Starshine Coke

Found this at 7-11 and got it out of curiosity. I don't know if my finger's on the right spot but this tasted like sour plum (酸梅).

Another double SmokeShack from Shake Shack

I haven't had the SmokeShack since Hong Kong and it's the first time I'm getting one locally. I guess I tasted it better this time round and noticed that those chopped cherry peppers tasted like jalapeños. In other not so related news, I saw something call Purple Cow together with their root beer float on their menu. I'm guessing it's grape soda with ice cream.

$10 at Ah Ter Teochew Fishball Noodles

Decided to try the $10 bowl from Ah Ter Teochew Fishball Noodles to see if it was impressive. It was the young chap running the stall today so the first thing I noticed was how the noodles were "bowled". It was a lot saucier than the previous times. Looking back, I realized that they ketchup-ed my noodles and I had totally forgotten about that hence overlooked asking them not to do it.

The portion of the mee pok looked similar but the ingredients were much more generous. Notice the couple of chunky prawns and seaweed which I've never gotten previously for the less expensive bowls. I'm pretty sure I would have enjoyed this more if the ketchup hadn't been mixed into the noodles. I hope I remember the next time.

Ah Seng (Hai Nam) Coffee, Amoy Street Food Centre

I've heard of Ah Seng (#02-95 Amoy Street Food Centre, 7 Maxwell Road) for a while. It's mostly repeating gushing over their charcoal grilled toasts and pretty much nothing else because everyone doesn't know what else to write.

Tried it - no big deal. The tiny charcoal grill in the corner isn't big; the stall didn't have the space nor ventilation to accommodate anything larger so service can be slow. Nothing particularly outstanding came out of the charcoal grilled bread. Their green kaya was unexpectedly coconut-y. Coffee tasted like the ones you can get at Han's. Will probably not come back for coffee.

Further thoughts? I didn't think a commercial chain like Ya Kun or Toast Box is inferior to a "traditional" shop like Ah Seng. There's no discernible difference in the flavour of their toast. Both Ya Kun/Toast Box generally has more butter and kaya. Speaking of butter, I didn't understand why the proprietors at the stall needed to justify their cost because they used butter instead of Planta and that their charcoal was $76 a bag. They sounded defensive for some reasons. I was just there to get coffee and toast and it's not like I was complaining about the prices.

Bak Kee Teochew Satay Bee Hoon (峇記潮洲沙嗲米粉), Redhill Food Centre

I haven't had much satay bee hoon for a while. Used to eat a lot more of them as a kid. In the past decade or so, Bak Kee Teochew Satay Bee Hoon (#01-40 Redhill Food Centre, 85 Redhill Lane) was the one of the few I remember being recommended to try and that has taken a while because in the times I've been to Redhill Food Centre, they're either closed or the queue looked deterring. But it's happened.

Verdict was that it was not bad. I liked this much more than Wham Poa Satay Bee Hoon. The obvious reason at first glance would be the gritty viscosity of the satay gravy which was savoury sweet, mildly spicy and nutty. Smothered in that gravy with the bee hoon were sprigs of spinach, slices of pork, pig's liver, cuttlefish and precisely two cockles and two strips of tau pok.

Imperial Treasure Fine Teochew Cuisine, ION Orchard

We ended up in this Michelin starred branch of Imperial Treasure Fine Teochew Cuisine (#03-05 ION Orchard, 2 Orchard Turn, tel : +65 6736 2118) because our favourite branch at Guoco Tower has stopped serving dim sum. Heard that it was due to shortage of chefs. Hearsay.

While we have been curious about what made this outpost deserving of a star, we've never made the effort until today - because we no longer had much of a choice.

Kung fu tea, fermented bean chilli sauce and picked mustard greens. These were part of the reasons why we come back even though we don't talk much about them

We've had their double boiled pig's stomach soup with salted vegetables and peppercorn previously. Seem to recall it being more peppery but this was also nicely done with tender chewy pig's stomach and fall off the bone pork ribs in the soup.

Competent 凤爪 steamed with black bean sauce that was slurp off the bone tender. We never expected any less for this dish from Imperial Treasure.

Steamed radish cake like what we usually prefer from them.

Got a basket of their Teochew siew mai instead of the Cantonese one that we normally do. These were lightly flavoured with dried sole (ti poh).

Nice fluffy char siew bao that were piping hot with the sweet saucy bbq pork fillings. 

Har gow - not bad.

Nicely done mushroom dumplings with great mushroom flavour.

Today's Teochew chai por kuey teow was a bit nicer than their rendition we had previously at Guoco. There appeared to be more chai por, the kuey teow was more tender and also more nicely browned. Delicious with black vinegar, their fermented bean chilli sauce and both. Or neither.

Tender, fluffy and light ma lai ko. For the best texture, you'd have to eat them freshly served as they are steamed on order and cool rapidly upon serving. The burns on your fingers, lips and tongue are known and accepted risks. 😂

Scalding hot egg tarts with ethereal custard and buttery crusts.

Orh nee was also pretty good. Texture of the yam was smooth. If only there was some aromatic oil to it...