China's Zhou Zhen Zhen Nanchang Fen Mian in Singapore

I had never heard of this dish until tonight, but it's a breakfast item from Jiangxi featuring rice noodles. This chain from China specializes in it, and they have a stall in Singapore (34 Upper Cross Street). It was better than I thought it would be, as it was nicely salty and savory without being excessive nor sweet, all while being a bit crunchy and not overdone. The mild spicy level was just right for me too. It was garlicky enough that a dragon breath warning applies, but at least the garlic didn't dominate the taste. I might get the tofu version next time instead of the beef.

Geylang Lor 9 Beef Kway Teow in Singapore

Somehow I never noticed this on previous visits, but these guys have a crispy shengmian noodle option beyond their usual rice noodles. I got that version today and I liked it. The noodles had a relatively firm texture despite the sauce covering it, and the noodles had that tinge of instant noodle-like guilty pleasure to it. I was a little disturbed by the slippery meat, but the tenderizer also made it easy to eat. The sauce was thinner than I expected; presumably it was both deliberate as well as a function of the starch thickening up the rice noodle version. It had a bit of spice in it too. I drank the sauce down to the last drop.

Kohaku Sabo at Chinatown Point in Singapore

So the Kokaku folks have a quaint wood paneled place at Chinatown Point that is meant to be more upscale and exclusive to Singapore (133 New Bridge Road #02-34). They have a number of non-tempura items like pasta, curry, and tonkatsu. But I went for that seasonal bowl above, which included some surprising things like a cherry tomato and shiso leaf. One nice thing is that they give the option to serve the sauce on the side, although one unfortunately still gets that thick batter.

Ramen Story by Jinggho Shokudo at Fortune Centre

This place is kinda wild (190 Middle Road #04-27). The chef used to work at Ajisen and Hototogisu and also ran a hawker stall, and now he's doing these localized bowls of chicken ramen. That meant that the broth wasn't particularly salty, which was a bit of a letdown, but there were also some nice surprises in there too, like some sautéed button mushrooms that were kinda fun. I won't get it again, but it was interesting to see, especially since they even did the Keisuke beansprout tub.

Mukai from Tokyo at Plaza Singapura

A kaisendon place from Shibuya has opened an outlet down here in Singapore (68 Orchard Road #B1-07, 6219-4846). It's more upscale than its lowly basement location suggests; that entry level bowl above starts at S$29 (US$23) and the prices accelerate from there. At least they give you multiple options for types of rice, vinegar, and ochazuke broth. The seafood is of good quality, including the delicate clams in my ochazuke. Apparently there is quite a bit of labor in hand-cutting the meat from parts like the heads.

But I suspect that the thing that gets this place attention is the visual impact of that meat stacked so high, not to mention the theatrics of the ochazuke portion by pouring in a broth on the countertop. Interestingly, the broth ended up being quite sour, and I am not sure if that's because of the broth or the vinegar in the rice. Well, I am curious about the other rice, vinegar and broth options. I just need someone else to pay. With my wallet, I'd rather go to Sushidan.

The Hakka Nook at Bishan Cafeteria

I turns out that the team behind Jiak Mee does Hakka food a few stalls down. The food wasn't as punchy as I would have hoped, as the meicai above was salty but not particularly savory, while the rice was mushy. They had leichafan too, but it wasn't particularly remarkable. That's too bad, seeing how much I like Jiak Mee. I would like to come back here to try their chye poh kway teow one day though.

Burrata Joy & Gustavo Lapasta by Garibaldi

I didn't realize this until today, but the Garibaldi folks have promoted their Burrata Joy delivery business into a couple of physical restaurants, combining it with a pasta business called Gustavo Lapasta, making for that very long and awkward-sounding name above. The prices weren't as low as one might think, and the food didn't blow one away either. But it was fast with good service at least.

Phở Gà from Spring Roll Station

OK I'm back here for the the phở gà, and I liked it a lot. They were not afraid to let it rip with the salt, green onions, and the soup, which was filled all the way up to the brim. The chicken was tender, and the broth was savory and could stand its his own, even if a squeeze a lime gave it another character. I don't eat this dish enough to know what it's like with the shredded lime leaves that it was apparently supposed to come with. But this was pure and finished with a bit of cracked black pepper. I'll go back for this.

Vietnamese Cháo Lươn Porridge from Spring Roll Station

I was originally going to get the chicken phở at Spring Roll Station tonight until I saw a sign advertising this "Vietnamese Herb Eel Porridge." It looked promising given its eel, shallots, and coriander. And fortunately, the laksa leaf in there wasn't too strong. It was seasoned just right and was comforting to eat. Apparently this dish came from rice-farming areas using field eels from the paddies.

Brotherbird Bakehouse at Raffles City Shopping Centre

I have a guilty pleasure, and it's this shop. Every time I walk down this hallway, I stop to get one of these mochi doughnuts. Sure, I like Mister Donut's Pon de Rings too, but these are denser and thus chewier. I get so much pleasure from eating one of these. Keep me away from this place!!

Scrambled Egg Rice Keisuke in Singapore

I'm a bit baffled by what Keisuke was thinking with this place. Sure, he has a thing for eggs, and this is a reincarnation of his short-lived omurice shop. But this is not the rice, egg, nor sauce used in omurice. The plain white rice suggests that it's meant to be more like Hong Kong scrambled egg rice or a variation of tenshinhan, but menu just starts with "Plain Egg Rice," or egguraisu. One then proceeds to select their rice portion and protein topping, which in my case was thick-cut ham above. The watery dark sauce wasn't particularly inspiring enough for me to even want to finish my rice. But one still gets that free bucket of bean sprouts.

Hiroshima's Toripaitan Ramen Torinosuke in Singapore

This chain from Japan has opened an outlet at Millennia Walk (9 Raffles Boulevard #01-106). As the name suggests, they serve toripaitan, but the broth was surprisingly tame. It tasted more like a chintan than a paitan, and was lacking in salt too. The quality of the ingredients, including chicken, noodles, and garnishes, were all fine. But it was a bore without a solid broth to pull it together. Apparently these guys are related to the Bari Uma folks?