Yan Fried Bee Hoon (焱), Redhill Food Centre

There was some buzz about 焱 (#01-19, Redhill Food Centre, 85 Redhill Lane) because of a certain someone whom was seen queueing for their noodles or was it fried chicken wings. The owner of 焱 from then has moved on and the current proprietor is someone else. The bee hoon had a nice stringy texture but I thought it would have benefitted from more flavour. Ivan's Porridge has better flavour. Chicken wings were pretty tasty though. Due to fortuitous timing, I happened to get a freshly fried batch. Those wings had a nice crisp without excess grease and very moist meat. Liked their luncheon meat.

The Wicked Garlic, International Plaza

We've walked by The Wicked Garlic (#01-37 International Plaza, 10 Anson Road) place a few times but have never eaten there because I wasn't sure how I felt about them. While wandering around Tanjong Pagar looking for food tonight with half a mind on getting ramen from the International Plaza outlet of Keisuke's Tonkotsu King, we saw them and decided, why not?

Tried their curry prawn risotto. Curry was thick and had a bit of heat but it wasn't complex enough that the flavour became monotonous after a bit. Interesting but I don't think I'll eat it again. The gnocchi below were small and had some crusty skin. I wouldn't have known they were gnocchi if it wasn't mentioned on the menu. It's okay, nothing that'll reel us back though.

No I'm not writing them off. I intend to come back another time to try more stuff. Their prices are pretty affordable.

Ashes Burnnit, Golden Mile Food Centre

Ashes Burnnit (#B1-24 Golden Mile Food Centre, 505 Beach Road) identify their beef burgers as smash burgers. I felt it lacked identity. Why? The patty didn't look smashed to me so it wasn't a smash type burger. No charred crusty edges neither. There was a special sauce just like many other burgers which tasted generic like countless other special sauces. Nothing unique about how it was constructed.

But it's not bad tasting in the realm of hawker centre burgers. Not quite Hammee's. Not sure how those fried shallots were supposed to help because I couldn't taste them and the sauce was probably not necessary. Fries were nice though.

Spiced apple tart tartin from Porta

Not as spiced as I had imagined.

The pastry below was a filo shell which I had been expecting to be well buttered but wasn't. Beneath the filo shell were the stewed apples. Ice cream was rum and raisin. If anyone had been wondering if the brown stuff strewn over was bacon, it was. With maple syrup.  So it was sweet and saltiness going on. Not bad but I expected better fresher flavour from both the filo and bacon. This looked assembled rather than freshly made. From Porta (Level 1 Park Hotel Clarke Quay, 1 Unity Street, tel : +65 6593 8855).

Da Po Hainanese Chicken Rice & Curry Chicken Noodles (大坡海南鸡饭咖喱鸡面), Golden Mile Food Centre

I've been wanting to come by Da Po (#B1-53 Golden Mile Food Centre, 505 Beach Road) for years. This bowl happened just recently. I was initially intrigued by them selling both chicken rice and curry noodles. Got pushed over the edge when I saw their curry noodles featured in an online video so here we were.

I think comparison have been made and I'm in agreement with the fact that Da Po's curry is more savoury compared to Heng Kee and Ah Heng. It's also richer tasting though it didn't have the viscosity texture that richer curries tend to have. Those alone put Da Po ahead of the other two stalls for me. Noticed that the curry was also more spicy than their chilli paste. Which wasn't very spicy at all but packed some saltiness and a lot of flavour.

That's the $8 bowl which with boiled chicken, fish cake, tau pok, potatoes and pig skin. Pretty good eat. Would not mind them if I'm in the vicinity. I'm curious about their chicken rice though.

Re-revisiting Masa Steak & Hamburg

We still haven't taken the plunge with the expensive steaks at Masa. But we remembered having a better impression of their hamburg from the last visit so we came back for them again. More affordable even though they're still pricey.

We started with snapper carpaccio. Pretty good slices with good texture and a nice flavour from the fish thats paired with mostly some umami which we suspected came from the orange-y stuff (maybe bottarga or dried shrimp roe?) and the drizzles of balsamic. Refreshing but the portions were pretty small.

Today's hamburg was topped with Cheddar. The centre was a little mushy unlike the first time when it was properly textured by a better controlled doneness.

Had a gohan set to go with the hamburg. The rice came with miso soup and some tsukemono. Shredded takuan, gobo and I think spring onions.

Pleasantly surprised by their spaghetti bolognese. There was cream in it which soften the edge from the tanginess in the tomato component of the sauce and added a light creaminess. Pasta doneness was also nicely time resulting in firm noodles. This was much tastier than I had thought.