Burger-ed up!

At this point of time Burger Up is probably the top drawer for fast food burgers. Not counting Omakase Burger of course. This hefty double patty sandwich of theirs puts the sad excuses for quarter pounders and whoppers to shame. Sure there's room for improvement. For a start, they should drop those individually wrapped plasticky cheese and use something nicer. Even the American cheese from McD is a significant mile better.

More sarnies from Sarnies

Here's back at Sarnies, one of my favourite out of the way sandwich shop which unlike many cafes, does not rely on gimmicks to sell what they do while providing one of the best frills free "between sliced bread" option around town.

While I certainly had nothing against their smoked salmon sarnie, it's usually not my thing and I don't think I'd be too enthused about a next. The chicken schnitzel on the other hand was pretty satisfying. Soft chewy rye with mayo spread wrapped around a chunk of piping hot and freshly fried chicken on a bed of lettuce. 

The Plaster Blaster from The Prata Place ......wait, or was that Springleaf Prata Place

This was the Plaster Blaster, the entry to the Ultimate Hawker Fest in 2014 by Springleaf Prata Place. That's "the location formerly known as The Prata Place" for you if you didn't realise. It would seem that as the years went by, the items that get cobbled up by this shop gets less thought into them. The borrowed idea this time fuses eggs Benedict with the plaster prata - a prata with the egg plastered over the top rather than on the inside. Hence the name I suppose. And because of the former counterpart in fusion, it's a poached egg with supposed curried hollandaise.

Idea was somewhat interesting but I didn't think much of the actual outcome. While they managed a nice molten yolk out of the egg, their hollandaise was a little too sour and didn't taste of the curry it was supposed to. I'd be quite happy to order their previous Hawker Fest items again but I've no interest left in this. It felt sloppy and didn't taste that good.

A rava idli from MTR 1924

I was initially concerned after seeing some of the coriander leaves peek out from those rava idli, but as fortune favours the bold, I was glad that I took the chance anyway. It turned out that the flavour of those coriander were washed out to the point where it was merely a residual overtone of aroma that I didn't quite mind. In fact it contributed to the overall fragrance (much to my surprise) of the steamed rice cake. Having that little container of glee ghee to perfume things up helped as well.

Say, this rava idli from MTR are the largest ones I've come across.

Fried zucchini from Modesto's

I couldn't say that I'm a fan of this place, but strangely enough, it draws me back once in a while. The food here are generally a bunch of hits and misses. More misses than hits actually. These fried zucchini that they have on the menu were one of those surprising hits. The batter was dry and crispy with sufficient flavour while the zucchini on the inside were juicy. The portions were huge. If you're wondering if those looked like really large slices, you'd be right. They were.

Afterglow, Keong Saik Road

Afterglow - the name reminds me of Sarah McLachlan. Probably because that's the last I've heard of her music. But I digress. This Afterglow (24 Keong Saik Road, tel : +65 6224 8921) is a - well, restaurant. One that serves vegan food that's been talked about so it piqued my interest. As much as I enjoyed my greens, exploring vegan options has never really quite been my thing.

We tried some crackers. Corn and spinach crackers that came with a raw sun dried tomato nut "cheese". Those crackers which didn't crackle so much also didn't leave much of an imprint on me, but the nut cheese was rather tasty in a sourish and nutty kind of way.

Up next was their pureed broccoli soup with a dollop of walnut "cheese". If I'm not wrong, the food here doesn't go through cooking. This however arrived quite hot. So perhaps, it was just semi cooked. And a damned good broccoli soup it was. The flavours were right there and perhaps because of the heat, it didn't taste like it was raw at all. We liked it enough that we'd have no qualms ordering it again if we returned. 

And then some nori kimchi roll. Instead of rice, the kimchi was enveloped in chopped nuts and then wrapped in seaweed. Packed a surprising amount of heat. What was new to me were the nutty flavours that paired with the spicy sour of the kimchi. The latter, house made and aged for 7 days they said. Like.

After three small plates we agreed with, things were starting to look quite promising.

This was called Drag Pom salad. The ingredients are quite visible so I'll not say more on those. The dressing that they used was a very perky honey lemon that brought the elements together. I thought it was an impressive combination of lively tang and sweetness. The chopped macadamia nuts were fragrant. This was one delicious salad. Again, another item we'd order again in a heart beat.

Then came a zucchini lasagne. Topped and layered with more nut "cheese" thingies. For some reasons, I had the impression that the pastas were real pastas and not made of raw vegetables. I didn't dislike this, but it didn't impress as much as the previous dishes did.

The other "pasta" was a zucchini linguine. This too was tangy with flavours that remotely resembled som tam sans the heat. What rocked were those "walnut meatballs". Nuttily delicious and nicely salted by what tasted like a soy based condiment.

Dessert was a vegan key lime pie. This was also new for me since the pie was made with spinach and zucchini with a coconut base. We were a little skeptical at first but became totally convinced after a first bite. This had to be the most refreshing key lime pie I've ever had. Much thanks to the fact that it didn't contain the weight of condensed milk, the dessert was almost ethereally lime-y. That it was really chilled helped too.

All in all, this was a very encouraging foray here into vegan-ism. It's not converting me anytime soon, but I can see myself much more willing to check them out if more of them did food like Afterglow did. It does cost a pretty penny for a bunch of vegetables, but considering that it did require quite a bit of preparation and the ingredients were fresh, I guess I couldn't complain.