The Hainan Story Chapter One, Hotel Boss

This place (#01-09 Hotel Boss, 500 Jalan Sultan, tel : +65 6291 1969) used to be one of the Founder Bak Kut Teh branches until it wasn't anymore. Not that I was sad to see them go. I wasn't. Not the slightest bit. It's now The Hainan Story Chapter One, a multiple food stall in one location restaurant which purports to celebrate the love of Hainanese food. We came over to pig out.

Ordered their white kway chap set with salted duck.

Kway came in a white broth unlike the usual brown one. A more prominently sweet and not as savoury white broth which was quite delicious. Not so herbal tasting but I couldn't otherwise put a finger into what was inside.

The salted duck was marinated in spices which contained sugar - that much we could tell from the sweetness in the meat. Not bad tasting. That marinated egg had a robust soya sauce flavour. 

We had pumpkin porridge. This one was with three eggs and pork meatballs. Those eggs (raw, salted and century) added flavour and richness to the porridge which had a light pumpkin flavour. It wasn't just colouring. Meatballs were tender, porky and good quality. Wouldn't mind getting this again.

Their pork satays were hefty. Meaty and had that bit of scorched fat in between the chunks of meat. But at $15 for 10, it was also more expensive than many. Flavour of the marinate was nice - reminded me of the satay I had eons ago.

Satay came with two sauces. Left was the regular peanut satay sauce - the peanuts were more finely crushed and it had enough peanuts for the flavour to be good. Consistency was also properly thick so it clung on well to the satay when you dipped. Right dip was a pineapple puree and tamarind which was also delicious. Flavour was sweet and tangy. Different from the old Hainanese stalls that used to give just fresh pineapple puree.

Barbequed stingray was not bad. The meat was super firm (for stingrays that is) and less tender than what I had imagined because it wasn't so easy to scrape them off the cartilage. Flavour from the sambal was not bad - in a way that it reminded me of the better ones I've had in Newton Food Centre many years ago. I haven't had good barbequed stingray for many years though.

We kinda let ourselves loose with the desserts. Tried their coconut pandan Swiss roll. Wasn't bad and I think many people who have tried the ones from Rich & Good Cake Shop would compare. The Rich & Good Cake Shop ones are a slight notch better in my opinion.

I wanted to know how they would fare with their durian Swiss roll since they had the testicular fortitude to mention the use of old tree mao shan wang. I think it needs a lot more durian pulp; say like the amount that is desserts stalls that make proper durian desserts. I couldn't with any certainty at all tell that this Swiss roll even used msw. Wouldn't get it again. It's more expensive than the other Swiss rolls.

Tried their rum & raisin butter cake. Rum flavour was present and obviously so for the raisins as well. I've previously mentioned what I had thought about commercial butter cakes today and I think the one from Little House of Dreams is nicer.

This was kaya toast with butter. Kaya was infused with gula melaka. Nice! Bread was soft.

I think they did well with their coffee. It's Hainanese styled coffee if anyone was still wondering at this point. I had it di lo and they offer the option for them to be butter-ized. I made up the last word but you get the point. No need to scramble for seats with Instagrammers at Heap Seng Leong anymore.

Lee Kheong Roasted Delicacy (李强烧臘), Hong Lim Food Centre

I remember eating at Lee Kheong a couple of times back in the day when they were at People's Park Food Centre. I remember them being quite nondescript apart from the queue and the stall looked old. Kind of forgot about them for years until I learnt that they relocated to Hong Lim Food Centre (#02-47 Hong Lim Food Centre, 531A Upper Cross Street) so I wanted to revisit.

As if déjà vu, it was quite nondescript apart from the queue and the stall looked old. Got myself a $4 plate of char siew and roast pork. Not bad if I might say so. Kinda liked the sweet sauce and their tangy/sweet/spicy chilli sauce that had a roasted flavour. Will come back another time.

Bak kut teh "ramen" from Sushiro...and other stuff

The uni ramen and their hae mee has been rotated off menu at Sushiro. I will miss the latter. But they've a bak kut teh ramen. Now one must take the moniker 'ramen' with a pinch of proverbial salt. It's not really much of ramen as many of us might know it. Just noodles in broth. I don't know how Sushiro does theirs but it did taste like bak kut teh with a light pepperiness and garlic in the flavour. The rib was marinated and pretty tender. Better than I had imagined.

In other news, aji seems to be in season and they have thrown together a aji katsu nigiri. We got some freshly fried fish but don't expect these to taste as good as the proper ones. At least now we know.

Revisiting the spicy dry Megamen from Brothers Ramen

I've been resisting doing a take out of this dry megamen from Brothers Ramen during the HA period since noodles generally don't travel well. Even though they will likely pack the noodles separately from the broth, nothing beats eating ramen freshly served. I missed this.

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.