Revisiting Gin Khao

It's been almost 5 years since we first/last ate at Gin Khao. The vibe of the restaurant seemed to have changed. To something a little more subdued. Quiet for a week night with what little energy left that hasn't been siphoned off by the neighbouring hotpot restaurants. Felt that way.

Wanted to try new dishes but couldn't resist getting the tom kha gai which I remembered liking from the previous time. Thankfully, it was still good with the clarity from the tanginess and coconut milk. 

Tried their prawn cakes. They were dryer than the recent ones we've had from Soi Thai Soi Nice and also less springy in texture. But the flavour from the minced bits of prawns were a bit more intense. Soi Thai Soi Nice's prawn cakes tasted a little more mousse-y. 

We wanted to order their kang kong with fermented beans. They informed us they ran out of kang kong and offered to use kailan instead. It looked like oyster sauce kailan when it was served. We feedback and they said they would redo. The replacement serving looked similar. Turns out that it wasn't a fermented bean paste or sauce. Just a few fermented beans. Didn't have much of those flavour. Chilli padi made it good though.

Not a bad stir fried kailan to be fair. The dish just was not what we were thinking of. Pretty good eating with rice that's been ladled over with the broth from the tom kha gai.

Pretty sure this longan sweet and sour pork wasn't Thai. That's right - it's longan and not lychee. The longans were not part of the stir fry process. We knew because the pork was arm and the longans were chilled. The pork was nice though. Nicely deep fried before stir frying and the sauce reminded me of sweet and sour pork from days gone by.

Shake Shack(les)

We were heading down Neil Road on the way to someplace else and noticed that there wasn't a queue when we passed by Shake Shack. The fastest change of minds took place.

So this happened.

Tried their new Chick'n Bites. Kinda like McNuggets but made from whole chicken meat chunks rather than reconstituted ones. All-natural, antibiotic-free whole muscle, sous-vide, hand breaded and prepared on order...blah blah blah. Pretty tender and not bad tasting. A bit expensive though.

There's currently a mandarin orange shake on the menu. Possibly a CNY thingy. The cream even had some shaven orange zest. Shake managed to capture some of that orange flavour but none of the citrus. That's how it tasted. 

Their Shackburger is still reliable. Maybe not for everyone but I like it.

Restaurant Aisyah (西北香), Telok Ayer Street

I was keen to try Restaurant Aisyah (176 Telok Ayer Steet, tel : +65 9372 4321) when I read about them opening earlier in the year. The reason was because they were suppose to be a showcase of cuisine from the region of Xinjiang which is uncommon on this island and exploring some of these Chinese Muslim food from that region has been a thing of mine. We managed to come down for lunch recently. Pity - I wanted to like them.

Tried their cumin mutton dry noodles. Reminded me instantly of the Tohu Goshi langmeni at the Dolan Uyghur Restaurant because of the similar type of noodles and sauce - with some differences. The portions here were puny. The amount of cumin flavour for a dish with cumin in its name was....let's say puny. The minced mutton had a very good amount of natural meat flavour going on but I wished there were more of it. Not a bad plate of noodles but I can imagine this being much better.

Not much mutton in the cumin mutton fried rice as well. Ditto for the cumin flavour. Not much ingredients in it for what it's worth. As a fried rice, it was not bad. As a cumin mutton fried rice, it was mediocre. I'd pay no more than $2 for it if I had a choice.

The menu mentioned stir fried kailan and beef. Unless it was stir fried in water, I'd say that the vegetables and beef were likely boiled. Not a bad dish but wasn't what I had expected from a stir fry. Not much beef flavour coming from the meat too.

The skewers were a last attempt to validate the restaurant. We wanted this to be good so that we could at least have a reason to come back. Left two were lamb and right three were chicken hearts. Latter was not bad. A little dry compared with those from izakaya/kushiyaki joints but I could go along. Mutton was $3 a skewer, double the dollar cost at Manchurian Restaurant and only half as good so that would make them four times as expensive. I wouldn't say that the taste was bad but we've had better.

It's a little difficult to justify $3 for these things when it's not so difficult to find street level quality for about a dollar each. What bothered me also was that these guys for some reason are holding back on the cumin which I think is self defeating.

Yan Kee Noodle House (炎记), Circular Road

I first/last ate at Yan Kee about a decade ago. Back then, they were a stall in the coffee shop across the road from where they are now (9 Circular Road). Today they're a shop of their own, selling pretty much the same stuff.

Was there any difference between then a now? I didn't think so. While I did seem to remember the noodles being a little more vinegar-y, I cannot be sure. Love the garlic and heat from their chilli sauce. Still a solid bowl I wouldn't mind getting when I'm in the vicinity though.

Arare soba from Healthy Soba IKI

This arare soba is the current special at Healthy Soba IKI. It's a hot bowl with little scallops perched on a sheet of seaweed on top of the soba. Doesn't come with the abura age, those were added on. Scallops which were still partially rare were nice with their own scallop-y sweetness but you'd have to eat them fast or they'll continue to cook in the hot broth.

Tracy Juice Culture, International Plaza

Tracy Juice Culture has set up a new shop at International Plaza (#01-54 International Plaza, 10 Anson Rd, tel : +65 9046 3318) and they're open on Saturdays. I suppose it was about time since they've never lacked customers and the shop at Fortune Centre is kinda small. Pretty much everything that's available from there (including the mushroom udon) is available here from what I could tell. Except the lei cha fan which I hope will be around someday.

Tried the fruit juice curry because I've never had it before. It's a bowl of udon with fruits and tofu.  I liked the broth for the fruity spicy flavours which reminded me of the assam/tamarind in Penang laksa. Beside the visible slices of dragon fruit and grapes, there were also cherry tomatoes and chunks of pineapple in the bowl. The small patch of shrubbery was laksa leaves. 

That's the peach gum cheng tng. Now that the weather has started getting warmer again, this was refreshing. Just some dates, dried longan, white fungus and peach gum in clear sweet soup.