Legendary Hong Kong, Rochester Commons

I've been wanting to try Legendary Hong Kong for a while but never made it because Jurong Point. This new setup at Rochester (Rochester Commons, 10A Rochester Park) was a lot more convenient. 

Had hot ginger lemon Coke. Just a decent rendition I supposed. We've had better.

Was pleasantly surprised by their mixed braised beef which featured brisket, tripe and tendon. Briskets were more tender than I had thought. While it wasn't the standards of what we used to get in Hong Kong but it appeared to be better than many local takes.

Not bad corned beef, spring onion and egg sandwich.

Quite surprised by how much I enjoyed their roast pork and char siew. They looked ordinary and the char siew lacked the burnt ends I was hoping for. Pretty glad that they were both not bad tasting at all. Those thick cuts of roast pork belly belied how tender they actually were. 

Nicely done pan fried yam cake full of chunky bits of yam.

I had initially thought their fried cod to be boring but it turned out delicious. One could taste the flavour of the cod from each chunk which had a good crisp on the surface and not oil logged.

Unfortunately their yang zhou fried rice didn't do it for me. The rice was dry and a little bland. Such a pity since they had pretty decent ingredients. There're a couple of local versions from eateries like Claypot & Cooked Food Kitchen and See Sean Rice Stall which fries a superior plate.

An interlude with their Green Monster beer before the green vegetables. Pretty sure they got this from that microbrewery nearby which used to be called Beerfest.

Sautéed spinach with fermented bean curd was pretty enjoyable. It was saucier than the one from Tsui Wah which had a more viscous fermented bean curd sauce, but the sauce distribution here was more even.

I liked their soya sauce stir fried noodles. This was clearly much better tasting and less oily than the one from Crystal Jade Hong Kong Kitchen. 

French toast with peanut butter was pretty greasy.

In this place, we've also found the competitor that gave Tsui Wah's crispy condense milk toast a run for their dollars. This was soaked with sufficient butter and sweetness from a pretty generous coat of condense milk. Yes it was crispy at the edges too.

Tomato gyu ramen from Menya Kokoro

The picture on the menu at Menya Kokoro led me to believe that the tomato broth for their tomato gyu ramen was thicker. I was a little disappointed. Just a little because I had kept expectations low. Didn't taste bad but it wasn't what I was hoping for. Also not a fan of their noodles so here's a first and a last. I'll stick to their mazesoba. 

Masala tea from M. Mohd Gani Cafe

We adjourned to Ayer Rajah Food Centre a short walk away and got ourselves masala tea after the noodles at Ah Hoe (Stall #51 Ayer Rajah Food Centre, 503 West Coast Drive). Pretty enjoyable cup. There's a strong cardamom flavour in this one and a layer of the gingery warmth beneath, amidst the other spices which were less dominant. Milky but not too creamy.

Ah Hoe Mee Pok (阿和麺薄), West Coast Drive

Back in the first time I ate at Ah Hoe Mee Pok at their Clementi West stall, it was already helmed by Naoji Kuribara - who had picked up his skills from an Eric Chia who was the original owner. Naoji-san has since graduated into Li Yuan Mee Pok which has a few branches out there. He doesn't seem to be around anymore. And Eric is back with Ah Hoe Mee Pok at a new location (501 West Coast Drive).

So Li Yuan has those fusion mee pok bowls while Ah Hoe doesn't. I've never had the signature bowl or tried anything from Eric so that's what this was about. I hear that he's also the man behind Guan's Mee Pok and Lau Gu Ban.

Yeah, that's Eric.

Not bad mee pok. The texture was firm but not chewy and it is also obvious that these aren't the regular factory variety one finds in run of the mill mee pok stalls. These are...better. There's a bit more heft to them and they look like they soak up the sauce well. A sauce that was spicy, savoury, tangy and a bit lardy.

I ordered the $10 signature bowl. Came with a bowl laden with ingredients like sliced pork, minced pork, cabbage, fish cake, fish dumplings and two pretty large prawns. Love the fish dumplings. The soup wasn't intense but had a nice porcine/cabbage-y savoury sweetness.

Those two prawns which were cooked on order were meaty and sweet. So plump they were that there was even a thin layer of "face meat" beneath the shell on the head along with the tomalley which you could suck out. I normally avoid getting prawns that I need to de-shell but these were worth it.

Pandan durian roll from Chalk Farm

We've gotten cakes from Chalk Farm (#B1-K5/6 Paragon, 290 Orchard Road, tel : +65 6235 2872) on multiple occasions. Pretty pricy but admittedly pretty good quality as well. Love their kueh salat and durian salat. Picked up this pandan durian roll recently. Pretty big assed Swiss roll. Not bad tasting as well. If you ate the individual component of the cake, you'd get a nice pandan flavour from the cake and durian infusion in the middle cream. The outer layer cream with the coconut doesn't have durian flavour.

Shakey's Pizza, Lucky Plaza

I remember Shakey's vaguely from many years ago. I don't recall if I've ever had them and I was curious. There's just one setup at the Asian Food Mall at Lucky Plaza (B1-38 Lucky Plaza, 304 Orchard Road). Prices are a bit high methinks. That's their Friday Special featuring shrimps, anchovies and mushrooms on a thin crust. It tasted like how it looked. Not bad actually and it was light. I didn't feel like paying more than a few bucks extra for the "hand tossed" crust.

They do fried chicken too. Without deep diving into details, I think these gives Jollibee next door a run for their money with the flavourful crisp skin and moist tenderness. But I'd still eat at Jollibee for their spicy chickens. There's these stuff call mojos here - sliced fried potatoes which were surprisingly tender that I wondered if it was reconstituted.