Some grab and go spiced caffeine beverages at Botanic Gardens

We got these chilled drinks from The Provision Store at Ginger Garden just across from Halia in the Botanic Gardens. While not as strong as I would have preferred the spices and the coffee/tea flavours came through and they weren't bad at all. From the label, it's also obvious that the drinks were from Halia.

Hoshino Coffee, Capitol Piazza

This branch of Hoshino Coffee (#B2-55 Capitol Singapore, 13 Stamford Road, tel : +65 6384 5131) had always looked appealing as a sit down location compared to their others. Since we were attracted by their Hokkaido menu, it was a chance to see if it felt as nice actually sitting in. In other news, that above about was my first cheese tea. I get why people enjoy it - the salty cheesiness with the light sweetness.

The name for this dish was kinda long. Some like Omu Souffle 'Hokkaido' Seafood Rissoto with Lobster Bisque Soup. Yes it was spelled rissoto. If one didn't get hung up on that, it was actually a pretty decent wet rice/porridge thing with lobster bisque flavour. Found myself enjoying that omu soufflé which was soft and wobbly. Seafood was of the frozen variety and passable. The curious thing about this plate was the little blob of cream on top of the omu soufflé which was sweet. I liked that sweetness here though.

Wouldn't recommend their Hokkaido oyster spaghetti. Oysters were really small and not particularly impressive tasting. At all. Pretty sure that the prefecture of Hokkaido would not have been proud to have these represent them. This plate reminded me of 星洲米粉 or 香港面. Not even as tasty as their Hoshino spaghetti. 

That Hokkaido maritozzo looked and sounded good. Wouldn't get it again. The cream for some reasons tasted flat without any nuances. When paired up with the azuki, it all became pretty sweet and the cloy set in quickly. Something just didn't taste right with this.

Their Hokkaido mille crepe fare much better. That slightly salty creamy sauce was good pairing with the layered crepe.

Lo Chan Kee Cantonese Wanton Noodles (老陳記廣東雲吞麵), Holland Drive Food Centre

I've been wanting to try this Lo Chan Kee (#02-23 Holland Drive Market & Food Centre, 44 Holland Drive) for a while because I've been recommended. Now that I have, I thought their sui gao noodles (水饺面) was a let down because eating that came with the inevitable comparison with Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Noodle Rice (香港玫瑰油鸡麵饭) and Xiang Jiang Soya Sauce Chicken (香江豉油鸡).

The skin of the dumplings weren't as smooth and the stuffings didn't feel as bountiful if you catch my drift. There's only minced meat, no shrimps and wood ear fungus. These ones were 80 cents a piece so it just made more sense to pay $1.20 for that superior one at Beauty World. Also - clumpy dry noodles.

Guan's Mee Pok (阿源麵薄), Capitol Piazza

Have been wanting to come over to Guan's Mee Pok since they've setup an entire space of their own (#B1-55 Capitol Piazza, 3 Stamford Road). Previously they used to be a stall in the Food Republic a stone's throw away. The menu has gotten bigger so we tried some of the stuff that they didn't have in the past. Or at least we didn't recall them having. 

Like the mee pok with prawn paste balls. Loved the clean heat and tanginess from their chilli and vinegar. Texture of the noodles also held up well too. Those prawn paste balls were not bad tasting but they were also nothing we'd be looking forward to coming back for either.

There's crispy eel mee pok which looked good on the menu.

The actual fried eels had a thicker and crustier breading. Eels also tasted a little fishy. We got the sensing that they aren't great with fried stuff and we're definitely going to avoid them in the future. Does that mean that we'll be coming back?  Sure. For the mee pok and none of the fried things.

Tasted like how I remembered it from the last time we had them. Nice.

Some crunchy nai bai with chilli and fried lard? Yes please.

They were giving away a couple of fried prawn paste wings for some of the noodles we ordered. Edible. On hindsight, I wouldn't have paid for these knowing how they tasted. Ponggol Nasi Lemak just a few steps away makes much better regular ones.

More food from So Good Char Chan Tang at Capitol Piazza

These were from a couple of visits at the So Good at City Hall. The dark drink on the left was luo han guo (罗汉果) tea. Also known as monk fruit. I thought it was pretty good flavour but I've been spoilt by an old experience at the defunct Bon Bon Cafe in Hong Kong that very little if any could match that.

I've been curious about their char siew for a while. It's not so much like the local variety in flavour and doesn't have the caramelized shell on the exterior that is favoured by many. Myself included. The meat was tender without the crust but also much sweeter than I remember of many char siew experiences in Hong Kong. There seemed to be something like fermented bean flavour. Not bad tasting but also usually not my preferred style.

Beef brisket passed muster as these dishes go. Their curry has a different taste from the one at Tsui Wah. Briskets weren't as fall apart fatty as I was hoping for. For some reasons, we never get those quality of briskets here. Loved the chunks of tendon in the curry. 

This was braised fish head rice which I had ordered out of curiosity. In my head, I was imagining a whole fish's head but it was merely chopped up pieces. While the fish looked chunky like 鱼鸡, they weren't. Most of it were bones. There were also a few strips of braised pork belly in there. Didn't taste bad but I don't think I'll be getting this again because there was little meat from the fish and I didn't think much of their oyster sauce gravy. 

Corned beef and egg sandwich was good. Seemed better than the last time we had it.

Prefer Tsui Wah's condense milk buns over this because those tasted more buttery and "juicy", not to mention also with a lighter crisp. This one wasn't bad but the buns were dry-ish and crustier.

Kin Kao Young, 313 Somerset

This restaurant (B2-01/02/03, 313@Somerset, 313 Orchard Road) for some reasons reminded me of a localized and less polished version of Kub Kao' Kub Pla. Looking back in retrospect, I couldn't even pinpoint why was that so. Some of the food was a little sweet here.

Khao kha moo was not bad. Not one of the better we've had but still pretty competent. Can't compare the standards here to the ones in Bangkok of course. Which are cheaper and features better stewing. Enough of this already.

I kinda enjoyed their tom kha gai with the mild heat and tanginess but towards the end, the sweetness got to me. Broth was creamy, coconut-y and filled with mushrooms and chunks of chicken thigh.

We had a bowl of pork rib rice noodles. Didn't expect to get so much pork ribs and ones at these sizes. Nice. These tender slide off the bone ribs were delicious with the garlic chilli dip. They costed about the same as a bowl of prime rib bak kut teh.

Halibut steamed with lime, sugar, garlic and coriander. Fish was okay-ish. We ordered this because Thai steamed fish generally do not use halibut and we wanted to try it. Pretty good flavouring there from the tangy lime and garlic. Loved the heat but I thought there was a bit too much sweetness in their concoction.