VALUE FOR MONEY RAMEN

Summer

King

Keisuke's Tonkotsu King Four Seasons is a good choice among local ramen players, especially on its 'value for money' factor. 

Free flow hardboiled eggs and bean sprouts...who don't like?!

I like to be seated at the bar counter, where all the action is.

Cheers!

HOHOHO AH HOE...JAPANESE BAK CHOR MEE

I like ramen. And I used to fantasize how the Japanese can attempt to transform and elevate our humble local bak chor mee.

After close to two decades of pining, someone tried. And succeeded. 

Ah Hoe Mee Pok at Clementi West. The queue's already long. But weekend's are much more tolerable.

GIANT SALTED EGG YOLK!

San bao 三宝 4.25/5

If you have never tried Gen Shu at Toa Payoh Lor 4, you don't know what you are missing. Especially that huge salted egg yolk.

Thank you.

786 CHICKEN BIRYANI

786!

3.5/5

This is not the best in town, but it's probably the best in Toa Payoh North...north of of SPH. I love the fried chicken thigh. It's strangely similar to prawn paste chicken!

Cheers!

SUSEE BAH

Aburi don 4/5

Unagi don 3.75/5

Jap food's usually a touch and go in Singapore. Sometimes the el cheapo you complain on the quality, yet spending too much makes you retch. How?

The Sushi Bar at Ngee Ann City's 5th floor is a good compromise. 

Food's not too shabby.

But alas, the wait staff do have a sharp tongue. Especially critical and weary of daddies and mummies with loads of kids in tow.

Cheers!

CHICAGO DEEP DISH PIZZA...ALMOST

Now that a Philips Viva Bread Machine has entrenched itself firmly in the kitchen, we had gone through the various modes of the contraption.

I always loved pizza and wondered why is the Chicago-styled deep dish pizza not available in Singapore.

Anyway, using the dough mode of the Viva and a semolina based recipe, I decided to churn one out. Not too shabby. 1.25 inches deep of mozzarella and cheddar. Fistful of bacon and mashed chorizo.

Naise.

OVERRATED CHICKEN WINGS

Nice?

Ok only lah...

Crispy on the outside, no soul on the inside.

ZION ROAD FRIED FISH SOUP IN TOA PAYOH?

This place has been around for some time.

An Shun Seafood Soup from Zion Road 91 in Toa Payoh North?

In any case, the fried fish is great. At times, the end product would elicit innocent statements like...'Is this fried fish? Looks like fried chicken.'

Fried fish 4.5/5

Remember to dip it into the sweet chilli sauce provided

Add or remove milk at your request

3 MORE THINGS YOU NEED TO ORDER AT BEE KIA

The staple orders at Bee Kia Restaurant are usually the beef hor fun and and prawn paste chicken (har cheong kai).

But I keep telling people, you gotta order other stuff too.

Here's a good combo for a weekend lunch. 

YOU HAVE BEEN EATING THE WRONG STUFF AT IPPUDO

Not to say that food at Ippudo sucks. On the contrary, its ramen is one of those that have consistently good taste and bite (very hard).

I discovered this gem. Or I had simply overlooked it prior.

The tsukune rice bowl. With an onsen egg and seaweed. 

Yumz.

4.25/5

I (MIGHT) WANT MY NOODLE

How do I put it?

It's an ok noodle place, if you are in the vicinity of Shaw Centre and you do not want to patronise Xi Yan. The prawn noodles was let down by the overcooked prawns and soggy prawn crackers. However, that bowl was full of tom yum-like flavour that begged for more noodles.

The meatball soup was so-so.

The char siew's excellent though.

That's it. 

Those ain't fries, they are prawn crackers. You'd better fish them out before they get soggy. 3.5/5

$3.50 for about 5 slices. Every slice was worth the 70ct. 4.25/5

NAKED FINN - UMAMI OVERLOAD

When one hankers for the sweet taste of seafood in Singapore, you would usually head to the favourite seafood joint for a quick fix.

That's what happened on a rainy weekday lunch at the Naked Finn.

The flavours are rich tasting, especially the hae mee tng and grilled sotong. If you are sharing, the prawn noodles can be separated into two portions for easy consumption.

Pretty good grilled baby squids 4/5

The mayo version's better I think 4/5

The grand soup, best paired with Jap somen 4.25/5

PHO STOP

I had Vietnamese food over the weekend. Pho Stop at Tanjong Pagar.

It was quiet on a Saturday lunch time, with perhaps another 2-3 tables filled.

Service was prompt. We had grilled chicken and pork chops dry noodles, a sliced beef/ball soup, fried spring rolls and an iced coffee.

The chicken was better than the pork. You can dump the whole bowl of fish sauce thingy into the dry noodles to add some oomph. The beef broth was a tad mild. But the sliced beef was good. The spring rolls were rather meaty too, but a bit on the salty side. The coffee was way too sweet.

Overall, a good effort. I heard it's pretty packed on weekday lunches. So get down to the place earlier.

FIRST BLOG POST OF 2015 IS DEDICATED TO...MEE GORENG

There is an excellent mee goreng lying in wait at one of the kopitiams in 203 Toa Payoh North. However, its taste is an acquired one. neither red and fiery like the usual mamak style, it borders on the Chinese version with a hint of sweetness and less redness.

It costs around $3 and has bits of chicken embedded within the heady mush of yellow noodles.

P.S. The sambal chilli is kickass.

ANOTHER GREAT DINNER AT MY NEIGHBOUR'S KITCHEN

My friend and neighbour Wilson decided to run a charity dinner for a few friends last week. Proceeds were donated to the Assisi Hospice.

One word to describe the dinner. 

No, make that two words. 

Warm and subtle. 

Here's the food in order of appearance.

Hearty tomato bread

Pork skin keropok

Scallop, leeks and bacon terrine

Cod on bed of cucumbers with chicken consomme 

Crab ravioli in chilli crab style sauce, with a hint of satay

Sous vide Wagyu

Another view of the excellent beef

Red velvet cake with vanilla ice cream, cookie crumbs at the bottom

First thing you see when you walk in

It was a great dinner. The highlights for me were the terrine, crab ravioli, beef and dessert. 

If you'd like to host dinner for a company of 8-10 persons, do contact the man on Facebook at My Neighbour's Kitchen.

FOOD BLOGGING = DEATH OF THE HAWKER

Recently, I have heard stories and seen FB posts on how some food stalls' standards have plummeted after being blogged about by 'popular' food bloggers. 

I am not sure how this came about, or whether there is any truth in it.

But I have noted more crowds at some previously good and nondescript food stalls and they were unable to cope with the long queues after some publicity. Some stalls which had previously served food to customers at their tables have even resorted to a 'self-service' queue system.

All's well if taste is maintained. But that is not the case for all.

Thus, this post's title. 

I do not have a remedy for the state of things. But if you are served lousy tasting food by a hawker, I'd say forget about the place. 

If the cooks/owners are not able to tell that their standards have dropped, they don't deserve your dollar. 

Note: This is not a popular food blog :/

HUP SENG + AH ORH

I did not realise the 15th of the 7th lunar month was going to cause a jam en route to Hup Seng at Sin Ming.

But with a little patience, good food can be had.

Hup Seng is not without its fans. Especially on weekends.

Therefore, you should endeavour to arrive before 11am if you wish to have a taste of that soury, peppery kiam chye ar soup.

I find the full works of braised duck, pork belly, gizzard, liver, salted vege duck soup with rice/porridge to be slightly inadequate for 4pax.

So what better combo than a fried silver bait omelette from Ah Orh.

Good stuff on a National Day.

More lor! 4.5/5

 

GOOD DIM SUM IN A SLEEPY SHOPPING MALL

If you like dim sum and stay in the east, you may wish to venture to Changi City Point and grab a bite at Tunglok Signatures. In fact, it was not packed even on a weekend at 1pm. Or was it a fluke?

Anyway, I was feeling peckish.

Salted egg yolk porridge with duck and century egg 4.25/5

Fried XO carrot cake with bean sprouts 4/5

Deep fried fish skin with salted egg yolk 4.5/5

Fish maw potage 4.25/5

I ordered a few of other dim sum staples. But I wouldn't wanna bore you to death. You could probably also tell that I like salted egg yolks. 

Cheers!

LUNCH AT MY NEIGHBOUR'S KITCHEN

Ever since my last preview meal at My Neighbour's Kitchen, Wilson had moved his joint to another apartment at an adjoining block in Bishan.

The decor is vastly different. But still takes on a very homely feel.

I was invited to an impromptu steak lunch recently at the Kitchen.

You can find some pretty old-school decor dotting the house. 

 

The six-course dinner menu

Sous vide steak done medium rare 4.25/5

Nutella gelato with fizzy chocolate surprise 4/5

If you would like to know more about the place, search FB for My Neighbour's Kitchen or text Wilson at 9850 2185. It's opened for business. Wine pairing is available as well.

 

RISTORANTE DA VALENTINO

I had not eaten at RDV for some years. Even the move to Turf City did not enticed me.

So here I was on a rainy afternoon. 

The new place is much bigger with more space between tables. 

Here's what we had in order of tastiness. 

Cheese wrapped with parma ham and pan fried. 3.75/5

Seafood soup.  Imagine Wah Kee + Tomato. 4/5

Daily special pork chop. 4.25/5

Squid ink fettuccine with tomato cream sauce and crab chunks. Sublime. 4.5/5