WingStop's Buffalo Wings

One of the best blessings in life is to be able to have Fried Chicken as a celebration on the last day of the 2025 year. 

So some of us might find it commonplace, like what's the big deal when there're plenty of fast food joints that specialize in fried chicken, and you can get a deep fried spring chicken in nearly every hawker center and coffee shop and every Old Chang Kee all around the island. 

But fried chicken is one of those foods that you don't think you want to have until you really crave for it, or until you actually sit down at the table with the chicken steaming right in front of you and you realize you wanted it all along.

I hadn't thought I missed eating Fried Chicken. 

I mean, it wasn't a craving stuck consistently in the head. 

Even if I might have made a comment here and there.

But, yes, a blessing, overall. 

We had made a deliberate trip down here to Funan for the sake of these buffalo wings. Why it is that we came specifically down to this outlet, I don't know, especially since there are outlets at Bedok Mall, City Square Mall, even Singpost, the Cathay and Clementi Mall, but hey, last day of the year and all. 

Now, for us who don't know Wingstop, well, it is- in short, an American fast food chain that specializes in one thing, and one thing only- Buffalo Wings. How they manage to stretch what is- really- a wing of a chicken- is amazing, but they manage to do it, and now, after having their food off their menu, I finally understand why. 

The highlight of their menu has to be their flavors. 

That doesn't mean that they don't have food to offer. 

They do- in the manner of Classic Wings, Boneless Wings, Tenders, and Sides. There is not much to be said about the wings and the tenders. As in, I don't quite know how to describe it, but they do have sides that are worth a look and a try. 

Perhaps one day I might try their in-house Coleslaw or their Louisiana Voodoo Fries with cheese sauce, ranch and cajun seasoning or even their Mushroom Fritters (which today I had wanted to try but somehow didn't get to).

But this afternoon we were very much impressed by their Seasoned Fries. 

 

At first glance they seemed ordinary, no different from any other fries you got at other fast food joints. The difference however was that here they were served hot, crisp and so balanced with their seasoning that not a single fry was left tasteless or overly salty. 

But it were the wings that made this meal memorable. 

We'd taken the boneless. 

With flavors of Hot Honey Rub and Garlic Parmesan. 

I was a little surprised.

I had expected my friend to order our wings in the flavors of Texas Buffalo, Louisiana Rub or Hickory Smoked BBQ. These are, after all, flavors that he fancies, where the Texas Buffalo has cayenne pepper and vinegar, the Louisiana Rub has Cajun, and the BBQ is, well, BBQ. 

I too had thought he would have the Lemon Pepper, which, zesty and peppery at the same time, is interesting a combination seldom seen in chicken seasonings. 

But I wasn't complaining. 

I mean, he could have chosen the spicier flavors of Inferno or Kicap Manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce with chili flakes). He could also have gone Teriyaki

The Hot Honey Rub was pleasantly more sweet than spicy (it reminded me of Korea's gochujang) and the Garlic Parmesan was garlicky buttery- a favorite combination of mine.

So thankful am I for this meal that gave me uber strong Korean restaurant fried chicken vibes. 

Let's just say it was a very pleasant, and fun, surprise. 

Perhaps the next time I come to WingStop I'll make it a combo with 6 pieces, 1 side, and 1 drink. 

Just for me. 

After all, as fried chicken tastes great with beer, it goes just as great with Coke (or Sprite) too. 

Last Selfies of 2025

You know, there are still a good number of posts that I have to write for the year of 2025- I am not yet done with them- but I recently just transferred the last of the 2025 selfies over from the phone to here, so, hey, might as well. 

It is with a bit of a strange feeling that I look at the following pictures. 

Not so much of being what they are, but of the stories that make them. 

I usually tend to go light with my makeup. 

Doesn't matter if I have a meeting, I don't go bare faced once I head towards downtown. 

So that's how it was for the first few selfies, that's how it was for the selfies with me in the big Platinum-Pratunam T-shirt, and that's how it was for me in the last red sweatshirt piece that I had bought from Bugis Street almost 7 years ago and had finally dug it up now. 

The first two selfies I had taken from this dining place somewhere at Capitol Theater. I can't remember what it was we had gone there for. Maybe we had been hanging around the area to file something at the High Court. Maybe we had been around the area because my friend had something to do or someone to meet and I was there killing time. 

In any case, it was a Mainland-style place that we found ourselves at for our dinner, and whilst I won't be posting the pictures of the food here, I know we had a dish of smooth, silky dumplings, a deep fried battered pork fillet, and a bowl of soup that was simple in name (mushroom) but incredibly clear in texture, rich in flavor, and refreshing on the palate. 

There is me here in the large T-shirt that I bought from Platinum Mall in Pratunam and which I wear whenever I need to be comfortable. 

Like today where I was on the bus heading down to Aperia Mall, and which, if I'm not wrong, was Bus 31, although, really, I should have taken Bus 12 on the East Coast side rather than this one here the Marine Parade side. 

Nevertheless, the light was good, and so, from the back row of the bus, these shots I got. 

What's funny, though, is that I can't remember where the last picture was taken. 

I know I took it on 31st December, I know I was clad in the red sweatshirt that I had found in the cupboard (whilst doing the move) and track pants, but I don't remember where I'd gone or where I'd snapped this shot. 

What's more, the floor, and the furniture behind don't seem to leave much of a clue! 

Oh well, doesn't matter. 

However it was- despite the months of what it had been leading up to the 31st- I still looked enough. 

And that was good for me. 

Of course, the most memorable selfies here have to be of me clad in the blue-grey linen top that I'd purposely worn for the early-morning BNI meeting at Chui Huay Lim Club on River Valley Road. 

So rare is it for me to be able to pay a visit to a place of heritage and culture like this that I just had to grab a selfie.

But adrenaline was running high that morning, my hair for some reason didn't look too smooth, and the lighting where I sat needed a bit of creative angling on my part before I could look presentably well. 

Marina Square-Bugis

I took these pictures quite some time ago. 

Late last year, I think. 

I don't know what it was that I had been doing prior. I also don't know what it was that I was intending to do after.

Very likely I had just finished a late lunch at Suntec City with my friend who had then headed off somewhere else.

Maybe I was on my way home but didn't want to make a straight route  from the Suntec City Bridge to the bus stop at the Bugis . 

Whatever it was, there I moved, from one end of Suntec City to Marina Square, and eventually, to Bugis. 

On hindsight it feels a little strange that the camera didn't come out when I was at the Suntec City side until after I'd crossed Millennia Walk, gone up the escalator and then onto the wide terrace that separates this shopping mall, and Marina Square. 

Perhaps what had charmed me was the light. 

It had been one of those moments when I happened to turn my head, and there it was, the glow of an evening sun upon the walls of the Pan Pacific Hotel. 

It were the shadows that fascinated me, for whilst there was this golden glow upon the wall, the front of it, Raffles Boulevard and Marina Square, were in a shroud of shadow.  

I didn't always get this view. 

So out came Chonkycam. 

First there was the golden glow of light shining bright not only on the name of the hotel, but also the floors of rooms above. Then there was the shroud of shadow this side of Marina Square and Mandarin Oriental, which, maybe on other days, wasn't so obvious you could see.

I must have then gone into Marina Square itself, because afterwards pictures of the other side show themselves.

If the first few pictures were from the space between Millennia Walk and Marina Square, these then, were the pictures from the bridge between Marina Square and Suntec City Convention Center.

You saw the road of Temasek Boulevard and the exterior of Suntec City Convention Center itself. 

You saw the horticulture and the trees and the planted foliage that added a rich touch of green to the place. 

And on the opposite side of the bridge facing Raffles Boulevard, you saw a little of the bluish-glass MBFC towers in the background, a corner of the Parkroyal Collection Hotel, and in the near distance, that golden glow of the sun again, now upon the dark green wall of Mandarin Oriental herself. 

From here now I went into Suntec City itself, then came out on the other side facing Nicoll Highway. 

Here I took another bunch of pictures.

The light was too good. 

It isn't every day that I get to see the reflection of light upon skyscrapers like the Gateway Building, or the same golden glow get magnified as it shines its beauty upon the still-building Shaw Towers. 

Neither is it every day that the same light illuminates the towers of Raffles Place in the distance, the glassy surface of the South Beach Tower, and even this Nicoll Highway side of the Suntec City Convention Center. 

For some reason there was such deep saturation of color, such depth of structure, whether it was the glass, the tile, the tar of the road, or even the metal roof of the temporary bus stop, even when coupled with the snaking line of cars all waiting for the light to turn green.

It felt like the epitome of a weekend cityscape, the distinctive yet present-day charm of Downtown Singapore, filled with history, new developments, and energy. 

It felt so alive. 

And then, interestingly, almost immediately it all fell silent. 

Like an escape not anticipated.

It wasn't because the place was far off or anything like that. 

No, it was just the opposite side of the bridge. 

But somehow, here, on the South Beach side in what was a former military camp, there was a different sort of space, a different sort of nostalgia, a different feeling, akin to timelessness, as if something had once been there but even in the intervening years, had never left. 

After all the architecture of here, it suddenly felt like a different world when it came to Purvis Street after.

I don't mean that the street wasn't beautiful. 

Neither do I mean that it held no meaning or no story of its own.

On the contrary, it did. 

Very much, in fact, with unit after unit of dining establishments both Chinese, Asian, European and casual. 

Indeed, if there's anything to know about Purvis Street (and Chin Chin Eating House), this too is incredibly beautiful, in its own way, its own heritage, its own time, its own tale. 

Happy Lamb in December

It is time to write about this Happy Lamb that we had in December.

Been putting it off for far too long.

I have hesitated, not because I didn't like the meal or didn't want to write about it, but because I have missed it. 

If you've never been to this place before, let me now tell you.

Happy Lamb has one of the best hotpots here on the island that I have had thus far. 

I say this with no hesitation.

There's something about their offerings that leave such deep impression on you that you will still think about the meal long after your chopsticks are down and the bowls are washed.  

What exactly that factor is, I don't know. 

I guess I have always been struck by the way they present their food. They're not flippant when it comes to presentation, garnishing, and delivery, I tell you. Never has it been a time where their meats come out sloppy, untidy. flat and poorly arranged. No, it has always always neat, always beautifully rolled and always frozen chilled.

They way they bring out their meats- even for the buffet- is something I appreciate.

Very much.

Beyond the freshness of the meats, however, the thing about Happy Lamb is also the presence of their vegetables, their hotpot ingredients, and even their cooked food. 

Actually their cooked food is something to be talked about. 

To some people it might seem normal, regular, just plain finger food, nothing much of a big deal, but for some reason- maybe it's calibrated- it adds very good contrast to the boiled meat and vegetables of your meal. 

There's never been a time where I don't appreciate the presence of them noodles, fried rice, spring rolls, fries, sweet potato fries, mantous, and onion rings. 

No doubt, I don't take a lot- one cannot compromise stomach space with too much deep fried food- but I'm always up for onion rings, mantous, sweet potato fries and spring rolls. 

People who don't fancy the fried can go for the braised. 

There's always a pot of braised meat sitting at the side. 

The most interesting part about the cooked food, however, has to be the condensed milk. 

They're supposed to be meant for the mantous, but I like them with everything, especially since a light dip can turn any of them fried foods into a little dessert. 

And who said onion rings and spring rolls can't go with thick condensed milk?

I might have been hungrier than I thought this afternoon. 

Normally I'd just take a plate- a single serving- but today I helped myself to the onion rings- two separate plates, probably eight or nine altogether, but I didn't fill up with them, of course.

Not when at the counter there was an abundance of the vegetables I liked.

What's funny is that I don't actually remember the name.

I mean, I know it's a lettuce, but that's it. 

I don't know anything else. 

I don't know if it is an Iceberg or a Romaine or what the name it is. 

All I know is that the leaves are a most gorgeous green, they soak up the soup perfectly well, and when fresh, look like a huge hydrangea blossom of bright cheerful green. 

This afternoon I took what probably must have been four whole plates of lettuce, besides which, I also got a few pieces of cheese tofu, two lobster balls and a few strips of bean curd skins which I don't know what compelled me to take but I tonged them up anyway. 

A bit savory, a bit sweet, it is the soup which gives them extra taste, making it for an even more appetizing meal.

These bean curd skins I take them not just with the meats, I take them with the vegetables too. 

To my surprise, they actually do go really well with the meats. 

Here at Happy Lamb we tend to favor two types.

The Beef, and the Lamb.

My friend prefers the lamb more than the beef. 

According to him, theirs are remarkably fresh, no gamey taste, nothing, and there're very few places that offer lamb in their hotpot menu. 

Me, well, I don't eat grilled lamb or stewed lamb very often- sometimes the meat gets too heavy for me- but these here, slices all cut thinly, all rolled up neatly, they're so good. 

There's no worry that they'll be tough, meaty in smell, nope, nothing like that. 

Instead, they have excellent marbling, the right amount of fat, and best of all, perfect when it comes to the chew.

So good are they that I don't need to have them with the sauce, even though I do take a bit of the sesame sauce mixed with sesame oil plus a load of parsley coriander dumped on top. 

Not taking the sauce however doesn't mean that we eat our meats kosong without dipping them into anything.

We just make our own- a combination of Greek-style yogurt, miso, and garlic powder that we whip into the bowl

The thick yogurt makes for a great accompaniment to the meat, and best of all, the probiotics kick in quick even whilst I'm eating. 

A meal here at Happy Lamb is pleasant- always very pleasant. 

Not only is there a humongous variety of ingredients that I can so choose to have if I want to do it fun style, not only do I get introduced to the Mainland-style ingredients that I don't find when I'm at other local hotpots, I still get to try out new foods prepared in all manner of ethnic (sometimes provincial) styles. 

Coming here is always an eye opener. 

Next time I go I'll make sure to help myself to more of those chewy sweet potato strips that I can throw into the soup.

I've fallen in love with them.

And to close the meal, I'll try to make space for more than one cup of ice cream. 

Along Lorong 6 to Toa Payoh North

As part of our end year New Year celebrations for 2025, a friend and I decided we'd have a Mookata.  

It had been some time since we'd had a Mookata dinner, so yes, you can imagine my delight. 

The only thing I didn't want was to go very far away from where I would be that afternoon- at Toa Payoh- so we did a Google search, and found one right in Toa Payoh itself, close to where the SPH Building is, actually, at a coffee shop located right behind. 

I'll write about the Mookata at another time. 

But I'll write about the walk we took to get there now. 

Here be the pictures of the 20-minute walk we took that late afternoon to get to the coffee shop that Google Maps tells me is in Blk 206 Toa Payoh North.

As you can tell, it was a bright, lovely, blue-sky of an afternoon. 

The walk began from Toa Payoh Lorong 6 close to the SPC station, and the traffic light that crosses into the Lorong 7 hawker center. 

What's really funny, I now realize, is that I have no pictures of the actual walk. 

I only have pictures of the start of the walk, and pictures of the end of it. 

Don't ask me why.

Maybe because we were both eyeballing Google Maps up close, so the route turned out to be a walk that I didn't get to take a nice picture of.

But the first couple of pictures here are of the road on Lorong 6, where my walk was sheltered by the presence of them huge canopied Angsana trees, where the shadows of same said Angsana trees cast beautiful shadowy patterns on the cement-paved ground, and where, on both sides of the road, these trees harmonized a soft, artistic yet symmetrical presence amidst all the concrete.

Admittedly the low, two-storeyed structure of Block 19 interests me. 

I had not known it could look this gentle beneath the towering presence of the trees. 

It is a pity that I did not take pictures of the road after that. 

The scenery would have been somewhat unique, for further on, there is a temple to the left side of the road, and to the right, that section of Toa Payoh Lorong 6 that leads towards Braddell, Thomson, Lornie, Lorong Chuan and Upper Serangoon Road. 

But I only have the pictures of the blocks on Toa Payoh North. 

Painted a bright, cheerful blue, these are blocks that, to me, could be said to stand at the edge of Toa Payoh Town. They form part the border of Toa Payoh, literally, and that's interesting, because on one side there's the flyover that leads one out of Toa Payoh, and then on the other, there's the newspaper building, the factories, and further on, the blocks of Braddell Heights leading to Lornie Road and Thomson Road. 

This afternoon we didn't wander that far on either side. 

We were hot, we were hungry, we were busy looking for the coffee shop- and we found it- right after walking past a basketball court. 

As it was, the coffee shop was right next to a car park that directly overlooked the factories, and, well, was also within very close walking distance from a bus stop that in the last couple of months, had had the privilege to be. 

A Toa Payoh North Mookata

I think it's finally time to write about this.

For some reason I have been putting it off- I don't know why. 

It's not that the food wasn't good. 

Neither was it that the experience wasn't good. 

On the contrary, it was a very pleasant, even unusual experience, one which I got to say I had not had ever before. 

It's not that I have never had mookata. 

But to have it in a coffee shop, in a 'hood that I have never come to before, well, that's the new part, and an interesting one it was, too.

We were there at an early dinner hour, around 530, if I'm not wrong, and I had thought there'd be no one else besides us- I mean the coffee shop isn't prominent from the main road- but there were two other tables, and they came one after the other not too long after we arrived. 

Mookata is more commonly known as Thai-style Steamboat & BBQ, and is most recognized by its gear which shape is reminiscent of a dome surrounded by a moat. 

How it works is to line the entire dome with frozen pork fat, then place the lard all right in the center at the top of the dome. All around the sides then the food goes, serving as a grill as the dome heats up. The moat holds the soup of the mookata, which is often plain chicken stock, seemingly boring but which flavors get enhanced by the oils of the meat that flow down the dome whilst they're getting cooked. 

One of the best charms about Mookata, especially one like this, is the seafood that they offer.

Now I don't normally take prawns or much other kinds of seafood but my friend was charmed by the offerings of crayfish, so he got for us a huge plate of those. 

I have to admit, crayfish at a Mookata is attractive. 

Anyone who appreciates crayfish will know how sweet yet firm a well-cooked piece can be. There are people who feel it the same as they do with crabs, prawns, baby lobsters and all. Me, however, prefer the flesh of crayfish over the flesh of crabs and prawns. 

Maybe because this doesn't fill me up as prawns do (so I can eat more)

What makes this offering here extra special is that there aren't many places which have crayfish on the menu. Oh, they have prawns, for sure, but crayfish, not always.

So I'm glad to have them. 

They didn't take very long to grill, and when done, they made for some of the nicest meats to be had for this dinner. 

The other thing we took a lot of were the meats. 

I can't recall whether there was beef, but from the looks of it, I think so. 

What I'm certain is that we definitely helped ourselves to a fair bit of pork, some chicken, and probably the beef as well. 

How many plates exactly, that I don't know, my friend was in charge of the portions. I took care mostly of supervising the grill, turning the meats around, shifting them here and there, placing the cooked ones on the plate, replacing them with the raw from other plates.

It was fun, arranging the crayfish on the grill, switching out the meats, taking the lard here and there and munching on it, then throwing more and more vegetables into the moat. 

Here I should add that our dip for the day was, I think, yogurt with miso, or was it with garlic powder. I cannot remember. But it made for a great dip to eat with the meats and enhanced the flavors very much too. 

What I'm certain of is that we brought our own base oil to line the mookata grill with.

Beef tallow- remnants from the oils of the fat fat steak that we make at home- and which, I got to say, really did make the meats taste so much nicer. 

Most of my attention was on the moat, however. 

My friend doesn't pay much attention to the soup part of Mookata, so it's mostly up to me. 

There're many ingredients one can throw inside the pot. 

It might be the carrots, the green leafy vegetables, the fish balls, cuttlefish balls, lobster balls, egg, corn, all the regular hotpot ingredients.

For me, however, there's only one thing I really like- and that be the green leafy vegetables. My favorites are the Romaine lettuces but I take cabbages, spinach and any green leafy vegetables that soak up the soup and are very soft to the tongue. 

Of course I don't just take the vegetables. 

If there be cheese tofu, I take that too- we like those, both of us- and if there be other fun ingredients that make for great additions to the soup, i have those too. 

Today I took a lot of lettuce. 

But when the lettuces ran out, I helped myself to some of their spinach, and because I saw that they had quail eggs- an absolute favorite of mine- I got four, five of them, or maybe more. 

Then I got some cheese tofu, and of course, some lobster balls, not so much because I really, really liked them, but I thought they made the pot look really, really nice.