Shinzo, Carpenter Street

Once upon a time in a restaurant called Hinoki, there were two chefs Gary and Lawrence. Both departed and ventured into their personal restaurants with Gary down at Hakumai and Lawrence in Shinzo (17 Carpenter St, tel : +65 6438 2921). Just like rice and heart.

So here's some sushi from their tempura/sushi lunch set. I guess I kinda liked it. Their chutoro was outstanding and there was a gunkan that featured some sweet shrimp that was pretty good. Sweet and oceanic if that meant anything. 

Halfway through, the chef presented a complimentary nigiri which had torched marlin (with what I thought might have been a strip of spicy mayo and yuzu salt). I'm assuming that the fish is the mekajiki many of us are familiar with.

Chwee kueh from Tangs Market

Tangs Market is a small cache of local goodies. It's probably a little more expensive than the ones that one can get at hawker centres but it's far from being a tourist trap. Not to mention that some of the stuff are actually pretty good. Like these chwee kueh. Steamed piping hot rice cakes topped with chai por and the option of delicious savoury/spicy chilli sauce with that bit of kick from the heat. In the words of an old horror flick, enough is never enough.

Yomoda Soba, Japan Food Town @ Wisma Atria

This was yet another shop from Japan Food Town. The previous occasions when we were here, Yomoda Soba (#04-53 Wisma Atria, 435 Orchard Road, tel : +65 6262 3467) had a queue which looked long and slow moving. By a stroke of fortune this time, we managed to walk in and got ourselves the last empty table. Shortly after we were seated, the queue appeared. Phew! 

It seemed that the majority of the non-soba/noodle items were not available. Out of what was, we decided to try the tori tempura. I guess these weren't too bad, but didn't seem to quite match up with those from Menya Takeichi.

There was a hot spicy soy milk chicken soba. This was pretty good. The creamy broth was savoury and came with a little heat from the rayu and ball of spicy miso minced meat. I think there were little chunks of chicken inside too. I liked this enough to come back again for it.

This was their hot tomato soba. Not that it wasn't any good but on hindsight, it might have been a better idea to have gotten the cold version which would have been much more refreshing. That dashi broth that came with the soba had tomato flavours in them. And just that tiny hint of yuzu too. I'll definitely be interested in getting the cold one another time.

Fresh figs, big ebi tempura and others at Suju

A dinner at Suju. Also our first time after having had lunch here twice.

They had fresh figs with goma sauce on their seasonal menu. These were not bad but I lament over the fact that we have somehow never encountered ones that were as awesome as those that we once had at Valentino's.

There was gyu suji on the seasonal too. Braised beef tendons in dashi with radish. The beef was so tender that it was falling apart when I picked it up. The broth inherited that beefy flavour from the cow. Delicious stuff.

Fried pumpkin tempura was creamy and sweet.

We ordered their ooebi tempura which also came with tempura-ed nasu and maitake mushrooms. The prawns were huge and meaty. These bugs probably had more flesh than most crayfish we've encountered.

Another year, another Lawry's

Another year has passed. These guys have maintained their status quo as one of the best if not indeed the best prime rib guys around in this sunny island. I'm not sure how to feel about that these days but I suppose it does make deciding a little easier with the dearth of options. In further development of old news (the oxymoron!), Lawry's has also been raising their prices. Their Diamond Jim Brady has gone up by more than $60 over the past 9 years and it is almost $160 before tax and service these days. Ouch!

Heng Kee Curry Chicken Noodles (兴记咖喱鸡米粉面), Hong Lim Food Centre

So here's a bowl from Heng Kee Curry Chicken (#01-58 Hong Lim Food Centre, 531A Upper Cross St). The competitor to Ah Heng which is located just one floor up in the food centre. Both stalls have been around for many years and seem to share the same thin curry broth, but this one seemed to taste a little nuttier and sweet. Which can be remedied with their accompanying chilli paste. The noodles have also soaked up the broth allowing the flavours to permeate pretty much every mouthful. What I didn't quite like about Heng Kee is the way the chicken was chopped up. There were bone fragments that one had to be careful with and the texture of their tau pok was spongy and rough. If I had to choose between the two, I'm definitely going with Ah Heng.

That being said, the curry noodle which trumps for me in Hong Lim comes from Cantonese Delights. I know they're a different style altogether. But hey, they're all curry noodles right?