Da Dong Prawn Noodles (大東蝦麵), Joo Chiat Road

This was nice prawn noodles from Da Dong Prawn Noodles (354 Joo Chiat Road). Old school nostalgia from the slices of pork in the bowl aside, I kinda dug the broth that was robust with crustacean sweetness. Loved this with the sliced chilli padi and the occasional crunch of fried pork lard. 

If I had to critique, the prawns weren't deveined even though they were sliced down the middle. I was willing to overlook it for this time because those prawns were fresh tasting and sweet. Don't mind coming back again at all. Note that these guys don't do soup refills. 

Yakiniku-GO Plus, Suntec City

I've been wanting to try Yakiniku-GO since I've heard about them and their smoke free personal sized grills. I wouldn't say it's a hundred percent smoke free but...we happened to be at Suntec and saw that they've an outpost named Yakiniku-GO Plus (01-353/354 Suntec City Mall, Tower 5 West Wing, 3 Temasek Boulevard). From what I could gather, this was the "premium" branch that also offers pricier cuts of wagyu. Which we didn't get. We started basic.

Basic like their Yakiniku-GO set which featured gyutan, short plate and a ribeye steak. I liked how the short plate crisps nicely while the strips of ribeye were moist and meaty. Gyutan was kinda chewy though. My fears of the sauce over the meats were also unfounded as they didn't distract much from the natural flavours. In fact, I found their house made tare really good with the meats.

Couldn't resist ordering lamb after seeing it on the menu. In retrospect, I kinda liked this better than the beef. Not that I didn't like the beef.

Here's me wishing that the rice and kimchi portions were either much larger or refillable for the sets. Gonna come back again to get me more yakiniku.

Jin Yu Man Tang Dessert Shop (金玉满堂甜品), South Bridge Road

Stumbled upon this shop (291 South Bridge Road, tel : +65 8028 6618) which was a stone's toss away from Tong Heng's pastry shop. Pretty similar to the other Hong Kong styled Chinese dessert shops like say Mei Heong Yuen, Yat Ka Yan, Ah Chew or Ji De Chi. There's some snacks on menu but its mostly a bunch of desserts with permutations of toppings.

Got curious about their secret sauce lo mien (捞面). Okay tasting noodles.

That's peach gum with milk and white fungus. Not bad tasting and it wasn't very sweet.

What's this?

Chrysanthemum ginger milk pudding! Something that's only available for dine in and not delivery because they curdle the milk with ginger juice on serving. Pudding was very wobbly with texture akin to bean curd. With all that spiciness from the ginger, none of the chrysanthemum came through so did having them make sense?

Burger Frites, Joo Chiat Road

These folks (340 Joo Chiat Road) are by Braseiro from across the road. One can notice some similarities between the two restaurants. Like the fries which were exactly the same. Along with the out of stock raclette cheese fries that I tried to order from then. No raclette fries there then also translated to no raclette burger here. Still.

So their blue cheese burger - that cold slab of blue cheese reminded me of the one I had from the defunct Dan Ryan's. It wasn't evenly distributed across the patty; patty which was also lacking in salt and much flavour. Sure it was hefty and had a nice char but it fell short of being memorable. Don't think I'm coming back for such quality.

Sukiya (すき家), Suntec City

Finally got to try Sukiya (#01-647 East Wing, Suntec City, 3 Temasek Boulevard). I guess they're kinda like the "nicer" version of Yoshinoya with topping options for their gyudon. The beef seemed to be more carefully done than what I remember of the dried out stuff from Yoshinoya which I've to admit I haven't been to for years. Not referring to the one in Hong Kong though.

That's their XL melted cheese gyudon. Came with Tabasco on the side which kinda helped break the monotony of the cheesiness. Shichimi helps too. For some reasons this felt like too much rice even though I had thought that it's a volume I can normally handle. 

In retrospect, the double egg bowl was more enjoyable because of how the molten yolk enriched the slices of beef they coated. Now I'm just wondering if their spring onion bowl is any good. If not, I've found the bowl to stick to from these guys. Heh!

The Corner Grill, Ann Siang Hill

So Colin West from The Market Grill has opened The Corner Grill (1 Ann Siang Hill, tel : +65 6223 3188). Confidence that the food here will be properly done came from all those times we've eaten at The Market Grill.

    

Speaking of which, The Market Grill has rebranded to The Market Grill & Wine 90. There's a new chef. Colin's not involved as far as I can tell. The Unlisted Collection doesn't include the The Corner Grill in their list of restaurants. Draw your own conclusions.

I loved that they brought the Suntory Kuro along to this current restaurant.

Kales & Blues Salad - this would be the second kale salad I remember liking. The name hinted at the ingredient unmentioned in the menu which was the blue cheese sauce which added a creaminess that rounded the citrus from the grapes and green apples. There's fried tempeh and honey in it too.

Very competently done artichokes they had. Crisp yet no excessively grease along with very moist artichokes under the fried exterior. That onion/gherkin/pastrami spiced yoghurt dip reminded me of curry. Nice. 😬

That's their barramundi belly - possibly the first time I've had just the belly alone. Liked it. Great tasting fish with or without the sauce (the dilemma!). Speaking of sauce, that spicy mint & tarragon yoghurt was creamy and refreshing. 

Nicely crusty hanging tender. Juicy and full of bite with that beefy intensity and none of the melt in your mouth shit. Steak was served with some sweet caramelized onions on the side. I wished the steak was bigger though.

The Gorgonzola Hollandaise (bottom right) that came on the side was kickass providing a creamy richness and that funky blue cheese kick. Those lemon capers potatoes were...tangy.

Wanted to try the Miyagi oysters so we had a couple of gratineed ones for pre-dessert. These were smooth and creamy with a nice oyster-ly brine. While I'm sure I'd like them raw as well, having these with melted cheese were also awesome. 

I may have found my 2nd favourite Black Forest cake.