Simply Bread, Guthrie House

Haven't eaten at Simply Bread since they were at Robertson Quay. This was breakfast at their shop at Guthrie House (#01-03 Guthrie House, 1 Fifth Avenue, tel : +65 6466 7767). Munched on their orange fantan, which was some sort pastry flavoured with orange zest, while waiting for the food. Apparently the sticky buns weren't available that early.

Halloumi sandwich was not bad. Milky and deliciously salty cheese in between their ciabatta cut through with purple onions and sliced tomatoes. 

Their breakfast plate of yore is still around. Would have been great if there were more eggs than those portions.

Ikkousha's God Fire Level 4

My way of the hot and spicy meanders into Hakata Ikkousha Ramen. I haven't thought much of their tonkotsu bowls since their days at Ramen Champion. There are better players these days in my opinion. But I've had their God Fire bowl years back. Since I've this spicy thing going on lately, I thought I'd revisit that bowl. Sweating in the warm haze already?

I didn't remember the bowl having different levels of spiciness in the past but there apparently is - 4 levels of them. This was the Level 4 bowl with extra hard noodles, extra charshu and ajitama. Savoury and pretty spicy but manageably so by my standards. I had thought that this would do me in but I guess the heat wasn't as intimidating. I may have found a reason to come back to Ikkousha after all.

Spicies at SBCD Korean Tofu House

It's been a while since our last eat at SBCD Korean Tofu House. Looking back, there was some sort of love/hate relationship we had going on with this place because there were times the food was agreeable and in others, they were disappointing. Today seemed to be one of those good ones. It was our first time with their combo meals which featured a sundubu and a main meat dish.

That's me and the mandu sundubu at Crazy Hot spicy. Notice the glossy and almost electrifying red bubbling in the pot. The fourth chilli. 

It was spicy but nothing near crazy in my opinion. I liked it.

There were at least a couple of mandu, bits of pork and a lot more tofu than I remember having ever gotten from here before. Also noticed some some chilli padi. Thoroughly enjoyed this spicy savoury stew.

One of the meat dishes we picked was their spicy BBQ pork. It looked like a pork bulgogi but there was some smokiness that indicated that the meat had been grilled. Tasted better and also a lot less spicy than the look suggested.

The other meat we got from their combo was their spicy octopus. In spite of the spicy appearances, it was mostly nutty and sweet. Almost reminiscent of satay gravy which are in general more nutty and sweet than spicy. The hot plate toasted vegetables were also much nicer eating with the sauce than I had imagined.

Employees Only, Amoy Street

I've been wanting to come to Employees Only (112 Amoy Street, tel : +65 6221 7357) even before getting their smash burgers on delivery a couple of years back.

Drinks are expensive here. No cocktails for me.

Did not expect them to serve bread and steaming hot ones at that. 

Maguro kueh pie tee was not bad. Couldn't tell what the tuna was marinated with but this was a delicious mouthful of great munching texture with the crispy pie tee shells.

There's steak tartare on the menu. The tartare was mixed table side - but it wasn't as elaborate/complete as the ones from say L'Angelus or Claudine or db Bistro...hahaha. Of course it wasn't. The only condiment that was added table side were the Worcestershire and hot sauce. Not a bad tasting one but also not memorable.

Their spicy smothered shrimp was disappointing. Not even a quarter as spicy as it looked or sounded. Not getting the Sriracha that was supposed to be in it was well. Those shrimps had a battered skin which reminded me of wasabi prawns from Chinese restaurants. If you removed them from their batter/skin, those shrimps were actually pretty puny. #disappointment

I had to get the smash burger again. It was the primary objective of this visit. This was so good.

I've already said all I wanted to about the EO Smash Burger the last time and almost nothing has changed. This burger was still awesome. What was different this time were the buns which weren't squashed or soggy from delivery. They were pillowy tender - somewhat akin to the steamed buns for McD's Filet O Fish. Probably a bit fluffier. This smash burger alone was worth the trip.

Mala spicy noodles from Xing Hua (兴化)

This bowl of mala noodles from Xing Hua tasted like mala spices had been added into their white lor mee. There's a bit of heat and noticeable flavour from the Szechuan peppercorns in the gravy but as a whole wasn't much 麻 or very 辣. I'm on the fence about how I feel about this bowl. There's a bunch of other stuff we enjoyed from their menu so I don't think this will make it to the top of the list anytime soon.

Pong Noodle Village (彭傢面庄), Teck Ghee Court Food Centre

I'm not much of a local wanton mee person but I was recommended to give this stall a try. Seems like Pong Noodle Village (#01-20 Teck Ghee Court Market & Food Centre, 341 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1, tel : +65 9833 3604) has a similar backstory as Chun Seng Noodle House which followed a similar vein of an old established eatery that had closed down and then re-emerged from their ashes with a refreshed branding selling the same stuff, run by the next generation of the owners. 

Noodle texture was not bad. I found the sauce to be a little sweet but that's how they do them. Might try with more chilli if I ever come back. The wantons and sui gao weren't shabby; the latter had minced pork and bits of water chestnut. A competent plate better than many but still ranks lower in my books than stalls like Shun Feng Roasted Delights (顺沣港式烧腊) and Zhong Yu Yuan Wei (忠于原味云吞面).