Seng Huat Bak Chor Mee after these years...

Haven't had a bowl from Seng Huat for ages so this was in essence a serving to catch up. This was the big bowl at $6.30 for the record.

I don't think my opinion of them has changed much since the past. Not bad tasting, decent quality and straightforward with a moderate hand with the vinegar. Nothing in particular was outstanding. I liked what the dried anchovies added to the noodles which I do not remember being present previously. Token greens have been omitted entirely and the soya sauce marinated red chilli added loads of flavour incentive that helped me inhale the bowl.

Ah Gong KKM, Bras Basah Complex

So there's buzz about the relatively new Ah Gong KKM (#01-79 Bras Basah Complex, 231 Bain Street) in the socials lately about the 22 year old xmm owner their ke kou mian (可口面). They're located in the Shifu food court that used to be called Coffee Express 2000. 

It's not something I eat much but I was intrigued by what I saw on reels online extolling the charms of the spicy bowl. The bowl looked a lot smaller than I was led to believe. And it's not that spicy. Decent quality of ingredients (prawns, pacific clams and sliced pork) with not much to set them apart from other bowls with the exception of their broth. That broth tasted like a gritty soup version of sambal flavoured by fried garlic and with an underlying sweetness that I would prefer without.

Kalam Restaurant, Kitchener Road

Kalam Restaurant (199 Kitchener Road, tel : +65 9653 5248) is right next door to Dindigul Thalappakatti Restaurant. We noticed them the last time we were here and made a mental note to come back for the food.

Ordered something called Mangalore buns that had description which sounded vaguely familiar. It was only when they arrived and the scent of banana and freshly fried bread wafted in that we realized we've had them before at MTR. They were known on the menu there as just 'buns'.

So same thick hum chim pang like textures, slightly sweet and faint taste of bananas. We could smell more banana than we could taste them. The little metal bowls were sambar, coconut chutney and shredded coconut with jaggery.   

We had pongal. Warm, porridgy and flavoured with ghee. Nice. Those nuts on top were cashew.

Mango prawn curry. I'm guessing Keralan. Those mangoes lent a lot of tanginess to the curry that's akin to a strong hit of taramind/assam. Underlying the savoury sour warmth from the spices was a background sweetness from onions that was subtle. What's interesting was after having some of these, the sambar which was tangy started tasting sweet. The sour mango curry appeared to have caused the tamarind to fade into the background on the palate while the taste from the other ingredients became more prominent.

We also tried their neer dosa - another thing like those Mangalore buns we've had only once before at MTR years ago. This one appeared more rustic with textures that are more similar to rava dosa compared to the ones at MTR which appeared to be more refine looking. Like handkerchief. Same taste as my memory serves.

Pesarattu, a dosa made with green gram/mung beans. Reminded me of the green bean uttapam from Sri Rajya Lakshmi Narasimhan. Texture's less crisp than regular dosa. No green bean flavour as well but it was pretty savoury. Their mint chutney also doesn't appear to contain yoghurt.

Hot badam milk to end. Pretty solid almond flavour with saffron in this one.

Hairy crab stuff at Putien

I don't remember Putien (一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八, 九, 十, 十一, 十二, 十三) serving hairy crabs in the past but they did this year and we came to see the touches they had on these seasonal crustaceans.

Warm corn juice.

While it wasn't visually apparent, there's crab roe in this bee hoon. This plate was pretty much their Heng Hwa bee hoon stir fried with just enough crab roe to get a discernible flavour. Flavour of the roe was not 'in your face' though. Not that I would mind but it would presumably make this plate cost a lot more.

Tried the male crab that's marinated in Chinese wine. Don't know what went into the wine but I tasted preserved fruits and something that reminded me of brown sugar.

We had the female crab steamed plain (清蒸).

Don't think we're great working on these small crabs and today was a reminder of that. 😅 The draw for these were the tomalley and roe which there wasn't a great deal of. There's a nice flavour from the meat but it was a lot of effort for little returns. My take is anything smaller than a decent sized mud/mangrove crab isn't worth the effort working for the meat.

Surprised to find theatrics involved in the serving of their deep fried yam with duck dish (芋泥香酥鸭). I'm hoping that the showiness is not a mask to distract from decline. Anyways, this dish was still good; the creamy yam and the braised savouriness from the duck transcended the effects of dry ice.

We were served some ginger tea which comes from...ordering those hairy crabs?

Revisiting Dindigul Thalappakatti Restaurant

Back at Dindigul Thalappakatti Restaurant.

We had an order of their keema briyani. The keema component of the name refers to the mutton kola urundai - fried mutton balls which are also available a la carte from their menu. Keema means differently here compared to the local definition. It refers to minced meat, but not the chopped up kind of mince like those used in murtabak | keema.

More like a meat paste here. A deeply spiced mutton paste. Sadly for this rendition, the natural flavour of the meat was mostly lost in the spices. Will not get this again. Rice was deliciously savoury though.

That's the tawa meen roast - breaded fillet of some fish, most likely dory based on the flavour and soft texture. Breading was spiced, crunchy and packed a bit of heat. Wasn't as bad as I imagined for dory. In fact, the piping heat and spices made the fish kinda pleasant. But I'm not likely to get it again. The dip on the side tasted like garlic mayo.

Masala tea here is good. The dominant spice was cardamon; came in a pretty strong hit in the suitably sweet and creamy tea. We enjoyed their composite.

Chicken briyani from Santapan Padang by Tina Indulgence

Saw that Santapan Padang had chicken briyani today and it's apparently a Friday only special. Came with two fried chicken drumsticks that's drizzled with gravy that looked very much like satay sauce. But said sauce was sour which implied that tamarind's involved. Meat from those well fried drumsticks were a little hard and dry. I'm not sure how the rice tasted since it was drenched in that lentil curry - which wasn't bad tasting. Will not be getting this again though.