East Ocean Teochew Restaurant, Shaw Centre

Have been wanting to take a look at this place (1 Scotts Road, #02-18 Shaw Centre, tel : +65 6235 9088) for the longest time now, but it seemed that this restaurant was one of those places that became out of mind when out of sight. This visit actually happened because we were in the vicinity and were actually making our way past Shaw Centre when we saw it and decided that it was time to give them a try.

East Ocean charges a small sum for a package of amenities that the restaurant provides. It includes as I remember some Chinese tea served in little Chinese tea cups, wet paper napkins, pickles that you get when the table is laid and even condiments. So if you should opt out of any of those items because you felt that it wasn't necessary to pay for them, you don't get them all.

We started off with an order of fried cuttlefish tentacles which was really, the largest assed ones which I've ever eaten. Figuratively of course. For appetizers, they came in pretty large portions as well. Fortunately, these cuttlefish tentacles were pretty good with a nice crispy flavored batter which weren't overly greasy. I had a little unfounded fear that all that batter might have upset the rest of my appetite for dinner, but it didn't turn out that way after all.

There seemed to be some seasonal hairy crab promotion that they were having so we decided to try their hairy crab roe and meat xiao long bao for the heck of it. Turns out that these larger than usual dumplings were pretty good. Even though they were slightly less "juicy" than the regular variety, the larger size and the yellowish roe stained juices in it with crabby flavors made up for it.

We picked out the pork ribs in strawberry sauce because it sounded interesting. Fortunately, it didn't taste quite the same as the ribs I had in Wan Hao some years back. The flavors of the fruit in the sauce was noticeable, but was unfortunately contested by the marinate in the meat of the ribs. To be fair, this wasn't a gimmicky dish. It just didn't quite balance out in the flavors unless one ate them with the strawberry slices they used for decoration.

Another item which caught our attention from the seasonal crab menu was their braised noodles with hairy crab roe and meat. It looked frankly, a little disappointing in comparison with that creamy luscious sauce that we saw on the picture of the menu. In truth, this was pretty good stuff in spite of appearances. The sauce was of finely minced crab flesh blended with a rich flavor of the roe. It was also however, pretty small in portions and I wished there was more of it. Even the noodles had a good chewy texture.

We hit the fried rice with goose liver since the regular fried rice costs merely 3 dollars less and it really didn't make much sense ordering that. This wasn't too bad if a little greasy. I'm sure I've had better, but I wouldn't really knock this one off since it was honestly not mediocre, being nicely textured with various bits of chopped vegetables, sausages and goose liver.

This was some sort of red bean kueh that was complimentary. It seems that there would be some complimentary dessert item served around the tables at the end of meals and what you got depended on what they had at the time you were getting it. It appeared to be a regular kueh, but I couldn't taste any traces of coconut and this stuff was very loaded with red beans. It tasted kinda good in small servings actually.

I remember a time as a child doing meals with my parents in Chinese restaurants and we would invariably end up ordering mango puddings for dessert. We used to know which places had puddings with mango cubes in them and which ones didn't or didn't have any flavors in the pudding itself. I haven't been ordering this dessert for quite a long while and this one was okay if not overly impressive. There were real mango cubes in them, but the flavors in the pudding were a tad subdued.

This was hashima in almond and coconut. Pretty good warm dessert which wasn't excessively sweet. We realised that the almond soup within thickened quite a bit after we had scraped the flesh off the insides of the young coconut, becoming more viscous.

Samy's Curry Restaurant, Dempsey Road

It seemed that we had inadvertently picked some of the popular dishes down at Samy's Curry (25A Dempsey Road, Tanglin Village (Dempsey Hill Green), tel : +65 6472 2080) which I was informed, was a sort of institution for South Indian food that's been around for like five decades. This was my first visit. A reminder for myself -  air conditioning might not be great indoors but al fresco also meant being lanced mercilessly by mosquitoes.

So what was it that I liked here? Their creamy dhal was unexpectedly delicious. Curried potatoes were more fragrant than I had imagined. Both were well done. Along with that tasty fish cutlet which was a mix of minced fish and potatoes if I'm not wrong - fried up in a eggwashed patty like a begedil.

The rich tasting masala chicken packed a bit of heat but was otherwise unspectacular - kinda like the tandoori chicken which was also rather ordinary tasting. Their signature fish head curry was thicker and spicier than what they served down at Muthu's. It wasn't too bad.

I wouldn't mind returning to try something else. I did enjoy the wash down of their creamy masala tea which they seemed in a hurry of serving.

fish head curry

tandoori chicken

masala chicken

fish cutlets

masala tea

Beef bone broth ramen from Tampopo

This was a a beef bone broth ramen that Tampopo (391 Orchard Road, B2-33 Takashimaya Shopping Centre, tel : +65 6235 2318) is currently having on a limited run.

Curiously, the original broth had the inclusion of sesame oil which kinda detracted the mild beefy flavour while the wasabi version didn't have the faintest hint of wasabi. It was instead cleaner tasting because of the lack of sesame oil. I'm not too sure what to make out of this new ramen but I suppose I wouldn't mind having them if they made it to the regular menu. They should probably do away with the sweet and spicy marinate for the slice of overcooked yakiniku which really didn't do much.

Chin Mee Chin Confectionary, East Coast Road

Wouldn't say that the coffee here (204 East Coast Road) was exceptional. In fact it was quite ordinary. But the place held a kind of charm created by a time capsule. The kind of charm that included the cacophonous din of vehicle traffic, clinks off the ceramic cups and saucers, raising voices of various Chinese dialects, thunks of metal flask, cool breezy draft from the age stained ceiling fans and the eggy aroma wafting from the back of freshly whisked kaya.

This place was the type of local coffee shop that was common decades back. It's now serving old time regulars and attracting the attention of people like me who didn't remember them much from the time when I was really young. Just coffee and confectionary and a cool shady place from the heat with home made kaya on toasted buns that are baked just right in the back.

Hainanese Curry Rice, Pasir Panjang Food Centre

Hmmm....this was pretty good stuff there (Stall 41, Pasir Panjang Food Centre, 121 Pasir Panjang Road). Judging from the variety of food from the stall, these guys seem to be one of those that didn't offer much in terms of options, but do whatever they did well enough that the lunch crowd from the neighbouring areas seem to flock to the queue here. 

I don't know how they rank amongst the Hainanese curry rice stalls but their dishes on the sides were decently done. From the assam mackerel to the braised cabbage or pork belly in dark soy sauce. What I particularly enjoyed was the expertly done pork chops which were freshly fried with a thin and crispy breaded surface which didn't feel the least greasy. The meat was also not overly thin to the point that most of the texture only came from the crusty surface. That definitely reminded me of the days back when I was a kid having them in the old Maxwell market. The real deal compared to the oil laden and soggy types that one tends to come across these days.

7107 Flavours, Marina Square

This place (6 Raffles Boulevard, #02-02 Marina Square tel : +65 6334 7107) was not bad. Sure things were a little pricey and service could be a little spotty, but I thought that the food more than made up for it. 

We might have gotten a little overboard here with all these dishes. Wasn't aware that the portions were so large. The flavours were definitely rich as well from the vibrant tangy tamarind of sinigang (there were 9 prawns in that soup!) to the artery clogging Taba ng Talangka which came across like a nutty and crabby gravy with consistency similar to satay sauces. That was actually described as sautéed crab fat in olive oil, garlic and calamansi juice. Adding to the heart burn was the kare kare stew in a thick peanut sauce which was relatively tasty but not as fragrant as I was hoping for. Pretty much everything we got today was telling me to chug along with extra portions of rice. Not forgetting the nicely done grilled squids stuffed with a tomato onion salsa with an enjoyable char. 

What did I not like so much about this place? I wished there were more than just one piece of oxtail in the kare kare as it was mostly tripe in the stew. The leche flan did reminded me of gulab jamun. Too damned sweet. I sure hoped that the generous amounts of freshly cooked vegetables and green mango juice helped offset some of that richness and cholesterol. But who am I kidding here......

Taba ng Talangka sa olive oil

sinigang

kare kare

Inihaw na pusit

leche flan