A couple of pies from Pies & Coffee

This chain opened up a few years back selling…..well, not to be Captain Obvious - pies & coffee mostly. Their bakes look like stuff that’s pre-made from a central kitchen and delivered to each of their shops. So don’t expect that "artisanal bakes hand crafted in house by our pastry smiths" crap. 

Here's their duck confit and laksa seafood pie - the latter is of the shepherd variety with a mashed potato top. Honestly, I wouldn't be able to tell it was a duck confit or just pulled duck filling with the former. There was a generous portion of meat, but it was meat that lacked much flavour and salt to be confit duck. I had expected something salt cured and cooked in its own fat to taste a lot better. Wasn't very moist too.

I kinda liked their laksa pie. Those flavours in there were very basic where one could tell it was laksa, but didn't quite have any nuances beyond. I'm guessing that the flavour profile was chosen to be internationally safe rather than adjusted to local preferences. The heat was very mild and there wasn't any aroma of laksa leaves to be found. Seafood tasted like frozen stuff so there isn't so much going on for flavours or textures. Certainly not an impressive representation of those flavours. Still, I kinda liked it.

Masala chai latte from The Providore

These guys certainly know a thing or two about their hot beverages. I'm almost certain that this is probably the best rendition of masala tea in this stretch of town. A smooth & creamy concoction aromatized by the warmth of their blend of spices (predominantly cinnamon) that was surprisingly bold.

A kouign amann from Tiong Bahru Bakery

We had this in the mid afternoon which probably meant that the pastry had been sitting at the display for a while throughout the day already. I was actually a little surprised that I quite liked it. I was thinking that it could have been pretty good thing if only we have had that kouign amann fresh out off the baking tray, but with none of the actual baking done in-house, there would never be such a thing as fresh pastries from the oven. 

The last of the crisp was still clinging on for this one. The buttery caramel flavours were largely what held it together and I’d have to admit that stripping this apart by its banded layers and dipping it into coffee was still a pretty good thing going on.

Wong Kee Noodle, Depot Lane

This shop (Blk 118 Depot Lane) was an interesting find online that represented a break from the mindless monotony of local wanton noodles. The last of which in turn represented a facet of what might be wrong with the hawker identity today with most of the current stall owners doing what has been done for a long while without evolution. A sure sign of laziness or a lack of will simmering under a veneer of risk adversity (there are exceptions). Most of them run of the mill wanton noodles aren't even that great tasting 

Perfect cosmic alignment for the enactment of the Darwinian law.

But I digress, Wong Kee serves pretty decent wanton noodles. Coupled with a good location, natural selection would not be harsh on them. The quality of their wanton are easily a couple notches above the local garden variety - bearing more resemblance to those found in Hong Kong in size, filled with gristly minced pork. Not necessarily the best I've had but the best should never be the enemy of the good. Their char siew was the variety that was more savoury than sweet and had what I considered to be sufficient prerequisite burnt ends to make enjoyable char siew. At least mine had. 

Their mee pok had a good firmness. What differentiated their noodle offerings were the spinach and tomato variety. The latter (those red ones) was served with their house made tomato sauce which I was sure I had tasted oregano in them.

Jin Zhan Ji (金斩鸡), Kovan Food Centre

If I had to describe this chicken rice stall (Blk 209 Hougang St 21, #01-19) to myself, I probably would not have found much appeal to it. But as it turned out, I rather enjoyed their chicken rice. Their rice was a little dry and greasy and was actually pretty well flavoured by both the chicken stock and garlic that it wouldn’t even need the chilli. That being said, all that chook grease essence is definitely going to linger for some hours after as one would discover when the round trip completes.

Their overcooked livers were unfortunately little to write home about. The boiled chicken was however rather tender; if not having the firmest of flesh with skin that looked a little bumpy too. It reminded me more than a little of that rather well known stall down in Yishun Central. While it's neither horrific nor exactly my style, I'm not complaining. If you're into a lime-y chilli sauce, this place makes a decent rendition. 

Cantonese Delights, Hong Lim Food Centre

I hadn't realized that this stall's location (#02-03, Hong Lim Food Centre, 531A Upper Cross Street) was just adjacent to Woh Hup until I got into the queue. It took a while - 20 minutes or so, but that curry fried chicken noodle was actually worth it. Those chicken tasted freshly fried, crisp on the exterior and the noodles were blanched to a firm doneness which had the prerequisite bite which I enjoyed. It's a dollar more for the additional char siew which were pretty decent.  And I liked the curry enough to slurp up the last of it after finishing up. I've no qualms about coming back for this again.