Gyoza-ya, Robinsons Orchard

This was the newest shop (#B1-02 Robinsons Orchard, 260 Orchard Road, tel : +65 6737 5581) set up by the home grown Akashi Group. Of course they do gyoza. And what kind of gyoza? Apparently ones with ingredients imported from Japan, machine filled and crimped upon order so everything is freshly made.

Their gyozas were actually pretty good. The exterior of the dumpling was crisp; fillings were tender, juicy and it was all sufficiently flavoured. We tried the yaki ebi, yaki buta and even a sui buta ones. What was was mediocre was the fried rice. Nowhere close to the standards of some of the good ones that can be found in town. Enjoyed that bean sprout dish with minced meat. The tori nankotsu which was salty and crunchy.

With prices at Akashi going visibly northwards, I guess Gyoza-ya looks to be bucking some of that trend. Some. Let's hope it lasts at least for those gyozas. To footnote, I actually found the entire experience at the Gyoza King much more satisfying and less costly. 

The Fiery Mala Burger from McD

Recently, McD has had some sort of spicy challenge publicity going on and this Fiery Mala Burger was revealed to be the spiciest of four that was part of the challenge. I'm pretty sure that this was actually the spiciest burger that McD has ever made and the heat was kind of respectable. Of course, one shouldn't really be expecting the fragrance of real mala spices in their marinate. Still, but it still provided a kick tempered with some aioli like sauce over the top. I didn't expect that I would actually enjoy it.

On the other hand, it's shamefully expensive for a sandwich with a small piece of chicken and some shreds of lettuce.

Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodles 2014

Here's a bowl of reaffirmation for this year from Tai Hwa (#01-12, Tai Hwa Eating House, 466 Crawford Lane, tel : +65 6292 7477). There's definitely a good reason why this place is better than the others. And it's good to know that the noodles are still savoury-licious with a vinegary punch.

Morton's USDA Prime burger again

Here's a trip back to Morton's bar for their burgers. It's been a long while since the last and it seemed that they're doing a consistent job with their burgers. That consistency unfortunately extended to the not so great service at the bar as well. Here's a heads up - those burgers going for $16 instead of the usual price for this month from 7 pm. 

I think they overcooked mine today, but still the quality of the meat was good enough that it was all forgivably so. I just wished that the grind for the meat was more coarse.

The little corner at Paragon with green stuff...

That's what the menu calls the Veggie Greens pasta. It's actually a primavera if you would. And this is one of my favourite things to order down at PS. Cafe at Paragon. I ate it once, remembered it and came back for more of it. It's basically pasta with asparagus, artichoke, French beans, broad beans, broccoli, capers and olive oil with spaghetti flavoured with shaven Parmesan cheese and a bit of heat from chilli flakes. Quite a medley. The sum of flavours, so to speak, are fairly clean with enough measures of savoury to make the plate delicious and the chilli flakes add just that bit of dimension. The textures of the vegetables and the al dente pasta was ...... one can exercise imagination. I don't want to abuse the word 'amazing'.

Seems like this particular pasta can only be found at the branch at Paragon.

And of course, the green key lime pie from the very same place. It hasn't really changed in appearance, but the filling seem to have a different texture from previously. Those green filling now felt a little more gelatinous and smooth compared to a more rustic texture back in the past. The taste was otherwise, the same.

Ban mian from Toa Payoh Central

Remember the ban mian I previously mentioned from the same coffeeshop (J99 Eating House, 186 Toa Payoh Central) as Fu Xiang Chicken Rice? This was it.

I have generally never been a fan of ban mian. Never eaten much of them until the past few years when I realised that there were options without soup. Also never understood trying to eat noodles in a floury tasting and scalding hot soup flavoured with ikan bilis under the sweltering heat.

This bowl was exceptional. Half the bowl was pretty much the ingredients that came with the noodles. Namely the chunky bits of minced pork, thick slices of fish, boiled cabbage and not forgetting, ikan bilis together with my choice of ee mee. Dry of course. For $4, this bowl had more than double the ingredients, quality ones at that, than most bowls elsewhere.