Rumah Makan Minang, Kandahar Street

Wow, this (18 & 18A Kandahar Street, tel: + 65 6294 4805) was another great find located right behind Sultan Mosque. I've no idea how long this place has been around since I don't often wander into this vicinity, but I think I will be heading back again pretty soon for their great nasi padang. What was good here? Let's see....there was a good telur dadar (chilli filled omelette), crispy chewy paru goreng, a delicious squid in squid ink stew and mackerel in a coconut gravy. Sweet shaven coconut toppings for the rice? Checked as well.

This shop had a bit more going on in terms of variety than Sabar Menanti right down the corridor. It seemed that they're related by extended family. It's going to be difficult to determine which one of them I would like better since the both of them has so much that looked good that I was really spoilt for choice. But for now, this place is calling me back.

Loo's Hainanese Curry Rice, Tiong Bahru

The flavours here (Blk 57 Eng Hoon Street, #01-88 Tai Kwang Huat Coffee Shop) were a trip down memory lane for me even though my hazy memory told me that it used to taste much better in the past. There's a number of these Hainanese curry rice joints over the island and most of them couldn't capture the memories of what I had when I was young. 

This particular stall probably came closest because of their pork chops which had a batter that was different from what's being sold in other places. I believe it includes the use of biscuit crumbs and that these pork chops weren't sliver thin. Which was how I remember them as a kid. Was this the best representative of Hainanese curry rice? I couldn't say, but I think it's pretty good. Love the over simmered eggs that were packed with the flavour of the dark sauce they've been in. The simmered cabbages weren't as nice as I remember them though. Sure didn't beat Tai Dong at that.

Lontong goreng from Mas-Ayu Restaurant

This lontong goreng from Mas-Ayu (55 Upper East Coast Road, tel : +65 6449 2844) was not what I had in mind initially when I had first heard of the dish. I was imagining that it would be literally stir fried lontong with the vegetables and possibly a dried out the sayur lodeh gravy from the stir frying. Instead, it looked like Chinese chai tau kuey and it was basically stir fried ketupat with eggs and fried chicken in a sweet and savoury sauce. Sans the garlic-ky flavours.

The taste of this greasy stir fried dish wasn't as intense as radish cake. Aside from the mentioned lack of garlic and char aroma, it did taste like chai tau kuey. Which made for a pretty decent comfort food item that I wouldn't mind eating again. I think it would have been great if it were spicier.

Donna Carmela, Greenwood Avenue

So I've heard that this place (2 Greenwood Avenue, Hillcrest Park, tel : +65 6463 4206) is essentially run by the people that used to do Mama Lucia, which would explain the similar theme of having both Italian food and churrascaria under the same roof. The dinner had started off quite promising with their rich and creamy burrata cheese that was topped off with truffle oil and some shaven black summer truffles. They had both of them mutually accentuated the flavours of each other resulting in a heady and creamy concoction.

Their Gorgonzola risotto was pretty disappointing as I was expecting unadulterated pungent flavour coming from such a straight forward dish. While it tasted cheesy, it wasn't stinky from the blue cheese and it was actually saved by the serving of grated cheese and pepper on the side. For $28, I thought that one could be much more generous with the Gorgonzola. Sigh......

This was the bombette which were strips of tenderloin rolled with Scarmoza cheese and then probably pan roasted. The result were tubes of flat salty medium rare meat which I thought was something more suited in their churrascaria offerings rather than the Italian menu. While it wasn't bad tasting, it didn't come across as spectacular. And tad overpriced.

We picked the white profiteroles (the other option was black) for dessert. Choux pastry turned out to be blanketed under a thick coat of cream which tasted suspiciously like melted marshmallows. The pastry underneath which was a little soggy and housed a rich chocolate cream in the middle. I actually liked this even though it was a little sweeter than my usual preferences.

Gindara teriyaki and others from Chikuwa Tei...

I've been craving for grilled teriyaiki cod of late and remembered that it used to be pretty good down at the old Wasabi Tei. So this was the update of what they used to do down in Chikuwa Tei these days. Things didn't change very much for that. It still appeared as burnt as I remember them, but I think they might have overdone it a little this time round. The application of the sauce was a little sparse this time round but the meat was still pretty juicy and oily. The skin was remarkably crispy even though it was a little bitter from all that char.


Grilled cod wasn't bad but it didn't quite satisfy my craving.


Meanwhile, we had a bunch of other items on the side which included some pretty juicy and breaded deep fried kaki, their signature laden chawanmushi and an ugly looking favourite of mine, ankimo. The creamy textured fish liver drenched in ponzu and flavoured with scallions were nicely chilled and tasted exceptional this time round. Good stuff.

Tong Kee Chicken Rice (東記雞飯), Commonwealth Drive Food Centre

I've been eating from this chicken rice stall (Commonwealth Drive Food Centre or is it Tanglin Halt Food Centre?, #01-25) a number of times over the past months this year and it was only not too long back that I realised that they only do roasted chicken. To be more accurate, there wasn't any boiled/steamed chicken to be had. Talk about being oblivious. The initial impression was that it was pretty decent and the portions were generous. It wasn't fancy and didn't have anything in particular that was outstanding but it served well as a generic chicken rice option that wasn't the least shabby. There was also the option of roast pork belly to be had too. If I might add, their sweet sauce which they use for their roast pork and eggs was good. It was all fine here until Sin Kee which had pretty much ruined most of the other options out there for me.