Black Tap, Marina Bay Sands

I've never heard of Black Tap from New York until recently when they were announced to be opening up at Marina Bay Sands (L1-80 The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, 10 Bayfront Avenue, tel : +65 66889957). Since then, I've been reading up a little. Their shops in NY get meat from Pat LaFrieda. I wonder if it's the same meat that's being used here.

Apparently, these guys are known for their "Crazyshakes" which looked very much like a fast track to diabetes. We were intrigued by their burgers instead.

Nursed a Brooklyn Lager while waiting for the food. The first time I had one of these was at Keens Steakhouse earlier this year. A dry-ish, not so bitter and hoppy brew I liked which reminded me of the Golden Ale from Brewerkz. Was definitely looking forward to this.

I was surprised that they even offered Singapore Blond Ale on tap though. I'm guessing that they must have been coerced into it because that was a lousy brew.

We had a couple of their burgers, both of which were pretty good. Totally blew the recent Nekkid experience out of the water. The one on top was the lamb - came with a solid coarse ground patty that packed a nice lamb-y flavour which held up in the face of the pickles and Swiss cheese. At this point, I'm pretty confident that this could possibly the best lamb burger we've had to date.  

The Greg Norman was a kick ass blue cheese burger. I suppose I could understand why it had won the People's Choice award for the past consecutive years at the New York City Wine and Food Festival's Burger Bash. There was a good amount of the blue cheese that it was satisfying without overwhelming that wagyu patty that they used. That is balance right there. Speaking of the patty, it came with a nice crust around that medium doneness. Fries were good.

No Crazyshakes for us. Just a classic peanut butter with whipped cream. Nice.

Tiong Bahru Boneless Hainanese Chicken Rice (中峇鲁起骨海南雞飯), Smith Street

This again, was another one of the numerous places we've passed by literally countless times and wondered if they were any good. I was also wondering to myself if this shop (56 Smith Street, tel : +65 63230191) has/had any relation to the other Bib Gourmand listee by the same name at Tiong Bahru Food Centre. They have exactly the same name but this one didn't serve their chicken rice with kiam chye. There's also cze char to be had here.

Anyways, this chicken rice wasn't too bad. I'm not a fan of their chilli which I felt was a little too gingery for my preference. The rice had just the lightest hint of ginger that didn't bother me. But it also had sufficient flavour that I didn't quite mind the fact that I'm doing this chilli-less. Their poached chicken was chilled and even had those jelly underneath their skin. Not adversed to coming back at all.

Between sliced bread at Japan Rail Cafe

Japan Rail Cafe's special of the month in September is their kaisenwich. As one might have surmised - the name which is a mesh of seafood in Japanese (kaisen) and a sandwich. Bread from Asanoya Bakery presumably. Filled with minced crab, Hokkaido scallops, tobiko and onions. It tasted nicer than it sounded.

I was also surprised by how much I enjoyed their Ultimate ABC burger - their bacon cheese burger with avocado. Juicy if relatively uncharred wagyu patty in a stack where the flavours weren't muddled. And yes, I would be judging it using a set a different standards that I normally do for burgers because they're Japanese. I liked them even though it didn't have some of the usual characteristics I go for. Just because I accept that they're a thing.

Chicken curry with rice from 328 Katong Laksa at Tiong Bahru Plaza

I'm assuming that this (#02-111A Tiong Bahru Plaza, 302 Tiong Bahru Road) is the same 328 Katong Laksa as the stall at Queensway and this was an outpost. I recall not being very impressed with their curry the last time I had them compared to Janggut Laksa. That opinion hasn't changed much. Janggut is still my preferred choice. But I suppose this wasn't that bad an alternative.

Revisiting Dancing Fish Signature

A quick one on this revisit to Dancing Fish Signature.

I liked their mango kerabu. A green mango salad that was a few splashes of fish sauce and perhaps a spoonful of sugar away from a som tam mamuang.

Managed to try their gulai pucuk paku - a dish of fiddlehead fern shoots that was accompanied by a coconut laden gravy. Those ferns had a little green-y flavour and were delicious with the lemak gravy.

We had a tender eggplant, split down the middle with their sambal merah and hijau.

And some pretty tasty ayam panggang. It was a pretty decent grilled chicken. The caramelized kecap manis glaze in my opinion was what made the dish.

This time round, we got the nasi berempah kuning - a tasty spiced rice that was as delicious as it was expensive. So good that you could eat it on its own. So good that we had seconds.

Sumo-Ya (相扑屋), Pickering Street

We came across the mention of this place (#01-52 Nankin Row, 3 Pickering Street, tel : +65 6904 9116) from a friend and later on social media. After a little "research" online, we decided to give this local setup a go - reeled in by the pictures of their curry and their menu. It was only when we were there that we were informed that they don't do curry anymore. For good. I felt duped because nothing was mentioned on their social media which was obviously updated.

We were served a bowl of meatballs shortly after we had ordered. I had though it to be otoshi. The meatballs were of good quality, nicely done and had a tasty broth. It was only later that we realized that they were served to us by mistake and the restaurant had attempted to charge us for it quietly. Bad practice making your customers pay for your mistakes. 

The restaurant upsold us and we went along. This was some beef salad with goma dressing. The same type of goma dressing that you could purchase from supermarkets. The salad was quite nice by the virtue of that dressing.

Pictures I saw online of their barachirashi suggested that there were avocados in it. There wasn't any.  The fish was run of the mill, the usual suspects and were still very chilled. There wasn't any discernible vinegar in the rice as well so that probably puts this down to a kaisen don instead. Not exactly what I had in mind after seeing some glowing reviews online. Good thing I learnt never to trust most of them.

Their tori paitan ramen was a good effort. Pretty decent. It needed some improvement for the ajitama which didn't have any shoyu flavour and more firm noodles would have made this a competitive bowl. But I still couldn't get past being duped into coming down without the curry and being charged for food that I didn't order.