Starter Lab, Havelock Road

These guys (721 Havelock Road, tel : +65 9839 0408) from Bali. Barely two years old. Found some measure of success marketing their baker Emerson Manibo who can drop some names from his previous work. 

Nothing much noteworthy to be said about what he has done but plenty of duplicated references to where he's work at so it is that kind of "marketing". Reminded me much of how the education system in this country has been geared for the past decades entrenched into glossing over the branding of one's academia rather than what one has actually achieved.

But I took the bait.

That's the Starter Lab 3 Cheese. Maybe it's me and my soft upper palate but the sourdough has a crust that's too hard. That crusty hardness was exacerbated by the toasting and it didn't have any texture or flavour that was particularly endearing compared to the other sourdough. My personal and not so humble opinion is that it also needs more butter. But otherwise, pretty nice grilled cheese.

The most memorable sourdough I've had came from Belon. For bread, that was worth talking about - not this.

Mortadella on focaccia was not bad but I'd say the saving grace was the Mortadella.

Not that the focaccia was bad. It was hard and crusty just like their sourdough. Slicked with olive oil that didn't have much flavour. 

Their honeyed Mascarpone posh toast was the easiest to eat because it was single sliced bread. I'll also credit the toppings of honey and mascarpone which was delicious topped with walnuts and black sea salt. Not sure which were the bee pollen though. Failsafe charming flavours I'd say.

Ah Chiang's Porridge, Tiong Poh Road

I've heard about Ah Chiang's Porridge mentioned before and also had people asking me if I've tried it. I've never been much of a porridge person so it wasn't the thing I would do to hunt the place down. We happened to discover one of their branches (#01-38, 65 Tiong Poh Road, tel : +65 6557 0084) near where we were and we were looking for something not so heavy.....

That's the bowl with mixed offal with meat (猪什) and century egg. Offal consisted of intestines and liver. Not much ingredients for $7.50 which makes it a little pricey. Tasted okay.

Yu sheng (魚生) is not on menu anywhere on this island anymore. Politically correct speaking. At least not for the more traditional raw wolf herring type. Businesses have adapted. There's a kanpachi rendition around. Ah Chiang does theirs with fatty salmon. With the traditional toppings of sliced chilli, julienned ginger, chopped spring onions and then doused with some soy sauce and sesame oil. Single serving portions were kinda measly. But it was nice.

Some dough fritters to dip into the porridge. These were soft. Not even the slightest crisp. I prefer the soft ones with a light crisp like those they do at Old Street BKT.

We filled the vegetable quota for the evening with kailan (芥兰) stir fried with garlic. Nice crunch from the savoury leafy greens. This was pretty good. 

Calculations and the pastrami Reuben from Park Bench Deli

I'll never make a Reuben at home. I don't know where to get good/fresh pastrami and won't bother to pan fry even if I did. It's a drag to butter toast the rye and last I checked, I don't know how to make a Russian slaw. It is an effort in itself, not something I could lazily quickly assemble. And then that whole grain mustard and sliced Swiss cheese. I've resigned to paying for one when I want one. Speaking of which, I was hoping that at $24 (before tax) I could have gotten more pastrami in this one from Park Bench Deli.

It's actually pretty good. Balanced even that I could taste all the ingredients from the cheese to the mustard and the slaw and meat combination. Balanced that it had varying dimensions in each bite. That doesn't excuse it from being expensive. I've had one or two that could have beat this. I've had ones that were good enough and much less expensive. And had those that I shouldn't even be comparing to. As I've said, pretty good. Just wished that they were more generous with what's between the bread.

Muchachos, Frasers Tower

Been wanting to visit Muchachos (#01-01 Frasers Tower, 182 Cecil Street, tel : +65 6513 0215) since they were at Keong Saik and it never happened. Now they're just across the street from Amoy Food Centre. These guys are open on public holidays. I'm thinking that they've got their hearts and minds in the right place.

Their breakfast burrito was not bad. You know - the scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, hash brown, cheese and sour cream in a package of comfort kind of not bad? We also got the burrito with tongue as well, sans salsa because their salsa has cilantro. Too bad for me because I'm sure that salsa would have made the burrito tastier.

Eng's Wantan Noodle, Tiong Bahru Plaza

Never had Eng's wanton noodles before. Never been much of a fan of local wanton noodles in the first place, so there. These guys were just newly opened up at the basement of Tiong Bahru Plaza (#B1-140, 302 Tiong Bahru Road) so I decided to give them a try. I've read briefly about some of the family business drama that the branding has gone through. From what I understood this particular Eng's Wantan Noodle shop is currently part of a chain run by Lau Huo Tang Group and there's another one call Eng’s Char Siew Wantan Mee operated by the son of the originator of the brand.

The texture of the noodles were a little thicker than what I had been expecting. Because of the thickness and probably the skills (or lack of) of the people cooking, there's no enjoyable wiry chew like those from say Zhong Yu Yuan Wei to be found here. Didn't have the flavour that made Wanton Seng's noodles endearing too.

Char siew looked old school, red dyed and dry like those from my childhood. Not getting a hit of nostalgia though because I've never really liked them. There was fried lard which one could help themselves with which had surprisingly little flavour. The pickled green chilli was not bad and the red one was pretty spicy. Didn't think much of the thick skin of the wantons.

Full of Luck Restaurant, Holland Village

Food's not bad but service left much to be desired. The person processing our bill didn't bother to apply the 15% credit card discount even though it was advertised. We didn't pursue. 

Same guy who did our bill refused to budge when we asked him what was in the matcha cocktail. Only insisted that there was green tea and alcohol and a bunch of spices. Very disappointing considering that these guys were run by Li Bai. I'm not begrudging that he didn't know. I hold against them the fact that he didn't know and insistently refused something as simple as to ask.

Like I mentioned earlier food's not bad. Enjoyed the light crisp from the spinach egg tofu in its conpoy stock.

They have fish noodles too. Kinda similar to the one we had at Li Bai. I thought Li Bai's tasted a little better in both flavour and texture.

Stuffed prawn paste wings weren't good at all. There was barely any prawn paste flavour. That's the ultimate sin with prawn paste whatevers. The other thing I couldn't get past was the meat stuffings which tasted like the mash that used in cheap siew mai. These wings tasted cheap.

I liked their truffle moonlight hor fun more than I thought. I guess their black pepper sauce worked and the beef was tender because of the quality, not the tenderizer. Didn't mind the least that there wasn't much of that truffle flavour.

These were their honey glazed char siew which they placed under their "must try" section. Torched with sugar. Didn't taste bad but the meat's a little too hard. Definitely had better.

Interesting dessert of black rice (like those in pulut hitam) with coconut cream and mango. The mango they used were of the crunchier and less ripe variety like those used in som tam. That paired up surprisingly well with the mango cutting through the richness of the coconut and lending a citrus aroma.

That's the osmanthus raindrop cake. Not so much a cake than a globule of jelly with kuromitsu and kinako.