White asparaguses, lamb rump and scallops at Bistro Du Vin

Another lunch at Bistro Du Vin.

Bread's no longer in baskets but paper bags. What we didn't understand was that butter's on every table and those were somehow excused from hygiene requirements in this social distancing era?

I seem to recall having onion soup here and being not impressed with them but cannot be sure if I remembered correctly. We enjoyed the onion soup today. I imagined what made this work was a good balance between the wine, beef stock and spices.

White asparagus was on the specials board. Wasn't impressive because it wasn't as juicy off the grill. White asparaguses don't have much complexity so if they don't deliver whatever little they have, they don't deliver much. Also, if the restaurant hadn't mentioned that the orange bits on the plate were Mimolette, I wouldn't have known either. I expected better of this restaurant than this weak posturing.

The St Jacques scallops weren't bad but were also not impressive either. These were thoroughly cooked instead of having a sear on the exterior with the inside still rare. Don't think I'll get them again. Would rather spend the money on those Georges Bank ones at Luke's. 

They did handle the lamb rump well. Was another special from the board. The meat was tender, chewy and layered with a good bit of flavour from the jus. The jus was described to be lamb and truffle but I couldn't get the least bit of truffle from the flavour. Also pretty expensive for the pretty small portions at $52. 

By the way, those aren't regular peas, carrots and corn at the bottom of the plate. The green and yellow thingy were balls of green and yellow zucchini. The orange balls were still carrots. 

Mrs Reuben with egg in garlic rye bagel from Two Men Bagel House

Things have been hectic lately and I was struggling over getting out of bed for breakfast or snoozing in for a well needed rest. Mrs Reuben beckoned and her siren song serenaded me out to get some. Bagels. With eggs. Here's link to some other bagels I've had before. (一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 十 十一 十二 十三)

I liked this. Pastrami with dill pickled cucumbers, Emmental and spicy Russian dressing. Small but hefty and very satisfying. 

Whampoa Soya Bean & Grass Jelly Drinks (黄埔豆花水), Whampoa Makan Place

We've gotten soya bean curd and drinks sporadically from this stall (#01-52 Whampoa Makan Place, 91 Whampoa Drive, tel :+65 9138 7800) for years. I remember the time when the stall used to be buzzing with bees. For some reasons, the bees aren't around anymore. 

Today, we tried something a little different from the plain bean curd we normally get. Bean curd with red beans (or are they kidney beans?) and gingko nuts. Not so big on those beans but the gingko nuts were tender and sweet.

They have rose flavoured soya bean drink which was basically infused with rose (bandung) syrup. I liked that they added enough for that rose flavour to be apparent and yet one could still taste the soya bean flavour.

Treasures Yi Dian Xin (一点心), Raffles City

Treasures Yi Dian Xin is by the Imperial Treasure Group - a casual outfit with a bit of similarity to their Noodle & Congee House. There are the main stays of noodles, porridge and dim sum and and the rest of the menu differs from there.

Chance happened us across a dried oyster and salted egg congee that they had on menu. Not a regular item. This was nice. Love the mix of dried oysters and salted egg flavours that melded in balance within the creamy porridge. The yolk from the salted egg was the reason why the porridge was yellowish. Not as gooey as the ones in Hong Kong but I'm not complaining.

Rice rolls with the regular sweet sauce and sesame sauce. Not bad.

Decent har gows. Theirs has always been. Though I do get the impression that the ones that are served at their Fine Teochew Cuisine are nicer.

Char siew baos were okay. Not particularly outstanding for the fillings but not bad as well. The porridge was the most memorable item we had this time.

Keat Lim Vegetarian Food (吉林(齋)素食), Whampoa Makan Place

There were two Chinese vegetarian stalls along this stretch at Whampoa food centre. We went for Keat Lim (#01-48 Whampoa Drive Makan Place, 91 Whampoa Drive), the one with a much shorter queue. It was okay as Chinese vegetarian noodles go. Wasn't bad but we've had better tasting ones. Like Seng Kee which was also much oilier or Ding Shan at Tiong Bahru FC. Maybe I'll try the other stall the next time which looked like they have nicer looking vegetarian goose.

Dong Bei Xiao Chu (东北小厨), Upper Cross Street

Have seen Dong Bei Xiao Chu (12 Upper Cross Street, tel : +65 6220 6876) a number of times while passing Upper Cross Street. Finally got curious enough to come by to try their food. Not to be confused with the popular Dong Bei Ren Jia (东北人家) less than a minute's walk away.

I think this might have been my first Xue Hua (雪花). It's a light lager for easy drinking which works for the food that we were going to have. Not as light as a particular Yanjing beer I've had previously though.

Nice sour and spicy potato strips (尖椒土豆丝). Had a good heat (more than the one from Tian Fu I have easier access too), prerequisite crunch and tanginess to make the dish.

Their skewered grills were competent as well. These platter had quail eggs, lamb and chicken hearts. Will come back for them because they were delicious.

There's cold noodles (冷面) on the menu. These were buckwheat noodles which looked and tasted like the Korean naengmyeon - broth was sweet/tangy and the noodles were slurpiliciously smooth.  

Corn kernels with savoury and sweet salted yolk. Each order needs to be shared with a few people or will be surfeited easily. Otherwise quite addictive.

That's their home made pig skin jelly. Their rendition of pork aspic in a mildly spicy, tangy and garlic-ky sauce. Nice.

This was called egg tofu in English on the menu. Chinese name's 风味鸡蛋干. Tasted like tau kwa with a firmer and smoother texture.  

We had 东北拉皮 - a chilled noodle salad with black fungus and julienned cucumbers. Don't know if these flat transparent noodles were made with mung beans or potatoes. Flavour was mildly spicy, sweet, nutty and tangy at the same time.

Mutton and winter melon soup. They managed to coax the mutton flavour into the soup. Also the clearest mutton soup I've had that hasn't been heavily spiced or herbed. Not bad.

Stir fried pickled cabbage with pig intestines (酸菜炒肥肠). Tangly, slightly spicy, savoury and offal-ly. We couldn't finish this and packed the remainder home. Mixed those with some of the leftover cubes of mutton from the soup above and scissored up cumin-ed grilled squids from them - made a super good dinner with instant noodles. The best you've never eaten!

Love their grilled shishamo too. An order of eight for $8.

Will definitely come back.