Saravanaa Bhavan, Syed Alwi Road

I've been wanting to try the food at Saravanaa Bhavan (84 Syed Alwi Road) for quite a while so this visit was made possible from a reminder when a co worker recommended it. The name is part of an international chain that has its roots in Chennai. As humble as this shop looked, it was part of an intercontinental presence.

Those on top are mini idli in a pot of sambar. If I recall, the dish was called 14 idli because there are fourteen of those little steamed rice cakes. The sambar in this place was pretty kickass so this dish was a no brainer good kind of thing.  

That's a North Indian thali. Pretty good, but doesn't quite beat the one from Komala Vilas in quantity value there. Clockwise from the top right - vegetarian briyani, some long bean korma, a raita that unfortunately contained ginger, dhal and the ball at the top was a sweet made with rice. In the middle, naans and papadum and oddly - gobi 65. I'm certainly not complaining about the cauliflowers though.

This was a little bowl of soup that came with the thali. Some vegetable soup of the day with long beans and it was actually pretty good.

This was not soup. Those green stuff floating on top were not long beans neither. It's supposed to be their masala milk if they had gotten their order right and those green stuff were bits of pistachio. But I'm pretty sure this was a badam milk instead and it was really sweet. Certainly not the masala milk as I had been expecting.

I wouldn't mind coming back again if I'm in the vicinity.

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.