Revisiting the Ru Ji Kitchen (如記小厨) next door

Another round at the next door from the original Ru Ji Kitchen (如記小厨) for a $5 bak chor mee breakfast. Also just posting a picture for comparison to the last round. Umami, spicy and satisfying bowl.

Quackhead with sesame bagel from Two Men Bagel House

Two Men Bagel House ( 一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八, 九, 十, 十一, 十二, 十三, 十四, 十五, 十六, 十七, 十八, 十九) have a few duck bagels going on for their specials in March. This was Quackhead in sesame bagel from the Tanjong Pagar shop.

The ingredient list was smoked duck breast, apple arugula salad, candied pecans, horseradish creme and Gouda. While it didn't taste like the combination of flavour I imagined, I did end up enjoying it. Especially so for the sweet candied pecans. Did not taste horseradish anything or the cheese though.

A week later......

Came back a week later to get the same bagel again. The horseradish creme was pretty mild. Still not getting the cheese.

A. Rashid Khan, Ayer Rajah Food Centre

I was recommended A. Rashid Khan (Stall #58 Ayer Rajah Food Centre, 503 West Coast Drive) which does kambing soup, roti john and mee siam. What was worth the recommendation about this particular mee siam you might wonder. There's tongue. 😜 Delicious tender muttony chunks of lamb tongue which are part of options for their mee siam - an "obvious but not obvious to many" combination since it's just part of what they're serving for the kambing soup. There's a lamb ribs option too which I'm keen on for a next time. Gravy's sweet, a little nutty and has a bit of heat from their sambal. Not bad.

O.BBa Jjajang Express, Clementi

These guys (450 Clementi Ave 3, #01-271) are by O.BBa Jjajang. No Koreans running the stall apparently.

Menu has a sacheun jjajangmyeon which looked interesting. Sacheun I'm guessing is Sichuan.

The real McCoy looked disappointingly like some sort of tomato noodles. The product photo was definitely deliberate misrepresentation by O.BBa Jjajang. Their social media picture communicated angry red and burning heat - a hue that entertained the possibility of a base of robust fermented bean in the sauce.

But no. The sauce was sweet and spicy. What jjajang? What fried sauce? In spite of that inherent flavour, it ultimately tasted thin and hadn't the depth from even the regular jjajangmyeon from their restaurant. Felt hollow and unsatisfying. Will not come back.

 Fortunately we could still get supplements from next door.

Madam Lim's Nasi Lemak, Holland Drive Food Centre

I think Madam Lim's Nasi Lemak (#02-1 Holland Drive Market & Food Centre, 44 Holland Drive) is new. Never noticed them before the last time. Rice needs a bit more salt so it's not good on its own. The sweet onion-y sambal was good pairing with it though. What got my attention was the ayam berampah - it appeared to be freshly fried on order and the flavouring on the crisp chicken was delicious. 

Revisiting Xing Long Food Stall (興隆菜社)

Chance brought us back for more zi char at Xing Long Food Stall. 😬

Definitely wanted another go at their steamed fish head in fermented bean sauce. Same opinion of it as before. Great stuff.

I was recommended to try their braised tofu (红烧豆腐). I wouldn't say I'm super familiar with this dish because we don't eat it that often and this did not look out of the ordinary. 

We found an egg lurking beneath the surface waiting to surprise us. What got my attention was the gravy which was rich tasting and filled with a savoury sweetness. Not the cheap starch filled crap that's generally rampant. There was even more sweetness from the cabbage and carrots. While it might not have looked apparent, the quality of the vegetables used was good.

This yang zhou fried rice came about because we saw one from the neighbouring table. While we understood that it might not have been the better pairing with the dishes we had, I wanted to know if it was good and it was. Straightforward with a light smokiness, real prawns, real char siew and without excessive grease. Competently done local rendition of fried rice.