Hup Kee Delicious Food (合记), Bukit Merah Central Food Centre

Only noticed Hup Kee Delicious Food (#02-15 Bukit Merah Central Food Centre, 163 Bukit Merah Central) not long back even though I've been in the area numerous times. Bee hoon flavour's decent but seemed to be a bit too greasy.

Re-thinking the nasi lemak at Katong Laksa Holland Village Nasi Lemak

After having had nasi lemak from Malaysia over the past year, this one from Katong Laksa Holland Village Nasi Lemak has lost its limited allure. Rice wasn't as tasty and even their fried chicken thigh felt subpar. The sambal belachan is also no longer available. 😔

Half and half from Pakistani Dum Biryani Sg

Apparently, one can request for half biryani and half pulao at Pakistani Dum Biryani Sg. While the mutton I got today was tender, it was also one that was lean and stringy. The dal helped but I'll see if I can request for less lean cut the next time.

Putien Mama, Tiong Bahru Plaza

Putien has opened their Mama branded eatery at Tiong Bahru Plaza (#02-114 Tiong Bahru Plaza, 302 Tiong Bahru Road) in the unit that might have been previously Xing Xing Mala & Chicken Pot. This looked to be a more "express" version compared to their regular restaurant.

They have a litre sized iced lemon tea which looked like a response to the giant lemon tea from Xiang Xiang Hunan Cuisine.

Found their sweet & sour pork to be dangerously addictive.

Putien's signature Heng Hwa bee hoon is available here in single serving portion. Kinda small portion methinks. It looked somewhat pre-made and put together than cooked together if you catch my drift. But it's all good with their lime-y chilli sauce.

Not bad tasting scrambled eggs with prawns. A number of their dishes looked like they came in claypots and we were initially wondering at the huge portions. Today, we found out that the claypots were pretty shallow and those portions weren't as large as we thought them to be.

Next Shikaku, Westgate

So another oyster broth ramen has sprung up (B1-28 Westgate, 3 Gateway Drive Mall, tel : +65 6592 5060). Next Shikaku from Osaka. The place looked a lot like a local bar/karaoke/watering hole than a ramen-ya. They claim that they specialise in using the freshest oysters in their ramen broth and I'm of the opinion that superlativity smells like rats.

They've been hyped as the first experiential oyster ramen store here. What in the world does that even mean? 🤔

This was their koeru bowl. Broth's creamy, smooth and has oyster flavour. Umami is a good word. But if one is looking for oyster-ly, this has nothing on the bowl from the defunct Keisuke Plus. It's actually less oyster-ly than the paitan bowl from Konjiki Hototogisu which I thought was decent until Keisuke Plus opened my eyes. 

With expectations laid from a place that claims to be an oyster broth ramen specialist, this was kinda underwhelming. Not a bad bowl of noodles though. Just wished that there was more than a lonely sad oyster in there.

I liked their asobu tsukemen better. Noodles were wide like pappardelle and had a nice firm bite to them. They were served in chilled water to preserve said texture but it also meant a lot of drips went into the dipping broth. Which was a more intense version of their koeru broth I think. Accented with pink peppercorn for that extra bit of floral note.

Beef sushi's nice. Thin sliced, fatty and flavourful with a small mound of rice.

Restoran Md. Salleh, Taman Pelangi, Johor Bahru

Breakfast at Restoran Md. Salleh (22 Jalan Pingai, Taman Pelangi, 80400 Johor Bahru).

Found their tea a tad too sweet for my liking. The flavour was also reminiscent of roobois tea.

Roti telur goyang - a kosong with a telur goyang with their dal kuah. In English, a plain roti canai with a wobbly half boiled egg and their lentil gravy. Gravy's a little thinner and less punchy than what I was expecting.

I was wondering if their roti sardine was similar to the sardine prata from Prata Saga Sambal Berlada. It wasn't. There's onions in it so it turned out to be more akin to the sardine murtabak. Sardine's finely minced and spread out so while it wasn't bad, Prata Saga Sambal Berlada's sardine prata beats this. I mean like hands down.

Lontong gravy was on the thin side, lacks the richness and viscosity as the ones I normally prefer back home. But I guess that's how they roll here.

Tried a kosong and telur. As roti canai/prata went, they were competent enough. Hard pressed to find something about it that is memorable though.