More food from ABC Food Corner

Let's admit it, these guys aren't good at everything they have on menu. This chicken hariyali briyani was one of them. For something that was flavoured with coriander, mint and yoghurt, it was just salty and smoky. The latter not in a way I might have enjoyed because it was burnt and if you could believe it, had parts that were almost leathery. A far cry from their chicken tikka briyani I had previously.

The mutton kothu prata was on the other hand pretty good though. The prata was chopped up into small bits and I liked that they didn't over do the onions. We specifically request for mutton keema so that we wouldn't get mutton chunks from their mutton masala but I think we ended up with the minced mutton they used for their murtabak anyway. They weren't very generous with them but it was enough that one could tell and ultimately, we kinda liked it.

Ordered their banana salt lassi out of curiosity. Not very salty or even yoghurt-y for a lassi. Flavour was a little thin. Won't be getting this again.

Sakunthala's, Safra Mt. Faber

We've seen Sakunthala's whenever we're at Mustafa and also have been recommended to give them a try. We ended up going for the first time at their branch at Mt. Faber (#01-07 SAFRA Mount Faber, 2 Telok Blangah Way, tel : +65 6261 0314). Food was not bad but the ventilation left much to be desired.

Lassi - first time getting them sugarless. If one is familiar with Greek yoghurt, this tasted similar. The texture had little bits of curdled milk sediments though. 

This was their fish kothu prata - the back part of the name means chopped prata. As the name implies, this was chopped up prata which also has been stir fried with bits of fish, green chilli, eggs and a bunch of spices. Served with assam fish curry and raita. The savouriness with along with the spices paired with textures from the chopped up bits. Nice. Portions were pretty generous.

Their lamb chops were pretty chunky unlike what their menu illustrated - which was a rib of lamb with some meat. The actual serving didn't look like that and had a lot more meat. Ended up having to pack one portion home because it was a little too much food. That meat was pretty tender and yet retained enough meaty bite. Not bad.

Kashmiri pulao ordinare? I don't know. Someone could educate me. Most of the time, these don't come with much of real dried fruit. Preserved fruits, yes.

So other than raisins, there were maraschino cherries and candied orange peel with nuts. The rice also had ghee. In totality, more ingredients than other renditions we've tried. Those orange peel bits in particular added aroma. The sweetness paired pretty well with the mutton chops and fish tikka. Portions were huge and we had to pack some home.

Fish tikka was pretty salty and for all their red and char, didn't taste very smoky. The meat had a muddy/earthy flavour which meant it came from a freshwater fish. Tender and flaky but not so firm.

Ordered a masala milk hoping that it would taste like the one from Chellas in days gone by. It didn't. But it also didn't taste bad. Would have been nicer if they made this with a stronger masala mix.

Some breads at ABC Food Corner

Back at ABC Food Corner. The quality of their food can be inconsistent. Sometimes it's bad that I didn't even think it was worth the effort of a posting a picture and writing a couple of thoughts. Ordered naan from them for the first time today. Mutton keema naan.

Spread on the inside with curried minced mutton. Spicy and pretty salty but I thought it worked with the naan which was kinda bready. Gotta try these somewhere else to get a better sensing of how they normally are.

Got a plate of their mutton kothu prata again. The order taker was shifty and wasn't interested in getting what we request correctly so we ended up with chopped mutton instead of the minced variety we had gotten the last time. It's not bad tasting though. In spite of enjoying it, what bothered me was how greasy it was.

Revisiting Anjappar @ Race Course Road

Back at Anjappar. Tried their mutton kothu parotta. Quite nice but pretty heavy with all the grease.

That's fish 65. First time getting one of these I believe. I don't know what fish was it. Texture was almost identical to Spanish mackerel but it did not taste like them.

Mixed fried noodles. Mixed because there's chicken, mutton and prawns in it. Not a bad one actually. The only thing I didn't like were the capsicum/bell peppers. Otherwise it's a straightforward, possibly soy based, savoury stir fried noodles with bits of egg and vegetables. We've just started venturing into these Chinese styled Indian fried noodles recently. Last ones were at Semolina and Tangra Chinese. So far it's been promising.

Couldn't resist finding out what their special ghee podi idly was about. While it's kinda self explanatory from the name, it wasn't exactly like I imagined it. I was thinking just idly soaked with ghee and covered with podi. While those were there, I didn't expect them to be cut up and tossed (stir fried?) with bits of sweet onion. Nice.

This ginger tea didn't have much of ginger flavour. Seems like this outlet isn't good with their teas.

Even more food from Umar Ali Cafe

Part 3 of the compilation of eats from Umar Ali Cafe.

I had the idea that Horlicks dinosaur came with Milo powder. Apparently not. Not a bad rendition if you like Horlicks.

What innocuous looking newfangled prata might that be?

This was one up from a previous honey mushroom prata at Al Mubin - a banana honey mushroom prata. I know right? The mushrooms were quite tasteless and the honey was subtle. Most of the flavour came from the bananas which actually paired pretty well with their fish curry.

Maggi goreng popcorn chicken combo. Added keema to the Maggi goreng and that was nicely goreng-ed. Dry, no excessive oil and deliciously salty. More generously salted than the kuey teow goreng previously, possibly because of the instant noodle seasoning.

Tried their egg kothu prata. It's a torn/chopped up prata stir fried with loads of onions, curry leaves and other spices. Not bad tasting, a little heavy with the grease and also pretty good eating with their dalcha and fish curry.

Teh tarik's decent if unexceptional. Flavour from the tea felt muted compared to their teh halia cino. Don't know if it's a one off.

On the morning of Hari Raya Puasa......

Poori masala. Bread was thin and less greasy than the one at Al Mubin. Masala potatoes tasted starchy. The dal that came with this was different. This was beany unlike their usual dalcha which was laced with the flavour from mutton fat.

We got a fried chicken thigh freshly fried in the morning. Bird was moist, greasy and warm; with a nicely spiced and salted batter. Nice.

Kopi tarik's not bad. Coffee has got a bit of strength and pleasantly sweet. YMMV on the sweetness.

A few weeks later......

 

Mee hokkien...their rendition of Hokkien mee. 😅 Here's where we're in slightly unfamiliar territory because we've never ordered something like this from a mamak. There's obviously no lard involved. The flavour of the braised noodles tasted like it was just salt and pepper compared to a prawn based stock. Did not taste bad actually. The prawns...meat was slightly stuck to the shell. Meat stuck to shell is usually is an indicator of freshness - or rather the lack of. The meat was firm and actually sweet. Sweet! 🦐

Love their nasi goreng merah...with mutton keema. The keema part was something we asked for. Apparently the regular rendition here doesn't use keema. Noticed that the rice grains were short and small and not starchy. This plate was savoury and spicy with some heat. Would come back for it again.