Shahi Maharani North Indian Restaurant, Raffles City

Shahi Maharani North Indian Restaurant (#03–21B Raffles City, 252 North Bridge Road, tel : +65 6235 8840) has been around for more than a couple of decades. I remember wanting to visit them years ago but they've somehow fallen in the cracks of my attention over the years. Anyways, we're here now.

Decor's kind of old school along with the furnishing. Might have spelled prestige or luxury in another time. Today, it's a reminder of that.

Papadums and pickles. Notice that the dip doesn't have yoghurt. It's too coriander-y for me.

Munched on papdi chaat while waiting for the food. Papdi, sev, chickpeas, chunks of boiled potatoes, yoghurt, tamarind sauce, mint chutney...a riot of flavours and textures that made the chaat. Enjoyed it but that didn't stop me from wishing for a bit more generosity with the yoghurt.

A papdi is a cracker - one which the menu described as Indian nachos. Here's an Indian nacho worth of chaat on a spoon.

First to be served was the sarson ka machhli tikka - tandoor baked barramundi with a spice rub. Meat was was firm and flaky. Not bad. The fish packed more heat than we expected.

Their palak paneer appeared to be a class of their own. Nicely done with the taste of the spinach intact, seasoning noticeable and those chunks of tender cottage cheese. While here are myriads of variation to the recipe, I thought this was a good rendition.

We also had a prawn korma - a korma unlike most korma we've had. The texture was more akin to dal than the creamy velvet generally associated with them. For the first time as far as I could tell, I could definitively taste cashews in there. Along with cardamom and a host of other spices which I stopped bothering to identify after the cardamom. 😂 Prawns were meaty, split and deveined into what Chinese cooking calls 虾球.  Delicious and not as heavy a curry as it looked.

For a large part, I've lamented over Kashmiri naans having Maraschino cherries and little else to go on with. The majority of them don't have nuts - or at least enough to be identified as nuts. Most don't even have much real dried fruit other than the cherries. This one had mostly crushed nuts mashed with Maraschino cherries slathered across the bread. Nice. 👍🏼

That's a piece of butter naan from the same basket as Kashmiri ones. Noticed that they were shaped like pizzas.

No room for dessert today. Hope to make it back here another time.

TWG, Takashimaya

We've been to TWG a number of times over the past couple years-ish; sometimes for food but mostly it's as a pit stop for a drink and we inevitably end up getting munchies. Which are okay but not great. What's compelling for me at least is their Dulcet Rose which I've realized that I have almost never deviated from and also their tea jelly which is complimentary if you get their munchies. 

Note to self : the Dulcet Rose at Takashimaya (Level 2, 391 Orchard Road) seems a little diluted compared to the one at MBS which we usually go to.  

We tried some of their Earl Grey madeleines today. Can't really taste the Earl Grey. Wouldn't get them again.

Banana muffin was...nothing to write home about as well. Too bad about that. But these stuff aren't the reasons why we're here. It's the Dulcet Rose.

L'Entrecôte La Baguette, Funan

L'Entrecôte La Baguette (#02-04 Funan, 107 North Bridge Road) isn't a restaurant. It's a unit designated as a pop up for L'Entrecôte, &Made (these guys are still around!) and something else I don't recall. What they do have which the restaurant doesn't is their steak baguette.

Between a sliced baguette was that entrecote steak that they serve in their restaurant, sliced up, doused with their "legendary" sauce and stuffed together with some arugula and fries. Baguette's a little hard but the this sandwich tasted pretty much like how their steaks do - between bread that is. Couldn't taste any of the char (if there was any) on the meat and the arugula was totally lost in the weight of all the stuffings. Cannot deny that it was a hearty one though.

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.