Basmati nasi lemak from Island Cafe

Wow, this was very nice indeed. The fragrance of pandan and coconut infused into the savoury basmati rice - and maybe a secret ingredient or two? This beats the other basmati nasi lemak at Selera Rasa hands down. But then again, this was also a lot more expensive. And for the additional we're paying for over here, one gets a very competently done beef rendang which wasn't too sweet (awesome!), a couple of tasty sambal shrimps, properly roasted peanuts and also nicely done sambal on the side. So good was the sambal and the rice that I had to eat them separately as not to muddle up the flavours. Things like these and that delicious wagyu beef and black bean sauce hor fun that keeps me coming back to Island Cafe.

More chicken rice from Mat Noh & Rose

This was an unplanned re-visit to Mat Noh & Rose. We had known that we'd be back but hadn't expected it to be so soon. This time round, we opted for the chicken breast and fried livers on the sides. I'm going to be boring here and state that both were delicious. Apparently, the stall uses only fresh chicken, not the frozen variety. Which explains the tenderness of the breast meat. And the sides of livers came with 3 hearts today!

The orange ciabatta toast from Good Morning Nanyang Cafe

Buttered, kaya-ed and sporadically flecked with the aroma from the bits of orange peel.

Hong Kong Street Chun Kee (香港街珍记), Ang Mo Kio Ave. 5

There seem to be a few of these Hong Kong Street Chun Kee outfits around. I have no idea if there's any relation between them or if any of them are the original stalls. Does anyone know? The first one I remember eating at was at Alexandra. This particular stall (Blk 151, Ang Mo Kio Ave 5) happens to be located in the same coffeeshop as the Soi 19 Thai wanton noodles.

Objectively, the food here was pretty decent. I'm pretty sure many people remember the branding for the sum lou hor fun and their X.O. fish noodle soup. Both of which are competent but seem to lack a little something I can't readily wrap my head around. Meanwhile, the back of my head seems to think that the old stall back in Alexandra was better. Memory can be a fickle mistress.

Honestly, I'm not too concerned if this particular outfit is the original or not. I think the food is good enough for revisits.

Café & Bar Gavroche, Tras Street

foie gras terrine

Le Parisien

tartine with smoked pork belly and Reblochon cheese

I had previously eaten at their brasserie just across the road and liked the food, so here's some lunch from the cafe (69 Tras St, tel : +65 6225 4869). The menu was straightforward with little beyond some charcuterie, tartines, salads and some sandwiches. And in the simplicity of the offerings, I found their Parisien sandwich appealing. Cooked ham and butter between sliced crisp baguette. I think I could probably recreate everything that I had here after a trip to a deli.

Imakatsu, Star Vista

Another quick one. This was a second visit to Imakatsu (1 Vista Exchange Green #01-17,  tel : +65 6694 6148), another tonkatsu specialist that has opened up here not too long ago. I get the impression that they're advertising the fact that their chicken tenderloins are a specialty of the restaurant. Haven't tried those, but probably will another time. While I rather liked what I had so far from the restaurant, I'm wondering if they have what it takes to endure on this sunny island. Actually, I hope they do.

I checked out their tonkatsu stuffed with sliced garlic previously and I thought those garlic flavours came through rather nicely. Enjoyed that. My only complain over that one was that it was a little small. Much smaller than the other fried pork options on the menu. Today, I picked the extra large minced meat cutlet. It turned out to be pretty good too. The minced meat was spiced, peppered and well mixed with chopped onions. Packed none too tightly at that and it was still both moist and slightly crumbly. With a little bit of salt that they had on the table and a smudge of mustard, it was totally enjoyable. I had seconds of their Koshihikari rice with it.