More aji katsu at Tonkatsu by Ma Maison

Headed down to the Tonkatsu by Ma Maison at Mandarin Gallery after getting word that their aji katsu is back. It's never around for long so we needed to get some before they disappear from the menu.

They appear to be larger than how I remember them. Panko breading had a good dry crunch and the meat from the horse mackerel was flavourful, flakey and moist. Getting these reminded me of that one time sanma katsu they offered and never did again.

Tip : sprinkle crushed sesame and a bit of salt on rice. That's pretty good eating also.

S.P. Vilas, Tekka Food Centre

Breakfast of a coconut uttapam from S.P. Vilas (#01-286 Tekka Market & Food Centre, 665 Buffalo Road). I've only had this variety once before at Kebabs 'n Curries. What's distinctive about this one was the quality of the chutney - they didn't taste generic and were delicious with a home made quality to them. One could say that there was more character to the nuances of their flavours. Especially the coconut one.

Came across some fried balls which the stall has which I believe are known as bonda. They were sweet and bread-y with flavour from cardamom, fennel and cumin. Also thought I noticed some yellow lentils in them. I like these. 👍🏼

Crab ice cream from Donki

There's bits of stuff in it which were presumably pieces of crab meat. Far to tiny to discern much about them but I couldn't help but to think of crabsticks/sumiri. Definitely some crab flavour action going on and the experience was interesting to say the least. While I can't say that I love it, I'm not against giving it another go just to understand it more.

Hundred Grains (百米香), ARC

Hundred Grains (#02-20 ARC, 460 Alexandra Road) appeared a little over a half year ago. Their operating concept is a little similar to economy rice/cai png/菜饭 where one can select from an array of pre-cooked dishes. The difference here was that their selection is larger with an emphasis on mainland Chinese dishes, it's self service and you're charged by weight. There have been parrots squawking about how expensive it was.

That above was about $21 and it was for two. Carbs, drinks and dessert aren't charged and are bottomless. With the latter in consideration, I didn't think it was significantly more expensive than a typical meal in the food court these days. Food's decent. Some items were actually pretty tasty. 

I don't know what this dessert was but it was malty with red dates, raisins and goji berries. The malty soup had a flavour that reminded me of bubur terigu. Kinda nice. Wouldn't mind coming back.

Milan Shokudo, Tiong Bahru Plaza

New Japanese Italian restaurant (#02-109/110 Tiong Bahru Plaza, 302 Tiong Bahru Road) opened up at Tiong Bahru Plaza a few weeks back. These guys bear a suspicious resemblance to Saizeriya and are competition to them. We ended up being more happy with what we had than we thought we would.

Even for the mentai chicken pasta which didn't even have mentaiko. I think they were trying to wing it with ebiko and dried chilli and I don't know how they imagined they could pull the wool over people with that. But it was delicious. Savoury and umami kind of delicious.

Quattro cheese pizza with a top up of extra cheese was also fun. It's cheesy for a start and that "maple syrup" on the side just added that sweetness over saltiness. Good with and without that maple syrup.

Hamburg was surprisingly nice. It's in ways superior to the one from Saizeriya - like proper coarse mince and good flavour to the meat which I was positive that there weren't fillers in it. The beef and chicken combination was pretty tasty and even the sauce was reasonably good. Our attention were even drawn to the corn because they tasted better than they looked.

I liked their chocolate banana pizza more than I imagined. Loads of banana-y flavour coming from those thin slices which I had underestimated initially.

Black sesame paste from Mei Heung Yuen Dessert (味香园甜品)

Back at the Funan branch of Mei Heung Yuen Dessert. I realized a few things here. Only the black sesame and almond paste came from the heated pot. The other stuff like their peanut paste and ginger steamed egg were gotten from a fridge somewhere in the back and microwaved on order. The initial mouthful had a nice black sesame flavour but that seemed to fade off pretty quick in subsequent spoons. Odd.