Back at Ming Kee Chicken Rice (明记鸡饭)

Been a long time since I last had chicken rice at Ming Kee (Kim San Leng Coffee Shop, #01-522, 511 Bishan Steet 13). Taste was like I remembered it. Great flavouring in the rice, tender chilled chicken, a nice burn from their chilli and fragrant dark soy sauce. But otherwise I'm getting the distinct impression that the single serving portion was noticeably smaller than in the past. Pretty sure of it. Seems like they've also done away with the plastic utensils.

Dishonesty and wastages at McDonald's

This was a random McGriddle I got because it's back on the menu. I've posted enough about them and wasn't intending to until the order mistake happened again and that kinda triggered me to just say something here about the prevalence of dishonesty and wastage at McDonald's. 

I'm pretty sure that whatever it is I wanted to talk about, doesn't just happen to me and it happens often.

In short, my McGriddle was processed incorrectly and I got a McMuffin. I wasn't paying attention at the unwrap and never realised until I took a bite of the McMuffin. After the exchange was done, I insisted that I'll keep the McMuffin with the bite and they insisted it was company policy and dumped it. Sounds familiar? I'm imagining that there'd be loads incorrect orders and wasted food by McDonalds every month.

Oh, the dishonesty part. The queue numbers for preparation and serving are time coded to meet KPIs. A large part of their KPIs for service are never met. They're just recorded as met for reporting purposes and that's why you sometimes never get your orders even though it shows that it's ready. It's ready as a record, just not for you.

Back at 928 Yishun Laksa after years...

It's been years since I had this. Tasted the same as I remembered. But I realised something which hasn't occured to me in the past even though I must have noticed it. The amount of crab stick in each bowl isn't even enough to make one crab stick.

Torasho Ramen & Charcoal Bar, Tras Street

We've been wanting to try Torasho Ramen & Charcoal Bar (32 Tras Street, tel : +65 6970 5055) for quite a while.

Finally got to do so recently. Food can be pretty pricey. Decent tasting but I wouldn't say it's great value for money.

These were their uni pillow. Sea urchin on seaweed topped with shiso flower. Each piece is...a little smaller than a one biter. Maybe 66-75% of a bite for me. Decent quality but wayyyy too small for $18 a pop.

Mapo ramen spiciness level 3. Heat packed much more punch than I imagined and I was glad we didn't shoot for a higher level. This was presumably the Japanese Chinese mapo gravy and didn't have much of the fermented bean flavour compared to the Chinese renditions. Not bad tasting as a whole but I'm not big on the texture of the noodles.

Tried their cold stupid ramen. In retrospect, I felt stupid paying $69 paying for this bowl which has a pretty predictable flavour profile of truffle oil and ikura that's kinda pervasive these days. Was the quality of this bowl exceptional? I did not think so. Seafood quality's decent and that's about all the good I could think of from it. Will never happen again.

The Teochew Kitchenette, Keong Saik Road

Came across this branch of The Teochew Kitchenette (26 Keong Saik Road, tel  : +65 8338 7106) by chance.

Okay-ish claypot fish maw soup. The broth was a base from bak kut teh so it was slightly herbal and garlicky. Despite that base, I'm pretty sure this wasn't meant to represent the classic bak kut teh which is generally more intense and peppery.

Not bad tasting red grouper white bee hoon. Don't mind coming back for this.

Love their hae cho (deep fried prawn rolls)...these deliciously savoury weren't oily at all and had a good amount minced prawn inside the golden brown exterior that was dry and crisp. Will definitely get these again if we come back.

Bangalore Cafe, Syed Alwi Road

We've only noticed Bangalore Cafe (80 Syed Alwi Road, tel : +65 9011 6000) in the recent couple of months on our way to Murugan Idli Veg. Restaurant. Pretty sure they're quite new to the area. Decided to come try their food because I spied rava idli on their menu - something that Murugan Idli doesn't even do.

They've pretty competent freshly fried vada/vadai which has a peppery fragrance from the peppercorns inside. No qualms coming back for these again. Their sambar is oddly a little sweet. Coconut chutney is slightly gingery.

This was a risk I felt like I needed/wanted to take - a coriander filled rava idli. 🤘🏼 Remember me just mentioning that I spied it on their menu? 

This was the third place we've had rava idli; the first was MTR at Serangoon Road and the other was MTR at Brickfields at Kuala Lumpur. And happily like both previous locations, the bits of coriander has had most of their flavour steamed out to the point that I could enjoy the rice cakes; rice cakes that were infused with ghee. 😬

Mangalore buns - just like those we had from Kalam Restaurant and MTR 1924. I noticed cumin in these.

One week later.......

Came back the following week and had their cheese masala dosa. It appeared to be a little greasy but still pretty good tasting with the cheese adding their salty sharpness to the curried potato fillings in the ghee laced pancake. Nice. 

Masala chai was good the first time we were here. Not overly milky and a great balance of creaminess, sweet and flavour from the tea. On our second visit, the tea was quite different. Too much milk and a little weak with the tea flavour. So I'm guessing they aren't consistent