Meet Paul, Tanjong Pagar Food Centre

These guys recently shifted from a coffeeshop nearby to this current location (#02-09 Tanjong Pagar Food Centre, 6 Tanjong Pagar Plaza). I was curious because they have halibut on menu. Not exactly commonplace in local western food stalls.

The short of it was, the fish was no good. Texture was uncomfortably mushy in the middle. Because it was a thin slice, it could have been any cheap fish (say dory) and I wouldn't have known any better. 

They have an unusual tasting black pepper gravy for the chicken chop which tasted of onions and ginger. That gravy was very Asian, like what one might find in zhi char.

The chilled slaw and corn was not bad though.

Dragon Village Hainanese Curry Rice (龍鄉海南咖哩飯), Chinatown Food Centre

Have been wondering for quite a long time if this stall's (#02-108 Chinatown Food Centre, 335 Smith Street) curry rice was any good. So we ordered a deluxe plate with pork chop, chicken cutlet, fried fish nuggets, curried cabbage and sweet and sour pork. That's $10.50. The toppings were okay-ish - no complains on the fried stuff and the cabbage was pretty tender. They were decent and nothing was outstanding in particular.

But the curry was thin, diluted tasting and something I wouldn't waste money or time on again.

Jofa Grill, Bukit Merah Central

What piqued my curiosity about Jofa Grill (#01-3683, 165 Bukit Merah Central) was the mention of ex chefs from Burnt Ends and Joël Robuchon. So I was mostly intrigued by the possibility presented by their mashed potatoes.

I've never read what was exactly said about the mashed potatoes until now and it appeared to me that whomever wrote about them are finding excuses for them because the writers couldn't backtrack out of mentioning Joël Robuchon. I think you get my drift. One of the publications even mentioned 'is said to be buttery, smooth... '. Said writer could only speculate from hearsay and possibly never even tried it? 

Chicken's not bad. Slaw's not bad too. The mashed potatoes...I think I can do better with the powdered variety from Ikea and a generous pat of butter. Unless Joël Robuchon is vastly overrated. You think? This was not a bad plate of chicken chop by any stretch of the definition.

For some reasons, they had run out of the ingredients for aglio olio so we ended up with the mee pok carbonara. I don't understand how a business that purports to sell western food/pasta runs out of garlic and olive oil in the middle of the week. So it's poor planning or they couldn't care less but what do I know. 

Anyways, I'd like to divert the attention back to the "prestigious" alumni of the people running the stall. I'd like to think they know carbonara. And I wasn't unreasonable as to be expecting an alla Romana from them.

Bacon was kinda bland. Pepper barely registered. This was more cream than cheese.

Mee pok with extra meatballs from Soon Heng Pork Noodles (顺兴肉脞麵)

Got the larger bowl of mee pok with extra meatballs from Soon Heng Pork Noodles for breakfast.

So that's six meatballs and three wantons there. All the bowl needed was a splash of sliced chilli infused light soya sauce. 👍🏼

Pretty happy with the bowl except for the fried lard (猪油渣). In spite of appearances, these were on the verge of turning rancid. I remember the last time I added them and they weren't any good as well.

Spicy Wife Nasi Lemak, Amoy Street Food Centre

What got my attention was the huge fried chicken thigh berempah from Spicy Wife Nasi Lemak (#02-119 Amoy Street Food Centre, 7 Maxwell Road). Nicely done with a flavourful dark & crusty exterior paired with very moist meat underneath. Sadly, their rice never rose above the mediocrity that was the case with many other nasi lemak from the lack of salt - salt that could have brought out more flavour from the coconut that was infused in the rice. Not a fan of their sweet sambal as well but that shouldn't even have mattered if the rice had been good enough to eat on its own.

I asked for a portion of the mutton rendang because I was curious. Didn't expect a full serving on a separate plate. Not a fan of it. The rendang was sweet with spices that were in your face. Lacked the richness and grace from the mellow of coconut milk like those from the Malay or Indonesian renditions.

3 pats of butter, 2 beef patties and a partridge in a pear tree

In retrospect, I might have gone a little overboard with this configuration of the butter burger from One Fattened Calf. The additional patty threw off the balance of their meat to bread ratio and to add on, today's burger quality was not something I had expected. While the meat had a respectable char fragrance from all the nice browning, it was also fully cooked and very crumbly. And kinda devoid of beefiness. The patties were also disintegrating as I ate just like how the butter soaked buns were falling apart. What's happening here?