Nyonya Chendol, Redhill Food Centre

If anyone was wondering, allow me to confirm - that's durian paste on top. XO durian according to the stall (#01-57 Redhill Food Centre, 85 Redhill Lane). There're also sweet corn and red bean toppings to be had but since we were going for topping, we went the biggest. This wasn't too bad. A bit of sweet and saltiness from the coconut milk and gula melaka. I enjoyed this bowl a lot more than the one from Violet Oon's Satay Bar.

Patties & Wiches, Ngee Ann City

Patties & Wiches (#03-10A, Ngee Ann City, 391 Orchard Road, tel : +65 62687237) was opened a little over a couple of years back by Ginza Kuroson - which incidentally also has its own branch set up just next door but that's another story. This was a Japanese cafe with burgers and sandwiches. Which is also a thing if you didn't already know. I hear their cakes/pastries are from Chef Yamashita and bread is sourced from Asanoya Bakery.

We tried the burger with blue cheese which was topped with the Danish Emborg blue. While not as pronounced (read sharp) as a Gorgonzola piccante or a Stilton, there was enough of the funk around that also had a smoother finish. The patty was competent if ordinary tasting. Not enough flavour or char to have much of character so I'm not sure if that patty was meant shine on it's own even though there were the words 'wagyu beef' being bandied about. 

They had a nicely done mushroom Swiss which featured a generous pile of mushrooms under melted cheese. Over the same wagyu patty. Pretty mushroomy. Nicely done. Absolutely dripping with grey mushroom juices.

If there was one thing I wasn't satisfied with, it was the size of their burgers. The portions were pretty small even for the larger option. They didn't come cheap either.

Dessert was a bit of letdown. That's their apple cobbler which featured an apple tart/crumble with ice cream. Not much spices coming through from the apples except a bit of cinnamon and the pastry wasn't crunchy or buttery much. Caramel drizzle tasted flat and could possibly come from a squeeze bottle. Tasted like something that was stuck in an oven and served - something that one can also get from Coffee Bean or Starbucks. But at twice the price.

Dancing Fish Signature, Tangs

Dancing Fish Signature (Level 4 TANGS a@ Tang Plaza, 310 Orchard Road, tel : +65 63391048) a Malay-Indo restaurant from Kuala Lumpur has taken over the space left behind by the zombie of Island Cafe after the real Island Cafe was dead and gone. Much of the previous decor has been left untouched. 

We were curious because sauces and sambals and rempahs and salsas and curries on rice were our kind of thing. The lure of grilled food was taken into consideration as well.

Speaking of grills, the restaurant had a pretty decent cumi cumi bakar - grilled squid in spices and kecap manis. The latter which was basted onto the squid and subsequently caramelized into a sweet veneer. Meat was kinda chewy but we thought it was still good. Came with a scalp prickling kick ass sambal belachan on the side which I reserved for the rice.

Following was their Bandung styled cha kangkong. This was a stir fried kangkong dish we've never had before. Flavoured very nicely with bits of sliced chilli, onions and fermented beans. The vegetable that was used was also more tender, more wilted and less fibrous than what most local stalls normally use. Underdog of the day and a memorable one at that. Great with rice.

That's the ikan seabass bakar - grilled fish with a spice paste marinade. This was the option with sambal hijau dan merah - green and red chilli paste. If anyone was wondering, both chilli paste packed no discernible heat. The green one was tangy and the red one was slightly sweet. Both were great with white rice. This particular marinade for the fish reminded me of satay. The crispy carcinogenic caramelized bits were delicious.

We had their omelette petai sambal matah - an omelette folded with sliced chilli, onions and petai beans that came with a side of finely minced salsa made with onions, chillis, terasi (the equivalent of belachan) and kaffir lime leaves amongst possibly other things. I thought I tasted coconut. The omelette was tender and not over greasy while the sambal matah notched the flavour game upwards. Speaking of which, that sambal was also good with white rice.

With numerous mentions of white rice, how could we not have nasi putih with this meal?

Prime rib and creamed corn from Lawry's

I've never tried the creamed corn at Lawry's until recently and I can't believe that I've been overlooking them all these years. These tasted exactly like the sweet milky creamed corn that I liked from ONO. A contrast from the savoury gravy for the mashed potatoes and salty au jus. Well, while it is still a good thing to be enjoyed!

Shi Mei Hainanese Chicken Rice (實美芽菜雞飯), Bukit Gombak

We came to Shi Mei (371 Bukit Batok Street 31) to try their sesame chicken rice. What was that you ask? That would be their fried roasted chicken crusted with sesame seeds. Even though we knew that this stall was pretty popular, we hadn't expected the lengthy post lunch queue. Fortunately that line moved along pretty quickly. 

The sesame chicken was pretty good. The meat was much more tender than the dry looks suggested and had nicely browned skin which was also more crisp than I had imagined. On top of that, there was a layer of nutty flavour from all those sesame seed. That was the first thing that set them apart from regular roasted chicken. The other was the sweet sauce the bird was served with which tasted like those that are used for chee cheong fun.

These guys also did a pretty garlicky chicken rice which I liked and thought was tasty enough to eat on its own. Greasy and savoury. Ultimately, I too did enjoyed it equally if not more with their also garlicky and lime-y chilli that packed some heat. Nicely done there.

Chix Hot Chicken, Jalan Pisang

This was a relatively new shop (1 Jalan Pisang) that did Nashville styled hot chicken. A first for us if you didn't count Meat Smith. While our popular crowdsourced web encyclopedia did mention that one of the two key ingredients used is lard, it was obvious that lard wasn't used here because Chix Hot Chicken is a Muslim owned restaurant. I read that these guys have done some work researching and have imported Ghost Peppers, Trinidad Moruga Scorpion and Carolina Reapers to be used as part of their dry rub recipe. Oooo....exotic.

The slaw and fries came first. Slaw was relatively simple but nice. Couldn't put my finger to the spice that they had but I kept thinking cumin. Fries were pretty good. Portions were however puny.

There were these soul sliders which were their hot chicken sandwiches. Not bad. Sloppily build but pretty tasty combination which I thought needed more pickles and less of that mayo thingy. There's already flavours going on and too much mayo simply became pointless and self defeating.

We didn't get any of the spicy birds this time round but we had a regular buttermilk chicken with a spice rub of their design which was already slightly spicy, sending rivulets of sweat down my scalp. It's not bad. The chicken was tender but not as tender as Arnold's for sure. The brining was also not on par with the brining that Clinton Street Baking Company does. But this one wasn't as expensive as well. Not sure what was that sambal/dip thing on the side was but I liked it.

Nothing like a milk shake to temper all the heat? I don't alway agree with that. But we did like their extra thick vanilla shake. Pretty satisfying after the fried chicken.