Du Du Cooked Food, Havelock Road Food Centre

The shop (#01-10 Havelock Road Cooked Food Centre, 22A/B Havelock Road) was opened when I was getting breakfast so I thought I'd get a few of their tutu kueh back to try. In the event that anyone hadn't any idea what this was about, they're small steamed rice cakes with fillings. Usually with sugared crushed peanuts and shredded sweetened coconut.

These were it. Not bad. I thought there was a good ratio of fillings to rice cake. Those fillings weren't bad as well.

There were larger sized ones that go for a dollar each. These larger ones were made with moulds that didn't have the scallop designs on the edges.

Chilli ban mian from Tangs Market

I've been curious about the ban mian stall at Tangs Market for a while mainly because of the chilli bowl that they have. Finally tried it. It's not bad. Tasted much like the one I had at Nam Kee which kinda figures since both Tangs Market and Nam Kee are run by Fei Xiong. There's flavour coming from the dark sauce which paired with the chilli paste which gave it depth. Think Grandma Ban Mee would edge this out but I've nothing against having this again should I be in the vicinity.

Lamb shoulder chops from Ryan's Kitchen

I didn't enjoy this. The meat was chewy and had quite a bit of sinews. In spite of appearances, I also think it didn't stay long enough on the grill to have enough charring for flavour. Now I know what to avoid or not from them.

Popeyes' chicken sandwich

Finally got to try the chicken sandwich from Popeyes. Looked a little squashed after delivery from Grab. I had the impression that they were available on a limited run and I never got the chance to try them before they were sold out previously. Seems to be available again. 

Between the cajun sauce and the fried chicken thigh, I couldn't exactly taste the "butteriness" in the brioche. Would definitely ask for more pickles the next time because those added a different crunch and tanginess which I liked.

Soi Thai Soi Nice, Raffles City

I've read about Soi Thai Soi Nice (#B1-14/15 Raffles City Shopping Centre, 252 North Bridge Road, tel : +65 6261 7106) some time back when they had a restaurant at Alexandra Central. They seemed to be known for their Thai hot pots. By the time we wanted to go, that had closed. We stumbled upon this new outpost at Raffles City so here we were.

Their prawn cakes were nice. Crisp breading with no excessive grease. The prawn paste insides were tender and light.

That's their Thai mango sauce tofu. Wasn't sure how to reconcile the name of the dish with the dish itself. Egg tofu with green mango salad in what tasted like rojak paste/sauce. Maybe it's meant to be Thai mango, sauce and tofu. Not Thai mango sauce on tofu. It's not bad, just unexpected.

We ordered their chilli petai with minced meat to see how they were like compared to our local stir fry renditions. Also to compare against our benchmark. Flavour profile was different. The sauce was more tangy and the petai were a bit more crunchy. While they were generous with the petai, it was less meaty.

Steamed sea bass. Broth was refreshingly lime-y. Not a bad rendition but this didn't pack as much heat as those in Bangkok. If I had to compare with another local rendition of this dish, the one from Kra Pow was better.

Wen Dao Ji (文道记), People's Park Complex Food Centre

There's mixed information about this stall (#01-1014 People's Park Cooked Food Centre, 32 New Market Road) but from what I could piece together, they used to be known as Toh Kee which had been operating for a long time. Toh Kee closed and reopened as 文道记 and are still selling the same mixed roast. I've no idea if the owners are still the same but I suspect not.

We got ourselves a mixed roast meat - char siew, duck and roast pork. Pretty good. Liked the tender roast pork and duck. The char siew bits that were nicer were the ones that had burnt ends. The other parts of it were so so. I asked for fatty char siew and duck breast; those guys either didn't hear me or didn't care. Anyways, it's not bad. Would not mind coming back for them again.

The rice was drizzled with a dark sauce. I'm guessing dark soya sauce, their mix of spices and drippings from the meat they roasted.

Asked for extras because it was good with the rice but beware, it's pretty salty.