Diandin Leluk, Golden Mile Complex

We noticed Diandin Leluk (#01-67/68/69, Golden Mile Complex, 5001 Beach Rd, tel : +65 6293 5101) the last time we were here at BeerThai House. A bit of Googling told us that the restaurant had been around and well known for quite some time. Since we were exploring Thai food here, why not? Their iced green tea with milk was stronger and creamier than BeerThai.

That's some deep fried catfish with mango salad. The catfish meat seemed to have been shredded and deep fried into a crispy floss cake. I'm generally not so big on something so deep fried and crispy and it was pretty much the mango that kept me going.  Couldn't say that I could actually taste fish. Now that we know, we'll just stick to the regular som tam mamuang in the future.

Their pad krapow moo was quite tasty. There was a generous portion of the minced pork, savoury with some heat from the chilli padi. I would eat this again.

This was larb muang moo or is it just larb moo? A pork salad with innards - there were bits of chopped liver, intestines and maybe kidneys. The porcine flavours were a little too heavy for us. While I could work through this, I'm pretty sure we won't be getting it again. I had been expecting that vibrant hit of lime and mint like the larb moo from Gin Khao.

We had oyster omelette too. Not too bad, but this looked more like the local variety than the ones we had seen in Bangkok.

In retrospect, BeerThai had left a deeper impression than Diandin Leluk - but I don't think I'm going to discount this place without another try.

Lunch at Adam Road Food Centre

Been quite a while since the last time I came here. We were looking for something local and frills free so Adam Road FC (2 Adam Road) was as good as any with that regard.

Saw the maggi goreng at Ibrahim Mee Stall (#01-04) and decided to try it. Yes, it is stir fried instant noodles with crinkle cut fries drizzled with mayo and cheese sauce, a fried egg and the local Indian mutton steak. A greasy carbo plate with some protein and just a tiny bit of fibre from the bits of cabbage in the fried noodles. It wasn't too bad, but I think it could have been improved with a bit more salt and heat from the spices. There was nothing about it that would make me come back for again.

Here's kambing/mutton soup from Bahrakath Mutton Soup King (#01-10). What got me interested was seeing the proprietor in the stall snip chunks of boiled mutton from a large hunk to be put into the soup. Mutton that was tender. The soup was not bad -  I thought that the fat from the the lamb might have been well emulsified in it resulting in creaminess. The bread they had was dense and absorbed the broth pretty well. I'm definitely coming back again - I see brain, tripe and tongue on the menu.

I'm pretty surprised that I survived this without a post lunch coma!

A carrot cake breakfast from Choh Dee Place

Choh Dee Place is a local coffee shop (Blk 233 Yishun Street 21) in case anyone was wondering. I haven't had carrot cake for ages and decided to get a plate of black and white. This was actually pretty good if a little expensive. A portion of sweet and savoury with some heat from the chilli.

Ramen Gallery Takumen, Circular Road

This was my first visit to Ramen Gallery Takumen (66 Circular Road). The concept behind the shop was the feature of multiple offerings from different ramen-ya under a single roof. With regards to that particular concept, I had always been curious as to how it had worked and I found out today. It is as advertised but the shop wasn't run by the actual folks behind the respective brands. It was manned by a couple of Hokkien speaking aunties. So I'm guessing that all they do behind the counter is cook the noodles and everything else is made either from a central kitchen somewhere or imported ready for use with minimal preparation.

Isn't this place a little pricey for almost instant noodles?

Anyways, here's a bowl from Bigiya, a Michelin Tokyo Bib Gourmand winner. The more interesting of the bunch in my opinion. This bowl featured a fish and chicken broth with yuzu and had wheat noodles. My expectations were accordingly inched up because of their accolade (I should have known, right?), so a fair assessment would be that I was a little disappointed. I suppose I had been expecting a more of the yuzu flavour than just a hint and also better standards for their ajitama.  It wasn't a bad bowl per se, just nothing to get excited over or come back for again. On the other hand, the cheese gyozas were tasty.

Otoro katsu from Suigei Sake Salon

Suigei Sake Salon has a new teishoku set for lunch. One with otoro katsu! The side dishes included in this set were minced crab and sazae. No kegani croquette. Like their other lunch orders, it is limited to 5 sets a day.

The meat of the tuna was lightweight and tender. Amongst the condiments to be used for the otoro katsu, I felt the accompanying mustard and salt together were the better. Not so much the tonkatsu sauce.

Because the kegani croquette did not come with the lunch, we ordered it as an add on anyway. There was dessert, we took the pumpkin pudding again because the other option which was soya bean pudding didn't sound as good.

Lucca's Trattoria, Robertson Walk

Really? The year is just halfway through and Wine & Dine has already officially decided that this (#01-12 Robertson Walk, 11 Unity Street) was one of the top restaurants for 2016? I'm sure we can do better, no? Little wonder my regard for the publication has dipped progressively throughout the years.  

Food was ok, but I'm not sure Lucca's Trattoria was deserving of that accolade. I have little idea too what is that Lucca's style of cuisine that the restaurant claims to serve. Does Lucca even have their own cuisine type? Most of the menu items could be found in most of the other Italian restaurants around. I'll admit some of the stuff were inventive takes, but.... Lucca's cuisine.... really?

Service was brusque and superficial. Didn't know why the waitress even bothered asking how the food was when all we got in return was a blank stare. She didn't looked like she cared, only that she asked. Pretty sure that she wasn't going to bother to feedback to the kitchen.

That's their Caprese. Not exactly a showcase of the restaurant's capability. Except of one to import produce and perhaps, a bit of fanciful plating.

We had a shot at their Gorgonzola e Frutta pizza. Gorgonzola, dried prunes, dates and apricots. Sounded like my thing. Sounded' was the operative word. What was wrong with this picture you might wonder? Well, the pie glaringly lacked the mottled blue bits for one with Gorgonzola. While some of the flavour from the cheese were present, they were at the middle of the pizza. Did I just imply stinginess? You betcha ass I just did. A good half of it was nothing but crust and tomato paste. 

The chicken liver and bacon pasta with Marsala sauce sounded like it might have been good as well. The sauce oddly reminded me of those found in the pork and potato with onion stir fry that my parents used to do. Very Asian kind of flavours which I did not expect coming from a fortified wine sauce and butter. Their bacon was neither salty not smoky. Hell I couldn't even taste any of the pepper. While I couldn't say that I disliked this, I would not order it again. I had a hard time trying to reconcile that taste with the word 'Italian'.