Eng's Wantan Noodle, Tiong Bahru Plaza

Never had Eng's wanton noodles before. Never been much of a fan of local wanton noodles in the first place, so there. These guys were just newly opened up at the basement of Tiong Bahru Plaza (#B1-140, 302 Tiong Bahru Road) so I decided to give them a try. I've read briefly about some of the family business drama that the branding has gone through. From what I understood this particular Eng's Wantan Noodle shop is currently part of a chain run by Lau Huo Tang Group and there's another one call Eng’s Char Siew Wantan Mee operated by the son of the originator of the brand.

The texture of the noodles were a little thicker than what I had been expecting. Because of the thickness and probably the skills (or lack of) of the people cooking, there's no enjoyable wiry chew like those from say Zhong Yu Yuan Wei to be found here. Didn't have the flavour that made Wanton Seng's noodles endearing too.

Char siew looked old school, red dyed and dry like those from my childhood. Not getting a hit of nostalgia though because I've never really liked them. There was fried lard which one could help themselves with which had surprisingly little flavour. The pickled green chilli was not bad and the red one was pretty spicy. Didn't think much of the thick skin of the wantons.

Full of Luck Restaurant, Holland Village

Food's not bad but service left much to be desired. The person processing our bill didn't bother to apply the 15% credit card discount even though it was advertised. We didn't pursue. 

Same guy who did our bill refused to budge when we asked him what was in the matcha cocktail. Only insisted that there was green tea and alcohol and a bunch of spices. Very disappointing considering that these guys were run by Li Bai. I'm not begrudging that he didn't know. I hold against them the fact that he didn't know and insistently refused something as simple as to ask.

Like I mentioned earlier food's not bad. Enjoyed the light crisp from the spinach egg tofu in its conpoy stock.

They have fish noodles too. Kinda similar to the one we had at Li Bai. I thought Li Bai's tasted a little better in both flavour and texture.

Stuffed prawn paste wings weren't good at all. There was barely any prawn paste flavour. That's the ultimate sin with prawn paste whatevers. The other thing I couldn't get past was the meat stuffings which tasted like the mash that used in cheap siew mai. These wings tasted cheap.

I liked their truffle moonlight hor fun more than I thought. I guess their black pepper sauce worked and the beef was tender because of the quality, not the tenderizer. Didn't mind the least that there wasn't much of that truffle flavour.

These were their honey glazed char siew which they placed under their "must try" section. Torched with sugar. Didn't taste bad but the meat's a little too hard. Definitely had better.

Interesting dessert of black rice (like those in pulut hitam) with coconut cream and mango. The mango they used were of the crunchier and less ripe variety like those used in som tam. That paired up surprisingly well with the mango cutting through the richness of the coconut and lending a citrus aroma.

That's the osmanthus raindrop cake. Not so much a cake than a globule of jelly with kuromitsu and kinako.

This year's musings at Lawry's

Ever since I found out about their creamed corn last year, I've forgone the creamed spinach. Think it might be that way for a while. 

Looking back, we've mostly come here for their prime rib. It was the one good thing they did well consistently. The other items on their menu were pretty forgettable. Maybe they represented classics from another place and another time, but we wouldn't be here for those.

Srirach in cinnamon raisin bagel from Two Men Bagel House

If you're wondering what a Srirach is, the description is available on the menu on their site. I could taste pretty much most of what they described of the ingredients though. The meaty marinated chicken thighs bolstered by smoky bacon with some light Sriracha mayo heat, punctuated by a bit of sharpness in some bites by those sliced red onions. Whew! And hippie greens which consisted of mostly rockets. 

It might sound a little unusual to have fillings that were so savoury and spicy in a cinnamon raisin bagel but it didn't taste weird at all. Not for me it didn't. Flavour bomb breakfast from Two Men Bagel House. 

Tsukemen with hot plum dip from Nirai Kanai

But first some frosty mugged cold pink guava beer. to wash the dust off my parched throat

This noodle had escaped my attention all the times I had been to Nirai Kanai and a hot plum broth did sound like something I didn't mind today. What worked for me was that the dipping broth tasted like how I imagined it; plus some smokiness from bonito. Noodles were chewy the way I had expected and liked but I wasn't so enthusiastic about those sliced pork on the side. I wonder if there's a way of keep these tsukemen dips hot after all the cold noodle dipping.

Binomio Spanish Restaurante, Craig Road

Binomio (20 Craig Road, #01-02 Craig Place, tel : +65 6557 0547) has been in operations for a number of years. We never noticed them until we started visiting PerBacco's old location. They were just next door to each other. Even then it took a long time for us to finally visit.

In their earlier days, I noticed people talking about their old executive chef Jose Alonso and his Michelin studded past. About two years back, not so much fanfare was accorded to the current EC Gonzalo Landin who looked like he was a touch and go kind of guy. Touched and went at places like Dinner by Heston Blumenthal or even a 4 month staging gig at El Celler de Can Roca. Locals tend to call this job hopping.

I guess this was amuse bouche. Manchego with jelly. Quince maybe? 

A sangria tinta while waiting for the food. This one had quite a lot of fruits. Nice enough that I followed up with another.

We ordered their blue cheese croquettes with very low expectations. Because curiosity and things are always an assumption until we know. It turned out enjoyable. Crisp breading exterior with enough of the pungent blue cheese flavouring in a piping hot creamy...erm...insides. Good for returns.

Got a half portion of their Jamón Ibérico pata negra. Yup, pata negra here and no less. Nutty, sweet and savoury like all nice Jamón Ibérico are.

The menu described this as a cheese terrine. The texture was light with an almost mousse like creaminess. Flavour was mild - almost relatable to mascarpone. I thought it was paired nicely with the honey olive oil thingy. 

We ordered lamb chops because *Joey Jordison drumroll* - lamb sweetbreads! So hard to find these things. And figs. And goat's cheese.

Lamb was competently done. The meat had a healthy amount of fat which translated to flavour. I thought those sweetbread were a little too little because they were delicious. 

We hadn't had paella in a while so why not one from a restaurant that's pretty well received. Artichokes and snails. Those artichokes were delicious and the snails were snails. What was outstanding was also the flavour in the rice. Deep savoury flavour with soccarat that was so good. And I am usually not a soccarat kind of person.

Not impressed by their cold whiskey cake. The middle layer is cream, the yellows are egg yolk and toasted almonds. That's all the texture. Whiskey was poured over when it was served and well, it's just creamy and sweet.