Trying more stuff at Tsukada Nojo

We managed to return to Tsukada Nojo at another one of those times when there wasn't a line out at the front. The restaurant was still pretty filled up though. And yes, this was exactly the same place as the last time in Chinatown Point.

This time, we tried the nikumaki onigiri with cheese. That was basically a rice ball wrapped in pork belly and topped with some torched cheese. This stuff was pretty delicious. One could just wrap the leaf of lettuce around the rice ball to eat.

We also tried the regular tori nanban after having had the spicy one the last time round. The difference was that this wasn't spicy. That was me being Captain Obvious.

The noodle option this time round was what was described as 'beauty noodles'. I don't know what that was exactly or if it was green tea or spinach that coloured it.

Tasted the same as the egg noodles the last time round. Some of the green colour seemed to have bleached into the broth though we didn't detect any change or addition of flavour.

Nasi lemak from Toast Box

I'm afraid I'm about to do the inevitable comparison again with a recent eat for this nasi lemak from Toast Box (#01-110 Tiong Bahru Plaza, 302 Tiong Bahru Road). I thought this wasn't too bad at all. What could have been improved was a little more salt for the flavouring in the rice but it was otherwise, personally, a more satisfying eat than The Coconut Club. Well, it's a bit more satisfying. This one had nasi lemak sambal which wasn't too shabby but possibly because of the savouriness, the other sambal which is normally reserved for their laksa works with this rice nicely. They could also work on toasting their peanuts.

Not that this was that much cheaper given all considerations.

More from Sari Ratu

We were so taken in previously by the curried beef tendon from Sari Ratu that we came back for more of them. And more of other items as well.

Other items like their begedil/pergedel (eggwashed and deep fried potato patties) and telor dadar (omelette).

They do a very nice chunky sambal goreng too. The cubes of bean curd and tempeh were much larger than what I'm used to seeing in most Malay cooked food stalls.

And tender sweet brinjals.

These are their sambal hijau/merah. Green and red chilli....well, salsa would be a rather accurate word to describe them rather than sauce. The red chilli had an amazing depth of smokiness and much less heat than I had imagined while the green chilli was a little more tangy. Both were great with the brinjal, begedil and white rice. They charged a dollar fifty for it and it's worth every cent.

So other than the starfruit juice, we finished up with some tel botol. I've seen these bottled tea around before but never had them for some reasons. Today's a first time. These tea are unexpectedly smoky tasting.

Eat Chicken Rice, Koufu @ Cineleisure Orchard

At $8.90, I couldn't resist trying the truffle chicken rice from Eat Chicken Rice (Koufu Food Court, B1-01 Cineleisure Orchard, 8 Grange Road) and finding out for myself what it was all about. Even though I had some idea how it would probably taste like. I suppose I was spot on about the truffle that they used which was of the jarred variety and that the chicken while tender would not be slurp off the bone tender since these are the smaller non-GM-mutants - which most of us aren't so used to having. The chilli was lime-y, garlick-y and a little ginger-y at the same time while packing a respectable heat. Soup on the side was also kinda nice.

So what did this all mean? I felt there were too much flavours going on for the truffle chicken rice. Wanting to taste the truffle meant no chilli and the chilli was actually kinda nice, so something got plain wasted there. I didn't think it made much sense to have the soy/sesame sauce ladled over the plate that contained the rice since things would definitely get wet and mushy. Also I've had $4 chicken rice, good chicken rice by the way, in town that felt like it had more meat that was more satisfying so I'm not driven by much at all to pay $8.90 unless something was truly compelling.

So what did that all mean again? I'm not sure. I might not mind giving them another go if I'm there, but I don't think they would be worth any special trips down to the basement of Cineleisure.

Singapore Blond Ale by Archipelago Brewery

I haven't had anything from Archipelago Brewery for a long time. Not that I could specifically recall in the last decade anyway. Their business model have obviously expanded over the years and their brews are distributed throughout a number of watering holes and restaurants. So I came across a tacky poster promoting their Singapore Blond Ale featuring calamansi and pandan leaves. Really?

Maybe the finesse the brewers are trying to incorporate into craft beers don't always work for me. I'm reading sweet grain, sweet malt, pine, spices, yeast, coriander spice and mango sweet. Reading from somewhere else that is. I think that's all bull. Personally it's bitter yeasty and sour. A more genteel Tiger perhaps. 

Not quite getting the pandan and nothing on the calamansi unless the sour is all they managed from the fruit. For the ingredients list that have made marketing, I expect the flavours to be discernible or it is otherwise deemed a failure in my books. This is a beer - any subtleties are lost beyond the first couple of sips. And to me, many of these pretentious craft brews are but swill with attached psychosis.

Well, first and last glass with the local blond I'm sure.

Buttermilk fried chicken plate and country breakfast from Clinton Street Baking Co.

These Southern styled buttermilk fried chicken from Clinton Street Baking Company were pretty good. While these things aren't exactly commonplace in this part of the world and I have little frame of reference, I could judge them by the nicely flavoured crisp on the exterior, the lack of excessive residual grease and the tender meat that was on the bird. Just good fried chicken if a little expensive. That corn bread with jalapeño was nice.

Unfortunately, their country breakfast was disappointing. Their biscuits were shockingly dull - tasted like something that was mass produced. I had honestly expected better biscuits than the kind at Popeyes. Meat Smith sure whipped the ass of this one. My over easy eggs hadn't the yolks I wanted!