Sakunthala's, Safra Mt. Faber

We've seen Sakunthala's whenever we're at Mustafa and also have been recommended to give them a try. We ended up going for the first time at their branch at Mt. Faber (#01-07 SAFRA Mount Faber, 2 Telok Blangah Way, tel : +65 6261 0314). Food was not bad but the ventilation left much to be desired.

Lassi - first time getting them sugarless. If one is familiar with Greek yoghurt, this tasted similar. The texture had little bits of curdled milk sediments though. 

This was their fish kothu prata - the back part of the name means chopped prata. As the name implies, this was chopped up prata which also has been stir fried with bits of fish, green chilli, eggs and a bunch of spices. Served with assam fish curry and raita. The savouriness with along with the spices paired with textures from the chopped up bits. Nice. Portions were pretty generous.

Their lamb chops were pretty chunky unlike what their menu illustrated - which was a rib of lamb with some meat. The actual serving didn't look like that and had a lot more meat. Ended up having to pack one portion home because it was a little too much food. That meat was pretty tender and yet retained enough meaty bite. Not bad.

Kashmiri pulao ordinare? I don't know. Someone could educate me. Most of the time, these don't come with much of real dried fruit. Preserved fruits, yes.

So other than raisins, there were maraschino cherries and candied orange peel with nuts. The rice also had ghee. In totality, more ingredients than other renditions we've tried. Those orange peel bits in particular added aroma. The sweetness paired pretty well with the mutton chops and fish tikka. Portions were huge and we had to pack some home.

Fish tikka was pretty salty and for all their red and char, didn't taste very smoky. The meat had a muddy/earthy flavour which meant it came from a freshwater fish. Tender and flaky but not so firm.

Ordered a masala milk hoping that it would taste like the one from Chellas in days gone by. It didn't. But it also didn't taste bad. Would have been nicer if they made this with a stronger masala mix.

Ordinary Burgers, City Square Mall

Finally managed to try Ordinary Burgers (#B1-K11/K13 City Square Mall, 180 Kitchener Road, tel : +65 9800 5878). They're a homegrown Halal burger label which I had sniffed out possible potential some time ago. We picked up their double beef which turned out to be pretty good. 

As much as it might have looked like Omakase Burger or resemble Shake Shack, the quality of the beef and the type of buns were different. I liked that they got enough crusty char on the surface of the beefy patty pairing with the creamy cheese. This tasted pretty close to the other two "smash burgers" and was less stressful to the wallet to boot. 

Catching seasonals, variations and regulars at Atout

This was our first time back at Atout since the world got brought down to its knees. The last time we had food from the restaurant was home delivery more than a year back. 

While this looked that the lobster bisque we've been getting almost every time we were here, it's not. This was clam & saffron soup with scallop dumplings. Very nice creamy saffron flavour that was velvety like soup can be and I liked those sweet scallop dumplings.

That's cod liver pate - the thing that we almost always order. Kinda hard to get past this even with the home delivery we did.

Brittany artichokes are in season so we got ourselves one. These were steamed like those that we used to get at Le Bistrot du Sommelier. But unlike those from those we used to get at Le Bistrot du Sommelier, these were noticeably smaller.

Smaller artichokes meant smaller scales which meant less edible portions at the based of the scales to nibble at. But the heart of it was still delicious.

We've had their ribeye au poivre in brandy sauce a couple of times. Those were crusted with regular black pepper. Today, we went with the one with yellow Kampot pepper crust which we were told was less spicy. We couldn't tell the difference. But it was a delicious peppery steak. 

What we were looking forward to were their sautéed Mirabelle plums. They were in season and their season is short. Those plums weren't overly sweet and had a tartness that reminded us of apricots - balanced with a creaminess from the ice cream and crunch from the sweet crumbles sprinkled on. 

Sugarless.

Xing Hua (兴化), Tiong Bahru Plaza

This shop is located next to Nana Curry. We've noticed them (#02-110 Tiong Bahru Plaza, 302 Tiong Bahru Road) for a while now. Curiosity prevailed and we wanted to know if they were good. 

Their sweet & sour pork with lychee was competently done. Some of the pieces were fatty pork belly and others were lean meat but they all had a good crusty surface from the deep fry. Easily one of the better sweet & sour pork we've had in recent times. My only gripe was that the lychees weren't stir fried with the pork. I know because they were the only items on the plate that was slightly chilled. 

The short of it was they did a pretty tasty and savoury Heng Hwa bee hoon. Flavour was much more intense than the one from Putien Delights but the quality wasn't the level which Putien is at. Then again, neither was the price. They also didn't use those Duotou clams here. That being said, I'd happily eat this again. 

Never had Mazu mee sua before so I haven't any comparisons. This was essentially the broth-y version of the Heng Hwa bee hoon with mee sua instead of bee hoon. That broth had a similar taste profile with a cabbage-y sweetness like the white lor mee we've had at Old House. Not bad.

Another go at Traditional Hainanese Curry Rice (中国街海南咖哩饭)

I mentioned giving Traditional Hainanese Curry Rice another try minus the stewed cabbage the last time. Well, it looked like the stewed cabbage didn't look so soup-y today and couldn't have diluted the curry much. I noticed what was mixed with the curry from the pot at the back was the braising sauce that they cooked the pork belly. Anyways I didn't get the cabbage, they're good and I liked that the plate didn't sit heavy.

Golden Brown at Akashi

Word out was that Akashi started selling burgers trying to beat the poor business during the pandemic. That burger business, Golden Brown, was initially on Oddle just for delivery but you can order them at the restaurant and eat there now. 

Can't be sure if this was the first time we were having their pitan tofu but they were not bad. Savoury sweet with the century egg yolk flavour prominent in the sauce.

I haven't had many ebi katsu burgers but this ebi katsu baga from Akashi was likely the best one I've ever eaten. Frills free with nothing but Kewpie mayo. In between the brioche, that thick ebi katsu patty was made with both minced and whole prawns. Crisp on the outside, tender and moist on the inside. One could taste the sweetness from those prawns. Freshly made on order. 

That's their double cheese hambaga. Served with a beef bone broth instead of fries. What I've read about the meat was "minced Aussie chuck roll and strip loin with a 15 percent ratio of wagyu fat". The patty had a nice char and was delicious so maybe that wagyu fat had something to do with it. The sauce and pickled vegetables distracted the flavours from the beef which was a pity. I know it's suppose to be a hambaga but I couldn't taste the cheese so I'm not feeling this. It's not a bad burger, just not one I'll eat again. 

Wouldn't have known that this was a beef bone broth if I hadn't read about it. There's some sweetness and doesn't otherwise have much flavour or salt.