Chuan Kee Seafood (泉记海鲜煮炒), Lower Delta Road

We've been wanting to come to try the food Chuan Kee Seafood (1091A Lower Delta Road, tel : +65 9878 9924) for some time. We knew that these guys were popular with folks for seafood and tze char but for some reasons I hadn't connected that popularity with the crowd we encountered. In peak hours, one has to wait in line for a table, wait in line to get orders taken and then followed by another wait for the food to be served. 

In the possibly daunting series of waits, there's free tau huay, popcorn and ice cream to pass the time. Tau huay was unnaturally soft and smooth - like those from Lau Ban.

First dish to arrive was the bitter gourd omelette. For unknown reasons I was imagining that they would look like the rendition done at Chin Chin. It didn't. Looked more like the one at Sum Kee. Was a pretty decent rendition. As I ate it, I thought about how I disliked bitter gourd as a kid. 

Then came rice.

Wouldn't recommend their sweet and sour pork (咕噜肉). The sauce was light and tomato-y without much intensity. Did not think there was much mention worthy about the fried pork either. There was much more lychee in there than any other sweet and sour pork renditions I've had but that alone wouldn't save it from mediocrity. 

That's petai beans stir fried with garlic (清炒臭豆) - not sambal like they're normally done. That resulted in more direct flavour from the beans and also some sharpness from the onions that went with the savoury garlic of the stir fry. I thought this was awesome with rice. 

Not bad kung bao frogs (宫保田鸡) if I might say. The sauce was decent as far as kung bao dishes went but I found myself missing those solid renditions that you can find from frog porridge stalls.

Pretty vibrant eatery, would not mind coming back to try other dishes.

A2B Veg Restaurant, Serangoon Road

Trying a Indian vegetarian restaurant (276-278 Serangoon Road, tel : +65 6299 2786) which we've noticed the previous times we've passed by when in the vicinity. Just to get this out of the way, the masala chai was smooth like the ones from Komala Vilas. A little light with the spices, but smooth.

Their ghee pongal was delicious - ghee flavoured obviously and moist with notes from the peppercorn and fennel seeds. That white coconut chutney on the side was deceptively spicy.

Got ourselves a mini meal to try their flavoured rice. Curd rice (left) was milky and nothing like the other curd rice which we've had before which were yoghurt-y. The sliced green chillis in there were a pleasant surprise. Sambar rice (middle) was tasty - I'm not sure if it's the same stuff as bisibele bath. The one on the right was pepper rice. Tastiest of the lot if not for the bits of coriander. This was flavoured with pepper, curry leaves, mustard seeds and a bunch of other spices.

Hidden beneath the chapati was a kesari bath. Nice. Unfortunately, the chapati was a little dried out - might have been left out there for a while.

Their rava onion masala dosa had bits of crispy toasted onion in them. Dosa as a whole did not taste bad but I think we've had better ones around. 

Stinky Bombs from 99 Old Trees

Tried these stinky bombs from 99 Old Trees.

Durian custard filled crusty choux pastry if that hadn't been obvious enough. I kinda like them but between that and the stinky bowls, I'd prefer the latter for a durian dessert fix.

Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff (东陵酥皮咖喱角), Hong Lim Food Centre

I've noticed the curry puff stall at Hong Lim. It's only recently that I've realized that there were actually two curry puff stalls and there were just one stall apart from each other. And they're related. Mitosis apparently took place from sibling rivalry. So this was Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff (#02-34 Hong Lim Food Center, 531A Upper Cross Street) and the other which I hadn't tried was Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff Original.

The one above has otah fillings. I thought the otah was good tasting. The skin of the puffs were crisp and flaky as we got them pretty freshly fried.

Below's the potato and chicken puff. Quite nice as well but there wasn't much chicken in there. 

Hanare by Takayama, Ngee Ann City

I was mostly drawn to Hanare by Takayama (#03-07, Takashimaya Shopping Centre Ngee Ann City, 391 Orchard Road, tel  : +65 8298 9369) from the pictures of their kamameshi I've seen online. Knew next to nothing about the original Takayama by the chef Taro Takayama. Except that it's kinda expensive and Hanare instead would possibly be an introduction to his food.

Their house made ginger ale is not bad. Fruity and while I wished it had a bit more spice from the ginger, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Wagyu dashimaki tamago. Could taste the beef in it.

Ordered the fish cartilage because it sounded interesting and we've never had it before. Texture was kinda cartilage-y. 😂 There's a lot of crunch if you hadn't had them before. The umeboshi and shiso flavours packed a perky punch. I can see this going superbly with white rice. *brain cues flashbacks of Suju* 

Food took a while to arrive so a glass of Suntory to help with the wait.

Sakura ebi pasta was part of the warm appetizer menu. There's little bits of kombu in there as well so the flavour was expectedly seafood-y and umami.

That's the awabi kamameshi. I think the flavour in the rice came mostly from dashi and the abalone liver sauce. Maybe there was also a little bit from the mushrooms and hijiki as well. Noticed that the menu had options for additional liver sauce. Could understand why that. Will remember to do that if I ever come back to eat this again. Anyways, I liked it. The flavour not as intense as I had imagined though.

There's more texture and taste from the kinmedai kamameshi. Probably because of the vegetables and tsukemono in it. Flavour profile is more tangy because of the latter but substantially, it still fell on the kinmedai, mushrooms and dashi.

Got their matcha financier to end. These took a while to be served and I'm pretty sure they were baked to order. The exterior was light and crusty while the insides were dense, moist and filled with a buttery matcha bitter. So good this one. Would love to eat this again.

Ramen Champion in the last quarter of 2022

Ramen Champion appears to be a shadow of its former self. What used to be individual stalls look like they're operating a centralized kitchen with a common collection point - unlike the past where each had their own space with their identity. I don't even know from which some of the ramen are from. 

Updates on their sites are inconsistent and often inadequate. Their social media looks sad. You know it's sad when it's largely filled with influencer posts. 

Is it even still a championship of any sort anymore or are they just a ramen food court these days? 

Anyways, came to try the tsukemen from Taishoken. Not bad. The broth wasn't as thick as I had imagined but it was filled with bonito smokiness and the noodles were respectably chewy. No overpowering flavour from the menma and sadly no molten yolk in the ajitama as well. I recall thinking better of Tetsu from the past though.

Tried a pork fat stamina ramen. Liked this. Garlicky, salty and full of textures from the cabbage, bean sprouts and the chewy noodles. I think I like the Megamen from Brothers Ramen a bit more. Not to mention that Brothers Ramen has superior pork belly which was importantly more tender. No molten yolk from this ajitama as well. Now which one was this supposed to be from?

 Mentai-mayo gyozas were okay tasting.