Bukit Merah View Carrot Cake (红山景菜头粿), Bukit Merah View Hawker Centre

Hmmm...I like this (#01-37 Bukit Merah View Hawker Centre, 115 Bukit Merah View) a lot better than the neighbouring Unforgettable Carrot Cake. I liked how the chunkier pieces has that distinctive (yeasty?) taste and that there were charred/caramelized bits that gave some of the parts a slightly crusty texture and additional flavour. Nice! This was a 一点黑 option which I never even knew existed. Neither white nor black. It would be metaphorically a shade of grey. 😅

Pig's brains from HaiDiLao (海底捞)

I've overlooked ordering this for some reasons during the past few times at HaiDiLao and finally got it this time. Cooked it in water and it's good with a bit of light soya sauce and sesame oil.

Mei Di (美地), Holland Village Food Centre

The toppings for the bak chor mee at Mei Di (#01-12, Holland Village Food Centre, 1 Lorong Mambong) were pretty generous if run of the mill. Sadly, it wasn't a noticeable leap compared with Ah Fong Noodle. Noodles had a marginally better texture and that was it. Those chunks of lard totally had no crisp and tasted borderline stale.

Double bacon cheeseburger from iSteaks

I never realized that iSteaks at Star Vista has burgers until now. Anyways, this was their bacon double cheese. Got it sans sauce and Chinese cabbage (or was that lettuce?). Yeah, that's what they said was in it. It's actually not bad. I think the patty's marinated but it wasn't excessive. Meat was well done. With the onions and cheese and bacon, I gotta admit that I enjoyed it. Now I know there's something else I can get whenever the capped loin of lamb's not available. Like today. 

Fried chicken thigh set with lady's fingers Katong Laksa Holland Village Nasi Lemak

Finally got the fried chicken thigh nasi lemak from Katong Laksa Holland Village Nasi Lemak. It has the same batter as their wings but these come without bones. I asked for a portion of lady's finger and they had for some reason replaced the usual achar on the side with those. Anyways those lady's finger were good with their sambal belanchan. Notice that that's the only sambal I had gotten for today's plate. That's all that's needed for me.

Myung Ga (맛집) ll, Tanjong Pagar

I was initially pretty excited after learning that Myung Ga II had opened an outpost at Tanjong Pagar (28 Tanjong Pagar Road, tel : +65 8042 8025). I was thinking that it meant that I needn't make a trip down to Bukit Timah Plaza anymore. But maybe that might not be true......

Banchan's not fantastic. Selection was the same as the one as their shop at Bukit Timah so I guess they never change. Kimchi's kinda young - I like them more mature. 😏 Bean sprouts were so lightly blanched that it still had that raw-ish vegetal taste. Not exactly dishes on the side to look forward to.

Enjoyed their al tang. Generous portions of fish roe and milt in a moreishly spicy and fishy broth.

What I was looking forward to was their deulkkae kalguksu - a noodle made with a broth that contained ground perilla seeds. Other than the light savoury taste, there was an earthiness that reminded me of oats and texture that reminded me of the mushroom udon from Tracy's Juice Culture. Not a combination that I think I'd seek out but now that I've had it, I found unexpectedly addictive.

Haemul pajeon - not a bad tasting pancake but I was hoping that it'd be a little less doughy. For some reason, the first thing I thought of while eating it was the one from Bigmama because that one had more aromatic crisp. Strangely, when I asked about adding cheese, the server advised me against it because he felt that it was too expensive. Hmmm....

I wouldn't recommend their jjajangmyeon. The recent ones we've had from Wonderful Bapsang and O.BBa Jjajang have kinda set the bar for us so this one falls short on the flavour. It was so lightweight it was on the verge of being bland.

It's obvious that this was an outpost with a trimmed down menu. There's a bunch of stuff which we were pretty sure we remembered seeing from the OG shop that isn't available here. Gonna have to make that trip back to Bukit Timah Plaza again after all.