Jian Bo's chwee kueh at Toa Payoh

First time trying Jian Bo's chwee kueh outside of their original stall at Tiong Bahru. This was from their shop along Food Alley at Toa Payoh (#01-514, 190 Lor 6 Toa Payoh) where Xi'an Famous Food and Kopifellas are located. I don't know how the food arrangement of branches work but this didn't taste like the ones from the main stall. Can't pinpoint specifics but they just didn't seem to be as nice.

Machan's Kitchen, Race Course Road

Machan's Kitchen (74 Race Course Road, tel : +65 6291 2526) has a much more vibrant vibe than the other Indian restaurants along the stretch. One could barely tell that they served Indian food from the decor compared to most if not all of the more "obvious" looking neighbours.

Papadams. You know what they are.

They served a much appreciated well chilled lassi which was a sweet sweet reprieve from the sweltering heat.

The menu's kinda confusing. We ordered this by pointing to a picture and the server explained it was their semi cooked egg which according to the menu has masala. This one was tender and creamy and had nothing much but salt and pepper - which according to the menu is just a plain omelette. I love this 3000.

Tried their gooseberry pepper soup. Spicy and pretty tart. The sourness felt less rounded than say tamarind. The texture of the gooseberries in the soup felt like slightly crunchy potatoes and didn't taste like gooseberry as I knew of them. Not sour at all.

Was intrigued by their betel leaf garlic rice. Which was a spiced basmati rice very much like a briyani with their melange of flavour and soft cloves of garlic. There were some leaves which I presumed to be the betel leaves but I couldn't definitively identify their specific flavour amid all the others.     

Their mango fish curry had good quality fish - I think mackerel. Portions of the fish were sadly dismal. Curry was pretty tangy and packed a lot more spice than I had seen coming. The initial heat ramped up from a low burn to something sweat inducing pretty quickly. Wasn't something that was immediately in your face but took some seconds before the potency hit you.

That's something they called banana thosai...an appetizer that arrived after any appetizing was needed. Tasted like a banana pancake and served piping hot. Nice. Bananas tasted like pisang raja.

Dessert was pearl millet halwa which was served hot. Texture was like a pudding or a very tender tapioca kueh. I liked this much. Reminded me of kesari bath minus the saffron. The ghee in it helped.

Creamy masala tea which had a more dominant cardamom flavour.

Some mukhwas to freshen the breath after the meal.

A fish burger, sweet potato fries and glass bottled Coke at 2280

I was curious about the fish burger I noticed on the menu the last time so here's a look at it.

Liked the firm crisp exterior and the flakey fish meat beneath it. A much better version of Filet O Fish than the Filet O Fish if you catch my drift, with also a much tastier pickle-y dill-y tartare sauce.

Didn't remember them having sweet potato fries previously. They're a little oil heavy for fries for some reasons. While I'm am generally not much of a sweet potato fry person, I find those from Black Tap better tasting. Prefer the regular fries here. 

Coke Zero in a glass bottle. These seem to be more bubbly and less smooth than those plastic bottled or even canned ones.

Springtime at Sushiro

Sushiro has their spring seasonals going on. We haven't been back here in a while so here's a bunch of stuff we had from a couple of visits. Not all, just the most of them because I missed some and I'm also avoiding repeat photos here unless I've something to add or think it deserves another mention.

As sure as we were that their marinated uni wrap wouldn't be as pretty as their product shot, we ordered some to see if it was good.

Here's how the actual marinated uni wrap looked like. To be fair, it was not bad tasting.

There's botan ebi. Hah! That cold excuse for the fried shrimp head. Can you imagine cold fried shrimp head?

Cannot beat their regular big red shrimp which are by the way still good. Fleshier and sweeter.

That's hon maguro kamatoro - collar, jaw or gill area of bluefin tuna going by the name. It's pretty darn good. You know the buttery melt in your mouth kind of good. With a bit of sinews. We had seconds.

Tamagoyaki came in big slices, was chilled and sweet. Nice.

Hotaru ika gunkan - did not expect to see this and it's not bad tasting if you can deal with the squid-y fishiness.

Natto gunkan - nice!

This was one of those repeat pics that deserves another mention. Again. Shirasu, ikura, nori, spring onions an a squeeze of lemon over warm noodles. So good.

Uni ramen is back on the menu. Still the same creamy sweet uni sauce. This run also has shredded shiso leaves.

Shoyu glazed aburi jumbo scallops. A variant of their regular raw jumbo scallops which was also a good eat.

Aburi nodoguro - oily and fatty piece of delicious fish.

I was almost sneering at this shrimp with cheese and mentaiko but changed my mind after having one. Smokey and savoury with flavour and even texture like sausages. 😬

They have decent kanpachi here. Something I wouldn't mind coming back for.

Roasted saba. Actually not bad.

Never imagined that I'd have fatty aburi-ed Iberico pork sushi but here it is. Not bad at all.

Some dessert called strawberry Catalana. Creamy/milky strawberry thingy with a brûlée top.

Kumamoto melon is in season and on the menu. These were sweet, tender and juicy.

There's a rich chocolate cake in the dessert section of the menu. I can't say that it was fantastic. It's also not bad tasting because I liked the bitter chocolate hints in it.

Their matcha parfait has some cold and stiff matcha warabi mochi. That's the only matcha about it. The caramel sauce soft serve and cornflakes were nice though like many other parfaits. I was hoping that there might be some other matcha thing like ice cream. Or adzuki beans. 

Joyden Canton Kitchen, Great World

The space vacated by Ho Fook Hei has become Joyden Canton Kitchen (#01-141/142 Great World, 1 Kim Seng Promenade, tel : +65 6219 2262). Since Joyden is the parent group that runs both restaurants, the tenantship hasn't really changed. We had food from their defunct branch at Orchard some years back and remember them being pretty good.

This was preserved mustard greens (梅菜) and kailan. Tender and intense flavours from the stewed mustard greens together with the clean crisp crunch of the kailan. I like this dish.

Claypot fish maw and tiger prawns with vermicelli (tang hoon/冬粉) - a signature dish from the restaurant apparently. It's big crunchy prawns and XO sauce flavours that permeated the glass noodles. Where they failed were the toasted fish maw which had the oil that was borderline stale. I thought such carelessness with an ingredient like this was unforgivable. 

Seafood beancurd was savoury and delicious. I think these had bits of prawn in them which made the texture a little firmer than regular tofu. They were simmered in a creamy pork broth with cabbages that were so tender they were borderline disintegrating. Nice.

We remembered liking the pork ribs, or what they described as chargrilled slow braised pork ribs with aged mandarin sauce, from the last time so we got them again. Likeable sauce which held a tang that cut through the sweet richness of those tender ribs. Those chilled julienned cucumbers on the side were refreshing with said mandarin peel sauce. 

Kaisen chahan and gyoza from Xing Hua (兴化)

I've noticed the 海鲜炒饭 on Xing Hua's menu for a while and finally decided to order it. It's not bad. A little low on the salt but there's enough of the eggy flavour that I'd eat this again without qualms. The fish was unfortunately the weakest link. Fresh water with a light muddiness and mushy texture. Using sliced mackerel would have seriously upgraded this plate.

Xing Hua has their take on the 红油抄手......a pork-less 红油鲜虾抄手 that had prawns instead of minced pork stuffings. The saucing was a little mild. Not so spicy and vinegar wasn't as punchy but wasn't bad tasting as a whole.