My last bowl from Ginza Kamo Soba Kyudaime Keisuke......

Ginza Kamo Soba Kyudaime Keisuke is ceasing business in a few days so we came by for our last taste of their delicious duck broth before it's all over. I'm going to miss it when it's gone. We were told that they weren't able to import ducks in anymore for some reasons so that ends that. And I thought we only had fresh chicken problems...

Nasi lemak with plant based chicken from Ikea

It has been quite a while since I last had nasi lemak from Ikea. Prices appeared to have gone up with this plate that included plant based chicken at $5.50. What's plant based chicken? I'm not sure. But they go with the generic claims to make healthy and sustainable food more affordable and desirable. That these plant based foods require less resources to make on top of reducing individual's carbon footprint blah blah blah...

These looked like little chicken nuggets and actually tasted like them. Albeit one that was a little dry and a bit stringy. If I didn't know what I was ordering, I might not have noticed.

Xian Ji Porridge, Eng Hoon Street

I've been asked by a few people over more than a few years if I've tried that shop with watercress porridge (#01-72, 57 Eng Hoon Street) at Tiong Bahru. I gathered that they had eaten there and they liked it to some extent. The shop has for some reasons always slipped my mind until recently. Not bad tasting porridge. Didn't understand the watercress which I felt added nothing but vegetables stuck between the teeth.

What I didn't like was the rest of the experience. $9 for mixed pork porridge with dough fritters wasn't cheap. I asked for century eggs for the porridge to which the proprietress acknowledged but I didn't get any at all. No idea how much a bowl typically costed. While I enjoyed it somewhat and hadn't any complains about the ingredients, am probably not coming back. Ah Chiang or Old Shifu, both in the vicinity, were equally enjoyable and less expensive.

A couple of bowls and gyoza from Kanada-Ya

Some quick notes on the recent visit to Kanada-Ya.

That's the black garlic ramen - something that I've never quite understood. There's a toasty garlic flavour that gradually diminished as we went through the bowl. It's not a bad layer on top of the tonkotsu but it seemed a flavour that didn't endure. One had to eat something else and go back to rekindle the garlic taste.

Nice heat from the spiciness gekikara bowl which was a concocted with mixture of miso and tonkotsu. In the end, the mixture was its own thing which didn't have a strong characteristic from the component broths. Not a bad tasting one but not something I'd think I'll look forward to the next time.

Wasabi mayo gyozas - There's a light smoky taste but I couldn't tell if it came from the sauce or the gyoza skin. Not bad though. Could eat this again. 

Dapur Penyet, Centrepoint

These guys are hidden at the back of Centrepoint (#01-59 The Centrepoint, 176 Orchard Road, tel : +65 : 6734 2840) and open daily.

I was intrigued by their ayam geprek with mozzarella. Never had one of these before. From how it looked, shredded mozzarella was sprinkled over the smashed fried chicken thigh and torched. Some of the half melted cheese were still slightly cold. Not bad tasting actually and I wouldn't mind eating this again. Chicken had a familiar light garlicky flavour.

Ayam bakar in the spiced kecap manis sauce was delicious as it usually were. That came with a spicily moreish sambal on the side that was also infused with the flavour of onions and ikan bilis.

Didn't realize that their tahu telur was a small one. I had imagined the size of these to be similar to those we've previously had at Tambuah Mas. Liked the eggy taste. Needs more of the nutty gravy on the side though.

White asparaguses and brunch at Huber's

The white asparagus season is upon us for this year. Huber's (一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八, 九, 十, 十一, 十二, 十三) has gotten theirs from Germany and expectedly put out a limited time menu for the ivory shoots said to be grown in darkness. We were here to brunch on them.

But first some Ice Dazzle Berry Macchiato. Coffee with the citrus of berries mellowed with cream. This was kinda nice.

The unexpected surprise was their cream of white asparagus with curry and a strawberry & onion compote. Creamy and curry scented white asparagus-y soup accompanied by the tart sweetness from the spiced strawberry/onion. 👍🏼

Croissant with cooked ham and raclette cheese from their breakfast menu. Because we were here at the confluence of breakfast and the day menu. I liked this. For the buttery simplicity and the light pungent cheese.

White asparagus with Hollandaise, buttered boiled potatoes and Swiss farmer ham.

Same stuff with Tasmanian grass fed beef in mushroom cream sauce. 

White asparagus mousse with strawberry coulis for dessert. There was a lot of that white asparagus flavour in the mousse.

No white asparagus in this coffee. Just a regular one.