Eee Mo BBQ (이모), Maxwell Road

Check out those banchan. It's better than what I'm used to getting with the processed food and all. We've walked past Eee Mo (32 Maxwell Road, tel : +65 6509 4173) numerous times (what's new at this point eh?) and finally came to eat.

Back to the banchan. Battered and fried squid legs, pretty solid kimchi that had a good balance of spiciness and sour and some pig terrine thing where I saw ears - just to name some. Not bad at all.

I forgot what this was called but it's a fried rice with beef briskets and kimchi radish. I know, not much can be seen of those kadugi bokkeumbap. The rice was nice and peppery with some beefiness.  It was delicious, I enjoyed it but the portions were unfortunately dismal for $20. For that price, I thought it would have been reasonable to be expecting at least twice those portions. Expensive it was.

We were pretty excited that they had kongguksu on the menu so we ordered one. If you didn't know, it's a bowl of chilled wheat noodles in a broth of soy milk. The flavour of that broth was nutty and pretty much how I imagined that it. Don't know if there were other ingredients other than soy beans though. We were given a bit of salt for flavour but at the back of my mind, I couldn't help but think that it would taste better sweet than salty. 

That's an order of their bassak bulgogi - a bulgogi variant that is said to originate from Eonyang in Korea. It's a dry variety which I believe was pressed into a pan and fried. Sweet, garlic-ky and savoury. It was a lot lighter than it looked too. Pretty good. At $39, also pretty expensive for the portions.

The Feather Blade, Club Street

New steak restaurant (90 Club Street) that only serves one cut of beef on their regular menu. The flat iron or a.k.a. feather blade. A cut from the chuck which is often described as tender as tenderloin but at a lower price. What is often omitted by those mentions is that it is also chewier than tenderloin. 

From what I gathered, The Feather Blade was started up by a guy who used to part time at The Flat Iron in the UK and took inspiration from them. As of now, the restaurant doesn't take reservations.

I don't remember if I've ever experienced this cut but it tasted much like flank. Beefy and pretty tender but with a less grainy texture. It's good with just salt and pepper but I got the horseradish cream on the side to see if it was any good. Lacked punch. Won't be getting that horseradish cream again.

Creamed spinach was delicious. Parmigiano Reggiano and a hint of nutmeg with cream on tender spinach. Nicely done if I might say so. Mushrooms were okay.

Potatoes were not bad. I think they were fried in beef fat. The outside was crusty and crisp while the insides were mealy and soft. Not bad.

There's a burger not on the menu with a patty that's made from the trimmings of their steak. What distinguished their burger was that the patty was deep fried in beef fat creating a crusty exterior - kinda like the meatballs that my grandmother used to make. The meat on the inside was of medium doneness. 

They built their burger with the concept that it would have "none of that tomato, lettuce, cheese nonsense". While I didn't agree with the train of thought that paved the way to its creation, I was curious. Even if I generally wasn't a fan of Béarnaise which was pretty much the only topping apart from the shallots.

The texture was interesting to say the least. I liked the shallots. Did not enjoy the Béarnaise much as I had expected. I thought the flavour was overBéaring. The brioche, the onions and the patty all ended up pretty Béarnaise-y which in irony made it boring. A good salty cheese (think American, aged Cheddar or even one of the blue variety) would have been a much better option in my opinion.

Thoughts at Beef Sukiyaki Don Keisuke

We waited a while before getting our seats today. I realized the reason why after we had gotten in. A bunch of self important motherfuckers decided that their pretentious loud conversation was too important to take elsewhere and hence a bunch of seats were occupied even though the occupants had finished their food. Self important motherfuckers who didn't give a flying fuck about the queue that was building up. A queue that was waiting in the stifling heat while these insects debated over minute points of their worthless lives in the comfort of the restaurant.

Inconsideration and self entitlement appear genetic in this country. Unless the root is exterminated, change seem nigh impossible. Culture Rot propagates from the top.

Okay rant over. The wagyu sukiyaki don from Beef Sukiyaki Don Keisuke is still awesome.

Fish & chips from Lad & Dad

Got a portion of fish and chips from Lad & Dad based on a recommendation. Think it was haddock. It was a good call there. Loved their salted crispy batter which had a flavour that brought back memories of an old cafeteria from childhood. Fish was firm and flaky; I liked those mushy peas which were sweet and tasted of garlic. 

Yan Ji (炎记), Funan

This shop (#02-05 Funan, 107 North Bridge Road) I gather is an offshoot from the same Yan Ji that operated at Woodlands years ago. That stall in Woodlands is no longer around. They've branched out and some of those branches have even been pruned if you catch my drift. Something's abrew in their business and it ain't their seafood soup.

Anyways this was their fish maw lunch set which came with a bowl of rice and bottled water (8 SGD). There's fish maw, their meat patties (in cubes) and one lonely clam. While I thought that the soup was savoury and delicious, I'm pretty sure it didn't taste like how it was back in the original stall. Neither did those meat patties actually. It looks like the business going down the path of Hawker Chan. Make of that what you will.

Tolido's Espresso Nook, Crawford Lane

It's been more than a couple of years since I first noticed this cafe (#01-63, 462 Crawford Lane, tel : +65 66480178). I didn't give them much thought since coffee places were a dime a dozen these days. Happening by recently, I noticed that they were still around and apparently doing brisk business. So we got up earlier one weekend and dropped by for a more breakfast than brunch thingy.

Kicked that off with a Bailey's coffee I did.

We were intrigued by a smoked salmon lemon carbonara on the menu. It was more of a lemon Alfredo than carbonara with a cream sauce that had tanginess from lemon. Couldn't detect any real cheese, egg or even black pepper for a "carbonarization". There was a nice hint of dill in the creamy lemony sauce though. Wasn't bad at all. I enjoyed it.

Rosti's nice with a good crisp and real potato flavour. Kinda similar to those at Marché but these were less buttery. I need these with more eggs.

Couldn't resist something that was described with Guinness glazed bacon so we ordered the French toast. That Guinness glaze tasted like it had balsamic vinegar. Nothing stout-ish about the flavour but the tanginess did pair off with the sweetness from the maple syrup and custard stuffed in the toast. That toast was thoroughly soaked through with egg though so I liked it.