Yi Jia Teochew Fish Porridge & Soup

Located right next to Buddy's Suki Soup at Maxwell Food Centre stall 66 was this fish soup stall. Featuring an assortment of seafood on ice in the glass counter, freshness was the key to its popularity, regardless if one gets the cheapest S$3 (US$2) bowl like I got yesterday, or if one upgrades to the S$7 (US$4.80) pomfret version in the oval-shaped bowl like I got today.

One might argue that the soup was a bit bland, but the thing that I really liked about this place was the Teochew condiments like salted beans and shredded ginger (or even raw garlic if you're not working that day), which helped to break the monotony. They also tossed in one or two small pieces of dried fish bits to give it a bit of an edge.

And while the quality of place's ingredients definitely makes it one of the better shops around town, my preference is still for Han Kee at Amoy Street. All of the bones in Yi Jia's premium pomfret version made the thing a bit frustrating to eat too. Next time, I'll just stick to the cheap stuff.

Chin Lee Restaurant, Bedok North Road

There are a number of Teochew restaurants around Singapore, but I like this one enough that it's worth the ride all the way out into the eastern part of the island for it (115 Bedok North Road #01-285, 6444-5554). One of the keys is the freshness of the seafood here, including the pomfret and prawns that we got tonight.

But I am also a big fan of the terrestrial items, such as this suckling pig, whose crispy skin was carefully separated from the fat and meat...almost like Peking Duck. They also smeared some kind of a Taiwanese sha cha-like spicy paste into the meat, which of course I was all over. I wasn't quite sure how to eat the head though...it was full of fat, although the skin was certainly still tasty.

And probably the most memorable thing here was the Pork Ribs Infused with Coffee. Yep - these foil-wrapped bits of pork were a bit like Guinness Pork, but better than that in my opinion, as coffee is more fragrant. I just wish that they would open an outlet in the city.

Grilled Vegetables from Pasta Fresca

Here were some grilled vegetables from Pasta Fresca. Even though I know a number of naysayers that don't care much for this commercialized chain restaurant, for some reason this place still works for me, even if the S$13.80 (US$9.20) is a bit of a ripoff. Then again, I suppose that grilled veggies are usually a high margin dish...and I'm just a sucker for it since I love its simplicity.

Ah Chiang's Traditional Charcoal Porridge

After being given the tip for this place (65 Tiong Poh Road #01-38, 6557-0084), I was told to keep it a secret, but I liked it so much that I just can't keep my mouth shut. Besides, this place has already expanded into other locations in Geylang and Toa Payoh, so clearly they have already acheived a popular following. I doubt that a mention of it here is really going to change things.

Anyway, as the name suggests, this place specializes in all sorts of porridge. And they do it the proper Cantonese way, where the grains of rice are pulverized into an unrecognizable goop. Oddly, my fish porridge came out unseasoned, thus requiring me to play around with the soy sauce and white pepper quite a bit in order to bring out the taste. But the pork porridge was full of flavor already.

One must be wondering why the photo above is not porridge then. That's because the thing that I liked more than the porridge was the yu sheng, which came out in paper thin slices and garnished with just the right things, including a healthy dose of sesame oil. Strangely, it was lacking soy sauce too, but with a bottle sitting tableside, it wasn't hard to sprinkle a few drops on to get it just right. I liked this so much that I immediately went back for two more plates, instantly making this one of my favorite things in town.

Wine Connection's All-You-Can-Eat Raclette

Cool - the Robertson Walk location of Wine Connection Deli & Bistro (11 Unity Street #01-05, 6238-1279) is doing an all-you-can-eat raclette for S$24.90 (US$17) per person. They used the little heated tray version rather than a melt-the-whole-wheel deal like the Goodward Park did, but it was all the same in the end. There were some T's &C's though - it was only for dinner, it had a four person minimum, and it required a 24 hour advance reservation.

Buddy's Sawasdee Thai Suki Soup

That was different. We hit Maxwell Food Centre for a quick bite after work when I noticed a new stall (number 67) advertising something called Original Thai Suki Seafood Soup. That alone wasn't really anything to get me excited, but the tagline "it's not tomyum" did make me curious. (That, and a claim about someone named Madam Baibong making this since 1955 - even if I have no idea if that meant anything.) I grabbed a bowl just to give it a try.

It was better than I thought it would be. A brown sauce made it a bit tangy, some pureed chili peppers gave it heat, and little raw garlic cloves provided the kick. Now, this won't exactly be an object of late night cravings, but the fresh taste and chunks of seafood were reminiscient enough of cuttlefish soup from Taiwan (except of course that the broth was much thinner) for me to go right back for a second bowl.

Mee Goreng from EsTeler 77

This was the mee goreng from EsTeler 77. It was a total grease bomb, and being quite salty and spicy at that. I suppose that's why this stuff can be so fitting as a post-drinking snack.

Ramen in a Box from Japan

I picked up this boxed ramen on my last run through Narita, figuring that it might come in handy one of these days. It originated from some shop in Sendai, so I knew that it was going to be a step up from the foam-bowl instant stuff too.

But it turned out that the only things that were supplied in this box were noodles, soup base, and lard, leaving out all of the critical garnishes like chashu and menma. I ended up having to pick up a bunch of the other (perishable) stuff at a local Japanese market in order to make this thing complete.

Well, I liked the coarse noodles and rich soup base, and fortunately the pork that I bought was tasty enough that it helped complement the entire bowl, even if I bought the wrong kind of onions. But that took way too much time and effort than it was worth. I should have just left it to the pros.

Tawandang Microbrewery, Singapore

That was unexpected. We were actually intending to eat elsewhere up on Dempsey Hill tonight when I noticed a bunch of red and yellow signs pointing to a new microbrewery. I figured that maybe it was an Australian place or something, but it was nothing of the sort. It turned out to be a big German beer hall from Bangkok, and they just opened up here in Singapore last night (26 Dempsey Road #01-01, 6476-6742).

Now, it sounded very odd at first. Thai-German food?? Upon futher examination, it was really Thai food with just a few German elements: the beer, the big bench-filled beer hall, and the presence of sausages and pork knuckle on the menu (served with a spicy Thai sauce, no less). Otherwise, it was your usual Thai fare on the menu, which wasn't as out of place with the beer as one might expect.

In many ways, this place reminded me of what one might find in a touristy area of in Thailand: a bit plasticky and not exactly fine dining, but fun enough in a relaxed beach vacation type of way where it really didn't matter. This place even had a stage set up where it was obvious that a band would play every night. I'm now very curious to see how rowdy this place can get later in the evening. An eyewitness account would definitely be in order.

Mackerel from Ootoya Singapore

Here was the mackerel set from Ootoya. It was a bit saltier and greasier than I was expecting, but that wasn't anything that the freshly grated daikon on the side couldn't fix. It was a satisfying lunch either way.

Spicy Steamboat Fish Soup

This was the "spicy steamboat" version of fish soup from that Jacky Chan stall. As much as the Thai style hot pot with the flaming chimney might lead one to think that it was tom yum flavored, it wasn't that spicy nor sour, but rather annoyingly sweet. I wish that they didn't deep fry the fish either. I should have just stuck to the basics.

Ootoya, Orchard Central, Singapore

Another chain from Japan has set up an outlet in Singapore, with this one being at the new Orchard Central mall (181 Orchard Road #08-12, 6884-8901). It specialized in teishoku, or set meals that oftentimes involve rice and soup. It doesn't sound like anything too exciting, but that's exactly what I liked about it. It was simple, affordable, and (generally) healthy.

Besides, I enjoyed the rich taste of my saba shioyaki, not to mention the selection of toppings available for my rice. I'll come back again...as long as I can find my way through the unnecessarily complex labyrinth of Orchard Central, that is.

Shoga-yaki Don from Meidi-Ya Singapore

Here's a bowl of shogyakidon from the donburi vendor right outside of the Meidi-Ya supermarket in Singapore. Actually, this was a half-sized bowl, as it came in a combo set with some sanuki udon. The ginger-based mixture was sweet, but not so much that it turned me off. Instead, I was able to wolf those tender slices of pork down in seconds. The only drawback? Those green onions provided me with enough dragon breath to terrorize the rest of the office with after coming back from lunch.

Tong Garden BBQ Sunflower Seeds

These were some local sunflower seeds...that were interestingly coated in flour first. Deep down inside, I guess that I was hoping that the seasoning would make it something like Boy Bawang, but the natural flavor of the sunflower seed dominated the taste of these. If that were the case, I'd rather just eat straight sunflower seeds instead.

Tomatoes or Kumatoes?

I don't know if I understood this one. These tomatoes looked unripe (or even spoiled?), but were apparently intended to be this way, as they were some kind of cross-bred variety from Europe. It was supposed to be stronger in taste, which it was, but I didn't find it so pronounced that I was motivated enough to get these "kumatoes" over regular tomatoes.

Indeed, I've been more impressed with Japanese produce instead. These were similarly expensive though: S$7 (US$5) for a box of six. And the labels suggested that these came from Malaysia rather than Europe, so I'm not sure what the deal was. Maybe I'll do a side-by-side taste test some other time to really try to pin down the difference.

The Healthy Menu at Tonkichi

I don't know how long Tonkichi has had this on their menu, but it was interesting to see that they had a healthy section that featured things like this ton shabu set. Just as with the proper version of shabu shabu, this cold salad featured the requisite goma-dare and ponzu sauce for one to dip those thin slices of lean pork into. It wasn't anything to go nuts over, but I suppose it really was healthier than tonkatsu. It was amusing to see deep fried vegetables in the same "healthy" section of the menu either way.

The Low Sodium Meal on SQ

Whoa - that was a lot better than I thought it would be. Coming off of that horrible Oriental Vegetarian meal on the way up, I figured that the special Low Sodium meal that I requested on the way back was also going to be unappetizing. But I actually kinda liked this thing.

It may have been low on salt, but it wasn't nearly as bland as I thought it might be. The natural taste of the fish went nicely with the rich potatoes and rice, while the crudités and cut fruit would be my preference over the salad and cake that are usually provided in these trays anyway. The low air pressure in airplanes is supposed to hamper our sense of taste too, right? That made this all the more impressive.

Perhaps more interesting was the fact that this came from CX's catering department, which I've had many a forgettable meal from before. If Low Sodium meals out of Singapore are similar, then I may have found my new thing on airlines...all while staying on the healthy side of the fence in the process.

HK's Café de Coral vs. Fairwood

I normally try to avoid Café de Coral, a local fast food chain that is quite big around Hong Kong. But I was so exhausted from our adventures last night that convenience took a much higher priority over quality today. And the thing that I so desperately needed to help soothe my aching stomach was a hot bowl of soup, which came with this rice set. The pork was so unattractively tough that I barely ate the stuff, although the soup was what I needed, even if it was a bit salty.



I still wanted more soup though, so upon reaching the airport, I skipped past my usual A. Hereford Beefstouw and Caviar House, and found Fairwood, which is apparently one of Café de Coral's rivals. This piping hot bowl of soup also helped calm the system, but for some reason, it was also really salty. I'm not sure why.

Gourmet Burger Union, Hong Kong

Going all the way to Hong Kong to eat burgers isn't exactly something that I'd typically do. But one of our buddies from London mentioned that Gourmet Burger was a big British chain that was pretty good. And after an afternoon of golf with the fellas, a meaty greasy burger sounded just right. So we made a pit stop here (45 Cochrane Street, 2581-0321) on the way back.

After we went upstairs though, our English friend said that it didn't seem right. It was not the full service restaurant that he was used to, and the menu wasn't quite the same. And when he got the food, he was suspected that this was a knockoff instead. After taking a closer look, we realized that this wasn't the Gourmet Burger Kitchen that he was used to from back home, but rather Gourmet Burger Union, which interestingly also featured a very similar logo of concentric circles.

Well, even if this wasn't the same chain, I still liked my burger. One could go the custom route, but I went for a pre-configured Double Truffle, featuring truffle creme, Gruyère cheese, caramelized onions, and rucola, which worked for me. Sure, the patty was tiny and the fries weren't anything to get excited about, but the way they put all of these flavors together, I was quite happy.

Luk Yu Tea House, Hong Kong

This might seem a bit weird given that there isn't any food in the photo. But that wasn't because I didn't like the food. It's just that this place (24 Stanley Street, 2523-1970) was so old school that it was kinda cool, with its ceiling fans, wood paneling, and table linens. And as if it were right out of a Hong Kong gangster movie, a local tycoon apparently got shot by hitmen at a booth right next to ours a number of years ago. This place definitely isn't short on character.

Well, gruesome things aside, this place is known for its dim sum. The approach to food was very traditional, which meant that it was very purist and of high quality. But it also meant that it was a bit too minimalist, making me prefer the fuller flavor of other places instead, including Lin Heung, a similarly old school place that is in the same neighborhood. This place was definitely worth coming for the atmosphere alone though.