Istimewa Nasi Padang, Hoy Fatt Road

This nasi padang (28 Hoy Fatt Road) was not bad at all. At least it wasn't from what I've gotten. The paru goreng was well spiced, had a nice chewy texture and more tender than they dry look suggested. Very decent sambal goreng on the side and also got myself some nice sotong masak hitam stuffed with squid roe. Not forgetting that zesty sambal belachan on the side packed some heat that I enjoyed.

Putian Delights (莆田美食), Alexandra Village Food Centre

I've noticed this stall (#01-88, Alexandra Village Food Centre, Blk 120 Bukit Merah Lane 1) for some time now. Have been wondering how the "street level" Putian food compares with what we have always been getting from Putien. So we tried a couple of items we liked - like their Xinghua bee hoon and the stir fried yam.

The obvious visual cue was that the bee hoon used here were the regular variety - meaning that it wasn't as fine as the ones that one gets from Putien. The ingredients were more sparse and the flavour in the noodles were very much lighter as well. This large portion came with a few clams, shrimps and so little bits of pork and seaweed that it wasn't even worth mentioning. Chilli sauce was spicy and sour, not as vibrantly lime-y like Putien.

It was also much cheaper than eating than at Putien. If one didn't make comparisons, it was a pretty light flavoured yet fairly tasty plate of bee hoon which one could inhale with ease.  

Again to compare, these stir fried yam didn't have the crust nor the flavouring from the fish sauce that those from Putien do. Putien's yams all come in blocks while this one has the "edges" of the cut yam as well. Not a biggie. It was still sweet with a coating of sugar and one could still taste the yam. Not bad methinks.

Truffled dumpings and steamed rice from Victor's Kitchen

Victor's Kitchen has some truffled dim sum so we came over to try. By 'truffled', it was black truffle puree over their steamed dumplings, not sliced summer black truffles.

As mundane as the dumplings looked, I enjoyed the black truffle siew mai. According to them, the puree was made with Grade A Italian black truffles. While I personally couldn't tell, I liked that the truffle flavour complemented rather than overwhelmed the stuffings of the siew mai.

These were black truffle cordyceps har gow - different looking from their regular variety har gow. Pretty good tasting too with the cordyceps.

I liked their steamed chicken rice. Have been wanting to come back to get a bowl of this since that CNY rendition with lup cheong some years ago. We also had the pork rib steamed rice with fermented black beans. The meat here was a little tougher so I like the chicken one better. Rice was delicious with the sliced chilli padi.

Re-visiting So Good Char Chan Tang

We've noticed a number of people ordering their tomato baked pork chop rice so we decided to get one to understand for ourselves. While I'm usually not so big on tomato based sauces, I think I kinda liked this because I was shovelling spoonful after another in my face. That sauce wasn't overly tangy and had a creaminess that wasn't overwhelming. Unexpectedly moreish.

The rice beneath was a lightweight egg fried rice. Pork chop underneath the tomato was okay-ish. This is normally not my kind of dish but I don't think I would mind eating it again.

Pork trotter noodles weren't that impressive. Noodles had a nice texture but also a more obvious alkali flavour this time round. While those pork trotters were tender, they were also pretty bony. They were also served cold. 

Not a bad corned beef and egg sandwich. Would be nicer if the corned beef were more well distributed though.

There's steamed milk under desserts. Wasn't very milky. Portion was tiny and the standards weren't anywhere close to even chains in Hong Kong like Yee Shun Milk Company. Now that we're comparing, Honeymoon Dessert makes much better steamed milk as well. So did Ji De Chi.

Steamed kaya butter bread from Tong Ah Eating House (東亞餐室)

What I found odd about this steamed bread from Tong Ah was that it wasn't particularly hot or even very warm. Unlike those piping hot ones from Yat Kun where the butter had mostly melted through and soaked in to the bread. What their steaming managed successfully was to get the plate hot. Maybe the bread was just slightly warm. It was still nice being fluffy and all with the kaya and butter though.

Ann Chin Popiah (安珍), Chinatown Food Centre

Not bad tasting poh piah from Ann Chin (#02-112 Chinatown Complex Market and Food Centre, 335 Smith Street). Stuffings were strewn with fried crispy bits and this was one of those rolls that wasn't heavy on the garlic.