Konjiki Hototogisu, Chijmes

Accolades and labels can get confusing, excessive to the point of senselessness and dilute the honoraries as much as it can dilute the broth in a bowl of noodles. 

There's been a number of best this and that from Japan shops around. Konjiki Hototogisu (#01-17 Chijmes, 30 Victoria Street, tel : +65 6338 8460) was apparently a 8-seater-in-Shibuya-with-four-consecutive-years-of-Tokyo-Michelin-Bib-Gourmand-and-ranked-No.1-Ramen-in-Japan-in-2017-&-2018-by-Japan’s-Ramen-Walker-magazine kind of place that has opened in Chijmes. 

We didn't think much of the shoyu clam and pork bone broth bowl. The "shoyu-ness", in the laziness for a proper description, was lacking and hadn't much depth. It struggled to find its identity with the other ingredients while muddling them at the same time. Unlike a better shoyu hybrid bowl from say Machida Shoten or a tasty truffle infused one from Tsuta.

The supposed complexity in the broth from this shop worked out better in the shio bowl where the clam flavours were more apparent. At least that was how it turned out for us.

We were given some rice and clams shortly after our orders were taken. I presume they functioned like otoshi.

Didn't think much of their gyoza because of the gingery flavour. They were otherwise pretty regular ones. Charshu was dry but was flavourful from their marinade. Egg was oddly lacking in flavour.

Good thing we visited with little expectations. 

Pan fried lamb skewer, fried egg and Myojo Char Mee

Lamb fillet skewer was from Huber's. Pre-marinated from their butchery. Pan fried and served with eggs and char mee. Nothing like this bowl of delicious-ness that one can get anywhere else.

Heng Heng Hainanese Chicken Rice (興興海南鸡饭), Maxwell Food Centre

This was one of a few chicken rice stalls (#01-44 Maxwell Food Centre, 1 Kadayanallur Street) at Maxwell that has adopted the blue and white signages which Tian Tian has. Along with the same gloopy sauce that all the chicken rice shops here seem to be doing.

It's not too bad. Tian Tian does have the better chilli sauce which was more assertive. Both seem to have similar type of rice which were easily surpassed by the likes of Hua Kee and Sin Kee. While Heng Heng isn't the top in class, I don't think they're that far away from their competitors that I'll over look them as an option.  

Guan's Mee Pok, Capitol Piazza

I first ate Guan's Mee Pok a couple of years ago. At least I remembered it to have been a couple of years back. That was in Maxwell Food Centre. I knew nothing about them then (they've apparently been around for quite a while) and merely saw them as another stall that wasn't shabby. Fast forward to these recent times, it seems that they've a few shops around. It's always curious how some of the "know it alls" out there attempt to justify their recommendations by vaguely writing a superficial timeline of events that seemingly is supposed to explain how good said recommendations of Guan's are. 

This bowl was from Food Republic at Capitol Piazza.

I got the fish maw bowl without chilli and with vinegar. Noodle's not bad - that being said, there're plenty of "not bads" out there as well. What worked for me personally were the marinated cut red chilli in soy sauce which was pretty kickass from the heat and saltiness; with both the noodles and those large pieces of fish maw which readily soaked them up. Loved that ni tamago which was a bonus. The prawn patties in soup were delicious. Reminded me of a chunkier version of those that Bai Nian does.

I don't mind coming back. These guys were pretty pricey though.

Laksa chee cheong fun from Chee Cheong Fun Club

I've been wanting to come back to try this for a while. While I usually prefer my laksa gravy to be a little more lemak but I thought this rendition from Chee Cheong Fun Club for their laksa chee cheong fun wasn't bad at all. There was enough flavour, heat and creaminess from the rempah which tied up nicely with the smooth rice noodles. I liked this better than the curry ccf.

Warming hearts and bellies from somebody's grandma's kitchen at Huber's Bistro

Huber's has a limited time menu (again!) which is themed 'From my grandma's kitchen'. Presumably the grandma of Thomas Kreissl whose name is on the menu.

Found in that menu was a salad of celeriac and apples with mayo, walnuts and air dried beef. And potato salad too. Not bad.

Their pan fried milk fed veal liver with glazed apples was delicious. The charred and tender liver had a tasty crust on the surface and edges that had great flavour. 

Another pretty awesome dish was their smoked ox tongue that came with a light dill cream sauce which was really good. Tongue was tender and smoky.