Revisiting A-One Signature

Been some years since we last ate at A-One Signature.

Their salted egg, century egg and minced pork porridge was decent tasting. There's a baseline umami since all their porridges have dried scallops in them. Any other ingredient or topping typically adds to that. A couple of things could have been improved methinks. More minced pork would be great. One thing that bothered me was the quality of century eggs that they used which was pungent and had an gelatinous texture...even for the yolk.

Also decent quality olive fried rice with minced meat. Smoky, savoury and all. They even use real bits of char siew. What this needed was more of the preserved olive leaves which the fried rice is named after. We've had a number of these (ichi, ni, san, shi) and this was probably the one with the weakest flavour from those preserved olive leaves.

Kyoto Ramen Hachicken, Chinatown Point

Chicken broth ramen shop that is sister to a renown poultry specialist brand, Hachikian, from Kyoto. Opened in Chinatown Point (#01-51 Chinatown Point, 133 New Bridge Road, tel : +65 8362 0064) earlier in the year.

This was a limited time tan tan noodle. Pleasant nutty and creamy broth with some heat from the chilli oils and I thought I detected a faint Sichuan peppercorn flavour or something similar. Initially felt the broth to be a little thin but came to realise as I ate, that the consistency/intensity made it very drinkable till the end. Bean sprouts were not entirely cooked and had some of that raw-ish taste still. 

Yuzu shio bowl was lightweight savoury. Not much of yuzu flavour. Chicken balls were quite tender and I thought I detected a faint ginger taste in them. 

More lunch from Fish & Bones

The burger's no longer available at Fish & Bones for lunch. It's...regular Korean food now.

Banchan's refillable. The one with cucumber was refreshing. Bean sprouts have a nice sesame oil flavour. Kimchi's kinda young-ish without the tang I was hoping for.

Hoedeopbap - there's salmon and a white fish which I think might be halibut. Fish here is kinda chewy.

I think this is their gochujang. Didn't taste like most gochujang. Not as beany, tasted more fruity and also more refreshing.

Those vegetables aren't great for mixing. Too bulky and doesn't wilt. Didn't dislike the hoedeopbap but I don't think I'll get it again.

Don't think we've had Korean abalone porridge before. I was expecting something abalone-y but it did not taste like abalone. Tasted like...something we can get from Ah Chiang. 😂 I'm not sure what I'm tasting here.

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.

Decent miso marinated hamachi collar.

Lontong Sedap, Margaret Drive Hawker Centre

I've previously had the lontong from Lontong Sedap (#01-25 Margaret Drive Hawker Centre, 38A Margaret Drive) back in their old premise at Tanglin Halt Food Centre. Got a nasi lemak for breakfast today. Did I detect a faint lemongrass flavour in the rice? Anyways, pretty decent plate with standard quality ingredients. Rice was moist and savoury with some coconut richness. Sambal's sweet but not annoyingly so with heat and infused with ikan bilis flavour.

Yong Kiang Chicken Rice (永強鸡饭), Ubi

Yong Kiang Chicken Rice (1st Stop Food Junction coffeeshop, Blk 3014 Ubi Road 1) is in the same coffeeshop as Mei Mei Roast and Da Sheng Minced Pork Noodle. What piqued me about them was the minced pork stuffed fried tau kwa which...isn't something that one normally finds in chicken rice stalls. Said tau kwa was slightly crusty edged with meat stuffings which was lightly flavoured with five spice. The chicken thigh I got today was a little boney but the rice had pretty good flavouring. Chilli seems more vinegary than lime-y.

Hakata Ikkousha, Chijmes

Our first time at Ikkousha at Chijmes (#F1-07 Chijmes, 30 Victoria Street, tel : +65 6338 8460) and the positive impression imparted today was telling; that my prior opinion of them might be biased, or tainted by the cloistered experience from their shop at Tanjong Pagar which gave me the impression that they have become mediocre through the years.

I didn't feel that way here. What surprised me from this shop at Chijmes was their bonito tonkotsu bowl which had that thalassic smokiness overlaying the chicken & pork bone broth, upturning my prior impression of what this bowl was about.

First time getting their mentai don. We knew what it was and while it was probably easily available in ramen shops, we didn't visit ramen shops to eat these. Just didn't happen that way. We did today. Like I said, we already knew what it was. But as I shovelled the first mouthful of that moist warm rice smudged with salty spicy roe laced with nori and spring onions, the thought that came to mind was "fuck me this was good". 😂

This was the tonkotsu shio. I don't know precisely what's the difference between this and the regular tonkotsu aside from the intensity and flavour. This one was cleaner and lighter. Almost like bak kut teh broth minus the herbs and pepper. Not bad when one is in the mood for something less heavy.

God Fire Level 4. Had it previously so I know I could handle it.

Noticed bits of chilli in the broth which I didn't encounter the last time.

Never seen so much gyoza on a plate before.