Sim Lim Square Bak Chor Mee (森林肉脞面), Lengkok Bahru

Heard a bit about these guys (#01-387, 55 Lengkok Bahru) who have apparently been around for a couple of decades operating at Sim Lim Square previously. They closed up their business last year and re-opened recently at this current location. Hey, doesn't the first couple of Chinese characters in their name mean 'forest'? 🤔

Here's their signature bowl. I enjoyed it. Vinegary but without the weight of Tai Wah/Tai Hwa, a little lardy and shot through with a bit of nice heat from their chilli. Came with a freshly fried dumpling and fish cake which isn't the run of the mill. Delicious bowl but portions were a little small.

De-veganized veggie delight pizza and mushroom risotto at Zazz Pizza

What's a de-veganized veggie delight pizza you might wonder? Zazz Pizza (一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八, 九, 十, 十一) has vegan pizza options with vegan cheese. This was the vegan delight with stuff like olives, artichoke, bell peppers and eggplant. It got de-veganized by having the vegan cheese replaced with mozzarella. And I added Gorgonzola. 😬

The product shot definitely looked better on menu. Olives were whole and the toppings didn't look as melted. But it didn't taste bad. Just not enough Gorgonzola which I thought they were pretty stingy with considering that they charged for it and this ended up way above $30 for a vegetarian pie.

Finally tried their mushroom risotto. I thought it was pretty well done with a good balance of flavours from the mushrooms, truffle cream and cheese.

Extra wanton at Legend Wanton Mee (传奇雲吞麵)

This I thought was a better configuration at Legend Wanton Mee than what I had previously. Extra wantons which I prefer instead of the char siew. That said, the char siew slices I got today looked just sad compared to the ones from the last time. A $2 top up gets 3 wantons. Pricey. No red chilli sauce this time round - just the sliced pickled green chilli which doesn't wipe out flavour on those noodles. 

King Of Fried Rice, Happy Hawkers @ Kim Tian

So the menu at King of Fried Rice has expanded a little since the last time I've had them. This was the branch at Happy Hawkers at Kim Tian (201 Kim Tian Road). There's a chicken chop plate now which featured a pretty large slab of freshly fried chicken thigh that's marinated with the same thing as their pork chops - that DTF five spice pork chop kind of flavour. Meat's moist and piping hot under the crisp golden brown. For $6.90 (without the additional fried egg), I couldn't complain. Now I'm intrigued by their bacon fried rice.

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.