White radish cake from Fu Ming Cooked Food (福明熟食)

Greasy but delicious radish cake breakfast from Fu Ming. So I've had it black/white, black and now white.

Liang Seng Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle (樑成香菇肉脞麵), Bukit Merah Central Food Centre

I noticed Liang Seng Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle (#02-21 Bukit Merah Central Food Centre, 163 Bukit Merah Central) the past few times I was in the food centre and made a mental note to come back for them. What caught my attention was the old school-ness and the reliable looks of the stall and owner. This was it.

Enjoyable. The flavour profile isn't what I usually come across - it's not feisty with vinegar, not lard-y or particularly mushroomy. What registered was just nice and savoury and that was all I could comprehend of it. Great noodle texture from the mee pok and no fancy ingredients. Nothing in particular was dominant while the toppings were pretty generous. All for a princely sum of $3.50. Will be back.

Usagi Pan, Star Vista

We came here (B1-43 Star Vista, 1 Vista Exchange Green) because, happenstance. I remember they used to be a cat themed cafe and now it's rabbits. A few of the items caught our attention. 

Like this brandy cherry tart which was not bad. It wasn't as sour as I had imagined.

Tart paired well with their bitter matcha.

Didn't think much of their pain au chocolat. This wasn't the pastry to chocolate ratio I was looking for and that pastry wasn't sufficiently buttery.

Fong Yong Tau Foo, Bukit Merah Central

I don't know how long has Fong Yong Tau Foo (#01-3623, 164 Bukit Merah Central, tel : +65 6262 2788) been around for but I've only been introduced to them recently. Variety's pretty good and there's stuff that one doesn't normally find in regular yong tau foo stalls. Like sliced pork belly, hash browns and bacon wrapped enoki to name a few I've noticed. There's even a spaghetti sauce option.  

Got a selection with chee cheong fun for carbs. Did not expect that they would deep fry most of the items I had picked. In fact, I was imagining that except for the meatball, everything else would be in the soup. Maybe it's just something I've got to tell them. Chilli has a bit more heat than the usual ytf ones.

Speaking of the meatball, I had initially thought they were some mushroom balls. Looked a little different after they were fried. These were peppery and delicious. Will come back to try more stuff.

Tori Sanwa (鶏三和), Raffles City

Tori Sanwa (#B1-75 Raffles City, 252 North Bridge Road) from Nagoya opened up a while back. They're of some repute from what I've gathered, with more than a few dozen outlets in Japan, a half dozen in Taiwan and a couple now on our sunny shores. 

The restaurant here didn't have the vibes of a Japanese joint. It felt local. The service from a particular wait staff was atrocious with an A.

If you would believe it, this was their aburi okayo don. Did not look or smell aburi-ed. We asked wait staff A to confirm that this was the correct order and she insisted so. We were quite sure this either a mistake or was poorly done.

Had a couple of spoons and didn't taste any of the smokiness. Decided not to put up with the shit so we asked that wait staff if we could have the bowl torched again. She did not bother to inquire with anyone if it was possible while looking uncomfortably unsure before claiming that there was a procedure the kitchen had to follow and nothing could be done. 

We reached out to wait staff E who immediately explained that it was possible that they didn't aburi for long because there were people who complained about the char. I think little of restaurants that engage with such excuses. And I'm of the opinion that those who don't like a bit of bitter and are deathly afraid of cancer shouldn't be ordering aburi-ed anything.

To her credit, wait staff E recovered immediately by offering to replace our bowl with a fresh one that was "more aburi-ed".

Not bad tasting oyako don with the smokiness. I wouldn't mind eating this again.

There's a chicken teriyaki hitsumabushi. Not excessively glazed and flavour was pleasant. But the chicken was obviously frozen from the texture of the meat. Not sure how this was a showcase of these guys being a chicken specialist. Or maybe they aren't.

To be fair the tori karaage and their sweet vinegary tori nanban was quite nice. Chicken was crisp on the outside and pretty tender. The tartar sauce for the latter....we've definitely had better.

潮州鱼粥大排档 (Teochew Fish Porridge Da Pai Dang), Ang Mo Kio 631

We've seen 潮州鱼粥大排档 (#01-906, 631 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4) previously and have been intrigued by their fridge and menu so we came to try what they had to offer.

Pretty decent tasting pork aspic. Not the most complex spicing among those we've had before but I have no complains on their rendition.

This was steamed glutinous rice stuffed in pig's intestines. I've only had this once before at Koh Brothers Pig's Organ Soup in Tiong Bahru Market a little over a decade ago. Did not realize that there was another stall out here that makes them. The crushed peanuts were a nice touch. This was served with sweet dark soy sauce which was pretty good pairing with all that.

Fried fish roe was delicious. The flavouring and crisp of the exterior was outstanding but it was also pretty expensive for $12 a pop.

We ordered a dry claypot fish head. Black grouper if I remember correctly. It's delicious but I'm pretty sure they did not give us fish head because the bones sure as hell didn't look like it. Both the flavour and the quality of the fish was good but these guys are a little pricey.