Laksa bak kut teh from Old Street Bak Kut Teh

I tried this out of curiosity from Old Street. Which by the way is a much better bak kut teh chain than Ya Hua. Anyways, this tasted much more like curry from curry fish head than laksa. Not the rempah flavour nor the lemak-ness I was hoping for. It wasn't bad. In fact, I found it very drinkable and I liked that the bottom of the claypot was filled with dried shrimps whose flavour had permeated the curry. But laksa it is not. Three ribs and four pieces of tau pok. Pretty sure I'm not getting this again.

Revisiting Tian Tian Seafood Restaurant

Because we liked what we had the last time, we came back to Tian Tian Seafood to try more of their food. I guess for them, there's a good reason why there's always a crowd. The above was something called fu jian chao fan (福建炒饭). Yes, it doesn't look much like fried rice. It's fried rice with gravy slathered over that had diced chicken, prawn and mushrooms. Not bad. Kinda like the fried rice rendition of mui fan.

This nai bai stir fried with garlic filled our quota for our greens of the meal. But we generally like nai bai. Not as pretty those served at Din Tai Fung but what the hell right?

If I had to describe their har cheong gai, I'd say it wasn't too bad as a whole. This was properly fried without excessive grease. To compare, the ones over at Sin Hoi Sai were one up with their stronger prawn paste flavouring which was kind of the point as well. Make of that what you will.

Even more from Imperial Treasure Fine Teochew Cuisine

We tried the fish noodles from Imperial Treasure Fine Teochew Cuisine in our last dim sum lunch/brunch because I was curious if their rendition were as nice as the ones I recalled from Hai Tian Lo or Peach Garden ages ago. Hoping to recapture a little something here. It didn't. No char and not so much fish flavour in those noodles. Disappointed.

On the bright side, we found out that the restaurant offered a steamed version of the usual pan fried radish cake we normally get. This was really nice. Glided down the throat with ease even without the grease. Think we're gonna stick to this rendition from now.

Tried their mushroom dumplings for the first time. Pretty good if I might say so. The soft and chewy crystals skins were packed with diced mushrooms and green beans...I think. Will be getting these again the next time too.

More from Astons Steak & Salad

We came back to Astons Steak & Salad mostly for the salad bar.

They have a duck a l'orange. Not on the regular menu. What I disliked about the duck was how heavy the flavour of the herbs were on the skin. Didn't need those at all. The parts of the duck that didn't have those herbs were good on their own or with the sauce.

Tried their t-bone. Probably the most expensive of their regular steaks. A little too much sinews for me. Not feeling how this was better after paying so much more so I'm sticking to their non bone-in regular steaks the next time.

Miso hybrid duck broth ramen from Ginza Kamo Soba Kyudaime Keisuke

This completes my tour of noodles at Ginza Kamo Soba Kyudaime Keisuke. At least for the ones I was curious about anyways - this hybrid miso duck bowl, the regular hybrid duck bowl, the tsukemen and the kamo mazesoba.

The miso bowl looked a deeper brown than the regular bowl. The flavour was understandably a balance between miso and the duck so it didn't have as much duck intensity as the regular bowl. I kinda enjoyed it too.

iSteaks Diner, Star Vista

I remember iSteaks (#01-42/K3 Star Vista, 1 Vista Exchange Green, tel : +65 6285 8839) back in their humble days at Serangoon Gardens and also seeing them at Lor Liput. Remembered liking that $35 wagyu that they put out in that little corner stall in the coffee shop at Serangoon Gardens. That $35 wagyu has become $46 today. They've become a bigger business these days too.

Did not think so much of their 250g 100 day grain fed Australian rib eye. Meat had some fat with no visible marbling and didn't taste that great. Black pepper sauce was nice though. I suppose if I wanted something at affordable entry level, it'll still be Astons.