Shake Shack, Great World

Shake Shack has a new branch, a sixth one in Singapore out at Great World (#01-101, 1 Kim Seng Promenade). With that, there was also a limited time Jalapeño Ranch burger and fries on menu. Not impressed by the fries since ranch sauces have never been my thing. Should've listened to my inner voice and given it a pass for the regular cheese fries instead. 

The burger tasted like their ShackBurger with bacon and tomatoes even though it was Pepper Jack cheese they used. House pickled jalapeño (I know it doesn't look pickled but it was) provided the bit of acid (and no discernible heat) cutting into the rich cheese and meat.

If there was anything that I've discovered today about them, it was that their organic brewed ice tea can be ordered without ice. It's thick, astringently bitter and pretty aromatic. Best way to drink it methinks.

 

Pin Sheng Teochew Bak Chor Mee (品盛潮州肉脞面) re-visited

I must have subconsciously enjoyed the tom yam ba chor mee at Pin Sheng more than I had registered because I came back for the tom yam mee pok. Because texture. Had the same lip burning lime-y heat that got me the last time round. Liked the flavours from fish/meat paste balls and the fish dumplings - those things don't taste mass produced.

The regular bak chor mee 白的 wasn't so impressive because it was a little too dry and needed more flavour. More shallot oil or lard with proper tossing would have up the ante for this bowl.

Kopi di lo (shouldn't it be tid lo?) from here was unexpectedly decent. Reasonably strong local brew with a clean flavour that wasn't "cloudy" if you catch my drift.

Soya sauce stewed pig trotters with rice at Broadway

I've previously mentioned a mix pig's innards (猪什汤) at the Broadway coffeeshop at Toh Guan. The folks manning that stall seemed to have changed so I'm not sure if it's still the same but they are still selling the same stuff. Here's stewed pig trotters from them. Not bad. The skin and other gelatinous parts were expectedly tender and pretty slurpy. Meat was a little harder than I preferred but it's not a biggie. It's not the standards of what I've previously eaten at Joo Siah (which has since relocated) but still very edible. This one just needs more intensity with/from the stewing liquid.

See Sean Rice Stall (时鲜饭店), People's Park Complex Food Centre

If anyone was wondering what was remarkable about this particular plate of Yang Zhou fried rice, here's a clue in to the obvious. They use real char siew instead of crab sticks or the gooey matter that's pretending to be crab sticks which are in turn pretending to be char siew. The other thing would be those golden brown nuggets in the fried rice - those were fried lard, not salted fish. Coupled with some smoky scorching on the rice, it made a pretty good eating with their cut chillis.

While waiting for the rice to be fried, I went through a duck drumstick which I had added on to the order fried rice. Meat was reasonably tender with full flavoured skin and some bits of fat. Yes, these guys (#01-1026 People's Park Complex Food Centre, 32 New Market Road) indeed do both roast meats (烧腊) and cze char.

More salt and fat from iSteaks

That's their bacon steak. Thick cut, salty and meaty with fat and smokiness. Came with a pretty smoky barbecue sauce on the side. I'm normally not big on those but I liked the smoky sweetness from this one.

Another picture of the capped loin of lamb which I haven't been able to get away from since. That scored fat cap was well salted and seared for that extra umami caramelized flavour on the meat. I wonder if these are the rosu equivalent for lamb. So good.

Pin Sheng Teochew Bak Chor Mee (品盛潮州肉脞面), Eng Hoon Street

Out back behind Chapter 55 along Tiong Poh Road to Eng Hoon Street is Pin Shen Teochew Bak Chor Mee (#01-46, 56 Eng Hoon Street, tel : +65 8833 2282) - housed within the same coffee shop as a certain Tiong Bahru Yong Tau Hu stall

I've passed them by a number of times over the past year and have been wanting to give them a try. Saw that they have a tom yam bowl which looked intriguing. I ordered one and was intently observing the assembly of the bowl until it was plopped onto the tray and I was arrested by a “要小柑橘吗?”

小柑橘 refers to calamansi. A common lime variety found in this parts. All that was needed was a squeeze and a drizzle over the mee kia - one that had a moderate burn from the heat, was lime-y and lemon grassy from an enjoyable savoury tom yam broth. There was also a large fish dumpling among the toppings they had in the bowl. Not so much minced pork though. But I will come back for this.