Of dancing fishes, spicy apples and cucumber latte...

I've just discovered that Dancing Fish Signature serves star fruit juices with preserved sour plum. Something suitably refreshing for the sweltering heat that seemed worse than usual in the recent weeks.  

We landed ourselves another salad from them. This time it was the spicy green apple which had the same dressing as the starfruit rendition. These two and the mango salad were nice. Something tangy, crunchy and very South East Asian.

Their nasi berempah kuning delicious as always.

Just like the sambal terasi which was also another cornerstone of tastiness.

Chicken satay's not bad. That peanut sauce on the side tasted better than it looked. Actually, it tasted like a competently done satay sauce which is not so easy to find nowadays. It just wasn't coloured like the ones we're normally used to seeing.

Finally got round to getting the pucuk paku stir fried with sambal belachan.  It's as tasty as their cha kangkong probably because its either exactly or mostly the same bunch of ingredients applied onto different vegetables

Beef ribs were okay. The sweet glaze on the surface of those ribs were nice. Tasted very kecap manis-y plus a bunch of spices. Accompanying sambal matah was moreish as usual.

There's a cucumber latte on the menu which I've been wanting to try since the first time we were here and never go the chance till today. Believe or not, it does have cucumber flavour and it's not as weird as it sounded.

He Ji Wu Xiang Guan Chang (合記五香贯腸), Maxwell Food Centre

For all the times we've been to Maxwell FC, we've either never paid attention to this stall (#01-97 Maxwell Food Centre, 1 Kadayanallur Street) or they've never been open since there was a queue for their bee hoon and fried stuff and we couldn't reasonably have missed them. What's more, at least half the queue were the older folks. Where one can safely assume "old taste".

Anyways, the stall looked like a competitor to China Street Fritters. The variety of their selection is curated to a bunch of stuff they specialize in. These include those liver rolls and egg lard things that one has simply got to try.

Speaking of which, their liver rolls do not taste the same as those from China Street Fritters. It was quite different but the ability to convey the difference eludes me. Both were good in their own ways. This stall though had an unexpectedly better sweet sticky sauce. Not the starchy gunk of starch most wu xiang stalls provide.

Revisiting Ramen Nagi

I recalled not having a bad impression of Ramen Nagi the couple of times I've been here. Things have kind gone downhill this time round. Their regular Butao King wasn't impressive with a pretty lightweight tonkotsu broth. I wouldn't go as far as to say that they're mediocre but as much as I like tonkotsu, this one didn't give me a reason to come back.

I thought their Green King bowl was disappointing. Not much flavours coming from the pesto and cheese in spite of appearances. I was hoping to get more of the basil or even olive oil but in the end, the fusion of flavours never quite took off for me. Oh well.

Empress Place Teochew Beef Kway Teow, Maxwell Food Centre

I've eaten from Empress Place Beef Kway Teow at Toa Payoh a few years ago before they disappeared. This stall (#01-43 Maxwell Food Centre, 1 Kadayanallur Street) looked like it might have been the same one though I cannot be sure. 

I got myself their dry bowl of mixed beef kuey teow. Beef ball, lean meat, brisket, tendon and some tripe. Kuey teow was flavoured with their broth and some sesame oil. No gloopy gravy like those Hainanese styled beef noodles. Awesome with the chilli and this came with a nice bowl of soup that was savoury with a hint of herbal sweetness. I'll be back.

Saveur, Purvis Street

It's been quite a while since we've last had anything from the Saveur Group. Meaning Saveur and the defunct Saveur Art. The original founders had left and gone their ways. Two ways to be exact. This restaurant at Purvis Street (#01-04, tel : +65 6333 3121) might have been their flagship but we've never actually visited this particular outlet before. Does anyone remember that this spot used to be Miss Clarity?

Think their Saveur pasta didn't change much. Still nice even with the artificial tasting truffle flavours. I guess what sold with this dish was that it still remained the umami bomb it was made to be and the texture of those capellini were still nicely done.

There's a salmon confit which looked like it might have been something they brought over from Saveur Art.

Duck confit was not bad. 

Liked their beef en croute too. Served with carrots, parsnips and mushrooms. Noticed that it wasn't called a beef Wellington. This even had the layer of mushroom duxelle and foie gras around the tenderloin beneath the puff pastry. Would have been great if there was more of their Bordelaise sauce to go around though.

Dessert was a pistachio panna cotta a little different from how I remembered them. The current rendition has some Bailey's mousse and I believe they've candied the pistachios. Nice too though. I liked this.

Pizzaburger from Da Paolo Pizza Bar

This was from Da Paolo Pizza Bar. A limited time item they called a pizzaburger. Because it resembled neither a pizza nor a burger, I couldn't actually call it a purger or a bizza. It looked like a beef Wellington that came in a pizza crust shell instead of a pastry shell. With a burger patty inside. Frankensteinian or Adam-esque? It doth teeter.  As the progenitor was both a pizza and a burger, it could very well be a Ezri grub zap (thank you online anagram generator!).

I digress. From what they mentioned, wagyu beef patty, Brie cheese, porcini mushroom sauce, caramelized onions and Parma ham. What came through mostly was that wagyu patty, some of that Brie and the sweet caramelized onions. Pretty flavourful moist meat in a savoury package of umami and some sweetness from those onions. Those black crumbs on top were olives. I kinda liked this for what it was.