Ding Ji (鼎记), Jalan Membina

Ding Ji is (#01-01, 26 Jalan Membina) located at the same coffee shop as Long Ji XO Fish Head Bee Hoon. They're a franchise with multiple branches under the Fei Xiong Group. This was their signature noodle bowl of mee pok - pretty decent assembly and quality of ingredients. Chilli was not bad. Don't mind coming back to get another bowl of something else and it helps that they do late hours.

O.BBa Jjajang, Tanjong Pagar Road

The main reason why we were here at O.BBa Jjajang (77 Tanjong Pagar Road, tel : +65 6221 8254) today was primarily because of jjajangmyeon which I had kinda opened up to recently. Also a good opportunity to get some K-grub along this K-stretch. 

Banchan's not bad. Very decent kimchi which we got thirds of and I love that mashed sweet potato thingy. Think that was made with sweet and regular potatoes. We got that refilled like 5 times.

I believe this was Sichuan preserved mustard green (四川菜) and onions. I kinda like this too.

Some of the pieces of meat from their tangsuyuk were relatively tender and some were tough. Those crispy noodles were nice though - they've a toasty flavour like the local crispy noodle (生面). While I gather that there are lots of references made with this dish to Chinese sweet and sour pork, they don't taste the same. Something about the sour/tanginess that's different.

That being said, the sweet and sour sauce was enjoyable. Did not expect it to be served in a Pyrex measuring cup though.

Kimchi jeon with cheese. The non-cheesed edges were nice and crisp while the middle with cheese was....cheesy. Hah! This was the first time I've had a kimchi pancake where I could taste the squids inside so that's nice. It's a little greasy but not unenjoyable. 

We ordered the jjajangmyeon with truffle. That's a lump of truffle salsa on top.

It's actually not bad. The sauce reminded me of the dark soya sauce in tau you bak. With truffle flavour. My cautious optimism grows.

Mandus...tasted like the frozen ones from the supermarket. Not a bad eat but I don't think I'll get them again.

Original Botak Jones, Depot Road

Came by the Depot Road branch of Botak Jones (Yue Hua Coffee Shop, 118 Depot Lane) for some grilled chicken. It's that same place where Wong Kee Noodle is. I remember the days when they would breathe bustling life into the location they set up stall. Things are very different today.

Anyways that's their Lots of Chicken Platter - I got it because all the three grilled chickens they have on menu are on it. I was also hoping to relive some of their Cajun Chicken nostalgia. There's the option for chicken thigh instead of breast meat these days.

Today I learnt that I don't understand what made me like their Cajun Chicken in the past. It's not a bad tasting chicken but it's not great either. Something to do with the sauce just like the BBQ piece which wasn't the BBQ flavour I had in mind. That made the black pepper piece the better tasting of the lot as simple as it looked/sounded.

Lao Wu Ji Mutton Soup (老吴記羊肉湯), 532 Ang Mo Kio Ave. 10

I've been hearing good things about Lao Wu Ji Mutton Soup at Sunday F&B (532 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10, tel  : +65 9085 3832). While I'm normally not big on Chinese mutton soup because of the herbal nature of the broth, there have been a couple of exceptions - like Ivy's Hainanese Herbal Mutton Soup at Pasir Panjang Food Centre and Ming Shan at Chinatown Food Centre.

Am pretty glad to discover that Lao Wu Ji Mutton Soup shares a similar quality where the herbal taste wasn't overly strong. This was a bowl of mixed mutton - decent tripe, nice tender meat from the rib but the mutton balls were kinda flat tasting. Still an enjoyable local Chinese styled mutton soup for me nonetheless.

This place is the same coffeeshop as Hong Feng HK Roasted Delights.

Lava egg toast from Star Coffee

I remembered wanting to get the garlic toast set after the last time but I ended up today with the lava egg toast instead from Star Coffee. Essentially just butter/kaya toast with soft/half boiled eggs on top. If anyone was wondering, I ate it with some drizzles of dark soya sauce and pepper.

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.