Luke's Lobster, Istetan Scotts

Finally got to try Luke's Lobster (#01-K4 Shaw House, 350 Orchard Road, tel : +65 6592 7642). I imagined that they would have ironed out staffing issues after all these time but it seems that the people behind the counter still don't know what they're serving because I was trying to ask and was given the sheepish looks of ignorance. The experience today felt like they were staffed with people who cannot handle beyond processing orders and cleaning up rather than a crew running a shop. Probably a reflection of the management anyway. Tattooed butch behind the counter has an attitude as well...

Anywayssss...the rolls were not bad. The bread was light, airy and buttery. Seafood tasted like they were soaked in water though. The shrimps were the weakest link with almost no flavour - made me miss those prawn rolls from Market Grill which blew these out of the water. Wouldn't get them again. Crabs were okay, meat had a briny sweetness. Lobsters were not bad. I kinda enjoyed the clam chowder too. Not gonna wait long in line for them though.  

Lambchuri in sesame bagel with an egg from Two Men Bagel House

 

Me like lamb. So here's the Lambchuri in sesame seed bagel with an added fried egg from Two Men Bagel House. Enjoyed it but there's mixed feelings. The tanginess from the chimichuri could be overwhelming the other ingredients (the haloumi and the lamb mostly) in the bagel sometimes. (一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 十 十一 十二)

Re-revisiting Jia Wang Cafe (佳旺)

Late dinner at Jia Wang. We came half an hour before they were closing so we got to sit indoors as they were packing up the tables outside. If you've noticed from the boxes of coloured preserved fruit/ginger, it seemed that they were also catered for lou hei.

We just wanted to try more of their food. Like their sum lou hor fun which was competent. I wouldn't rank this with the likes of Ka-Soh, Quan Ji or even the Holland V XO fish bee hoon shop but they weren't bad at all. This one also didn't cost as much. Fresh tasting firm slices of fish, a light smokiness to the hor fun and decent textures - qualifies them as a go to for neighbourhood cze char. 

We've never had a roast pork fried rice before so we tried theirs. Again, competent as neighbourhood cze char fried rice went - there's fried strips of pork belly in it. Flavour was a little peppery which I did not expect. I ate these with the sliced chillis which was awesome for 3/4 of the plate before the lip/tongue burn became too much for me. This plate was a little greasier than the sambal plate we had previously. Would not mind eating again. 

Some kailan stir fried with garlic for our dietary fibres. I liked that it was sufficiently salted and there were both bits of deep fried garlic and thin sliced stir fried garlic in there. Those thinly sliced garlic were caramelized and sweet.

Back at Menya Kokoro

We first ate at Menya Kokoro in August 19. In the approximately one and a half years between then at now, we've only visited a few times. The menu kept changing. So while I liked them in the past, the like existed in a spectrum. Spectrum's narrowing because they keep removing what I liked. 

There's a big pork mazesoba on the menu. Never had it before so we tried it. It's not bad. Savoury and also familiar in flavour in a Chinese kind of way. I can't put a finger to it right now. Don't know why they named it big pork though as it was essentially just thin pork slices. It was much tastier than the beef bowl they have which I did not enjoy because of the sweetness.

The spicy mazesoba I liked was also no longer on the menu. There's a mala version instead. I asked if they could do the spicy bowl without mala and they obliged. So I kinda got it off the menu. Good thing I asked.

Still as sweat inducing delicious as the last time. Couldn't waste the leftover sauce laden with minced meat.

So here's the after noodle rice treat.

The other item they took off the menu it seemed was their tori karaage. The one I had previously described as muscular. There's this kurozu rendition with presumably vinegar. It's not bad, one could imagine it as a sort of sweet and sour chicken. But it's also not the regular chunky one I had been looking forward to.

More TWG

This was a visit from Valentine's Day. TWG had a menu for that day which included things that weren't on the regular menu.

Like their Mon Amour tea which was black tea with yellow blossoms and quince. No idea what yellow blossoms are and I couldn't taste quince, but it was a pleasant ice tea.

These were their financiers - might have been raspberries in it. Which didn't do much to make them taste better. But as financiers, they were pleasant because they were heated up. Besides, one can always up the ante with their cream and tea jelly for that extra creamy richness or chilled fruity (or fruitea) tanginess. Or both together if one were inclined. 

We were actually drawn here today by their lamb. They only had one main for their Valentine's day menu. And it was lamb. Quite nicely done at that. It was to their normal form done with a jus infused with tea. Couldn't taste the tea but tasted good with the lamb and the olives. The brown crusty stuff on the top left were white truffle potato croquettes.

Mocktail of the day was made with breakfast tea, pomegranate and lime juice, strawberry purée and rose essence. This was delicious.

Getting (Park) Benched. This is the end...

...for the moment. They're gonna be closed for renovations and the last weekend was their last service. Word from them was that the menu is probably gonna be changed when they reopen. So it might be a last chance at what they have on menu. Until then, no more PBD.

I've been wanting to try their double cheeseburger. Not two stacked patties like one would normally think but across a French sub roll. There's American cheese, lettuce, tomato, bread & butter pickles and a burger special sauce which might not have been special but didn't get in the way of the other ingredients.

I liked it. Should have come for this sooner. Loved that the nicely charred beef patty stood out in the sandwich amid the other ingredients. 

Their roast chicken BLT was unexpectedly refreshing for a sandwich - roast chicken, seaweed tartar, bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado and lemon aioli in a sesame potato bun. Liked their seaweed tartar and that most of the salt came from the bacon.

Will be looking forward to them reopening again - whenever that might be.