A rice bento from Duck Master

I noticed Duck Master when they first set up shop at People's Park a few years back. The queue deterred me so they ended up pretty much out of sight and out of mind until recently when I stumbled upon another of their shops at the basement of Tiong Bahru Plaza. It seemed their business have expanded to more than a handful of outlets in the island. This was one of the bento-esque set which they offered. 

It was actually pretty good eating. The rice tasted very much like chicken rice which was a bonus. The herbal-ish duck was reasonably tender and moist. While there're definitely better roasted ducks out there, this one wasn't bad at all. I wouldn't mind having them again.

Bee hoon from Ivan's Porridge

People go to Ivan's Porridge (#01-11 Havelock Road Cooked Food Centre, 22A/B Havelock Road) for their porridge and bee hoon. The latter isn't mentioned as part of the name of the stall but is pretty well known by those who visit them with any regularity. It's not bad bee hoon. Their "fish cutlets" and luncheon meat are usually crisp and I was lucky to get a freshly fried sunny side up today.

Tsui Wah (翠華), Clark Quay

We weren't fans or had even visited with any regularity at Tsui Wah in Hong Kong. Don't get me wrong. It was just that one time so far. But we've also been curious about the outfit of theirs (#01-03 Clark Quay, 3A River Valley Road, tel : +65 6250 9270) that's opened up here. Despite that curiosity, we also understood that it would be wise for the initially barrage to subside before checking it out for ourselves. 

That's wanton in fish soup. Not getting the fish flavour from the soup but the wantons were okay. It's not bad but I wouldn't order them again.

Prawns were chunky and aside from some of the prawn-y flavour, they were devoid of all other taste. Like sweetness. No, there was not salt as well. We expected nothing out of the dried shrimp roe that they added because we knew expectations will not be met. Noodles were okay. XO sauce was okay. Everything was in the grey of okay. Will not be ordering this again as well.

Curry lamb chops were nice. Those ribs were browned - probably pan fried before they were served in a curry of their concoction. The meat of the lamb wasn't overcooked and were tender. Pretty tasty curry that one. The only thing I thought that could have made it better was the rice. Not a fan of the dry and beady type of rice which wasn't absorbent. But I could come back for this.

People talk well about their condensed milk buns. This was one of those instances where we agree with the masses. Those loaves were toasted, airy and soaked on the flat surface with butter and condensed milk.

The almond cream with egg white tasted like the one we had in Wellington Street. Nice.

We skipped the tea for the hot fizzy Coke with lemon which was just the drink to wash the food down.

Konjiki Hototogisu, Chijmes

Accolades and labels can get confusing, excessive to the point of senselessness and dilute the honoraries as much as it can dilute the broth in a bowl of noodles. 

There's been a number of best this and that from Japan shops around. Konjiki Hototogisu (#01-17 Chijmes, 30 Victoria Street, tel : +65 6338 8460) was apparently a 8-seater-in-Shibuya-with-four-consecutive-years-of-Tokyo-Michelin-Bib-Gourmand-and-ranked-No.1-Ramen-in-Japan-in-2017-&-2018-by-Japan’s-Ramen-Walker-magazine kind of place that has opened in Chijmes. 

We didn't think much of the shoyu clam and pork bone broth bowl. The "shoyu-ness", in the laziness for a proper description, was lacking and hadn't much depth. It struggled to find its identity with the other ingredients while muddling them at the same time. Unlike a better shoyu hybrid bowl from say Machida Shoten or a tasty truffle infused one from Tsuta.

The supposed complexity in the broth from this shop worked out better in the shio bowl where the clam flavours were more apparent. At least that was how it turned out for us.

We were given some rice and clams shortly after our orders were taken. I presume they functioned like otoshi.

Didn't think much of their gyoza because of the gingery flavour. They were otherwise pretty regular ones. Charshu was dry but was flavourful from their marinade. Egg was oddly lacking in flavour.

Good thing we visited with little expectations. 

Pan fried lamb skewer, fried egg and Myojo Char Mee

Lamb fillet skewer was from Huber's. Pre-marinated from their butchery. Pan fried and served with eggs and char mee. Nothing like this bowl of delicious-ness that one can get anywhere else.

Heng Heng Hainanese Chicken Rice (興興海南鸡饭), Maxwell Food Centre

This was one of a few chicken rice stalls (#01-44 Maxwell Food Centre, 1 Kadayanallur Street) at Maxwell that has adopted the blue and white signages which Tian Tian has. Along with the same gloopy sauce that all the chicken rice shops here seem to be doing.

It's not too bad. Tian Tian does have the better chilli sauce which was more assertive. Both seem to have similar type of rice which were easily surpassed by the likes of Hua Kee and Sin Kee. While Heng Heng isn't the top in class, I don't think they're that far away from their competitors that I'll over look them as an option.