Re-visiting Joyden Canton Kitchen

I wanted to come back to Joyden Canton Kitchen for their smoky hak gam olive fried rice (黑金梅州炒饭). Still delicious as I remember it with the savoury dark soya sauce profile and preserved olive leaves that's peppered with bits sweetness from the pork floss.

Today was also a chance to try their sliced red grouper fillet in Chinese rice wine soup which I spied the last time. Nice. Google search identifies pine mushroom listed for this dish on their menu as matsutake but these aren't so I'm not sure what kind they are. There's wood ear fungus in it as well so the ingredients are not bad. 

Don't think they do great roast duck here. The skin's lacking crisp while there isn't enough fat underneath for flavour. Meat's also not as tender and for the price tag, it wasn't unreasonable to expected better. Will not be getting this again.

Intense Chocolate Gao Shiok-ah-ccino from Starbucks

Not bad...this Intense Chocolate Gao Shiok-ah-ccino from Starbucks tasted like the slushee version of their hot chocolate. Definitely gao in my books.

Jia Yuan Eating House, Tanjong Pagar MRT

I found out about this place (B1-29/49 Tanjong Pagar MRT Station, 120 Maxwell Rd, tel : +65 9712 0259) recently. Though I've never been much around this section of Tanjong Pagar Station, I am pretty sure it used to be another eatery previously because I'd quite possibly remember if I had seen a stall that claims "Singapore Best Craved Creamy Salted Egg Rice".

I didn't get the salted creamy salted egg. This was the creamy butter (奶油) chicken rice. Definitely creamy and it was also less sweet than I had imagined. That with the aroma from the curry leaves [lus spikes of heat from the bits of chilli padi in the sauce. Didn't taste bad but I don't think I would crave for it again. Maybe the salted egg one is nicer?

Baba Chews, Katong Square

Baba Chews (#01-01 Katong Square, 86 East Coast Road, tel : +65 6723 2025) is...Peranakan. I guess. If I had to venture with my observations, there's western influences, perhaps a shade of Japanese with a tiny breath of Chinese and Thai. As rojak as this nation is. 

Was intrigued by their kopi c spare ribs. That sauce was more coffee than most Chinese cze char coffee pork ribs out there. Which was a good thing if you're wondering. But I'm not sure it's kopi c I tasted. Pretty nice sweet slaw with pineapples and I also kinda liked the crispy dough fritters (油条) they sprinkled on top.

What didn't work out for me was how the ribs were cooked. Not slide off the bone tender like well done barbecued ribs. I wished it were. Meat's lean and a little dry. Pity.

That's chicken rendang lasagne. I had in mind a Malay sort of rendang but maybe this was of a Peranakan rempah recipe. The dish didn't taste bad as whole but......we'll leave it at that.

Scallop Sticks Tempura Soba from Tokyo Soba

Been a while since we were last at Tokyo Soba. We were drawn in by their "scallop sticks tempura" bowl which featured fried scallops on sticks. The texture of their soba and their smoky tsuyu were still fantastic by the way.

One of the stick of scallops was curry flavoured. Batter's a little thicker than I prefer but otherwise, they were just scallops. We did also order some fried natto which I didn't get a picture of. Those were much nicer. Will come back for those again. Note to self : get the portion upgrade the next time.

Yi Pin Beef King (一品牛腩王), People's Park Food Centre

This was another stall (#01-1074 People's Park Food Centre, 32 New Market Road) I've been curious about for a while because their beef noodles weren't part of the more commonly available Hainanese, Teochew or Taiwanese variety. They're Chinese for sure but I'm not sure specifically which style. This was the tendon with soup kuey teow. The cuts of the tendon were rustic and the broth...I'm at a loss with how to describe the taste because it wasn't particularly beefy compared to the other local bowls.

What was different about them was that they had white vinegar you could help yourself to. A generous dash of that and the broth kinda soared with its flavours. Nice. Will come back another time to try something else.