Superb Sandwiches

I was back in my old stomping ground of Joo Chiat for business recently, and I noticed that the Maison Kayser at Crane Road has been replaced by @woolysbagels quite recently. As you might expect from the name, they’re bagel dealers with an emphasis on bagelwiches, which range from the innovative like their Szechuan chicken to the classics like this Pastramania ($14.50 nett).⠀
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Select your fairly large bagel (I chose cheese), and they’ll cut into it, take a heap of beef pastrami & plop it between two halves of the bagel. The beef is then topped with a ponderous parcel of scrambled eggs on top of the pastrami and a generous gushing of sweet mustard on top before it’s capped off by the top half of the bagel. I didn’t notice the cheese in or on the bagel, but I certainly did notice that the bagel was boisterously bouncy with an addictive chewiness, making for a rather robust sandwich.⠀
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The pastrami was piquantly peppery, with an abundance of black pepper all over. The meat itself was fairly tender and satisfactorily salty with a superb smokiness. The scrambled eggs were a touch too dense & not airy enough, probably because the egg mix wasn’t whipped enough to sufficiently aerate it for that coveted airy scrambled egg texture we know, love and desire. The sweet mustard was the glue that held the bagel, eggs & pastrami together, but I reckon it would be better applied on the bottom half of the bagel, as the pastrami could use the creamy, sweet & subtly sharp condiment on it more than the eggs.⠀
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However, at just under fifteen bucks, the cheekily named Pastramania from Wooly’s Bagels is a bit of a bargain for such a beefy bagel. If you’re looking to make a meal out of it, get yourself some fresh out the fryer tater tots & and a tall cup of lemonade for an extra $4.90. Oh and did I mention that Wooly’s is halal?

The Cent-Threesome sees a ménage á trois of Jamon ham, turkey ham & steamed pork belly all on top of each other in a saucy sandwich. The two slices of toasted sourdough (?) bread were exceptionally excellent, with a crunchy crust but a soft bready interior that won’t utterly maul the roof of your mouth. The lush lemongrass sweet chili dressing was amply applied on said bread, and it was the perfect flavouring for the meats. It’s very mildly spicy, but delightfully sweet & aromatic from the lemongrass. It went remarkably well with the steamed pork belly, which was also quite exceptional due to the lack of any stench and a gelatinous, charmingly chewy rind. While I understand the idea, the addition of century eggs to this sandwich was a mismatch. Perhaps they would’ve been a better fit if it was a century egg aioli instead, but it is what it is.⠀
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Overall, I gotta say that the new dishes that Lil’s Taproom & Kitchen Playground have cooked up are delicious, innovative & whimsical. Quite impressive, and I’ll definitely be back for pints & grub. Thanks for the invite, @lils.taproom!

So as you can tell, I’m usually way behind the curve when it comes to most things. Which is the only explanation for why this is the first time I’ve ever had a banh mi from @banhmisaigon505, and god DAMN I’ve been missing out. There are FOURTEEN banh mi options on the menu, but the Roasted Pork Banh Mi (Bánh mi heo quay, $9.90 nett) appealed the most to my carnivorous sensibilities.⠀
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As you can see, this soft Vietnamese baguette is absolutely stuffed with roast pork. The crispy crackling has mostly gone soft as the pork belly has been left out for a while, but the few spots of crunchy rind did satisfy. The roast pork is decently seasoned & savoury, but Banh Mi Saigon’s treatment of it elevated it from a decent albeit unremarkable roast pork sandwich into an unforgettably unctuous one.⠀
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The fragrant & herbaceous scallion oil that’s been drizzled liberally all over the banh mi adds fresh, vegetal notes to the salty & rich roast pork. The oil soaked scallions strewn throughout the banh mi provide flashes of vegetal freshness to break up the meaty monotony of the pork, and when combined with the chunky cucumbers & julienned carrots, the bursts of freshness were able to coexist in harmony with the salty, sumptuous roast pork.⠀
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The baguette is a little crusty on the exterior, but it’s still soft enough to avoid destroying the roof of your mouth when chewing. The mildly gamey (chicken liver, I believe) pâté added richness & lubrication to the soft baguette, while the unknown spicy spread that was like a spicy mayonnaise was the perfect foil to rein in the richness of the pâté, and light up the banh mi with its spiciness.⠀
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When it comes to Banh Mi Saigon’s roast pork banh mi, I gotta tell you, it was perfect. Perfect. Everything, down to the last minute details.

The Ramadan pasar malam at Geylang Serai has gotten pretty bougie this year, and nothing says bougie like a lobster roll. Yes, you can order a lobster roll in a night market now, you’re not hallucinating. @houseoflobstersg have five varieties of lobster rolls for you to select, from the standard one to an exotic sounding Samyang lobster roll. I went for the Flaming Lobster Roll, priced at eighteen bucks flat.⠀
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Contrary to expectations, the Flaming Lobster Roll was completely bereft of spice, and instead features lobster chunks blanketed in torched, melted mozzarella cheese. The lobster bits are tossed & seasoned in a savoury mayonnaise mix, flavouring the slightly sweet & briny crustacean with salt & smooth creaminess. The lobster appeared to be suitably fresh, with a decently firm texture.⠀
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As you might’ve already anticipated, there isn’t all that much lobster considering that this roll is eighteen bucks. There’s a bit more lobster tucked into the middle of beautifully browned & more than amply buttered roll, believe me, and the amount of lobster per serving is best summed up as adequate. Then again, a lobster roll will set you back by at least thirty dollars elsewhere, so having a decent one for eighteen is already a bargain all thing considered. ⠀
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Come to think of it, I might go for the Samyang the next time, or possibly even the Napoletana. Honestly, it’s quite a feat to get a decent lobster roll at a bazaar for under twenty dollar, so compliments to House of Lobster are definitely in order.

At the Geylang Serai Ramadan pasar malam, it’s a tale of two dogs. Sure, there’s a couple more hotdog hawkers than just @meatmymeat & @kream.sg, but those two are directly staring each other down across the aisle, so they’re getting a faceoff here.⠀
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Kream’s Tokyo Dog ($7) was a much simpler but no less messy hotdog. The Tokyo Dog is the result of some (probably drunk or high) madlad who decided to take the toppings & sauces from takoyaki and slap it onto a hotdog instead. So what you get is the same sweet, salty & tangy takoyaki sauce, the richness of mayonnaise and the intense sapidity of the bonito flakes are paired with the meaty snap of a big hotdog. Despite this combo coming outta left field, it works astoundingly well, possibly due to hotdogs being easy to marry to anything by nature.⠀
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Despite the Tokyo Dog being less impressive than the Buffalo Cheesesteak Hotdog on paper, I have to declare the Tokyo Dog as the victor. And that’s all down to the fact that @kream.sg actually cares about their food, and they actually bothered to sear their hotdogs for maximal deliciousness. Effort always matters, folks.

Out of all the sandos at @thestacksg, the Pollo Avo Club was my favourite, just barely edging out the sublime K-Sando. As the name suggests, this sando is stacked with slices of smoked chicken & avocado, sumac onions and dressed adequately with a spicy aioli.⠀
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The tender chicken was lubed up well by the avocado, and each soft bite was well flavoured by the spicy, salty & satisfyingly creamy aioli. While the aioli is spicy enough to zing your palate, it’s restrained enough to avoid making you sweat. The sumac onions added that charming crunchy contrast to the soft textures of the avo, bread & chicken, but it did overpower the flavours of the chicken with its sourness by a fair bit. If the sourness were toned down a little, the Pollo Avo would be gucci. Still, even with overly sour onions, this was an incredibly delicious sando.

The other egg sandwich was considerably more…eggcellent. The K-Sando ($10+) is a vegan sando that contains eggs…eggplants, that is. The miso glazed eggplant is garnished with kimchi & kale, dressed lavishly in a gochujang aioli, and sandwiched between the same chewy buns as before.

Despite lacking meat, the K-Sando felt surprisingly complete. The supremely savoury miso glazed eggplants are perfect, while the slightly spicy kimchi chipped in with an addictive sourness that gets the saliva going. The kimchi & kale combined to give a soul satisfying crunch to the otherwise soft sando, forming a complete balance of tastes & textures.

If all eggplants were this good, it might just egg me into reevaluating my hatred for the purple thing.

@joochiatcaphe Earthquake ($8.50 nett) is a behemoth banh mi, with chicken ham, honey glazed grilled chicken thigh and grilled beef patties stuffed into a freshly baked Vietnamese baguette. It is a monstrous meat maelstrom, and I goddamn love it.⠀
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I’ve already reviewed the succulent honey glazed chicken before, and the standard was maintained this time. The chicken ham performs as expected of a typical chicken cold cut, upping the sodium & savouriness of the entire sandwich. The grilled beef patties are the real special element here though, and I couldn’t get enough of them. ⠀
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The grilled beef patties, which are more meatballs than patties, are infused with lemongrass and seasoned with hoisin sauce. The coarsely ground beef meant that each meatball required the barest minimum of effort before it disintegrated, while still possessing a satisfying bite thanks to the bigger bits of beef. The lemongrass has fully imbued its vegetal aromas into the beef, and the deeply salty & sweet umami flavours of the hoisin sauce flavour the beef excellently.⠀
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This beastly banh mi will rock your culinary world, and will absolutely destroy your hunger with its sheer size & tastiness. A true banger of a sanger, and this banh mi bussin, no cap(he).

I finally figured out what the Singaporean Vietnamese fusion was at @joochiatcaphe: it was ordering a Honey Glazed Grilled Chicken Thigh with Homemade Chicken Pate ($6.50) and adding a slice of mackerel otah for an additional dollar and fifty cents.⠀
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This Grilled Chicken banh mi was pretty decent even without the addition of the otah. The juicy, savoury chicken thigh was a decent complement to the heavy, salty flavours of the chicken paté, while the carrots, cucumbers, lettuce & chillies accentuated the crunch of the crusty baguette while keeping this sandwich real fresh. Fuck coriander, all my homies hate coriander.⠀
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What the mackerel otah adds here is a spicy, umami unctuousness to the banh mi. The salty & spicy grilled fish paste definitely adds a whole lot of fire, and its fishy sapidity just deepens the satisfaction your tastebuds extract from this superb sandwich. Traditional? No. Delicious? Yes. Is this banh mi for me? Heck yes.⠀
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Hotel? Trivago.

Joo Chiat has a disproportionately high concentration of Vietnamese eateries, and the newest one to join their ranks isn’t entirely Vietnamese. @joochiatcaphe fuses Singaporean elements into the Vietnamese classic of banh mi, and even though they’re not halal certified yet, they are definitely Muslim friendly.⠀
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Not gonna lie, the Battered Crispy Fish Fillet with Honey Mustard at seven dollars nett is neither Singaporean nor Vietnamese in particular. It’s definitely delicious, however, and it’s a terrific twist on banh mi. A beautifully battered, thick fillet of fish is slightly seasoned & deep fried to a glorious golden brown shade. Then it gets liberally drizzled with honey mustard, and into the freshly baked banh mi it goes very carefully.⠀
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As you might expect of any half decent deep fried fish, the batter is brilliant. It’s just thick enough to produce that distinctive, highly sought after crackle, but thin enough to not be an oil sponge. The fish fillet inside was startlingly stellar, and I was utterly floored by just how fantastic this fish fillet was. It isn’t the most well seasoned fried fish in town, but it is one of the flakiest and moistest fillets I’ve ever had. I’m not even kidding, there was an impossible amount of moisture being secreted by the pearly white fish.⠀
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The honey mustard dressing was equally awesome, and it flavoured the entire banh mi. It’s sweet, a little zesty, and it was a matchless marriage for the fabulous fried fish. The lettuce & cucumbers this banh mi was garnished with added a huge hit of freshness and crunch to complement the crusty Viet baguette. The iron heavy flavour of the chicken pâte spread on the bread is an acquired taste, but I rather enjoyed the smooth, strongly flavoured spread.⠀
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Joo Chiat Caphe might not be even remotely traditional, but it is remarkably, tremendously tasty. No cap, bro.

@supersubsingapore is a new hotdog joint at PLQ that slaps on some pretty radical toppings on the quintessential ol’ hotdog. Grilled capsicums, tomatoes & pickles? Nah, that’s so two thousand and late. How’d you like some spicy chicken bolognese on your hotdog? Or could I interest you in a mushroom ragout hotdog instead? Or perhaps I could tempt you with what I had, the Heavenly Yuzu Crab ($8.80 nett)?⠀
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You read that right, you’re not hallucinating it. Shredded crabmeat is mixed in mayonnaise and a slightly sweet yet delightfully refreshing & zesty yuzu dressing. The creamy, subtly sweet, satisfyingly salty and terrifically tangy elevates the salty, briny & subtly sweet crab meat into a perfect symphony of flavours that balance each other out. At the same time, this crabmeat dressed with yuzu mayo is so incredibly light yet satisfying I wished I was eating a dedicated crabmeat roll as opposed to a hotdog topped with this marvellous mixture. It may never happen, but I still hope for a day where @supersubsingapore sells this yuzu crab on its own.
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As for the hotdog itself, it’s a standard issue frankfurter. It’s magnificently meaty and joyously bouncy, and the casing snaps satisfyingly with that trademarked snap of a well made ‘dog. Both the sausage and the hotdog roll were grilled perfectly with a lovely char, but they don’t have a prayer of stealing the limelight from the sublime yuzu crab mixture. Protip: mop up any fallen globs of magical yuzu crab with the illegally addictive tortilla chips. Y’know what? Just top them chips with an over abundance of this crabby concoction, and I’d pay top dollar for it.
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For slightly under nine buckaronis, there ain’t no hotter dog in town than Super Sub’s sausages. Super Sub is doing a super job of putting the sub in sublime, no cap 🧢.

@samwitchsg is a fortnight old (at time of writing) sandwich shop that currently only serves two sandwiches: a slow cooked shredded chicken sandwich, and this beautiful beef pastrami sandwich. As for why it’s called Samwitch, well, one of the three women running the place is named Sam. No surprises there.⠀
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At $10.60 nett for this sandwich, a tiny tub of coleslaw, and a cup of either amazing American sweet tea that’s ravishingly refreshing or ice lemon tea, it’s an acceptable deal. The pastrami, which is slow cooked till it falls apart with minimal convincing, is a little underseasoned on its own. The brilliant brisket is spiced with all the prerequisite spices that make a pastrami, but the flavours are very subtle & are quite shy to reveal themselves to your tastebuds.⠀
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However, this was balanced out with an ample application of smoky barbecue sauce onto one half of the sandwich. The mountain of meat that was piled between the bread was definitely the selling point here, and as mentioned before, the tender meat was amped up with the savoury BBQ sauce which made for a delicious eating experience. That, and the slices of sharp pickles, and the shredded cheese. Admittedly the cheese could’ve been melted more, but it ain’t too bad for a start.⠀
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For all my Muslim ladies & gentlemen out there, I’m sorry but no, Samwitch has no intentions of going halal yet even though they use neither pork nor lard in their preparations & recipes. They are looking to expand their menu sometime soon though, so I’ll definitely be watching them. In a non-creepy way of course.