Tomato tart, lamb rump and tartare de beouf from Le Bistrot du Sommelier

Recent dinner at Le Bistrot du Sommelier. It's been a couple of years since our last time here.  

(un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf, dix, onze, douze).

A salade de tomates typically sounded mundane. Not something I'd usually pay attention to. Le Bistrot du Sommelier's salade de tomates was outstanding. Tomato was well chilled, salted and then drizzled with olive oil - very refreshing and nice pairing with the rich creaminess of burrata. Came with a slice of tomato tart which was suitably buttery and pleasantly flavoured by the porcine sweet savouriness of Bayonne ham. This was so good. 👍🏼

We had tartare de boeuf. This item has remained consistent since we've first had it here. This beef tartare has similar seasoning flavour profile as the one at Atout. 

Marrunga lamb rump with grilled celeriac, black garlic purée and coffee infused lamb jus. Nice creamy sweet tanginess from the black garlic and lovely coffee lamb jus. Those grilled celeriac were smokey tasting. 👍🏼

First time getting sorbets from them. The lime is nicer than the apple. It's more refreshingly robust with the citrus in comparison to the apple which also started to taste less like apple after a bit.

Prata Galaxy, Commonwealth Crescent Food Centre

Prata Galaxy (#02-93 Commonwealth Crescent Food Centre, 31 Commonwealth Crescent) took over the unit left behind by Hammee's.

Tried a piece of their masala vadai. Tasted the lentils, onions and green chilli amidst the spices. Not bad but this for some reasons reminded me of the one at Hajjah R.S.A.. Which was strange. I like the one from Hajjah R.S.A. better and no, they don't taste similar.

Coincidentally, I also had a ghee egg thosai just like that time at Hajjah R.S.A..😅 Not getting much of the tang from the flour and I've had non-ghee thosai that has more ghee flavour than this ghee thosai. Surface of thosai was soft and devoid of crisp except for some light bits at the browned edges. Coconut chutney wasn't coconut-y - some flavour in that chutney which reminded me of oats.

Nan Yang Dao (南洋岛), Bugis+

Visited the branch at Bugis+ (#04-08 Bugis+, 201 Victoria Street). Comparisons are abound.

Ice coffee was not bad because it was sufficiently thick through the ice. We could taste the evaporated milk in it so it's kopi c. Gotta remember to siew dai it.

We had something on the menu called Penang prawn noodle. We were trying to figure out if this was a dry-ish hae mee tng or was it a soupy Hokkien mee. Turned out to be the latter. Not bad tasting in a pretty decent broth. Prawns had natural meaty texture and were sweet even. Fried lard was a little bitter, not very fragrant and hence, also not the better ones around. That being said, the lard wasn't a deal breaker and I could eat this again.

This was petai fried nasi lemak with fried chicken from the petai series of their menu. We were expecting savoury and this turned out a little sweet. Sweetness that annoyed me. Sweetness that came from the sambal and possibly onions. Who puts onions in fried rice or nasi lemak? Especially these which are neither caramelized nor raw. Even the turmeric infused batter of the fried chicken on the side was sweet. Dislike. 👎🏼

Yam rolls - floury and filled with bits of vegetables. Like some of the fried bread in Indian rojak. I have no idea where this was standing with that Nanyang themed food. Don't know where the yams were because we couldn't taste them. Also don't know why there were carrots. This was largely a filler fritter which was saved by the rojak sauce on the side. Pleasantly surprised with that sauce but that did not vindicate anything with these "yam rolls".

Suukee Coffee, Scotts Square

Been wanting to try Suukee Coffee for a while after reading about their orh nee toasts. Suffice it is to say that their opening hours and location at One North wasn't the most accessible. But it seems that they've sprung up in town (#01-11 Scotts Square, 6 Scotts Road).

I like the one with butter the most because the taste was the cleanest; and also, butter. I liked that the yam paste wasn't overly sweet. That being said, it also didn't have that much flavour; so one can surmise that it wouldn't take much to subdue their flavour into the background. 

The one with chicken floss was not bad tasting too. This was where the orh nee started disappearing into the background because of the chicken floss. I could tell the yam paste was there but the flavour had become something you'd be trying to taste if you know, just to discern its presence.

This was the outlet exclusive with salted yolk. And curry leaves and a bit of heat. I couldn't tell the orh nee at this point - it was just something sweet-ish and creamy between the toast with the salted egg sauce. Didn't taste bad but I wouldn't get this if I wanted orh nee toast.

Liu Lang Mian Noodle Bar (流浪面), Alexandra Central

Been wanting to try Liu Lang Mian (#01-03 Alexandra Central, 321 Alexandra Road) for a while. They do noodles that could conceivably be characterized with ramen-esque attributes. Their style has influences from Japanese and local Chinese food which is represented by their choices of ingredients/toppings. Yeah, it's another one of those. 

Here's their monthly special for October. Something they called squid ink yakisoba. Definitely not the yakisoba most of us know. This was more mazesoba.

Menu described the cephalopods as octopus tempura - which I find misleading. It's more like ika geso karaage. I'm pretty sure that's squid and not octopus. Stir fried prawns were meaty and kinda tasty. Most of the flavour in the bowl came from the chilli, accented by spring onions and maybe the tobiko. Not tasting any squid ink. Noodle texture reminded me of those squiggly chewy type in Hokkaido ramen.

Al Mubin Restaurant, Syed Alwi Road

Local Indian food is tagged with both 'a local signature' and 'indian'. This group union is for the category of food which I recognize/identify as local Indian food, which has transcended for the reasons I won't be deeper diving into, from the way it was prepared back when the Indian migrants brought them here. Recipes and ingredients evolved and hence localized because of accessiblity, creating the local renditions of such dishes. 

This was breakfast at Al Mubin (92 Syed Alwi Road, tel : +65 6970 4700) - local Indian food eatery. Or mamak stall as some people call it. We ate at their branch at Ang Mo Kio previously.

Masala tea was light on the spice, milky and and sweet. Perhaps a little sweeter than I like.

Was intrigued by their honey mushroom prata. I know right? As far as local flavours go, this combination was new to me. 

There were a lot more mushrooms than I thought. Which was nice. The sweetness from the "honey" was not commonplace with mushrooms but it turned out not as odd as one might think. Not conventional but they didn't cancel each other out in a blinding flash of light. 😂

The menu called these puri but what they had was actually poori. Just not ones that were properly puffy. 😅 I was initially confused with why puri would be served with keema as well. Anyways, the fried bread tasted better than their looks suggested. Keema had pretty fine mince lamb, was creamy with a rich coconut flavour and more mellow spice that I associate with korma than keema which is usually more...in your face.