Abalone Black Pepper Fried Rice Max from Wok Hey

This was the Chinese New Year flavour of fried rice from Wok Hey. Who would have thunk? Black pepper fried rice with little abalones and pineapple. It's not bad tasting as well because the rice was suitably peppery and spruced up with a bit of their chilli with occasional burst of sweetness from the pineapple. The abalones weren't the rubbery ones as well.

PPP Coffee, Funan

PPP Coffee (#02-19 Funan, 107 North Bridge Road) used to be known as Papa Palheta. We've been to Papa Palheta once years ago in a back alley setup and I remember not disliking their coffee. We stopped by their current outfit today. Mostly because we were curious about the cakes. 😂

Like this one which was a pistachio lemon cake. It's nutty from the taste and texture but I couldn't definitively identify it as pistachio. I know it was because they said so. The only lemon came from the layer of lemon curd on the top. So lemony was only for one section of the cake. We didn't dislike it though. Cake was pleasant as a whole with the slightly dense crumbly texture.

Lychee rose cake lived up to its name. Similar texture to the pistachio lemon one. So far cakes ok.

Got a couple of drinks to go with those cakes. Mocha was very coffee-y and not much chocolate. Pleasant drink but mocha wouldn't be the first thing that came to mind. The one in the glass was their espresso tonic. Hell yeah this was good. Espresso + tonic water....not rocket science I know. But I liked how they did theirs. Pretty sure the coffee they used made a difference.

More food from Brinda's

These came by from a few more visits to Brinda's.

There was this one time...

I wanted to know how their idli/idly fared. It's not as fluffy as I imagined but then again, I've to disclaim that it was dinner and I don't know if it's because it's been left out. I don't imagine that they make them to order. It's slightly more bouncy/rubbery than the usual texture. Not gonna say that I won't be having them here anymore but they wouldn't be my first pick. 

Decent Kashmiri pulao. I'm not sure if it's all basmati rice and I don't think it was. There's diced maraschino cherries, raisins and cashews rounded up with ghee. That creamy raita on the side was an add on and was absolutely great pairing with the rice.

And then there was this other time...

Curd rice. It's their rendition. Beyond the yoghurt I could only taste the mustard seeds and there were strips of carrots in it for....texture? I found a single lonely dried chilli in there and wondered what its purpose was. Otherwise, can't say I didn't enjoy it.

They have lauki dal this time round. It wasn't bad per se but that something that I couldn't put a finger to previously wasn't there. So I gather there's going to be some inconsistency with it or that previous time was a one off to taunt me with something that I will never get from here again.

Wouldn't get their fish tikka again. Fish wasn't good quality and the tandoor smokiness was lacking. Did not taste freshly made - more like microwaved.

Another one more time...

Not the typical local Indian maggie goreng that was moreishly salty. This one was wet, not red and I could taste some tomato in it.

That's a dosai masala with egg and cheese. The dosai did not taste very fermented and the texture was soft without the least bit of crisp. The quick prep time also led me to believe that they were pre-made and heated quickly on the griddle just before serving. Didn't taste bad though.

Thick milky Bru coffee. Nice.

Yip Economical Bee Hoon (葉記經濟米粉), Bukit Merah View Hawker Centre

Remember me mentioning the stall at the other end with a longer queue? Turned out that was Yip Economical Bee Hoon (#01-33 Bukit Merah View Hawker Centre, 115 Bukit Merah View). In retrospect I understood why there was that queue. The bee hoon was much better tasting with natural looking fried eggs and a chilli sauce which wasn't annoyingly/cloyingly sweet. The luncheon meat slices here appear to be coated in a thin egg wash.

Tried their yam cake and chee cheong fun with just the basic light soya sauce, sesame oil and a sprinkle of sesame seeds. Pretty decent rendition which I had no complains about. I may convince myself to put up with the queue the next time after all.

A yam puff from Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff (东陵酥皮咖喱角)

So I noticed that there're yam puffs from Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff and was intrigued. Didn't detect any particular additional flavour in the yam paste fillings so it was pretty much just that. What I didn't expect was that the puff was kinda hollow on the inside in spite of the full appearances. I assumed that it would be totally filled with that hot sweet yam paste but this turned out to be like a bag of potato chips. A little disappointed.

Ah Fatt Handmade Fishball Noodle (亚肥), Hong Lim Food Centre

Noticed Ah Fatt Handmade Fishball Noodle (#02-10 Hong Lim Food Center, 531A Upper Cross Street) the last time we were here and came back for breakfast because these guys have the grace to be open on Sundays. This was the bowl with fishcake, mushroom, minced meat and the balls - or what's listed as 1 on their menu. Not a bad bowl though I need to disclaim that their soya sauce marinated chilli helped with injecting extra heat which made everything easier to inhale. The fried fishcake was delicious - pretty similar tasting to the one from Khin Kee at Havelock. Will return.

One week later...

This was expensive. Ordered the shrimp dumpling minced meat noodle (虾饺肉脞面) and there was only one shrimp dumpling. It was delicious, packed with minced pork and a shrimp but for $8, didn't represent value for money. Getting a bowl of regular mince meat noodle with an additional bowl of shrimp dumpling soup would cost a few dollars more and net you more dumplings. Gotta remember that.