Hotate katsu at Saboten

The ebi katsu season had just passed by about a month or so ago and now it's hotate katsu! I suppose it was fine. Just scallops clad in the same breading that they do for their regular tonkatsu. For some reasons, I had been expecting the scallops to be much larger than the ones that they were actually serving. That would have been something. Now that I've tried it, I suppose the next time round wouldn't get me excited. I think their prawn cakes taste better.

Ah Heng Curry Chicken Bee Hoon Mee (亞王咖喱鸡米粉麵), Hong Lim Food Centre

I do not remember if I've ever patronized Ah Heng (#02-57/58 Hong Lim Food Centre, 531A Upper Cross St) before so here's a clean slate. Their curry noodles was not bad. The broth was a thin and savoury drinkable stuff with a thin film of chilli oil that gave it a moderate heat. Those chicken slices in the bowl were tender if ordinary and while I'm normally not one for tau pok, these ones were pretty damn good. I can understand why they have their fans but as much as I thought the bowl was a decent eat, I would definitely think twice if I had wait at the back of a long line for it. Maybe I should give the other curry noodle stall below a try.

Menya Takeichi, Suntec City

We watched from a distance as Menya Takeichi (#03-313 Suntec City Mall, 3 Temasek Boulevard, tel : +65 6235 3386) opened up shop and beckoned waving its tori paitan fingers while we were continuously serenaded by Maguro Donya Miura Misakikou Sushi & Dining. It took a while but finally we made our way down. In summary, these folks are from a successful chain of chicken broth ramen empire from Tokyo. Ranked currently at #12 in Supleks. 

I find truly odd that even Google Japan's search result's first page are pretty much Singapore related links when one searches for Menya Takeichi. It seems like Google felt all that they were before now, was not very relevant.

But.......here's their truffle ramen and tori tempura. The noodles were thin, akin to mee sua rather than a thin straight and chewy type like those from Kyushu. I was expecting the latter, but I suppose this one wasn't too bad. The broth was actually pretty tasty, creamy even. Obviously also enhanced by that dollop of truffle paste which added its own aroma. Those chicken tempura were pretty good munching too.

Those bits of truffle left in the bowl swirled their oracles pointing to a chance that I could come back. That was all they said. Not much left of the remnants to tell more of a story.

Fried pig intestines from Xin Dong Fang at Old Airport Road Food Centre

This stall (#01-112, Old Airport Road Food Centre, 51 Old Airport Road) looked like it just sold ba kwa but they do fried snacks like ngoh hiong, hae cho and deep fried pig intestines! Yes, these were boiled, dipped in a light spiced batter and deep fried briefly for it to form a crisp exterior leaving the insides still tender. This stuff is nice!

Pastrami on rye from Porsena Deli

I said I would come back. It looks like quite a bit has changed with the offerings at Porsena Deli. These guys seem to also be selling pasta which I didn't recall seeing previously. The bread options have been reduced to just rye and the soft white roll (I feel them, I really do) and the "stuff it" option has been taken off the menu. But they were still willing to offer extra meat for $3 (it was $2 previously) so here's their pastrami on rye. 

You know what?  This was pretty good. I enjoyed this more than the ones from Sacha & Sons. The pastrami was more tender, less dry and the bread was also more buttery.

Gyutan negishio ramen from Sandaime Bunji

Yes, we headed back to Sandaime Bunji for lunch again as we were in the vicinity. And because we didn't get any tongue action the last time round, here's a bowl of their gyutan negishio ramen. For a shop that wasn't exactly a ramen-ya, I thought they did a pretty decent bowl. Something warm and comforting even. There was springy noodles for a start, more dimensions going on with the chopped negi with sliced garlic and pepper rather than just pepper in the broth - and the grilled gyutan was just delicious. I liked this better than their black pepper ramen.