Astons Specialities, Clarke Quay Central

Hadn't realised that there is an Astons Specialities at Clarke Quay Central (#03-85 Clarke Quay Central, 6 Eu Tong Sen Street, tel : +65 6222 3987) until now. This place is pretty nostalgic. Used to be the new kid on the block back then. I remember them for leveling up affordable steaks and introducing accessibly priced wagyu when wagyu was too rich for the blood of most of us.

And also the naturally and artificially flavoured D Nutrigraded IBC which we actually like. I don't remember if I've ever had IBC anywhere else except Astons. 

There's some limited time chocolate crumble fries for Christmas. Drizzled with chocolate hazelnut (is that Nutella?) and some crispy granola/cereal thingys. Much larger portions that I imagined and with the load of sugar, fat and carbs; unhealthy is a suitable adjective for some of us. Not forgetting delicious. 👍🏼😏 

Their entry prime ribeye tasted like how they did from back in their early days. Decent quality and affordable still but prices have understandably gone up through the years. 

M&T, Guoco Tower

I've been curious about M&T(#01-12 Guoco Tower, 5 Wallich Street, tel : +65 8948 9242). I've mixed feelings about the food. What we had felt like it came from a kitchen that's been given instructions/recipes to cook rather than being one that has experience with French food.

Goat cheese salad was not bad. Properly tossed, sweet cherry tomatoes and all. My gripe was that the goat cheese tasted weak.

There's a croque au bleu which is a croque monsieur made with Comté and Fourme d'Ambert. The lack of punch (from the lack of quantity) from the latter was kinda disappointing.

Grassfed beef burger with Fourme d'Ambert was also disappointing. Patty's kinda dense, lean and was not particularly beefy tasting. Fries were mostly hollow...like they're shells of actual fries. 

Not much of the Fourme d'Ambert in it as well. We've had better French blue cheese burgers.

108 The Nasi Lemak Shop, Tanjong Pagar Plaza

Noticed 108 The Nasi Lemak Shop previously when I was having Nanyang Fried Chicken Rice at Hong Lim Food Centre. Seems like they've relocated to Tanjong Pagar (#02-04, 1 Tanjong Pagar Plaza, tel : +65 8455 2458). Their nasi lemak is the Malaysian style that's been trending in the past half decade or so. 

Looked just like any other nasi lemak ayam berempah with that sweet onion-y and ikan bilis infused sambal. Oil management was...no good. The oil in fryer looked dark from all the frying and the batter on the chicken held on to more grease than is ideal.

Chicken's meaty and well marinated with turmeric.

Begerdil looked/tasted like it was potato puree than mashed potato.

Not impressed. I'd rather Oriental Kopi's or Uptown Nasi Lemak for Malaysian nasi lemak. Or Ponggol Nasi Lemak which I much rather prefer if we're bringing the local renditions into the picture.

Sing Swee Kee (新瑞记), Seah Street

Sing Swee Kee (34-35 Seah Street, tel : +65 6337 7180) is part of the legacy of an old chicken rice institution, Swee Kee, that I'm not familiar with. It's kinda related to Swee Kee along the same road that was previously known as Sin Swee Kee.

Like that shop formerly known as Sin Swee Kee and other chicken rice shops like Boon Tong Kee or Chin Chin & YY Kafei Dian in the vicinity, they serve both chicken rice and zi char.

Their luo han guo longan drink was diluted. Note to self: never get it again.

They have an option for half poached and fried for their half chicken. Decent tasting chooks. I prefer the poached one over the roast/fried one.

There's chicken rice balls too. Something I haven't had since Good Year. Wow, it's been a decade since.

Not bad tasting. The balls were packed densely and well flavoured. This one falls into the category where it's good with or without the chilli. Chilli's not bad by the way. 

This dish was called Hainanese vegetable (海南杂菜). Which was essentially chap chye. Their rendition had fried pork lard and was flavoured with large dried shrimps. Taste was pretty good but I found the cabbage too crunchy. I like my chap chye tender.

Egg and tau kwa. The latter had chewy skin.

This was their chicken collagen broth with fish maw (胶原蛋白鱼漂上汤). The chicken meat inside was stringy and didn't feel like part of the soup. Fish maw's okay. The soup though, was nice.

Kopi c was not bad. Not bad meaning that I enjoyed it and will have no qualms ordering it again if I come back. Decently brewed Hainanese coffee here that wasn't excessively sweet or milky.

Christmas 2025 breakfast at Saravanaa Bhavan

Yet another breakfast at Saravanaa Bhavan. They appear to be more crowded then usual on Christmas morning.

More mysterious creamy stuff.

This time they're idly. That dried chilli on the side - I think the name's mor milagai. That's pretty potent with the heat and salt.

Ghee roast - thin, crispy and buttery.

Kinmedai from Grilled Fish Keisuke

Back at Grilled Fish Keisuke for the kinmedai.

Kinda like how I imagined it to be with that firm flakiness that's a little prawny.

Quite a bit of bones to navigate though.