forgoing alaskan crab @ sin hoi sai

You met Prof at The Gallery (Heeren) to shop for a watch. Cerruti 1881 it was. Then we discovered the-whatever-that-replaced-Marche was closed, so we decided upon cze cha at Sin Hoi Sai, Tiong Bahru Road, instead.

Ah Wai and Mister G joined us. Somehow Prof's playful suggestion of ordering Alaskan crab at the rate of Sing$12 per 100g did not materialize. (How are we going to ever make it to that Mellben place if none of us are ever up for crab?)

Sin Hoi Sai's version of marinated pork rib. "Gao gei" (dialect) with regular/salted duck/century eggs. And a rather assam-tasting tom yam soup. Prawn paste chicken and pepper pork ribs not in pic.

Now, about that Alaskan crab thingie Prof had his eyes on...?

sashimi @ rasa sentosa

eat. just eat.

You met Mister G and Not-at-Meeting Richard at The Cafe Cartel, IMM.


You were down with the flu again. But you never let yourself starve, especially when you are ill.

garden street kway chap @ serangoon gardens

The rice flour sheets were thin and soft. Good.

The various items were less tasty. Not so good.

protein, carbs and more protein @ astons express

You met Mister G for lunch at Astons Express, Serangoon Gardens.

Prime ribeye, house salad, and pasta salad.

You found a strand of hair in the pasta salad. Maybe they thought you were not getting enough protein.

ramen @ noodle house ken

Your post-Hush Puppies shop-alot meal.

The noodles tasted more alkaline than usual. Mr Personality Keewee says you should have complained to Ken. Orr.

ice-cream @ haato

Next up was the Ulu Pandan area. Ice-cream at Haato, to be exact.

Citrus and lychee flavours. But the combination just tasted wrong. Your bad.

fish mart sakuraya

Unfortunately, your stomach was full.

braised duck @ lim seng lee

From east (coast road) to west. You suddenly had the urge to visit the Pasir Panjang area.

Then duck rice came to mind.


The meat was sliced thinly. Quite tender, too. You did not like the gravy though.

chin mee chin

Well your house was not blown down by the big bad wolf. Whatever. Benny Lava.

But you digress.

No modules today. Thus, a third consecutive episode of BlackRx and Mister G's Gastronomical Adventures.

Chin Mee Chin at East Coast Road is, apparently, an institution. Bread. Pastries. Kaya toast. That kind of stuff.

You were underwhelmed by the breads.

You did not quite rate the kaya either.

What's wrong with you? So anal. Hah.

Where you saw eggshells, Mister G saw art.

claypot chicken rice @ new lucky

Mister G was in the Commonwealth area, so Clementi was sort of the middle ground. He suggested claypot chicken rice for dinner. Yeah.

The folks at New Lucky forgot to put salted fish into your serving. Which, in your opinion, is an essential component of this dish. Aargh.

coffee while in exile

You and Violet were waiting for Oxford Huanyang at the library. The cafe on level 3 was a ideal place to wait, read, browse, and surf.

And drink coffee and eat strawberry cheesecake.

flavour confusion @ icekimo

Then it was off to Icekimo at Sin Ming Road for ice-cream and the aeroplane game. Mister G ordered that 8-scoop thingie.

You were stricken by cough and flu, which you insist led to your inability to differentiate between the flavours. Yes. Really. "This scoop is Horlicks, not Nutella? Which is the D24 I absolutely want to avoid?"

Oh, and D-b-I Richard did not want to play the aeroplane game.

japanese buffet @ takaya (thomson road)

Mister G and yourself met Dispensible-but-Irreplaceable Richard near his stomping ground for dinner. You vetoed both kampong and non-kamping chicken rice. (It's either Wee Nam Kee or the highway. No other "Kee" comes close.) Nobody stumped that hard for Korean barbecue and Hong Kong Street franchise cze cha. Then the sign advertising "buffet for $23++" outside Takaya caught their eye. $23++. What the heck.

You felt the food was average. The cost per person was cheaper than Minori @ UE Square, but the range of items was also less impressive.

Mister G wondered whether long grain rice was used to prepare his fried rice. Hmm.

char kway teow at #01-01

Many months ago, Prof tried the char kway teow at #01-01, Amoy Street Food Centre, Maxwell Road, while waiting for you to meet him at Books Actually. He quite liked da grub.

It was your turn to check out #01-01 this evening.

Your verdict?

Taste: average at best. The chilli had little kick. The chinese sausages ("lap cheong") used were too sweet. It hurt that it was fried without any use of stock.

You also suspect the plates of kway teow were not fried individually. You placed your order a while after the lady in front, but both of you received your orders at the same time. Maybe that is why the dish lacked that touch of "wok hei"?

You'd much rather head back to Apollo Fried Kway Teow, located at Marine Parade Central. Your current fave.

no chickening out @ Ikea Tampines

After you powered up on mee rebus, Mister G asked, "More chicken? And meatballs, too?"

Sure.

So you and Mister G came to Ikea Tampines. You saw the crowd and the queue. You had to conquer the long wait before you could conquer the grub. So you did. Somehow. With a detour to Giant supermarket thrown in.

No. Chickening. Out.

mee rebus power @ Rahim

Early morning, start of another new year. T-minus-one day to exile. Nothing you could do to ease your trepidation except: eat.

You were not in the mood for Chinese fare, so Mister G suggested we power up on mee rebus (and soto ayam) at Rahim Muslim Food. You arrived before the Rahim folks were ready to begin business, and thus alleviated the waiting with a couple of soft-boiled eggs. But quickly leaving the issue of too much cholesterol aside, the mee rebus + satay gravy + extra chicken was just what you needed.

Now here is something else that caught your eyes, and you think you might as well bring it up: a Makansutra Food Masters 2007 award plaque was displayed quite prominently at the stall-front. There is a potential issue here, because you checked the list for 2007 again and again, and Rahim is not among the stalls conferred the award.

What's going on? Did Makansutra give out additional awards? Or did their corporate partner, Yeo Hiap Seng, do so? If the answer is yes to either, then this begs the question: why? Doesn't this cheapen the award, and come across as quite unfair to the official ten recipients?

south china sea dory vs. atlantic halibut

Both Shatec Ethan and Event Organizer KY have recommended Fisherman's Wharf at New Bridge Road, opposite Central Mall. So you, Ah Wai, and Prof went there before heading back to the latter's place for mahjong, Calpis Grape, and EPL.

It took us a while to get used to the queue-up-yourself-to-order system, and even longer to decide whether to go for their "standard" fish-and-chips, which appears to be dory fish, or for something more, uh, exotic. Then again, knowing the two guys you were with, should you have been surprised at their decisions?

In the Wai and Prof corner, we have... $6.50 South China Sea Dory! And, in the BlackRx corner, we have... $14.50 Atlantic Halibut! It was never going to be a fair fight. Wai and Prof teased you throughout the meal for spending twice their amount for a similar quantity of food. "South China Sea beats Atlantic!" they chimed.

Taste: the dory had a sweeter taste; the halibut tasted like, uh, halibut. The freshly cut fries became soft quite quickly, but that was to be expected. You went for the tartar sauce and curry mayo dips, and liked both.

Overall: you would go back again. Just that you think you will be more cost-conscious next time, and question the wisdom of ordering any cut of fish other than the dory.

bak kut teh @ Ng Ah Sio

Your previous meal at Rong Chen was a disappointment. So you told Ah Wai and Prof to meet at Ng Ah Sio (Rangoon Road) instead.

Ng Ah Sio serves a Teochew-style soup that is much more peppery than Outram Park Ya Hua and Rong Chen. Ah Wai actually felt the soup we tasted on National Day 2006 was even more peppery than today's.

More importantly, you found the taste to be way better than Rong Chen's. The latter does appear to serve better cuts of meat, though.

The ter ka (pig trotters) tasted average at best, but cost more than Rong Chen's. Ng Ah Sio appears to have raised prices across the board since your last trip -- heck, the staff are now using PDAs to take orders.

what you saw is not what you got

Went to Haagen Dazs at Junction 8 with Mister G, Doc Woon, and UCC Daniel.

You ordered the "Rich Hot Chocolate".


And when it was served, you thought they'd mistakenly prepared a latte.

And it tasted more of orange peel than chocolate.