Gin, Whisky & Pork Jowl

It's hard to sit outdoors for a meal when the haze shrouds the island and the PM2.5 readings rocket. Our eyes and nose feel it, and it's worrying what remains in our lungs. There're very few places that would take Choya indoors and meet our expected food standards. So we end up getting food to-go and staying at home. 

We were so glad that M and E opened up their home and invited us over for the evening. They provided respite from the polluted air, and offered Choya mental stimulation and love, and fed us. They refused to let us split dinner! We couldn't be more thankful!

The friends said it would be Thai food. I didn't ask where they were getting it from. But when I saw that pork jowl, I was like, 'wait a minute, isn't this the leanest pork jowl on the island??' Indeed it was. It was tasty food delivered from good old Little Elephant. Apparently the restaurant delivers island-wide!

The floofs were happy chilling out. Ozi was so pleased to have us there that she kept coming to us for sniffs and such. Too cute. She also took a shine to the little coaster under my glass of gin. At every opportunity that the coaster was free, she seized it and made a run for it like it's a frisbee. Hehehe. She took it as a little game. I let her, but not before asking her momma if that was okay because the momma said she needed four proper coasters, not three and ¾ chewed bits. 

Pork Rib Noodles

Sent the dog to the grooming salon for her her bath, and while the man and I waited for her, we needed lunch. There're a number of eateries along the stretch. I bravely stepped into Geylang Prawn Noodles. Apparently this store has been around for two decades. I don't know if they're good or whatever; I don't particularly care. I just want a decent lunch. I figured that a prawn noodle eatery would likely offer pork rib noodles too. 

I was really glad to see that I didn't have to have prawns. They had pork and some fried stuff. Ordered century egg, tofu and fishcake too. I had thick beehoon with pork ribs. It came dry, with a little chilli and loads of extra kangkong. The ribs were nice and lean. Decent. The soup was at the side; I wisely left it alone. So even if they blanched the pork and noodles in prawn stock, I wouldn't keel over from this amount of histamines.  

The man had a big bowl of prawns and pork rib, without any noodles. He totally enjoyed his. He was pretty happy peeling his prawns, drinking his soup and mine. He doesn't have an issue with shellfish. The issue is the sodium in the soup! It's a tad salty. The soup here can afford to go lower on sodium, but otherwise, the flavors packed a prawny punch. 

Geylang Prawn Noodle
327 Upper Paya Lebar Road
Singapore 534947 (non air-conditioned)
Hours: 8am to 7.30pm (closed on Mondays)
T: 8092 3327 / 9117 7527

Greasy Fun

J kept saying how decent OBBA BBQ is. So the gym-mates made a date to mark N's birthday, and we all toddled down for a bite at its 63 Tanjong Pagar Road location. I realized that this brand has outlets that included the name 'Jjajang'. I'll skip those. I've no interest in Korean jjajang or Chinese zhajiangmian, or even Kuala Lumpur style dark Hokkien noodles. They're same-same to me. 

Somehow we end up with Korean cuisine as a choice. Can lah. When we eat in a group, each of us have got our preferences; I don't need to eat things that I don't care for. Beef and rice is always a great combo. I can't ever order pork because Korean restaurants keep trotting out pork belly and super fatty cuts. Luckily, nobody at this table likes fatty cuts of meat. 

We got tiny room and felt like VIPs. Hahaha. Well, the open hall isn't any more well ventilated if you ask me. In the room, there's an air conditioning unit and two ceiling fans. With the two exhaust, our eyes didn't smart too much. But we all left stinking of meat grease and oil.

Don't bother with a la carte orders here. Just get a meat set or two if you want. The meat cuts were okaaaaay. But it's certainly nothing fancy. This is a casual place. The meats are over-marinated and too salty. The flavored rice balls (jumeokbap) were really tasty. They cleverly rolled up several balls in a giant steel bowl of rice and ingredients. That sort of salt, I couldn't resist. 

It was a fun time catching up. We hadn't sat down like this for a bit. We only zipped in and out of classes and get in a few quick lines. Sure, we're on the group chat, but with these mates, it's always nice to chat a little more outside of our classes. The icing — no pressure to have alcohol. We adjourned to a cafe, and had super refreshing coconut water thingies to cap off the night.