Ginger steamed egg with durian from Ah Chew Desserts

So we noticed the steamed egg with ginger on menu thinking it would be similar to the one at Mei Heong Yuen. It's not the same. They poured ginger juice over the chilled steamed egg like how 姜汁撞奶 is served. The scoop of durian pulp they gave us today looked much sadder than the last time too. 

Kolo mee without char siew from Zhong Pin Noodle House (众品麵萬家)

I figured out that in most if not all instances, what I didn't like about kolo mee was the char siew so I asked for a bowl without them today at Zhong Pin Noodle House. So that's how it's gonna be moving forward. But there's a part two to this tale. The fried lard was borderline rancid. That made it borderline unforgivable because it also represented the attention they paid to their ingredients and serving stale food is just not good practice. No?

A pigeon had fallen today at the food centre. It was a short distance away from where I was sitting.

Heng Heng Fish Soup (興興鱼片湯), Telok Blangah Food Centre

Came across Heng Heng Fish Soup (#01-15 Telok Blangah Food Centre, 79 Telok Blangah Drive) in our recent visits to Telok Blangah Food Centre. I suppose I was also drawn by the rustic appearances of the stall and that there was a tray of fried fish roe beckoning to me as I inched closer for a look.

Didn't get fish soup. Ordered their specialty dry noodle which I topped up a couple of bucks for their fried fish roe. There's a half boiled egg, some fried egg floss and some meatballs with ee mian.

Meatballs were delicious...look at those textures. Fried fish roe and egg floss were serviceable quality. Noodles were flavoured by something that tasted like kecap manis and their chilli sauce. That was actually not bad tasting. Might try their fish stuff another time.

Back in Piedra Negra

Haven't eaten at Piedra Negra (241 Beach Road) for years. Did not realized that they own half the street these days. Menu's different from the last time and vibe's more touristy than I recall. Gotta admit that the food was unexpectedly enjoyable.

Pretty impressed by how much lamb flavour was in their mixiote. I Googled and the description of it was a pit barbecued/steamed dish cooked in a wrapper of agave leave. This one came across like a stew so I don't know if it's the same. But hell yeah the lamb flavour was outstanding. So nice with the tortilla. 

Their albondigas featured nice beefy meatballs in what appeared to be tomato sauce/stew. Much better tasting than I had imagined from the menu's description.

That's the alambre...which looked different from pictures I saw after also Googling what they were. This one was grilled/pan fried beef cubes with melted cheese and caramelized onions with bell peppers and bacon. Those beef cubes were tender and actually pretty good. 

A safe chicken enchilada. Also not bad tasting though I have little to no references to what could be regarded as a well done one. I liked it more than I thought I might have.

Sadly, they failed with the tres leches cake. The cream tasted odd. Odd like it raised the question on whether we should take another bite. As a lover of blue cheese, even I had reservations.

There were four of us and this was how much progress we made before giving up. We gave feedback and they said that's how it was supposed to taste. I don't know better but I'm pretty sure that it was not a correct response.

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.