Instant noodles at O Banh Mi

This used to be their bún gà nướng chả giò, but I suppose it's no longer bún since it's not rice vermicelli but instant noodles instead. Remember my mention about the instant noodles before? Not a big disruptor here. After all the squeezes of lime, fish sauce and Sriracha, it was mostly just a change of texture.

A palak paratha set from Pangat

I've noticed this shop (#B2-39 VivoCity Kopitiam, 1 Harbourfront Walk) years ago back when they were located at Suntec City selling Indian/Chindian food. They became one of the numerous cases of being out of sight and out of mind and hence, I never got to try their food until recently when we were looking for something to eat at VivoCity. It wasn't too bad. Their paratha was freshly made. The only item that I didn't like was their gobi manchurian which had too much soggy batter, too little cauliflower and a sauce that was a little too sweet than I prefer.  

Re-visiting Som Tam

And back at Som Tam we were giving a chance to the new lease of life.

There's grilled squids with mentaiko mayo on their menu. That menu also had pictures that strongly suggested much more mentaiko mayo then what was actually served. Thankfully, it was all salvaged by the nam jim thale which was a way better flavour to complement the squid. Would have been great if there was a bit more char but these chewy squids were pretty good.

Chicken fried rice with preserved olive leaves? Yes please. I thought this was quite nicely done. A little greasy but heartily delicious the same with a squeeze of lime.

The flavour oddity here was their black curry chicken with Musan king durian - or also commonly known as mao shan wang (猫山王). Imagine a consistency akin to black sesame paste with a creamy, nutty almost chocolate like flavour. Kinda like buah keluak. With spices. And a dollop of durian puree. Unusual? Definitely.

D24 Durian McFlurry from McD

A flurry of opinions must have been billowing forth from the D24 McFlurry from McD so here's my take.

The flavour from the durian puree/syrup reminded me of those durian ice cream from the past. I'm not sure if it's Wall's or King's. A hit of nostalgia seeped in artificial flavours for sure since I haven't had those for a long time. Was good for a single try.

My 2 cents was - I'd take those from Udders any day over this. After all, if I were to be burping durian for the next few hours after that, I would want to know that it was worth it.

Guiga Korean BBQ Restaurant (구이가 바베큐 한식당), Tanjong Pagar Road

It's been quite a long while since we've last had Korean food. We've passed by this barbeque shop  (134 Tanjong Pagar Road, tel : +65 6221 3001) numerous times before and it's gotten itself lodged in our heads when we were thinking of having some.

Nothing too special about their banchan except for the kimchi which we thought was pretty good. Refreshingly tangy with fizz. From what I heard, that fizziness meant the height of fermentation with all the CO2 driven effervescence.

There was a complimentary gyeran jjim. Or simply steamed egg.

There were a few sets of grilled meat from the menu for variety so we picked A which was pretty much the beef set that had briskets and meat from the rib, marinated and nude.

What I like about Korean BBQ are the lettuces which one transforms into wraps with the grilled meat along with slices of garlic and doenjang. I'm always assured of a generous tasty serving of a healthy greens for a more balanced meal. The dip that they provided was pretty fruity and refreshing.

For good measure, we ordered also a sundae guk. Nice chunky cut up bits of sundae in the somewhat murky looking broth which was served with salty saeujeot (fermented shrimp like chinchalok) and some chilli paste. I don't know if that chilli paste is also gochujang or not but they didn't have the fermented beans in them nor the mild sweetness.

Frog bak kut teh from Old Street Bak Kut Teh

Old Street Bak Kut Teh has recently pulled something out from their bag of herbs tricks that I didn't see coming. Bak kut teh with frogs. The parts of frog they served included both body and legs in what tasted like their regular broth - the regular peppery garlic one they use for their pork ribs. What worked was that those frogs were really tender that you could simply slurp the meat off them bones. That being said, those were pretty small frogs judging from the size of the bones.