Soon Heng Pork Noodles (顺兴肉脞麵), Neil Road

There's been recent chatter on Soon Heng Pork Noodles (120 Neil Road). Comparisons have been made with that supposedly famous other soup ba chor mee stall from Bedok and even associations with the word 'ramen'. Curiosity was piqued.

The broth was not bad. Better than what I remember of Xing Ji. There was sweetness from the pork and the flavour from garlic. Couldn't associate the bowl with ramen at all though. 

Minced pork was good quality and those wanton that they made themselves weren't bad at all. But noodles tasted like just regular mee kia. Not extra firm like I was hoping for.

I realized there was fried pork lard on self service when I was getting more chilli and added a heapful into the bowl halfway though. The lard they used were soft and didn't have much flavour. The differences they made to the soup was barely marginal. But I liked them noodles with the sliced red chillis. 

Arigato and sayonara Machida Shoten

Japan Food Town seems to have lost quite a bit of it's allure. There used to be much more than twice the crowd back in earlier times even in the weekdays. Tenants have changed and shop units haves been left vacant. The menu of some of the still surviving restaurants have changed and not necessarily for the better.

If the food at Machida Shoten was of any indication of things, that decline could certainly be understood. While I wouldn't miss the spicy shrimp chahan, I certainly did the mentaiko butter rice and those shrimp gyozas that were pretty good. All of them no longer in their current menu.

There was a limited time tsukemen. Ingredients were not bad. The charshu was tasty but kinda tiny. The dipping broth was also nice in a tangy, spicy and bonito-y sort of way. But it wasn't viscous so it didn't cling well to the noodles. It also wasn't served very hot. Before half the noodles were done, it had become almost room temperature. I went through rest of the chilled noodles pretty much cold all the way to the end. Pity. 

Brewerkz after all these years

Brewerkz was known for many things. The pioneer of microbrewer-ism on this land. A good time with friends. The still respectable Golden Ale. A menu that used to be the bar (pun unintended for once) for food in a watering hole. A surprising blue cheese burger. A surprising Reuben; at least they used to.

The years have worn some of their veneer away. The food menu adjusted at some point and pretty much went southwards. Quite a bit of what I thought differentiated them went away and have been gone for good. Their beer selection's still pretty decent though.

I haven't eaten here for years. Here's a Hawaiian pizza. I was asked to choose between the tomato base or the garlic one so this was garlic. Loved the garlic in it. Crust was bread-y and the texture of it was more naan than pizza base to me. But these guys aren't exactly known for great pizza and my expectations weren't high. I ordered it because it was the only Hawaiian that I know of that had jalapeño and black olives. Which I thought was a nice touch.

The mozzarella was bland, canned pineapples were possibly the cheapest around and those honey baked ham looked extra re-constituted if you know what I meant. This pizza was a nice idea that never got the quality of ingredients it needed to gain its own identity.

They've satay on the menu. Though most locals wouldn't actually call these satay. An accurate description would be grilled chicken on skewers. There's no discernible satay marinade on the chicken. Which was a waste. They've already a good foundation from the chunky skewers to follow through.

Also their thick satay gravy which was made with cashews was already 75% amazing. A little tweak to the recipe and they probably could have one of the most awesome satay gravy around (maybe 85% amazing). But things never got that far. Because tourist probably wouldn't appreciate them or know better anyway.

Fish and chips had a grill option for the fish. It's kinda nice. Fish was a little too small. Still better than their regular fried variety which was a brick of grease laden batter that had been shrinking over the years. I'm not sure why they had ever thought that their batter was a good idea. I've never liked the thickness.

Hajjah R.S.A., Tanglin Halt Market

We were in the vicinity looking for breakfast and I suppose it was chance that I noticed Hajjah R.S.A. (Stall #27 Tanglin Halt Market, 48A Tanglin Halt Road) during one of those moments where there wasn't a queue. That's their egg masala thosai there. Savoury light crisp on the edges and tender on the inner parts of the thosai that enveloped a fried egg and masala potatoes. The ladle of warm sambar and coconut chutney completed it. If I had to describe it with just one word, it would be 'satisfying'.

Back in Black (Tap)

We're back in Black Tap for more of their burgers. I've come across some pretty lousy comments on their food and never understood why. While nothing here was so amazing that it'll give anyone an orgasm, I did enjoy the burgers.

A Brooklyn Lager - again, to quell the heat while the burgers were making their way.

The All American was a pretty solid cheese burger. Not much distractions away from their hefty prime beef patty and the melted American cheese. I wonder why these guys don't do onions. But not complaining. The ingredients made their way through in terms of flavour and I'm glad that the sauce they scraped over the top bun didn't distract from those important flavours that made the burger.

For some reasons I had imagined the Steak Au Poivre burger to come in a pepper crusted patty. It didn't. Just their regular prime patty with crumbled blue cheese and a very delicious creamy green peppercorn sauce that was so good with the burger. And fries. And pickles. Or pickle and fries wrapped in lettuce. Like their Greg Norman, a good balance of the separate ingredients was achieved. Nice.

139 Hainan Chicken Rice, Yuhua Village Market and Food Centre

Happened to be in the vicinity for lunch and picked this (#01-39 Yuhua Village Market and Food Centre, 254 Jurong East Street 24) chicken rice stall that apparently sold $2 plates of them. Didn't go for the $2 plate. Went for an order with additional roasted pork and an egg. It's not bad chicken rice. Not one of the better ones in my books but definitely one I wouldn't avoid. Decently flavoured rice if not outstandingly so. The garlic-ky chilli sauce was delicious. What I didn't like was the roasted pork. The crackling was so hard that I gave up after a couple of pieces.