Duotou clams season is back at Putien

The Duotou clams are back at Putien. They even have a cute mascot this time. Along with an update to the menu that included, IIRC, around 20 new dishes. From what we learnt from the restaurant, the clams are referred to as 哆头蛏 or just 蛏 (chēng).

This braised home made tofu was one of the new dishes. Liked the spongy texture with the bean flavour which has soaked even more flavour from the braising sauce.

Stir fried kailan and beancurd skin was from the old menu. Had this previously.

Another new dish on menu was claypot chicken in Chinese red wine lees (红糟). I'm a little surprised that a dish with these red wine lees haven't been available here earlier when places like Xing Hua have already done so. Anyways, this was pretty good. Chicken was tender in a delicious gravy that was superb pairing with rice. Those black stuff are wood ear fungus.

One of the dishes from the current 蛏 season were said clams stir fried in dried chilli and garlic. Savoury and a bit spicy. I realized for the first time that these dried chillis can be eaten. Nice.

More 蛏 in omelette and mushrooms which allowed the flavour of the clams to be showcased.

Can't be doing all these flavourful dishes without rice.

Bruno's Bistrot, Telok Kurau

Bruno's Bistrot (201 Telok Kurau Rd, #01-06, tel : +65 6346 3970) was a mixed bag. They're part of Bruno's Pizzeria & Grill which has been around for at least a decade. Place looked kinda old school Italian (think Pete's Place). Not remarkable at a glance and definitely more homely than fancy. 

To layer on to their brand rustic charm, there's escargot and beef tartare on the menu which was neither common nor something one generally expects to find in an Italian restaurant. Right? Then again they're a bistrot so erm....French? Wait there's more. The bistrot actually serves an Italian brew on tap that's not Peroni.

Can't decide if this was a Marc Spector or Steven Grant. We did land ourselves some gems from their food though. 

But first, a #megapint of beer! 😂

Bread's was baguette. Not an outstanding one but serviceable when you're hungry and as a mop for sauces. Feels French but it came with olive oil and vinegar, not butter.

Tomato soup's not bad. Piping hot and tomato-y. Not something that I order much of if at all but I didn't regret this. I'm just wondering if those thin drizzles of cream did anything at all for the soup.

The price of the foie gras was a little on the high side but we went with it anyway. When it arrived, we understood why they charged what they did. There's more of the foie than any single serving portion I've had.

Not bad at all with the bread and prune compote. 

We came here for the riz de veau - veal sweetbread. This one was pan fried with onions and topped with a delicious morel cream sauce. Spaghetti on the side with shaven Parmigiano Reggiano? So good and I'm gonna just leave it at that. I haven't had sweetbreads in such generous portions since the salad at Brasserie Gavroche. Or perhaps the one at Bouchon too.

Tartare de boeuf's tangy, sweet and just a tiny bit spicy. It's a little wetter than others we've had before but not a biggie. Still enjoyed it. Definitely French here. The fries tasted like "Cajun fries" instead of just French fried potatoes. Hmmm... 

Menu mentioned that their tiramisu was made with rum. I could taste the alcohol in it but couldn't tell what kind it was. Lady's fingers were a little dry and the mascarpone had more cream than cheese. Didn't taste bad but I wouldn't get it again.

Affogato's decent. Not to nitpick here but I prefer them in coffee cups than martini glasses. Heh!

Dark Kamakura beer, burrata and katsuo soba at Healthy Soba IKI

I've seen the selection of Kamakura beers at Healthy Soba IKI (一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八, 九, 十, 十一, 十二, 十三, 十四, 十五) but haven't tried any of them until today when I got a bottle of a dark brew on their recommendation. A dryish moderated hoppy bitterness which kinda felt a like a balanced ale. Smooth drinking but nothing in particular stood out. 

Burrata seemed to have made it as a pretty regular off menu item. We got the one with Kampot pepper this time. The flavour of the pepper was sharp and distinct paired with proper salting and a nutty fragrance from the toasted buckwheat on the milky cheese and fruity olive oil. Don't you already want this?

The current seasonal/limited soba comes with slices katsuo - skipjack tuna. I read that they were the kings of the Japanese culinary world before the current reigning maguro, especially hon maguro. Meat's a bit fishier which I never found issue with for katsuo. The soba came with lime so the flavour profile was a citrus dashi kind of thing.

Not forgetting the trusty sidekick of shirasu avocado mini don.

Texas Chicken, Star Vista

Felt like having fried chicken from Texas Chicken (B1-13 The Star Vista, 1 Vista Exchange Green) for some reasons so we ended up at this branch. I recall eating their fried chicken many years ago and having the impression that they were "nice" but what we had felt a little lacklustre today. It wasn't bad fried chicken in any way, just wasn't memorable...compared to those from say Jollibee. What I unexpectedly liked though were their tender honey butter biscuits. Light, sweet and savoury in a crispy package.

Jian Bo's chwee kueh at Toa Payoh

First time trying Jian Bo's chwee kueh outside of their original stall at Tiong Bahru. This was from their shop along Food Alley at Toa Payoh (#01-514, 190 Lor 6 Toa Payoh) where Xi'an Famous Food and Kopifellas are located. I don't know how the food arrangement of branches work but this didn't taste like the ones from the main stall. Can't pinpoint specifics but they just didn't seem to be as nice.

Machan's Kitchen, Race Course Road

Machan's Kitchen (74 Race Course Road, tel : +65 6291 2526) has a much more vibrant vibe than the other Indian restaurants along the stretch. One could barely tell that they served Indian food from the decor compared to most if not all of the more "obvious" looking neighbours.

Papadams. You know what they are.

They served a much appreciated well chilled lassi which was a sweet sweet reprieve from the sweltering heat.

The menu's kinda confusing. We ordered this by pointing to a picture and the server explained it was their semi cooked egg which according to the menu has masala. This one was tender and creamy and had nothing much but salt and pepper - which according to the menu is just a plain omelette. I love this 3000.

Tried their gooseberry pepper soup. Spicy and pretty tart. The sourness felt less rounded than say tamarind. The texture of the gooseberries in the soup felt like slightly crunchy potatoes and didn't taste like gooseberry as I knew of them. Not sour at all.

Was intrigued by their betel leaf garlic rice. Which was a spiced basmati rice very much like a briyani with their melange of flavour and soft cloves of garlic. There were some leaves which I presumed to be the betel leaves but I couldn't definitively identify their specific flavour amid all the others.     

Their mango fish curry had good quality fish - I think mackerel. Portions of the fish were sadly dismal. Curry was pretty tangy and packed a lot more spice than I had seen coming. The initial heat ramped up from a low burn to something sweat inducing pretty quickly. Wasn't something that was immediately in your face but took some seconds before the potency hit you.

That's something they called banana thosai...an appetizer that arrived after any appetizing was needed. Tasted like a banana pancake and served piping hot. Nice. Bananas tasted like pisang raja.

Dessert was pearl millet halwa which was served hot. Texture was like a pudding or a very tender tapioca kueh. I liked this much. Reminded me of kesari bath minus the saffron. The ghee in it helped.

Creamy masala tea which had a more dominant cardamom flavour.

Some mukhwas to freshen the breath after the meal.