An Ippudo kind of rainy evening with yuzu tonkotsu ramen, small plates and shio pudding

I like Ippudo's yuzu tonkotsu ramen. Since it's on a limited run, makes sense that we get it whenever we can before we can't anymore. This one was from the shop at Tanjong Pagar outside Guoco Tower - we had some noodles, beer and small plates.

Got some gyozas while at it. The mentai mayo ones were not bad because mentai mayo. I didn't dislike the spicy sui gyoza but the chilli needed more aroma and flavour. La Yu (辣油) has much more fragrance than this chilli.

Beef tataki was unexpectedly better than I remembered because we weren't impressed when we had it previously. Meat had a smoky char on the surface while chewing it brought out the beefy flavour from the fat laced slices. That and the negi, goma + ponzu.

Shio pudding. Creamy custard with salt. Tasted like a very light creamy cheesecake. Nice.

Re-visiting Kiwami

Finally came back to Kiwami after the kinda disappointing first visit. While this might not be news to everyone, I just found out that they're under the EN Group - which also runs a couple of places we've been to like Aburi-EN next door, Monster Curry and Tempura Makino. The intent was to get some fried rice and gyoza but they were having some supplies issues with the dumplings and hence, no gyozas! 😭

Tried their buta hoho red mazesoba - with grilled Iberico pork jowl. Came with a little dish of their oddly tangy tonkotsu soup on the side which one was suppose to pour into the bowl.

Doesn't feel/taste/look like mazesoba. But I also realized that I could get around preconcept by not regarding the bowl as such. We re-conceptualized what we had after tossing as a bowl of pork jowl mee kia tah. Not bad. Nice smoky flavour from the powdered bonito and a bit of heat from their chilli paste. I could eat more of this.

Hokkaido snow crab fried rice with tonkotsu gravy. Not even close to the top drawer fried rice we've had but it was very edible. Even had that scorched smokiness that many wok hei whores out there love telling people they're getting some. There's a Chinese profile to the flavour - like Hokkien fried rice which was reminiscent of the plate from Tian Tian Seafood or a less intense version of the one from Ting Heng Seafood.

Their fried oysters are also pretty decent. Didn't look like much but I kinda liked them. Not so much for their tartare sauce though.

Seng Heng Hainanese Boneless Chicken Rice (成興海南起骨雞飯), Bukit Timah Food Centre

So I decided to try Seng Heng (#02-77 Bukit Timah Food Centre, 51 Upper Bukit Timah Road) even though I said I needed to get the chicken rice at Fu Ji again. Both stalls are apparently the chicken rice stalls to go to...... according to the internet.

Got the roasted ji wei (鸡尾), fried to be more accurate, because they were out of of the poached one. I'm not sure I would take a chicken rice stall running out of chickens at 1.30 in the afternoon seriously. The chicken was...ordinary tasting as roasted chickens went.

Rice was light flavoured and a little dryer than what I prefer. Not outstanding. That could easily be overcome by dousing it with more chilli/dark soy sauce. My verdict between the these couple of chicken rice stalls is that I liked the Fu Ji experience better even though it's not an apple to apple comparison. I don't owe them one.

No. 1 Adam's Nasi Lemak, Adam Road Food Centre

No. 1 Adam's Nasi Lemak (#01-01 Adam Road Food Centre, 2 Adam Road) was the other popular nasi lemak stall right beside their competitor Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak. I ordered the Adam's Special because of the mutton rendang that came with it.

To get my thoughts of their rice out of the way - it was delicious. I thought so. Nice coconut milk infused basmati rice that was sufficiently salted for flavour. Portions of the rice was a little small considering the amount of other ingredients they gave.

I didn't think that the other ingredients were exceptional. Mutton rendang was tender but ultimately also stringy. Wasn't bad but I would have been impressed if the meat were moist. Eggs were just that, no molten yolk for anyone to fawn over. Fried chicken wings had the hardest batter out there. Not much flavour with that batter and the chicken just tasted chicken-y. I liked that they toasted their peanuts. Not a fan of their ikan bilis. Begedil was so so and was also cold. 

So what I could establish was that both Adam's and Selera Rasa make good "fat" rice and they were served with a bunch of pedestrian dishes which were nothing I would look forward to. The question of whether is No.1 actually No.1 or No.2 the No.1; or if No.1 is No.2 is one that I cannot answer.

BBQ Box (串烧工坊), Cheong Chin Nam Road

Didn't realize that BBQ Box has an outpost along Upper Bukit Timah (22 Cheong Chin Nam Road, tel : +65 6463 2981) until a couple of months ago. There's a whole bunch of beers and stuff that I never remembered them selling. We were here for a keto-ish dinner.

The grilled skewers were hits and misses like the previous times I've had them. But as a whole, they weren't bad. I'd avoid the beef items the next time, the pork only had flavour on the surface and today's shishamo were skinny and stuck to the skewers.

Mushrooms were not bad though.

Lady's fingers were pretty good. Nice light crunch and plenty of flavour from their spice powder.

Lamb ribs weren't bad. Meat was reasonably tender and lamb-y but the crispy parts were a little hard.

Same thoughts as the last time I had their scallops. Nice garlicky spicy flavour from the sauce which more or less covered up any natural flavour of the shellfish. If there were any left of them that is.

Oysters had pretty much the same treatment as the scallops. These oysters were quite meaty, not to mention fresh tasting and firm. Pleasantly surprised by the quality.

Same garlicky spicy meat sauce for their eggplant. Hah! I didn't think anyone would have thought this was eggplant. I liked that the chilli padi added spikes of heat.

Open faced sandwich with Nutella, Greek yoghurt and flaxseed meal

This has been admittedly inspired by a gelato we had years ago in Florence. For a few weeks now, I've been using peanut butter instead of Nutella so that works as well.

Don't let the unusual combination intimidate you. It's much better tasting that how it might sound.