Some stuff from Huat Huat BBQ at Food Republic

I've never been big on barbequed chicken wings but we've had some from Huat Huat BBQ (Lvl 4 Wisma Atria, 435 Orchard Road) not too long back and found them to be quite nice. We headed back this time and got ourselves a plate of their charcoal grilled chicken thigh rice and satay. Both weren't too bad as well. Would have preferred for the chicken not to be chopped to such small pieces. A thicker satay sauce would have been great.

Ikea's apple cake

This was actually kinda nice. 

Tambuah Mas, Tanglin Shopping Centre

We noticed Tambuah Mas (#04-10 Tanglin Shopping Centre, 19 Tanglin Road, tel : +65 6733 3333) the last time we were in the area and made a note to come back. Why? Because we thought it had an old school charm away from the crowd which deserved a visit. A shallow reason? Why not? 

Haven't had their tahu telur for a long time. Cubes of fried tofu held together by frittered eggs into a little tower drizzled with a spicy sweet kecap manis. Delicious. But it's not a dish that holds out for me well since those egg fritters are pretty grease laden. While it was enjoyable at the start, one experiences diminishing returns working through the dish. To be shared.

The obligatory greens today was their singkong santan - tapioca leaves simmered in a delicious coconut gravy. Gravy that made me eat a lot of rice.

Like the previous visits, we hit up their spiced paru goreng with sambal petai. So hard to get past these tasty fried cow lungs.

Their tempeh goreng was freshly fried and delicious. Even more so with that sambal belachan on the side to enliven things.

More killer gravy came with their ayam korma which featured also another delicious coconut curry that we drizzled generously over their nasi putih.

One does not simply not get steamed rice in Tambuah Mas.

Market Grilled

The Market Grill was closed for some renovations recently. The counter was shortened to make way for more tables/seats and counter seating went away. They made a bit of changes to the menu as well.

Think the watermelon salad was new. The compressed watermelon which was in it had texture like rock melon. Pretty refreshing salad with a medley of textures and perky flavours. Personally, I liked those slices of jambu (rose apple), the candied pumpkin seeds and smoked cheese curds.

Wanted to see if their regular cheese burger was good.

It's not bad. Came in light toasted buns that managed to hold up because these guys do not need to over-sauce their burgers. The pickles and jalapeño served to cut across the meat, aged cheddar and bacon. I'm not sure how the grilled red onion helped. I thought wasn't needed. 

Fries are now a chargeable top up option. Unlike previously.

Their sakura chicken was plated instead of being boarded like before. Haha. Seemed like the brown sauce they served it with previously was replaced with grilled vegetables. Those grilled vegetables were good but having the sauce around would have made good better.

One more thing. Teh halia next door after lunch.

Most expensive strawberry

Came across these white strawberries in Meidi Ya. Didn't get one even though I was really curious about what made these cost as much as they did. Will I never want to eat a regular strawberry after having tasted one of these? Maybe I'll never know.

Japanese Restaurant Goku, Mohamed Sultan Road

Amongst any other things that Japanese Restaurant Goku (#01-02, 33 Mohamed Sultan Road, tel : +65 6735 4232) might be known for as an izakaya, they do motsunabe - offal hotpot. Something that supposedly helps enhance beauty because of the amount of collagen that comes with the broth.

But we didn't get that today. We went through a bunch of other dishes they had to offer which were also pretty good. 

There's Sapporo on tap and also a shandy of Sapporo with ginger ale. Food as expected of such establishments goes well with the drinks they serve.

Such as the mentaiko which the menu claims is grilled. That would make it a mentaiko yaki as opposed to one that was aburi-ed which the receipt printed. I'm pretty sure it was just torched rather than grilled. But importantly, it was tasty with that fish spicy salty flavour. Those slices in between looked and tasted like daikon but the texture was quite different.

We had gyutan on hotplate that came with a pile of negi.

The slices of cow tongue were thick and full of chewiness. Chewing brought out the flavours. Lemon had also been squeezed into the dish to effect. We swapped the positions of the negi and the gyutan so that the negi would soften on the hotplate.

The menu described this dish as lady's finger with pork. The picture featured cubed tofu as well. The actual dish also included also bean sprouts and bonito. Those tofu were in little bits rather than cubed. This tasted Okinawan if you catch my drift.

Had oyster soup that was served in a claypot.

Those oysters were large and fleshy and tasty. Broth was oyster-ly and sweet. I was initially worried about the shreds of ginger in the them but it turned out that I barely detected it.

Behold their minced wagyu katsu. The flavour from these fried patties were great. Contrary to appearances, these fried patties were pretty moist on the inside, shelled with a nice crisp on the exterior.

We went with an order of their motsu cabbage. Offal stir fried with cabbage. Again, great flavours that came from a variety of ingredients. There was the beef flavour from the chunks of fat, sweetness from the cabbage and a nice sweet and spicy from the sauce that they used for the stir fry that included tiny slices of dried chilli. That, some sesame seeds and chopped spring onions. Great dish with rice.

Yup, tamago kake gohan there.

And shirasu gohan as well.

Mixed with seaweed and chopped spring onions. Comforting deliciousness with a splash of shoyu, the lemony negi from the gyutan or the sauce from the motsu cabbage. I couldn't not finish this.