Moss: Fresh Californian Dining at habitat by honestbee, Singapore

Local delivery service honestbee opened its mobile app-driven cashierless grocery and dining hall called habitat at 34 Boon Leat Terrace today (yes, they seem to have a thing for lowercase words). It's kinda like a local version of Eataly: a gigantic warehouse filled with fresh produce and places to eat.

Most of the food stalls in the center of the venue are casual with free seating, including an outlet of Chinese roast meat stall Char. But there are some places on the edges with full table service, like this one called Moss. The food was good: those squid ink discs were topped with not just baby squid but also sea urchin cream, making it disappear in seconds. They also had a starter of chicken chicharron and pork ear fries that we were happy with.

But the portions were tiny and not worth the price. Moreover, the entire mobile-app thing was causing mayhem: the main entrance was blocked with people trying to install the app and sign up (i.e., you have to scan a QR code to enter), and this restaurant didn't get our payments settled for at least 20 minutes, which meant that the kitchen couldn't start our food. I'll wait at least six months before coming back.

Tokyo Soba at Icon Village in Tanjong Pagar

The sign at this little shop (12 Gopeng Street #01-16, 6410-9353) says that it's known as Yomoda Soba in Japan, so I had assumed that they moved here after leaving Japan Food Town at Wisma Atria. And yet, the menu doesn't quite look the same, so I'm not sure if it really is the same shop or not. Nonetheless, the food did the job, reminding me of what I might get at a train station up there. Sure, I'd be happy to come back, although I might also gravitate toward the many soba options available at nearby Hokkaido Izakaya too.

Dumpling Darlings on Amoy Street in Singapore

This place opened recently, serving dumplings and noodle dishes in a slightly upscale shophouse (44 Amoy Street, 8223-9249). Lunch was done in sets like this, and yes, I was happy with my potstickers, which were done to just the right amount of crispness while keeping the insides moist. I wasn't, on the other hand, that excited about the noodles, which were both too soft and too sweet. That means that I won't be coming back for lunch again, but I wouldn't mind coming here in the evenings for a la carte dumplings (including some interesting-looking momos and pierogis) along with some craft beer and cocktails at the counter.

T's Tantan Vegan Ramen from Japan

The Japan Rail Cafe folks were running some kind of fair at Tanjong Pagar Centre this weekend, and one of the stalls was selling ramen from some small vegan chain in Japan, it seems. They offered both a faux-tonkotsu and this tantanmen above, but I didn't like it. The soymilk-based broth was a tad sweet, and the texture of the minced "meat" didn't do it for me either. Nice try though, and it was still a neat event to have, especially in such cool weather.

LA's Fatburger Has Opened in Singapore

The last time I ate at Fatburger was literally around twenty years ago. Even when I was living in LA, I probably only ate it no more than a few times; I tended to go to In-N-Out instead. Anyway, I was kinda curious to try it again now that they've opened a shop at Velocity @ Novena Square (238 Thompson Road #01-08).

And now I realize why I never went there that much: it's very dry. Despite the name, the patty was very, very lean. Sure, it had the beefy taste that I wanted, and all of the standard fixings moistened it up a little (the black pepper is nice). But I'll be more eager to hit up Shake Shack when it finally opens up at Changi Airport.

China's Zuimala at Orchard Central, Singapore

I love how we've been getting so many restaurants from China lately. This one (181 Orchard Road #04-22, 6509-0295) chose an odd English name: Enjoy Mala (in my opinion, they should've just done a literal translation into Drunken Mala instead). See, they do this thing called zhanguo, which is kinda like maocai or malatang in that you select the ingredients that get served to you in a spicy red broth. But it's skewered, and unfortunately, the quality of the meat here isn't very good. The broth - while spicy - also had a touch of sweetness, which means that I won't likely be coming back here again.

Japan's Menya Kokoro Has Opened In Singapore

Eat At Seven at Suntec City Mall has gone through some changes again. Enbu outside has become an outlet of Unagiya Ichinoji. Burg Kitchen has become a dubious-looking hot pot called Ding Xian. And Takeichi is now over at Changi Airport; in its place is this mazesoba shop (3 Temasek Boulevard #03-313, 6235-3386).

It's better than Kajiken. I didn't even get the spicy version, but it was both spicy and earthy. Now, the raw garlic and green onions mean that I'm going to have to sleep on the couch tonight, but they nonetheless gave this bowl a fun edge, especially with a good hit of tabletop vinegar. Thumbs up.

Tanjong Pagar Fried Kway Teow (Since 1980)

I stopped at this lady's stall in part because she is only open four days a week until 3 PM each day, and I figured that I might as well try it while I happened to be here (6 Tanjong Pagar Plaza #02-09). Like Katong (Peter) Fried Kway Teow Mee just a few stalls down, she similarly offers both a dark and white version. My white one was deceptively spicy and ultimately went down in a flash. I can't really remember Peter's enough to be able to make a good comparison, but it seems that he has an 11 year head start on them, seeing how his sign boasted of being around since 1969.

Keisuke's Rich Soup Spicy Duck Ramen with Nissin Red

Keisuke is running this spicy duck ramen special through the end of the month. And for some reason, the bowl that I got today was covered in chili oil (rather than being just a few drops like they showed in the picture). I'm not sure if that was a mistake or not, but I was quite happy that they did so, as it made this thing very fun to eat, all while still being able to taste the thick broth underneath as well as the firmly cooked noodles. Indeed, I liked it enough that I got an extra kaedama portion of noodles, lest the remaining spicy broth go to waste. He also seems to have a special featuring his bak kut teh ramen and a black oil, but I'm not as interested in that one, to be honest.

Nasi Goreng Kampung at Subang Airport

This was just a random plate of fried rice that I got at Subang Airport. What was particularly interesting though was that in addition to the little ikan bilis anchovies on top, there was also some kind of salted bacalhau in here, making it like Cantonese salted fish fried rice. I'm not sure if that's typical of a nasi goreng kampung, but it was delicious, especially when assisted by some of those delightfully spicy green chili peppers.

Eight Bowls of The Original Boat Noodle in Malaysia

I'm back at The Original Boat Noodle. This time, I needed more of a meal than a snack, so I went for eight bowls instead of four. One drawback of all of these little portions is that they cool off fast, so you've gotta wolf them down pretty quickly, which I did. Twelve bowls would've been possible too, but exercising some restraint was probably a good thing.

An Ostrich Ramly Burger from Malaysia...I think

I needed a spicy greasy batch of carbs before heading upstairs to my room for the evening, and fortunately there was a burger truck called AZ Burger right across the street from my hotel. There were a number of different types of proteins listed on their menu, including venison and ostrich. I went for the latter, but I have no idea if he pulled a fast one and just gave me beef, as I could hardly taste the meat when it was covered in all of that sauce and such (which, to be honest, was actually what I was looking for to soak up all of the beer in my belly). Either way, he used Ramly wrappers and it hit the spot just like a Ramly Burger would've.