Satay chicken nasi lemak from Crave

I've had my apprehension about these guys since anyone who expects the real McCoy is either foolishly optimistic or delusional. Or both. But I decided to drop by to try their nasi lemak anyway.

In retrospect, there're mixed feelings. It was not a bad plate of nasi lemak. Not bad meaning I'll be reluctant to give it thumbs up but it's also not something I'll be steering clear of. There's definitely some coconut flavour in the rice. The sambal was a pretty enjoyable sweet and spicy while the satay sauce probably needed more crushed peanuts to be pretty decent.

One the other hand I found the entire plate oily. Having that sambal (which they charge if you ask for extras) ironically also meant that I'm not going to be tasting much or any of that coconut fragrance in that rice. The portions were a little small if you asked me for something that's $4 more than their regular plates. What's more, this didn't even come with begedil. 

So I guess this was just another chain outlet just like any other. One can certainly see that "passion for great food" is not a priority. The food was cooked and assembled by a bunch of hired hands so there's that. They certainly didn't care if anyone was satisfied by those portions for what they were charging because I certainly wasn't. Jia liao buay simi song. #notshiok

There - I've let it out. #不够爽 

R.I.P. Anthony Bourdain

We interrupt the scheduled post of this solar cycle for a day of silence in memory of Anthony Bourdain whom had departed this world. I've just learnt about it a few hours back. I don't pretend to understand what he's been through but I can't say that he hasn't been points of inspiration for this blog. A vanguard of this era's food and travel television. He will be remembered.

Lin Da Qiang Steamed Fish Head (林大强酱蒸鱼头頭), Chinatown Food Centre

This (#02-072 Chinatown Food Centre, 335 Smith Street) was the neighbour to Mr Fish doing pretty much the same type of local Cantonese stir fry so I guess they're competitors. They either don't do or ran out of yu gai (鱼鸡) so it's the sliced fish bee hoon and hor fun. You know what? I enjoyed this as much as I did Mr Fish. There's a slight variation to how both do their black bean sauce but I guess both worked for me.

I'm definitely coming back another time to try more of their dishes. 

An apple pie from Marché

We haven't been here at Marché for quite a long time. Prices have gone up but they've managed to maintain the quality of the food through the years. This might have been the first time we've tried their apple pie which was loaded with sliced apples and raisins with an almond crust. The serving came with some vanilla sauce which I had initially thought was unnecessary but turned out that it helped sweeten and mellow some of the tartness from the fruit in the pie.

Original Chew Kee Eating House (钊记面家), Upper Cross Street

I don't remember if I had ever eaten at Chew Kee (8 Upper Cross Street), but even if I had, it must have been eons ago. We've passed by their location countless times and have always wondered at those prettily browned soy sauce chickens hanging at the front of the stall. 

So we had a half chicken with tau kwa and eggs, some noodles and chicken rice along with a bowl of sui kau (水餃) soup. The rice had a light gingery flavour; the noodles were deliciously chewy and those dumplings were nicely texturized by bits of water chestnuts in the minced pork. It was obvious that these guys were real specialists at what they were whipping up.

The soy sauce chicken was delicious and tender with flavourful dark skin. There was a pleasant sweetness (甘甜) from the herbs that was used in the dark braising liquid that they concocted for their birds. Will come back but not before giving their competitor down the road a go.

Big & Small Restaurant (大诚•小厨), Craig Road

We've passed by this shop (4 Craig Road, tel : +65 6908 0569) numerous times and today, we were finally coaxed into walking in by the proprietress. She seemed enthusiastic talking about their home styled cooking without the use of any artificial flavour enhancers and how the ingredients are of good quality and certified by our local food import authorities. What tipped the scales of decision was that the menu looked like it might be good.

We started with their rendition of pig skin with meat aspic with broccoli. The slices of jellied pig skin and meat were pretty tasty and paired nicely with the chilli-ed soy sauce dip. I thought it probably would be a good idea for them to carpet the jelly with a thicker coat of broccoli since the current quantity is pretty much just decorative. Not complaining here.

There was a stir fried red mushroom dish that was pretty expensive. So we settled for the cheaper version of the dish with stir fried wong bok since we hadn't any idea what those red mushrooms were or if they were any good. Turns out that this was a tasty dish. Enjoyed the light vinegar infused into the savoury vegetables. Those mushrooms had a light (mushroom-y) flavour and were textured like chanterelles. 

That's their fried rice with dark soy sauce which slowly got more addictive as we ate.

Then came the pig trotter and cabbage soup. What I particularly liked about the soup was that they had included frozen tofu (凍豆腐). If you haven't had those, the textures are different from regular tofu. They're is spongier from the holes/crevices formed in the tofu after the water that's turned into ice has melted. 

Broth was not bad but I couldn't really tell what flavour it was. I'm assuming it's a pork bone base. Those trotters were too chewy.

The restaurant serves dumplings with different stuffings. Those above were egg and cucumber and were generally okay tasting.