More Shake Shackery

We wanted to try the mushroom and chicken burgers so we came back to the Shack. Couldn't fathom why I even contemplated putting up with the crazy queue but as fate would have it, we were bumped up ahead of most of the people because they needed more than two seats. Two seats were exactly what we needed. Only waited for a just little more than 10 minutes and I'll take that win.

To the Shroom Burger. A battered and deep fried portobello cap stuffed with melted Muenster and Cheddar in between the buns. So one gets crisp from the exterior, a moist mushroom and runniness from the cheese. I tried "the squeeze" after a couple of bites but it didn't look like there was so much cheese that would ooze out. Heh. It's something that I wouldn't mind eating again though. Once in a while.

Shake Shack's chicken burger looked fantastic at a neighbour's table the last time we were here. What we were served today looked like it had greased locked batter. Didn't look promising but after a couple of bites, I admitted that I enjoyed it. Nice crunch in the oily crispy batter and relatively moist and flavoured chicken breast on the inside with pickles to cut through the grease. Would eat this again.

South Union Park, Jalan Kembangan

I've seen a number of social media posts of the food from South Union Park (101 Jalan Kembangan) so we decided to come down to check them out. The pictures did look promising.

Nursed a couple of their fruity slushy drinks while waiting for the food and.....

.....enjoying the view of the erm.....rosemary outside the window?

This was their squid ink bone marrow. Squid ink soffritto, the menu mentioned, on roasted bone marrow. Very nice. I was looking forward to just the flavours from the squid ink and the bone marrow and this delivered. On top of that, the bread had great charcoal grill flavour going on. 

Short rib katsu was kinda bland. Menu mentioned moist but it wasn't. Totally needed the sauce on the side to make it work. Didn't know what the sauce was but it tasted pretty good - there was mustard in it. Burnt onion puree was light, sweet and green-y. Not much bacon to be found on the dish. Napa cabbage was sweet and tender. As a dish, it didn't feel like it held up together.

Chocolate pappardelle - menu said braised beef, beef jus, sherry and parmesan. Not getting the cheese, not enough sherry to matter so I guess it was predominantly the beef jus that flavoured it. I was expecting a taste that was more robust but it simply didn't get there. The texture of the pappardelle was more hor fun than pappardelle. Soft and not much of bite.

Wasn't sure about the braised beef component of the dish. I tried to eat some and couldn't finish it because it was bland, dry and hard. Not beef that was braised for hours with the sauce for sure. It looked like meat that was diced frozen because it held the shape so well.

Millennium Glutinous Rice (千年糯米饭), Chinatown Food Centre

Millennium Glutinous Rice sells only glutinous rice. The only choice one has is between sweet and salty. I was introduced to them (#02-092 Chinatown Food Centre, 335 Smith Street) in the past year and what made the stall memorable was the sweet glutinous rice option. They're so rarely found that uncommon is an understatement. I've tried both and I think I like the sweet variety a little better. Nicely paired with the fragrance and pronounced flavour from the freshly fried shallots in oil. 

Babas Peranakan, Chinatown Food Centre

I hadn't noticed this stall (#02-225 Chinatown Food Centre, 335 Smith Street) until the recent few years when they were written about. About the owner who's of Peranakan descent who had previously been from the hotel industry and how he's set up shop in Chinatown. Bloggery ensued. You know that's how it goes.

Anywayyys...I wouldn't have known that they were of Peranakan origins had they not been mentioned. To me, the stall looked very much like another cai png shop. The operative word in the last sentence was 'looked'. 

This is where I go into what I enjoyed. The onion omelette was tender light and had a sweetness from the onion. All the sweetness will of course be subdued if you eat them with the sambal belachan which was also good accompaniment to pretty much everything on the plate. Chap chye looked pale but had the prerequisite flavour I expected. That fried chicken thigh was exceptional. Meat was moist, no undercooked parts, tender that you could get it off the bone easily and generously flavoured with spices and salt.

Ask for their lemak curry to be drizzled on the rice.

Dim sum lunch at Spring Court

It seems that Spring Court has undergone renovation. The old school decor has been updated. I'm not sure exactly how but there seemed a lot more stone than before.

Their har gow has skin thicker than what I generally prefer. Wouldn't rank it anywhere amongst the better ones we've had but it didn't taste bad.

Liked their char siew bao. Just enjoyable on the whole with the sweet sauce-d char siew and thick fluffy buns.

Pretty skinny fu pei quin. Couldn't really tell what was wrapped in those beancurd skin. Most of the flavour came from the sauce. Not bad per se but not outstanding.

An okay rendition of glutinous rice wrapped in lotus leaf. Rice was soft. That aside, I think the ones from Ikea were better with more ingredients and flavour. No kidding.

Siew mai were also okay. Getting the pork and prawn flavours so I'm happy. At this point, you get the idea that their regular dim sum items are......okay. But YMMV.  

I think the menu described this as beef innards. Tripe, tendon and brisket. Very delicious. Would have paired so well with rice. All the beef parts were suitably tender in a deep savoury broth. In fact, the briskets were more tender than most if not all of the Cantonese dim sum places I've been too. Not that I've been to that many.

We were impressed by the claypot lamb the last time so we decided why not one. Still as delicious. The meat was flavourfully fatty and unctuous. Yet to discover a better rendition of this.

Gotta get their signature rolls made with salted egg yolk, crab and chicken liver. No one else makes these like they do because no one else makes these.

I'm generally not big on vinegared pork trotters but I loved their take. The primary reason was the sweetness that I've never seen in other renditions and the lack of a strong ginger flavour. The sauce was reduced to a viscosity that it reminded me of balsamic vinegar. Didn't taste that far from that as well.

Today's poh piah was much more tasty than the last two times we were here. Hmmmm........

And we wrapped it up with a prawn and omelette hor fun. Nice wok hei flavour that was reminiscent of those that I had as a child. Sold by the nostalgic flavour.

Iyokan (伊予柑) flavoured KitKat

Curiosity of course. The trait that supposedly killed the cat. What do we have here? Iyokan and cats printed on the bag.

You get the orange-y flavour and then just creamy sweet like other flavoured KitKat. No citrus tang. I was hoping it might have tasted like those yoghurt coated dried fruit but it didn't.