Kimukatsu, Takashimaya

Kimikatsu (#B201-5 Takashimaya Food Hall, 391A Orchard Road) does mille feuille tonkatsu; it's the only type of tonkatsu they do. If you didn't know what that was, it's a katsu made with thinly sliced pork rolled into a tight package before it's panko-ed and fried. Unlike the common variety which is made with thick sliced pork that's panko-ed and fried. It's not new or unique and it's available from folks like Tonkatsu by Ma Maison, Tonkichi, Tampopo back in the old days and even Gochi-So Shokudo.

They opened up a few years back. Been wanting to try them for a while but whenever we're in the area, we kinda inadvertently get drawn to Nakajima Suisan. Orders here were accompanied with a sauce platter which came with tonkatsu sauce, tsukemono and ponzu.

Tried the salted egg katsu which was a National Day limited flavour. Pork was tender with a nicely browned crunchy surface. Salted egg sauce was decent tasting; not as intense as I was hoping for in the salted egg department and I'm sure it's from some powder. Wonder if it's one of those from Knorr.

I like the garlic flavour more because the flavour from the pork came through all the garlic unlike the one with the salted egg sauce. Not bad tonkatsu here. Will come back and try other flavours.

Apple tart from Da Paolo Gastronomia

Damn you Da Paolo! 😡 Why did you have to make this so good? 😲 So tangy sweet and buttery with a cinnamon infusion kind of delicious layered with tender chunks of apple between those crumbly pastry...why did I chance upon this?

Kidding aside, this apple tart thingy was delicious. Their Americano's drinkable - not the same standards as Café Ma Maison but drinkable. That coffee cup sure was thicc.

Yellow noodles from Ah Seng Teo Chew Minced Meat Noodle (亞誠潮州肉脞面)

Yellow noodles this time round at Ah Seng Teo Chew Minced Meat Noodle. Was originally curious about their bee hoon which was listed as a noodle option on their menu but they did not have any so I ended up getting this instead. A second time (or third if you counted this) I'm on bak chor mee with yellow noodles. The first was at Lai Heng and I think they did it better with the texture. Otherwise, the saucing and ingredients were exactly the same as every other time I've had a bowl here.

Chao Yuan Noodle (潮源麵家), Kimly Foodcourt @ Lucky Plaza

The food at the Chao Yuan Noodle (#06-48A Lucky Plaza, 304 Orchard Road) looked suspiciously similar to Orh Kee Noodles. 🤔 Even their mee kia were of the same type.

Anyways, we got fried meatball noodles. Not bad. Chilli was pretty tasty and the saucing was lardy. This was leaps more satisfying compared to Cheeky Bee Hoon.

Soup was filled with minced pork and deliciously flavoured with fried garlic. Love it. No qualms revisiting.

Cheeky Bee Hoon, Asian Food Mall @ Lucky Plaza

Read about Cheeky Bee Hoon (#B1-038 Lucky Plaza, 304 Orchard Road) some time back. They looked sad on a Sunday. There was literally no queue the entire time we were there. Every other stall had one and the food court was packed. 

This was their signature bowl with clams and pork. Ingredient quality was not bad and the curly bee hoon was a curiosity. What ultimately didn't make the cut for me was the sweetness in the sauce. And the soup. It bothered me and since that was what made them, it's a forgone conclusion we're not coming back. The surprising thing for me was the green lime-y tasting coriander sauce which made everything taste better. That's coming from someone who does not like coriander. 

Shu Yan Sichuan Cuisine (蜀宴), Chinatown Point

This spot where Shu Yan Sichuan Cuisine is located (#01-41/42 Chinatown Point, 133 New Bridge Road, tel : +665 6732 1898) used to be China Classic. Seem to recall seeing these guys at UE Square some time back in a setup that looked more classy.

The decor looked bare bones - pretty spacious and thin on character if you catch my drift. One of the private rooms was obviously filled with smoking people because you can definitely hide all the smell even when the doors are opened for brief moments. But enough with the observations...

This wasn't the usual dry pot cauliflower (干锅菜花) we've had before. Shu Yan's rendition was a lot more salty and that was because of the pork they used for the stir frying. Those thinly sliced pork belly had a braised flavour and texture like waxed meat. Salty and great with rice.

Pretty decent rendition of 干煸四季豆 with the exception of one thing which bothered me. There were too many bits of the Sichuan peppercorns in it which made it a hassle. While I enjoyed the flavour from the peppercorns, I didn't like biting into them.

This was their stone pot tofu with lamb (石锅豆花肥羊). It was a listed as a signature dish and we were looking forward to it because 肥羊.

Sadly, the 肥羊 was a disappointment. The meat was marinated/sodium bicarbonated to death. 😞 Texture was unnaturally smooth and perky with no identifying flavour from the meat. 😞 Seeing that that's how many stir fried beef dishes are processed locally, I don't think that bothers many people. It does me. Chewing on a piece of fat barely brought out the ghost of the lamb-y flavour. 😞 Tofu was fortunately nice.

Gotta remember that food's generally salty and oily with 小辣 already packing some heat.