SUKA MAKAN: A RETURN TO ARAB STREET @ CLEMENTI SUNSET WAY

Here we are again, in Arab Street Turkish Restaurant along Sunset Way. The thing about favourite restaurants is that we keep coming back. The reasons have to do with the food - it must be delicious - but also the service. Here, we are made to feel at home. The owners and staff treat you like special guests, and are genuinely happy to see you return.

Whatever you order on the menu you get, and then you get extra on the house. Mushroom soup was served first, compliments of the chef. Then a humus dish with vegetables. That whets your appetite for the main courses.

Mushroom soup

Humus with vegetables

On this occasion, we enjoyed a lamb pide (Turkish pizza) and cheesy chicken and rice served in a tagine (brass bowl). That's more than enough to fill the stomach, and this is washed down with Turkish mint tea, which they know has been a favourite of ours. That special service keeps you coming back!

Lamb pide

Cheesy chicken rice in a tagine.

There's a trick of pouring tea
without getting scalded.

With owner Max & staff Abdel Rahman

ARAB STREET TURKISH RESTAURANT

Blk 106 Clementi Street 12 #01-38

Singapore 120106

restaurant arab street turkish & western (@arabstreetturkishwestern) • Instagram photos and videos

RANDOM HEARTLAND EATS: KIMLY COFFEESHOP @ CLEMENTI AVENUE 5

There are three heartland coffeeshops within 100 metres of each other in Clementi Avenue 5. This is the third one we've visited, Kimly Coffeeshop on Block 345. Even though this food court does not actually have a proper signboard, it is part of the Kimly group which has several other establishments in and around Clementi. If fact, it's the biggest coffeeshop franchise in the land, with 89 shops! 

When we visited after work on one evening, we found it quite well attended, as HDB coffee shops are not just eating places, but where people congregate, sit around and while their time away (occasionally getting into scuffles and fights). We've never witness one of those fisticuffs, we're far away from Yishun anyway. 

The Ginseng chicken
tastes better than it looks.

This coffeeshop has your usual assortment of stalls, but there's an old familiar favourite from Block 380, still doing brisk business. Victor's Western Grill & Pasta is a little more expensive than other stalls of this kind, but he is still popular because his portions are generous and tasty. Having not had his food for a while, he joked that his stall "was lost but now found". I can only say amen to that!

Classic chicken chop with brown sauce
and aglio olio spaghetti.

KIMLY COFFEESHOP

Block 345 Clementi Avenue 5

Singapore 120345

SUKA MAKAN: QIJI TRADITIONAL FISHMAW SOUP & MINCED MEAT NOODLES @ SUNSET WAY, CLEMENTI

This is one of the eating places which is so small that you walk past barely taking a look. However, on this occasion, we decided to take a look and try the food - and it's a gem. Wedged between the famous Springleaf Prata Place and a Korean restaurant on Sunset Way is this "hole in the wall" restaurant. Walk faster and you'll miss Qiji Traditional Fishmaw Soup & Minced Meat Noodles, which despite its nondescript appearance at first glance, has some really delicious items.

The interior is rather cramped
but there's much more outdoor seating. 

Chef Darwin's hilariously inept
Photoshop portraits with celebs.
Bro, there are such things as AI!

Its speciality is a fishmaw soup served with rice or noodles, and crocodile bak kut teh in earthen pot, the most pricy item on its menu. We just tried the seafood / bak chor noodles and were justly impressed. The mee pok that came with seafood soup was very delicious. the Janet could not resist the Teochew seahum (chilled cockles in sauce) and that was quite lovely too.

Seafood fishmaw soup
with a seriously good mee pok.

QIJI TRADITIONAL FISHMAW SOUP 

& MINCED MEAT NOODLES

Block 106 Clementi Street 12 #01-62

(20+) Video | Facebook

SUKA MAKAN: SPRINGLEAF PRATA PLACE @ SUNSET WAY, CLEMENTI

When it comes to Indian mamak food, Springleaf Prata Place has it all. We've ordered many times for home delivery, but on this occasion, we decided to dine at the nearest outlet - the trustworthy Clementi Street 12 Block 109 along Sunset Way. Prata, murtabak, nasi briyani and mee goreng in all their infinite varieties can be found here.

The premises is simple, unpretentious with a no-frills cafeteria vibe, and we were the only diners on this early evening. Service was swift, and we had our fill within just a few minutes. Prices are higher than most hawkers centres and food courts, but there's the luxury that only an AC can bring. 

One is a kopi, the other teh tarik.

Maggi mee goreng with ikan bilis.

Good old chicken briyani

The SPP speciality, Murtaburger
a cross between Murtabak and Ramli burger.
Sinfully rich and filling, I was still eating
it the following day!

Springleaf also has a self-service free-flow curry station (both chicken and fish curry), where curries are kept piping hot and free from possible contamination. It looks hygienic but our stomachs will be the best judge of that. (It's been just over 24 hours, and so far no issues!)

SPRINGLEAF PRATA PLACE

Block 106 Clementi Street 12 #01-64

Off Sunset Way

Singapore 120106

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CD Review (The Straits Times, January 2017)

F.X.MOZART Piano Concertos Nos.1 & 2

CLEMENTI Piano Concerto

HOWARD SHELLEY, Piano

Sinfonieorchester St Gallen

Hyperion 68126 / ****

Franz Xaver Mozart (1791-1844) was the second son of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who was just four months old when his father died. Interestingly, he was a student of Antonio Salieri (Mozart senior's supposed rival) and Johann Hummel, himself a student and boarder who lived in the same household. F.X.Mozart's two piano concertos are chips from the old block, continuing in his father's classical style of piano and orchestral writing without further developing the genre.

Piano Concerto No.1 in C major (1809) recaps Amadeus' martial air of the C major concertos (Nos.21 and 25) and syncopated tension in the opening tutti of the D minor concerto (No.20). By the time Piano Concerto No.2 in E flat major (1818) came about, Beethoven's more vigorous and highly expressive concertos had already turned the tide of music, ushering in the age of Romanticism.

The Italian Muzio Clementi (1752-1832) was a contemporary and rival of the father, upon who no little scorn and sarcasm was poured. Even his only Piano Concerto in C major (1896) sounds modern by comparison and may be passed off as proto-Beethoven. He, rather than Franz Xaver, was perhaps the true link between the masters Mozart and Beethoven. 

Trust the ever-enterprising British pianist-conductor Howard Shelley to breathe urgency and vitality into these little-known works, which are pleasant and worth listening if not life-changing.