As we go on at Umar Ali Cafe

Part 4 of the compilation of eats from Umar Ali Cafe. Probably the last one for a very long time. ABC has opened up another branch at the old premise of Kheng Nam Lee Teochew Porridge.

Mee hoon goreng mutton. Pretty tasty. Love the sunny side up.

The mutton came in little bits. Not keema but diced bits. 

Samosa. Skin reminded me of epok epok/curry puff.

In retrospect, with the skin and the curried potato fillings, it's pretty much a pyramid shaped curry puff.

Their chicken malai tikka was smoky, salty and piping hot. If anyone's wondering, the chicken's marinated in cream/yoghurt and spices before getting onto the grill. Not bad tasting with the lime and onions cutting through the creamy saltiness.

A few days later......

Egg briyani. Briyani was kinda disappointing. Flavour was thin, unlike the robust savouriness from the rendition at Anjappar.

Mutton keema masala's actually delicious but I'm never getting it again because of all the chopped up bits of coriander. Too bad for me because I liked their creamy nutty masala.

Maggi goreng also pretty good. Default is non-merah. Today's fried egg has crusty edges unlike the previous time so now I know the type of egg we get is...a game of chance depending on who's frying them.

An undefined number of weeks later......

They introduced idli on the menu. Available only for breakfast so we came by to try. These were small and a little bit..."rubbery". Fermented rice flour flavour there at least.

Bananas for the banana appam apparently uses what's available, not a specific type. Bananas we got this time weren't the same as the ones from the last time. These paler yellow variety, whichever they may be, had a more flat flavour. Felt a little déjà vu-ish of the banana prata experience at Ya-Mahyuddin Al-Jailani.

A few months later......

Nasi goreng merah mutton keema like what we've had previously. This one was just so moreish.

Tried their double egg chilli prata. Basically a rendition of their double egg with slice chilli padi sparingly scattered in. These packed pretty substantial heat. 🔥

Our SG60 lunch at Wolfgang's Steakhouse

This happened on National Day......SG60 is a good reason as any to celebrate with a nice lunch at Wolfgang's Steakhouse.

Got ourselves shrimp cocktail again. Big assed and meaty.

The Taste of New York set for lunch included their dry aged sirloin with creamed spinach, mashed potatoes and cheesecake. Meat's not bad. Mashed potatoes were addictive and that creamed spinach was another kind of delicious. Loads of actual spinach flavour in all that butter (or cream?). I liked that their cheesecake was frills free and unloaded with all the extras that many cafes/restaurants tend to include to make up for their inadequacy.

Highlight of the lunch was Wolfgang's beef kut teh. Made for SG60 obviously, this was a rendition of bak kut teh that was made with USDA Prime Black Angus short rib. Only for August they said. Broth was beefy, garlicky and a little herbal. Not a bad remake of the original if I might say so. That 500g short rib was tender, meaty and substantial. The kitchen even offered chilli padi as option with the dark soya sauce. 

Too bad about the coconut ice cream. Did not like it.

Recently at Zhong Pin Noodle House (众品麵萬家)

Same bowl as the last time without char siew except that I did it today with sliced red chilli. I think it's as good in its own way - had a burn which the pickled green ones doesn't. Their fried lard (猪油渣) was just not great so it's as well that I didn't ask for extras today.

Re-visiting Lao Chen Ji (老陳記)

S'been a while since the last time. Oddly, not tasting much of that chilli today in the noodles.

The other one on the side you could help yourself with was also good though. They aren't the same are they?

Alice Boulangerie & Restaurant, Raffles City

Came across Alice Boulangerie & Restaurant (#1-22A Raffles City, 252 North Bridge Road, tel : +65 8083 5315) by chance and we were ushered in by an subtle yet not fully understood force while looking at the menu. They're French-y, not French with pretty attractive looking pastries/confectionary/breads, some food and drinks.

Grabbed a few items from the bakery...like the banana tart, a pistachio cream bun with a light and pistachio-y cream and a not too sweet nama matcha chocolate bun. All pretty good tasting.

That chocolate banana tart had layered sliced bananas, banana cream and chocolate ganache within the buttery pastry.

Pretty impressed with their lychee macchiato. Loved how the lychee paired with their espresso. Menu mentioned lychee jam.

Not bad tasting beer battered haddock. Tartare sauce is house made, could taste perhaps a hint of horseradish and capers in it. Mushy peas were bright tasting, redolent of green pea flavour.

Fish was pretty thick.

Didn't think much of their maple cinnamon latte though - latte's a little thin. Tasted like something I could make at home.

PST (Pizza Studio Tamaki), Tanjong Pagar Road

Pizza Studio Tamaki (38 Tanjong Pagar Road, tel : +65 8072 9512) is apparently a name in Tokyo known for their Japanese Neapolitan pizza. Never knew of them until recent months when the usual social media machinations cranked their gears for the hype train.

They have their fluff. Gemini mentions numerous accolades, including multiple listings on the Michelin Guide Japan's Bib Gourmand list in 2022 and 2023, four consecutive years on the Michelin Guide Japan list, and multiple wins in the 50 Top Pizza World and 50 Top Pizza Asia-Pacific awards as of 2024. And then, there's also their unique blend of flour, 30 hours aged dough and blah blah......

What's also alluded was that the chef behind it, Tsubasa Tamaki, was mentor to Eddie Murakami of Beyond The Dough, another Japanese Neapolitan joint that set up shop not that long ago here. Word out was that it was hard to get a table, but we managed a walk in.  

We were served complimentary cold potato onion soup.

Meatballs were not bad. Love the grind and that these weren't overly soft, draped with a fresh tasting tangy tomato sauce.

Our first pizza was their seasonal tomato kakigori pizza. That's right, kakigori and pizza. Never had them together before. This was awesome.

We were guided to spoon in the kakigori with basil, followed by a squeeze of lemon and a drizzle of olive oil. By slice. Flavour from the kakigori was intense tomato which formed a chilled layer over the warm cheesy pizza profiled with basil and olive oil. Like they also said, great for our weather. Nice! 👍🏼  

The other pizza we got was their Diavola. Did not look like how we imagined. Not spicy as well. But the olives and sausage flavoured it nicely.

Vanilla ice cream with olive oil.

They obliged our request for more olive oil. Nice. 

Espresso here was intense and bitter.