I was having a craving for ondeh ondeh and I realized that not many places sell ondeh ondeh anymore. I finally found one here at this place near my house. They sell 5 of these ondeh ondeh balls for $1.50. That makes it 30 cents each, still quite affordable.

This ondeh ondeh has quite thick skin, very much different from those sold in Malaysia streets which have much thinner skin. It also feels quite warm, strangely. Usually I eat it cold. The filling is sufficiently sweet. It is enough to fix my craving but it will do better with a thinner skin and serving it cold.

The husband-and-wife (so I assume) manning this stall is always friendly and nice. They also open quite early for people who needs to buy some on-the-go breakfast. They sell other nonya kuehs like ang ku kueh, bai tang gao and buns at reasonable prices. Usually they are quick as they know people are catching their buses at the nearby bus stop after they buy.

When word got around that Tiong Bharu has transformed into a dynamic enclave of bars, cafes and restaurants, I knew that a trip to this place is in order. 40 Hands and PoTeaTo just stands across one another - while the former is no doubt more famous, the little cafe could not hold anymore in its squeezy air-conditioned interior. It was burning hot on that day (hardly any day in Singapore isn't anyway) and we were dying for some air-con... so we shuffled into PoTeaTo which was pretty empty but thank heavens, air-conditioned. If given a choice, I'll always do dessert before main course. Eggless Chocolate Cake ($7.80) is our logical pick - after all it is the fattest, tallest cake slice out of all the available selections. PoTeaTo can really do better in their dessert variety. I was pleasantly surprised by the fullness of the chocolate taste upon the first mouthful, and immediately I wanted another and another bite of it! The top chocolate layering tastes like just pure, thick chocolate which my girlfriends liked a lot. I prefer the middle sections because it is less jelat but still retains the full-bodied chocolate taste. It is lighter than normal cakes, I think. But a little dry. You have to pair it with some tea or your throat will be parched after a while from eating this. I was sharing this slice with three other girlfriends, lucky for that because even if I had a big appetite for desserts, I could not possibly finish this on my own. It will get really jelat after a while, so remember to share it with someone else. H did not want to share the chocolate cake with us and so she ordered a Green Tea Cheesecake. I don't remember the price exactly, but it's slightly cheaper than $7.80 (should be around $7) but still pretty expensive given half the height it stood at compared to the chocolate cake.

Verdict of pinching a mouthful from her: I like this better than the chocolate cake, because the green tea flavour really hits the spot. It is fragrant and complements the cheesecake well. But it is priced too steeply by my standards.
We stayed in PoTeaTo for a little while before the dinner menu kicks in at 6pm. I decided on Spaghetti and Meatballs ($15) - it is me being unadventurous again because the other items on the menu just doesn't appeal to me at all.

Actually I don't really want to describe this too much because it is quite a disappointment. It tastes almost like my first attempt at cooking tomato spaghetti. I am not a good cook. You can probably guess what it tastes like. It is not inedible, but it is definitely not $15-standard. The meatballs were alright, but you can totally get better ones at Ikea.
PoTeaTo is somewhere that I will only go once for the experience but nothing in here to compel me to enter for a second round. There's a whole lot of improvement they can do in here. To their credit, their service is really down-to-earth and sincere, and this is a good place to chill at if you're in the area and well, it's mostly empty so you don't have to wait outside unlike 40 Hands.

Postscript: Their desserts are worth having, but the main courses... you can give it a skip.

The Dry Mee Pok with Fishball (original $3.40 but $4 for top-up noodles) here is average, and has lots of room for improvement. First, the serving size is just too small. Even after I topped up noodles, the serving size is only just right for me. Second, the noodles were clumpy (signs of not dipping it in the hot water long enough) and well, that is my number one pet peeve when eating noodles (clumpy ones). The fishballs and fish cakes were after all, processed food and I can't really say much about it. It is the cheapest option to fill your stomach quickly at the Grandstand, but it can be much better.

Shared a Iced Mango Sago with my friend at Ji De Chi, at $4.50. They close at 10pm, and we arrived at 9.45pm. They were still allowing last orders by then. The portion is quite small, and I could tell that each dessert's portion is really just for one person. It is refreshing but nothing special, nothing that cannot be replicated at home. More of a place to chill out and spend two hours chatting there rather than for the desserts themselves.

Went over to Albert Centre Market for lunch today and tried the Vegetarian stall here. It has quite a queue possibly drawn by the super cheap prices. Three Vegetables + Rice/Vermicelli/Kway Teow for $2.30. There is also curry sauces to drizzle over the rice for extra flavour. The curry is quite spicy in my opinion, spicier than the usual level. The psuedo meat thing was really processed food and it turned me off after two bites. Maybe I am not used to the vegetarian pseudo meat dish but it really is quite awful. The potatoes that come with the curry is very well done, very soft and flavoursome it was almost like mashed potato in cube shapes. It would have been better if they peeled off the skin first though. Overall it isn't very nice to eat but well, definitely cheaper than other stalls for the same amount of food.

Don't really like the environment here, it's super messy and the clearing of plates and tables is super inefficient, rude and haphazard! Would go over to Bugis+ or Bugis Junction any day, this is definitely my last time here.