Chicken curry with rice from 328 Katong Laksa at Tiong Bahru Plaza

I'm assuming that this (#02-111A Tiong Bahru Plaza, 302 Tiong Bahru Road) is the same 328 Katong Laksa as the stall at Queensway and this was an outpost. I recall not being very impressed with their curry the last time I had them compared to Janggut Laksa. That opinion hasn't changed much. Janggut is still my preferred choice. But I suppose this wasn't that bad an alternative.

Revisiting Dancing Fish Signature

A quick one on this revisit to Dancing Fish Signature.

I liked their mango kerabu. A green mango salad that was a few splashes of fish sauce and perhaps a spoonful of sugar away from a som tam mamuang.

Managed to try their gulai pucuk paku - a dish of fiddlehead fern shoots that was accompanied by a coconut laden gravy. Those ferns had a little green-y flavour and were delicious with the lemak gravy.

We had a tender eggplant, split down the middle with their sambal merah and hijau.

And some pretty tasty ayam panggang. It was a pretty decent grilled chicken. The caramelized kecap manis glaze in my opinion was what made the dish.

This time round, we got the nasi berempah kuning - a tasty spiced rice that was as delicious as it was expensive. So good that you could eat it on its own. So good that we had seconds.

Sumo-Ya (相扑屋), Pickering Street

We came across the mention of this place (#01-52 Nankin Row, 3 Pickering Street, tel : +65 6904 9116) from a friend and later on social media. After a little "research" online, we decided to give this local setup a go - reeled in by the pictures of their curry and their menu. It was only when we were there that we were informed that they don't do curry anymore. For good. I felt duped because nothing was mentioned on their social media which was obviously updated.

We were served a bowl of meatballs shortly after we had ordered. I had though it to be otoshi. The meatballs were of good quality, nicely done and had a tasty broth. It was only later that we realized that they were served to us by mistake and the restaurant had attempted to charge us for it quietly. Bad practice making your customers pay for your mistakes. 

The restaurant upsold us and we went along. This was some beef salad with goma dressing. The same type of goma dressing that you could purchase from supermarkets. The salad was quite nice by the virtue of that dressing.

Pictures I saw online of their barachirashi suggested that there were avocados in it. There wasn't any.  The fish was run of the mill, the usual suspects and were still very chilled. There wasn't any discernible vinegar in the rice as well so that probably puts this down to a kaisen don instead. Not exactly what I had in mind after seeing some glowing reviews online. Good thing I learnt never to trust most of them.

Their tori paitan ramen was a good effort. Pretty decent. It needed some improvement for the ajitama which didn't have any shoyu flavour and more firm noodles would have made this a competitive bowl. But I still couldn't get past being duped into coming down without the curry and being charged for food that I didn't order.

Hainan Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee (海南福建炒蝦麵), Golden Mile Food Centre

I've never been very big on Hokkien mee. Most of the stalls do the saucy ones which isn't my thing. I don't dislike them. Just don't find the majority of them eat-worthy. What I liked about Hainan Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee (#B1-34 Golden Mile Food Centre, 505 Beach Road) was that it wasn't saucy. That meant that there wasn't any of the reduced stock that thickened like gravy to coat the noodles. I think the stock was boiled off in the stir fry. Kinda like the plates churned up by Nam Sing at Old Airport Road FC. Not exactly as crustacean-y as the Serangoon Gardens stall at Redhill FC. Chilli was moderately spicy. Still rather tasty as a whole. There doesn't seem to be much of a difference between the $4 or $5 plate though. Both looked puny. 

Chee Cheong Fun Club, Maxwell Food Centre

Interesting name....Chee Cheong Fun Club (#01-38 Maxwell Food Centre, 1 Kadayanallur Street). The proprietress is from Malaysia and what the shop does is allegedly Malaysian styled chee cheong fun. I get the curry rendition which was quite delicious. I had been initially comparing them to the rich and viscous Peranakan variety that I grew up with but this wasn't that. Still tasty and a nice eat with the fried bean curd goods and meatball. Watch out for those crispy fried hae bi.

The one that I haven't tried before was the chee cheong fun with sesame sauce. It looked like caramel and tasted like peanut butter. More salty than sweet and quite nutty. Again, I was thinking that it might have been similar to Japanese goma dressing but this wasn't it. I liked this too. I'll come back another day to try their laksa ccf.

The Highland beef burger from Nekkid

I've never thought highly of the premium burgers by The Naked Finn. The fact that it didn't taste outstanding was exacerbated by the listing of what made them premium and a matching price tag. But we were looking for nice burgers out of town and not too far from where we were and we ended up at Nekkid (41 Malan Road). The Naked Finn before The Naked Finn.

The beef was a third pounder. Highland beef (Scottish I presume) from cows that were free ranged, hormone-free and grass fed for their entire life of three years if what I read was accurate.

Like their basic burger, it left me with the feeling that it was getting there but not quite there and hence not exactly worth what we paid for. What I did like was the coarse grind of the patty that tasted a little gristly. The meat had a bit of bite in them which I kinda enjoyed. The menu mentioned blue cheese sauce but I was really getting none of that there.