China’s Hakka Yu in Singapore

i've been wanting to try this Hakka chain from China, but there was always a huge line in front of their Jewel Changi Airport outlet that I could never get in. They've since expanded though, and today my timing worked out. Yay!

See, the menu had quite a number of items on it that looked promising, but I was after one thing: their salt-baked chicken. And it was delicious! Not only was it moist with a mildly herbal tinge, but most importantly, it had just the right amount of salt and grease to be edgy without being excesssive. The best part was when it all came together together with the collagen in the skin to form a mildly sticky consistency that was fun to gnaw off of the bones. They arranged the carcass in anatomical order by the way, and they also labeled the dish as being an Intangible Cultural Heritage.

What's odd is that the franchise down here is run by the Putien team, and they decided to put that Spice Mum chili sauce on each table, which felt incongruent and forced. But I did go for their suggestion to pair the chicken with that light pork soup in the foreground, which was crisp and refreshing.

Flavour Fusion at Mercu Aspire, KL Eco City

This office building lobby café was not something I had expected to be anything worth talking about (3 Jalan Bangsar, +60-12-762-7686). But I was quite happy with that fish and scallop porridge above, as it was delicate yet textured, and I could wash it down with a local kombucha featuring calamansi limes. I won't make any huge effort to go back, but I am impressed by how nice some of the food has been on this trip.

Wawafish in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

There are a lot of really interesting shops down here, with this one specialzing in Ming red sour soup from Guizhou (137 Jalan Petaling, 010-899-6213). It was so much more refined than Xiao Yin Mao, with this cute little bowl of noodles that was sour enough to be edgy while being delightful enough to eat quickly.

They also served a so-called "drip wine" here, which is some kind of a strained low-alcohol cocktail. Mine tasted kinda waxy, and admittedly wasn't anything that I particularly liked. But I'd love to come back here and try more of their drip wines, as well as their food. They even had lahpet thoke on the list of specials tonight.

Chocha Foodstore in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Oh man, I wish I had known about this place earlier (156 Jalan Petaling, 03-2022-1100). See, down at the tail end of Petaling Street lies this unassuming little restaurant that serves refined and modern interpretations of local cuisine on small plates, and it was right up my alley. That included things like their nasi ulam rice with chopped local vegetables and a small salad with dried squid, as well as that citrus-cured fish above, all of which were wonderfully fragrant, fresh, and awesome. I love the food so much here that I intend to go back for their tasting menu; it's surprisingly expensive, but now I know that it will be worth it.

Samad Al Iraqi Restaurant in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

I love how KL has so much Middle Eastern food to choose from. I was quite excited to find that a rather grand chain of Iraqi restaurants from Dubai has an outlet at Menara Prestige (1 Jalan Pinang, 011-1110 0092). One dish that I wanted was a grilled fish called masgouf that I heard about in Dubai many years ago. But it was going to take one hour to grill and it was a big 2 kg portion, which would've been overkill for me as a solo diner.

So instead, I tried to find other quintessentially Iraqi items like this tashreeb lamb, which was cooked in a tomato stew that was poured over flatbread underneath to soak up. The lamb was tender, but not necessarily that interesting aside from the fact that the stew used dried limes to gave it a mildly acidic and bitter taste.

The other thing I got was a meat-stuffed dumpling called kubbah, which was a little more exciting because of the firm bulgur wheat casing with yogurt on the side. But there were raisins in there, so it was a little sweet. I'll be honest in that the food tonight didn't really do it for me, but I really really wanna come back for that fish and I'm gonna have to bring someone along to help me eat it.

Madam Kwan's Otah-Otah Fried Rice

I haven't been to Madam Kwan's in ages, especially after they left Singapore. But it made for a convenient lunch today here in Kuala Lumpur, so I grabbed this fried rice with chunks of otah in it. It was fluffy and light, and went nicely with the cut chili peppers on the side, even if the soy sauce was sweet. I washed this down with one of their "assam refresher" bubbly drinnks and left satisfied.

Tianxin Desserts at ICON Link@ClubStreet

This Chinese dessert shop (8 Club Street #B2-27) caught my eye, as it was sporting big signage about serving one of the four famous noodles types from Hainan, with this one being from the Hou An area there. Despite its mild appearance, it had more salt and garlic in there than one might think. It got better when paired with that sour minced yellow chili pepper paste from Hainan. I'm not gonna make an effort to go back for it, but it was interesting, especially since it was not the same as the one served at that People's Park stall.

The more memorable thing was a dessert that was innocently labeled in English as Hainanese Fevervine Herb. But the Chinese is jishiteng, or literally chicken shit vine, as the leaves smell like chicken shit when crushed. I can't say that I really know what that is supposed to smell like, but it was a little barnyard-like. As if to further fuel these silly jokes, the bowl had some small black rice cake things that looked like poop. Other than that, it was your typical warm and mildly sweet Chinese dessert with a touch of ginger that I kinda liked.

Chongqing's Dingjiapo Potatoes in Singapore

A new stall at *SCAPE bears a brand name from China (2 Orchard Link #02-25). From what I can figure out though, it is not an actual chain or franchise, but instead one of those collective brands like Shaxian Delicacies for culturally recognized foods in China. In this case, it's spicy potatoes from the Dazu District in Chongqing. The packaging even calls it out as an Intangible Cultural Heritage.

They offer their spicy snacks in several forms, with crispy fried potatoes being at the top of the list. But don't be mistaken like I was: those crinkle-cut "wolf tooth" potatoes above were *not* crispy, as that was a separate menu item. These were thrown onto a griddle and greased up with spices, making the potatoes more moist and vegetable-like rather than the deep-fried version that I thought it would be.

They also had a number of other things like tofu skin, grilled tofu, and even "potato chips." That last one is served cold, and presumably not deep fried like one might think either. Next time I'll have to try the actual crispy fried potatoes, not to mention their mashed potatoes, which it looks like they shape into a cake-like form. That, and also ask them to crank up the spicy levels as mine was too mild to be exciting.

Jianglai Xinjiang Cuisine at Cineleisure

A stall serving Xinjiang food has opened up in the basement of Cineleisure near Hunan Big Bowl. I went for that Signature Uyghur Pilaf above, which they advertised on big signs. It sounded very interesting because it was supposed to be rice laced with mutton fat and seasoned with cumin. There were several families here sharing assorted dishes from these guys, so I figured that they must be doing something right.

I was surprised to find though that it was a bit sweet from raisins and carrots, and the rice wasn't as fatty, salty, nor earthy as I had imagined it. I liked the spicy pickles that it came with at least, and I am kinda curious about the other things on the menu like a spicy noodle, flat bread, and yogurt. There is also a stall next to it doing that glutinous rice tea so I don't have to worry about Dakotea disappearing when Taste Orchard closes.

The Chopped Duck & Thai Herb Salad from Krapow

I'm not entirely sure if this is an Isaan version of this, but I assume that it is, especially since it tasted like larb. It was decently potent too, despite it being only the "mildly spicy" option. I happily wolfed this down with a little basket of sticky rice, and was happy with their other stuff too, including their "Devil's Fried Rice" with smoked chili paste. Their boat noodle broth was surprisingly sweet and herbal, but in a good way.

A Hot Hideout: the Singaporean Kind of Mala

Yes, that is this local chain's tagline. It was started by university students a number of years ago, with signage proudly boasting about how it's different from the mainland chains. Not surprisingly, that means less oil, salt, and spice, but that doesn't mean it isn't spicy, as even that mild broth above had some decent heat.

That thick collagen broth was probably the biggest difference from Chinese shops. That, and the lack of large condiment bar beyond sesame sauce, chili powder, peanuts, green onions, and cilantro. The food was edible, but my main reason for getting malatang is precisely to get seasonings that are not common locally.

That said, these guys did a few interesting things, like deep frying certain items and serving them separately, including whole potatoes that get sliced paper thin and fried crispy. There is also an option for a fluffy scrambled egg in the bowl. I prefer Zhangliang, but these guys deserve credit for embracing how they do it differently.

Hwa Ji Bak Kut Teh in Singapore

This is a kopitiam-based bak kut teh stall in the middle of the CBD that I went to out of sheer convenience (141 Cecil Street #01-03, 6448-5955). It wasn't as garlic and pepper-heavy as other shops like Ya Hua, and instead was a cleaner salty taste, kinda like Tuan Yuan's rendition, except this one was cloudy from the protein scum. My preference would be for more pepper, but at least these guys are open early in the morning so I can get protein here before heading up to the office in the future.