Lam's Abalone Noodles (阿南鲍鱼面), Food Republic @ Causeway Point

My first bowl of noodles from Lam's Abalone Noodles. This was from their Food Republic branch at Causeway Point (#04-01/02/03/04 Causeway Point, 1 Woodlands Square). Not a bad tasting bowl at all with their savoury mix of sauce and properly cooked noodles. Besides that skewer of abalone, there wasn't anything in particular that made their bowl stand out from a whole sea of other competitors though. I'm classifying them as "would not mind if I'm there but will not seek out" category.

The Noodle Memories (古月麵), Hong Lim Food Centre

I've never had ban mian/pan mee in Malaysia so I'm not familiar with how it's like over there. I have had some bowls that were from Malaysian brandings though - like say Nam Kee Pau so I'm gonna assume that they're are kinda similar. The Noodle Memories (#02-27 Hong Lim Food Centre, 531A Upper Cross Street) are run by a couple of people from KL so....same things? 

This was their dry chilli bowl that has a chicken cutlet added on.

The taste wasn't bad but didn't quite pack the punch I was hoping for. Tasted "friendly"...if you catch my drift. It didn't share the intensity in flavour like bowls from Grandma Ban Mee (老妈子板面) or Malaysia Chiak!. The heat was relatively mild and their fried shallots didn't taste like it was made by them......if you caught that drift. Noodle texture was passable but not impressive. YMMV.

That being said, it was by no means mediocre. There was pretty good mix of ingredients and the quality wasn't bad at all. Except maybe for the fried shallots. Maybe I just needed to ask for more chilli to 大辣 the bowl.

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.