Nasi padang from Hajjah Mariam Cafe

I decided to go a la carte at Hajjah Mariam since I've already tried their nasi ambeng previously. Nothing too special or exotic a selection. Some paru goreng, sambal goreng and ayam goreng. Yeah, it's all goreng there with a lemak gravy and some sambal belachan for invigorating heat. You know what? It's kinda pricey at $9.50. If I had to put in my two cents, I prefer a slightly less chewy paru and thought that the chicken while deliciously spiced had lost some of the crisp after staying out in the trough for a bit. Still, there was a very competent representative of each of the dishes I had even though I have favourites elsewhere.

Re-revisiting Nirai Kanai

Nirai Kanai just gets better and better. We've been avoiding them for so long (from a first lacklustre visit) and missing out at the same time. Happenstance decided that we would get the counter seats today - which was pretty spacious.

This visit also happened to be a re-evaluation of their peanut tofu. It had that nutty flavour with a texture that was creamy - somewhat akin to panna cotta. I didn't remember it being that good the first time we had it. We had some chilled umi budou to start with that tofu. Those sea grapes, bursty and refreshing with the also chilled ponzu dip.

So I finally got to try an Okinawan taco rice. A dish that was a result of the Americans that were stationed in Okinawa back in the 60s I heard. Shredded lettuce, tomatoes & salsa, spicy minced beef and cheese over rice.

I was initially wondering where had all the cheese gone. It was somewhere inside. It's not as much cheese as I would normally prefer but after all the tossing, this was delicious. Those beef bits were so good. I believe comforting and tasty are suitable adjectives for this bowl.

Their hamburg was well seasoned and quite peppery. While it was not normally the kind of beef patty that I shoot for, it was pretty tasty. What was outstanding was that brown paste beside the pickled daikon. I believe it's something they call pork miso. The texture was like a paste with bits of dried pork. The sweet flavour was a cross between char siew bao fillings and pork floss. I found them very addictive with the rice.

Here's their chanpuru which we are ordering for the first time. A different beast from the rendition at Keria and also appears to be the more commonly seen rendition. This was good. The bitter gourds weren't as bitter as I had imagined. Altogether a dish without pretence and great comforting flavours.

Spicy shrimp fried rice from Machida Shoten

The last time we were here at Machida Shoten, the neighbouring table had ordered this spicy shrimp chahan and we had thought that it looked pretty good. We didn't like it much. It was greasier than we had imagined. Whatever chilli they had used got inevitably compared to hae bi hiam which was invariably much tastier. Stick to the regular chahan we will.

Sens, Raffles Holland V

Seems that on certain spectrums, there are restaurants that are lacking of confidence with whom they are. Or perhaps I am mistaken and that these guys are simply inarticulate. With social media profile and website states next to nothing but meaningless marketing drivel about what they represent, it feels as though an effort is made to mask themselves behind anonymity while pretending to introduce themselves - at the risk of sounding much like the next restaurant.

We were here at Sens (#B1-12/13, Raffles Holland V, 118 Holland Avenue, tel : +65 6262 5618) for a meal. Food was pretty decent.

Their grilled fishes were quite nicely done and there's a kaisen chahan that was unexpectedly peppery. The latter wasn't a bad thing.

I'm glad they didn't gut their sanma so that we could still enjoy those bitter sweet innards.

Got ourselves a grilled kinmedai which had a flavour that reminded me of toasted shrimp or crab.

Yi Jia Chun (一家村), The Arcade @ Collyer Quay

On the occasions that I've reason to find myself at The Arcade (11 Collyer Quay), I've noticed this cooked food stall (#01-24). Always, I've been captivated by the steaming pots of food and soup at the stall. Little did I realize that they've a few outlets about in the vicinity until recently. Anyways, we stopped by for lunch before the lunch crowd came by.

One of the things that attracted me to the stall was their pumpkin rice. They were not bad - as ambiguous as that might have sounded. The kind of not bad where I wouldn't mind having again if I'm in the vicinity but not specially visit for.

There's pickled Szechuan mustard which was tasty in their mildly spicy and salty kind of crunchy way. I liked these.

Thick sliced luncheon meat is always good. I always felt that most places slice them too thin.

Didn't like their chicken curry. The curry itself was thin and flat while the pieces of chicken in there were bland. They weren't exactly slurp off the bone tender either. We didn't finish the most of it.

For some reasons, I got reminded of the lotus root soup at Big Bird while sipping this one. Anyone remember those guys? If anyone was wondering, this bowl has got nothing on the one at Big Bird. Big Bird's soup was bold and flavoursome while this rendition was lightweight.

Fu Shun Shao La Mian Jia (福顺 (锦记) 烧腊面家), Maxwell Food Centre

Noticed the queue at this stall the past couple of times we were here at Maxwell (#01-71, 1 Kadayanallur Street). While I generally don't subscribe to the wisdom of crowds in the context of our local food centres, our curiosities occasionally gets piqued. And sometimes, that doesn't end with the death of a cat.

These guys do a very competent roast duck. As all well done and properly roasted birds of such nature went, the meat was tender (even for the breast), moist and there were a little bit of tasty fat under the flavourful roasted skin.

The roasted pork belly was unfortunately a bore. Some of the crackling weren't crispy and the meat wasn't anything to write home about. But their char siew was very nicely done. Tender, fat laced and savoury sweet while texturized by a bit of delicious char on the surface and the grains of the meat. This and the duck I'm coming back for.