Ananda Bhavan, Syed Alwi Road

Apparently, Ananda Bhavan (95 Syed Alwi Road, tel : +65 6398 0837) which was set up in 1924 is the first Indian restaurant in the country. Wow, I never knew that till today. Too bad my first experience at their restaurant near Tekka market wasn't so memorable. But hey - this visit turned out to be an enjoyable re-acquaintence.

Their pav bhaji was delicious. Amazing flavours of mashed vegetables with the crunch and that bit of sharpness from the chopped onions along with a breath of zing from the squeeze of lime. Those pav were nicely buttered and that definitely helped. Vegetable briyani was likewise hearty and flavoursome, especially so with the refreshing raita or their rich kourma. Notable mentions also goes to the savoury aloo masala and the Chennai cabbage which for the first time, I've noticed having flavours of mustard. The little container in the middle was the dessert of the meal and that was actually pulut hitam. Pleasant and unexpected surprise there. As one can imagine, a good riot of flavours from the platter. And a meal to send one into a post lunch coma. Hah!

We were initially apprehensive of their pale looking masala tea, but it turned out to be quite nice. Not excessively sweet, milky and enough of the masala registered. Will be back again.

Tandoori chicken sandwich from Sarnies

Possibly the weakest offering from Sarnies (136 Telok Ayer Street) compared to the other mainstays that I've had. The chicken was a cold dry chopped up meat marinated with tikka spices. While I didn't expect that it would come from a tandoor, they could have really upped the game by putting it on the grill or do a pan fry for that char which would have done wonders for the flavour. The meat was barely better than the one at Subway. I'll stick to their chicken schnitzel the next time if I want a chicken sandwich here. And no more tandoori anything from any place I know doesn't have a tandoor.

O Banh Mi, Tiong Bahru Plaza

Here be banhminions! I couldn't find out much about O Banh Mi (#02-113, Tiong Bahru Plaza, 302 Tiong Bahru Road, tel : +65 9764 2108) but the fact that they were brought in by a Pegasus Group which till this day, only runs this joint which also happens to be the first and only shop. I'm guessing that they must come from somewhere to have been brought in.

Anyways, it's mostly Vietnamese street food here. At least of the variety that the rest of the world is familiar with.

We had gỏi cuốn - summer rolls. They were kinda nice actually but I was hoping for a bit more mint.

Their phở gầu bò viên was surprisingly enjoyable. That light beefy broth was the savoury kind I preferred so this bowl trumps the recent other one at Pho99. There were tender thinly sliced briskets and those bò viên didn't taste like the regular factory made ones. And yes, no raw bean sprouts. I'd eat this again.

And there was bún gà nướng chả giò - grilled chicken bún with fried spring rolls. Nicely done and basic. I'd eat this again.

The surprising find was deep fried chicken skins. These were awesome. Crispy with a little bit of chew and deliciously salty. These could be one of the more memorable fried chicken skins I've had in recent times.

Cottage Delight's Fiery Furnace

Found these under the "reduced to clear" tags at the Market Place in Raffles City. I bought a bottle out of curiosity. If anyone's wondering, it's beer. A hoppy amber hued English beer that left a prickly heat on the back of the throat. After a second session, I realized that I kinda enjoyed this new sensation. The brew was better drinking than our local brand and at the reduced to clear prices, quite a deal considering how much it would cost if one were to get a bottle of lesser known import or "craft beer" from a watering hole.

IndoChili, Tanjong Pagar Centre

We popped by this Indonesian restaurant (#B1-03, Tanjong Pagar Centre, 7 Wallich Street, tel : +65 6386 6427) after having seen the other branch numerous times during transit along Zion Road. We were hoping that it would be another good find after having had some good experiences recently with Indonesian food.

We skipped the nasi kuning for the putih so we could understand their flavours more with less distractions.

Quite the sucker for perkerdel we were. These potato patties were nicely fried and peppery. But between Cumi Bali and Sari Ratu, this didn't come up tops.

There was beef satay with a nice sweet and smoky marinade. Liked the flavours but the meat was a little tough.

I thought the sambal for their ayam goreng cabe hijau needed a bit more punch. Not complaining though since it was actually pretty good with the rice. We've had better ayam goreng. The accompanying tempe and tauhu on the side were actually pretty good.

This was called cah kangkung. The name sounded similar to how stir fried kangkong would be called in Hokkien. The dish was essentially sambal kangkong as most of us would know it. Passable in terms of flavour but I really disliked the fact that it was full of stems.

The menu described their ikan bakar kecup as grilled but it was probably deep fried then grilled. Was really gunning for just a decent grilled fish actually. Had assumed that the dominant flavour to be the kecap manis rather than the chilli paste. Wouldn't order this again.

I can't say that I disliked the place, but I don't think we'd be in any hurry at all to come back again. The prices were a little high and at the end of it all, both Cumi Bali and Sari Ratu were much more satisfying eats.

Nalan Restaurant, Capitol Piazza

This was yet another Indian vegetarian restaurant - one that seemed a little under the radar at the basement of Capitol Piazza (#B2-54 Capitol Piazza, 13 Stamford Road, tel : +65 6336 6404). But the food certainly packed a punch. The briyani that came with their North Indian thali (it didn't come in a steel tray though) above was kickass flavoursome and addictive with the savoury spices. Larger portions would have been nice; though these folks acceded to our request for more dhal.

The other item worth returning for was their paneer fried rice. As enjoyable if not more than the one from Komala's. I'm impressed. Badam milk is nice here. Will come back again.