Claypot & Cooked Food Kitchen (砂煲小厨), Chinatown Food Centre

I've heard about Claypot & Cooked Food Kitchen (#02-083 Chinatown Food Centre, 335 Smith Street) for some years now and every time I've passed by their stall they appear to be closed. In recent months, I've discovered that they don't do weekends. They're popular with a bunch of more mature discerning palates and certain circles of foodies who appreciate old school flavours coaxed from skilful mastery behind the kitchen and wok. Have been so for some time from what I gather.

Because I was alone I could only order something that was single serving, hence, their fried rice. There's only one fried rice on their menu and it's listed as Salted Fish Char Siew Shrimp Fried Rice at the front of the stall. There're also bean sprouts in it. If you peer a little closer, you'd notice the bits of scorch marks on the grains of rice that indicate high heat searing from the stir fry.

I dug out a couple of prawns and they use real char siew (as opposed to crab sticks or those lower form blobs that imitate crab sticks). Definitely infused with wok hei. Great pairing with their sambal on the side. Very solid plate of local styled fried rice with standards I haven't had in a while. For $4.50.

I came back the next day. Wanted to get ee meen (伊面) but they didn't have it so I settled for the seafood hor fun. Did not expect it to be served in a claypot. It's not bad. Notable aspects included mild smokiness from the scorched rice noodles and two large prawns. While I recognize that this was a cut above most of the seafood hor fun out there, I wouldn't say I was impressed.

Just when I was about to write the rice noodles off, a thought came to mind. The sambal for the fried rice from yesterday sounded like what was needed to awaken this claypot of hor fun. And it did.

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.