Taste 品鲜阁

Fans of Handmade Noodles, is this your hideout? It was said that Taste 品鲜阁 offers a delighting and comfortable bowl of Ban Mian, Mee Hoon Kueh or You Mian made from scratch upon ordering. 

Ban Mian Dry - $6.80

Ban Mian

Here's their bowl of Signature dry Mee Hoon Kueh. Kueh was smooth, together with a chewy texture and tossed in sweet savoury black sauce. Every individual ingredient was neatly placed in the bowl: Mani Chye,  minced pork, crispy ikan bilis, egg, meatball and braised mushroom. 

Mee Hoon Kueh Dry - $6.80

The accompanied soup has a natural sweetness which hints of soybean as well as anchovies taste. 

Dry You Mian - $6.80

You Mian with Sauce

The soup version is comforting too. It has a prominent braised mushroom with minced meat flavour. balanced and paired nicely with the fried shallots. The texture of You Mian was different and I would have mistaken it as some La Mian if I was not aware of the kind of noodle I was having.

U Mian Soup - $6.80

While we were there in the evening, most items were sold out. The friendly staff that had attended to us told us that they were left with handmade noodles for the day. We would like to be back for other items on the menu.

Rating: 3.25 / 5

Taste 品鲜阁
Location: Bukit Timah Shopping Centre, 170 Upper Bukit Timah Rd, #01-03/04  Singapore 588179
Nearest Station: Beauty World (DT5)

Yanan Ban Mian Noodles 亚男扳面，面粉粿

We were back here again at Yanan Ban Mian Noodles by chance for the other stalls were having too many patrons in the queue. It caught my surprise that a few of the nearby tables were having some Hor Fun Dishes and I had finally order something similar.

We had the Seafood Lala Bittergourd Hor Fun. It was scrumptious with Hor Fun carrying "Wok Hei" flavours drenched in savoury black bean seafood gravy. Although the shells of the Lala may had broken, the seafood freshness together with the thinly sliced bittergourd made a perfect combination.

Seafood Lala Bittergourd Hor Fun 鼓汁海鲜啦啦河粉 - $6.80

I guessed I'm in the mood for Seafood Lala and I ordered their Seafood Lala Clam Soup too. Seafood ingredients were Lala, prawns and sliced fish. You can pair them with noodles or a bowl of white rice. It tasted good by itself too.

Seafood Lala Clam Soup 海鲜啦啦汤 - $6

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Last posted 5th January 2024

While all the few stalls that we have been patronising were closed during our visit, we were kind of "pushed" to try new stalls. I decided to go for Fish Soup and noticed that the menu of the stall looks more interesting as compared to the other stall.

The stall is managed by a team of 2, with the lady preparing the food while the man taking the orders.

Stall of Yanan 

A nutritional bowl of Red Grouper Slice Fish Soup where you can opt to have cabbage or bitter groud as the vegetables in the bowl of soup. 

Red Grouper Slice Fish Soup 海红斑鱼片汤 - $9.50

The slices of Red Grouper were fresh and tender accompanied by the fragrant fried egg white and sweet-tasting soup.

Slices of Reg Grouper

We also ordered the Slice Fish Pork Ball Soup. The soup was as tasty with tomatoes, vegetables, minced pork ball, Batang fish and fried egg white too. 

Slice Fish Pork Ball Soup 鱼片肉丸汤 - $5.80

The minced meatball was tasty.

Meatball

I did not realise that they are selling Ban Mian too, perhaps I will be back again for their noodles if I get the chance.

Rating: 3 / 5

Yanan Ban Mian Noodles 亚男扳面，面粉粿
Location: 79 Telok Blangah Dr, #01-29, Singapore 100079

Qin Ji Rougamo 秦记肉夹馍

We can see that the Chinese Crispy Burger Fast Food Outlet or similar stalls are increasing and gaining popularity around us. The good news for those who love these Chinese Burgers is that they are expanding around the island.

Qin Ji RouGaMo

We ordered a set with a crispy burger, drink and noodles.

Our Order

The Braised Beef Rice Noodle was addictive. The noodles were smooth and the beef was well braised and soaked in sweet sour soup broth with chickpeas, mixed vegetable beans, coriander and preserved vegetables. The bowl of noodles has hints of peppercorn but luckily not too strong.

Braised Beef Rice Noodle 

The first bite of this crispy Burger reminds me of crispy roti prata or even Chinese scallion pancakes, unlike the Rougamo that we tried earlier from the other brand in Westgate. Qin Ji's crispy baked pastry is sandwiched by juicy pork.

Cumin Pork

The pork was stewed for about 10 hours to achieve the tenderness. We had the Cumin Pork Rougamo and it features aromatic notes of spice.

Fillings

Overall, I find that Qin Ji has a better and crispy Rougamo as compared to the one I recently had.

Rating: 3.25 / 5

Qin Ji Rougamo 秦记肉夹馍 
Location: 63 Jurong West Central 3, JP2, #03-54/55 Shopping Centre, Jurong Point, 648331

Ten+

We are back here at Ten+ for a unique dining experience away from the buzz of city life. Upon scanning the menu, I was quite pleased to see a number of new items which gave me a good chance to try them out.

While the live band starts at 7pm, let's chill and have fun in the evening. While waiting for our food to be served, we were busy catching up and trying to scan the song dedication QR code to make some requests.

Live Band

We had these pints of beer through the evening with our food while listening to the live band.

Heineken 3 Pint - $36

If you are driving or skipping alcohol, they have choices like Ice Lychee Tea.

Ice Lychee Tea - $6.90

A delightful pasta dish that combines the sweet & delicate flavour of crabmeat with the kick of chilli flakes and the freshness of parsley. This main dish is not only delicious but also suits our taste buds. 

Crabmeat Capellini With Chilli Flakes And Parsley - $18

Platter for sharing among us. On the wooden board were Tater Tots, Onion Ring, Cod Fish Fingers, and Crispy Chicken Bites, Served with 3 Dips, Cheese, TarTar and Mentaiko Sauce.

Snacks Platter - $38

We also ordered their Spicy Fish Otah which is available from 6-10pm.

Otah Otah - $1 per piece

We were excited about the Weekday BBQ Dinner that starts from 5.30pm to 10pm. The menu has a good variety of items. We had their Soy Glaze Grilled XL Squid Skwewers. It was perfect as an appetizer. The Soy Glaze gave the tender and charred squid a delicious umami flavour. 

Grilled XL Squid Skewers 130g (1 Stick - Soy Glaze) - $6.80

The other flavour they offered on the Grilled XL Squid Skwer is Mala. It gave a spicy and flavourful twist on the traditional grilled squid. It was spicy and aromatic with a slight numbing sensation..

Grilled XL Squid Skewers 130g (1 Stick - Mala) - $6.80

The Smoked Grilled Grilled Cajun Half Chicken is a flavourful and aromatic dish that combines the smokiness of the grill with the bold and spicy flavours of Cajun Seasoning. It was served with pickled cauliflower, cucumbers and red onions.

Smoke Grilled Cajun Half Chicken - $17.80

We were served French Garlic and a farmer's mushroom Grilled Pork Sausages. These Grilled Pork Sausages were yummy. 

Grilled Pork Sausage (1 Pc French Garlic & 1 Pc Farmer Mushroom) - $14.80

The mixed satay comprised of 5 Pcs Chicken / 5 Pcs Pork. Each skewer was well Marinated with bite-size pieces of meat, skewered, barbecued, and served with a peanut-flavoured dipping sauce.

Satay - Mixed - $13

We had Premium beef cut. Angus is known for having genes that make its meat more tender, marbled and flavourful than regular beef.

Smoke Grilled Angus Ribeye Steak 200g - $25.80

With its BBQ Dinner and Weekend Breakfast Menu, I think it gave us more reason to be back again for more. Thank you Ten+ for the invitation.

Tenplus.sg
Location: 65 Sungei Tengah Rd, Singapore 699000
Website

John's Pizzeria & Bakery

The craving for pizza had landed us here and not the pizza chains or the Italian restaurant.  

John's Pizzeria & Bakery

We order a pitcher of their Home Made Ice Peach Tea to pair with the pizza.

Home Made Ice Peach Tea - $9.90

We waited almost 40 minutes to get the pizza but were told before ordering as their delivery orders piled up on a weekend. To counter this issue, it will be good to order online and indicate a comment that you will be dining in so that you do not need to wait a long time on peak hours like this.

We ordered the Deep Dish John's 4 Way as it has a combination of 4 different flavours of pizza with 2 slices of each kind. We took some time to choose and finally settled with the following.

Deep Dish Pepperoni & Bacon

NY Style Tomato Sauce, House-Made Italian Chicken Sausage, Mushrooms, Onions, Mozzarella Cheese.

Deep Dish Hawaiian

The Hawaiian comes with NY Style Tomato Sauce, House-Made Italian Pork Sausage, Mushrooms, Red Onion and Mozzarella Cheese, simply to my liking. 

Deep Dish Supreme

Comes in NY Style Tomato Sauce, House-Made Italian Pork Sausage, Pork Pepperoni, Fresh Mushroom, Bell Pepper, Black Olive, Red Onion and Mozzarella Cheese.

Deep Dish Ricotta Chicken Mushroom Bianca 

It was exceptionally creamy and luscious without being "jelat". Made up of Ricotta Cheese, Mushrooms, House-Made Italian Chicken Sausage and Mozzarella Cheese.

Deep Dish John's 4-Way - $44.90

Their deep-dish pizza was hearty and had a richer flavour. It has a thicker crust, served in a rectangular shape with crispy, lacy and caramelized cheesy crust made on their house-made sourdough.

See the thickness

Overall, I'm surprise that their cheese is light and these Classic American Sourdough Pizza were simply yummy. Besides dining in, John's Pizzeria & Bakery also offer to deliver them island-wide.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

John's Pizzeria & Bakery
Location: 21 Lor Kilat, #01-03 Sun Court, Singapore 598123

VietSmith

We spotted this Vietnamese Kitchen during our first visit to One Holland Village and set my eyes on it hoping it would find back the taste similar to the defunct Pho Hoa that used to be located in Holland Village as that reason used to give me every reason to be back in Holland Village.

VietSmith

We joined the queue and waited for about half an hour before we were seated.

The Art of Pho

The Lemongrass prawn dish offers a delightful combination of savoury aromatic of typical Vietnamese Cuisine. The marinated prawns in its combination of ingredients were springy and pierced through with a lemongrass stalk. The dish was served with pickled and chilli in fish sauce.

Lemongrass Prawn 香茅虾 - $14.90

The popular and refreshing appetizer or snack, wrapped up by translucent rice wrappers filled with fresh herbs, vermicelli noodles, shrimp and other ingredients makes up the basic of Vietnamese fresh shrimp rolls. Do you like to other this light and appetizing snack too?

Fresh Shrimp Roll with Shrimp (2pcs) 鲜越南虾卷 （两条）- $7.90

Iced Homemade Lemongrass Tea 冰自制香茅茶 & Iced Coco Nut Latte - $4 & $6.90

Here's a delightful Vietnamese dish that combines the sweetness of coconut milk with the savoury taste of prawns. These mini pancakes are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, making them a perfect snack or appetizer. 

Savoury Prawn & Coconut Mini Pancake 迷你虾煎饼 - $14.90

Enjoy the flavourful prawn in the mini pancakes with some spring onions and coconut milk over them.

Do you love them too?

Dip them into the sauce

Here's the bowl of Traditional Pho in Soup. The soup was light and we felt that it still had room for improvement in its broth. 

Sliced Beef, Beef Tendon, Beef Meatball, Honeycomb Beef Tripe
牛肉片，牛筋，牛肉丸，蜂窝牛肚 - $16.90

Ingredients

While Pho is always my "to go" dish in Vietnamese Cuisine, VietSmith had their Pho up another level by giving the option of serving Wagyu Beef. I ordered the Wagyu Beef slices with Beef Meatball.

Wagyu Beef, Beef Meatball  和牛，牛肉丸 - $21.90

Despite the "upgrade" in their beef, we felt that the bowl of Pho was pretty ordinary. Perhaps what we had from the hawkers was better.

Wagyu Beef

I'm still missing a good bowl of Pho. Overall, the food was rather a standard fare. It's time to explore somewhere else.

Rating: 3 / 5

VietSmith
Location: One Holland Village, 7 Holland Village Way, #03-25/26 Singapore 275748

Hi Noodles

With Hai Di Lao's business bustling everywhere in their outlets, we were excited to hear another business concept managed by them at Hi Noodles. Have been hearing from friends about Hi Noodles and was keen to try it out. 

Hi Noodles

While entering Hi Noodles, we were impressed by the variety of dishes they offered in small bowls at the station. We grabbed several dishes as we were excited. Their ordering system was rather innovative with food and tray placed on the payment counter and it will calculate the meal.

These dishes goes well with a bowl of plain noodles. Braised beef tendons were thinly sliced and delicious, well braised. The fried french beans were on a oiler side but not bad. While the Sweet & Sour Pork were on the sour side which gives us a good reason to order the main to pair with these dishes. I like the Scrambled Egg with Tomato the most for they are savoury and homely food.

Braised Beef Tendons, Fried French Beans, Scrambled Egg with Tomatoes, Sweet & Sour Pork - $5, $3.90, $2.90, $6.90

Braised intestines were clean without any gamey taste while spicy & shredded potato was yummy but the not best I had.

Spicy & Sour Shredded Potato, Braised Intestines - $2.90 + $5

The Scallion Oil Noodle came in generous portions. It has a strong fragrance of scallion oil and fried scallion. Drench in oil and sprinkle with chopped spring onions.

Scallion Oil Noodle - $4.90

The Minced Pork Noodle was not too bad and I felt that ti can be improved if more minced pork sauce was given.

Minced Pork Noodle - $7.90

The whole experience at Hi Noodle was different as it was mostly on self-service, from ordering to collecting and returning of utensils. Going through the entire process without paying service charges. What a pleasant experience from them.

Rating: 3.25 / 5

Hi Noodles
Location: Jurong Point,  1 Jurong West Central 2, #01-46 Singapore 648886