Miso fusion mee pok from Li Yuan パート2

Well, this was our last time at the Li Yuan in Commonwealth Crescent. Literally so because by the time this post was out, they would have shuttered this Commonwealth stall leaving only a couple of outpost left. My last bowl was $8 miso fusion mee pok. It's probably an additional meatball and slice of charshu above the $7 bowl. Miso sweetness and umami with a nice hum of heat from the chilli. I like it but I don't think I'll get to eat it enough to fully understand it.

酸菜鱼 from Riverside Grilled Fish (江边城外)

We've had the 酸菜鱼 with sliced fish in soup previously at Riverside Grilled Fish so here's getting the one with the whole fish. Hmmm...to be more accurate, it wasn't exactly the entire fish. The underside of the fish doesn't have any meat. We picked sea bass. Fish was definitely pre-fried because it wasn't even lukewarm when they served and we had to ladle the heated broth over repeatedly just to get it warmed up.

Pretty good savoury sour and a bit of heat going on from the pickled mustard and chillis just like the last time we had it. Those onions that propped the fish up from below were deliciously sweet and crunchy. Just let them cook down before starting on them.

Gripes? The cost does add up if you start topping up with the sides. With just squid balls and frozen tofu (冻豆腐), this was starting to look pricey for a half fish dish.

Scallion oil noodles (葱油面) was pretty tasty. I was hoping that there would be more actual scallions though but I'm not complaining.

菜饭 - Food for the masses

Sambal petai, chap chye and fried chicken. Thoroughly enjoyed this combination. One of possibly millions for one of possibly millions.

Black Pepper Cheese Filet-O-Fish from McD

This was a pathetic attempt even for McD. It's as sad as gimmicky goes and a waste of money.

While I know enough not to have an iota of faith with their social media...

...shouldn't there be a legal watchdogs to prevent deliberate deception in advertisements? Where's that oozy pepper cheese?

It's inside. A miserly smudge. Could taste a bit of pepper there. But coming from the entity which has made the McPepper/Prosperity Burger, the black pepper moniker for this just didn't live up to even low expectations.

Mala Tonkotsu Ramen V2.0 from Ippudo

Here's Ippudo's Mala Tonkotsu Ramen V2.0 which is on a limited run on their menu. Never tried V1.0. Not bad tasting mala tonkotsu broth which I'm gonna say hovers around 小辣. Pretty oily, savoury and there was also a sweetness in it. There were carrots in it so that might have been the reason.

Noodles were thicker like Chinese yellow noodles instead of the thin Hakata type. Texture was firm and had more bite like those found in tsukemen. What made me want to try this bowl was the motsu that they also had in it. Those were tender, chewy and beefy at the same time - a much better experience than the ones we previously had from the motsunabe at Motsunabe Goku.

Chicken rice from Wee Nam Kee @ The Hainan Story Chapter One

Another itch scratched. I've been wondering how the chicken rice at The Hainan Story was because it looked good at the neighbouring tables. That stall was also Wee Nam Kee, a known local brand which also left much to be desired from my last experience with them years ago. So, that brown coloured chicken rice. Unusual looking for chicken rice. Decent tasting.

Chicken was disappointing. It's not tough but neither was it tender enough to be slurped off the bone. Tasted chicken-y though. Breast meat was dry and the rest of the bird felt a little boney. We've definitely had much better so it was forgettable to say the least.

Boiled livers were just that. Not bad tasting but nothing else worth mentioning as well. Ditto for those eggs. I had expected better.

So we had a yuan yang from The Hainan Story while at it. It's obviously not from the chicken rice stall. This was kinda nice. Sweet and milky concoction with a good balance of flavour from the local coffee and tea.