And some from Café Iguana...

Nothing much to be said about the stuff here that I haven't already, especially when it's items on menu that I've had before. Just some random phone cam whoreography here.

The croissants that made me go wow......

The whispers of a not so little bird told me that Mirabelle Patisserie (27 Mackenzie Road, tel : +65 6238 6235) had good croissants and since it was located at an old haunt of mine, I decided to take a look. Took me three Saturdays of attempts before I managed to get my hands on the ham and cheese croissant. I tried thrice because I had managed by chance to get the regular ones on the first attempt and they were really good. Croissants are available easily here. Getting those that are crispy and buttery with enough grease for the moist innards without being overly heavy or soggy was another matter entirely and these ones from Mirabelle were just that. And as mentioned by the not so little bird, the ham and cheese version was really excellent value for the quality of ham and cheese that was used. The picture unfortunately does no justice to the taste of the pastry.

A breakfast uncommon......

Well, at least for me it is not the usual thing when I grab breakfast since all that grease and fat is really quite heavy even for the morning. Left me with a garlic breath for some time throughout the day. Roast chicken rice with roast pork would presumably be something that sounds like lunch or dinner for the most of us. This is one of the random stalls which featured the Channel U logos. I've never put much stock into those endorsements but this one was pretty decent.

Itacho Sushi, ION Orchard

I've been hearing quite a bit about Itacho Sushi (2 Orchard Turn, #B2-18 ION Orchard, tel : +65 6509 8911) which originated from Hong Kong from various people and decided to give them a try. Got some mixed feelings about the place because they were not quite there but yet I'm not ready to write them off. It did feel like a family restaurant but I think they've got more than what a family restaurant would serve. It's not exactly mid range as well. Prices were likewise somewhere in between, which means that it can get a little pricey, depending on what you order.

Mention worthy include the uni gunkans which were decent but I thought didn't match the value for the buck in comparison with Botan which costed the same. The anago on the sushi looked pretty impressive for a large but thin slice and the toro sashimi was also very edible. The latter wasn't really so much more affordable since the the individual pieces were quite small but the quality of the belly was surprisingly not bad at all. Aburi-ed items were a teaser as they lacked a fuller bodied scorch aroma. 

Didn't like the fish liver items. Wouldn't order again since they were in so tiny that they barely registered. The niku udon was nasty featuring not so thinly sliced meat that was overcooked to death. Udon wasn't as springy and had a mild starchy film. Definitely to be avoided. Service was also spotty as the waitresses barely understood English nor knew the Japanese names of the items on menu. There's an irony here since I'm not conversant in Japanese at all and I couldn't clarify if those items listed as dorsal fin sushi were engawa. They didn't seem to understand the word flounder and it took a while before someone could come up to clarify the items they had on menu which were in English. Sigh...... 

hotate sashimi

seared salmon with dill mayo?

some rolls with fish liver

the uni war ships

aburied hotate with fish liver

aburied wagyu, toro and engawa

anago sushi

pumpkin tempura

toro sashimi

niku udon

Tonkichi, Ngee Ann CIty

What I liked about Tonkichi (391 Orchard Road, #04-24 Ngee Ann City, tel : +65 6735 7522) from the first time a number of years back was the free flow of shredded cabbage and rice. Seems that the cabbage dressing now comes with seaweed which adds another depth of fragrance, albeit seaweed-y, to the already delicious sauce.

Noticed some promotional kurobuta items on the menu and I had thought that the minced cutlets with cheese looked appealing. In introspect, it wasn't bad with a fairly generous amount of gooey mozzarella in the meat; it was also something that I probably wouldn't be ordering again.

The braised pork option on the side was actually pretty delicious. It was a greasy medley of umami, sweetness and savoury packed into a chunk of soft fatty meat. While there are possibly better renditions of these braised pork bellies around, the ones here are pretty tasty.

Prawn noodles from Hiap Chiang Eating House

I had stumbed upon this little gem (Hiap Chiang Eating House, 215 Selegie Road, S188337) by chance in a really old school coffeeshop down at Selegie. This was just almost next door to Ananda Bhavan. A couple of notes grabbed my attention as I walked by; one being a bowl of that steaming prawn noodles on some else's table and the other, the fact that this place only has a single stall that serves only that.

In the shady refuge of this nondescript space in time of an old shophouse, I found myself a really heart warming bowl of prawn noodles. In a broth that was really moderated with the prawn flavor accented with pork lard (yum!) and fried shallots. And in them, sliced pork, halved prawns and smooth kuey teow. The flavors of the soup wasn't overwhelming rich, but it was definitely good in the sense that it was fragrant without being overbearing. In the timeless words of a certain governor, I'll be back.