Revisiting the idiyappam from S.P. Vilas

Got the idiyappam from S.P. Vilas again, this time, without the pongal. So now I know it's served with a vadai and some chickpeas on the side.

Lai Chi Mian (来吃面), Commonwealth Drive

Came across Lai Chi Mian (#01-711, 117 Commonwealth Drive) recently. They're just next to that popular Eng Kee chicken wings and bee hoon stall. Came by one morning for a bowl of their signature minced meat mee pok.

Noodles were decent. Toppings were all in their lotus root flavoured soup which included pig's liver, slice pork, some generic stinky meatballs, a fish ball and some pretty coarse minced pork. Apparently these guys are known for the pig's liver.

I had a chunk that looked concerning but thankfully, it was properly cooked with a dull dusky pink shade on the insides. Their livers were pretty tender.

Brunching at Wolfgang's Steakhouse

We were here today to check out some of what Wolfgang's Steakhouse has for their lunch menu.

What happens when there's no more rye? 😏 Baguette. That's what. Kinda hard and chewy but they're my vehicle for butter and they're not that bad so I'll leave it as that. I much prefer the rye they previously had.

The jumbo shrimp cocktail wasn't one of those lunch menu stuff I mentioned earlier. 😂 They're from the regular menu. Of recent times, I've been curious about them and since we've just had one from Wooloomooloo not long back, we could compare. Just to get that comparison out of the way, this one was also memorable in its own way. Yes, I enjoyed both. 😬

Shrimp here seemed bigger for one. I had initially mistaken their cocktail sauce, one that's less fancy more traditional than Wooloo's, to be ketchup. I'll be damned if it was. That sauce was tomato-y, vinegary and a lot more lively than I imagined. Less sweet than their Wolfgang's steak sauce which also works with these shrimps. Enjoyed it and while enjoying it, I got reminded about a remark I've heard about these things being out of the remarker's tax bracket. I can relate. 

Thick cut sizzling bacon was as good as it looked. Smokey, meaty and salty just like it was intended to be.

This trio of cuts was from the lunch menu featuring their USDA Prime dry aged Black Angus New Rork striploin, tenderloin and ribeye. <- That's the sequence they were plated and my preference in order of flavour was from right to left. Ribeye's has great flavour and I love the texture of the tenderloin. Striploin's pretty lean-ish. A pretty penny here for a sampler which I was hoping would be in bigger portions.

Finally got to try their loco moco from the lunch menu. I had initially thought that there was too little sauce to go around but it turned out to be an appropriate amount. This plate is comfort food - beef patty, egg and rice with sauce and mushrooms. The idea isn't that different from what Jollibee does. 😂 The patty for this one was a little more fine minced than I imagined and also much lacking in beef fat and its flavour. So while I enjoyed this, it definitely could have been a better thing.

Ahem...not as nice as I remember it for some reasons.

Coffee to end.

Kuey teow from Liang Seng Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle (樑成香菇肉脞麵)

Tried the kuey teow from Liang Seng Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle. Their rice noodles are of the thinner variety like those used at Day Night Fried Kway Teow. To their usual form, it's not a bad bowl. I still rank their mee kia and mee pok over this though.

Double 鸡尾 from 万里香鸡饭 (Wan Li Xiang Chicken Rice)

Back at Wan Li Xiang Chicken Rice with double portions of white chicken thigh (白鸡尾) and century egg. They deboned the chook upon request.

Xiang Xiang Hunan Cuisine (湘香湖南菜), One Holland Village

It was only recently that I realized that Xiang Xiang Hunan Cuisine has been rebranded from Hunan Cuisine Restaurant (密斯湘菜馆) which we've eaten at some years back. Now that it's dawned upon me, the revelation was that some dishes from the old restaurant that I liked were also lost when the Xiang Xiang phoenix rose from its ashes. 🐦‍🔥

This was the branch at Holland V (#02-19/20 One Holland Village, 7 Holland Village Way, tel : +65 6263 9170).

Giant lemon tea. I've a feeling we'll be getting this every time we're here.

Menu described this as fried vermicelli (干捞粉丝煲). Noodles which were savoury, flavoured with bits garlic & salted egg and was pretty moreish. It looked/tasted/sounded more local than Hunanese though.

Loved the cauliflower from the last time so we got it again.

Hot plate cumin beef (铁板孜然牛肉). Did not like it because the meat has been sodium bicarbonated to death. Couldn't tell it was beef. The cumin flavouring was pleasant but that was where good ended. Will not get this again.

Never noticed their steamed pork rib and taro (香芋蒸排骨) previously. This one was nice. Rib on the bone was relatively tender and easily removed and the taro was delicious. What brought both together might be pork fat and salt. Will come back for this.

酸菜鱼 because we like the way they made theirs.

How to avoid carbs?