888 Smash Burger and Milo Dinosaur Shake from BurgerLabo

BurgerLabo has smash burgers on their menu now. This one was with triple patty and onions. While nibbling on the crispy edges of the beef, I was thinking that it needed more salt but after having it with the sauce and cheese, I kinda figured that those were it. Not bad tasting, a little dry-ish but I guess that's to be expected. This was more Honbo than Shake Shack.

The shake didn't taste exactly like Milo dinosaur. Whatever it was, it seemed to be a lot maltier. There were also some crunchy bits of stuff in the powder, both of which also didn't taste like Milo. I don't know if it's just me. Hmmm...not bad though.

More Miznon

Back at Miznon. Tried the abu kebab pita which was stuffed with beef and lamb meatballs. Meatball's generously salted and I tasted pepper. Texture was coarse and the flavour's nice but I couldn't tell the beef and lamb in it. 

This red prawn pita's relatively new I think. Tasty spicing with a bit of smokiness on those firm meaty bugs. I like this better than the abu.

More food from Milan Shokudo

More food from Milan Shokudo. That's the keema curry beef doria. It's a rice gratin if anyone's wondering. Added extra cheese and an egg which made it more delicious. Curry's Japanese styled so it's a little sweet but nothing that I disliked.

Squid ink pasta with scallops. Nice and garlicky. Portions felt kinda small.

Tried their mustard cream chicken because we were curious about the mustard cream. It turned out to be cream sauce with a dollop of whole grain mustard. Chicken has a mildly spicy sweet marinate which I'm not a fan of.

牛車水亞婆鹵鸭 (Chinatown Ah Po Braised Duck), Commonwealth Crescent Food Centre

Sweet. We've seen the queues at this stall (#02-95 Commonwealth Crescent Food Centre, 31 Commonwealth Crescent) a number of times and wondered about it. We've finally gotten around to understanding those queues after getting a weekend breakfast.

牛車水亞婆鹵鸭's known for their braised duck. Teochew styled so the serving comes with white rice and no gloopy sauce. The style I prefer. This was half a duck and the bird was impressively tender, even the breast meat. Braising sauce was deliciously flavourful.

Couldn't resist a plate of their other braised items on the side - pig's stomach, sweet intestines (粉肠), eggs, duck liver and pig's skin. Not bad but my verdict is that the duck is their showcase.

Sauce on the rice is not the same as the one ladled over the duck. Spoon more from the duck onto the rice for more flavour intensity.

Atout's Autumn

We were here for the Autumn specials at Atout (un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept).

What caught our attention were stuff like their French fig salad with Mimolette.

Figs were tender and sweet.

They made ankimo/monkfish pate this year which was also "escabeche-d" with vinegar. So it's not very different from the cod liver that they normally have nor was it far from the anikmo ponzu from Japanese restaurants because of the vinegar.

Ankimo made a good spread over their sourdough.

Wine infused risotto with radicchio salad & aged Parmegiano Reggiano. Not bad tasting. That being said, I was hoping that there was at least half the amount red wine in it like I was imagining. There wasn't. That be my only gripe.

Roast pigeon was delicious. So was the jus. Said jus has a savoury rich sweetness that was a consumate pairing for the bird and also the sweet chestnut puree. That velvety chestnut puree...🤤

Ended with conference pear soufflé because we love conference pears. And also that this was the first time we've seen them used in their soufflé and we were curious. 

There's puree/compote and chunks of cooked pear in the soufflé. Soufflé was a sweet & eggy cloud of moist fluffiness. While the flavour of the pear came through for the dessert, it lacked a rounded aroma/taste. Still like the soufflé though.

Bitter black to close.

Revisiting Sek Tong Gai (食通街)

We came back to try something that was called fried rice in superior broth at Sek Tong Gai because we were curious about what the dish was. The Chinese name of the dish is 上汤烩饭 which is a little different from a direct translation. Anyways, this tasted like a soupy fried rice. Yes, soupy fried rice. Not exactly mui fan/烩饭. That superior broth/上汤 had a pleasant savoury sweetness. Bowl was loaded with diced chicken, shrimp, mushroom and cabbage. Pretty good with the soya sauce marinated chilli padi or the red vinegar you can help yourself to.

Gotta do some kailan for a balanced meal. But who are we kidding? That wasn't the real reason. Their kailan is delicious.