Hummus from North Miznon Singapore

This was the hummus from North Miznon today; it was unapologetically drowning in bright olive oil and I loved it. One could just sit there and mop it all up with bread. Perhaps also interesting was their fish kebabs, which I had initially expcted to be solid chunks of fish. It was only after it arrived did I remember that these guys like to make them into minced meatballs. It was deliciously firm and smoky either way.

LoveLei Food in Singapore

This is a small leichafan chain that commands some rather painfully long waits during the busy lunch hour. And to be honest, the bowl above wasn't anything that special; they were surprisingly stingy with the vegetables and portion sizes.

But the interesting thing for was that they offer a leicha paste option, which basically means they don't add hot water to make a green broth. What you end up getting then is a thick and salty sludge that's cold, and it's actually kinda good in the sense that it acts like a dip or even a salad dressing (which in fact, they offer as an option on some of their protein plates).

Next time I'll get one of those plates with leicha fried beehoon and maybe order a side of yong tau foo or one of those caipoh omelettes. I won't bother with those Hakka fried pork strips above though, as they were pretty dry and boring.

Lobster King Pao Fan in Singapore

Not to be confused with Keisuke's defunct Lobster King, this is a small chain of paofan stalls that was better than I was expecting. Not only was the broth thick and rich, but they also formed those prawn and fish balls to order; no frozen factory-made ones here! They gave a good amount of crispies on the side to throw in too, although there was no cilantro, unfortunately. The food reminds me a lot of Chef Wai's, which makes me wonder if there is some connection.

Happy Noodles at 777 Famous Coffeeshop

Apparently the chef behind Ah Hoe Mee Pok is behind this small Happy Noodle chain (55 Lengkok Bahru #01-387). The noodles were firm, and they definitely weren't holding back on the crackling and grease in here. Normally, that grease would be a welcome thing for me, but in this case it was honestly a bit too much. I ended up liking that smoky plate of Hokkien prawn mee behind it more. It's from a shop called Ah Huat, which originated up in Punggol.

Hong Lim Curry Puff in Singapore

This small chain is apparently a spinoff of one of the Tanglin Curry Puff stalls at Hong Lim Centre, but I'm not sure which one. They make some generously large ones, with this chicken one featuring a hard boiled egg in there. More notably, the pastry was impressively flaky. But it also wasn't as rich as places like J2 Crispy Curry Puff, which is still my preferred curry puff vendor.

China's Zhou Zhen Zhen Nanchang Fen Mian in Singapore

I had never heard of this until tonight, but Nanchang banfen is a rice noodle breakfast dish from Jiangxi. 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 skin topping 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 exclusive to Singapore and meant to be more upscale (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.