Restaurants

Brotherbird's mochi donuts with soft serve are, to me, one of the truly successful innovative desserts. They're tasty as much as they're aesthetic, and are worth the hype.

I ordered the apple cinnamon and the salted caramel mochi donuts ($15 each). Both came with the same mochi donuts but with different soft serves and toppings.

The soft serves were good, not too sweet yet flavourful, though I felt the apple one tasted a little artificial. I'm a big fan of salted caramel and this didn't disappoint.

The magic happens when you take a bite of the soft serve together with the mochi donut and crunchy toppings (granola and cornflakes iirc). The mochi donut is fresh out of the fryer, crisp on the outside and chewy and soft on the inside; the contrast with the soft serve is irresistible. The mochi donut manages to be rather light in contrast to its appearances. The combination of flavour, temperatures and textures is moreish and I wouldn't have minded polishing an entire one off.

Though Brotherbird's mochi donut with soft serve is a tad ok the expensive side (they don't charge gst and service charge), it's definitely worth the trip down to Bali Lane for a try.

I remember eating Song Kee back at their old location in Serangoon - it's a pity that their new stall in Joo Chiat hardly lives up to their old standards.

I ordered the $6 portion. It came with a good selection of ingredients - fishballs, stuffed tau pok, her giao, and a meat dumpling. Variety, though, didn't make up for the lack of quality.

Firstly, the noodles. The portion of the noodles was small and felt a tad stodgy. Their chili, however, tasty as it was with the belacan, was simply far out of proportion to the quantity of noodles. It overpowered the other subtler flavours of the vinegar and the mee pok, leaving every bite being one dimensional.

The fishballs were nothing to shout about either. While they were large and certainly not the mass produced type, there was very little fish content and a lot of flour.

The her giao and the meatballs were the only 2 standout pieces. The her giao was nice and smooth and rather generously filled. The meatballs were tasty and had a good texture but were quite salty.

The final telltale sign of the lack of care that went into the bowl? The accompanying soup was completely bland and tasteless.

Needless to say, for the money it was a disappointing bowl of noodles. I won't be back for seconds.

A very competent dish - thick but tender bitter gourd slices, fresh and chunky pieces of fish head and good wok hei in the sauce. A very reasonable price point as well. I felt that the black bean flavour could have been richer, though if you prefer a lighter profile in the sauce this is excellent. Great with a bowl of white rice.

Not the most aesthetically pleasing but certainly a foolproof and delicious dish. Deep fried smashed baby potatoes were given a distinctively Taiwanese twist with the addition of salted plum powder, which gave a hint of sweetness that helped elevate the dish. Only wish the dish was a little bigger.

Crunchy pieces of brussels sprouts, lightly charred on the outside. This dish came recommended and it didn't disappoint. Moreishness from the mushrooms and salted pork slices and a slight citrusiness completed the dish.

A fun little bar snack - chicken hearts topped with fried shallots and spring onions. The chicken hearts were well done and tender, and well seasoned. The generous toppings of fried shallots helped to add to the bar snack appeal. Slightly unfortunate that some pieces seemed halved ending up a bit too small. A nice little appetizer.

Nothing much to say other than this was a well executed plate of fried chicken. Came piping hot, crispy and a good ratio of batter to chicken. The accompanying nori mayo was nice as well, helping to cut the richness of the fried chicken. The mild nori flavour was good, though I wish there could be a bit more of the mayo.

Having eaten my fair share of da chang in Kway chap, it's safe to say that the large Intestines here were a letdown.

Firstly, the large intestines themselves. I'm not sure what caused it - perhaps being cooked for too long - but they were completely mushy and textureless, going past the point of tenderness and slight chewiness that makes large intestines one of the most unique and, personally, enjoyable cuts from the pig. They also appeared to be not well cleaned, with a slightly unpleasant smell/taste that would come from poorly cleaned innards.

Secondly, the gravy. Here it is the same gripe as with the lu rou - poorly balanced, being a little too heavy handed on the spices.

Give this dish a pass.

The lu rou at The Salted Plum seems to be one of the most raved dishes but it didn't seem particularly good. Came with 2 thick slices of pork belly.

The pork belly was tender, with a good meat to fat ratio.

The letdown was the gravy. It went a little too heavy on the spices - in particular, the star anise. The taste of the wine also came across as a little overpowering, masking the subtler flavours in the gravy.

Overall, a decent dish but needs a little tweaking in the gravy.

Had the squid Ink Paella at FOC PIM PAM with the 50% Singtel discount.

Haven't had many paellas, but this seemed to be a pretty competent rendition, with a nice smoky squid ink sauce and little squid nuggets scattered in between. The rice was nice, albeit a tiny bit hard (though understandable given it's a paella). Came with 4 dollops of garlic aioli topped with prawns, though it was a little unfortunate that the flavour of the aioli wasn't really discernible when mixed into the paella, having been slightly masked by the squid Ink sauce.