Semolina, Tanglin Mall

Noticed Semolina (B1-121 Tanglin Mall, 163 Tanglin Road, tel : +65 8868 4415) a while back. They're Indian vegetarian along the food section at the basement of Tanglin Mall. For all the chaat and street food on the menu, this is Tanglin Mall so there're no street food vibes. Everything feels......clean.

There's saffron chai on menu. Tea's creamy with a hint of saffron. No unfair comparisons to another saffron tea will be made here. 😂

Decent dahi puri. I was imagining that it would have more splashes of colour from the yoghurt and chutneys but I guess that's not the way they roll here. The sev was fine. 

This might be the first time we've ever ordered paratha. The honour of our first was a gobi paratha - served with avakaya (mango pickle) and sweetened curd (yoghurt) on the side. 

Cauliflower's mashed in between layers of the bread infused with cumin. This was quite delicious.

Got a serving of their Hakka noodle. It's not Hakka styled/influenced if anyone was wondering. It's Indian Chinese stir fried noodles.I think there's soy sauce it in and some vegetables. Quite salty but that made it moreish for me.

Masala chai to end. Tea's milky and I wished there was stronger spices from their masala. Tasted safe. Decent but not memorable.

Chinatown Sun Seng (生成), Chinatown Food Centre

I gathered that Chinatown Sun Seng (Green Zone, #02-061 Chinatown Complex Market and Food Centre, 335 Smith Street) has been around for many years but they've only showed up in my radar in the recent year or so.

Tried their stir fried fish head in black bean sauce. That sauce has got a lot of fish flavour. Wasn't as salty as I thought. While I didn't dislike how it tasted, I did not like how much bones I had to navigate. Easily more than 30 dangerous shards in that plate.

Loved their stir fried beef hor fun. That's nice wok hei in the rice noodles and what's also awesome is no artificial tenderizer in the slices of beef. The meat texture from the slices of beef were preserved and tasted natural. Will come back for this.

Sunny side ups with fried lard (猪油渣) that's drizzled over with dark soya sauce and a sprinkle of white pepper. I never knew I needed this and neither did you. This dish is not listed on the menu.

Helps deliver that "perfect mouthful" that comprises of a molten yolk coated lard and sliced chilli in light soya sauce over the smokey hor fun.

Breakfast at Komala Vilas

This was our first time getting breakfast at Komala Vilas (一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六). The quieter hours of the day where the traffic along Serangoon Road was less intense.

Komala Vilas' pongal was a dense rice pudding infused with spices. This was served piping hot. It's heftier with greater density and has much less ghee compared with say A2B Veg Restaurant or Murugan Idli Shop. 

We got ourselves a butter paneer dosai.

Mashed up paneer was spread across the buttery dosai.

The one with unexpected flavour was their mini podi idly. The podi was very nutty and salty. I would have thought it contained crushed nuts in a blind taste. It's also not as spicy as what I had been expecting from podi.

Finished with a hot masala tea as it should be.

Dirty matcha from Generation Coffee Roasters

Tried the dirty matcha from Generation Coffee Roasters. Did not leave an impression like the ones from Tanamera Coffee or the defunct Forty Hands did. Coffee seemed to be a bit sour.

Maybe I gotta do this again with sugar for a more accurate comparison. It's not a bad cup. Just not what I hoped it would do for me.

Dozo House, Tanjong Pagar Food Centre

Saw this stall (#02-51 Tanjong Pagar Food Centre, 6 Tanjong Pagar Plaza) beside Wei Wei Carrot Cake. They appear to selling "naan" and donuts.

We saw the proprietor dredging up a fresh batch of donuts so we got one. They were fried in coconut oil. Pretty good fresh off the fryer.

Got a curry chicken naan also. Actually decent quality with a nice curry flavour, bits of minced chicken and potatoes. May come back to try others.

Ipoh Prawn Noodle (怡保仔虾面), Tanjong Pagar Food Centre

Noticed this stall (#02-34 Tanjong Pagar Food Centre, 6 Tanjong Pagar Plaza) the last time we were at Tanjong Pagar Food Centre. I don't know if this was truly Ipoh styled hae mee but it was delicious. There were loads of flavour from the dried shrimps in the chilli. Those dried shrimps don't appear to be the commonly seen variety (hae bee/虾米); they're more akin to sakura ebi. Unlike the local rendition of prawn noodle, there's also sliced hard boiled eggs in it.

Sambal was outstanding. Loads of crunch and shrimpy flavours amidst smokiness and garlic. 

Broth on the side also has more of those dried shrimps. The flavour has a pretty strong crustacean punch.