合乐 (He Le), Mei Ling Food Centre

Not bad economy bee hoon from He Le (#02-29 Mei Lin Food Centre, 159 Mei Chin Road). Fried chicken cutlets were garlicky.

Chun Tian Economic Rice (春天什菜飯), C&L Cafe @ UB. One

Homely cai png (菜饭) at C&L Cafe (81 Ubi Avenue 4) located at the same place that houses Aneka Ulam and Soon Soon. The proprietresses running the stall were friendly. Love that braised pork (卤肉) in a sweet savoury sauce which was made with finely sliced strips of pork belly. That unassuming fried chicken surprised me with the flavour of prawn paste.

Surprise update 18/11/2025

Bitter gourd's pretty tender. Diced potatoes with sausages was a little peppery. Is the prawn paste flavour disappearing from the chicken? 

More pudding from Jin Yu Man Tang Dessert Shop (金玉满堂甜品)

Recently at Jin Yu Man Tang. Black sesame paste on double layer milk (黑芝麻双皮奶) with ice cream. So new on the menu that it's not on the menu.

Nice milky creaminess paired up with the sweet nuttiness of black sesame. 👍🏼 

So we got the ginger milk pudding (姜汁撞奶) with chrysanthemum again. Nice ethereal texture from the spicy ginger milk pudding but there's definitely no chrysanthemum flavour.

Revisiting Lin Da Qiang (林大强酱蒸鱼头頭)

Lin Da Qiang has changed. It's been a number of years since the first/last time we ate here. The old couple that I remember from that time is no longer around. It's a younger pair today. Unless these two are them?! 😲 Mother of...

But I think not. The black bean flavour from the gravy of their hor fun was barely discernible, not to even mention a focal, of black bean sauce. Which to me was most of the point to these dishes. Found it baffling that we could see the bits of the fermented black bean and yet, little of that flavour was in it. Not a fan at all of the tenderized beef that in spite of being tender, had also sinewy parts that were unchewable.

Fried salt & pepper prawns were decent. Nicely fried without being excessively oily. This alone didn't salvage the situation. I still felt let down as a whole from wanting to relive the flavours which we had from the first time.

Sliced fish soup with instant noodles from Mr Batang Fish @96

Got a bowl at Mr Batang today with instant noodles. Was enjoying the thick firm slices of batang and sweet cabbage in the soup while slurping noodles - and then also wondering what the hell do the folks in the crazy queue at Piao Ji know about that I didn't. 🤔

Beeflious Don and a few other stuff at Kuro Maguro

It's been a long while since we last ate at Kuro Maguro (一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八, 九). 

Current seasonals included ankou karaage. Deep fried monkfish. Meat's a bit springy and almost approaching crab/lobster in texture in a savoury batter. Nice with their ponzu dip.

Finally tried their maguro ribs. They're best eaten with at least one hand just like a pork ribs. Unctuous, moist and tender dark meat easily sliding off the bone with a gentle push from the fork/chopstick needing nothing but a few light brushes of shoyu for the salt to bring out the flavour. I'd come back for these again.

What lured us back this time was a deal their had with their "Beeflious Don". Going for $21.40 from the usual $42.80 only on Saturdays this month. Redeemable via J Passport. What we got were torched thin slices of wagyu topped with a bit of uni and ikura on rice. Obviously the appeal was the beefy oil richness which was ideal with some shoyu and the spikes of brininess from the ikura.

One week later......

Came back for the wagyu don because 50% off the regular price was such a good deal.

Got ourselves more maguro ribs.

And more ankou karaage.

Some deliciously savoury and crispy wakasagi tempura. These little fried fishes were nice munching.