Brothers Ramen: why the Spicy Dry Megamen again

I topped up $1.80 for the bonito and mayo for my bowl today. Just for the experience (一, 二 , 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八, 九, 十, 十一). Why this one again? Because again, I was hoping to get their niboshi bowl and it was not available. I wonder if that's permanently unavailable or do I just need to get it early in the day. Anyone knows?

I didn't dislike the add ons. It was nice for a bit but the mayo sorta wore its welcome from surfeit. Got tiring after a while because of the added creaminess on top of the already flavour bomb. Bonito's nice. Pretty big bowl though. In retrospect, I'm pretty happy with the basic megamen spiked with extra garlic. That's the clean flavour that endures the entire bowl.

Casa Vostra ending Year One

It's been about a year since Casa Vostra opened. Time sure flew by. The queue is still around. Some new stuff have come up on their menu.

Like braised beef cheeks flavoured with rosemary and pepper. Not bad tasting but wore its welcome quickly.

First year anniversary pizza featuring their wagyu bresaola. I was thinking that maybe more bresaola would be nice but after going through it, I was impressed by how much of the flavour came through with those slices.

Ravioli alla zucca was also new I think. Mini raviolis filled with pumpkin puree. We were tasting a lot of cheese and butter in this and lesser of the pumpkin. Not bad.

Today, we learnt that the menu allows an additional shot of espresso for their double shot espresso tonic. Nice.

KFC Breakfast Loaded Burger

Was thinking as I wrote if this post added to useless web clutter. But thank you posterity. Anyways, it's odd that the buns were cool for something assembled on order. Cool like "it wasn't microwaved long enough or at all" type of temperature. Tasted milky and cheap. Cheese wasn't melted as well. Loaded? I don't think they understand loaded. Well, another lesson learnt here.

A couple of fried rice from Sin Hoi Sai

Decently done preserved olive leaves fried rice from Sin Hoi Sai. Liked that the flavour of those olive leaves got through and the plate was not excessively greasy. There's sufficient salting which is something that shouldn't be understated. Some eggs and bean sprouts with spring onions inside as well. 

We were pleasantly surprised by their Yang Zhou fried rice. Came loaded with diced prawns and old school red dyed char siew and spring onions. Nice bit of smokiness and pretty savoury.

These two are worth coming back for.

Revisiting Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐) @ Paragon

Trying new stuff, getting old stuff and discovering new fried rice at Paragon's Din Tai Fung.

First time trying their angled gourd and shrimp xiao long bao. The flavour in the soup was clean and sweet. Pretty lightweight compared with the regular ones that had rendered pork fat.

Pretty respectable prawn paste mid wings they do. The prawn paste wasn't as intense as say those from Sin Hoi Sai, but it's adequate and not shabby with chicken that's nicely fried. I liked that we could just slurp the meat off those bones easily.

Fried tofu with lotus roots and mushrooms seem new. Tasted kinda like how you think it would. I didn't like it because there's some Chinese celery (芹菜) in it.

Quietly, Din Tai Fung has also introduced black truffle fried rice in this outlet. Real shaven black truffle, no truffle oil. Which means while the flavour doesn't endure for long, it's not artificial. Actually, the ones at London Fat Duck and Tampopo felt like better eats. 

This steamed kaya buns were oddities. The menu mentioned Nonya kaya and it looked Hainanese. But it tasted like Nonya kaya. The brown stuff crusting the surface were coconut flakes.

ARTEASG, Raffles City

Noticed ARTEASG (#B1-04 Raffles City, 252 North Bridge Road) recently and destiny guided our feet into their shop. That cheesy mango drink was pretty heart clogging and cold.

Ok, not so much destiny than it was their wasabi fish roe egg tart that got me curious.

They were serious about the wasabi. It was a stronger hit that what I expected from an egg tart - not that I've ever had such an expectation before now. The tobiko came through too. Pretty unusual combination which was new yet familiar.

This was their mien mien ice (绵绵冰). This was the one with sea salt cheese and green grapes. Has the same cheese foam thing as the cheesy mango shake thingy on milky shaven ice topped with...ice cream? Kinda bingsu-ish. Buried at the bottom was purple rice. The grapes weren't as citrus-y as I imagined and I was imagining Shine Muscat because they looked like those.

One week later......

Love the bubbly lychee Americano. Tasted like it sounded - lychee sweetness with bubbles like razor down the throat in thick iced coffee. Nice.

Antioxidant cheese yoghurt with mixed berries. Salty cheese foam layered over berry flavoured yoghurt slushy thingy. Not bad. Kinda like ice blended Yakult with cream and salt.