Yanti Authentic Nasi Padang, Keong Saik Road

I've seen this nasi padang shop (45 Keong Saik Road, tel : +65 6324 9268) countless times. They're another one of those I've been meaning to eat at and has never happened until recently. 

The ordering was a little worrying because they had gotten one of my dishes wrong and forgotten another item in spite of appearances of having diligently written them down on a notepad. On top of that, there was an obviously angry delivery driver who looked like he was on the verge of lashing out because they had packed orders with missing items to him and he as the messenger delivery person had been blamed for the mistake and had his time wasted by the return to correct the order.

Food's not bad. 

Opor ayam was quite coconut-y and had chicken thigh meat that was slurp off the bone tender.

A decently done sotong hitam. What was strange was that towards the end, there was a burst of lime flavour in the gravy. I had no idea where that came from.

Paru belado was moist and tender. The chilli wasn't as fiery as appearances would suggest.

Sambal goreng nice.

Sambal petai packed a bit of heat, was slightly sweet and also savoury. Liked the flavours that the ikan bilis added to the sambal. Delicious with rice. Not much petai in it though.

I liked their garlic-ky and savoury stir fried kang kong but the dish was very stem-my. After a while, the chewing got tiresome. 

The rice that we had to have to go with the food. 

I'd rate the experience of the food at eateries like Sari Ratu, Tambuah Mas and Rumah Makan Minang to name a few to be better ones than Yanti. So while Yanti is like not bad, it's also not exactly on the top of the list for nasi padang in my books.

Lunch delivery from L'Angélus

I recall that in the last or the previous "dine out prohibition " before last time, we kinda had a craving for beef tartare. Maybe it was just me that had that craving and couldn't have them because none of the places that sold tartare de boeuf had them available for delivery. I had thought that perhaps it was for food safety reasons then.

Found them at L'Angélus this time in their $35 set lunches this time round. 

There's bone marrow with butter toast that came with a savoury sauce that served as the salt for the marrow. So good. 

Loved that livery porcine pate that they have as well. Their sweet onion chutney on the side was delicious - good with the pate and/or with the cornichons.

Here's their tartare de boeuf......portions were larger than I had imagined and to answer what might be unasked, while it was also not as nice as having it at the restaurant, it wasn't bad tasting at all. The condiments leaned towards being tangy rather than "seasoned to your liking" as the menu claimed though. The latter was for obvious reasons.

Crème brûlée was the only option for dessert for this $35 lunch. Nice creamy custard with dried raspberries to end.

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.