More dim sum from Ah Yat Kitchen (阿一厨坊)

Trying more dim sum from Ah Yat Kitchen.

Competent char siew sou. Light crumbly pastry encasing char siew and sauce fillings. Pretty much the baked pastry version of char siew bao.

Unfortunately, their ee fu noodles aren't great. Noodles were softer than I like and the sauce was weak. I wouldn't call it a bad rendition but I'll never get it again.

Tried their mini abalone siew mai back in the day when Ah Yat Kitchen was located in the Food Republic at what is formerly known as Capitol Piazza. Maybe I didn't think much of it then. Noticed that the mini abalones today were tender and pretty tasty from both the abalone's natural flavour and the braising sauce. Not bad.

Pan fried yam with pumpkin in between. I like this. What's appealing were the fragrance on the crispy exterior and the moist pumpkin in the middle. No sweeteners were added and there's some toasted sesame seeds on top as well. These were also much larger than the ones from Chao Yue Xuan.

Nice astringent iced milk tea for the hot weather. Would have been great if it came in an ice bath rather than having ice dilute the tea but we take what we can get.

Hong Feng HK Roasted Delights (宏峰港式烧腊), 532 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10

We thought the roasts looked good from Hong Feng HK Roasted Delights (Sunday F&B, 532 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10) so here's an order of an upper quarter of their dang gui roasted duck. It was pretty decent. Breast meat was more tender than I had imagined. Noticed a thin layer of fat beneath the skin. All good drenched in the light dang gui sauce and check out the goji berries.

In case anyone was wondering, Sunday F&B is the name of the coffee shop.

Tracy's Sarawak Kitchen (品記小厨), Geylang Lorong 25A

Tracy's Sarawak Kitchen (8890 Eating House, 90 Geylang Lor 25A, tel : +65 8863 5836) is literally just beside Aljunied MRT. The proprietress is Sarawakian from Kuching and what the stall offers is presumably a showcase of food from that part of Malaysia.

The menu states this as Kuching QQ noodles and it's what most of us here would identify as just kolo mee. Love the texture from those thin curly noodles. Savoury and oiled, textured with salty minced pork. It's probably just me but I would have preferred this without the char siew. One can help themselves with the fried lard from the stall.

One of the dishes they're known for is their money cai longevity noodle. The Chinese name is 马尼菜 which sounds like mani cai. I Googled and they're also referred to as sweet leaf or star gooseberry. I'm not sure what I tasted because I don't think it had much flavour. But the eggy noodles with the fried lard were so delicious.

Tried their Hakka braised pork. They're relatively tender but not so tender that one didn't need teeth. Here's me wishing it was the latter. Meat's braised with a sweet nutty sauce that's a little reminiscent to me of babi pongteh or rendang. It was good for a few pieces before surfeit crept in.

Cai Ji Fried Fish Soup (財記炸鱼湯), Chong Boon Market & Food Centre

So......Cai Ji Fried Fish Soup (#01-10 Chong Boon Market & Food Centre, 453A Ang Mo Kio Ave 10, tel : +65 9660 9020). Been hearing a bit about them lately so here we were.

Inevitable that comparisons will be made to 453 Fish Soup because we've just had it while waiting. This was also delicious. We ordered the 2 in 1 bowl with both batang and red grouper slices which also came with minced pork. The flavour in the background was garlicky from the bits of fried garlic they added instead of ti poh like 453 Fish Soup. There's discernible sweetness from the vegetables as well and I thought this one was a bit more savoury.

So that's $9 for the soup, $2 for the additional milt and $4 for the fried fish roe. Portions were pretty generous.

Hell yeah they were generous with the fried fish roe as well. Milt's a bit more well done then 453 Fish Soup but it's equally delicious.

453 Fish Soup, Chong Boon Market & Food Centre

We were waiting for Cai Ji Fried Fish Soup to open for the day and decided to give 453 Fish Soup (#01-16 Chong Boon Market & Food Centre, 453A Ang Mo Kio Ave 10) a try while at it.

This was a pretty good $7 bowl. The batang slices were thick and firm. We added milt and roe which came in pretty generous portions for an additional $2. That milt was so tender and melty. I saw them spoon some powdered dried sole into the bowl which definitely lent their flavour, albeit sparingly, to the clear broth.

I never knew that fish milt is called 鱼油 until today. Googling gets 鱼白.

Tai Er (太二酸菜鱼), 313 Somerset

Been wanting to try the 酸菜鱼 from Tai Er (#B3-39/40 313 Somerset, 313 Orchard Road, tel : +65 6517 9962) for a while. 酸菜鱼 has in recent times become a pretty popular option and these guys are apparently trending. Getting a seat here is a pain. But we got lucky during the off peak hours.

There's a counter where one can help themselves with self made roselle and preserved orange peel tea. Add more than their recommended portion of roselle and orange peel for a more potent cup.

These were egg washed and deep fried glutinous rice cakes with kinako and brown sugar. Or should I say kuromitsu. It's almost Japanese-y. Those glutinous rice cakes had a light crisp exterior and were tender and pretty chewy insides.

Chilled sliced beef and ox tongue in chilli oil. The relatively tame flavour belied the angry red sauce/oil. Not bad tasting but the portions were pretty small.

What Tai Er is known for is obviously their suai cai yu. Not bad at all. The pickled mustard broth had a noticeable bit more complexity than the run of the mill and packed a bit of heat. The slices of fish had a faint but discernible "muddy" taste. Definitely enjoyable but this isn't going to be a place I'd be eager to return soon. Portions aren't huge and prices were pretty high.