Exploring Hong Lim Food Center @ Upper Cross Street

Best to come during non-peak hours as the queue starts to form around 20 minutes before noon. By 12pm, the lunch crowd are all in. Or, anytime just right after 10am would be good for a leisurely breakfast. Nearest MRT would be Chinatown station. Along with Kris (@msginginly) and Jen (@jellylovefats), we had decided to order our foods from selected stalls at Level 2. Each of us picked one stall to order from. Jen's choice was the Outram Park Fried Kway Teow Mee (#02-17), Kris selected the Mee Siam from Sungei Road Trishaw Laksa (#02-66) and mine were fromTuck Kee Ipoh Sar Hor Fun (#02-40) and Ah Heng Curry Chicken Bee Hoon Mee (#02-57/58).

Be prepared to queue for about 20 to 40 minutes, depending on the popularity of the stall. On the weekday of our visit, the fried kway teow stall had the longest queue.

Outram Park Fried Kway Teow @$4.50

Fruit Juice Mee Siam with Crayfish @$6.00

Crayfish and Prawns Ipoh Sar Hor Fun @$8.00 (additional $1 for chicken shreds)

Ah Heng Curry Chicken Bee Hoon Mee @$4.50

The char kway teow was moist and carried the distinct flavour of lard. The cockles were fresh albeit a tad tiny. As usual, the char kway teow has a sweetish hint and that delightful smokey flavour.The fruit juice mee siam was refreshing and has an undiscernible taste that made one wonders which fruit(s) was used.

The strands of sar hor fun was smooth and the broth was pleasantly mild in flavour. Liked that the seafood was of a good size. Added some chicken shreds as that matches really well with the hor fun. Also liked that this plate of hor fun had some greens in it. A more balanced meal.

Ah Heng Curry Chicken Bee Hoon Mee has a comforting broth that wasn't spicy. Lots of taupok (fried beancurd skin), few pieces of fishcake and chicken breast meat. Had expected more from this bowl.
 

Nabe Seizan 鍋 @ Japan Food Town Wisma Atria

Nabe Seizan is the offshoot of Seizan, a 2-Michelin star establishment in Tokyo. While Seizan is a kaiseki restaurant, Nabe Seizan 鍋 specializes in Japanese hotpot. Its prices are rather steep and the staff informed that their strength is in the dashi. Other than that, Seizan also offers mabushi during lunch time. What's a mabushi? It's a variant of hitsumabushi which is an eel rice dish enjoyed 3-ways. For mabushi, it is other protein (usually beef) enjoyed two-ways; as it is and with dashi and condiment.

Currently, they are having Agu Pork Mabushi during weekday lunch only. Decided to give it a try since I was around the area. The Ohmi Wagyu beef mabushi is available everyday during lunch hour.

interior

Discovered that the restaurant is pretty smallish but liked that the tables are adequately apart. There was only another table occupied during that day of visit. Service staff (non-Japanese) were earnest and friendly.

complimentary tea

It was only a short wait before the food was served.Was informed that the dashi is refillable.

Agu Pork Mabushi Set @$25++

Agu Pork

Agu Pork is Okinawan pork and is similar to kurobuta. The slivers of meat was deliciously tender and flavourful. Enjoyable as it is.

There was a small dish of curious paste and it tasted like chicken rice chili paste. Asked the staff about it and she mentioned that usually the sauce would be provided during dinner time to enjoy with the hotpot as a dip. Queried on whether the chili paste was requested by local customers but the staff clarified that it was actually concoted by their Japanese chef, Mr Yamamoto. Perhaps Chef Yamamoto was inspired by our chicken rice?

Chef Yamamoto 'chicken rice' chili paste

Next, one could enjoy the rice with the dashi. The soup was clear and lightly flavoured. Pleasantly mild and the chili paste helped to give a different dimension to the taste.

Style 2 - eaten with dashi

Topped up the lunch set with a dessert. It was a pudding dessert called wasanbon. While wasanbon refers to the fine grained sugar, the pudding has milk and fruits in it and topped with chopped white wine jelly.

wasanbon 和三盆 @$5++

The pudding was very likeable. Soft like tofu with reasonable sweetness. The fruits were pear and peach and the white wine jelly was good. The white wine jelly matches with the pudding.

yums

Expect the spend about $30 to $50 per pax during lunch time and double of that during dinner time.

Ninja Cut @ 32 Seah Street

Eat healthy? Yes, we can at Ninja Cut. Plenty of choices too. Got ourselves a #CrispyGoals and Squid Fix to share. Each of these comes with an onsen egg ontop and no carbs. You could top up for quinoa, soba, rice or garden greens.

the way of the Ninja(Cut)

yummy looking

Sparkling Orange Espresso @$7

The sparkling orange espresso was rather nice. A wake-me-up thirst quencher on a hot day.

#CrispyGoals @$14

Was expecting a more crackly pork belly but it ain't so. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the large pieces of sio bak in this place even though there were some that were too tough on its edges. Couldn't taste the miso in the cucumber but it was enjoyable. More so than the beets. Ugh, the raw taste of beets should only exist in ABC juice.

Squid Fix @$18

Can't help but to stare that bit longer at the plate of gorgeous squid. Tender and yummy. Favourite amongst these two. Similar ingredients as the pork belly except it has honey-glazed carrots in lieu of the beets (yay!). The squid has a nice smokey flavour and it tasted just right.

tuck in

If you're going to check-in here often, do get its lunch card. Terms and conditions applies.

Ninja Cut lunch card

Songfa Bak Kut Teh 松發肉骨茶 @ JEM

It was dinner with family and all had arrived except me. The good thing about that, was that I got to arrive at a table full of food! Hahaa! Songfa @ JEM is located at the basement level (same level as NTUC Fairprice) and at the Watson side.

feeds a family of 5 adults

When having bak kut teh, it is essential to have tea. So out came the tiny teapot with equally tiny tea cups. Kind of felt like 'masak-masak' if you asked me.

tea set

Not sure which tea goes well with the pork ribs, but the Jasmine tea that we had gotten was pretty good since the flavour had intensified into the small pot.

superior grade jasmine

Hmm, since we didn't know how to 'execute' the tea making, there was help from the service staff. She patiently demonstrated the way. If you asked me now, I can't remember the steps but roughly its about warming the teapot and teacups and to pour away the first pour.

tea making

washing the cups?

enjoy

Having had many bak kut teh in my lifetime, I must commend that Songfa pork ribs were quite good. Tender and flavourful. The white pepper soup was not too overpowering too. No need to get the premium ribs as the normal ones were already quite good.

The intestines were also not bitter so that was a plus point. The vegetables were done well with it being crunchy and not overly cooked. The kidneys were a tad too tough but it was washed nicely without any funky smell. Surprisingly, the soup of the pigs stomach was a tad spicier than the pork ribs soup though both should've came from the same soup pot. Just don't choke on the soup like me.

do you like kidney?

pork ribs

If you're a lover of garlic, Songfa seemed pretty generous as our bowls of pork ribs and stomach had quite a lot of those. Cooked till soft and not pungent, these were pretty good snacks and probably good for our health too.

Overall, we had enjoyed our meal at Songfa Bak Kut Teh.

Songfa Bak Kut Teh

Location:  JEM #B1-09, 50 Jurong Gateway Road, Singapore 608549
Website: https://www.songfa.com.sg/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/songfabkt/

Hoppy Bar ホッピーバー @ Icon Village

There's The Public Izakaya by Hachi and there's Hoppy Bar. Physically, both are just opposite one another and by the same parent company. Hoppy Beer (bottled) is available at both joints. There's differentiation in food offered, and you can't cross-order. If you want kick-ass sized tori karaage, that'll be Public Izakaya.

menu

There's counter seats where one needs to remove shoes, or bar seats and alfresco seats where one need not. The bar area was rather warm and so was the outdoor area.

Liked the decor of the place and service staff were friendly and more than happy to make recommendations on drinks and food.

bar seats view

Started with lemon chu-hi, which is a simple shochu lemon soda mix. Friend had draft beer.

Suntory Kaoru Premium (@$9.80++) and Lemon Chu-hi (@$10++)

For food, we tried the beef stew, an ebi mayo and some yakitori. The beef stew was served with some toasts. The bread was crisp and fluffy, and we used it to mop up the stew. The majority of the beef was too tough and that was disappointing. However, the flavour of the stew was thick and good with a touch of spice.

The bartender handed us a plate of edamame and said, "As a service." Lovely gesture to surprise guests with complimentary food. Later, we observed that a guest who came later and was seated next to us, was given complimentary fries.

ビフシチュ(beef stew) @$13++

scoop it up

The Ebi Mayo turned out to be one large fried shrimp, served with an onsen egg. The waitress advised us to break the egg and use it as a dip. Hmm, ok but rather unnecessary as the prawn was already doused with a substantial amount of creamy mayo.

Ebi Mayo @$11++

Next was our assortment of yakitori. The chicken heart was super tender and yums.

ハツ (chickcen heart) @$4++

レバ(chicken liver) @$4.50++

カワ(chicken skin) @$4++

ブタミズナ (enoki bacon) @$5++

Overall, expect to spend about $35+ per pax for a drink and some food.