Rice King (饭王), Food Republic @ Breadtalk IHQ

饭王 (Food Republic, #01-06/07/08 BreadTalk IHQ, 30 Tai Seng Street) has taken over the unit that used to be occupied by Ah Yen Traditional Fried Pork. Appears to be Taiwanese (inspired). I was recommended to try the rice set with pork belly and it turned out to be a good one. The savoury and slightly sweet braising sauce infused their flavour into the tender belly which had fat that pretty much melted in the mouth. The set included small dishes of tomato scrambled egg (番茄蛋) and stewed cabbage. The tau kwa and egg were added on. I liked this. Might come back again for it.

Allora Ristorante & Bar, Crowne Plaza Changi Airport

 

This was our first time eating at Crowne Plaza at Changi Airport. The hotel and their food has never piqued our interest previously but Allora Ristorante & Bar (Crowne Plaza Changi Airport, Changi Airport Terminal 3, 75 Airport Boulevard) has caught our attention recently.

Rosemary and black olive flavoured tonic water was actually pleasant. Then again, YMMV.

Their peach tea was odd. Tasted of jasmine and apple and there was too much syrupy sweetness. Pretty sure there was no beverage on the menu that had jasmine and apple.

Bread's forgettable but the tomato dip was chilled and refreshing.

This was their pizza tartare - a pizza bianca topped with Mozzarella, Castelmagno, Australia Angus beef tenderloin tartare and baby sprouts.

The tartare's not bad. Tasted like a milder rendition of French tartare de boeuf. Could taste capers. As a whole, the pizza was delicious with the combination of savoury cheeses, especially so for the toasty bits. The sprouts I suppose, was a green vegetal foil to the rest of the flavours. We liked this pizza.

The bruschetta mantecato which featured cod whipped in olive oil and flavoured with whole grain mustard came after the pizza. Had expected this to come first since it was bruschetta. This one not bad tasting.

Their lobster squid ink tagliolini sounded good and wasn't expensive for a lobster pasta. The menu even mention that it has "bisque".

Flavour from the sauce was mostly tomato with a hint of seafood; definitely not bisque as we imagined. I wouldn't even use the word 'crustacean' or 'seafood-y' to describe the flavour. It didn't taste bad though and the texture of their handmade black ink noodles was nice. What wasn't was the lobster. Size of the meat was a third of the tail and was a little mushy. The claw also had little meat.

So in retrospect, this was kinda expensive.

Their rendition of tiramisu was named Alloramisu. Tacky if you asked me. Savoiardi is homemade apparently. They wait staff trolly-ed out the ingredients and assembled it tableside, layering the coffee gel, mascarpone in cream canister and the biscuit that was drizzled with espresso before the topping of cocoa powder and flakes.

My thoughts? This was weak. Coffee gel's weak. Mascarpone's airy and weak. We could still get the crunch from the biscuit so it was obvious that the quantity of espresso was sorely lacking. It's a bit of flair and little substance.

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.