A few more stuff from Legendary Hong Kong

A few quick notes from over a few visits to Legendary Hong Kong.

Pretty good luncheon meat and egg sandwich they do. I believe the picture has spoken for itself.

Yes, I like their rendition of chow meen.

Like the fried cod which we had previously, I had initially thought the fried tofu cubes to be uninteresting. Ended up enjoying them much more than I expected. Perhaps it was the appropriately savoury batter on them.

Not a fan of their ma lai ko. Even though these were also freshly steamed, the flavour wasn't quite what I was looking for. Lacked the brown sugar fragrance.

While red bean and milk tea are both not unusual, we've never had them together before. Tasted like milk tea and red bean. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Okay-ish prawn toast. They weren't bad. Just didn't have much else to say about them.

Enjoyed their roast pork rice. The roast pork was cut thick and chunky. Meat was relatively tender coupled with a good bite while the crackling was crispy. They were pretty good eating with the accompanying mustard on the side. I was surprised by how tender the vegetable was.

Some year end seasonals from Sushiro

This was from a recent visit to Sushiro with their Hokkaido Winter Fiesta seasonals.

There's stuff like torched mentaiko from that.

Kazunoko's not from the Fiesta. It's usually on menu. I liked the slightly squeaky texture of the roe paired with vinegary tanginess and the bit of smokiness from bonito.

These are Hokkaido chika tempura - delicious fried little white fish good enough that we ordered seconds of.

Big chunky Hokkaido scallops that were also "tempura-ed". Beneath that greasy batter were large and moist scallops. More than a mouthful kind of large if anyone was wondering.

Broiled sardines from Hokkaido as well. Flavourful from the rendered oils through the torching.

Aburi tako was not good. Not enough torching and not much of an aroma.

Aburi nodoguro was not from the Fiesta. This was one of the nicer nigiri Sushiro has from time to time.

The other gem from them is aburi engawa. Also not from the Fiesta. Have only encountered them once previously and worth getting when they're around. This one was shoyu glazed.

Hokkaido melon catalana. Sweet and very creamy.

Hojicha parfait was nice. For some reasons, there was also a scoop of matcha ice cream in there as well.

Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff Original (东陵酥皮咖喱角正宗老店), Hong Lim Food Centre

Previously we tried a couple of curry puffs from Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff (东陵酥皮咖喱角). We picked up a couple of the same puff types from the competitor Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff Original (东陵酥皮咖喱角正宗老店) (#02-36 Hong Lim Food Center, 531A Upper Cross Street). So it's the smiley paper bags versus the plastic bag puffs.

We were thinking of comparisons so we got ourselves their chicken/potato and otah puffs. The chicken & potato puff like the other stall doesn't have much chicken. It's mostly curried potatoes and didn't pack much heat.

The flavours for both stalls were pretty similar. The only thing I could discern was perhaps Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff Original (these ones with the smiley paper bag if you had gotten confused) was less spicy than Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff (previous one with plastic bags). Both were pretty competent in their own rights.

Never getting past the capped short loin of lamb at iSteaks

Yes I'm probably never getting past the capped short loin of lamb.

We were offered eggnog on the house because Christmas spirit. Don't think I tasted alcohol in it. Just a faint nutmeg in background.

First time trying the carbonara at iSteaks. It......wasn't what I expected. There's no cream nor did it taste eggy. I'm not sure what it was besides the cheese but it wasn't a bad tasting pasta. 

Like I said, couldn't get past this. So good.

Fried chicken was an add on. Wouldn't get it again. A bit too much batter which was overly grease logged.

May Pho Culture, Fook Hai Building

Heard a bit of mentions about May Pho Culture (#01-16 Fook Hai Building, 150 South Bridge Road, tel : +65 9646 2589) recently so decided to check them out.

Tried a couple of bowls their rice noodles that they were supposed to be known for - phở tài nam gan and phở gầu. The latter has beef brisket and the former beef tendons.

Broth was full flavoured and beefy. Brisket was the non fatty cut so there wasn't anything noteworthy about it.

Not a fan of their gỏi cuốn because of the sawtooth coriander flavour in it.

Pretty impressed with their chả giò though. The rolls were crispy and the fillings had a pretty distinctive aroma of mushrooms which I enjoyed. This was worth coming back for.

Drip coffee's not bad. Thick, sweet and pretty aromatic.

Joséphine, Amoy Street

Mixed feelings about Joséphine (97 Amoy Street, tel : +65 9642 4901). Great service crew with food that were hits and misses. Got the sensing that the balance of their setup leaned a little bit more towards style over substance. 

Not that the food was bad but I had this feeling that they're were trying to impress rather than feed you.

Bread - first round's on the house and any extras are chargeable. I'll understand if a place like Belon charges for bread. Even Claudine or perhaps Gaston. Because they have bread that's above the run of the mill or even exceptional. But this?

Portion of the sea bass ceviche was small. Not bad tasting but not getting much for $24. Fish was so cured that it looked cooked.

Pan fried foie gras on toasted sourdough was delicious. Menu mentioned honey sauce but that sauce tasted like caramel. Nice.

Here's when they brought out the more serious knives. Joséphine knives.

We had pork tenderloin with what was described as foie gras and morel sauce. Said sauce was not bad tasting but not outstanding or memorable. For something that was described to be made with foie gras and morel, I tasted neither the liver nor mushroom in it. Otherwise, it's a not bad tasting dish which I will never order again.

I liked how the flavour of the fish was in the sauce of the monkfish blanquette. Love the buttered bread that came with it. But for $36, that was pretty much all the monkfish there was.

Lamb was marinated and processed to subdue the natural flavour of the meat so I'm sinning it. Kinda defeated the reason why I ordered it. There was a caramelized sweetness on the meat which I didn't expect. 

The only silver lining that came out of how they treated the meat was that I could use the blue cheese sauce without feeling guilty about drowning out the natural lamb-y flavour because there was little to drown in the first place.

Dessert was riz au lait. Nicely done with a creamy vanilla richness in the rice and crispy caramelized fragrance from the sliced almonds. Pleasantly surprised.