South Buona Vista Braised Duck @ Desker Road (Little India) [Singapore]

One of my earliest memories after securing my car license was to take my dad's 30-year old car and together with my friends, drive to areas not that well served by public transportation; back then, no circle line, no downtown line, no thomson line. 

The 99-bend road was famous among newbies and many would also take the opportunity to eat at South Buona Vista Braised Duck. The eatery closed a few years ago but was revived by a close relative, with a new location at Desker Road within the Little India enclave. 

With simple setup like whitewashed walls, nondescript fans and non-fanciful tables and chairs, it's hardly the concept well-liked by the younger generation who would have prefer more instagrammable features. Nevertheless, a real foodie is only focused on one thing; food. 

And the braised ducks hung behind the glass counter did a great job in whetting our appetite, albeit visually. Over the years, I have had my fair share of braised duck and some friends would know the best I ever had was Sean Kee in Geylang. Would this be as good? Or even better? Let's find out! 

Signature braised duck for two with additional braised eggs. Rice was charged separately and you have the option for white rice, porridge or yam rice. 

I was expecting a lot for the soup but this turned out to be just plain, old salted vegetables soup. Slight disappointment although it tasted okay. 

Yam rice was pretty good; could have been oilier with a deeper flavor in my opinion. Note that this couldn't be compared to traditional yam rice though which would usually be chocked with ingredients like pork and dried shrimps. p.s, taking reference from my mom's version of yam rice.

With slimy braised skin topping the juicy, tender duck meat, and swimming in sweet, flavorful braised gravy, it was delicious and I would have classified it as almost similar in taste to Chuan Kee Boneless Braised Duck Rice at Chong Pang Hawker Centre.

To me, the braised sauce is a major determinant of success for braised duck rice and this sure made the cut, especially when you have it together with the meat and the rice! 

Was it better than Sean Kee in Geylang? Sadly no. Sean Kee is like the gold standard when it comes to braised duck; its braised sauce was distinctly different from its competitors and who could ever forget the accompanying herbal soup which packed a punch despite its almost transparent clarity! 

Nonetheless, still a good serving of braised duck rice if you are in the Little India vicinity.

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Address

81 Desker Road, 

Singapore 209604

Map

As above.

Operating Hours

11.00 am to 8.00 pm

(Closed on Thursdays)

Menu

As above.

Pricing

Signature Braised Duck for Two - S$12.00

Braised Egg - S$0.80 each

Yam Rice - S$1.00 each

White Rice - S$0.80 each

(NETT)

Bara Indonesian Grilled Rice - Ayam Bakar Bara & Sate Lilit Sets @ Icon Village Extension (Near Tanjong Pagar MRT Station) [Singapore]

My last visit to Icon Village was pretty recent, when I reviewed Two Men Bagel House. Back then, I noticed its next door neighbor, Bara Indonesian Grilled Rice, which was strongly endorsed by the Great Kon and I had heard him talk about it on a number of occasions! 

Hence, I took advantage of my recent staycation at the nearby Amara Hotel to check out the eatery! It was lunchtime on a weekday and only one table was occupied. Not a good sign but we decided to just go ahead with our orders.

While paying for my food, I couldn't take off my eyes from the display of deep fried sides next to the cashier, and I caved in. One order of corn fritter; one piece will do as I merely wanted to try. 

Food was served in only about five minutes! Some naysayers would likely comment that everything would be prepared and cooked way beforehand and therefore, wouldn't be as fresh. Maybe but we can only confirm after we eat. 

Homemade Lemongrass Drink - one of the best I ever had with a deep infusion of lemongrass and a sweetness that didn't overwhelm the palate. It's even topped with basil seeds, said to be a "nutritional powerhouse", according to this article here.  

Corn Fritter - served slightly warm, this would have tasted way better if the operator air-fried it before passing to us. Batter had a tinge of spiciness and with the temperature, felt a bit oily. I am so glad I only requested for one piece even though three pieces were cheaper on a per-piece basis.  

Ayam Bakar Bara (Set C) - honesty, I wanted to have this but since Alex also had the same intention; I opted for something else so that we can have more variety for the purpose of this review.

I stole a bite of the Balinese style grilled chicken and loved the deliciously sweet flavor of its marination that's further elevated with the smoky aroma resulted from grilling. So yummy! p.s. portion was a bit small, appeared to be using kampong chicken. 

Sate Lilit (Set E) - described to be Balinese chicken and prawn satay served with sambal matah, and a smattering of bitter crackers known as belinjo. Life is bitter enough and I don't need belinjo to deepen the bitterness. 

What's this? Otah?

Unravelling the banana leaves revealed a bundled of cooked rice! Don't belittle the rice; it smelt amazingly good and tasted like chicken rice with a touch of lemongrass, yet without being excessively oily! 

The fried tofu reminded me of the ones I had at Bandung, smooth with a thin, crisp layer! That trip to Indonesia's third largest city actually kick-started my unstoppable love for fried tofu. Satay wasn't the kind we are accustomed to having in Singapore; wrapped around a stalk of lemongrass, the meat was tender and juicy and strangely, kind of reminded me of otah with its spices. 

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Generally happy with what I had, except for the corn fritter, even though I would likely go for the ayam bakar bara in the future. p.s. the spiciness for the chili was manageable, tasted quite similar to those served with ayam penyet. 

Bara was full house when we left! 

Address

16 Enggor Street #01-10, Icon Village Extension 

(Diagonally Opposite Cold Storage) 

Singapore 079717

Map 

As above.

Website

https://www.bara-food.com/

Menu

As above. 

Pricing

Homemade Lemongrass Drink - S$4.00

Corn Fritter - S$2.50

Ayam Bakar Bara (Set C) - S$12.50

Sate Lilit (Set E) - S$14.50 

(NETT) 

Ipoh Tuck Kee - Moonlight Fried Horfun & Baby Octopus in Soy Sauce @ 51 Kopitiam in Hoa Nam Building (Jalan Besar)

Lavender Food Square was one of my favorite makan places before it was demolished to make way for the 16-storey ARC 380 commercial building. Even then, the area isn't forgotten since I do patronize the nearby Cheng Mun Chee Kee Pig Organ Soup occasionally.

Hoa Nam Building is no stranger too as its basement carpark would usually be empty and it was blessing when I used to have a car. I knew the old building, built in 1983, has some F&B outlets but never got to trying any of them, until the Great Kon mentioned about a famous horfun stall after a great meal at REPLYK1988! 

Ipoh Tuck Kee had its origins in Ipoh, Malaysia back in 1963 and this Singapore branch is helmed by the third generation. With photo of its original restaurant served as its main logo, I guess there should be some "quality" in the food. Let's check them out! 

As there were only Alex and I, I remember to order sparingly even though I was keen to try out its other wok-hei dishes like hokkien fried mee hoon, war tan hor fun etc. p.s. order and pay for your food first, and then wait for the pager to ring.

Wait was almost twenty minutes even though the stall didn't seem exceptionally busy! Nevertheless, my hungry tummy was cheering when I collected the plates of Moonlight Fried Horfun & Baby Octopus in Soy Sauce! 

Moonlight Fried Horfun - why do you think it has the word "moonlight" in the name? The answer should be obvious; the raw egg yolk somewhere in the middle would count as the moon! 

Let's mix up everything for consistency! The hor fun was quite dry in my opinion but the addition of a raw egg made it a bit more "saucy", the way I like when it comes to hor fun. 

Taste wise, I didn't feel that it was chockablock full of wok-hei although it was still a delicious plate of hor fun given the large pieces of crispy pork lard, slices of pork, prawns, and generous amount of minced garlic that added an irresistible layer of aromatic spiciness! Eat with green chilli for that extra oomph! 

Baby Octopus in Soy Sauce - in normal times, if there were just two of us, I would never order this! But it was said to be highly recommended and was hoping it would be true; failing which, I would have to eat them ALL MY MYSELF! 

Infused by the light and slightly sweet soy sauce, and topped with fried garlic, these were appetizing nuggets of seafood that surprisingly, had a crunchy rather than rubbery texture! 

They tasted heavenly with the chilli and instead of my initial worry that I had to eat them all alone; the real situation was that I had absolutely no problem cleaning off the entire portion by myself. p.s. not big anyway.

To be honest, I can't wait to be back! 

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Address

27, Foch Rd, #01-02,

Hoa Nam Building, 

Within 51 Kopitiam,

Singapore 209276

Map

As above.

Operating Hours

11.00 am to 10.00 pm

(Closed between 2.30 - 4.00 pm)

Menu

As above.

Pricing

Moonlight Fried Horfun - S$8.50

Baby Octopus in Soy Sauce - S$8.00

End of My Four-Night Ocean Getaway Cruise on Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas #royalcaribbeancruise

<<< Day Four

Time: an ungodly 5.42 am but I was already up. It's the end of my four-night ocean getaway cruise onboard Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas and I can see that the ship had already docked at Singapore Cruise Centre.

We can't leave the ship yet but the reason for waking up so early was because of our last complimentary breakfast buffet at Windjammer! Last chance for me to have the congee too. 

Enjoying the view of light polluted mainland Singapore and the sea bordering the southern part of the little red dot as we dug into our breakfast. 

View of Singapore Cruise Centre in front of our stateroom. 

I would usually leave a tip on the bedside table of the hotel whenever I travel. We did that for the stateroom but the money was never collected. Gratuities, also known as tips, were actually already included in our cruise fee but in the event you want to contribute more, you can place extra monies into the provided envelope.

Tag 11 was called and we can finally depart via the gangway on deck 5. Honestly, there's nothing to do after breakfast and we were so looking forward to leaving! No rush to leave though since Windjammer, the main dining room on deck 4 would operate till 8.30am. I should have waken up later.

Saying goodbye to the stateroom that was home for the past four nights! 

Interested to know more about stateroom 8626? Click here. 

Lift with the change in day; the dreaded Monday.

Thankfully, I had already applied for leave; no Monday blues! 

Throwing the contract tracing wristband (known as tracelet) into the bin. Frankly, this should be removed as I am still required to check in to facilities via my physical seapass! What's exactly the purpose of the tracelet?

Stepping into Singapore Cruise Centre! 

Clearing immigration was a breeze with the automated lanes and while there's a bus going to the nearby Marina South MRT station; we decided to just take the cab for a quicker, less tiring journey home.

Damn, it cost me over S$30 to get home.

The cruise was taken in August 2021 and it took me close to six months to finally conclude all the postings! To have a better picture of the happenings throughout the cruise, do visit the summary page! For details of each day, click day one, day two, day three and day four.