Everyday Eats

Prata Wala now offers a chicken tikka option for their briyani (promo price $9.50). Despite looking bite sized, the chicken portion is actually quite generous. It has a great, marinated flavour that blends nicely with the rest of the plate.

This mapo tofu is absolutely amazing. It is warm, soft, and umami with just the right level of spiciness (I'm not good with spicy food). I was watching Shokugeki no Soma the other day and they had mapo tofu - this is what I expected their mapo to taste like. This mapo tofu is executed with Japanese finesse (and rice) and is brilliant. The Mapo Don ($10.50) comes with a bowl of chicken broth that is flavourful enough to hold its own against the mapo.

I was looking forward to visiting Otoko after my IKEA trip, and I'm glad to say I wasn't disappointed. I ordered the Tonkotsu Paitan ($12.90++) with Ajitama ($1.50++). The ramen is good. Every item was well executed, from the soup, chashu, to ajitama. It's nothing flashy, comparable to what you might get at typical ramen shops in Japan. I think that's already better than some of the big mall chain ramens. Would love to come back for another hearty bowl.

Sambal chicken is probably the best thing that Texas ever put out. The sambal is not so spicy but flavorful. It goes great with the chicken rice.

I was really hungry so I already took a bite and almost forgot to take a picture. I ordered the Ayam Bakar ($6.8). The chicken is cooked nicely. It is juicy and flavorful. They certainly don't hold back on the sauce. Even the tofu is fried, crispy on the outside yet soft on the inside. The texture is just right as it is neither too firm nor falls apart easily. As an Indonesian, I can say that the flavours are quite authentic. It even has telltale signs of authentic Indonesian penyet: there is self-service kecap manis on the counter and the sambal is spicy enough to knock your socks off.

I was really hungry so I already took a bite and almost forgot to take a picture. I ordered the Ayam Bakar ($6.8). The chicken is cooked nicely. It is juicy and flavorful. They certainly don't hold back on the sauce. Even the tofu is fried, crispy on the outside yet soft on the inside. The texture is just right as it is neither too firm nor falls apart easily. As an Indonesian, I'd say that the flavours are reasonably authentic. It even has telltale signs of authentic Indonesian penyet: there is self-service kecap manis on the counter and the sambal is spicy enough to knock your socks off.

Was looking for a nice, hearty meal so I got this ($11.90). The duck meat balls were amazing - savoury and juicy, and it comes with a delicious sweet sour sauce which I'm guessing was made with broth. It also comes with kimchi and pickles. Definitely a must try, get the meatballs on their own if you don't feel like eating a full meal.

Also ordered the Injeolmi Bingsu Milk ($11.90). It was decent - light and reasonably milky.

Good & simple wanton mee. Only $5.5 for a set which includes a drink. I like that it comes with both soup and fried wantons. The fried wantons are good, worth considering buying a portion to share.

I was in need of some comfort food today when I stumbled upon So Pho. I had seen its outlets around, but haven't gotten the chance to try it. I had the very affordable Beef Brisket Pho ($10.8) and Ice Milk Tea ($4). It was quite nice, the broth was warm and tasty, and the beef, brisket, and meatballs were well done. Portion is generous and accessories come separately so you can customize it as you like. There is noticeably less onion and coriander than more authentic pho places, and it's reflected in the flavour of the broth. Hoisin sauce doesn't come on the table but is available upon request. It tastes like pho, but the flavours are tuned to be more palatable for the general population.

Milk tea is OK, was expecting something stronger, but it came out pretty similar to hawker center milk tea. Also worth mentioning that staff is friendly.

If you don't like pho or have never tried it before, I would recommend starting with this.

I love fried chicken so I'm always glad to find new places that are good. Had the Running Jimbo set ($7.30), which is chicken thigh with fries and lemon kumquat drink. The drink is very refreshing - sweet, sour & tangy. The chicken and fries were piping hot, seems like they were freshly fried. The chicken is delicious, crispy on the outside yet juicy and well-marinated on the inside. The batter is not excessive, the chicken is not dry, and it was surprisingly not very oil. A very good fried chicken in my opinion. Fries were cajun, which were a nice surprise (the menu picture was small and I couldn't see it clearly enough to tell). Will definitely come back for more.