Tendon Kohaku's Autumn

I've never fully understood Tendon Kohaku. I've eaten at their shop at Suntec once at the end of last year when they were featuring their winter tendon. This was their autumn bowl at Chinatown Point (#02-34 Chinatown Point, 133 New Bridge Road, tel : +65 64434355) in the space previously occupied by Kin Cow. Looked not much like those pictures in social media.

At least the maple leaf didn't. I was given the impression from the maple leaf pictures from their tendon I had seen online that these guys might have had the kekkei genkai of Tenshin. I was sorely mistaken. Batter is on the whole a little too much which in turn held on to too much grease. The bowl represented pretty good value for the ingredients but I don't think it's worth coming back for the tempura.

Duo of pork curry rice from Blk 38 Curry Rice

This stall (#01-07 Havelock Road Cooked Food Centre, 22B Havelock Road) remains much under most radars because of their late/early operating hours. I had previously mistaken them for Siak Ann Cooked Food which was probably the name of the old tenant that used to occupy the unit. I got some of their curried pork and the lard fused pork chop for breakfast. The latter was outstanding. I'm pretty sure the cut of meat that they had used was the tenderloin of pork based on the texture. Obviously tender and grainy smothered in the nutty and creamy curry that packed a nice warmth. 

Lamb and beef ribs from Tony Roma's in Malaysia

We haven't had Tony Roma's for a long time. I remember them mostly from the time when I was much younger. When a family outing to their restaurant was something to look forward too. But the ribs wore thin after a while. I started ordering chicken. *cues suspenseful music*

Basically I was never interested in eating at their restaurant again until we found out that the Tony Roma's in Malaysia, or at least this one (Lot 203, 2nd Floor, KOMTAR JBCC Bandar Johor Bahru, Johor Bahru Johor Bahru 80000, tel : +60 7 300 5060) serves lamb and beef ribs. The porcine variety is obviously not on the menu because of the Halal requirements.

These ribs I'd have to admit were pretty tasty. The lamb rib was toe-to-toe with the one we had recently from Astons Steak & Salad; slip off the bone tender with some nice bits of fat for flavour. Their beef one was likewise a pretty good eat with their original TR Original BBQ sauce. This almost felt like the old times family restaurant outing again.

Ho Seng Kee (何成記), City Square, Johor Bahru

I've heard good things about Ho Seng Kee (J6-07, Level 6, Johor Bahru City Square 106, Jalan Wong Ah Fook Johor Bahru 80000, tel : +60 12 710 7140). So after the excruciating clearance at the JB side of the customs, we made it our first destination for lunch to see if it were as good as the buzz. Lo and behold! It was awesome. 

We ordered a couple of bowls. One of the original flavour and the spicy black. Both were good but if we had to pick which we preferred, it'll be the original; which had what I discerned was sesame oil, lard and maybe something like a light soya sauce for that light saltiness. The texture of their brand of egg noodles (which I hear is made fresh daily) was deliciously chewy and free from lye flavour.

Those bowls came with a few wantons underneath the noodles. The dumplings were smooth, substantial and meaty; also flavoured with pepper. Those fried versions were the same except for those greasy (but tasty) crispy skin. 

They're be introducing pandan flavoured noodles in a couple of months so we'll definitely be looking forward to that.

Laksa pizza from Pizza Express

The first time we ate at Pizza Express was while we were waiting for our flight at HKIA. They have a few shops here now. We came by this one at Scotts Square to try their laksa pizza. Something we were pretty sure could not be found anywhere else in the world. Expectations were kept low. But it turned out not bad. The pie tasted like a laksa pizza rather than one that was trying to be it. The rempah, sliced chilli and laksa leaves definitely helped achieve that overall flavour.

The crust was pretty thin though. So thin that it might as well have been pita.

Kebabs 'n Curries, Mustafa Centre

The restaurant (#07-00 Mustafa Centre, 171 Syed Alwi Road, tel : +65 6419 0749) reminded me of a post apocalyptic greenhouse setting. The interior appeared a lot older than what I had seen on photos and was almost - just almost looking like it was in a state of disrepair. In silence, it might have been Blade Runner-esque. The blazing sun that filtered in through the dome didn't help the fact that air conditioning was makeshift. Pretty sure we got tanned by just having lunch.

But their badam milk was really nice. Sweet, creamy, appropriately chilled and infused with aroma from cardamom. Very promising start here.

We enjoyed their murg makhani (butter chicken). It was creamy like most of the things we ordered coupled with a warmth from the spices and also the associated sweetness. One could also detect the smokiness from the chunks of chicken tikka mired in the gravy.

The other heart clogging goodness we went with was their gosht panipat - lamb with a pistachio gravy. Sweet, spicy, nutty and also rich. Couldn't identify any pistachio but we never expected to when we ordered it. This one had chunks of tender lamb.

One of the starches came in the form of their coconut uttapam. A competently done uttapam that was crisp on the edges and made better with the generous topping of finely shredded coconut.

Followed by some garlic cheese naan which was used to mop up all the delicious gravy options that we had.