Bincho - Where you can eat Cock's Comb

 The unassuming door to Bincho. In the morning it's a coffeeshop but it turns into a restaurant at night.

Since its a chicken speciality restaurant, it was a no brainer for us to select one of the chicken menus available. They also have a variety of other dishes, but since it was our first time there, we decided to stick to their sets.

I got the $65++ set, and 'shio' yakitori

 The assorted appetiser, which had this delicious chicken pate (see left bottom).

 Salad sticks and miso paste, as well as the "shio' platter with has chicken necks...

And a variety of chicken parts which also included the bishops nose (which is one of the things I don't eat), kidney etc.

The 'shime' of the day which was oyako don (chicken and egg on rice) - no complaints here - I really liked the chicken broth that came with the oyako don.

Dessert was a variety of jellies.

I added on 2 dishes to the above set :

 The Cock's Comb ($5) - which I was truly fascinated with. When I asked the waiter what this was - he said it was the red thing on top of the rooster (公雞) but just that it was not red after cooking anymore. No one else at my table wanted to try it. Surprisingly it tasted pretty good! It has the texture of chicken feet but not as soft, and slightly smoother.  I finished the whole plate myself :D In Mandarin it's called 雞冠

The grilled chicken hearts ($5) were also pretty awesome - I love the texture of the hearts and it doesn't have the gamey taste of the kidneys/liver. I thought that it went really well with the wholegrain mustard.

The rest tried the Chicken Hotpot ($150 for 2persons) but since I'm quite adverse to steamboat cos of all the double dipping and when people throw in raw stuff when I'm trying in vain to scoop out the cooked foods already. That's why my favourite steamboat is the Bijin Nabe from Tsukada Nojo (since they have tongs and cook everything for you).

The said hotpot - it's actually a portion for 4 people but since our table was too small they cooked it at the side for us.

 Fried chicken

 The yakitori from the hotpot set - no innards here - chicken neck, chicken wings etc

The delicious soup - it's similar to the soup I had with my oyako don. It was a really interesting dining experience - would definitely be back to try more of their yakitori dishes...

There's also a bar where you can get cocktails - about $20+ per drink

Since the 3 little pieces of dessert wasn't enough to satisfy, we trooped over to PS cafe for more desserts.


Bincho
78 Moh Guan Terrace 
#01-19 
Singapore 162078
Tel 64384567

Poulet

As much as I hate being unadventurous and boring, I do quite like Poulet for it's accessibility, affordability and acceptable food. 

 I really like their signature salad (about $10) which is very refreshing and lightly dressed, so much so that we had to order a second one to share cos it wasn't enough...

 The truffle mashed potatoes were awesome but then the consistency makes me really worried that there may be a 1:1 ratio of potatoes to butter.

 Since this was about 2 months ago too, it was Christmas and we decided to try their apple sauce chicken wings, which were quite unmemorable. I think there was some promo so we got it...

 And of course, their chicken, which was tender and nicely roasted. Hasn't disappointed me and I've tried it about 3-4x since they opened. Just too lazy to blog about it heh.

Poulet didn't have their awesome banana crumble that they used to have - so we adjourned to St Marcs cafe for some delicious parfaits - I wouldn't recommend the strawberry parfait cos it was way too sweet and only had frozen strawberries... but the Kyoto delight which I usually have (in the background) is really delicious especially with the Warabi mochi pieces that I really love and the roasted soybean flour. Mmmmm

Texas Chicken - TXtreme Chicken

Original chicken in front, Jalapeño Txtreme Chickne at back

Texas Chicken has recently introduced a new flavour recently: the Jalapeño Txtreme Chicken. I was given 2 vouchers to try the new chicken flavour. I was initially a bit apprehensive about eating the spicy chicken because my chilli tolerance is really pathetic (I can't eat the MacSpicy chicken burger without tearing up), but I found the heat from this chicken tolerable. To be fair, I haven't had the MacSpicy since 4 years ago, but I doubt that my lousy chilli tolerance has improved very much since then. 

Jalapeño TXtreme Chicken

It tastes more of Jalapeño, with a mile peppery aftertaste, rather than just chilli heat. The Jalapeño taste is very prominent, and its special marinade of Jalapeño peppers and spices gave it more kick than the original. The batter layer is very crispy, and like most other fried chicken, is the tastiest layer of the chicken. I got both the original and the Jalapeño TXtreme chicken flavours to compare the difference, and amongst my family members, we unanimously agreed that the Jalapeño flavour was the tastier one.

Here's a close up comparing the Jalapeño TXtreme chicken (left) and the original chicken (right). The batter is much crispier than the original chicken. A 2 piece chicken meal, which includes a handmade Honey Butter biscuit, a side (I liked the coleslaw), and a drink costs $8.20. Would I eat it again? Definitely will consider it when a fried chicken craving hits.

There are currently 10 branches of Texas chicken in Singapore. I went to the Star Vista branch cos it's the nearest to my house. The other branches are  at: nex, Vivocity, Great World City, Westgate, Causeway Point, Gardens by the Bay, Changi Airport, Expo, Causeway point, Changi City Point

Poulet

This is a way outdated post - just dug it up from the recesses of my blog - and since I've already watermarked the photos, I shall just blog about it. (Not sure if they've increased the prices, but these are the prices I found online)

The Salad de Paris ($9.80++) cranberry, tomato, black olives, avocado, pine nuts in a light French dressing was not bad - well dressed, light and refreshing.

Granny's Chicken Salad ($9.80++), which isn't really a salad (in local terms) considering that it has only 4 leaves and 4 tomato halves. The shredded chicken was combined with crunchy granny smith apples, capers and mayonnaise. Taste wise it's not bad (because of the sweetness from the raisins and apples) but I doubt this whole thing has even 1 serving of vegetables.

Iberico Pork Belly ($15.80++) was not bad - very tender and soft, served with leek confit and mustard.

The Braised Duck Leg ($15.80++) - braised in a rich red wine sauce (very tasty) with cranberries and glazed onions.

Their classic poulet chicken ($15.80)  - was very underwhelming. In fact, it reminds me vaguely of the western lunch I get at work. Slightly more moist and tender, but I won't be trying it again (the other mains are much better). The creamy mushroom chardonnay sauce is a bit jelak by the end of the meal. The chicken is brined for half a day and then slow roasted to get it's caramel brown colour. Very average only. For the same price, please try the other dishes instead.

I really liked the banana bread pudding (with a scoop of vanilla ice cream). If you don't like moist mushy desserts, this is definitely not for you - it's very moist, lots of soggy bananas and rather sweet. Ice cream was ok-ish, not like the awesome vanilla bean kind (like Marmalade Pantry's).

Price wise, it's quite affordable - mains are about $20 after taxes/service charge and they're pretty substantial and filling. It's getting rarer and rarer to find affordable food - the going rate for a simple dish of eggs benedict at most popular cafes is now around $20, so considering that these dishes are made from solid meat, it's a pretty good deal.

However, they do not serve water, so you'll have to buy bottled water. Thumbs down for that.

I suppose that this is a much better alternative to Nandos (which I really dont' like) if you're hankering for some chicken (though it's not Halal certified), and  price wise its comparable to Nandos. I won't mind getting the banana bread pudding again.

I tried Poulet at the Great World City outlet, but it's taking over Singapore with lots and lots of outlets.

Poulet outlets are at:
Bugis
Chinatown Point
Vivocity
Bedok Mall
Jurong Point
Raffles City
West Gate