Luke's Oyster Bar & Chop House - a return to Gemmill Lane

We've only eaten at Luke's at Gemmill Lane once. That was the first time. That original location was two doors down from here. Before it for a while became Wolf and then Angeleno for too short a time. Technically this was a first visit in this setup (22 Gemmill Lane, tel : +65 8125 5256). Classy looking like they've always been. Less white than the original space two doors down, less dark than my preferred location in town.

Take a time jump the previous occasions we ate at their restaurant. (一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八)

There's whispers from a little bird that the corn bread is smaller these days.

I didn't notice, couldn't tell. As far as I am concerned, they've been too small since day one. They still taste good though.

Their steak fries for lunch is generally reliable and delicious. Down to the salad because it was properly tossed with just enough dressing. I swapped out the fries for the coleslaw which is my favourite coleslaw in this country. Bar none as of now. Creamy, tangy and fennel-y without being excessive.

Their steak comes with Béarnaise. Have never been much for that. Today was different. It was a lot more buttery than I remember of Béarnaise. I've found something else to like it seems.

Mee pok at Covent Garden Prawn Noodle

So this time it was mee pok. Got a $4 bowl with extra ingredients. The extra was a dollar more which adds up to $5. Again, I asked for no pork which they registered this time.

They've given me prawns with tail shells so I guess the "larger" bowls come with that. Still 3 prawns though. Maybe a bit more fish cakes as well. I'm not feeling the extra ingredients here unless that additional dollar I paid for was for a few more slices of fish cake. These prawns weren't of better quality than the shelled ones. So essentially I felt like I'm getting a $4 bowl minus pork and a bit more fish cakes. Confused? You're not alone.

The queue has visibly lessened since they've reopened and something has changed though I don't know exactly what. I'd say they're of decent standards and nothing more.

What Miznon keeps (in Davy Jones' Locker)

No, not the fennel. Not that particular locker that is. We managed to get counter seats at Miznon today.

Ordered a portion of their masabaha. Cooked chickpeas with chilli, tomatoes, tahini, hard boiled eggs and maybe olive oil too. I liked how they salted this.

We tried a couple of their seafood stuffed pitas. This was fish & chips which featured seared barramundi and fried potatoes. Loved the tanginess from the vinegar and pickles pairing with the creamy aioli on the fish. 

The other, Adom Yam, had seared calamari; not forgetting loads of sweet crunchy onions with sour cream. The sauce that soaked into the pita was savoury and peppery. Another delicious one as well.

Famous Queens Briyani, Maxwell Food Centre

Can't say that I've noticed this stall (#01-12 Maxwell Food Centre, 1 Kadayanallur Street) previously but their butter chicken briyani intrigued me so I ordered one. It's not the same butter chicken that I'm familiar with in a couple of ways. Instead of chicken tikka, it was a fried chicken drumstick/thigh that's slathered with the butter chicken gravy. Secondly, that gravy was much more savoury and less sweet. That didn't mean that it wasn't rich though.

How was it? Not bad I would say. The rice was fragrant with spices and properly salted that it was good enough to eat on it's own. The sambal from the egg was delicious.

Peanut butter, banana and Parma ham sandwich

I used the seedy Everything Butter from Fix & Fogg from the last time. Ham is from Huber's. Banana for its taste and sweetness because the latter helps with the nut butter. The lesson here was not to hold back on the prosciutto di Parma because the flavour from the banana is pretty strong. I only managed to get the aroma from the ham in some bites while for others, it was just a mild saltiness. Overall pretty tasty. 

Old Village, Tanglin Halt

A small section of social media is abuzz lately with mentions of this stall (#01-265, 49 Tanglin Halt Road) selling what is termed as KL styled pork noodles. Said stall is run by the guy who started Old World Bakuteh. If anyone is wondering about the address, it's in the same Peking Room coffeeshop as Tanglin Halt Roti Prata & Nasi Briyani.

The thing to eat here is their pork soup. I got the mixed pork bowl that came with minced pork, sliced pork, pork liver, pork balls and sweet intestines. Not forgetting bits of fried pork lard (猪油渣) and some vegetables. The soup was mild and it had a layer of oil on top. I don't know if lard (猪油) has been added to that soup but I couldn't taste it.

One can pick a starch of noodles or rice or long bean pork belly rice to go with the soup. This was the latter. Long beans and cabbage in the rice were pretty wilted and actually pretty sparse. There's a prominent black pepper flavour but otherwise, it tasted like a salty yam rice. Deliciously salty in my opinion. Not sure if I tasted any pork belly.

They have a green chilli sauce. It's good. Both as a dip for the morsels of pork or on the rice. Spicy, tangy and there's some sweetness.