Soon Lee Roasted Delights, Keong Saik Road

This came by a recommendation of a friend. The roast meats were generally passable with the exception of the char siew which was exceptional. That's all I should be saying. I didn't get the address but the exact location at Keong Saik Road is here.

Seng Kee Vegetarian, Beo Crescent

Came upon this stall (Lian Seng Eating House, #01-16, Blk 40 Beo Crescent) which is located along the same block as the nameless Hainanese curry rice. This was located in the other, only other coffee shop along the block and we thought vegetarian noodles sounded good for breakfast since we haven't had one of these for quite a while. It's the usual greasy fare. Nothing much changes with Chinese vegetarian bee hoon. But I suppose we liked it because it was relatively tasty and it's a flavour of nostalgia all the way back to the days when Tiong Bahru Market was an almost derelict dirt stained bunch of hovel market with leaky roofs. I remember eating vegetarian bee hoon in the market as a kid while watching old folks pair them with a bowl of gruel.

Tsukada Nojo, Chinatown Point

We’ve been curious about Tsukada Nojo (#02-37 Chinatown Point, 133 New Bridge Rd, tel : +65 6444 8840) for almost as long as they have set up shop (and subsequently a few outlets). Their success by far has hinged largely on their bijin nabe - a beauty collagen hotpot. Certainly piques more than a little of curiosity.

Anyways, it’s a hotpot that’s done with their “golden collagen chicken stock”. A stock made with free range Jidori chickens from the Miyazaki prefecture in Kyushu. From what I read on their site, the chicken are stewed for 8 hours until their bones are dissolved. Said stock is then cooled into collagen puddings which pretty much forms the base broth.

Those puddings melt with heat from the induction stove built onto the tables. There's some chicken hidden in there as well.

And then a starter we ordered was served. Shredded steamed chicken with julienned cucumber, ume dressing and shiso. This was kinda nice.

The ingredients were pretty much the standard for all their hot pots. It seems that these guys have sourced local organic vegetables here. The only additional protein apart from the chicken are tsukune (chicken meat balls) and some prawns. Those prawns were really sweet by the way. One can of course top up with extras and add-on options. We stuck to the default since it was our first time. 

A cup of the unadulterated broth ladled out for tasting. Good stuff.

Meat is removed from the broth before the rest of the hotpot ingredients are put in. Chicken was pretty tender. Works with their yuzu pepper if you don't know what to eat them with.

Simmer and wait and then eat.

We had a side order of spicy tori nanban. That spicy mayo packed a bit of heat and was pretty good.

Also on the side, they had some large tori shumai which was quite nice too.

Egg noodles were provided for the remaining broth as starch for the hotpot.

You know what? This turned out to be better than I had imagined. I don't mind coming back again if I can catch one of those hours when the queue isn't so crazy.

Stuttgart Blackforest Boutique S-Café, Rendezvous Hotel

This was our first time having food at Stuttgart Blackforest Boutique S-Café (9 Bras Basah Road #01-01 Rendezvous Hotel Gallery, tel : +65 6336 8675). Previously, we've only had cake and it's that cake. 

We didn't get anything fancy. There wasn't anything fancy in the menu to be had anyway. That's a maultaschen, a dumpling - or as the menu described, meat pocket which was originated from Swabia, Germany. To put into a local perspective, this dumpling was similar a large beef siew mai in a broth.

The dumpling was filled with a solid hunk of minced meat and spices. Tasted delicious but the portions were a little small.

Here's spatzle, beef sausage and a tangy lentil stew. Noodles didn't have much in the way of seasoning but once it was tossed with the lentils, everything was appetizingly tasty. This was straighforward and quite satisfying. 

We couldn't leave without a slice of their small and expensive Black Forest cake. Possibly one of the best of its kind on this sunny island. 

Revisiting Man Man Japanese Unagi Restaurant

So, we managed to get a reservation for a weeknight dinner at Man Man. On hindsight, it wasn't the best of idea to be seated at the counter. It was a little smoky and we left smelling of the greasy charcoal grill.

I wanted to try their hitsumabushi because I've only had it once before years back at the defunct Wakashachiya. Man Man's bowl was smaller and no surprise here, tasted much better because of the quality of the unagi.

We ordered a side of their kimoyaki because I liked the liver from the first visit. Sweet charred eel livers.

Because the hitsumabushi didn't feel like it was enough food, we added on their shirayaki - unagi grilled without the sauce. Also coincidentally something that I've only had once before years back in the also defunct Sushi Yoshida. There was nothing but salt on the eel so the little flavours that they had came through. I liked this.

Ha Ha Big Prawn Noodle, Beo Crescent Food Centre

The reason why we came up to this shop (#01-81 Beo Crescent  Market and Food Centre, 38A Beo Crescent) was because we noticed that there had been some queue every time we passed by. That's aside from the fact that it also has a lol name. Lol! Anyways, here's a bowl of their dry big prawn noodles with pork ribs with additional sui gao/shui jiao. The latter is shrimp and pork dumping for those of you who don't recognize Cantonese/Mandarin. My opinion is that their bowl of prawn noodles was decent but not impressive enough that it would make me think of re-visiting anytime soon. Besides, their large prawns (which aren't that large) were not de-veined and I get grossed out sometimes seeing the black digestive tracks containing stuff that I would not rather think about.