Extra 不见天 char siew and dumpling soup from Zhong Yu Yuan Wei Wanton Noodle (忠于原味云吞面)

It's been more than a couple of year since we've last gotten wanton mee from Zhong Yu Yuan Wei. While we've seen them and their consistent queues pretty much every time we were at Tiong Bahru Food Centre, it was those very queues that have deterred me all those times. Those wanton mee slipped past my defences this time round so I gave in an joined the queue. Here's an order with extra 不见天 char siew and sui gao.

They were pretty generous with 加叉烧. The 不见天 wanton mee goes for $7 a plate. This one with additional char siew was $13. I get it. Damn the char siew was good. Tender, fatty and properly caramelized with burnt ends and their delicious sweet glaze.

Great wiry noodles and superb chilli. I say this as someone who is usually not a fan of local wanton mee.

Pretty competent sui gao from them too, nicely packed with minced pork and prawns. They don't do water chestnut and black fungus here but I've no qualms getting these again.

Hiroshima oyster soba from Healthy Soba IKI

Healthy Soba IKI had gotten Hiroshima oysters with hot soba on their menu for a limited time. Those oysters were plump and nice and no, the flavours of those didn't get infused into the broth. These guys have been quite prolific with their specials and limited time bowls that we've never had much of a chance at ordering something from the regular menu. Here's a bunch of stuff we've previously had in their sobaverse. (一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八, 九, 十, 十一, 十二, 十三, 十四)

Say, there wouldn't be anywhere else where one could get some freshly made on order soba and also have them with a side of burrata, would there? Probably not.

Something about prosperity and strawberries

This Chinese New Year's Prosperity Burger. Dark, spicy, sweet and sauce-y. Much more sauce-y than the McPepper they resurrected some months back. This might have been my third one this year so I guess I'm happy - if happy could be the appropriate term here...for getting a McD sandwich thrice. Albeit one that's limited to this time of the year only. 😬 

Anyways, I liked the strawberry pie they're doing for this CNY. It wasn't excessively sweet and I suppose it was strawberry-y enough. I don't know why strawberry pie and the lunar new year though - or perhaps I'm trying to read into a connection that doesn't exist.

Cod fish maw & black pepper chicken noodles from TamJai SamGor (譚仔三哥)

This appeared to be some CNY limited time bowl from TamJai SamGor (譚仔三哥) which featured cod's maw and black pepper chicken. I added pork belly so there's that and this was with their Wu La soup at 小辣. I got exactly three pieces of the cod's maw just like their picture showed. Liked those and I wish there were more of that cod's maw - would have made this bowl more memorable.

Sonny's Pizza, Circular Road

Came across Sonny's Pizza (17 Circular Road, tel : +65 9822 4825) some weeks back by chance. I remembered them because they looked the closest thing to a NY pizza shop I've been to (I'm excluding Lombardi's obviously) and in retrospect, also had pies that tasted the closest to a NY slice. While I'm no expert in those, gut says that Sonny's more legit than John's Pizzeria.

Despite what the menu shows, there're only 18" pies. One can get them by slice(s) or by the whole. There's a pretty good pepperoni one; lightly smoky and I'm noticing for the first time, a faint anise flavour from the pepperoni. Fennel?

One can extend the flavour of the pepperoni slices by drizzling them with their hot honey which added a bit of heat amid the sweetness on top of the savoury smokiness.

Mundane tasting I'm Going Green slice with Béchamel, mushrooms and herbs. Don't know what herbs were those though.

The other GM Pizza was a little rich tasting and got cloying after a while from the Hollandaise.

Other than the pepperoni pizza, the other one that I liked was their Saigon Stunner - a tomato slice with minced beef, a betel leaf pesto and fish sauce. This was kinda like a bo la lot in pizza form. Something about the earthy betel pesto and the pungent fish sauce made this appealing.

Hot honey and ranch - that's what I thought they said. The latter which was recommended for the cornicione had plenty of dill. Nicest tasting "ranch" I've ever come across.

There's a bunch of beer in their fridge. Tried a few and this Black Kite Golden which was the cheapest was also the better as a light beer without fancy flavours and had a smooth floral finish. Tasted like the Golden Ale from Brewerkz.

Revisiting Rendezvous Restaurant Hock Lock Kee

We're back for more curries and post lunch coma inducing stuff at Rendezvous Restaurant Hock Lock Kee.

Tried the beef rendang today. Meat was dry and a little tough and if you asked me, it was largely saved by the gravy. Wouldn't get this again. The mutton rendang was much better.

Kang kong's pretty decent.

Their sambal goreng, for a lack of better descriptions, tasted Chinese. Firm crunchy beans and chunks of prawns in there. The latter I have never encountered in the commonly found Malay renditions of sambal goreng.

I like their curried chicken liver/gizzards. Loved that the gizzards were tender and not the crunchy type.

Our begedil today didn't come from a freshly fried batch like the last time. These ones were cold and had more muted flavours from the chicken and black pepper compared to the hot ones. That could be the reason why these things are thought of differently. 

Cucumber salad.

This was the best dish today - sambal fried fish. The sambal was slightly sweet and not very spicy. What made this dish was how crispy the surface was and how freshly fried it tasted with a delicious seasoning on the flour that coated it. I liked that flavour but how to describe it eludes me. Meat was not dry at all.