Chiew Kee Noodle House, Upper Cross Street

This (32 Upper Cross Street) was the other soya sauce chicken shop which is related to Chew Kee in the past but had now become competitors. It seemed that this shop had seen more recent renovations while Chew Kee looked a little rustic.

There were definitely some differences in the braising sauce that they have concocted for their soya sauce chicken. Chew Kee's sauce had a little more herbal flavour. I'm not sure if I had imagined it but their sauce tasted a little sweeter. That being said, the one here was not slouch. Both shops featured very tender chickens.

We had a side of eggs and tau kwa which were flavoured with a similar braising sauce. These were pretty good.

What was noticeably different were the noodles. I thought the texture of those noodles from Chew Kee were better because they had more bite.

It seems also that both stalls differentiated themselves with their chicken rice. Chiew Kee here had a light but flavoursome rice which was a little garlicky while Chew Kee's rice had a light flavour from ginger. Needless to say, I preferred the rice here. Chew Kee also has tastier boiled dumpings (水餃).

If you were looking for a verdict on which one is better, it's not happening here. It's a preference thing. I liked both and would have no qualms eating at either. Maybe I do like Chew Kee a little bit more.

Satay from Tangs Market

Here's some satay from Tangs Market. Half of them were chicken and the other half pork. I haven't had pork satay in quite a while. The grill that the satays were done in didn't look like a proper charcoal grill so it hasn't got that edgy aroma or charred bits that the properly made ones have. But these didn't taste too bad and their satay sauce was halfway decent.

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!