Casa Vostra's Pizza

I have a friend who loves pizza.

To him, a pizza is not just a go-to meal. 

It is a dish that encompasses anything and everything of a European, Mediterranean or American meal as how he wants, as however much he wants. 

It is a meal that enables him to try of as much, or as little, of cuisines from this side of the world, or that side of the world all at once, all at the same time. 

He does not have to order an entire plate of steak if he wants to have some beef. 

Neither does he have to content with tomato simply because the dish comes with it. 

If he's in the mood for beef, he'll just order a pizza with some form of beef on it. 

If he's in the mood for some ham or bacon or olives, he'll just go for a pizza that has most, or more, of it. 

There's no need to worry whether there'll be enough of this or that. 

It's all on that circular piece of oven-baked flatbread. 

With a palate like this, there's got to be some discernment somewhere, so yes, I was interested when he suggested we try this (by then) not-so-new pizza place in town. 

Casa Vostra in Raffles City occupies the space that for the longest time used to be McDonalds, and from what I hear, fast it is becoming to be one of the best places in town for pizza. 

Casa Vostra has three different variations on their menu. 

There is, of course, the Pizza. There is, also of course, the Pasta. And then there is something they call the Doublecrunch. 

Amongst the Pizzas there're those that seem to be rich in tomato, like the Marinara, and the Margherita, both of which have San Marzano tomatoes, except that the Margherita has fresh basil and parmigiano. 

Actually it isn't just these two that have the San Marzano tomatoes.

The Burrata, Gamberi, and Diavola have them too. 

Burrata has the cheese, and the parmigiano reggiano. 

Diavola has the salame, the fresh basil and the parmigiano reggiano. 

Then the Gamberi has prawns (Argentinian!), prawn jus, lemon zest, and the parmigiano. 

We were particularly interested in the other white selections of pizzas, however. 

This was the section that had more fascinating ingredients, like anchovies, sausage, broccoli, pistachio, four cheese, even fig puree. 

Personally I wouldn't think of having anchovies on a pizza- how is the taste of a fish anchovy on a pizza, I wonder- but I'm sure some do, and I'm sure too that when you get roasted yellow tomatoes, fiordilatte, fresh basil and olives, it will taste good. 

My friend is a meat and mushroom lover, so three times we went, three times we got pizzas with either one on it. 

The first time there was the Prosciutto e Fichi, with Parma Ham, Fig Puree, Rocket Lettuce, Fiordilatte, Baked Walnuts, and Parmigiano Reggiano. 

We had been attracted by the parma ham, but goodness me, did the fig puree taste good too. 

Plus, I think he'd added truffle. 

There was the hint of sweetness, there was the crunch from the walnuts, and even the rocket lettuce, known for its slight bitterness, didn't overwhelm the salt of the ham nor the sweet of the fig. 

What I fancied most was the bread, really. 

Oven-toasted, warm, and soft with a slightly burnt taste, it went so, so well with the EVOO on the table that you could pour out on your own plate for yourselves. 

Another time we had a pizza that was, if I'm not wrong, the Mortadella. 

This one was one of the more unique ones that I remember, not only for the sliced salame made of finely hashed pork, but the unique flavors of pistachio nuts (generously sprinkled all over), its distinctive crunch, the balance of fresh basil leaves, lemon zest, and parmigiano reggiano. 

It isn't every place that has me savoring pistachio with lemon zest and ham all over the pizza. 

Neither is it every place that gives me a bunch of full-sized basil leaves. 

And then there was the time where we went for the Tartufo e Funghi, which turned out to be a savory combination of fresh black truffle, mushrooms, Fiordilatte, Taleggio, truffle oil, and thyme. 

I can't say which pizza was my favorite.

Honestly I love all three. 

They're all so quintessential it is hard not to love. 

I like the truffle, I like the pistachio and the mushroom and the parma ham. I also like the basil leaves. 

But they wouldn't taste good together, I'm sure, and I'm not the kind to experiment with them all. 

There're still a couple of pizzas on the menu that I want to try. 

I want to try the 4 Formaggi- the combination of Fiordilatte, Gorgonzola, Taleggio, and Parmigiano Reggiano cheeses sound amazing. 

I also want to try the Salmone. 

I like smoked salmon. and I don't mind rocket lettuce, burrata cheese and onions. 

Then again I like the fig puree with parma ham too.... 

Parkway's New Food Court

Glad we were, I tell you, when the basement food court of Parkway Parade finally reopened to quiet fanfare.

For three months, us shoppers at this popular suburban shopping mall had had to ask ourselves the mind-boggling question of 'what to eat' because our favorite go-to chap chye png, wanton noodle, nasi padang, chicken rice, and Hakka yong tau fu stalls were sealed, boarded up, gone. 

So it was with a bit of anticipation when on Facebook I saw that the food court had finally reopened. 

And, going by the number of diners in the food court that one weekend afternoon, so did others, besides we. 

I had thought we would have our regular order of chicken rice.

That was, after all, the stall we had often gone to before renovation. 

But the (branded) chicken rice stall was gone. 

So this afternoon we decided we'd try some of the new stalls in the food court, beginning first, with this plate of char kuay teow, and this colorful, substantial dish of Indonesian-style nasi padang. 

One might say there were a lot of contrasts, which, in a way, yes, but we didn't mind. 

There's only so much of color a plate of char kuay teow can have. 

Maybe you can have it with the most colorful of crockery but no matter how colorful the plate it is, it's just gonna be a lot of black, and brown. 

I was a little surprised by the char kuay teow, actually. 

A part of me had thought it would be of subpar standard, you know, just take the rice noodles, throw it into the wok, dump soy sauce and all the other sauces, and fry. 

But no, you got a fair bit of wok hei, you could taste the soy sauce balanced out evenly all over the noodles, and even though, as noodles go, they were on the sweeter side, I got the flavor of savory both the same time as well.  

One thing I like about char kuay teow is the chew of the flat rice noodle. 

The feel is a little hard to describe. 

I just like the way it first sticks to my tongue, then disappears and slides easily down my throat after I've chewed through. 

Looking at these pictures now it is interesting how the colors of one's favorite dishes can be. 

If the char kuay teow was a pleasant, delicious-looking dark brown, the Indonesian style nasi padang burst with color. 

You would think it were only the bamboo-style plate that they served the dish on. 

But there was the green of fresh lettuce, there was the red of fresh sliced tomato, there was the khaki brown of the beautifully fried tempeh, the white of the rice, the maroon red of the sambal chili, and the bright orange, near vermillion of the skillfully fried chicken. 

Whilst it were the colors that whetted my appetite and made me eager to dig in, it were the size of the dish that delighted me. 

The portion was huge. 

The chicken- not too fried, not too salty- was also huge.

I loved it. 

Meal at the (airy) National Library

One evening several weeks ago my friend and I were hanging around the Bugis area. 

It was dinner time.

But because we hadn't much of an idea where we ought to go or what we wanted to eat, we decided to just walk around and see where our feet led us to. 

How it was we ended up outside BKK Bistro & Bar at the ground floor of the National Library, I don't know, but we did. 

And we went in.

BKK Bistro & Bar is a relatively new place. 

When I say it's new, I really mean that it's new.

Not only was the bistro not here before, even the space that they currently occupy is new. 

National Library built the space up from scratch, made it alfresco, and that's where we have this bistro and bar today. 

One thing that attracts me about this place is the synthwave lights they've chosen. There's a bit of neon pink, a bit of neon green, and a bit of neon yellow. It stands out like a sort of bling lighthouse amidst the huge cavern of an empty space that is the building's ground floor. 

Best part, it draws your eye.

Literally.

Perhaps that was what attracted us this particular evening.

BKK Bistro & Bar serves up a good selection of beers and wines, but they're not any less when it comes to their food menu. 

A popular favorite are the Boat Noodles, of which you get a choice between Glass Noodle or Rice Noodle, a choice between Red Tom Yum or Herb Boat Noodle Soup, and a plethora of toppings that include beef balls, beef slices, prawns, pork balls, pork livers, and pork slices. 

Another favorite would be their Mookata which not only includes the popular meats of beef, pork and chicken, there's also Taiwan sausage, smoked duck breast and luncheon meat. With it being Mookata, there's the moat, and of course there will be the hotpot ingredients that name cheese tofu, egg tofu, cuttlefish balls, chicken cheese balls, lobster balls, and Teochew meat balls amongst the like. 

One thing that they offer for the Mookata grill is seafood, to the tune of fish slices, prawns, crayfish, mussels and clam lala. 

It will be another time that we'll have their Mookata.

This evening the appetite was more for the boat noodles, and that's what we decided to have. 

Between the two of us, we chose two bowls each, one of the Red Tom Yum, one of the Herb Boat Noodle Soup. 

Beef balls and beef slices were our meat of choice, and let's just say I went ballistic adding in the extras of pork lard and garlic in oil from the containers on our table. 

I liked the herb soup- it reminded me very much of the one I ate at Ploenchit, but clearer, and lighter- and even though the tom yum soup looked really red when it arrived at our table, to my surprise, it wasn't as spicy as I imagined it to be. 

It did whet the appetite the way tom yum always does, though, and made me wish we had stomach space for more. 

There're a few interesting dishes to be had here at this bistro, amongst which, there was the tom yum seafood claypot, the tom yum seafood soup, grilled chicken, and the lala series covering both traditional claypot lala and lala tom yum pot. 

Of course there were the staple of rice dishes- the basil sliced beef rice, the pineapple fried rice, the crispy pork belly rice, the green curry sliced pork rice. 

What we took this evening was a plate of Salted Egg Fried Chicken. 

And may I just say that it exceeded my expectations?

I had thought it would be like some of those we find at zichar stalls- bits of popcorn chicken laden with pale yellow salted egg gravy. 

But, no, this was different. 

Crunchy and crispy with an even distribution of salted egg sauce over each piece, it was the kind of chicken that had the sauce bursting in your mouth every time you took a bite, yet not drowned in it so much that the sauce dripped off your chopsticks when you picked it up. 

This was no messy dish. 

With each crisp bite of chicken, I found myself relishing in the distinctive taste and creamy texture of the salted egg sauce.

What's more, the chicken meat wasn't tough. 

And I loved the bright, cheery, cheerful color.

I only wish I could have had more of the sauce. 

So good was it that I would've been happy to eat the sauce plain on its own. 

There'll be some dishes that I'll want to try the next time I come. 

Like the Thai Issan Pork Sausage that they have with glutinous rice. 

And there's this pasta dish I saw the table next to us having. 

Then there are the desserts- the Rainbow Sticky Rice Ball with Mango Slice, the Mini Fried Dough with Kaya and Sweetened Milk, and the Gula Melaka Filled Mochi with Coconut Ice Cream. 

Also, if I can, a Chorong Chorong Soju Lychee Yakult Tower. 

I wonder if they have it in glass size... 

Funan's Sushi Zushi

Twice I've been here, and twice, may I say, have I come to appreciate, and enjoy the food, although, (sheepishly) I must also admit that both times I've been here, both times I've been hangry, and I'm not a patient person when that mood happens to me. 

See, if there's one piece of advice that I'll give to anyone who wants to come have dinner here, it'd be- Don't Come Hungry. 

Legit- DO NOT come hungry. 

It is an hour's wait (at least) to get in no matter what time you come, no joke, and it's either you wait standing there with the eateries around you, or you get a queue number and walk around with all the eateries of Funan enticing you. 

There are people who come as early as 4pm for a 530pm opening.

There are also people who come at 5pm and wait an hour whilst wandering around with the Thai food place, the Korean food place, the American sandwich place, the coffee place, and McDonalds all working their colors and menu around their tummy. 

First time we came, we were the latter.

Second time we came, we were also the latter.

And I was hangry both times.

Lesson learned, I shall not turn up at Sushi Zushi with a hungry stomach ever. 

But, and I say this with genuine thumbs up conviction, the food here is worth the wait. 

It might not be the place that you'd think of when it comes to sushi delicately prepared by master chefs at your tableside. 

But it is. 

It's like a very casual omakase with a bit of teppanyaki vibe. 

This is the kind of place where your sushi is made fresh in front of you and you can literally watch it being made whilst you sit at your table sipping a cup of ocha. 

You don't get to choose seats here. 

The staff guide them to you, no questions asked. 

That doesn't mean it's not kid-friendly, oh no.

It just means that everyone and anyone can come, and anyone and everyone can order what they like to see it made in front of you. 

First time we were there a family of four were next to us and I thought it so cute that the little girl's eyes never left the chef's hands as he shaped the sushi rice, wrapped a piece of seaweed around it, scattered a generous spoonful of corn all over the top, and squeezed in the mayo for her Corn Mayo Gunkan.  

What I do find interesting is that the chefs work fast here. 

They talk, yes, as sushi chefs will do, but their hands are always busy and they go on and on and on making the sushi customers have ordered. 

It doesn't take longer than fifteen minutes after placing your order that the chef nearest to you starts making it and no sooner than later you have it on your plate. 

One of the very first plates we ordered this evening was a Salmon Ikura Handroll. 

From the picture it might not look like much, but trust me, it was good. 

Nowhere in this handroll was the seaweed soft and damp and mushy. 

Nowhere too was the salmon not fresh or cut too thin or not cold. There was a bit of boing on the salmon itself, the ikura was perfect with its distinctive burst of flavor, and the rice was soft and smooth and moist with a tiny little hint of what I think is oil. 

Made for a cheery start to the meal, this handroll did, and we got ready for the next dish of Salmon Aburi, which, by the way, was in reality brighter and more orangey than what we see here. 

I don't know what happened.

Either it is that I didn't adjust the light settings, or something, but definitely the salmon didn't look this color, definitely not like the color of a Uni (sea urchin)... 

Besides the somewhat orangey color, the one thing I liked about the Salmon Aburi was watching the chef flambe (is that the correct word) the salmon right in front of me. It was interesting, seeing him skillfully work the flame over the salmon as it gradually turned from a bright pink to a light, more pinkish, cooked one. 

Needless to say the salmon was soft, like the rice, which was perfectly shaped, moist, and slightly warm from the oils of the salmon dripping down inside. 

So good was this sushi that we decided to order another, but spicy this time.

As it turned out, it wasn't as spicy as I thought it would be. 

Afterwards we had a plate of what I think was either a Chutoro, or an Otoro. 

All I remember about this fish is that it is a fatty tuna. 

That's it. 

Don't ask me what it is, whether it is an Otoro or a Chutoro. 

I don't know. 

Chances are, I can tell you, it is an Otoro- the fattiest part of the tuna- the belly- and also the most desirable part that's got a melt-in-the-mouth texture, is remarkably hard to find, and is soft and tender and simply disappears once inside. 

I'm glad we had a chance to try the Otoro. 

Not merely because it's rare, but because the taste of raw tuna is still something I'm trying to get used to, but fatty tuna belly- the softest part- makes the appreciation a whole lot easier. 

There're a lot of new sushi fish that one gets to try here at Sushi Zushi. 

Amongst the Hamachi and the Teriyaki Saba, amongst the Ika Sugata and the Shima Aji, there was too the Engawa Japanese flounder, and for this, we tried varieties of two. 

First we had the Engawa Handroll that came with, of course, a huge piece of seaweed, plus, I think, a little bit of black cod roe. 

And then after that, there was the Engawa Aburi which, once again, I had the joy of watching the chef flambe it a little so that the surface turned a lovely grill of lightly burnt brown. 

One might be wondering just what it is of this flounder fish that my friend recommended and said we had to try. 

Well, let's just say that it is tender, it's got a slight hint of chewiness, it has a clean taste, is slightly sweet, and yet, is smooth and fatty all at the same time. 

Best of all, flounder fish is not readily available everywhere, and can sometimes be a bit difficult to find. 

East Coast Road Stroll

It does take a bit of a walk these days whenever I want to get to Joo Chiat Road on the East-Coast Marine Parade side. 

Because whilst it might be possible to take a straight walk down from Joo Chiat Complex all the way to the other end of the road on the East Coast Road side, for some reason, we find it faster to hop onto a 966, alight at Marine Parade Central, then cross into the air-conditioned Roxy Square, down a little part of East Coast Road, and a left after into Joo Chiat Road. 

We did this road on this one afternoon, and to be honest, I didn't quite mind. 

It has been such a long time since we last strolled on East Coast Road that I wanted to see if the colors were still there, if the shops were still there, and if anything else had changed. 

Guess what, nothing has. 

Or, at least to the best of my memory, nothing has. 

This side of East Coast Road remains as charming as always, beginning with the overhead bridge from the second floor of Roxy Square to the opposite of the road close to popular ice cream boutique Birds of Paradise. 

How many times it has been that I've walked across this overhead bridge, I no longer recall, but definitely there exists a charm, one reminiscent of the 70s that stays with the pedestrian as they open the glass doors of the air=conditioned Roxy Square and out into the bright, hot sun. 

We walked on the shop house side of East Coast Road, passing by several cafes and restaurants, including bakery shop Sugar(ed), Indian restaurant The Mango Tree, and KBBQQ place Busan Pocha. 

After that, a little walk further, heritage confectionary store Kim Choo Kueh Chang came up. I am familiar with the offerings of Kim Choo, having gone to their other kueh chang store near Joo Chiat Terrace before. 

They're known for their varieties of bak chang- pyramid-shaped glutinous rice dumplings wrapped in pandan leaves holding different fillings of the sweet or savory type. So popular are these dumplings that customers make special trips down to their stores just to buy handfuls of them. 

Besides the bak chang, they're also known for their astounding selections of colorful Nyonya kuehs. There're many varieties, all of different types, all of different colors, and so which is which, or what is what, I'm afraid I can't quite tell. 

I just know that they're in all colors of the rainbow. 

There're those that are blue (from the butterfly pea flower).

There're those that are red. 

Then there're those which are pink and yellow and green. 

The green ones are likely pandan. 

The white ones are coconut.

And of course there're those that are brown- colored from the abundance of gula melaka- the brown palm sugar used generously in the making of these kuehs. 

Coconut milk and gula melaka seem to play a major part, it seems, even though, I have to admit, for someone who only knows how to eat, I cannot say for sure.

If there be one difference between this branch here at East Coast Road and the one at Joo Chiat Terrace, it is that this one shares more stories of the Peranakans, told through their beadwork, their colorful beaded slippers, their kebayas, even the decor on the walls and the furniture. 

It might be that I haven't had much of a chance to appreciate their exhibits and their stories, but perhaps one day, when time and brain permits, I'll surely do. 

Beyond Kim Choo came Stirling Steaks after, and then right opposite across the road stood the restored structure of the former Joo Chiat Police Station. 

Sometimes I wonder how the place would have been like had it been restored to its previous glory and turned into a museum. 

But that might not have been practical, and so today it houses a very busy, very millennial Starbucks instead. 

I'm not kidding when I say this side of East Coast Road is full of heritage.

One doesn't even need to look hard for it- it's just there, right in your face, as you stand at the junction of Joo Chiat Road and East Coast Road trying to cross from one side to another just so you can get to the bak kut teh shop. 

Right there in the shophouses, right there in the walk-up apartments that in and of themselves already hold their own inexplicable charm. 

Seeing the view now in 2025 makes you wonder just how this road used to be back in the 60s and 70s. 

People often say that it was more kampong like, more relaxed, breezier, almost at the edge of the shore facing the wide open sea. 

We've had part of the land blocked off now, yes, but one can still wonder, and imagine, just how life here was like back then- before the flats of Marine Parade came in, before the shopping centers of Marine Parade Central and strata malls came in. 

Like these apartments- who lived in them? 

What sort of a home did they have? 

How was the place like?

Was it windier? 

Was the air cleaner?

Did the sea breezes blow in? 

And the roads... was there as much traffic as it is now, with traffic lights and pedestrian crossings and cars bumper to bumper? 

What sort of a road did this use to be?

What sort of a road did Joo Chiat Road use to be?

It makes you curious.

It also makes you think.

Well, who knows, maybe one day there might come a chance when I'll be able to feel more about this area rather than just passing through it as a route from one place to another.

Hopefully by then I'll be able to sense more, and have more of an answer. 

Tai Seng's Dim Sum

Not too long ago a friend told me of this new place at Tai Seng that he had discovered. 

Just as I had been wondering what cuisine it was- tai Seng is known to have quite a variety- he told me that it were dim sum Hong Kong style, and almost at once I said I was eager to try. 

Dim sum, if you know, is one of my favorite foods this side of the world. 

It is the kind of food that you can have any time of the day, that you can go eat at whichever place you want, and regardless whether you want a restaurant-style dim sum, a coffee shop dim sum, a hawker style dim sum, or even a to-go dim sum, this cuisine of 'small bites' never disappoints. 

The place here at Tai Seng was a coffee shop type of dim sum with cha chaan teng vibes. 

Funny thing was, you didn't feel it, nope, not until you entered and right up on the wall and window there were these decor of colorful neon lights.

I suppose they intended to make you think of Kowloon.

 Can't say that they didn't. 

But this evening I was here for the food, and so straight into the menu we went. 

Of the steamed variety they had, of the fried variety they had quite a lot, and it was hard to choose, but eventually, we narrowed everything down to all these we had. 

One of the first few dishes to arrive was the cheong fun and the yam puffs. 

A part of me had wondered whether the yam puffs yew kok were a worth dim sum to have- they seemed quite ordinary- but one small bite later and I soon realized  that this was remarkably good. 

Not only did the skin have a bit of faint chew, the filling was warm and solid and flowed out easily from the dumpling into my mouth. Warm and comforting the filling was, but it did not burn. 

The cheong fun too was similarly good. 

Anyone who has ever eaten dim sum knows innately the strength of a good dim sum.

For one thing, there must always be cheong fun on the menu.

After that the quality of the cheong fun must not be compromised. 

Yes, there can be different types of fillings, and different types of fillings can have different kinds of standards, but the rice roll must be thick as possible, the texture of the rice roll itself as smooth as possible, and there must be that bit of chew that gives you the feels when you bite into it.

This one, I think, was char siew. 

Either that, or prawn, and yes, it did taste good. 

The other dishes of steamed dim sum came altogether at the same time. 

There was the basket of salted egg lava buns all cute and round and warm. There was the basket of xiao long baos which we'd ordered because we both have a love for these little dumplings and I was eager to try the soup. 

Then of course there was the star steamed dish of lotus leaf rice.

And a plate of XO chai tow kuay that he ordered because he felt like eating some. 

The xiao long baos were good. 

I had been unnecessarily (again) afraid that they might be too hard and cold, but no, not here.

Where at some places the skin of the baos might be thick and chewy or dull looking, these here had a bit of chew complementing the soft, warm, mushed up mound of minced meat.

It tasted just right.

Same as the soup did. 

There is a simplicity to their dishes that is hard to describe. 

I don't mean that their dishes are simple, I mean that they are wholesome with a touch of simplicity in their look, feel and taste. 

There's a feel of the tradition in their dishes. 

Like the lotus leaf rice. 

A part of me had thought it would be no different from the lor mai kai of glutinous rice and chicken same as what you get from the coffee shop's drink counter, but nope, this one was wrapped snug in lotus leaves and steamed to the perfect degree.

The rice inside was warm and moist and soft.

They weren't glued together like how the coffee shop types were. 

Best of all however were the ingredients.

I loved the bits of meat and bits of mushrooms inside. Warm and soft they were to the bite, full of taste they were to the tongue. 

The eating was fun too. 

I had a great time using my chopsticks to pinch out the rice bit by bit. 

It took a while for the chye tow kuay to arrive, but when it did, wow, was it good. 

With chonky, chewy pieces that were so easy to pick up and so lovely to chew, it was lovely just feeling the light wok hei of the chye tow kuay as I bit into each piece. You got that feel of the burnt burnt taste (from the pan or the wok), but you also got a light, clean hint of the soy sauce and the XO. 

What's funny is that I had at first wondered if the XO might be overwhelming- like too strong the %- but so glad am I that it wasn't like that at all, and I ended up loving the zhng of the XO over all my pieces of egg, and kuay. 

Joo Chiat's Sin Heng Claypot Bak Kut Teh

A while ago I wrote about a BKT place near Paya Lebar which my friend had recently discovered, and recommended to me. 

Those who know me would know that this would never have happened couple of years ago.

Especially since I'm not the type who will automatically think of BKT when I'm hungry. 

You can say that BKT was never very much on my radar. 

That is, until recent years ago, and now, even more, when I find new places to go. 

We've been to Sin Heng Claypot Bak Kut Teh at Joo Chiat a couple of times. 

Not as much as Song Fa or the Klang-style BKT place at Geylang, but more than enough. 

What's funny is that we had in fact actually gone past this place quite a bit (usually on our bikes on our way to East Coast Park) but had never stopped over for a meal. 

But the first time we did, we got hooked... and we continue to be.  

It's a little hard to define what exactly it is about this soup that attracts me. 

Much of it, I think, is that it's the black herbal-style. 

Not that I don't fancy the clear peppery ones- I have refills when I go Song Fa- but this one here, even if it be black and dark, is clear, not thick, and because of its texture, becomes an easy soup to drink. 

There's a sense of warmth, a sense of comfort when sipping the hot soup, and were it not for the solid heavy claypot too heavy for my hands, plus required dining decorum, I might have just picked up the whole pot and drunk it straight. 

The fact that the meat falls easily off the bone is of course a given. 

I like that the bak comes in chunks of solid meat on bone, not so much of the tendons or the fat, and what's more, few of their pieces thus far have been hard or dry.

And their pieces are big.

Same too can be said of the ter ka, which, by the way, I was even more adverse to years ago. 

Now, I still can't say that I've become a huge fan of braised pig trotters- the sight of bouncy pig skin in the pot still gives me a wee bit of shivers- and I usually cover it with a big piece of vegetable green- but I'm not adverse to the stewed (braised?) pork and I relish the meat as well as anyone else just so long as there's a lot of gravy zhup, and I don't have to look at the skin. 

Gotta admit, I don't know how still to describe the taste of the ter ka. 

I just know it's got something to do with the gravy, which is, by the way, one of the most nutritious dishes in the arsenal of TCM. What exactly it does to the body, I don't know, but it balances out your body a little bit, and is great when you're needing some sort of a boost to your overall system. 

This is the dish to go for when you need to replenish your iron. 

This is the dish to go for when you're in a cold period, or have been ill, and need to build back up your strength and health.

Women go for a stronger version of this as part of their post-partum confinement diet. 

Women also go for this when they want to regulate the flow in their systems and bodies.

It is a dish good to regularly have, and I'm intensely glad for it. 

I love it when the piece of pig trotter is huge. 

Bouncy skin or no bouncy skin, to the very least, I know I'm gonna have a huge chonk of meat to go with my rice, and I'm going to be warm and comfy and satisfyingly full for a couple of hours after.