Asparagus juice in Taipei

I saw this and decided that I was curious enough to try. There's definitely asparagus in it - and also something sour-ish which I couldn't identify. Overall, was sweet and tasted like a mix of asparagus and water chestnut drink. Do people here actually like this enough for it to become a product?

Family Mart stuff in Taipei

Here's some of stuff we had gotten from Family Mart over the past week. First up was this brand of papaya milk where the flavour reminded me specifically of those Hawaiian papaya with creamy yellow flesh.

Chocolate and cream cheese sandwich. It was what it was.

Pistachio flavour's present for sure but I was hoping that it'd be a bit stronger.

The tea eggs were pretty good tasting. I've had more of these in the past week+ than I normally do in a year usually.

Not nice. Apple jam thingy wasn't particularly apple like.

Pretty sweet, had plenty of watermelon flavour but couldn't taste much of tea. Not good.

Has pineapple flavour. Interesting but won't be getting again.

We spent a while trying to figure the flavour out. It tasted like a mala broth minus the heat. Flavours unusual for sure but couldn't quite reconcile that with stinky tofu. Wouldn't get it again.

Sparking yuzu coffee. I had initially thought it was just sparking yuzu. Not bad. If they had used a stronger espresso, it would have rocked. 

Coffee's sour but I was thirsty and the fizz made it better. I don't mind drinking this again.

Cinta Hainanese Chicken Rice, Sg Hawker @ Changi Terminal 1

Pleasantly surprised by the quality the of the chicken rice from SG Hawker at the transit area of Changi T1. The chicken was tender, chilled and even had a layer of jelly beneath the skin. Not to mention a solid lime-y chilli to go with the rice. 

Re-visiting Alice Boulangerie @ Icon Village

Quick one from Alice Boulangerie.

Basque bleu cheese tart. 😬

Not as melty as I imagined but the blue cheese flavour was a superb blend with the creamy sweetness and the buttery pastry without being overpowering. 👍🏼 

Nicely done Paris Brest. Choux pastry was a little denser than I imagined though.

Not bad hōjicha cream latte.

Couldn't get past the orange Americano. 😬 While there are probably a few renditions of this drink around, this one was I suppose, a bit more......indulgent. That coming from the orangey sweet creaminess. 

Pin Sheng Chicken Rice (品勝滑雞飯), Bukit Merah Central Food Centre

Finally got to try Pin Sheng Chicken Rice (#02-51 Bukit Merah Central Food Centre, 163 Bukit Merah Central). If you didn't know what the fuss was about with this stall, word was that the proprietor used to be the head chef at Boon Tong Kee.

All drumsticks today. Meat's exceptional. Smooth and easily slurped off the bone. Reminded me of the chicken from Margaret Drive Chicken Rice. That one that used to be call Sin Kee. 

Tried their char siew and they turned out not bad. They don't look the nicest and it's definitely not the well caramelised and glazed variety that many prefer. This one was unassumingly tender with a light smoky sweet sauce.

Rice was darker than most. Portion feels a little small. Not bad tasting. Fantastic with their lime-y garlicky chilli sauce.

Will come back.

Koo Kee (高記), Tiong Bahru Plaza

Koo Kee has relocated from the food court upstairs to the basement of Tiong Bahru Plaza (#B1-136 Tiong Bahru Plaza, 302 Tiong Bahru Road). I haven't eaten much of their stuff for years because they're kinda like the fast food of yong tau foo. What bugged me mostly were the portions for what they charged.

To be fair, they don't taste bad.

The Koo Kee set's actually not bad. You know...with the chilli and bean sauce and all. They were out of kang kong today so they gave me xiao bai cai. Noodles portions were/are kinda small. That hasn't changed from what I remember. What might have changed was that I remember them tasting more flavourful.

What's also nice imo, is their laksa yong tau foo with chee cheong fun. Gravy's thin - don't think or expect anything close to Peranakan styled laksa. But it's savoury, has some heat and tastes like it has MSG. And I dig this bowl.

They're selling desserts too it seems. The black sesame paste is kinda thin. Not the kind of standard one can expect from specialised Chinese dessert shops.