A fish & chips with tail from Muddy Murphy's

My first fish & chips that came with a tail. Did not expect that. I haven't been to Muddy Murphy's (#01-02 to 05 Claymore Connect, 442 Orchard Road) for well over a decade. The menu has kinda changed since and everything looked kinda pricy. I was initially apprehensive at the fried fish until I tried it. That savoury ale batter was thin and crisp unlike what its appearances suggested. Fish was red snapper according to them. Not bad tasting but it's not Smiths. For what they charged, I expected them to be more generous with their buttery mushy peas than just that smudge.

Xing Hua (兴化), Chinatown Point

Xing Hua has taken over the spot that used to be Din Tai Fung at Chinatown Point (#02-01/02 Chinatown Point, 133 New Bridge Road, tel : +65 6977 9614). The selection on the menu here is larger than their smaller kitchen at Tiong Bahru Plaza. A lot of their dishes are pretty similar to the stuff at Putien - which by the way is a level ahead by having greater finesse with their dishes and periodic seasonal ingredients.

We tried some stuff that weren't available in the menu from Tiong Bahru Plaza.

Ordered their stir fried yam cubes in sugar and fish sauce for comparison. These ones here have lesser sugar and fish sauce flavour so the flavour leans towards being more yam-my.

Deliciously peppery chicken and pig's stomach soup.

These were mocha ribs. I presumed there might be some sort of mocha-ish ingredients used for the sauce. Had the impression that such a dish was more local rather than from the Fu Jian region of China. Then again, the menu did look localized. No mocha flavour, just a like smoky sweetness. Not bad tasting but also not impressive as Chinese pork ribs go.

Menu describes this as noodles in hot chilli vinaigrette - which tasted like mala sauce with a distinct Szechuan peppercorn flavour. After adding their citrus-y chilli sauce, the flavour became more outstanding. Appetizingly so and also cranked up the heat which left my lips burning.

Those are oysters fried in a seaweed flour batter. Not something that one might normally find at Putien unless it's their seaweed or oyster festival. It's on the regular menu here. These had a dry and crunchy texture with no excessive oil. Savoury and moreish they were.

Luffa I think in some sauce with dried scallops. The luffa didn't have much flavour apart from the light vegetal one that it usually has. Most of the taste came from the sauce which wasn't bad.

Tai Wah Pork Noodle (大華肉脞麵), Toa Payoh Central

This was yet another branch of the expanding Tai Wah Pork Noodle. Was curious about how the kuey teow soup from this stall (177 Toa Payoh Central) would fare against Lai Heng nearby. In retrospect, it might not have been a strict apple to apple comparison as bak chor mee soup goes because of the slight difference in ingredients. This bowl didn't have mushrooms but was bolstered by the flavour from ti poh. I'm inclined to feel that Lai Heng was a bit better for flavour but I'm agreeable with both bowls.

Kuey teow soup from Lai Heng Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle (來興香菇肉脞麵)

Here's the $7 bowl of kuey teow soup from Lai Heng Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle loaded with generous portions of ingredients of sliced mushrooms, seaweed, fried pork lard, minced pork, sliced pork, minced pork and bean sprouts in a sweet savoury broth. More savoury than sweet and with a hit of umami from those mushrooms and seaweed. No dried sole in their bowl so that particular flavour/aroma's not there. Not normally a fan of such soup noodles but I enjoyed this bowl. Especially so with the cut red chillis that added spikes of aromatic burn. 

Chicken pulao and cardamom lassi from Usman's

I've eaten at Usman's some years ago. Found out a while back that they have chicken pulao which is only available on Fridays. While it may not have looked like much, there was a lot of flavour in it. Possibly also much ghee. Portions were huge and the rice was delicious with chunks of bone in chicken.

That gravy on the side - might have been some chicken curry. Was nutty and deliciously salty.

Watched them make my order of cardamom lassi. They scooped a couple of teaspoons from a container labelled 'cardamom' into the cup and poured cold lassi in it. Then stirred furiously and added ice. Sadly I couldn't taste the cardamom in it. It was creamy and cold and still good drinking in this heat though.

Ah Tiam Curry Rice (亞添咖喱飯), Pasir Panjang Food Centre

I've eaten at Ah Tiam Curry Rice (#01-09, Pasir Panjang Food Centre 21 Pasir Panjang Road) some years back but couldn't remember much of them. They were opened early so I got the set on the menu with pork patty for breakfast. I thought these guys were pretty decent - liked the coconut-y curry that had a mild prickles of heat. Everything on the plate was tender and saucy.