Liang Ji (梁記), Telok Blangah

I gather that Liang Ji (78A Telok Blangah Street 32, #02-01) is better known for their char kuey teow/炒粿条 and chai tow kuey/菜头粿 (stir fried radish cake) but I ended up gravitating towards the mala bacon fried rice because curiosity. 

I enjoyed it and that was largely because the mala flavour was present but not overwhelming so. Much like the mala-bonara that we had recently. That with a bit of heat and salt made it savoury-ishly delicious. I made up one of those words but you get the drift. Liang Ji's fried rice was very much a local rendition rather than the Taiwanese style which many noobs tend to post about and blabber like they're experts on them. Regular jasmine rice with soya sauce and a grainier texture.

Will come back another time for the other stuff.

Thigh and drumstick from 169 Hainanese Chicken Rice

I've been wanting to come back for the thigh and drumstick portion that 169 Hainanese Chicken Rice has. Now that it's finally happened, it wasn't what it imagined it to be. 

The chickens they are using have changed. While there were still tender, they're also leaner and definitely not as meaty as before. Aren't these kampong chicken?

Flavour from the rice wasn't as good as the last time I've had it. Frankly, I was a bit disappointed. But it seems the queue is still around.

Icelandic cod liver on toast for breakfast

Got these canned cod livers as a gift. 

Looks good - much like how I expected them to look. The ingredients stated cod liver in their own oil and salt.

We toasted bread and made breakfast out of those with the cod livers. Was thinking if we should do some butter but in the end we did without.

Pretty good tasting. Quite similar to those we've had at Atout but I'm not sure if they are exactly the same. Tried these with another can we bought some time back from Huber's and we thought these were better because it tasted more livery.

Saizeriya, Chinatown Point

This happened (#02-10 Chinatown Point, 133 New Bridge Road, tel : +65 6822 0340) because I came across the mala-bonara pasta that they were having on a limited time availability. What's that mala-bonara you might wonder. Can't you guess?

But first some mushroom soup. At their price point, I've always thought they were underrated.

Beddar Cheddar sausages. I know. But they're nice, smoky and cheesy.

They also have pretty tasty chicken wings. In spite of appearance, there was actually some crisp to those mid wings.

Mussels in some spicy tomato broth. Broth's not bad actually and I liked the garlic in them but the mussels were forgettable.

Didn't look like much but I liked the mala-bonara. If anyone hasn't figured out at this point, it's their spin on a mala carbonara. Salty, savoury and had enough but not too much of that mala flavour that it was enjoyable. At least for me it was. The egg and a bit of the powdered parmesan added richness to the sauce. I like. 

Just another round of their squid ink pasta with egg. First time we're egging it. That and the cheese powder made this.

Not a fan of their cheese hamburger. The menu misled us because the picture did not show any sauce slathered over it. Meat's kinda soft. Won't be getting it again.

Marutama Ramen, Tiong Bahru Plaza

Haven't walked into Marutama for a long while since the last experience at the old Liang Court which wasn't great. But we're glad we got past the avoidance and gave them another chance today (#02-138 Central Plaza, 302 Tiong Bahru Road).

Found myself warming up (pun intended) to the zenbu nosé bowl today. That's the tori paitan bowl with pretty much everything in it. The only thing I will forgo the next time is the kakuni which was decent and could be tenderer. Didn't find the pork exceptional or particularly memorable. Also did not recall them having the option to choose the hardness for the noodles back in the past but I'm loving this very hard option which we could pick today.

I'm suddenly very curious as I'm typing this now if they would entertain request for lemon wedges for this bowl. More on why below. Will find out the next time.

This was their aka ramen, the one that's suppose to have nuts in the soup. I've had it previously. Like that time, this was sans coriander. Couldn't taste any nuts. Broth has a less chicken-y intensity and might have the slightest hint of sweetness. But I didn't remember it coming with the wedge of lemon that last time. It gave a lot of citrus lift to the broth that got me really interested in it.

Mentai cheese gyozas were not bad. These were meatier than I had imagined.

Steamed fish head with fermented black bean sauce from Cheng Ji (成记)

It's been quite a while since we had something at Cheng Ji. Got ourselves a steamed fish head with fermented black bean sauce for brunch recently. It's no longer $13 like back in the day for sure. The going rate for one of these today is $18. I'd argue that it's still pretty good value for a meaty fish that's fresh and freshly steamed with delicious tasting sauces that are whipped up on the fly. And while most of the stalls in the vicinity bring similar value for this particular dish, I'd give a bit more points to the rendition from HK Mong Kok Kui Ji Kitchen for having sliced chilli.