Couple of months ago I found myself with a host of repeated opportunities to head up to Central Singapore for a series of business meetings.
I'm thankful for the opportunities.
I'm also thankful for the meals that I have had there.
It's dope to be able to say that I've eaten at this place and that place up in the Thomson enclave, but from Google Maps and the looks of it, there's still a lot more I have yet to try.
Perhaps one day I might be able to say that I've had a whole fish steamed with light soy sauce and ginger, and chap cai png favorites, at renowned Teochew porridge stall Heng Long.
Perhaps one day I might be able to say I tried a nice brunch plate at Baker's Brew, or a bowl of fishball noodles at Ming Fa Fishball Noodles.
I might even be able to say that I had Mookata at Thomson's Siam Square Mookata, followed by ice cream at popular homegrown ice-cream brand Udders.
There're still more restaurants and cafes on the other side of the road.
I just haven't paid attention to what they are, yet.
At the moment I've tried just three places- all of which have their own charm, and which are interesting on their own.
One of the places I've been to- at least twice- is Soi 19 Wanton Noodles.
Which, you would think I'd be there for their wanton noodles or at least their wanton soup, but no, what I have had- what we have had- a couple of times- is their basil pork rice, and their curry noodles.
I'm not the type who likes too much excitement in my food but from time to time (especially after brain power) I like to have a wee bit of stimulation, and so, curry noodles it has been.
The basil pork is a big portion, I've been told, and even though not as spicy as most assume it to be, is full of flavor, and is prepared in such a way that it tastes best when eaten with rice.
It tastes differently when eaten on its own.
Perhaps there really is something about eating food the way the food is meant to be.
It's like how I like the creamy, smooth texture of the curry in the claypot of noodles but I like how the bean curd tau pok soaks up the curry better. They're very generous with the tau pok pieces too. In fact, so many pieces are there that I think they have more of these than any other ingredient.
There're the noodles, of course, and the deep-fried breaded piece of pork fillet that's buried beneath the heap of everything else.
The fillet is remarkably huge, by the way, soaking up so much of the curry that every bite becomes a textured combination wrapping the crunch of the batter, the chew of the meat, and the creamy, spicy flavor of the thick curry all at one go.
If I've eaten here a couple of times, a part of me wishes that I too had been able to eat at The Roti Prata House a similar number of times.
A bit of a pity that I've only been able to eat here twice.
The first time we sat outside, alfresco, and ordered a glass of lychee soda that turned out to be a glass of soda water mixed with canned lychee syrup plus a single piece of canned lychee fruit.
I'm not complaining.
I knew what I was paying the $2.80 for.
It had been a hot afternoon and I was thirsty.
Only thing is that I didn't get to take a picture of the food the first time we ate there.
But I took pictures the second time, where my colleague and I shared a murtabak, and had a prata plaster each.
The murtabak was a little bit different from what I had eaten before.
Not that it was bad, not anything of the sort, just that whilst the crepe had both the crisp and the crunch, and it wasn't as greasy as I first thought it might be, it did have wee bit less taste than what I had imagined.
Same too, for the prata plaster.
The egg was good and the crepe was crispy and crunchy but seemed to have slightly lesser taste than I thought it would.
In the future when I go there I want to try the kuay teow goreng or the nasi goreng.
When I was there the last time there were several diners having their evening meal, and I found myself attracted by the heap of rice on their plates, as the rich reddish mountain of noodles on their plate.
It might be a while, though.
We've in recent days found a new cafe in Thomson Plaza itself, and the dining experience so far has been pretty good.
An interesting name the cafe has- I think it's called The Grumpy Bear.
The dishes on the menu might seem like commonplace cafe fare- steaks, salad, pasta, poultry, fish, drinks and dessert, but they do theirs rather well. Aesthetic garnish, pleasant to the eyes and to the palate, we've eaten there twice, and both times have been just as good.
First time I chose to have a pasta.
I don't have a picture but I know I had pasta with pesto sauce.
Very simple, very ordinary, but oy, I like pesto.
And because I don't get to have pasta very often, the meal became extra special.
Second time I went there I decided on a chicken chop with salted egg sauce.
Actually I don't know what the menu name of this dish is.
But it doesn't matter.
I just know I got very, very surprised by the size of the chop when the plate arrived on the table. I hadn't expected it to be this huge.
I also know I was very glad to have it, and made sure I cut it up as carefully as I could, savoring each well-breaded, deep-fried piece whilst keeping close track of time.