BBQ Box (串烧工坊), Cheong Chin Nam Road

Didn't realize that BBQ Box has an outpost along Upper Bukit Timah (22 Cheong Chin Nam Road, tel : +65 6463 2981) until a couple of months ago. There's a whole bunch of beers and stuff that I never remembered them selling. We were here for a keto-ish dinner.

The grilled skewers were hits and misses like the previous times I've had them. But as a whole, they weren't bad. I'd avoid the beef items the next time, the pork only had flavour on the surface and today's shishamo were skinny and stuck to the skewers.

Mushrooms were not bad though.

Lady's fingers were pretty good. Nice light crunch and plenty of flavour from their spice powder.

Lamb ribs weren't bad. Meat was reasonably tender and lamb-y but the crispy parts were a little hard.

Same thoughts as the last time I had their scallops. Nice garlicky spicy flavour from the sauce which more or less covered up any natural flavour of the shellfish. If there were any left of them that is.

Oysters had pretty much the same treatment as the scallops. These oysters were quite meaty, not to mention fresh tasting and firm. Pleasantly surprised by the quality.

Same garlicky spicy meat sauce for their eggplant. Hah! I didn't think anyone would have thought this was eggplant. I liked that the chilli padi added spikes of heat.

Open faced sandwich with Nutella, Greek yoghurt and flaxseed meal

This has been admittedly inspired by a gelato we had years ago in Florence. For a few weeks now, I've been using peanut butter instead of Nutella so that works as well.

Don't let the unusual combination intimidate you. It's much better tasting that how it might sound.

Rotisserie chicken pita from Miznon

Finally tried the rotisserie chicken pita from Miznon. It's not bad but some of the ingredients were lost in all the flavours. Not sure where that baba ganoush went and their usually prominent chilli is strangely missing. I wouldn't rank this at the top among those I've tried though. 

The Wrap, Telok Ayer Street

 

Read about The Wrap and the owner that used to be a hair dresser for like four decades before she set up this shop. They're located at the same place (Telok Ayer Coffee Shop, #01-01, 121 Telok Ayer Road) as Uptown Nasi Lemak and one of the things to get here is their poh piah which features some shredded lup cheong. 

The poh piah's huge, packed and certainly tried to justify the $4.50 price tag. Didn't taste bad but I thought some of the ingredients were pointless. Like the minuscule amounts of those omelette shreds and tiny cubes of tofu which wouldn't have contributed any flavour or texture with all the other ingredients in the roll. I don't understand what's the point to those.

A 350g New Zealand 'Steakhouse Char' ribeye from iSteaks

Keeping in mind that while mileages may vary, I thought this NZ ribeye from iSteaks wasn't bad for a non dry aged entry point steak. My favourite thing on their menu is still their capped loin of lamb though.

Tai Wah Pork Noodle (大華肉脞麵), Holland Drive

This was a new-ish branch of Tai Wah Pork Noodle from Hong Lim - not to be mistaken with the Michelin starred Tai Hwa Pork Noodle at Crawford Lane which doesn't have other outlets. Apparently Tai Wah has started opening a few more shops recently. I came across this one (#01-39, Blk 40 Holland Drive) and decided to give them another try even though I was pretty sure I was unimpressed the time I had their bowl at Hong Lim. Here's their $7 bowl.

I enjoyed it this time. It was more vinegary than the last time I ate, had decent chilli whipped into the noodles and was overall more satisfying. Would have preferred for their wanton skin to be thinner though but it's not a deal breaker. Quick reference to Tai Hwa which makes more intense bowls and is definitely nicer in my opinion. It's also worth noting that both of them makes similar style of bak chor mee so this would be an apple-to-apple comparison.

That being said, I may no longer have the stomach/patience for the queue at Tai Hwa would gladly eat this instead.