Master Prata, Alexandra Central Mall

We've seen Master Prata (#01-02 Alexandra Central, 321 Alexandra Road, tel : +65 8268 8210) around for a long time but haven't eaten from them until today. The place looked old school and is filled with the fumes of the grease that would cling onto your clothes. Aged and stained like an old cracked oil painting. 

Teh halia's not bad though.

The one on the left was the murtabak, not a plaster. Kosong's on the right. Their pastry is in a style that borders almost on a shallow fry and more crispy than chewy which I usually do not prefer. Presumably, there could be exceptions. But I liked that they didn't feel excessively greasy and ending up feeling heavy.

The mutton in the murtabak was marinated to the max. I could barely tell it's mutton so this would be a first and the last. Not as layered and nuanced compared to Zam Zam or Victory for sure. We had originally wanted to try their squid murtabak but squid was apparently not available today. At least it wasn't in the morning.

Thosai masala with egg and cheese wasn't that great. The potato/vegetable masala fillings were too wet. Could barely taste the cheese and egg for some reasons. But I think they did good chutneys. The left reddish one was tangy with the flavour of coriander which I had initially mistaken it for some sort of sambal. Coconut chutney on the right was pretty decent. Their sambar was also nice tasting.

That's a prata with cheese and dates. And a masala vadai.

Was served with a bowl of assam fish curry. Sweetness from the dates and the cheese made it delicious. That dense crusty masala vadai was pretty good soaked with the fish curry.

Re-visiting Gaston

We enjoyed the food from Gaston the last time so we came back for more.

Still serving that sourdough.

We started with some Kir and Lillet Vive...

...before we were impressed with their pôchouse bourguignonne - a creamy seafood stew with some potatoes, mussels, a scallop and halibut. Pretty impressive seafood flavour in the salty broth which we had initially imagined to be tomato based. Shellfish were outstanding and fish was also delicious. Wiped the plate clean with their bread.

This was their skate Véronique, not the more traditional Sole Véronique because they had run out of Dover sole. While that sauce Véronique looked similar to the earlier fish stew, the flavour was a little different. Loved those grapes. Pretty sure the traditional one doesn't have ikura as well. Skate was very tender. Another delicious dish where we wiped the plate with bread.

The sauce Véronique dish came with a side of choice. We ended up with their leeks fondue which was cooked in cream and probably butter and topped with crushed hazelnuts. Sweet, creamy and delicious.

Not forgetting their foie de veau et oignons caramélisés - seared veal liver with sweet caramelized onions. Outstanding veal dish with a solid salty crust from the sear and tender creamy livery on the insides which paired beautifully with the softened sweet onions. Impressed.

Ponggol Nasi Lemak : The plate with the fried chicken drumstick and chicken wing

Hmmm...this plate from Ponggol Nasi Lemak felt festive. Hahaha! It's been months since we last ate here. The standards have maintained. 

A lunch from Leng Kee (龍記) and Hock Le Xiang (福乐香)

Woohoo! Managed to get fish roe with my sliced fish soup at Leng Kee (龍記) today!

I wanted to try the rojak from Hock Le Xiang (福乐香) after seeing them the last time. I liked that they were pretty generous with the rojak sauce and crushed peanuts. Pineapples were sweet and juicy. Will come back for this again.

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.