Wen Li Taiwanese Food (文礼台湾美食), Golden Mile Food Centre

Pretty decent lu rou fan from Wen Li (#01-65 Golden Mile Food Centre, 505 Beach Road). The proprietor was exceptionally polite and chirpy. Love those molten yolked eggs and the fatty minced pork gravy over the rice that was suitably salty and savoury. What made this bowl different was the optional chilli on the side that spiked it with burst of heat that kept the flavour from becoming monotonous. Don't mind coming back.

Braise (卤之家), Golden Mile Food Centre

Holy cow 🐷, the braised stuff from Braise (#01-104 Golden Mile Food Centre, 505 Beach Road) was good!

I've been wanting to try the food from the stall for quite a while but these guys have been out of sight and mind for the longest time. Finally made it today shortly after they've opened. Picture above was the pork belly set with added on meat from the shank ($5.50 +$2). The set came with tau kwa (what they call pressed tofu), tau pok (one of the best if not better renditions I've come across), wood ear fungus, nai bai (奶白), half a ajitama and braised shiitake mushroom (exceptional braised rendition this one). 

Both meat were fork/chopstick tender with a layer of fat that fell apart readily in the mouth. Love that dark brown gravy which was deeply flavoured. Will be back. 

Octopus and more cheonggukjang jjigae at Ko Ryo Jeong (고려정)

We've seen this poster on the wall at Ko Ryo Jeong since the first time we were here. Have always been curious about the octopus so we asked about it the last time but it wasn't available. It was today. We had initially assumed that because of the price, what we would be paying for is a set that might come with a stew, other specific dishes and rice. Just like how it was for their ganjang gejang. 

They explained that this one only consisted of a plate of octopus and the reason it was priced so high was because it was imported from Korea.

Anyway, banchan. Today's kimchi was extraordinary.

Here's the octopus. Did not quite look like what the poster depicted. It was much smaller than we thought. While it wasn't rubbery, it needed a bit more chewing and it wasn't as tender as I imagined. Wouldn't be ordering this again because I didn't think it was worth even half of what they charged. Now we know.

Thankfully, the cheonggukjang jjigae was still reliably delicious. Thick, stinky with the fermented bean and served piping hot.

First time we were given brown rice here. Didn't realize that they had these and for some reasons, we had never thought to ask as well.

They ran out of fish cake strips for the banchan and replaced it with these preserved vegetables which tasted like a fibrous version of mustard greens. Don't know what these were.

More seasonals and beef tartare at Atout

It's been a little over a year since the last time we were at Atout. That last time, we came for their Brittany artichokes and sautéed Mirabelle plums. We were here today for the Vacherin Mont d'Or, black winter truffle and persimmons. What I personally hope for is that one day, Patrick would start making boudin noir again.

What also appeared on the seasonal section of the menu today were their house made smoked goose rillette. These were smokey as the name described and had a spice I couldn't put my finger to. Delicious anyways.

Pretty good Black French Winter Truffle linguine. The sauce had a light cream flavour to pair with the truffles. A little low on salt here methinks. Personally I thought cheese and butter would be the preferable combination. 

Our first time ordering their tartare de beouf - but we kinda knew what we would be getting because we expected that it wouldn't be very different from the one from Le Bistrot Du Sommelier. And we were right. Love the chunky mince of the tartare and their balanced tangy spicy seasoning.

Been a while since we last had the Vacherin Mont d'Or.

Ordered this with onions and bacon. In retrospect, those weren't necessary. The cheese alone would have sufficed. Nice toasty crust we got today.

Persimmons are in season. The persimmon tart I was looking forward to was a little more fancy than I had imagined but it did the job. Honey flavoured cubes of the fruit on a creamy & tangy cream passion fruit curd cradled in the dense buttery crust. Would be remiss of me not to also mention that refreshing mandarin verbena sorbet on the side.

This is the way. To end. Bitter coffee. That soft oatmeal raisin cookie on the side was so buttery.

McD's Quarter Pounder is back

It's back. Guilty pleasure which I'm not complaining about but I wonder why now and why was it ever taken off the menu in the first place. I haven't had the Angus cheese burger enough to make a comparison. While I learnt to accept that one, I too remember lamenting when they first replaced the Quarter Pounder with it.

This had a more moist patty which was substantially larger than the generic patties that they use for the rest of their burgers. That size also changed the balance the cheese to meat ratio making this less cheesy than the old Double Cheeseburger. And because it was less cheesy, one could taste more of the meat. Didn't taste so beefy.

So Good Char Chan Tang, 100AM

So Good Char Chan Tang has opened up at 100AM (#01-04 100AM, 100 Tras Street). This was the their third outpost we've been to after Capitol Piazza and TripleOne Somerset. Food's serviceable mostly -  some stuff I like better than others. These guys are among the better cha chan tang in this era together with Tsui Wah and Legendary Hong Kong.

Was curious about their baked cheese spaghetti bolognese after having had that with rice and egg. It's the same bolognese sauce. Couldn't tell if the minced meat in it was chicken or pork. It's definitely not beef. Looked better than the experience of eating it because most of the sauce was on top with the toasted cheese. Once you've dug in, I kinda felt that there wasn't enough sauce, or even cheese for that matter to go round with the noodles. That's my only gripe. 

Fried ee fu noodles (干烧伊面). The sauce was a bit more intense than the more commonly available braised rendition. Cannot be seen in this picture but there were sliced mushrooms in it. It was okay on its own but pretty delicious when paired with their zesty pickled green chilli.

A side of poached lettuce with oyster sauce for some obligatory fibre. Even though it was just poached lettuce and oyster sauce, the one from Legendary Hong Kong seemed done more nicely.