What's with Smiths Fish & Chips

Feelings were a little mixed this time. Not long back, Smiths announced a wind up, citing unsustainable rising costs as the reason for closing shop. But it seems that closure has been postponed till July. The food here isn't cheap. At the prices they've been going at and for the duration they've been around, how have they been coping all these time?

There's house made lemonade which we've never noticed before. Very lightly sweetened and also pretty expensive a bottle.

Trying their spam fritters for the first time.

You know what? I like it. Deliciously salty just like...spam underneath the fried batter. No surprises here.

Got ourselves some cod and haddock & chips. The fish appears to have shrunk along with their portion of chips. At the prices they're charging, it's not making me look forward to coming back. Even though those chips today tasted exceptionally good.

I remember their giant Yorkshire pudding with onions and gravy from the last time. Liking it. 😬  

Pretty overpriced shepherd's pie considering the portions. Did not taste bad per se but wouldn't get it again considering that we can make something we consider better tasting. For what they charged, expecting double those portions would have been reasonable.

Rat's tail noodles (老鼠粉) from Liang Seng Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle (樑成香菇肉脞麵)

I was a little concerned in the past few weeks as Liang Seng had been closed from CNY with a sign that stated that they're not open with no return date. I've been here a few times and they've been closed since then. Am so glad to find them back in business again.

Rat's tail noodle today. Perhaps the last noodle type from them that I've never ordered before. I like it. Smooth and slurpy with their usual flavour profile. What's different today were the shredded lettuce that never used to be part of the bowl. 🤔

Re-revisiting Murugan Idli Veg. Restaurant

Back to the shop with delicious idlis for breakfast.

Spied a Thattu butter idli on the menu. From what I gathered, these were larger and a little flatter versions of the regular idli which a cursory search pointed to an origin in Karnataka. There was a notch in the middle of the steamed rice cake with a wedge of butter. Hell yeah! 👍🏼

Kinda hard to get past the yummy ghee garlic podi idli.

This was ghee moringa podi dosai; the moringa variation of the ghee mudakkathan podi dosai I had previously. Like that previous dosai, definitely not getting measurable health benefits from this one. Unlike that previous dosai, I picked up some additional nuttiness from the pancake.

Ghee curry leaf podi onion uttapam. Mostly buttery with toasted onion flavour. Maybe a bit of spice from the podi as well. Not tasting the curry leaf for this one. It's still delicious though.

Today's sweet pongal was piping hot and darker looking than the last time we had it.

$7 and meatless at Aneka Ulam

I mentioned nasi padang being a better choice for the gravies from Aneka Ulam previously. This was one with sayur lodeh, sambal goreng and quail eggs. Savoury richness from the former, sweet and spicy from the latter two and more heat from the dollop of sambal belancan. With these portions, it was also an invitation for a post lunch coma.

Truffle fried rice with chicken chop from Fried Rice Story (炒饭故事)

By the time this post makes the light of day, Fried Rice Story would have relocated to Clementi. I was thinking of trying their teriyaki fried rice but they only have the regular and the truffle one left. Truffle it was. Truffle oil to be precise. The synthetic smelling kind which wafted right in as soon as I collected my plate. But this plate did not taste bad. The chicken chop's also decent.

Lim Soon Lee (林顺利), Bukit Merah Central Food Centre

Lim Soon Lee's (#02-46 Bukit Merah Central Food Centre, 163 Bukit Merah Central) appears to be the jack of a few trades. There's nasi lemak, laksa, mee siam, satay bee hoon and prawn noodles to be had here. Have only had their nasi lemak. Rice has a nice coconut flavour and also sadly, a light hand with the salt. Salt which could have elevated it.

Sambal's robust with ikan bilis flavour rounded up with sweetness of onions. That being said, it also masked some of the coconut flavour in the rice. I like those thin omelette.