Ootoya this year

It's been a while since the last time. While we were of the impression that Ootoya was no longer the standards it once was then they had first started business here, some of the items that they have on menu were still enjoyable.

We never recalled having bad sashimi here. Today's hamachi was fatty and delicious.

Their salad roll with bagna sauce was a first time for us. It's one of those items that's been in the menu probably since the beginning but we've never ordered it. The sauce was obviously something that they've adapted from bagna cauda. Creamy with anchovies and garlic, it made a delicious dip. I just wished that they packed a tighter salad roll. 

Grilled buri was greasy and tasty.

Their jako gohan was stingy with the shirasu. For $3, I expected at least double the quantity they gave. 

Fortunately I had decided to get an egg to go with the rice.

I maintain that more shirasu would have made this better. It's little reasons like these why we don't come back here as much in recent years.

Today's pork belly shiokouji was a lot fattier than I remembered it.

The Yang Zhou Fried Hokkien Mee at Bukit Merah Lane

Someone mentioned that this stall was the original Yang Zhou Hokkien mee stall that used to be located at 40 Beo Crescent. We made a trip down to see if it was good.

We weren't exactly impressed. While this wasn't a bad plate by any stretch, we didn't think it was outstanding. The flavour from the stock that was used on the noodles wasn't as robust as I had imagined and became one dimensional after a while. I'm not about to be bore and make comparisons with the Serangoon Gardens Fried Prawn Noodle stall at Redhill Market again. Nope, not gonna do that. This wasn't as memorable as Nam Sing from Old Airport Road FC too.   

Seng Heng Braised Duck (成兴福建卤鸭面), Redhill Food Centre

There're gems abound and sometimes, they would elude me. Seng Heng (#01-28 Redhill Food Centre, 85 Redhill Lane) was one of those stalls that's eluded me (yes, despite their lines) until I got heads up that they were worth the moments in their queue. 

We headed down for breakfast and I liked it. Nice slurpy kuey teow with tender chopped up slices braised duck. I could even taste some of that duck gaminess in the rice noodles so I knew what they had added. That and coupled with their piquant chilli on the side which was pretty kickass awesome and fried shallots that weren't tasteless. Now, this was a queue I understood.

Keria Japanese Restaurant : shīfūdo to yasai?

Eating at Keria is generally pricey. But we've always walked out of the place satisfied.

While this might have looked like a sashimi moriawase, it wasn't. Or maybe it could have been. The part that might have been were the kanpachi which was delicious, hotate which were nice-but-we've-had-better and the tai which I really liked. Moriawase-ish I suppose. Those shime saba and those Hokkaido oysters were separate orders. It did look prettier served together.

The sashimi were followed by freshly fried ebi tempura.

And then a mini uni and ikura don. These two never gets old.

Our regular order of the mentaiko cabbage which was umami brininess from the roe paired with the sweetness of the vegetable kissed by a light smokiness. The texture was tender with a soft crunchiness.

We liked those Hokkaido oysters enough that we got seconds. Fat oysters which were a mouthful and superb with the ponzu.

Kafe UTU, Jiak Chuan Road

It must have cost quite a few pretty pennies for the renovations at Kafe UTU (12 Jiak Chuan Road, tel : +65 6996 3937). The interior was smart and contained elements that bespoke an ethnic chic sophistry. Artful like the greyscale portraits that lined the wall across the bar showcasing facets of beauty. Unfortunately, we had been watching Jordan Peele's Us earlier in the day so those portraits looked kinda sinister.

Food's African inspired; my not so spidey senses tells me so. Or perhaps it was the web that did. By admission of the host, the recipes used have been tailored for the people of this region. 

The starter that caught our attention was the lamb's hearts. Sliced thin and cooked pink, it was very much enhanced by their delicious chimichuri and those fragrant pink peppercorns together with beet puree. Very nice combination.

Goat curry was also delicious. The spices and the heat was invigorating. The flavour felt a bit more refined than the one from Lime House just a stone's throw away. If I had to pick a preferred one, I wouldn't because both were nice in their own ways.

This was their Liberian peanut chicken stew. As the name might have conveyed, it was nutty. The smoked fish that was used in it came through, imparting its flavour. Also spicy and creamy with less heat than the goat curry. We basically scraped both bowls clean of almost every drop.

As someone who enjoys traipsing the culinary landscape in Little India, I thought the flavours here were different in little ways yet similar in many. At least that was true of what we ate. Not as exotic as I hoped for.

Their basmati coconut rice deserved mention. It's good stuff. Better than what many locals pass off as nasi lemak. Beats Crave hands down. The only other that was possibly was good was the basmati nasi lemak from the defunct Island Cafe.

Ta Lu Prawn Noodles (大路蝦麵), China Square

I'm a little confused by the address of this place. A number of them I came across online don't seem to be the correct one. Anyways, it's at China Square right next to Wong Dae Bak. These guys do old school styled prawn noodles. This was the $10 bowl, dry with chilli and mee pok.

Added fried lard (self service) and their cut red chillis. Not bad altogether. The texture of the noodles aren't the firmest but I couldn't complain. While their broth didn't quite come up to the league of the ones from Blanco Court Prawn Mee, it also wasn't half bad. I'm not against coming back.