More spicy kuey teow 白 with vinegar from Authentic Teochew Tradition Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle (潮州传统香菇肉脞面)

Another breakfast at Authentic Teochew Tradition Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle. No more crazy and crazy slow queues because it's not the old guy cooking these days. The Chinese lady running the shop appears competent and responsive.

The question that came to mind was - were they seriously trying to get the old folks around here to eat these thick chunks of dried sole? 🫠

Hong Lim Curry Puff (芳林咖喱角), Alexandra Village Food Centre

Came across this stall (#01-53, Alexandra Village Food Centre, Blk 120 Bukit Merah Lane 1) and was curious because the Hong Lim curry puff stalls that I knew of were Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff and Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff Original. They're apparently the Halal branch of the former. Tried their yam puff. 

Crispy skin's a little bland and the hot yam paste filling were just lightly sweetened hot yam paste. Would prefer the paste to be a little sweeter. It's a decent pastry but also kinda forgettable.

Remembering Zhang Liang Mala Tang (张亮麻辣)

Has been a while since we last ate at Zhang Liang Mala Tang. I have over the past couple of years remembered them to be "nice" without actually recalling what exactly it was about them that's nice until I'm eating there. One of the "nice" things, is the generally better quality thin sliced beef.

We got a little greedy and ended up with one xiang guo and a tang.

Broth from their mala tang has a noticeable beefy flavour and was also creamier in comparison with say Gong Yuan Ma La Tang which has a thinner concoction.

106 Nasi Lemak, Alexandra Village Food Centre

Noticed 106 Nasi Lemak (#01-12, Alexandra Village Food Centre, Blk 120 Bukit Merah Lane 1) from a while back and finally got to try them. I liked that the coconut rice has sufficient taste from the coconut milk and was adequately salted for flavour. Sambal's not annoyingly sweet - just needs a smudge to add to the rice. There's a molten yolked egg and their fried chicken drumstick was not bad too. Decently done Chinese nasi lemak.

Mutton soup from Umar Ali Cafe

Recently tried the sup kambing from Umar Ali Cafe. Won't be comparing this with the one with Bahrakath Mutton Soup King. 😏 I think it's not a bad one here. It's not as thick as some others but they've gotten in adequate spices, heat and flavouring that made it pretty drinkable. Lamb bits were flavourful and arguably tender. Also, this has got to be the first time we've gotten toasted bread to go with the soup. Lightly crisp on the exterior and pillowy with some toastiness. Nice.

Casa Vostra, Jem

Casa Vostra has opened an outpost at Jem (#01-03 Jem, 50 Jurong Gateway Road) and it appears to have inherited the queue which is equally crazy as the original spot at Raffles City. We got there 15 minutes before opening and ended up spending about an hour in that queue.

There were some things on the menu that were only available here though.

Like their polpette alla fonduta featuring fried meatballs in Taleggio fondue. Great stinky cheese which we enjoyed - couldn't tell what meat the meatballs were made of after that though.

Aglio e olio's nice. It looked a lot spicer than it tasted because of red came from sun dried tomatoes. The one thing that this rendition differed from other aglio olio was the lack of garlic.

Pizza only available in this outpost included the 5 formaggi e pear. Found this very easy to like. I thought it needed a bit more of that pear compote for a more pronounced counter sweetness but I'm not complaining.

Another pizza only available here was their Amalfitana that's basically the seafood pie. Prawns, squid and clams. There was an option to top up extra prawns which we did. Profile's light tomato tanginess with clean thalassic flavour. Nice. Wish there were more clams though.

Just needed to end this with the triple espresso tonic after all the food.