Dindigul Thalappakatti Restaurant, Kitchener Road

I read about this restaurant (195 Kitchener Road, tel  : +65 6909 8694) that is apparently known for their Dindigul styled briyani which uses Jeera Samba rice. What sets these rice apart you might wonder. They're a variety of short grained rice not so commonly seen in this parts compared to the more well known basmati rice for briyani.

From what I read, the 'jeera' component of the name is given after their resemblance to cumin and 'samba' refers to the season from August to January when the rice is grown. End of trivia.

Much appreciated their very chilled lassi. Wasn't as thick as I had been expecting but it all worked out well as a relief from the heat.

Ordered a brain fry *cues Plants vs Zombies music*. Lamb brains stir fried with onions and black pepper with a flavour that's similar to the mutton fry that I had at Sakunthala's recently. Awesome dish.

We had an order of their paneer briyani. Each order of briyani looked like it was enough to feed two and included some onion raita and what appears to be a coconut-y vegetable korma on the side. From what I observed, the variety of briyani that they served are differentiated by the ingredients or toppings added to the rice. It looked to be otherwise the same briyani base. I could be wrong. Loved the savoury spices infused into the rice and I liked that they weren't shy with sufficient salt that brought out the flavours. Will come back another time. 

Getting drawn back to the martabak campur from JTown Cafe

I like this campur version because it's got pretty much all the stuffings that JTown uses for their martabak. Textures and flavours from the ground peanuts, sweet chocolate rice, buttery greasiness and salty shreds of cheese. I need to come back again sooner to try another combination of fillings before the "it's been too long ago" gets me back to ordering this.

In order news, this was their happy soda. For some reasons I kept thinking that it was a bandung with soda but this didn't taste like it had bandung even though it might have looked like one.

More octopus pizza and a pork scaloppine from 2it & drink

I totally forgot that I have had the octopus pizza from 2it & drink previously until I started writing this. The octopus looked more minced then.

We got chunkier slices of the tentacles this time which was a lot better for texture than how they did the last one.

Pork scaloppine's super with their delicious masala sauce. Meat was thin sliced but rich tasting from the sauce and had that extra "meatiness" from the mushrooms. Seems to me the flavour of masala sauce can vary and the last time I recall one that was memorable was so long ago. 

Self saucing is back and the pork bone broth at Shi Li Fang

The option to concoct one's own dip/sauce for hot pots have been off the table since the measures of COVID 19 kicked in to...keep everyone safe. After two mask wearing years, Shi Li Fang has finally allowed us to mix our own dips again! Yay! I don't know if the other hot pot places have done the same though. Note to self : the pork bone broth wasn't great. It started off pretty drinkable even but became clear and strangely less flavourful at the end. Maybe it's because of the radish. Stick to the collagen broth. 

Chilli ban mee from Malaysia Chiak

Both Malaysia Chiak!, Tangs Market and Nam Kee Pau are under the Fei Xiong Group. One can generally notice similarities from the food served under the group. This chilli ban mee from Malaysia Chiak! looked and tasted different from the one at Nam Kee Pau or Tangs Market though. Also noticed that this bowl didn't have any vegetables.

Flavour's pretty good though. Deep savoury sweetness from the dark soya sauce and there's lard. What really got my attention was the texture of the noodles. These were much more springy than I expected. The chilli paste didn't bring much heat so if you need to crank the Scoville units up a little, those soya sauce marinated cut red chillis are just the thing.

piu M, Fortune Centre

These folks (#02-29 Fortune Centre, 190 Middle Road, tel : +65 9456 2204) are a Japanese Italian izakaya-esque kind of place. The kitchen's a two person show by chef Jun Matsubara and his wife Masako. Vibe's a little like Bistro Du Le Pin.

Reservations are recommended and ordering of alcohol's a requirement for the reservation. Unfortunately the only beer they have is Kirin and it's not on tap. Would be nice if there was say Asahi Kuronama or Suntory Black.

That's their miso burrata - burrata cheese that's been marinated in miso for 80 hours if I had heard correctly. There's a flavour on the outside of the cheese but it didn't taste like miso to me. Green stuff on top was shiso.

Chicken liver pate is done brûlée style with a crispy sugar crust and a few spritz of Yamazaki 12.

This one was unctuous and packed with rich sweetness and livery flavours from the creamy liver pate. Man this was so good.

Bacon. Lightly smoked, not very salty but nice munching.

Their menchi katsu is apparently something they're known for. I read it features wagyu.

Not getting much definitive out of the mince meat. It was very moist and juicy though.

Ordered their sui gyoza named "Machan's dumplings season 11". They were stuffed with minced pork and prawns so it's kinda like siew mai. The butter soya sauce was delicious.

Trippa - tomato broth with a distinctive onion sweetness and no beefiness. Haha.

Another dish on their social media circulation is their spaghetti with uni and bottarga. Not enough bottarga methinks and as uni pastas go, I much prefer the rendition from Keria. With just two main ingredients to showcase the flavours, this pasta fell a little flat. But if one compares to pictures online, it is also easy to surmise that they're inconsistent.

Tender gyutan stew. Again, the broth doesn't have any beefiness. The ingredients tasted like they are cooked independently of one another.

The mascarpone cream of their tiramisu was whipped on order. This one was smooth, creamy and pretty good.