Makan Society SG, Chinatown Food Centre

At least half of the stalls at Chinatown FC were closed. I was looking around for lunch because what I had wanted was also not opened for the day and I stumbled upon Makan Society SG (#02-052, Chinatown Complex Market and Food Centre, 335 Smith Street). These guys are just a few stalls away from Lin Da Qiang and Mr Fish.

That above was rice layered with sotong hitam, some curry mutton and sambal goreng. Pretty decent. I had initially thought that the rice needed more gravy but I found that there was a pool of that cuttlefish ink gravy from the sotong hitam at the bottom of the box. Plenty of savoury/umami going on - was pretty happy with the flavour of mutton from the curry and the cuttlefish ink. 

Speaking of mutton, they were relatively tender but tasted like frozen meat. Squid had that seafood-y flavour of something stewed in that ink so that was nice. I've had tastier sambal goreng though.

Tiong Bahru Braised Duck (中峇魯卤鸭), Tiong Bahru Food Centre

I've noticed this Tiong Bahru Braised Duck (#02-43, Tiong Bahru Food Centre, 30 Seng Poh Road) for some time. All of the time that I've seen them, the stall has always appeared to be 'low-key'. Not Loki, but something a little inconspicuous and excitement free. Just an impression of course. Hence I have never gotten enticed enough to give them a try. Until today that is.

I added on braised intestines, pickled mustard and an egg to an order of duck rice. That somehow resulted in the takeaway packing of the larger foam box. The stall uses white rice which is a characteristic of Teochew styled braised duck. What was a little disappointing was the lack of the braise flavour in those intestines. Would have liked it better if the braising sauce they ladled over the rice had a more intensity. Duck was okay but I wouldn't classify this as memorable. 

Lamb brain fried rice from Al Dawood Kambing Soup

No kidding, there's lamb brains in there. I figured that since these folks have lamb brains for their kambing soup and they do have nasi goreng putih on the menu, I could just ask them to do a lamb brain nasi goreng. Which they obliged. What they did was add those brains into the fried rice and did the stir fry with them. So those brains ended up in little bits like minced meat and one couldn't readily tell because they were about the same colour as the fried rice. 

Yeap, I could taste them in most of the mouthfuls of rice with that slightly liver-y flavour. Not bad.

A Monte Cristo sandwich from Simply Sandwich

Simply Sandwich (#01-15 The Metropolis, 9 North Buona Vista Drive, tel : +65 6684 3575) sprung up from Simply Bread I don't know when. I haven't had anything from them since their old setup at Robertson Quay which was a long time back. Here's a Monte Cristo sandwich from them - a French toasted ham and cheese sandwich. Egg soaked overnight according to them and sourdough I think. I had been imagining that it would come with a jam of some sort but they gave honey instead. Not bad for a takeaway.

Coffee Break @ Hong Lim Food Centre

So Coffee Break has another shop at Hong Lim (#02-41 Hong Lim Food Centre, 531A Upper Cross Street). This one doesn't do toast but I think they have a similar gamut of beverages as the stall at Amoy Food Centre. I got myself a masala coffee to see if they tasted the same. I think the Amoy stall has a more feisty masala infusion than this one. Not that I didn't enjoy this.

Dry mee siam from Old Chang Kee

I've noticed the dry mee siam from Old Chang Kee for some time and curiosity got the better of me. I didn't like it. The bee hoon were stringy without much moisture and it didn't taste very mee siam-y. That being said, I'm glad that I asked for an extra lime to go along which helped. Those tau pok they threw in were like dry bland husks of fried matter. Wouldn't get this again. Thankfully I got those giant fishballs.