Clinton St. Baking Company : The sugar bacon burger and a slice of cherry pie

Guess what? I liked this sugar bacon burger from Clinton Street Baking Company. Rather quietly unassuming with no hype; and of course I wished that there was a bit more of that blue cheese to go along, but this was tastier than I had been expecting. They got the medium doneness for the patty spot on and the seasoning was just right that all the beefiness could be tasted. Even through that bit of blue cheese and sweet bacon. Speaking of which, their sugar bacon is pretty much like bak kwa which also means, blue cheese works with bak kwa!

The apple pie which we saw previously was no longer around, but they had cherry pie. The one that's supposed to put a smile on your face ten miles wide and bring a tear to your eye. The fillings were pretty tart, but that kinda worked out since I didn't need anything that was more sweet.

A martabak from JTown Cafe

I've been meaning to check out this shop (#B1-04/05, Midpoint Orchard, 220 Orchard Road) for their martabak manis - an Indonesian sweet pancake which is quite similar to the Chinese styled peanut pancakes commonly known as ban chang kueh. This was their campur option which had a sprinkle of ground peanuts, shredded cheese, some butter (or perhaps margarine) and chocolate rice. The martabak was made on order - so that freshness spoke some for the moist and springy texture. Yes, it was both sweet and a little salty. Wouldn't mind dropping by once in a while for one of these. Perhaps another time with their bakmie.

Another lunch at Kaiho Sushi

It's been a while since the last time at Kaiho. Their anago don seems to have been taken off the lunch menu. We ordered some hotategai and uni while waiting for their slower than usual table service. A little bit of extras above their regular lunch items. Both were pretty good.

A tonkatsu sandwich from Hoshino Coffee

Hoshino Coffee (#01-651 Suntec City Mall, 3 Temasek Boulevard, tel : +65 6836 9881) is probably the only Japanese coffee place where I actually remember enjoying their coffee. They have a tonkatsu sandwich - which featured freshly fried crisp pork cutlet with a crunch and I liked that they didn't overdo the tonkatsu sauce.

Chinatown Special, Chinatown Food Centre

Dad used to tell me that he had heard that the owner/cook of this stall (#02-12 Chinatown Food Centre, 335 Smith Street) used to come from a hotel kitchen. But I read that it was just a restaurant, not from a hotel. The first time I had heard that was back in the day when the stall was located at People’s Park Food Centre where we had a fairly regular ritual of fried rice along with guo tie from Tian Jin Fong Kee nearby on Saturdays. Back in the day when most people still worked Saturdays and we’d meet dad after his work for family lunch. And strangely like that dumpling stall, we stopped patronizing at a certain point and never really came back again until many many years later.

Monday one for one burgers at Medzs

Medzs (#01-01 Clifford Centre, 24 Raffles Place, tel : +65 6536 1917) has certainly transformed itself. Gone is the Mediterranean theme which was really the basis for their name. With the exception of their slogans and perhaps grudgingly, the decor - there wasn't much that was Mediterranean anymore. The menu has been whittled down into a somewhat generic western with a smudge of faux American Italian. Did the management change?

This current bar/restaurant setup does one for one burgers on Mondays and that applies as long as you get a regular priced alcoholic beverage. The selection for drinks wasn't much nor did I find very appealing, so I picked the cheapest - a San Miguel Light just to qualify for those burgers. It doesn't come with fries for this particular deal.

Verdict? That USDA brisket and chuck patty was not bad at all. The surprising thing about it was, these burgers were much better built than those I've had recently. Well, the brioche was barely holding up past half the burger, but it held. There was American cheese, a couple of rashers of bacon, pickles, thick cut tomatoes and onions; all of which could be tasted and worked as a burger. Kudos for not killing it with too much sauce. The bottom line was nothing fancy but it came together decently. Shame on Butchers Club and their dry aged BA blend they're so proud of. I'd take this over them.