Man Man Japanese Unagi Restaurant, Duo Galleria

Man Man has a new shop down at Duo Galleria (#01-48, 7 Fraser Street) just an underground passage away from Bugis MRT. Those guys needed this since the queue for their original shop at Keong Saik shows no signs of abatement and that particular spot could really be a bitch to stand in line for when you don't make the first batch, especially when it starts to pour. It's either that or the scorching sun.

But this new shop didn't appear to be so crowded in the weekday. It was filled for sure but not to the brim. Maybe it's still new. I couldn't shake the feeling that the eels from their shira kaba hitsumabushi (that's a duo of their shirayaki and kabayaki eels, hitsumabushi styled) wasn't as tasty as the previous eats at their original shop which seemed to have more crisp on the surface of the eels and lighter flakier meat. I'm not sure if I'll be enthused with the idea of coming back.

Tiong Bahru Bak Chor Mee, Tiong Bahru Food Centre

We hit this stall (#02-77 Tiong Bahru Food Centre, 30 Seng Poh Road) seeing that it was one of those that was opened till the late evening. I've mixed feelings about this bowl. Let's start with what bothered me. I was getting a bit of that yellow noodle flavour from the mee pok. The texture of the noodles didn't quite have the bite that I was hoping for and in spite of them asking if I had wanted vinegar and me indicating so, the first mouthful left me wondering "what vinegar?".

But I didn't dislike it. It was an okay eat with decent slices of pork liver, minced pork and thin sliced lean pork. The flavour of that soup that they had on the side suggested it might have had dried scallops in the making.

Four cheese porcini pizza from PS Cafe Petit

This was actually a little disappointing coming from PS Cafe Petit (No.41,  78 Guan Chuan Street) because I wasn't getting the level of cheesiness that I had been expecting from their four cheese pie. Regretfully mild was the blue cheese and the extra raisins that I had asked for didn't seem like much after all. Pretty sure I missed the porcini as well. The one thing that made the pizza special was that toasted chilli sambal that came with it. Great for all that cornicione.

With a similar price tag like what one would find at Pizzeria Mozza, I did expect better. I'll still come back for another topping though.

Mentai butter egg udon from Tamoya Udon

Previously there was a mentai butter bowl which Tamoya Udon did at the United Square outlet. I recall that Liang Court then at that same time had a mentai mayo bowl. Now we have a mentai butter egg bowl. Which was as tasty as one would imagine with the onsen tamago and mentaiko along with the single ingredient that makes everything taste better.

Slavic day food at Beerfest

We had the distinct impression that it would be a sort of Slavic fair event with fun and games and tradition down at Beerfest (4 Rochester Park) - which is by the way an actual brewery/restaurant and not a beer festival as the name might have implied. In the end, it was just a one day event where they featured food from the region. 

The menu included earthy borscht, some cured fishes, dumplings and a tasty but pricey golubtsy which looked like an inside out poh piah. What was outstanding though, was their pork shashlik which featured tender and one of the juiciest grilled pork I've had. Juices that were squirting out as the knife went through the meat. Fragrant bits from the burnt ends. Wow. This pork shashlik made Shashlik look bad. Too bad it's a one off.

But beer seems pretty good and outrageously super value for the weekends. Drinks from $2 at 2pm anyone? Their cherry brew was a great flavour for the sweltering heat and there was also some fruity/yeasty kvass which I found myself enjoying.

Dinner at Tiong Bahru Market

What could be better than a plate of Lee Hong Kee roasted meat rice without a maddening queue you might wonder?