The Hafu Hafu Rice at Japan Rail Cafe

Japan Rail Cafe does a curry rice as well as a hayashi rice...or you can do both on the same plate above. I liked the rich hayashi rice better, as well as those buttered scallops as a topping. But the batter on the chicken was shockingly hard. The food here can be really spotty; they are separately running an Aomori scallop special for July that was tender and savory, but the okra that came with it was impossible to chew.

Trying Three Michelin Non-Stars at Alexandra Village

Alexandra Village has always had some Michelin places, but I didn't realize that there were so many there now, with four stalls in the hawker center alone. One was closed tonight, but I went to the other three, with this soup stall called Hong Kong Yummy Soup at stall 51 being the only Bib Gourmand. The Last of Us motivated me to get that cordyceps chicken bowl above, and it was delicate and savory.



The longest line at the hawker center was clearly Zhang Ji Shanghai La Mian Xiao Long Bao at stall 56. But the food wasn't that special, with that hot and sour soup in particular being quite a letdown. I'm not sure why they put iceberg lettuce in the beef noodle soup either. The xiaolongbao were better than the other two, but certainly wasn't as refined as Din Tai Fung.



My favorite of them all was the one that I was least expecting: Leon Kee Claypot Pork Rib Soup at stall 18, serving bak kut teh in a dark yet thin broth. It was herbal, but only enough to accentuate it, while the ribs were tender without being excessively fatty. I get why the Michelin folks liked this place, but the xiaolongbao place is really quite puzzling. Maybe we should have tried the guotie.

123 ZÔ - Ẩm Thực Việt at Icon Village in Singapore

I have no idea how to pronounce the name of this place, but their place out in Geylang wasn't easy for me to get to. So I'm happy that they are now in Tanjong Pagar (12 Gopeng Street #01-45).

The appeal is that the menu goes far beyond the common Vietnamese options. I went for this bánh hỏi platter precisely because I wasn't sure what it was. They were basically those stringy rice cakes at the bottom, which were a bit like idiyappam but in gauze-like rectangles.

And one is supposed to eat them with meat and veggies, it seems. The pork provided here was sweet but tender and went well with the rest of the package. I'd like to try other things on the menu here.

The Seasonal Menu at Tokyo Soba in Singapore

That yellow thing on the left probably doesn't look very remarkable, but Yomoda was pitching those pieces of kisu and corn tempura as the "most popular summer ingredients" in their seasonal special right now. It was fresh enough to gobble down quickly, even if the batter was thicker than Makino. They now offer some wonderfully gooey nebaneba on the side now too.

Xian Yinxiang (“Made in Xian”) in Novena

A small Shaanxi restaurant has opened up on the former grounds of Fried Rice SG at Royal Square @ Novena (103 Irrawaddy Road #01-08). It was pretty good, featuring everything from biang biang noodles to roujiamo to oil youpomian, complete with a brusque service reminiscent of Niuhonghong.

The liangpi was decent, and the chili oil was on point. But what really stood out was the chuanr above, which were tough but super fatty and musty (in a good way), not unlike what one can get in China. I'd like to come back to try the other dishes, but one must avoid the weekday lunch hour, as it was packed today.

Chin Mee Chin Confectionery in Singapore

This place (204 East Coast Road) is pretty cool in that it was a long-standing local coffee place that closed down and has since been restored with a very cute retro decor. The food is pretty good too, with the kaya toast in particular being notably different from most shops in that they use some airy brioche-like buns with a crispy candy-like crust. The quality of the Hainanese pork chop above was light years beyond Han's. I'd love to come back, but apparently the lines can be huge on weekends.

Tachibana at 100 AM’s Itadakimasu

This shop took over Saboten's former outlet at 100 AM (100 Tras Street #01-13, 6443-2218), and they seem to be related to Sabar next door. It's positioned as an izakaya even though the furnishings resemble a spacious mall-based family restaurant. Well, I went because they do lunch sets for just S$15 (US$11). Now, the menchi katsu and aji furai above were much cruder than the ones at Piu M and Sumida respectively. But it was edible and affordable nonetheless.

Japanese Curry Miyabi at Fortune Centre's Piu M

Piu M is a small izakaya that serves Italian food at night (190 Middle Road #02-29, 9456-2204). I never had the chance to eat there because I kept getting turned away for not having a reservation. But now he's doing lunch, and I figured this was my chance to walk in.

At lunch he does Japanese curry, and it's pretty good given both the quality of the ingredients as well as the fact that it's made from scratch. This definitely wasn't made from one of those processed bricks, and yet it was fast and affordable. That menchi katsu behind it was light yet delicious too.

I liked it enough that I am encouraged enough to go there for a full dinner one day, although I need to remember to make a reservation. Indeed, I barely made it in for lunch today as he started to turn away customers after me.

China's Zheng Nan Qi Bai in Singapore

I love how chains from China keep opening up outlets down here. This one was at Excelsior Shopping Centre (5 Coleman Street #01-01A, 6970-0117). They serve rice noodles in your choice of five different broths, with the pickled paojiao pepper one above being the one that they are most known for.

It was pretty darned spicy, despite me ordering only the "low spicy" one. It kinda reminded me of my first time at TamJai SamGor before they adjusted the English labels on their spicy scale. On that note, this place is a lot like TamJai SamGor in that one likewise has choices of toppings, broth, and spicy level.

Still, I prefer the taste of Qianzhuang, especially since they have that smoky firewood chili there. But these guys give free refills of rice noodles, and I'm curious to know how their other stuff fares, including the cold noodle special that I saw advertised.

Revisiting Han Kee Fish Soup in Singapore

I think the last time I ate here was maybe 15 years ago, and they've since gotten a Bib Gourmand listing. My wait at 10:30 AM today was about 30 minutes, after which I was able to taste those hugely generous cuts (an inch thick in many cases) of fresh fish, complemented with a clean and savory broth. The garlic bits were a bit distracting and could have been taken down a notch, but yeah, it was all about the fish; I don't know if there are any other shops around that give so much, especially at the lowly S$6 (US$4.50) price above.

Danlao Scrambled Egg Rice at Maxwell Food Centre

I had no idea what a Hong Kong-style scrambled egg rice was, but the name of this place made it interesting enough to try (1 Kadayanallur Street #01-73). It was basically a scrambled egg mixture on top of white rice, which came pretty quickly despite the huge number of bowls ahead of me. And I liked it more than I thought I would, even though I could've easily nitpicked on its gooeyness and sweetness. Actually, it was precisely because it was kinda runny and syrupy (not to mention lukewarm) that helped me to inhale this in seconds. Apparently some of the staff here worked at Eggslut?

Picolino from the Les Amis Group

I guess this happened a while back, but the Les Amis folks moved LINO to Jamie Oliver's former location at Forum, and then put a spinoff called Picolino in the former Shaw Centre location while adding another location at the new Shaw Plaza (360 Balestier Road #01-21). The spinoff featured some of the dishes that its parent had offered, but was done up in such a casual way that I nearly mistook the place for one of those forgettable cookie cutter family restaurants.

Thankfully, we still ate here, as it was pretty good, including not just that super savory bacon cream gnocchi above, but also a kam heong vongole linguine, which was quirky but unique with its deep and earthy local seasonings. The option to top one's pasta with a small hamburger steak was fun too given the firm yet fatty beef that they used. I'll be happy to go back, but need to remember that the prices can add up pretty quickly here.