Ivy's Hainanese Herbal Mutton Soup, Pasir Panjang Food Centre

I've generally never been someone for our local Chinese herbal mutton soup. Usually prefer my mutton soup not herbal and without ginger or coriander to detract from the natural flavour of the meat. But I had also been curious about Ivy's Hainanese Herbal Mutton Soup (#01-14 Pasir Panjang Food Centre, 121 Pasir Panjang Road) for some time after reading about them. They looked richer than the "more common" variety around. 

I liked this in spite of the fact that I had just mentioned not being big on herbal flavours masking the flavour of the lamb. The herbal flavour from this one complemented those mutton-y flavour resulting in a delicious rich intensity that was it's own brand of sweet savouriness that also happened to be collagen rich. Thankfully I also couldn't taste ginger and I could order the bowl sans coriander. Love those tender mutton and fruity goji berries.

This wasn't from the same stall obviously. It was a jackfruit shake that I had ordered from a stall that only sold fruit juice nearby. First jackfruit shake I've had in my life. Thought that this one deserved mention because it tasted good with sufficient flavour from the fruit and it wasn't overly milky. For some reasons, I also enjoyed the light pulp in the drink.

Fade to Black (Tap)

Been a while since we last came over to Black Tap.

Decided to try a couple of drinks to get out of the Brooklyn Lager cycle. Not that I didn't like it but I just wanted to see if there was anything else that might have been good. The Yum Yum Yuzu was okay, not memorable even though that yuzu flavour came through. The other was the Peanut Butter Chocolate Milk Stout from Lost Coast brewery. I understand the peanut butter part because I tasted it but I don't get any chocolate milk. Nice for novelty. Not getting them again though.

I was kinda lured in today by the picture of their Reuben Burger that they posted on their social media. Notice the thick moist slice of pastrami they featured. The picture was deliberately misleading and it's kinda sad to know that these guys aren't above doing that.

The actual pastrami looked like this. Flat, pan fried and functioned like a bacon substitute rather than a disintegrate in your mouth slab of smoked brisket I was imagining. Didn't taste bad but this was way off expectations.

Chicken noodles at Lucky Chicken Rice

We came back to Lucky Chicken Rice for their noodles after seeing someone enjoying it online and waxing lyrical about how delicious they were.

But first some stewed eggs in spiced dark soya sauce. The flavour from the sauce was intense and the eggs were tender.

We ordered a plate of 鸡尾 hor fun and 鸡尾 noodles. Both had the same gravy and cut of dark chicken meat so the only thing to compare between the two were the noodles.

I have to admit that liked both through their own merits. The rice noodles were smooth and slurpy while those egg noodles had a texture that was firm to the bite. The sambal that they had was delicious so here's a note to self to ask for extra potions whenever I'm getting these noodles.

Fei Zhai Pork Rib Prawn Noodles (肥仔排骨蝦麵), Pasir Panjang Road

Prawn noodle stall (114 Pasir Panjang Rd) located at the junction of Pasir Panjang and Pepys Road. I was curious because I've read a bit about them and that there's always been some queue when I happen by. I happened to be in the vicinity one morning so breakfast was a bowl of bee hoon mee dry with additional stewed pig tails.

Wasn't a bad bowl of hae mee but I didn't think they were so good that I'd be yearning to come back. 

What I enjoyed from the bowl was the sambal and the generous infusion of flavour from the fried shallots. Those stewed pig tails were gelatinous textured, deeply flavourful from what they had been cooking in and were slurp off the bone tender.

What I didn't like? Noodles were very generic and didn't have the bite I had been hoping for. Prawns weren't de-veined. Soup was sweet with only a light crustacean flavour - not one of the better (can also be read as robust) prawn broths I've had. It was also telling for me that the thing I liked most from this prawn noodle stall weren't the prawns, the noodles nor the soup.

Oysters at Putien and more

The Oyster Festival is back at Putien. We came back to our favourite branch at Great World and this time round, we were very intrigued by their oyster juice so we ordered one to try. Just kidding. That's soursop juice.

We did order something that we've always overlooked - their herbal tiger prawn soup. A soup we never knew we wanted until today. Man was it flavourful from the herbs and wine with a moreish savoury sweetness. That tiger prawn was fresh and sweet as well.

This pan fried oyster bee hoon was something we've had previously. One could catch a whiff of the aroma of the oysters from just the bee hoon itself. Only egg yolks were used for the egg component of this dish. Nice.

This was also a second go at their seaweed oyster omelette. This had enough flavours from the oysters and seaweed stuffed in the fried egg that it didn't even need sprucing from their delicious lime-y chilli sauce.

The oyster dish that was new this time round were the deep fried ones with dried chilli (辣子鲜海蛎). These were basically the oyster versions of 辣子鸡. I noticed that they hadn't overdone the batter and had infused a moderated amount of flavours from those chilli and pepper that the oysters weren't overwhelmed. 👍🏼 Thought was definitely put into this rendition. However if one was looking for something up the Scoville scale, these ain't it. 

Tea break at TWG

This one at MBS (B1-122/125 The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, 2 Bayfront Avenue, tel : +65 6535 1837). The cosier one closer to the MRT station which is bathed in warmer hues than the other sunny space.

Still haven't gotten past their Dulcet Rose.

There's a crab and prawn club sandwich which we haven't seen before on the menu. Kinda "juicy" from the dressing if you know what I mean. Not bad tasting but don't expect to be blown away by the quantity of the crustacean fillings. I also don't remember them having fries as an option.

Buttery toasted bread on their Croque Salmon which featured smoked salmon and Comté. There was supposedly some black tea infused béchamel but I couldn't taste it. The butter, smoked salmon and Comté were enough to keep me silent. 😬 

Don't know what this is called but they were kinda like the eclair shaped versions of Paris-Brest. Choux pastry filled with praline mousse/cream and surprise butterscotch thingy inside. I liked this.