I don’t care if you are going to throw tomatoes or rotten eggs at me, but I am going to declare Ramen Santouka at Central as the best ramen restaurant in Singapore.

We’re raised to believe that there is always something better out there. What if there isn’t? What if this is the best ramen place in Singapore, but I keep insisting on finding a better one elsewhere? Does it mean I have to try a few lousy ramen restaurants before I come back to Ramen Santouka and believe that they have the best ramen in Singapore?

If you have been reading my food blog for some time, you will know that I am not the biggest fan of ramen. It reminds me of instant noodle, and it seems silly to pay over the odds for it. But somewhere along the way, I realize that it is much more than that.

A bowl of good ramen, has superior stock that is carefully prepared by the chefs for hours. A bowl of good ramen, has springy noodles that bounce off the tip of your tongue. A bowl of good ramen, comes with slices of charshu that never seem to be enough, and a boiled egg that is runny in the middle. I think the perfect bowl of ramen is the one from Santouka Ramen at Central and I believe many also think that they have one of the best ramen in Singapore.

Even though I have not been to that many ramen places in Singapore, the Kara-Miso Ramen ($14.50) is a clear winner with its spicy yet addictive broth. The Shio ramen ($13.50) was good, but it paled in comparison to the spicy ramen.

I tried to coax the ramen to stay still, but it was far too mischievous and simply didn’t want to listen. The noodles bounced around the surface of my tongue, just like how a bunch of kids ran around in a playground. Slices of the ever-so-tender charshu had the “must-try-me-otherwise-you-will-regret-it” look. It was frighteningly tasty. How could something that’s so vulnerably thin, taste so good?

Will you queue for ramen?

Go Ramen Santouka during off-peak timings, if not be prepared to queue up for the bowl of ramen. Speaking of queues, I think I shall brave the long waiting lines to try Ippudo Ramen at Mandarin Gallery next!

Restaurant Review
Ramen Santouka
6 Eu Tong Sen Street #02-76
The Central Singapore
Tel: +65 6224 0668

Like what I’ve mentioned in my previous blog post on the list of Japanese restaurants in Singapore, my friends have been craving for Japanese food recently.

For Japanese food lovers, there’s this unsatisfiable crave for Japanese food. More sushi, more sashimi, more sushi, more sashimi! You can never have too much Japanese food. I would know, since we went to three Japanese restaurants within a week.

The Central at Eu Tong Seng street, Clark Quay has always been known as a Japanese food heaven. It houses many Japanese restaurants like Ma Maison, Marutama, Waraku Japanese restaurant, and Watami. Our dinner that night was at Sun with Moon, a Japanese restaurant at The Central by the Singapore River.

Sushi is so photogenic! I love how my picture for the Avocado Soft Shell Roll ($12.8) turned out. That aside, it was subtle, and sweet and when I swallowed it down – gulp – it’s gone! Six sushi are never enough.

Tonkatsu Tamago Toji ($12.80)

Wagyu Steak ($45.80 for 120g)

Tempura Zaru Soba ($13.80)

California Roll ($11.80)

Sun with Moon is at the prime location facing the Singapore River, and most importantly, it’s not together with the other restaurants inside the clustered Central Mall. With the breeze from the river, the al fresco dining area is ideal for a romantic dinner for two at night. Food presentation was sublime and the sight of the food made our mouth water.

Having been to both Sun with Moon (Central @ Clarke Quay & Wheelock) and its sister restaurant Japanese Dining Sun at Chijmes, I have to agree that all three restaurants have very contemporary and chic decorations. Unfortunately, Sun with Moon did not really meet our expectations to make the cut for my recommended Japanese restaurants in Singapore. The food was actually not too bad but there was just something missing. It’s not you, it’s me. Given that there are so many Japanese restaurants in Singapore offering good Japanese food at a similar or lower price, I probably wouldn’t return to Sun with Moon in the near future.

How much are you willing to pay for a Japanese dinner?

Restaurant Review
Sun with Moon
6 Eu Tong Sen Street
#01-70/71/72 The Central @ Clarke Quay
Tel: +65 6534 7784

The best of everything. The sashimi platter ($120) was the highlight of our meal and we started with a bang; there’s tuna, pink prawns, hirame, uni (sea urchin). Every slice was so fresh, I could see the glitter in my dining companions eyes. While I’m not a big fan of “raw fish”, it’s definitely a feast for the eyes and treat for the palate to have it prepared so exquisitely.

The Sakura set dinner ($58 per set) which included appetiser of assorted braised vegetables Japanese style, spicy dynamic oyster, sushi roll. For sashimi there’s tuna, salmon and oyster, and this was followed by a steamed dish of chawanmushi, with a deep fried tofu from the land behind. The two mains would be grilled chicken and wagyu beef burger, if that’s not enough, there’s hot udon served with kakiage. And finally rounding off the meal with a chef’s special dessert.

The four of us ordered two sets to share because there was so much else to order from the ala carte menu!

Fortunately, the assortment of sashimi from the set menu came early, and an innocent question “more sashimi?” led to the fantastic sashimi platter you saw on the first photo.

I love eggs, all kinds of them; fried, half boiled, scrambled, sunny side-up, poached ones, anything – except steamed eggs. There are bits of chicken, crab stick, boiled prawns, ginko nuts, and shitake mushroom within the Chawanmushi.

The deep fried tofu and cheese wrapped with soy bean skin is up next, at first sight the sticky cheese looked promising, but upon tasting there wasn’t much wow – the cheese’s not enough and the whole taste was subtle, bordering on bland.

Our first main course of the menu came piping hot, the grilled chicken was served on a hot stone which was specially brought back from Mount Fuji, to ensure the meat retained its optimum temperature – while we took photographs!

Umami’s rendition of wagyu beef burger came in the form of two “meatballs”, while there was nothing spectacular of its appearance, the meat was sure tasty!

Hot udon served with kakiage was the last item on the Sakura menu before dessert. The tasting portion of the menu covered a variety and was decent, there’s two other set dinners at $88 and $128.

And now it’s where the real dinner starts, our selections from the ala carte menu.

A simple deep fried dried cuttlefish ($8) brought us back to the appetiser stage, and prepared us for all the food coming.

I enjoyed the Grilled cod wrapped with lettuce ($16) tremendously. The fish was lightly grilled on the outside and tasted good on its own. But it’s when we wrapped it within the lettuce, Korean-style, and the crunchiness of the lettuce supplemented and enhanced the freshness of the cod.

Clearly, the spicy dynamic oyster ($16 for 3) was everyone’s favourite. Befitting of its name, it had us on first bite in the Sakura menu and we ordered again. The tangy sauce was oh my god, so good! We slurped down the delicious oyster, and did not waste a single drop of the sauce. The best oysters in Singapore, and no, it’s not raw.

The comprehensive sushi menu made it difficult for us to choose from, but in the end for the love of salmon, we went for the Avocado salmon roll ($12). An elongated plate with eight pieces of makis, was indeed value for money.

A whole chunk of it, right in front of our eyes. The scared foie gras ($33), grilled with teriyaki sauce. Oh-oh-oh! Lightly grilled on the outside yet retaining a soft pink within, I swallowed it down – gulped, and wish that time stood still at that moment.

We were all excited by the Japanese beef – Umami served top grade wagyu! A sizzling sound signal the arrival of something magnificent, the marbling was so rich & dense that the meat literally melted in our mouth. I looked around and tried to speak, but no words came; I just allowed myself to quietly finish the meat, and inside I was secretly hoping there was more of this. It’s like totally God’s gift to mankind. Our jaws dropped when we heard that it’s a current promotional price of just $38 instead of the usual $60.

My previous encounter with Kurobuta pork was enough to tell me it’s good stuff, so when we browsed through the “from the land” menu, I immediately ordered the Braised kurobuta pork belly ($12).

“Eeekk!” The girls exclaimed when it was served. The fatty layers were enough to scare off the others, but not me. One bite of the braised pork belly, and one sip of beer, what more can you ask for?

The Rolled omelette with truffle oil ($8 for 5 pieces) was also one of Umami’s signature dishes. You like Japanese omelette? You will like this.

Like what the manager Nigel had mentioned, although the US Black Angus beef ($38) is great, but it’s not in the same league as the Japanese wagyu; the former is like human while the latter is god. The Angus tasted ordinary considering we had gone to heaven with the wagyu – the marbling was just not the same. But it’s not that the Angus wasn’t good, but because we had tried the wagyu first.

And finally after a very long and satisfying dinner, desserts came in the form of home made kurogoma brulee ($6), and home made custard pudding ($6). The former was a sesame version of creme brulee that I didn’t quite take to, but I love the home made custard pudding!

Umami has been around at Liang court since April and I have to admit I did not notice their presence previously when I went to Liang court. The very posh and club-like entrance made it rather intimidating for diners to step in, and they are currently making changes to the front decorations. There’s a current DBS 1-for-1 promotion for their $18 and $25 set lunches.

My appreciation to Lynda from DBS, Cherylene & Seema from Eurorscg, and the Nigel & his staff from Umami for the wonderful dinner. My third and final restaurant with DBS Foodster will be at Xin Cuisine, Holiday Inn Atrium, you can find out more information about the DBS Indulge Series here.

177 River Valley Road
#01-26 Liang Court
Tel: 6333 1166

Celebrate Karen’s birthday with zihui and tay. Karen wanted japanese food, so we went to Central @ Clarke Quay, one of the place with many japanese restaurants around. At first we wanted to try Ma Maison, but in the end we end up in Kyomomoyama for some unknown reason. hahaha! Hmm.. Kyomomoyama, how the heck do you pronouce it? I think its Kyo-mo-mo-ya-ma : )

Interior of Kyomomoyama

When we went in at about 1130am, there was not much people around, so we manage to get the window seats by the river. The interior was quite well decorated, pleasant and neat looking. The menu is quite extensive with a wide range of sashimi, sushi, and japanese food. And their set lunches are quite reasonable, prices ranging from the cheapest at $12 to $30.

Saba set: Grilled Mackerel ($15)

Zihui and tay had this set which was served with appetizer, pickles, steamed egg, rice, miso soup and dessert.

Set lunch special eel set B ($18)

Kyomomoyama is offering this special eel set lunch with four different sets available. My set consist of green salad, special eel roll wrapped with japanese radish, steamed custard egg with eel, grilled eel (above), pickles, rice, soy bean soup, & dessert. At $18 i though the price was pretty decent. The eel was nice, as in you don’t feel the eel-ily taste, in fact i felt it was rather delicious.

Unagichatsuke ($28.80)

Karen had Unagichatsuke – grilled eel served with seaweed tea. The grilled eel here was the same as the eel i had for my eel set, just that there is two piece of eel here (more expensive).

Sake Teriyaki ($12.80)

Side order we had sake teriyaki – which was grilled salmon

Overall, our bill was $113.45 for 4 person. The price is quite reasonable i guess, that is if you stick to the set lunches, if you start to order the side dishes, this is wad happen to us. hahaha! But one thing is by the time we leave about 1pm, the place is not really full, as compared to the other restaurants beside Kyomomoyama, the rest are almost full. For a sunday a restaurant not full is not really a good sign. The lady boss was quite friendly, she came out to chat with the customers, when she was at the next table to us, we pay up and fled. lol! Somehow, the lack of a theme for Kyomomoyama i don’t know works to or work against them. For restaurants like Waraku, they have causal japanese dining, Wakashiya is famous for its curry udon, Ma Maison is its european-japanese fusion of western food, Marutama everyone knows it for its ramen. What do you think?

Just to side track, as we were having the window seats, we saw the yellow-ducks floating in the singapore river, a lot of people were standing by the river to see : )

After lunch, tay went to the basement there to buy donuts, Marcial Kobe – its small ring size donut.

Plenty of varieties to choose from, dozen small size donuts for $4. Tay xuan took a bit of this and that, never really notice what favour he choose. Tried a few and they were quite okay, like all donuts, after eating fried stuff very thirsty. But the donut-craze that is going on is n’uff reason for the crowd buying donuts. Donut shops are springing up like nobody business, from the popular donut factory at city hall, Vinco the donut parlour at Vivocity, missy donut, yummy donut, Dunkin Donuts, just to name some of the more prominent ones. You can see a article by Sunday times on donuts here. My personal opinion of donuts

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The set lunch menu is acknowledged to be value for money considering the fact that the same items for set lunch are cheaper than dinner (no set dinner menu). The food at the restaurant is not expensive, with $12 (cheapest) for a set lunch, but the serving is not really big, so for big-eaters a set lunch may not suffice. Nevertheless, like its sister restaurant, Sun with Moon @ Wheelock, the menu at Sun with Moon @ Central features a selection of both traditional and modern Japanese dishes, and stays true to their philosophy of using only the finest ingredients for their culinary creations.

Went for lunch on fine sunday afternoon for cousins gathering. The set lunch menu starts from 12 noon and end at 230pm, from 230pm to 630pm, they offer the cafe menu which has considerately less main course, and mostly are desserts, cocktails, mocktails, flavoured beers, fine wines and premium sake.

Tonkatsu & potato salad ($13.50). Tonkatsu in the hands of less competent chef could become too dry and hard, but the one at Sun is done just nicely, cripsy and not too dry. Coupled with the sauce, the first bite of the meat makes you want to finish it all.

I always like a well-balanced meal, so the salad do well eating together with the Tonkatsu.

Chicken Teriyaki & California roll set ($14.80), all the lunch set meal here also comes with pickled vege, soup and tea/coffee. Like the one at Wheelock, chicken teriyaki place on hot plate was simply good.

The california roll which comes with the Chicken Teriyaki is really yummy, i was really tempted to order a separate plate at $10.50

Saba & Oden ($12.50) rice with grilled mackerel. The fish was quite tasty, but the complaint is too many small bones which makes it difficult to eat.

The side that comes with the mackerel, has egg & fish cake and some other food that we don’t know and also no courage to try

Mini tori chicken set ($9.30) – rice with chicken cooked in the pot which you have to time with a sand hour glass, stir upon time’s up. Looks quite good, but the serving a tad too small.

Sun with Moon may not offer fine-dining, but as a casual and fun dining experience, it works for me. Having been to both branches, personally i feel that Sun with Moon @ Wheelock warms up to me more. Reason being i feel that i at more comfortable at Wheelock than at Central. Not that the one at Central is not good, it’s just the feel you know? Despite that, Sun with Moon @ Central, you have the river view thrown in as a bonus. Total bill is $49.65 for four person after discount. I used the 15% discount coupon given to me during my last visit to Sun with Moon @ Wheelock. Ladyironchef still rates Sun with Moon @ Central five stars because i like the modern yet traditional decorations, and the effort in presenting the food to diners.

01-70/71/72 The Central @ Clarke Quay
6 Eu Tong Sen Street, 059817
Tel : 6534 7784

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Silver Cod Fillet ( $14.00) with fries.

North. Atlantic Cod Loin ($16.00) with fries. Its the most ex fish at Fisherman Wharf, but the tastes and the looks quite similar to silver cod fillet.

Garoupa Fillet ($12.50) with chips.

Snow Fish ($15.00) with chips. Comment was not very nice, try something else.

Lemon Sole Fillet ($14.00) with chips. Very similar to silver cod fillet and north atlantic cod, but the taste is a bit different. The fish crumbed very easily, making it difficult to eat.

I am not lying right? All the fishes look about the same, with the generous helping of chips, fries ana tartar sauce. Seriously if they didn’t tell us which is which, we wont know the fishes. I read that someone compared Greenwood Bistro to Fisherman Wharf, in my personal opinion, there is totally no way to compare. Greenwood bistro fish albeit being more expensive at the range of $17 to $20+, but it offers a lot more different quality fish, different style of cooking the fish, and a healthy servings of chips and vege. Furthermore, the ambience at Greenwood and Fisherman Wharf is different. Greenwood is a restaurant, while Fisherman’s is more like Long John Silver – fast food outlet. Mayb its because my expectation is too high before i went, therefore i am more disapointed.

But our conclusion is, go for the set lunch at $9.50 which comes with fish & chips, and drink. If not, for dinner just order the normal cream dory fillet at $6.50. No offend to any Fisherman’s Wharf lovers out there, this is just my personal opinion.

27 New Bridge Road
Singapore 059391

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Donald had the Kaminabe Wazen ($19.80), kaminabe sounds like some foul word? haha. Anyway, it has sliced beef & vegetables cook with soup in paper pot, fresh salmon sashimi, and deepfried assortment of vege and prawn, rice. The sliced beef and vege in spicy soup, the soup is refreshing to drink, donald (beef lover) say the beef is very nice, so it must be nice. Quite special to put it in paper pot.

Fried Prawn and vege, looks and taste nice. Onli one miserable prawn, should have give more. lol! Overall this dish i would give it 4 out of 5

I had the TonkatsuWazen ($15.50) which is pork cutlet set meal i guess. It has pork cutlet (obviously), salad, rice, pickles seaweed with soup noodles. The main character, pork cutlet, cripsy is the word to describe. At some places after eating pork cutlet you will feel the after-effect of being thirsty and stuff like that, but this one wont. The cutlet is also fried jus nice, not too bland and not too salty. Plus my fav healthy servings of vege to go along with it. The seaweed with soup noodles, one big bowl of it, two person to finish it, Noodles taste all right. Tonkatsu set (pork cutlet) gets 3.5 out of 5 because i prefer donald set. As simple as that

Overall the whole restaurant feel, donald say is 3.5, but i think i would give it 4 out of 5, pretty decent price and the food is not too bad, jus that i think the management should improve on the restaurant service, too much shouting around is not music to my ears while i am having my dinner. I had a coupon from them after paying the bill, its gives quite a good discount, BUT, the big but, it is onli limited to 1 coupon per table per bill basis. That means i can use coupon but my friend cant? O well, in any basis, i would be going back to Waraku for dinner again because its near to my workplace.

6 Eu Tong Sen Street
#03-89/97/98 The Central @ Clarke Quay
Singapore 059817

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