that's been brined overnight and then massaged with a shish taouk marinated before being fried and getting a veneer of honey lemon glaze. The slaw on the side is flavoured with tahini, there's paprika fries and Lebanese pickles, a toum on the side and chutney like thingy...yada. 

One must surely be wondering about the verdict. The savoury flavoured batter was crisp and the meat was juicy. It was also more salty than I had expected. But that worked since the sodium element was really low for everything else on the plate. There was a wing, a drumstick and a thigh and the portions were pretty generous. The only thing that I couldn't quite reconcile was the tahini slaw. The flavour profile doesn't quite scream tahini. Would have been great if there were more of that fragrant sesame.