hock gooi hainanese curry rice, golden shoe food centre.

it was purely by chance that i discovered this stall. needed a quick lunch in the CBD area, so we settled for hawker food. the layout of the hawker itself makes it difficult to discover new places- it has two levels, and each level is segmented in such a way that you'd be disinclined to venture beyond where you're seated to look at other stalls.

my friend chose a particular row, because she wanted wanton mee, so i just went with it. didn't have the luxury of time to be picky, anyway. i was first tempted by the dumpling soup at another stall, so i got that, but then the curry rice stall, with its perpetual queue, lured me in. so... i decided to be greedy and got a plate.



it was two-thirty, so they'd run out of their more popular items, including the char siew and the cabbage. i don't usually eat curry rice, so i didn't mind. i got the pork chop, beansprouts, beancurd skin and a generous ladle of curry over rice ($2.80).

it was pretty satisfying, especially considering how cheap it was. the pork chop was still crisp, though it was prepared a while earlier. also liked the curry, especially paired with the beansprouts. i could understand why there was a queue.



came back for a takeaway for my dad the next morning. at nine-thirty in the morning, they had all of their stuff available. 




managed to get the char siew this time, along with the braised cabbage. only tried the char siew, but i liked it. i can absolutely understand it'd be sold out. it was lean yet not tough, and well marinated.



nothing fancy. it was simple food done well. i'll be back if i need a quick lunch in the area.

hock gooi curry rice
#02-35 golden shoe food centre

london fat duck, scotts square.

to be honest, london fat duck has never been on my to-try list, as reviews online have been mixed. but my friends tried it previously and loved it, so we came by for dinner on a weeknight.

no reservations allowed, but thankfully we didn't have to wait long for seats (probably five minutes or so), even though the restaurant was crowded.

the menu consisted of roasts and the usual dim sum items. we ticked the items that we wanted on an order chit and passed it to the waitress (it was only later that my friend remembered that there were ipads available to do ordering on). food came really quickly- like within five minutes, which was awesome!

i was most excited by the black pepper london duck buns ($4.80), which my friends had had previously and raved about.

aloha poke, amoy street.

i've been tempted by their concept ever since i saw on instagram that they were opening. sashimi + rice + vegetables- right up my alley.


so i swung by for a takeaway, since i was going to be in the area. picked up the standard nalu ($15.90, but i only paid $12.80 because they were having a 20% off opening promotion), which comes with two scoops of poké. for my two scoops, i got one scoop each of the original ahi tuna and salmon. three other add-ons were included too, so i picked the flying fish roe, edamame and pomegranate.



it certainly was a pretty bowl, with bursts of colour from the pomegranate seeds, pineapple chunks and flying fish roe. the bottommost layer was brown rice, followed by the greens, then the various toppings.



thankfully it wasn't just pretty, but also tasty. i loved the marination of the sashimi cubes- reminded me of teppei's, but not quite as salty (which is a good thing since i find teppei's way too heavy-handed). the variety of toppings added much texture and flavour to the entire bowl. it was kind of like a chirashi, just with much more vegetables. they were also quite generous with the sashimi, so i didn't end up with just rice. would've liked them to be more heavy-handed with the other toppings though- especially the edamame and pomegranate, especially with that kind of prices.

it was also quite a good portion. i felt generally satisfied with the bowl, though i don't know if i'll come back, especially when i compare it to the daily cut, which still seems to offer better value for money.

aloha poke
92 amoy street
https://www.facebook.com/alohapoke

gyuu+ yakiniku grill, emporium shokuhin, marina square.

the power of social media is incredible- i saw an instagram post on this place, and promptly got tempted into trying it the next day. i've walked past the restaurant while checking out emporium shokuhin, even scrutinised its menu, but ultimately didn't try it as i was alone and yakiniku isn't exactly the kind of thing one eats alone. didn't even realise that they had bibimbap until the instagram post, actually.

so i was craving something hot for lunch, and a sizzling bibimbap sounded like a good idea. i'd briefly toyed the idea of with trying sushi murasaki over at millenia walk (also thanks to instagram...) but shelved that for another day (when i feel like indulging myself).

it was a friday afternoon, but emporium shokuhin was buzzing with people (so many people on a weekday afternoon... do they not need to work?!) senmi sushi and the ramen place was particularly busy, but gyuu+ was quiet, with only a few tables occupied. i attributed that to yakiniku not being a popular choice for lunch and just went ahead.

i got the ishiyaki bibimbap ($16), requesting for less rice and more vegetables. not sure if they acceded, since i've never eaten there, but the portion of rice was just right.

the bibimbap came in its full sizzling glory- always a good sign. i love it when the rice at the bottom gets a nice golden crisp from the hot stone bowl, and this did exactly that.



gyuu+ yakiniku grill
#01-18 marina square

grain traders, market street.

came by for lunch a few weeks ago, when they'd just opened. was excited to try, because it's opened by the people behind kilo (which i've been meaning to try for SUCH a long time), and also because i like their concept.

what i didn't expect, though, was how crowded it was. i figured that because they'd just opened, the lunch crowd wouldn't be that bad. i underestimated the power of the raffles lunch crowd. i managed to snag a seat, but only because i was alone, and managed to share a table with three guys.

i decided to build my own bowl ($16) instead of choosing one of their creations.



i picked the brown rice, topped with wild mushrooms, pulled pork, bean sprout salad, mixed bean pico de gallo and crushed peanuts.

&sons bacaro, china square central.

i've been eyeing their big plates lunch menu for a while now- in fact, every time i walk past on my way to the gym. i've heard good things about their small plates. my friend particularly recommended the sea urchin sabayon (mm...). did want to try it when i went for lunch, but the friend who went with me wasn't particularly hungry, so sharing was out of the question.

in the end we both just got stuff off the lunch menu. i was initially eyeing the grilled beef sirloin steak, but it didn't look very appealing on our neighbours' table. their pasta, on another table, did look really yum, but i wasn't in a carbs kind of mood, so i ended up with the slow cooked beef stew ($12.90).

our food arrived after a short wait. my friend got the salmon escalopes with grilled mushrooms ($12.90), which i tried bits of. the salmon skin was super crisp- really really good. the plate also came with grilled mushrooms and a salad.

mine came slightly later. i expected it to be more... stew-like. the plate that came, though, was more mashed potato than stew.



it wasn't bad, but it wasn't anything spectacular as well. the stew was tasty enough, as was the mashed potato, but i would've liked the beef to be cooked till tender. it wasn't tough, but it had more bite than i would prefer.

wouldn't go out of my way to come back for the beef stew, but the pasta looked really good, so might come back to try those instead. should've gone with my instinct and chosen the pasta- they are an italian place, after all.

&sons bacaro
#01-19 china square central
http://www.sons.com.sg

paddington house of pancakes, city square.

haven't actually really been to city square mall before. we were hunting down some food for dinner after the gym. after doing a bit of exploring, chanced upon the restaurant, which looked promising. it was a sunday night, and the place was pretty packed. we just barely got seats, and pretty crap ones at that.

the classic buckleberry fared better. it came with fluffy blueberry pancakes, omelette and ham, with maple syrup served on the side. the blueberry pancakes were absolutely the star. we were pleasantly surprised to find that it even had cream cheese filling in the centre.

sumiya, suntec city.

tried sumiya's chirashi for the first time at its orchard central outlet. i remember being blown away by how value for money it was- very generous serving of sashimi cubes, accompanied by a variety of sides. so when the suntec city outlet opened, i was excited to see what they had to offer. but then i realised that somehow, the suntec outlet's prices were higher for the same thing. that was the reason why i didn't try it, until recently when they started offering set lunches at a comparably competitive price point.


went for the kaisen bara don set ($18.80). it came with a variety of sides- edamame, salad, potato salad and miso soup.





all the sides were competently done, but of course the main focus was the kaisen don. it was beautifully presented, but i wish i could say the same for how it tasted. the sashimi cubes were cut way too small (i remember the orchard central outlet's offering to be bigger cubes), and the avocado was on the raw side, adding nothing to the experience. while eating, i had a nagging feeling that something was missing, and halfway through the bowl, i realised what it was. they'd completely left out salmon roe from my bowl! i consulted the menu again to make sure that salmon roe was included before asking the waiter, who then questioned, oh, is it included? ... okay... i persisted and was presented with a separate dish filled with salmon roe.

senmi sushi, emporium shokuhin, marina square.