Chen's Mapo Tofu, Star Vista

I kinda got inspired to get the mapo tofu again from Chen's Mapo Tofu (#02-08 Star Vista, 1 Vista Exchange Green, tel : +65 6694 0160) after watching all the catharses in The Way of Hot and Spicy (ゲキカラドウ). Did not remember that there was the option for different spice levels but apparently there is.

This was the level 3 - the highest level. Didn't get the breeze in the face when I walked out but it had a respectable heat. Nothing I couldn't handle but I thought it was also missing something. Something that could take the flavours a step beyond where it was.

The missing something was vinegar which the side dishes had in abundance of. If anything, they were more tangy than spicy in spite of the slightly dangerously red appearances. Drizzle these sauces over the mapo tofu and magic happens. Speaking of which, the portions of those sides are kind of puny. The 3 for $12 didn't seem such a great deal.

Revisiting Yat Ka Yan (一家人)

We were in the area so we came by to 一家人 for desserts.

But we started with their 奶油 chee cheong fun which we had wanted to try the last time we were here but had been sold out. This wasn't exactly dessert. It was also not bad if I might say so - savoury creaminess from the sauce paired with sweet from the strips of bak kwa topped with fragrance of house fried shallots.

Almond paste was decent.

They had a durian mousse which was also pretty good but I attribute that largely to the D24 pulp. Not that this wasn't a good eat but if I had to compare, the mousse that I recall from Dessert Bowl was nicer. 

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.