Paradise Dynasty, Vivocity

Its been a number of years since we last ate at Paradise Dynasty. Menu appears to have changed. We've been wanting to know for a while if they were anything like how we remembered them and ended up at the branch in VivoCity (1 HarbourFront Walk, #02-128 /130). Since some of the dishes we liked from the past were no longer on menu, we'd form our opinions based on what they have. 

Some fried rice with vegetables (鲜蔬炒饭). Better tasting than the eggless one from Din Tai Fung 😬. This had bits of something that might have been nai bai and spring onions. Lots of crunch. A little less oily and a bit more salt, it would have been awesome.

Mixed feelings over their mapo tofu. The flavour's nice - one could get the flavour from Sichuan peppercorn (花椒) and fermented black beans. Sauce was a little more watery than I was expecting and there seemed to be an underlying sweetness. Can't decide if I actually liked this or not.

I remember liking the foie gras xiao long bao (鹅肝小笼包) from them. Wanted to know if I still do while fully acknowledging that it's been at least a decade since the last time we had them. In retrospect, I did think that I remembered them tasting better in the past; and that these today don't taste the same. But I can never be sure. The ones we had today weren't bad though. Just not as impressive as what I thought I recalled of them. Confusing eh?

These layered cake (千层油糕) were definitely not in the same leagues as the ones from Nanjing Impressions. What we had here was nothing but a poor imitation of those. There was none of the flavour from the oil/lard as far as we could tell.

Quail briyani from Yakader Muslim Food

I had a mutton briyani from Yakader Muslim Food years back. I remember enjoying it. 

I didn't as much this time with today's quail briyani for a couple of reasons. There's bits of coriander in the briyani today and I was pretty sure there was none of that the last time. The second reason was the quail. It was just a deep fried bird ladled over with a tamarind curry. Meat's dry and tough and if don't use your hands, you won't be getting any meat off that thing. Not with those flimsy plastic utensils. Gonna stay off this shop for a while.

Laksa from Famous Sungei Road Trishaw Laksa

This was an itch finally scratched. I've tried the fruit juice mee siam from Famous Sungei Road Trishaw Laksa years ago and have always wondered about their laksa. Got the big portion today which came with one whole crayfish. $12.

Broth's competently flavoured with dried shrimp and coconut milk. Said broth was also not the type of viscous consistency. Apart from the crayfish, there were some prawns and chicken. Not a bad bowl but also not so memorable for me. If I had wanted laksa, this one wouldn't be one of the first ones I'd think of.

双虾香菇肉脞面 from Authentic Teochew Tradition Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle (潮州传统香菇肉脞面)

Things appear to be evolving at Authentic Teochew Tradition Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle (潮州传统香菇肉脞面). Not that it's a bad thing but the old couple running the stall did not look like they were people who were interested in shaking up something they've been doing for a long time.

Anyways, there appears to be more options for their bak chor mee. Got the $7 双虾 mee pok bowl which featured a couple of sizeable deveined prawns that were way ahead in quality compared to the neighbouring Covent Garden Prawn Noodle - which has sadly declined in quality the recent couple of years.

Some further thoughts here. Those thick chunks of ti poh (dried sole)...I'm not sure how they're expect the old folks to handle them. 😅 Flavour of today's bowl came mostly from braised mushroom sauce which didn't taste exactly mushroomy. Wantons have a nice dried sole flavour in the stuffings. Soup on the side tasted of corn - pretty sure they didn't previously. Overall pretty satisfying also with the consideration that I didn't have to wait much because I was first in line today. 😬

About one week later...

Got the same bowl with kuey teow 白 with vinegar. Spruced it up with some heat from the sliced red chilli and soya sauce. Nice.

Another few days later...

Mee kia's okay. I prefer the mee pok and kuey teow. Noticed that in the past few visits, the old couple aren't cooking. They have a helper these days that's cooking in the stall instead.

Revisiting Mongolia Taste (蒙古味道)

Back at Mongolia Taste. Started off with honeyed yoghurt, Mongolian tea and a couple of other stuff we liked from the last time like.....

...their sliced lamb liver salad.

And 干锅菜花.

This was called 手扒羊腿 which translates loosely to hand grabbed/stripped lamb's leg. It's a boiled leg of lamb and from appearances, cut with knife or scissors. Not hand torn as the name may imply. Meat was arguably tender...I wished there was more fat.

There's the green salsa verde thingy on the side which according to the proprietor, is made with chives. I tasted salt and a good hit of garlic. Nice. 

Some muttons sausages which appeared to be minced meat stuffed in intestine casing. Not bad tasting.

A bunch of grilled 串串.

Slices of braised pig's ear, pig's tongue, maybe head cheese, marinated beef and trotters.

Grilled shishamo.

And hence like sheep we are herded into Prosperity part 1

Prosperity Burger's back for the Lunar New Year. Nothing's changed since the last one. But those of us who get it, get it because because it's the only time of the year for the black pepper fix. Innit?