Mad Roaster, Amoy Street Food Centre

Mad Roaster (#02-107 Amoy Street Food Centre, 7 Maxwell Road) opened around the thereabouts of a year and a half ago. They were written about because there was a story to tell about how the owner who was an ex-lawyer helping refugees in Thailand decided to leave her job and coalesced a dignity fuelled social enterprise out of this stall by providing those refugees a job in art designs. Said art is on the stickers of their coffee cups.

Me? I came here because of the chocolate babka.  

Nice this one. The bread was lathered with custard I think and chocolate crumbles. Chocolatey and buttery with a light crisp. Was a little light so I got their kimchi grilled cheese which was pretty decent as well. Also buttery bread panini-ed with kimchi and gooey cheese. Too bad the latte was weak.

Hakka Noodle, Holland Drive Food Centre

Breakfast at Hakka Noodle (#02-15 Holland Drive Market & Food Centre, 44 Holland Drive). They're old school and have heard nice things about them. 

The yong tau foo pieces were not bad tasting but nothing out of the ordinary. There were a couple of things that stood out for me. Loved that minced meat stuffed bean curd in the soup and triangular fried bean curd skin fritter stuffed with minced pork and fish paste that came with the noodles. Didn't think much of the fried wanton. Did not think those noodles with the minced meat was special or outstanding though.

Nam Sing Hokkien Fried Mee, Hawkers' Street @ ION

I remember liking Nam Sing from Old Airport Road Food Centre. One of the attributes that got my attention for their Hokkien mee was the...lack of wetness if you would. It's a style that we usually prefer. This Nam Sing at Hawkers' Street at ION (#B4-66 ION Orchard, 2 Orchard Turn) was not it. While it may be that they're a branch and expectations are to produce the same standards, the plate did not taste like the genuine article. The flavour was lacking and there was a pool of liquid at the bottom of the plate.

Breakfast at Mui Kee (妹記)

Haven't been back to Mui Kee for some years. Thankfully, the crazy queues are no longer there. 

The kanpachi/amberjack yu sheng is still delicious. No reason why it wouldn't be.

Never had the chance to try their cheong fun previously because they are only available in the morning. This one with sakura ebi was not bad tasting.

There's also another one with diced bits of roasted duck and preserved mustard greens. The toppings were kinda dry.

First bowl congee we ordered was frog and century egg. I thought it was not bad but it got gruel-y pretty quickly with the stirring that needed to be done. There's a light smokiness in both the porridge and the frog which appeared to be scorched.

The wok hei was for some reasons more apparent in the threadfin belly bowl. Check out the chunk of fish's belly. This might just be our favourite bowl.

Coffee's drinkable but not great. We thought that the one from So Good was actually better than this.

Putien in June

Came back to try some of the new dishes we noticed from the last time. (一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八, 九, 十, 十一, 十二)

Braised tofu. Something we've had before. This felt right today.

The iced bitter gourd strips appear to be larger these days. Not complaining. Wonderfully refreshing with the honey dip.

Broke out of the soursop juice cycle and landed ourselves their orange juice instead. It's creamy for some reasons.

Seasonal vegetables with their century & salted egg infused superior sauce.

One of the new dishes was braised pork intestines in Chinese sauerkraut soup (酸菜大肥肠). Broth was awesomely sour, savoury and spicy at the same time which made it moreish. Those slices of pork intestines were both tender and chewy. Would definitely come back for this.

Their crispy boneless beef rib was another new item. Not bad tasting. There was a nice beefy flavour on the meat and while it was deep fried with a crust, it wasn't excessively greasy at all. Their home made red wine black pepper sauce on the side definitely helped with the moisture since the exposed meat dried up pretty quickly. A tad expensive as well. With the gamut of reliable mainstays that's already in their menu, I don't think this one will be revisited. 

Niu Dian Beef Noodles (牛店), Holland Village

牛店's a pretty new Taiwanese beef noodle shop that's started business some months ago at Balestier. This was their shop at Holland Village (15A Lorong Liput). 

For some reasons, I thought their braised tofu (热花干) might be good. They weren't bad. Tofu was served with chopped spring onions. While at it, I noticed a meaty flavour in their chilli paste which the restaurant later explained was made with beef fat. Nice with the tofu.

This was their combination specialty bowl (满福牛肉面). The cuts of beef were pretty tender and flavourful. Pretty impressed by their golden coin (腱子心) which were possibly the best we've had by far. Noodles were fine.

I'm on the fence about the broth. There was a sweetness in it that I noticed which I would have preferred not there. A sweetness that I've never recalled in the beef broth from back in the days of Lai Lai, any time at Din Tai Fung or in the recent years from Abundance.