Curryless at Lau Di Fang Curry Rice

Kopitiam obviously does not curate the tenants of their food stalls or the quality of their cooking. Now that that's out of the way, I thought I'd get something without curry since it was that curry that I mostly did not like from Lau Di Fang Curry Rice. The selection was safe. Chap chye, meat patty (肉饼) and sambal kang kong. The $7.20 price raised my brows a little for a selection of 2 vegetables and one meat. 

That sambal kang kong was something I would describe as ulu industrial canteen quality - the kind that people eat because there is no other choice. Tasted nothing like sambal kang kong. Meat patty was floury - seriously. Chap chye passed muster. Disappointing is the appropriate word.

Jane Deer (简鹿糖水铺), North Bridge Road

Finally tried some stuff at Jane Deer (#01-01/#02-02, 496 North Bridge Road) after seeing them numerous times at Bugis.

Didn't think much of the durian shaved ice but I liked the ball of durian puree. It's pretty good quality. The shaved ice has the same flavour as durian ice cream from brands like Walls. The kind of quality from decades ago which I wouldn't waste money on even for nostalgia. Now we know.

I had imagined their durian egg puffs were filled with durian but that's not how they rolled that. Anyways, it's was enjoyable the same as those egglets were freshly made on order and the whipped cream layered velvety milkiness to the durian puree. That scoop of vanilla ice cream tasted retro and was totally unnecessary. 

Osmanthus peach gum dessert was not bad. Pleasantly sweet and coconut-y with plenty of squishy peach gum bits.

Thick cheese toast was also not bad. Nice toasty cheese on warm fluffy bread that was light like J.Co's sugar glazed donuts. 

The red bean paste was supposed to be their signature dessert. Pretty decent. Wouldn't mind having it again kind of decent.

Great Nanyang Heritage Cafe (大南洋), Craig Road

Finally dropped by Great Nanyang Heritage Cafe (5 Craig Road). We were on our way elsewhere in the vicinity and decided to swing by to see if there was an insane queue and they didn't. A decision was made quickly. Anyways, they're a local Hainanese food eatery with that "traditional" theme which extends from what they cook to the decor in the eatery; kinda like The Hainan Story.

Even though there wasn't a mad queue at that time, it was still packed to the brim. Tried a few items that looked like they might be good.

Nice kaya butter toast - think texture of thin crispy bread on chilled salty butter and sweet kaya texture that's uniquely that. Did not realize it's the coconut kaya and not the pandan one that I prefer. Not a deal breaker though. It's still enjoyable and I'm attributing the main reason to be the adequately thick slice of butter in there.

Their signature Hainanese chicken cutlet....I don't think it's traditional with that sauce but that sauce was delicious. I tasted mostly onion and butter. Piping hot fried chicken thigh was competently crispy on the outside and moist on the inside.

Didn't think much of their dry mee siam or the chicken berempah that came with it. The spice and salt for the latter didn't pack the requisite punch. Guys like Spicy Wife Nasi Lemak and Uptown Nasi Lemak have chicken berempah that would blow this out of the water. 

Their hor ka sai kicks butt though with thick Milo flavour infusion into their coffee. Sweet, flavourful and nicely chilled. This was at least a couple of leagues up from that shitty 3 in 1 powdered stuff from Peck Hoon Teng Eating House.

Sabeen Sara Prata & Briyani Stall, Telok Blangah Food Centre

The indicatory signs to something delicious were definitely around at Sabeen Sara Prata & Briyani Stall (#01-07 Telok Blangah Food Centre, 79 Telok Blangah Drive) when we were there in the weekend morning; from the telling queue of anticipating faces to the bustling of the crew behind the stall front working animatedly, whipping out plates of prata and nasi briyani.

The plates of briyani we got were served piping hot, rice aromatic and delicious even before the curry. Curry's good too if anyone was wondering. We got chicken and mutton. The former came with portions of breast meat which was reasonably moist and the latter, easily scraped off the bone with tenderness. Gotta come back again for more of it.

A few days later...

So we had the telur, telur bawang and a kosong. Prata's pretty good - light crisp with bite and the kosong was fluffed up. The telur bawang had very little onions though. 

Re-visiting Chinatown Sun Seng (生成)

The style of food from Chinatown Sun Seng appears to cater for the older folks. Other than the range of zi char which clearly showcases their age, portions aren't big and salt is sparing. At least that's the impression we were given between this and the last visit.

They have mui fan on menu and it's good. Style is pretty similar to the one at Hillman Restaurant which meant it's old school. Gravy on the rice was pleasant in a light savoury manner and not starchy. No squid in it possibly because of old folks?

Like the mui fan, this seafood fried rice suffered from the lack of salt. Not an issue in our case since we were ready with our soya sauce dipped fried lard and sliced chilli. In spite of the tell tale scorch marks, we didn't detect any smokiness. Odd. Anyways, the seafood in this fried included prawns and sliced fish, no squids as well.

So Good Bakery, 100AM

We've bought stuff here (#01-10/14A 100AM, 100 Tras Street) before but this was a first time sitting down with their bakes. Donut was freshly fried so not bad tasting though I cannot help but feel that something about those old school fried donuts is missing from this one. The matcha buttercream cake appeared to be new and I thought it had good balance between the flavour of the buttercream and green tea. Nice. 👍🏼 Char siu sou (叉烧酥) was also decent. Note to self : Coffee's forgettable, don't bother in the future.