Bacon, egg and cheese on rye from Two Men Bagel House

It seems that I've been cozying up a little in the past week with Two Men Bagel House. That's their BEC on rye bagel. For reasons, it triggered memories of BKK Bagel. Maybe it was the flavour. Not bad. I personally thought it would have worked without the mayo and a stronger/saltier cheese type would have upped their game.

Xin Curry Fish Head Zhu Chao (鑫咖喱鱼头煮炒), Tanglin Halt

Possibly the first coffeeshop where I could say that I've tried the food from all the stalls because this one only has three. Xin Curry Fish Head Zhu Chao (Guan Kim Coffeeshop, 47 Tanglin Halt Road) is located in Guan Kim Restaurant (it's a local coffee shop) where Maria's Corner and Shen Ji Chicken Rice are at. The latter two are closed after lunch hours.

Bitter gourd in the omelette are in slightly thicker strips rather than thin sliced. It's okay. Not one of the better ones I've had but nothing to gripe about either. 

This deep fried salted egg chicken reminded me of the Ultraman chicken from Sum Kee Food at Telok Blangah. These were a little saucier and became a little hard after they were cooled down. The ones from Sum Kee were meatier. I found the ones from Sum Kee to be more addictive.

Stir fried nai bai was nice. Sweet, savoury and garlic-ky.

Those fried bits all over the fish were chai por (preserved turnip), not garlic. Fish was tender and flakey so that much can be said for the freshness. The soy sauce that they used was also a little sweet. I wonder if it's added sugar. Pretty good with rice though with the bits of fried chai por and slices of chilli padi. 

The rendition of sambal petai here had onions which added texture. Interestingly this rendition was also a little sweet. I don't know if that sweetness came from the onions or was it sugar. The flavour profile was different from the punchy savoury ones that Tian Tian Seafood and Sin Hoi Sai does because of the sweetness. Still very nice with rice.

It wouldn't be a cze char dinner without some rice.

Avo-baco from Two Men Bagel House

Bacon, avocado, fried egg, tomatoes, some greens and an aioli I couldn't quite identify between sliced Cheddar bagel for breakfast. Delicious and a little messy. The Cheddar bagel's not bad. I could actually taste some of the cheese. For reasons, this shop reels me back once in a while. So far the bagel experience is improving.

Pig's organ soup (猪什汤) stall at Toh Guan's Broadway coffeeshop

Have had lunch at this stall located at Broadway Coffeeshop (286E Toh Guan Road) a couple of times recently. If my memory serves, the stall sold pig's organ soup and soya sauce braised pig trotters. Their mee sua with mixed pig's organs with sliced bitter gourd (above) was pretty good. Nothing life changing but a straightforward tasty bowl of salty porcine deliciousness.

One could get the soup and rice option as well. Apparently a choice was provided between bitter gourd or salted vegetables for this. I got the latter. Loved the bits of fried garlic and its oil that they added to the broth. The soya sauce eggs and tau kwa were well flavoured too. What I didn't expect was that they used short grained rice rather than the regular longer grain variety. 

Shi Li Fang (食立方), Tiong Bahru Plaza

I'm generally not so big on hot pots. Not that I don't like them but the weather is usually hot enough as it is and I prefer if possible to eat in comfort rather than induced perspiration. There has only been a single experience when I've had these and never broke sweat and it is till this day a little surreal. I was curious enough about Shi Li Fang (#02-112 Tiong Bahru Plaza, 302 Tiong Bahru Road, tel : +65 6870 8898) a Taiwanese hot pot chain after having seen various of their outlets numerous times though.

One of the fun things about these hot pot places are the condiments available which one can concoct their own sauces/dips. Each time is a unique flavour even though the ingredients may not vary much. There's always something that you could decide to add on a whim, forget or even get wrong the proportions. Look at what I made for myself this time round.

Tried the Australian beef. Not so good. There was barely any beefy flavour so I'll skip these the next time or get the wagyu.

Pork was pretty decent. Because of the nature of its light flavour, works well as a platform for the sauces.

There's some prawn paste thingy with ebiko I believe. This was surprisingly good. The paste had quite a lot of prawn in it.

Luncheon meat was the unhealthy but usually welcomed option.

These were rolls of fried tofu skin which one could dip in the broth to soak up. The lighter tasting broths are usually better because the flavour of these tofu skins still get through.

The pictures on the menu showed scallops with corals. The actual serving didn't have them. Were frozen. But after we cooked them, they were delicious. Sweet even. Pleasantly surprised.

A couple more of tofu items. The ones on the left I believe are the frozen tofu (冻豆腐) and the ones on the right which were called mock chicken were actually 百页. The frozen tofu wasn't as good as those I've had before. These were a little thin and it ended up tasting a bit like tau pok.

O-b-l-i-g-a-t-o-r-y. But those nai bai were nice and even the Chinese spinach were surprisingly good after being cooked in the chicken collagen broth.

There was lamb so we had gotta get some. These thin sliced ones were good with its natural flavour from the meat. The better (or best) option to get compared to the next.

This lamb was marinated. Salted. Tenderised but fortunately not so much that it had become an unidentifiable protein matter. Didn't have much flavour of lamb though. Anything that didn't taste good on their own makes a good vehicle for the DIY sauces. Will skip these in the future.

Godmama, Funan

I’ve read posted sentiments which briefly echoes a shallow poignancy about the loss of appreciation for Peranakan cuisine followed by how much the Peranakans have contributed to the history and culture of our country. The purpose of that writing I deduce, was a feeble attempt to craft a pseudo-erudite image as there wasn't even any attempt to explain how the two were related. 

I have more than a couple of thoughts on this matter. I do feel that Peranakan food deserves a bit more attention. I think it’s not so much of a problem in recent years with the new (and old) restaurants getting some spotlight. Even starlight as things were. The other part of me simply thinks - come what may. Peranakan food and its makers intrinsically doesn’t lend itself to survival well as a cuisine because of the effort it takes to create their food and that the people who do it love to - I repeat, love to upscale their take. Not gonna fly if you want to be popular because it’s priced out of the budget of many. 

But I rant…...

This is Godmama (#04-07 Funan, 109 North Bridge Road, tel : +65 6970 0828).

The menu's pretty curated and there's cocktails. This one I had was described to be made with pineapple rum and pineapple jam. It didn't taste much like pineapple so that was disappointing. But the mezcal in it the gave the drink a smokey depth and the cardamom was a nice touch. 

This was our first nasi ulam. Seen it in pictures but have never tried it till now. Godmama's version. Light, herbaceous and I was quite fascinated by the flavour profile which had somehow omitted the mackerel that was in it. The menu mentioned that an order was good for two but the portion looked like it was just good for one.

Pretty good chap chye they did. Broth has a clean prawn flavour. There was just enough garlic in the dish that its use could be detected but didn't come off as strong as many other renditions.

Their babi pongteh was nice. Liked the flavour of the fermented soy bean gravy and those tender strips of fatty pork belly that readily fell apart in the mouth. We ordered extra rice for this.

Sotong masak hitam was also pretty tasty. Squid was tender and the assam in the squid ink sauce made it very appetizing. Great with that extra rice.