Vampire Tomato Tonkotsu Ramen from Ippudo

This was the flavour of the month for April at Ippudo. How the name came about, I couldn't even guess. But it was a pretty decent tomato broth which with a light viscosity and was mildly spicy. Couldn't actually tell that there was also tonkotsu in it. Love the cheesy cheese cracker. What I thought wasn't necessary were those soft chewy bacon and the leaves of raw-ish cabbage, both of which, were texturally disruptive to the entire bowl.

Their peach beer is still on the menu. Nice.

Bibimbap from Sukiya (すき家)

This was Sukiya at City Square Mall (180 Kitchener Road, B1-31/32). Because they're they gyudon guys I never realized that they have bibimbap. Which made sense if you thought of it because they do have the ingredients to make one. Their bibimbap was essentially a melange of toppings that they have for their beef rice bowls with gochujang. It's not as large nor as vegetable filled nor tasted exactly the same as most bibimbap we've had. Maybe there's no sesame oil. But it wasn't that far off from those as well.

Breakfast on Hari Raya Puasa at Komala Vilas

The prospect of heading to Komala Vilas (一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七) in the heart of Little India can be daunting...especially so on a public holiday when the body and mind battles for a sleep in against a spirit incessantly breathing down your back to get your butt out of bed. Anywayyyss......breakfast with dad on the morning of Hari Raya Puasa.

Started off with their thair vadai which is vadai served in curd/yoghurt topped with masala boondi. The latter are the orange coloured pearls of crispiness made with chickpea flour.

Wanted to try their uppuma - turned out to be delicious. Dad thinks so as well. It's kinda like polenta if anyone was wondering. The semolina pudding was savoury with a bit of spice infusion. Saw curry leaves and mustard seeds and were those pine nuts in there? Maybe I like this better than the pongal the last time. I cannot be sure - it's so hard to choose.

Here's a butter tomato onion uttapam. For the uninitiated, an uttapam is a rice flour pancake similar to thosai/dosa/dosai, albeit a thicker one, that's been griddled. This one has been topped with sliced tomatoes and chopped onions. Look at all those caramelized bits that's packed with buttery flavour. How could one say no to that?

Finished with ginger tea. Ginger flavour's a tad mild. But their tea as always has a smooth finish.

Dong Bei Ren Jia (东北人家) has changed

Dong Bei Ren Jia (东北人家) has changed. We haven't been around much in recent years to know exactly what has changed but the quality of the food doesn't seem to be appealing anymore. Pretty sure that the neighbouring Dong Bei Xiao Chu (东北小厨) was better eating.

This was lamb stir fried with cumin and spices. The cumin seasoning was weak considering that it's one of the base seasoning for many "东北 food" and the lamb was lean with little of those mutton-y flavour.

They're not all disappointing. 酸辣土豆丝 was decent. But these are like staples and possibly hard to mess up. I was hoping for a little bit more heat there.

Pork trotter jelly's decent eating. There're much more options around these days.

Time for us to suss out the little unpolished gems scattered around the island.

We've perhaps outgrown here.

Pickled cabbage and pork dumpling came across as little muted. 酸菜 tasted washed out and the pork was lean and not flavourful.

The recent experiences with 酸菜鱼 or just the golden broth at places at Tai Er, Xiang Xiang Hunan Cuisine and Qing Hua Jiao X Jing Yue Rong have made us realize that the rendition here felt a little lacking. It's by no means mediocre but...lacking.

For now it's goodbye.

Zhu Jiao Shu Shi (竹脚熟食), Tekka Food Centre

Came across this stall (#01-284 Tekka Market & Food Centre, 665 Buffalo Road) and was reeled in by their economic bee hoon amongst other things. But I've to start somewhere so it's bee hoon with cheap hotdogs, fried egg and fish cake. A little greasy but old school kind of tasty. This also marks the second time I've had food from a Chinese stall in Tekka Food Centre.

Mashi No Mashi, Guoco Midtown

Mashi No Mashi (#01-04 Guoco Midtown, 124 Beach Road) from Hong Kong has been springboarded into Singapore. They're a self professed ramen shop run by the Wagyu Mafia group from Tokyo.

Every mention of their name and the colour theme of their restaurant reminded me of magic and muscles. You know it if you know it.

There's ramen, rice and small plates which features wagyu - and a laid claim of being the first 100% wagyu ramen in the world featuring a broth of Kobe and Ozaki beef bone stock. 

There's Sapporo Black on tap.

Their ultra wagyu ramen was nice. Broth was beefy and the noodles were Hakata styled thin with a good bite. Those thin slices of wagyu were smooth and readily dissolved in the mouth. This I could come back for.

Not impressed by the wagyu bak kut teh. It came with the peppery herbal broth which most people would recognize as bak kut teh infused with a pleasant beefiness. Meat was tender but I couldn't tell it apart from another decent quality beef. It's sadly underwhelming.

Would not have known this was their 100% Ozaki beef gyoza if not for the menu. Tasted like guo tie (锅贴). Albeit a well done one with nice toasty skin. Won't be getting these again.

Couldn't really tell the wagyu siew mai was beef either. Also a little sweet. Remember my thoughts about sweet siew mai? That said, it was otherwise a nicely done siew mai with very moist and tender meat stuffings. However that's not gonna fly for me at $5 a pop. Also won't be getting these again.

There's wagyu jerky that's made in house. Nice and beefy with a sprinkle of pepper. Not gonna be getting these again also.

Tried their banana brulée.

Banana's not cooked through like say....goreng pisang. To be fair it was torched with sugar and not fried. Its warm though. What didn't work for me were sweet and bitter from caramelized crust which overwhelmed most of what could be tasted from the banana.