香香猪肉面 (Xiang Xiang Pork Noodles), Upper Boon Keng Road

Mixed feelings about Xiang Xiang Pork Noodles (#01-01 WuFu Coffee Shop, 5 Upper Boon Keng Road). We were served by a non-local who couldn't speak Mandarin, did not look like he was well versed in preparing the food we ordered and had gotten the meatball we wanted incorrectly. The wait time was pretty long. Food's a mixed bag as well.

This was the large portion of their sweet intestine mee pok. Not a fan of their chilli sauce. I'm also not tasting lard (猪油) nor did I get any lard (猪油炸) even though I noticed them around and they also appeared to be selling jars of them. Love the intestines and pig's skin but the noodles weren't anything that would make me look forward to coming back.

For some reasons, they mixed up the additional meatball orders and gave us one less of the truffle one. Meatball's decent. Soup's nothing to write home about.

The minced pork soup noodles were another thing entirely. This broth had a lot more going on and I don't know if it was just the robust hit of garlic in it. Definitely more enjoyable than the dry mee pok. Gonna be getting the soup bowl if I ever come back. 🤔 What I couldn't quite figure out was, this was supposed to be the small portion and looked no different in size from the large mee pok.  

Pig's skin here were kinda meh. The ones that came with the noodles were more tender while these harder ones had more of the herbal flavour from their braising sauce. Not impressed.

Back at Ma Maison Kitchen

Dinner at Ma Maison Kitchen.

That's the onion gratin soup. Beef stock with onions and a slice of baguette in a cup covered in cheese. It's their rendition of the French soupe à l’oignon and a weak one at that. 😂

They changed their recipe for their deep fried gyutan. We know because we've had them previously. The breading was oily and there's a discernible flavour of ginger which was never there before. Today's tongue was also hard and chewy. What was that expression about mending things that are not broken again? 🤔

Pretty good Camembert beef stroganoff. I mean, their beef stroganoff has always been nice in a rich wine-y beefy manner with sweet onions and moreish chunks of beef. Having it was some Camembert in no way diminishes that. Even though it wasn't one of the better Camembert we've had.

I've been curious about their Napolitan spaghetti for a while but have resisted ordering it because the primary flavouring ingredient is ketchup. Did not expect the egg in theirs though. We finally tried it today. It's not as bad/sweet as I imagined. Also no bell peppers in it. Actually very edible with powdered cheese. 😬 Don't mind getting this again.

More eating at Jew Kit

Been a while since we were last at Jew Kit.

There's Hokkien mee on their menu. Did not taste like the kind of Hokkien mee that one usually gets from Hokkien mee stalls. Seemed more soupy and appears to have less infusion of the stock into the noodles. While the bee hoon tasted like it had soaked that flavour in, the yellow noodle did not. Stock was quite nice tasting though. The sambal/chilli tasted like the kind of lime-y chilli sauce that Putien uses. I like them but the flavour was pretty overwhelming.

Man their chickens are good. This was a single serving portion with thigh meat which we ordered from their Set A which oddly appears to be cheaper than the single serving portion of chicken for one.

Chicken rice set came with a bowl of meatball soup. These meatballs were delicious. 👍🏼 No dried sole flavour in them but they were gently sweet.

Coffee's fragrant but unsatisfyingly diluted.

More drinks from TWG

This was the TWG at Takashimaya. We broke out of the Dulcet Rose routine and tried a Hawaiian Breeze. The menu described it as a mocktail of fresh pineapple juice, creamy coconut milk and Number 12 Tea. Definitely getting the pineapple juice and the coconut milk wasn't as creamy as I imagined - which was a good thing. I don't know what's the Number 12 Tea but it tasted suspiciously like rooibois. Anyways, we liked this.

This was Indian Night Tea shake. Menu described it as black tea with spices, vanilla & caramel. Personally, it reminded me of payasam. Or any of the numerous Indian desserts made from rice/cottage cheese, milk and sugar. Milky, sweet and gently spiced for this one but I'm not sure if I'm getting cardamom here. Will come back for it again.

Orh-Kee Noodles (潶志麵家), Killiney Road

I've passed by Orh-Kee Noodles (65 Killiney Road) a number of times and have been wanting to try their noodles for a while. It finally happened.

Got a bowl of their signature minced meat and the one with fishballs and meatballs. Everything's a lot prettier on the picture on their menu and the actual portions felt small. 

The scallops for one did not come with shells. 😂 But I love their mee kia. These were the flatter variety that were of better quality. Note to self : ask for extra noodles the next time.

What struck me was for minced meat noodles, I found it odd that the minced meat was in the soup and not the noodles. 😕 That being said, soup had a nice porcine infusion and was delicious. 

Meatball & fishball bowl had a lighter tasting broth unlike the one from the signature bowl. Meatballs were good. Stinky with ti poh and were not the regular factory bought ones. These were larger and more rough hewn.

Orh Huat Bak Chor Mee (烏發肉脞面), Chinatown Food Centre

This visit to Orh Huat Bak Chor Mee (Yellow Zone, #02-033 Chinatown Complex Market and Food Centre, 335 Smith Street) came about after I read about the owner being linked to Ah Orh - the man behind a Teochew institution Ah Orh Seafood Restaurant. Which I don't think I've ever eaten at. Anyways the proprietor claims to the the younger brother in their pool of 11 siblings. 😮‍💨 It appears that this stall has nothing to do with Ah Orh and his restaurant.

I'm not impressed by the bak chor mee. Mee pok's a bit too soft. I ordered a bowl with chilli and it also had ketchup...why?! The rest of the ingredients were decent. Pig liver's actually pretty well cooked and that "meatball" thingy was not bad tasting. But it's not incentive enough for me to want to come back considering that there are plenty of bcms out there that's pretty good eating.