Todamgol (토담골), Tanjong Pagar Road

We came across Todamgol (31 Tanjong Pagar Road, tel : +65 6224 7077) only a year or so ago and later found out that they have been in business for a number of years. With the number of Korean restaurants along Tanjong Pagar, each have almost become almost as faceless as snow. What drew our attention to Todamgol was the decor. These guys just looked a little different.

Banchan was the first to be served. They can be refilled on request. I don't think the restaurant's intention was to load anyone up on these so you do need to ask if you want more.

We ordered rice. These bowls were at least 3 times the cost of the local variety but hell yeah they were so good. The rice was cooked to the point where they were almost fluffy yet still sticky and soft. So good that we started on them with the banchan before the other food arrived.

The first of the dishes to arrive was one of their pancakes the menu called kken ib jun. The receipt brought the name together as kkenibjun and if one were to be inclined to inquire the powers that be, they could be commonly referred to kkaennip jeon. Jeon is pancake and kkaennip refers to perilla. Even though the menu has translated it to sesame as perilla is also sometimes called 'wild sesame', they're not related to sesame.

Those perilla leaves had a slice of pork in between their folded leaves before they were egg coated and pan fried. Pretty good stuff there.

Hadn't had bossam in a while so we thought why not. Turned out to be a good call. The slices of boiled pork belly were very tender with flavoursome fat. Those kimchi that were on the side tasted quite strongly of fermented bean. Here was where I thought the bossam ChoWon Garden did better with the kimchi. Still, we enjoyed this.

For good measure, a deon jang jigae. Nice, had a little bit of heat but was a little flat so we added some ssamjang and the bean-y kimchi from the bossam which upped the flavour game.  

Braised pig skin from Soon Heng

There's pig skin at Soon Heng. I thought those were pretty good as the flavour from the braising sauce had permeated their gelatinous skins.

Some egg tarts from Tai Cheong Bakery

I had my first taste of the egg tarts from Tai Cheong Bakery back in 2009 in Hong Kong. We were up late recovering from a long night and a friend who had gotten up early had thoughtfully picked up a box of them for our breakfast saying something about the popular egg tart shop just around the corner he used to have when he was growing up. I wolfed down a couple of them thinking they were not bad as they were warm and tasted like they were made not long ago.

Tai Cheong has a couple of outposts on our shores these days. We got these from the one at Takahimaya (#B208-5 Takashimaya Food Hall, 391 Orchard Road). Those green ones were pandan flavoured. The pandan flavour wasn't very strong. Some of it came through but was overwhelmed by the tasty buttery crust. Side by side, there was definitely a difference compared to the regular ones. I liked those pandan ones better.

Konbu saba yaki teishoku from Nakajima Suisan

We came across a limited time teishoku item at Nakajima Suisan. It was a konbu saba yaki. The menu described it as mackerel marinated with kelp. I was instantly curious about how the fish would taste like. I mean, when was the last time you came across grilled fish that had been marinated by seaweed? Wouldn't you be curious at the very least?

While it was a decent grilled fish as per their usual standards, I was a little disappointed because there was no additional flavour on the saba. Tasted exactly like regular saba without any seaweed flavour. Well, at least now I know how theirs taste like since I've never ordered before. 

Havelock Turtle Soup, Havelock Road Food Centre

I have vague recollections of having turtle soup when I was a kid. I never gave much thought to them then. Fast forward many years till today, they're not so common anymore. I happened to be around when Havelock Turtle Soup (#01-04 Havelock Road Cooked Food Centre, 22A/B Havelock Road) was open and decided to try them. Sans ginger and coriander. The broth was slightly sweet from the herbs used. The meat was tender but there wasn't much flavour to them. Those gelatinous parts (shell?) had a smooth texture much like sea cucumber which I liked. It seems that they have frog leg soup too. Maybe I'll come back for those another time.

Flying Monkey, Bussorah Street

I was drawn to Flying Monkey (67 Bussorah Street, tel : +65 62910695) because these guys featured contemporary Indian food and also that they were the only other place that I knew of that did gucchi pulao.

In retrospect, I thought this was a good place for Indian tapas.

We came for an early lunch in the weekend and nursed a Goa Mamma Lassi while waiting for their kitchen to fire up. The drink was made with Indian mango, passionfruit, vodka, dark rum, milk and yoghurt. For some reasons, the result of the alchemy tasted like lychee and rum. It wasn't bad but it didn't taste anything like a lassi drink which was what made me want to order it in the first place.

Only the small plates were available initially because the kitchen needed more time to fire up. We munched away at their truffle naan. Naan spread with truffle paste that was accompanied by paneer mousse and some pear chutney. The bread was delicious alone or with the paneer mousse which was sweetened and spiced. I could taste cardamom. It was more of a curdled form of milk than real mousse. The chutney was sweet, lacked citrus and did nothing to make the naan taste better.

The second small plate lined up was their lamb barra. Lamb ribs that used papaya as part of the marinade along with spices. The effect was a flavour that was smoky and a little mustard-y like what one would expect of spice marinated meat out of tandoor. This was delicious.

Following that were some kickass tulsi cod. The fish was marinated with a basil spice paste before they were charred in the tandoor. The outcome was tender, very moist and very tasty from both the flavour of the cod and the spices.

We tried their mustard gobhi which were gobi (cauliflower) marinated with mustard and then into the tandoor treatment. They were tangy and surprisingly "juicy".

This was the gucchi pulao which we came for. There was little to draw references from beside the delicious one we had from Punjab Grill. The flavour from this did not match in intensity with that one. There wasn't so much of the morel flavour that were infused into the rice and these mushrooms had a less "meaty" texture because they were also smaller. Considering that this was a single serving portion and that it cost about half of the other one, Punjab Grill suddenly didn't feel so expensive.

We were recommended their jalebi. We were apprehensive but we tried anyway. These were freshly made and served hot. Now I can with certainty tell that I don't enjoy them because they're too sweet.