Dum Biryani from Gayatri

We came to Gayatri (122 Race Course Road, 6291-1011, with other locations at Robinson Centre and Hotel Meridien) to try to get a real dum biryani tonight. This time, it came packed into one of those metal bowls, whereupon the waiter inverted it in order to dump the stuff on a banana leaf (is this the real thing then?). Aside from that though, it didn't really seem that different to me. Sure, the rice was a little more moist and maybe had a touch more spices, but not by that much. There was a huge chunk of mutton shoved in there, but it was so big that it kind of lost its appeal after a while. I mean, it wasn't bad, and it certainly was filling, but I kinda liked the free raita and eggplant veggies better (gotta love those free refills scooped from those metal hand-carry cylinder things). Maybe its my fault for getting the mutton version. A sign outside claimed fame to a good chicken dum biryani instead.

Well, it definitely was cheap, with most menu items priced in single digit figures. And the service was super prompt (even without that wireless paging system on each table). I don't mind coming back to Gayatri, but the dum biryani didn't seem like anything mindblowing just yet (and the vindaloo was disappointingly mild, although I guess this isn't exactly the right place to get a blazing hot English curry). I should ask my co-worker where his favorite dum biryani place is so as to get the best example for me to try.

Fifth Season, Race Course Road

I had a random conversation the other night with some Indians who had proudly boasted that Indian Chinese food was better than Chinese food itself. All the same, I'd also heard of mainland Chinese folks who had gone to India and screamed bloody murder upon seeing their culture's dishes being morphed into something unrecognizable. With something so controversial (not to mention an interesting discussion that ensued recently about localization), I knew that I had to come here to see for myself. Tonight, I made my way down to Fifth Season in Little India (28 Race Course Road, 6293-4842), a rather small yet decently-decorated place carrying the tagline: "A Dedicated Indian Chinese Cuisine."

Reading the first page of the menu was a bit educational too, as it explained how a big Chinese population developed in the Tangra section of Calcutta, and had localized some of their "bland Cantonese sauces" for the local Bengalis. Then a second phase started when Tibetans migrated to India and found jobs as Chinese cooks. The last words of the narrative were exactly what I wanted to see: "Just order and explore...Your quest for [the] best Chinese cuisine ends here." I had already planned to do the first part, but the verdict on the second part was yet to come.

I started with a couple things that were apparently more Tibetan than Chinese: the momos and the thukpa. The former was actually a set of dumplings that were quite tender and tasty, and yet were paired with a hot sauce that was far from the usual Chinese garlicky stuff...in a good way. I gobbled those up pretty quickly. The thukpa soup noodles were interesting too as they technically weren't even on the menu, and yet the staff was happy to make some for me, with a warning that it was "spicy." When I got this bowl, it turned out not spicy at all, but the taste was very clean and savory, and in fact reminded me a bit of Burmese food. OK those worked for me. What's next?

The dishes then moved to the Chinese side of the spectrum, starting with the "Chilly Chicken" (and that's chili - as in peppers - rather than chilly - as in cold). They gave an option of a dry or gravy version. I really wanted to push this food to see how far it could go, so I intentionally ordered what sounded less appetizing to me: the gravy version. Fortunately, this turned out better than I thought it would. The dark brown colored gravy wasn't too bad and was still decently spicy and savory enough to be pretty tasty. But it wasn't anything that I would want to order again, as it actually reminded me a bit of American Chinese food. I guess I was hoping to see what Chinese food would taste like with a heavy dose of Indian spices (or something like that), but this tasted more American than anything.

I was still a bit hungry, so I grabbed a couple more items, such as a chicken sweet corn soup, and a white gravy chow mein. They didn't sound like anything interesting enough that I would order on my own, but my co-worker from Calcutta told me that those are things that he ordered all the time back home (I asked him to recommend dishes that "Indians consider to be Chinese food, not what Chinese people consider to be Chinese food"). The corn soup was light, and I didn't mind it at all, but the corn-starchy egg-drop-laden stuff did remind me again of some Chinese food that I could get back in the US (nor did it seem very localized to India from what I could see). And the chow mein in the end was definitely different. The noodles that sat underneath this clear gooey topping were hardly even scorched by the pan (i.e., there was no chow in the mein!). This was my least favorite, and now I can see why I had heard about mainland Chinese screaming about this stuff.

In the end, I liked the more Tibetan-inclined dishes than Chinese. The "Chinese" dishes really seemed frighteningly like American Chinese food (which I guess makes sense to some degree if they were both Cantonese in origin), especially with the way that they loaded up common veggies across several of the dishes (American Chinese food oftentimes has senseless amounts of sliced carrots across the dishes, more so for the sake of giving the dish some color and mass than anything else). In fact, they also listed "American Chop Suey" as well as "Chinese Chop Suey" on the menu here (and no, I don't know what the difference is). Still, I found these Indian Chinese dishes to be a step up from those American atrocities like Panda Express and Mr. Chau's...at least these guys took a little more care in preparing the ingredients than those crudely cut veggie chunks at those fast-food American places. Well, if I come back, it will be more for the Tibetan stuff, and it won't be anytime soon. Maybe I'll go next door to their sister restaurant Mustard, which specializes in Bengali food.

Founder Rou Gu Cha Cafeteria

This is one of my favorite bak kut teh places on the entire island (347 Balestier Road, 6352-6192), mainly because they have an option for you to get the entire rib rather than it being chopped up into smaller pieces. Admittedly, it doesn't seem to make that much of a difference in taste (although today's did seem a bit fattier), but this guy makes the peppery variety of the broth that I like.

I was a bit surprised that he didn't give any garlic cloves though, and I wish that the salted vegetables were a touch more sour rather than having that mild tinge of sweetness that they exhibited tonight. In that sense, I suppose that Ya Hua has an edge up on this place, although I don't think that Ya Hua gives the full-rib option.

Anyway, like most bak kut teh places, these guys are open late, making this place great for post-drinking episodes. I don't know why they have the word "cafeteria" in the name, but these guys appear to be rather famous, with pictures of celebrities from HK/Taiwan plastered on the walls. The drawback of course is that lines sometimes form here too. Sure, I suppose it may be a bit overrated in that sense, but it's not unfounded either. I'm still happy to come here.

A Random Plate of Dum Biryani

One of my Indian co-workers says that his favorite dish in the world is dum biryani. I happened to see some guy selling it today at some random hawker stall, so I figured that I would give it a shot to see what it was all about. He gave me a choice of chicken or mutton; I opted for the mutton.

Maybe I got my hopes set too high, but it turned out to be nothing more than just a simple plate of rice and curry, together with some pickled vegetables on the side and a crispy papadum. Actually, I did rather enjoy the taste: this guy made his nice and spicy, and it all paired up very well (and the portions were very generous). It was quite satisfying in the end. I don't know if I'd go so far as to say that it is my favorite dish in the world, but I'm sure that there are so many variations of this thing too that there are probably some great ones out there that will hopefully knock me off my feet.

Fishermen's Wharf, New Bridge Road

A recent comment about Fishermen's Wharf (27 New Bridge Road, 6532-6468) must have planted a thought in my head to come here again. I also made such a big fuss of this place last time that I wonder if I had just gotten carried away with myself with all that exuberance; was it really as good as I had made it out to be back then? (It was over a year ago that I was last here.) I came here tonight to find out.

As with before, this place offered a wide selection of fish at varying prices, starting with the S$6.50 (US$3.80) Cream Dory Filet (I presume that they simply meant John Dory?) and going up to the most expensive S$15.60 (US$9.20) North Atlantic Cod Loin (as opposed to the North Atlantic Cod Filet, which went for a cheaper S$12.50 or US$7.35). Seeing that I seemed to feel so strongly about the John Dory last time, I wanted to see what this place could really be capable of if I went to the other end of the spectrum and picked the most expensive item instead: the North Atlantic Cod Loin.

It came out in three thick strips (I suppose that's why it's the "loin"?) rather than one big flat contiguous piece. It was piping hot and tasted fine, but not to the point where it was worth the nearly three times the price of the cheapest John Dory (plus the chips were a bit cold). Still, it was relieving to have some down-to-earth fish & chips without any lame frills like a salad on the side. This was just a straightforward bunch of fish & chips, complete with vinegar, a rich tartar sauce, a fat lemon wedge, and a big bottle of salt.

Actually, the portions were a bit small, and I was still hungry, so I figured that I'd try another one. This time, I asked for a recommendation, and the cashier suggested the Snow Fish for S$14.00 (US$8.25). What's a Snow Fish? (especially in warm Singapore, of all places) The menu said that it was some rare local specialty with snow-white flesh. Well, I decided to take her word for it and try it. As it turned out, I didn't care too much for this one, not only since the meat was strangely stringy, but more importantly because the fish didn't taste very fresh. It only dawned on me afterwards that today was Monday (I hit myself on the face as Mr. Bourdain's voice repeated itself through my head). Indeed, the cashier offered her recommendation so quickly that it seemed like she had practiced it in advance. Well, at least the chips were hotter this time.

So these two experiences weren't as great as last time, but it made sense; I should have simply gotten the high-volume moving (and cheapest) S$6.50 John Dory instead. I'll still come back without any doubt though. They had some fish that they apparently meuniere, which sounded interesting. They also offered some lunch special at S$9.50 (US$5.60) that comes with Saithe Loin (I think that's pollack), cole slaw and a soda. In the worst case, I know that I can fall back on the John Dory. In the end, I didn't quite get to verify if my effusive comments from last time for the John Dory were really valid, but I know that I'll get plenty of chances again in the future.

Archipelago Brewery Company

I was just randomly walking down the street when I noticed this place (79 Circular Road) all nicely done up in wood decor and with twin fermenting tanks. I asked myself, "Whoa...is this a new microbrewery in Singapore?" I stopped in to check it out.

According to the coasters in this place, Archipelago was established in 1931 and was the first commercial brewery in Singapore before being sold off. But this place had only been open for three weeks, so I'm assuming that they revived the name more for marketing purposes than actually carrying over any of the beer. (A search online shows that this is actually run by APB, the behemoth behind Tiger Beer...kinda like Anheuser-Busch creating a "microbrew." They also apparently tried to use some Asian spices in the beer, such as lemongrass and tamarind.)

They had three beers on tap: the Trader's Ale, Straits Pale, and Traveller's Wheat. The first one turned out to be rather hoppy, which is a personal dislike of mine, so I moved on to the Straits Pale, which was fortunately maltier and smooth. (I don't like wheat beers, so I didn't even bother with the third.) Even though I liked the Straits Pale the best, I didn't like it so much that I would rush to come back here. The taste still seemed to stop short of what I'd prefer to have. That being the case, I'd much rather head over to Brewerkz instead (and no, they didn't appear to be serving food here).

Hot Stones, Clarke Quay

I kinda knew that this whole thing was a bit of a gimmick, but I was feeling a bit carnivorous tonight, and I thought that I had remembered eating something similar a very long time ago that was decently enjoyable. So I stopped by this place tonight (Clarke Quay #01-06, 6333-4868, with another location at Boat Quay) with the intention of checking it out. The idea, of course, is that this flat slab of a rock is heated to a scorching hot temperature and brought to you so that you cook your steak in front of you with it. I ordered a ribeye, and in less than five minutes, the hot platter was brought to me with a bloody red ribeye on it sizzling away. I was getting my hopes up too; the aroma coming from the neighboring tables was whetting my appetite. I proceeded to flip the steak and cook away, a bit akin to Pepper Lunch.

Unfortunately looks (and smells) can be decieving. While the meat was very tender, I took just one bite of it and I knew that something was wrong. The meat simply had no taste whatsoever; it was almost as if the beef was not aged or something. This was particularly important to me, as I'm a guy who hates putting sauces on steaks, opting instead for the natural taste of the beef. This was seriously one of the most bland things I'd ever tasted.

In light of that, I reluctantly tried dipping into the sauces in an effort to save the meal and get some more flavor out of it (maybe that's why the meat was bland, since it's common around here to cover steaks with sauces anyway). But none of the sauces agreed with me (sadly, the best one I could find out of them all was a wasabi-based cream). I tried salt too, but that didn't quite do the trick. I even tried using pieces that had more fat in them and scorching the fat as best I could to get more flavor out of it. Alas, none of these worked. Maybe I should have asked for some butter or something.

Oh well. I was warned ahead of time that this place was no good, but I guess I had to see for myself. And indeed, I did (even the potato salad on the side was bland). The only thing that I could see going for it was how quickly the food came (it's not like they needed to cook anything in the kitchen), but this advantage was quickly offset by the guy at the register who forgot to process my credit card at the end of the meal. I waited around naively for about ten minutes before getting up and walking up to the register myself, after which the guy realized that he had forgotten about it.

Botak Jones, Ang Mo Kio Ave 5

This place, if the story I heard is correct, is run by the (bald, or botak in Malay) guy who started Jerry's BBQ in Singapore way back in the day (until it changed owners). I was never a huge fan of Jerry's (it simply didn't come close to real BBQ), so I never really wanted to make a huge effort to come here either. But we were in the neighborhood today, so we stopped by (608 Ang Mo Kio Ave. 5, 6755-1225 with another location wayyyy out in Tuas).

In stark contrast to the restaurant setting of Jerry's, this was in an open food area with plastic chairs (known as a "coffeeshop" around here...and no, that doesn't mean Starbucks). It was surrounded by your typical selection of local food vendors, like noodles and rice and such. This stall though, was plastered with claims of "Authentic American Food" and slogans like "Damn Good Food at a Damn Good Price." A chalkboard hung on the wall with some of their selections (they also had stapled photocopied menus on yellow paper) where you placed your order then grabbed a random table for them to serve (and charge) you at.

We started today with the jalapeno poppers (officially called Stuffed Jalapenos here). I was a bit bummed upon my first bite to find that the cheese inside hadn't even melted all the way through yet, and that these in fact were still a bit cold in the center (there was also a little bit of water dripping out, presumably since these things were kept frozen until they needed to fry them). Despite that, the taste was one of the better ones that I've had in Singapore, and was fortunately inspirationally spicy in the process.

Next up was the Botak Burger. The first thing that struck me was the shape of the patty, which was very thick but also very small in diameter, thus easily conjuring up thoughts of homemade burgers back home that always run into that exact same problem (i.e., the meat always shrinks into a big thick glob on the grill rather than the wide flat patties one gets in specialized establishments outside...cue Eddie Murphy's Raw here).

And indeed, it tasted like a homemade burger...the bun became a little soggy as the juice from the too-thick (and slightly lukewarm) patty leaked out onto it. While no one was going to complain about homemade burgers at a BBQ back home, people would much rather go out to eat a tastier (and flatter) grease bomb from a dedicated burger stand down the street instead. Similarly, this burger here wasn't any huge attraction for me. It tasted like a homemade burger, that's all.



Last but not least, we got the Chili Dawg, which came in a gargantuan-sized portion. The menu said they used their own "Whoopass Chili Con Carne" on the dog, but the chili here was boring to me. The sausage itself at least had a snappy casing, but the taste was also a bit of a yawner. And strangely enough, they put lettuce into this thing (in a chili dog??), and paired it with a jalapeno on the side. In the end, this thing simply lacked a greasy edge and was a far cry from Pink's.

Still, this place did beat my expectations, and admittedly I did like the coleslaw as well as the seasoning that they used on the fries (it seemed like paprika mixed with Lawry's Seasoned Salt or something). Then again, I set my expectations pretty low to begin with, seeing that I don't really like Jerry's BBQ. If I come back here, I'm definitely going to bypass the burger and the chili dog. I wouldn't mind trying that bacon-wrapped hot dog they had on their menu, or maybe even just a simple steak (I also noticed them bringing out malt vinegar bottles for patrons who ordered fish & chips). Hopefully they will get the jalapeno poppers right next time too.

Sop Buntut is Really Growing on Me

Here's another bowl of sop buntut from Bintan today. I'm really liking this stuff. Today's bowl was tongue-scorchingly hot (temperature-wise) but super savory and light that went well with the rice and crackers. The twists of lime added an extra dimension, as did the curiously green but spicy and oily (in a good way) sambal sauce, which had no fishy taste in it at all either (yay!).

The meat itself was of course tender, and I even tried to see if I could extract some bone marrow out of these, but unfortunately without much luck. Anyway, thumbs up on this stuff for me. I'm really liking it.

The New Harbour Cafe & Bar, Tanjong Pagar

This place (114 Tanjong Pagar Road, 6226-2657) had been mentioned to me a number of times in the past. And even though I walked by this place frequently, I never stopped to eat here, as my gut kept telling me that the food would be totally localized and not worth eating. But after hearing another mention of this place the other day, I figured that I'd give it a shot to see what all the fuss was about.

They had some lunch specials for S$11.90 (US$7.00), and today's fortunately happened to be the fish & chips that was once a topic of discussion in the past, so I went for that. The set started with a rather pleasant surprise: seafood gumbo. I didn't even realize that was the soup of the day until I took a first stir and up came a slice of okra. I asked myself, "Hey...is this gumbo??" I took a taste, and indeed it was, and a decent one at that (although my expecations were set very low). There was no rice, but hey, this was off to a better start than I had expected.

Then came the fish and chips itself. And here is where things took a turn for the worse. I had asked the waitress for malt vinegar, and in return, she threw me this puzzled look that pretty much said, "Why the heck would you want to put vinegar on your fish & chips??" It was almost as if she had never heard that request from anyone in her entire life. All right, well I didn't want to jump to any conclusions yet, seeing that I hadn't even tried the fish itself yet.

I had to do one thing first though: clear that annoying little salad thing out of the way (it's a pet peeve of mine, seeing that it is a bit pointless to put some leaves on a plate of fish & chips). But when I took a bite of the salad, I realized that they had put salt on it (and a lot too...it was really salty!). Whoa. Who puts salt on salads? (They put white pepper instead of black pepper on it too, which was of course also a bit odd.) My fears of localization were indeed coalescing now. This brought back memories of some French fries that I once had in Taiwan that had salt and pepper sprinkled on it by default. French fries of course need salt, but pepper?? We had asked why these folks in Taiwan had put pepper on the fries, and they said something to the effect of, "Isn't all Western food supposed to be seasoned with salt and pepper? Isn't that why there are salt and pepper shakers on the table?"

Finally I made my way to the fish itself, which interestingly wasn't battered, but rather was covered with bread crumbs first before hitting the deep fat fryer. OK, that actually wasn't too bad, and featured a very delicate fish inside that I admittedly enjoyed. And it was tongue-scorchingly hot from the fryer too, which was good, although the fries were not nearly as hot...clearly a sign of being deep-fried much earlier and sitting around for a while. They also only provided one stingy little packet of tartar sauce that barely lasted me one piece of fish, let alone two. And nope...no vinegar.

So what's the verdict? The fish itself was much better than I had expected, but all in all, my fears about localization weren't too far off-base. The first item on the menu, a "black pepper chicken chop," only seemed to further reinforce that perception. To be fair though, I did see some interesting things available, such as a number of types of escargot as well as burgers on the separate barfood menu that might be worth a try. And the food was served very quickly here, thus making it convenient for a quick weekday lunch. But would I recommend anyone to make an explicit effort to come all the way here? Based on today's experience alone, probably not. Maybe my opinion will change after I come back to try some of that other stuff, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

Lian He Ben Ji Claypot Rice

Located at stall #01-203 of the temporary Chinatown hawker center out on Outram Road, these guys are allegedly quite famous. What do they specialize in? Claypot rice, which is kinda like a cross between a paella and Pepper Lunch, but in a local way. It's basically rice with a few pieces of chicken, Chinese sausage, and salted fish placed in this claypot and put on a fire. Add some dark/sweet soy sauce and oil to taste, and mix it all up.

Unfortunately, I wasn't a huge fan. I could appreciate the smoky taste of the rice, but other than that, it was a bit tasteless unless I bit into a piece of sausage, which I found too sweet for my liking. There was some chicken in there too, but the hassle of gnawing on the bones and spitting them out was a turn off for me. And while I do like Chinese salted fish with rice, I grew tired of it by the time I reached the bottom of the bowl.

Actually, there was one part of this dish that I admittedly did enjoy a lot: the crispy burnt rice that got stuck on to the sides of the bowl, just like at Pepper Lunch. Be careful though; I actually scraped so hard to get those pieces off that I broke off one of the ceramic handles of the pot while holding it and ended up cutting my finger in the process. Boo hoo.

New Seoul Korean Restaurant, Peck Seah Street

All that talk about Korean food looks like it subliminally planted a thought in my head to go get more today, as I found myself gravitating toward another Korean place in the area: the simply-named New Seoul Korean Restaurant (72 Peck Seah Street, 6324-3009). I picked up a bowl of the mul neng myeon, which is kinda like a Korean version of cold hiyashi ramen, complete with a side of mustard too. This one came with thin ice chips but very fresh ingredients as well as a full selection of kimchi. As is customary in Korea, they also provided a pair of scissors to cut the thin brown noodles into more manageable pieces. This was pretty filling after all the kimchi and the like, despite not having any meat in the entire process. It worked for me.