I’ve walked past Sugisawa Japanese restaurant many times but somehow, I’ve never noticed it. On the outside, the Japanese restaurant at Robertson Quay looks very plain, which explains why I don’t remember seeing it before.

Ju suggested going there after reading raved reviews about the food. We had lunch there last week and we left the place very satisfied. I’d definitely recommend Sugisawa Japanese restaurant for good Japanese bento sets at affordable prices.

The menu has a good selection of Japanese food ranging from affordable bento sets ($15-22), good quality sushi ($15-25), and fresh sashimi ($13-40).

We shared the Sashimi moriawase ($25) which comprises an assortment of fresh sashimi. It was excellent value for the quality of the sashimi.

I was tempted by the Yakiniku bento ($15) and Ebi Fry bento ($16), but eventually I decided to stick with the Tonkatsu bento ($15).

The tonkatsu was fairly decent, not like those that you can get from tonkatsu speciality restaurants, but still good enough for me to satisfy my craving.

The Tempura bento ($18) that Ju had took our breath away when it arrived at the table. Not only do they look good, they taste great too!

Sugisawa Japanese Restaurant at Robertson Quay has very good value for money bento sets. Like other Japanese restaurants, the bento set is inclusive of rice and miso soup. But what makes Sugisawa different from the rest is that the portions are really generous and they even come with sashimi.

One thing to note, though. The service isn’t exactly friendly, and depending on how you see things, it can be quite intimidating. That said, Sugisawa is one of my new favourite Japanese restaurants. I’m not sure about you, but there’s just something about Japanese food that makes me happy.

Singapore Food Blog Review
Sugisawa Japanese Restaurant
30 Robertson Quay
#01-16 Riverside View
Tel: +65 6235 0212
Daily: 11.30am – 3pm; 6pm – 10pm

For more recommendations, read my list of best Japanese restaurants in Singapore

Much has been said about Chikuwa Tei at Mohamed Sultan road, the Japanese restaurant opened by the former Chef of Wasabi Tei at Far East Plaza.

From what I heard, the chef used to be a food nazi when he was at the previous Japanese restaurant. Although he had a nasty reputation, the place was extremely popular and there were always long queues. That said, I did not visit Wasabei Tei when he was there, so I wouldn’t know how it was like. I can assure you though, the chef was perfectly fine when we went there for dinner a few weeks ago.

Chikuwa Tei has 18 bento sets on the menu to choose from, and the price range from $12 for the more affordable Mackerel set to $25 for their popular Chirashi Sushi set.

My dining companion went for her favourite Grilled Eel set ($20) and it was wonderful. The sight of the huge slice of grilled unagi was enough to get a ‘wow‘ from us.

I like the Ten Cha Soba set ($12) – which you see in the first picture. Deep-fried tempura with cold green noodles, very simple yet so satisfying.

Salmon Sashimi ($10 for 5 slices). Om nom nom nom.

From the Makimono menu, we eyed the Avocado & Crab Maki ($8) and Deep-fried prawn ($12), but in the end we decided to share the Tuna Belly & Spring Onion ($12).

Dessert is probably Chikuwa Tei’s weakest link as they only have green tea and matcha ice cream. It doesn’t really matter as we were full anyway. I wouldn’t say no to another serving of salmon sashimi though.

Chikuwa Tei is a place that I will go back again when I am craving for Japanese food. The offerings are generally good, and the prices for the bento set and ala carte menu are very reasonable. For those of you who have been to Chikuwa Tei, En Japanese Dining Bar across the street, has a 50% promotion off Sushi and Sashimi from 6pm – 8pm daily.

For more recommendations, please read my list of best Japanese restaurants in Singapore

Singapore Food Blog Review
Chikuwa Tei
9 Mohamed Sultan Road #01-01
Tel: +65 6738 9395
Daily: 11.30am – 3pm, 6pm – 10pm

I will cut to the chase and tell you to go En Japanese Dining Bar at River Valley for their 50% promotion off Sushi and Sashimi from 6pm – 8pm daily.

The prices of the ala carte menu are similar to other Japanese Restaurants in Singapore. But it makes a whole lot of difference when you factor in the 50% discount off sushi and sashimi. Forget about the other Japanese casual dining restaurants, go to En Japanese Dining Bar’s for their 50% Early Bird Promotion.

It was a table full of food that night. We had Sashimi Platter, Maki rolls, Pork Belly (picture below), Sushi Platter, Soba and Black Sesame Ice Cream. By the way, En Japanese Dining Bar’s menu is not restricted to just Sushi and Sashimi. They have a good selection of Grilled Dishes, Tempura, Salad and Appetisers too.

We started with the Nigiri Platter ($23.80 before 50% discount) with 8 pieces of Sushi. Up next was the California Maki ($10 before 50% discount) which was nicely placed on an elongated white plate. Even without the 50% discount, I think it is good value considering that it comes at $10 for a platter of 6 Maki rolls.

Where else can you find a California Maki Platter at just $5++? This is incredible. Other selections on the Maki menu includes Soft Shell Crab Roll, Tuna Roll, and Salmon Avocado Roll (prices range from $4.80 to $12 before 50% discount).

Sashimi fans will definitely order the Sashimi Go Ten Mori ($34.50 before 50% discount) with five different kinds of sashimi. If you have a big group of friends, go for the Sashimi platter with seven different sashimi ($47.50 before 50% discount). Otherwise, the individual Sashimi options are available too.

En Japanese Dining Bar is a great reasonably priced Japanese Casual Dining Restaurant to satisfy your Japanese Food cravings.

Do note that the food promotion of 50% discount off Sushi & Sashimi is only available at their Mohamed Sultan branch (River Valley road). For those who cannot make it for the early bird discount from 6pm to 8pm, you can go there for supper as the Mohamaed Sultan branch opens till late night 3am on Friday and Saturday.

En Japanese Dining Bar has another branch at Bukit Timah and they have a different promotion of Japanese Hotplate Buffet at $48++/pax.

Service at the Japanese Restaurant was quite poor during our visit. Their staff were not very knowledgeable about the menu, and they missed out one of our orders. But I guess we can’t complain since they have such a good promotion.

This is going to be my new favourite place for cheap and good Japanese food… Unless you guys make it too crowded!

For more recommendations, read my list of Japanese Restaurants in Singapore.

Singapore Food Blog Review
En Japanese Dining Bar
207 River Valley Road
#01-57 UE Square Singapore
Tel: +65 6735 2212

Sun to Thu: 6pm – 12am
Fri to Sat & PH Eve: 6pm – 3am

557 Bukit Timah Road #01-14/16
Crown Centre Singapore
Tel: +65 6468 5710

Mon to Thu: 6pm – 11pm
Fri to Sun & PH: 12pm–3pm, 6pm–11pm

Note: The 50% promotion off Sushi & Sashimi is ongoing, but please call En Japanese Dining Bar to verify it again before going down.

Standing Sushi Bar has established a good reputation for good quality Japanese cuisine since opening back in 2009. The quirky concept of standing-in-a-sushi-bar has also helped boost their popularity in the Singapore Food Scene.

Fans of Standing Sushi Bar will be happy to know that they have recently added new branches at 8Q Singapore Art Museum and Marina Bay Link.

The new location at 8Q sam is much bigger than their original outlet at Raffles Place. While I like the idea of watching the chef in action while eating at a sushi bar, sometimes I just want to sit in a corner and enjoy my Japanese food in peace.

Standing Sushi Bar’s menu is very comprehensive and it includes a good variety of sashimi and sushi, agemono, robatayaki, noodle and grilled items. It took us a while before we could decide on what to order. Luckily, the staff was very knowledgeable about the menu and she advised us to go for some of their popular dishes.

The Sushi Take ($25) set came with 7 assorted nigiri, 2 pieces of maki, miso soup and a salad. Every piece of nigiri was so delicate and easy on the palate.

The Garlic Fried Rice ($7) came highly recommended and it did not disappoint. It had a lovely smell and every grain was so good. Seriously I could just eat this and ignore everything else. Definitely one of the best fried rice I’ve had.

Standing Sushi Bar’s Sashimi Platter ($35 for 6 kinds, 12 slices) is a good choice if you want variety. But we decided to focus solely on Salmon Sashimi ($10 for 5 slices). There are only so many words you can use to describe sashimi, and sooner or later, it is inevitable to repeat the same description. So here goes: the gorgeous salmon sashimi was extremely fresh, and it was excellent with a gentle touch of wasabi.

With choices like foie gras, chicken heart, chicken gizzard, chicken skin, chicken cartillage on Standing Sushi Bar’s robatayaki menu, it was very difficult to choose just one. In the end, we went for the Beef & Enoki mushroom skewer ($8 for 2 sticks) and it was fantastic! Together with the flavourful sauce, the mushrooms added an earthy tone to the succulent and tender beef.

Anyway, I am not sure if it is just me, but I do feel that most Japanese restaurants in Singapore have pretty expensive grilled skewers. Do let me know if you know any place that serves cheap and good yakitori.

We were quite full by now, but of course, there’s always room for desserts and we ended the Japanese dinner with matcha and black sesame ice cream.

* * *

The fact that there are plenty of seats in a Standing Sushi Bar (SSB) is contradicting, but I am not complaining. The new Standing Sushi Bar at 8Q @ Singapore Arts Museum (SAM) is a place where you can dine in peace and have good Japanese food. Otherwise, there is always Food For Thought Cafe, which serves comfort food at affordable prices.

With sashimi, sushi and sake, my life is complete.

// Standing Sushi Bar at 8QSAM has an 1 for 1 Asahi draft beer promotion from Monday to Friday 5pm – 7pm happy hour.

Singapore Food Blog Review
Standing Sushi Bar
8 Queen Street #01-03 Singapore
Tel: +65 6333 1335

8A Marina Boulevard #B2-51
Marina Bay Link Mall Singapore
Tel: +65 6634 7068

1 Raffles Place #B1-02B
One Raffles Place (OUB Centre) Singapore
Tel: +65 6533 7078

With so many new restaurants at Ion Orchard, it really gives us a headache (not that I am complaining) when it comes to choosing a place for dinner. I was in Ion Orchard a couple of weeks back, and I was actually craving for Japanese food that night.

There’s a couple of Japanese restaurants in Ion Orchard, and I was considering between Watami, Itacho Sushi, Aoba Hokkaido ramen, Tonkatsu Ginza Bairin and our choice for dinner was Watami Japanese restaurant.

California Sushi Roll ($7.80)
From Watami Singapore

Sushi Roll ‘air-flown‘ from California
Extremely healthy Avocado
Appetizing Crab stick
Incredibly crunchy fresh lettuce
& sprinkled with countless tobiko

Obviously the California Sushi roll wasn’t air-flown all the way from the States. But I love how the crunchy green lettuce added some bite to the the sushi roll coated with the pretty orange dots of tobiko.

Hire Katsu Tamago Toji ($7.80)
From Watami Singapore

Sizzling Hotplate
Drizzling fresh egg
Cranky Pork Cutlet of Hire Katsu

We were quite pleased with the Hire Katsu Tamago Toji initially. But our world came crashing down when we saw the next table had a gigantic tonkatsu that was twice the size of ours. Needless to say, we were extremely gutted by it, and ate our hire katsu that were soaked with tamago in silence. I am so going to get that on my next visit!

Gyubara Eringi Kushi ($3.80)
From Watami Singapore

Juicy and succulent Beef skewers
Mixed Eryngii mushroom

It’s a catastrophe to just order one serving of skewers. Although the beef skewers were slightly overdone and a little tough to chew, there’s no way anyone could just have one skewers each. I’m pretty amazed that we didn’t order the other skewers, talk about excellent self-control. Ya right. If you must know, we ended at Marmalade Pantry for desserts.

Salmon Sashimi ($7.80)
From Watami Singapore

Finely sliced raw salmon
Tangy citrus lemon wedge
Lump of green, spicy wasabi

Salmon & Sashimi – Need I say more? The gleaming sliced raw salmon was presented nicely on a plate of wooden straws that portrayed a very rustic feel to the whole dish. The green lump of wasabi and the yellow citrus fruit were the best companion, that sashimi can ever asked for.

* * *

Watami Singapore Japanese Restaurant is the epitome of a causal, affordable Japanese dinner. When the Japanese restaurant first opened the branch at Ion Orchard, the crowd was unbelievable – well it still is – there’s always a long queue forming outside during peak hours. It took me so long to do a Watami review as I wanted to wait for the hype to die down.

For the prices on Watami’s menu, you will probably not get the best Japanese food. Instead, it is all about the causal dining and the enjoyment of decent Japanese food at a very affordable price. I can see myself coming back to Watami whenever I need a quick fix in Ion Orchard.

Restaurant Review
Watami Japanese Restaurant
2 Orchard Turn
#B3-23 ION Orchard
Tel: +65 6509 9366

Sunday symbolizes all the good things in life. The day where we get to laze in bed and have all day brunch. It is also the day where we get to have a leisurely afternoon tea and I think Sushi is the ideal snack for the meal in between lunch and dinner.

You know, the thing about sushi is you can pretty much have it at anytime of the day. Sushi for breakfast? Sushi for lunch? Sushi for high tea? Sushi for dinner? Sushi for supper? Sushi Mushi, we just can’t get enough of it.

Even though there’s plenty of cafes and restaurants at Parkway Parade, we couldn’t decide on one. Since there’s no Sushi Tei at Parkway Parade, the choice of venue for our high-tea sushi last sunday was Ichiban Boshi.

I blame someone for my recent cravings for Japanese food. Since there are as many sushi varieties at Ichiban Boshi as there are girls; let me give you my thoughts on some of the girls sushi.

I’d like to compare the California Roll at Ichiban Boshi to the School Belle. She’s the crowd-pleaser; the one that you can present to your friends knowing that everyone will like her. She‘s the dream that we all desire for. On the other hand, the Ebi Oyako dazzled with the prawn tempura. With a combination of prawn tempura, sakura ebi, carrot and lettuce, it was almost impossible to eat the maki in a mouthful.

The Double Salmon roll ($3.90) is like the kind of girl that you will fall in love with at first sight. Sweet, pleasant, and dreamy, the presence of fried salmon together with cucumber in the middle of the sushi roll gave the fresh salmon that extra dimension to complete the taste.

Brash, feisty and spunky, the Soft Shell Crab roll ($3.90) is the sassy girl that is always so irresistible. With the spicy flakes and spicy sauce, she is unpredictable, and spontaneous – this is one sushi roll that you will either love or hate.

* * *

With both Ichiban Boshi and Ichiban Sushi located across Singapore, it’s very convenient to just drop by one and grab some sushi. I have not yet had the chance to try Sushi Tei, but I hope it will be very soon.

Restaurant Review
Ichiban Boshi Parkway
80 Marine Parade Road
#02-56 Parkway Parade
Tel: +65 6342 1013

This is my first time to Ichiban Boshi.

Before you scream, or throw macarons at me, I want to let you know that I have not been to Sushi Tei YET. Okay, go on, throw your macarons and cupcakes at me.

I don’t have a good impression of Japanese restaurant chain, or for that matter of fact, any restaurant outlet chain. What’s the point of having dinner at a restaurant that is found in almost all the shopping malls? They just don’t appeal to me if you get what I mean.

Given that I have a list of Japanese restaurants in Singapore to go to, I probably would never visit Ichiban Boshi if not for the fact that the other restaurants at Esplanade didn’t catch our attention that night. But in every way, I’m actually glad that I have finally tried Ichiban Boshi; the food is surprisingly very decent considering the price and prime location at Esplanade.

The menu at Ichiban Boshi is very comprehensive; with a wide range of affordable sushi, to sashimi, main courses and most of the essential Japanese food that you will expect to find in a Japanese restaurant.

Given a choice between Sashimi and Tonkatsu, I will definitely choose the latter. Call me silly, but I love every bite of the juicy and crispy Chicken Katsu ($8.90). Baby, you are all I need.

We had the Salmon Maru ($5.50) and Crispy Lobster Roll ($2.10). The former was sushi rice wrapped with a thin slice of fresh salmon while the latter had a piece of delicate ‘lobster’ meat on top of the sushi roll.

I am not the biggest fan of eating raw fish.

Just the thought of it will probably send many people into a food coma, but not me. I only like it when my partner enjoys it, and this is the only reason why you see the plate of Kajiki Sashimi ($5.50) on the table. I hardly eat sashimi, but considering the fact that it’s only five bucks, I thought that this was a pretty reasonable price for four thick slices of the swordfish sashimi.

For meat lovers, you probably will want to go for the Ichiban Gyu Steak Gozen set ($24.90). There’s Wafu beef with Ichiban’s house special sauce, black pepper shiromi don, half grilled salmon with ponzu sauce, chawanmushi, appetizer, miso soup and fruit.

Half grilled salmon (comes with the set)

I can’t believe I am saying this, but Ichiban Boshi at Esplanade is actually a good option; cozy settings and decent food, and most importantly pricing is affordable. This is probably what I’d call ‘cheap and good food in Singapore‘ when you are craving for Japanese food and budget is a concern. It can be also due to the fact that I went to Ichiban Boshi with zero expectations, and it turned out to be better than what I’ve expected.

By the way, can someone explain to me what’s the difference between Ichiban Boshi and Ichiban Sushi? I know that both restaurants belong to the same management, but does the menu or prices differs a lot? Which Ichiban Boshi outlets do you go to, and is there a difference in the quality of food? I want to hear from you!

Now, I need to check out Sushi Tei!

Restaurant Review
Ichiban Boshi Esplanade
8 Raffles Avenue
#02-14 Esplanade Mall
Tel: +65 6423 1151

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 idea was to eat, eat, and eat, but plan b, or rather the lack of a proper plan, meant that we start at Plan B. We started off easy, but it was surely one of the best burgers that I’ve.

It took everything that I got to resist ordering another burger for myself, and missed out on all the stuff that was about to come – and so three hungry dude shared one burger.

Plan B by Becasse is famous for their wagyu beef burger, and at just ten bucks, you must try this burger! What is wagyu, anyway? When even the MacDonalds in Sydney sell Angus beef burgers, you probably think it’s not a big deal.

But the real wagyu burger, comes in the form of a thick beef patty, everything was kept simple; there’s no exotic ingredients like foie gras, nor were there redundant sauce – it was so good that you could feel the sauce gushing out! Interesting, beetroot was used, and it provided the contrast from the other burgers.

Plan B, 204 Clarance sheet, have you taken down the address?

It will be disappointing if one did not step into any pub/bar when in Australia. The folks here simply love (read: adore, head over heels, cannot do without) drinking. Be it a glass of the fine wines from the vineyard, or a pin of beer straight from the brewery, say cheers! There’s a strong drinking culture here; it’s not surprising to see people drinking during lunch time, or 3pm in the afternoon.

I was glad when Richard proposed that we make a trip to his favorite pub, Bavarian Bier Cafe for some beer to chill down the hot afternoon heat. Since I always have a sweet tooth, I went for the Mango, which had a smell consistency of the fruit. The taste however, did not have such a strong mango flavor.

No one in their right mind will pass on the chance to have German Sausages, and so we ordered a platter to share. There was a krunching sound when I bite the cracking roast pork, as with the German food that I visualize, it was hearty, tasty and definitely not enough.

‘Deep-fried sushi?’

Richard casually asked if we are keen to try it out, but I could sense the excitement in his seemingly-subtle-tone.

‘I don’t know, I’m not so sure.. about this’

And the next thing I know, we were standing in front of Kana Express kiosk. This is one place where most people wouldn’t have heard of, much less try the snacks here; an oblivious kiosk by the corner of a back alley.

The sushi was done Korean-style, and there’s other popular Korean snacks like spicy rice-cake, but our focus was on these two words: Deep-fried, & sushi.

As the guest, or so they said, I was entitled to the first bite. It was edible. I think one’s enjoyment of this sushi comes from the revelation of deep fried to the mind. On it’s own, the sushi tasted very tame, but the addition of the fiery hot chili sauce enhanced the flavor greatly.

I love summer. I really do.

Summer, is the perfect excuse for us to indulge with ice cream, and more ice cream. We dropped by Passionflower, a dessert cafe which exotic ice cream flavors. The choice of vanilla hazelnut & burnt caramel was made by me, the former was evidently the favorite, and I liked the nutty taste in the vanilla ice cream, while the latter had a strong burnt caramel taste.

Summer, is not summer, without ice cream.

I stole a glance at Krispy Kreme when we walked by the shop, and was immediately dragged in and convinced to have one (just one) of the original donut. This should be the definition of how a good donut taste like: glazed with a layer of sugar, yet not to the point of being cloyingly-sweet, there wasn’t any hint of oilyness that a poor donut will have. One, simply isn’t enough.

Our original plan was to have tonkatsu at a nearby Japanese restaurant, but it was closed by the time we got there, so we went to Harry’s instead. I’m sure, any reputable guidebook will list the pies & hotdog at Harry’s Cafe de Wheels as one of the must-try in Sydney. Tiger pie is particularly famous, but to be honest, I’m not very certain of it. Mashy and meaty, maybe it’s just me, but I didn’t really enjoy it.

On the other hand, we thoroughly enjoyed the hotdog, it was a shame that we only had one to share. I’d imagine one to hold the big sausage with both hands, and put the whole thing into the mouth!

While on the way to Max Brenner, we passed by Le Patissier and decided to stop here for some sweets instead. For a small place, they have quite an array of desserts to choose from. I wanted to try vanilla pastry cake but it wasn’t available that day, so we had the Lemon Ganache. The sourish lemon ganache provided a good counterbalance to the sweet chocolate layers, but the whole cake was too dry, and I’m not a big fan of kirsch that’s also present in the cake.

When the fork first sank into the Creme Brulee, we already came to the conclusion that it failed. And unsurprisingly, the surface of the dessert was not caramelized properly; it was either a leftover, or they had torched and caramelized too early. However, the custard underneath was actually quite decent, and there’s even vanilla beans used.

* * *
Just in case you are wondering again, yes, we ate all of these in one afternoon.

Plan B by Becasse
204 Clarence Street, Sydney 2000
Tel: 9283 3450

Bavarian Bier Cafe
24 York Street, Sydney, NSW 2000
Tel: 02 8297 4111

Kana Express kiosk
Corner of Central Street

Passionflower
580 George Street
Sydney NSW 2000

Krispy Kreme
Queen Victoria Building
429 – 481 George Street,
Shop 95 – 97 Lower Ground Floor,
Sydney, NSW 2000

Harry’s Cafe De Wheel
Haymarket, NSW 2000
Next to Paddy Maguires Pub
Tel: (02) 9281 6292

Le Patissier
50 Clarence Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 9299 0015

One of the reasons why I hardly blog about Japanese food is because I always have difficulty in remembering all the mind-boggling names. I heard of Standing Sushi Bar a while back when it just opened, and the first question on my mind: “are there seats inside?”

The catchy name certainly helps to pique the curiosity of most people, and I found out that the theory of stand, order sushi and eat only applies to lunch where there are no seats. For dinner you can sit down comfortably (although it’s kind of cramp) and enjoy your sushi.

There was six pieces of the California roll ($6) each; since the others were saving up their stomach for the other courses to come, I had the lion’s share of it. There’s just something about California roll that attracts me; this is the kind of thing I could keep eating and still never get enough. Okay fine, that’s just an excuse – I’m a glutton.

SSB’s owner Howard made the selections, and he chose a platter of five nigiri sushi for us; Maguro ($2), Sake Toro ($2), Hamachi ($4), Aburi Hotate ($4), Shime Saba ($3). I particularly enjoyed the scallop which had a tangy sauce to further enhance the sweetness of it.

And how can we do without Sashimi? The Chef’s special ($25) will definitely delight all the sashimi fans out there; I bet you are already salivating at the prospect of putting the thickly sliced, fresh sashimi with a pinch of wasabi into your mouth.

I was particularly intrigued by the Anago nigiri ($6) when it arrived on our table. The long and slimy salt-water sea eel looks so tantalizing with a coat of sauce, and there was the challenge of gobbling it up with one bite.

I have mentioned it before, but girls seem to love their Salmon a lot. And the Salmon Yuzu Yama-mayo yaki ($15) will be the perfect choice; the fish crumbled at the lightest touch and it was tasty with the appetizing sauce, but I would prefer it to be slightly more charred on the surface.

Besides all the raw nigiri sushi and sashimi, there was also some cooked food available and we had the Mix Kinoko Foil Yaki ($10) which by all accounts, wasn’t cheap for just mushrooms, but I have to say it was delicious. There was the special-sauce-which-the-chef-absolutely-refused-to-divulge that is supposedly the success behind the three mushrooms.

And we also had the Tori Karaage ($6) which was quintessentially fried chicken wrapped with seaweed. After having so much raw food, it was nice to have some sinful, deep-fried food for a change.

Standing Sushi Bar has a pretty value for money set lunch, so if you are working in the area, check them out, but you have been warned – there’s no seats during lunch.

* * *

This is the first part of a series that I will be doing with Standard Chartered, I will like to thank Claudia from 24seven Communications, and Standard Chartered Bank for the invitation.

Just a quick note about their new credit card campaign, I’m sure most of you will have seen their latest Barry and Fin advertisement; first you get 15% off total food bill (click here for the list of restaurant), and at the end of the month if you have charged more than the minimum amount of $500 (which can be anything, not just dining), you are entitled to an additional 15% cashback which applies to all restaurant in Singapore.

Standing Sushi Bar
1 Raffles Place
#B1-02B OUB Centre
Tel: 6533 7078

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

Tanglin mall will be always remember for my fond memories, while the starbucks and mac there are your best friends during mugging.

“I’m suddenly craving for Japanese food.”

And I want everything from the new menu, maki, katsu, mackerel and of course, your favourite sashimi. The Ebi maki was delicious; fried ebi temperua wrapped around with soft white sushi rice. Juicy, tender, and crispy, I love to eat katsu; every bite was so good. The grilled mackerel was much better than what I’ve before too, and as for the sashimi, it’s all yours my dear. Memories, are the stuff that life is made of.

Read about my previous visits to Tetsu here, here, here and here.

Tetsu
163 Tanglin road
#03-18 Tanglin Mall
Tel: 6836 3112

It’s a love-hate relationship with Dempsey; you either rave about the place, or you hate it being overcrowded, over hyped, and over priced. I used to be the latter, but that was before I paid a visit to Dempsey, and you ought to admit, despite the crowds there, there’s still plenty of places to check out, and who could resist the lush atmosphere?

The first dish is always of utmost importance; how the meal will eventually turn out – depends on this humble appetiser. You may think its not a big deal, but according to scientific researches done by Dr. Bradley, the first dish will usually dictates the mood for the upcoming dishes; humans are emotional creatures. Almost everybody else felt that the Rock shrimp tempura ($15) was ordinary, but I on the other hand, totally love it! It was a shrimp rendition of my favourite sweet & sour pork, and I wiped the whole plate clean since everybody was saving their stomach for the rest of the food.

Without further ado, let me introduce to the one-that-you-have-been-waiting-for, Sashimi of course, Mango sashimi ($29) to be precise. There was mango, avocado wrapped together with three kinds of fish in thin rice paper.

The Carpaccio ($25) was delicious. Thinly sliced, laid in the pool of savoury yuzu sauce; it was squeaky-fresh – it seemed to be swimming in the plate.

When we dine out, people usually want to try out some of the restaurant’s signature dishes. And the Tuna pizza ($22) was one of them at Zento. If skinny pizzas are your kind of thing, then this would be it. Raw fresh tuna on top of the oh-so-thin dough, crunch, crunch, the pizzas were gone!

I always have a thing for prawns, especially deep-fried ones. Naturally, I like the Volcano ($25) pretty much, with the focus in the middle of the futomaki. But some didn’t take quite well to it as they felt that the freshness was gone after the deep-frying process. Alongside the shrimp tempura, there was smoked salmon, avocado and crabstick too.

The combination of seven skewers ($48) was the perfect showcase of the different ingredients, and of course, it’s for sharing! Most of them were pretty decent, but if I were to choose one, I’ll go for the separate tasty foie gras ($15) instead.

The sushi rolls had fascinating names like fantasy, rainbow, and even monkey roll. But we had the Green river ($30) instead. Toro, eel, avocado and plum paste, with seaweed powder on the outside.

After the rounds of appetisers, yes, all the food you saw were just starters to warm us up. The first main course was the Roasted marinated duck breast ($48), and it was indisputably the best. The first impression of the duck was from a conversation when we saw the photo of it in the menu.

“Ah! they served char siew rice here too!”

The photo of the duck in the menu looked exactly like char siew rice! Anyway not many places serve duck, and do it well; the duck meat was done just nice, retaining the tinge of pink beneath the charred skin.

I love prawns, baby! Big, big prawny prawns. The Jumbo shrimp tempura ($42) was dazzled with the sweet and slightly sour pineapple sauce, and there was wasabi fried rice alongside too. Jumbo in size, great in taste, and a huge hole in the pocket too!

We weren’t expecting any surprises from the chicken since it’s a done-to-death item. And the Roasted spring chicken ($38) turned out to be what we expected, just chicken.

Besides the duck breast, I also enjoyed the Chilean seabass ($45). The miso-infused flavour was subtle, bordering on bland, but it actually enabled us to taste the sweetness of the fish.

I could almost hear the cat say, “purrfect!”

Every main course at Zento is paired with different types of rice, the same goes for the Rack of lamb ($45) which comes with almond raisin rice. Lets just put it this way, for the price, we’ve had better elsewhere.

We pointed to “the most expensive main course” on the menu, the Wagyu stripped loin ($75). We had it done medium, but it came slightly more at medium rare.

“Do you have stomach for more?”

It was towards the end that this simple question was posed to us,  Well we were glad that we did, otherwise we would have miss out on the amazing Crunchy spicy tuna handroll ($12). It was O-M-G. Instead of the typical seaweed roll, they used soy paper as a substitute, maybe we shouldn’t call it a substitute because it’s definitely a better option than seaweed. The soy paper simply dissolved when it touched our mouth; every bite was so good!

Most of the folks were stuffed by now, but how can we say no to desserts? So another dessert-holic and me tried most of the ones available; we started with the Coffee parfait ($12). It was frozen custard made with cream, with ice-cream texture minus the melting part.

We lamented about the quality of the chocolate within the Chocolate lava cake ($16). It could/should have been better. Nonetheless, you can’t go wrong when there’s icy cold vanilla ice cream together with the warm chocolate lava.

Dyana, the co-owner of Zento advised us against ordering the Green tea creme brulee ($12) but we decided to try it anyway. The taste was, forgettable, which explained why I couldn’t recall how it tasted like.

There was a period of time long long ago where the fried ice cream at the old Tiong Bahru food centre was in the rage. They called it the Tri colour fuzzes bomb ($14) here. and rightfully so. Underneath the crispy fried skin was cold ice cream. I was fascinated by the fact that the ice cream didn’t melt during the frying process.

* * *

Zento was quite unlike any other Japanese restaurants that I went to before, stepping inside you probably won’t know it’s a Japanese restaurant until you see the menu. Contemporary and chic design, with bold and innovative creations in their menu. My appreciation to Hungrygowhere.com for the invitation to the food tasting session, and Dyana for her warm hospitality.

Zento Asian Global cuisine & Sushi Bar
18B Dempsey road
Tel: 6474 0378

Hands up if you always ordered unagi when you stepped into a Japanese restaurant! I know there are many suckers, okay, fans of the unagi, so how about Unagi maki ($8)? You are aroused already.

The trio of appetisers that we started with, namely; Kawa ebi karaage ($8), Fugu Mirin Boshi ($10), and the Renkon chips ($4) from top to down. There are times where you don’t feel hungry, nor do you feel full; you just need something to bite, your mouth just feels itchy, popped a mouthful of the deep-fried river shrimps, done and done.

I enjoyed the dried puffer fish the most, I mean how often do you get to eat puffer fish, in Singapore? It was chewy and I just finished up the whole plate while nobody’s looking. I would order this again.

The fanciful name of Renkon chips actually referred to the lotus roots, pardon my ignorance, I just Goggled on it. Well I was never a big fan of lotus roots since we usually met when my mom prepared lotus root soup; the soup was delicious, but the lotus root was bland and tasteless. But here, they deep-fried the thinly-sliced lotus root, giving it a extremely crispy and fragile texture. Instead of potato chips, why don’t you have some Renkon chips?

Yay if you are a big fan of sashimi! The dream starter for all the sashimi fans out there; to begin with some greens and have your favourite sashimi to go along with. We sprinkled the wafu dressing on top of the garden salad with sashimi ($9.80), but who cares about the healthy greens when there are sashimi?

Lemon wedges are a god-sent item which should always be present on every table. With a squeeze of the wedges, the precious drops of lemon fell onto the fish hire ($14.50) and watch the transformation; the beautiful lemon dew came into contact with the golden-brown crispy crust and sank into it, with the fillet fully absorbing everything until death-brings-us-apart.

And oh did I mentioned this was the new-kid-on-the-block.

We used to have the rosu katsu(it is still available). Now we have the cheese katsu roll ($16.50) instead. Hello, are you reading? Creamy, melted cheese with crispy fried katsu, who wouldn’t want it? And they added in carrots and asparagaus to make it “healthier“. But if you asked me, give me more cheese, more cheese! Heck the eat-healthy-approach, we are here to feast, to gain calories and put on weight.

A whole fricking fish. You wouldn’t believe it, I didn’t. The fish was big, no huge, no gigantic! Okay, I’m exaggerating, but still, it was quite big. As much as I don’t really fancy Japanese food, but I like their soya sauce; it’s like a completely different level from the normal ones we had.

When I was young as a kid, my mom would always tell everybody I LOVE fish, well I like steamed fish, but to the extent of loving it, I like to associate myself with the more dangerous creatures like chicken and duck. Oh yes, the name – Tai Kabutoni which was boiled red snapper head with sweet soya sauce ($28).

This was fantastic. The Yaki Niku or the beef tenderloin ($16), if I may, had the melted-in-the-mouth consistency that you wouldn’t believe. I put one into my mouth, and it was melted away, so I kept on putting more slices and more slices in until everything was gone.

The sacred ritual was performed first; we bowed to the green wasabi signalling our intent to eat it, and mixed it with the finest soya sauce you can find on Japan-land. Stirred until there’s a milky brown appearance, and we are done. Carefully picking up a slice of that oh-so-thick salmon sashimi, we dipped it into the sacred sauce, and placed it into the mouth. My dear, this is what they called, Sashimi.

It’s a waste to dip the crispy crust of the katsu into the curry since everything will turn soft and soggy. But the one-fascinating-aspect of the Japanese curry – it was sweet, not spicy, not spicy at all. And you know I sweat when there’s intake of chilli into my body system. The katsu curry rice ($16.50) was the perfect solution for people like me who want to eat curry but don’t want to sweat.

I LOVE this.

I know there’s nothing special, but it’s always the simplest things that make us the happiest isn’t it? Hire Katsu sando ($5.80), I always think that sandwiches and burgers are the same, except sandwichs always come with the healthy-tame ingredients like tuna, eggs, while burgers come with the meaty beef, chicken. Since this was a breaded pork loin enveloped between bread, I proclaimed this as the katsu burger!

Ice cream always makes me happy, just the sight of it was enough to give my spirits a much-needed lift. And what’s more we have not one, but three different handmade fruit sherbet ($4.80).

The good thing: the strawberry sherbet was handmade, but the yuzu ice cream’s not. Still, the Yuzu ice cream on strawberry sherbet ($5.80) did nothing wrong with its pairing; the slightly sour and tangy yuzu flavour going well with the sweet strawberry sherbet.

* * *

My appreciation to Racheal for the invitation to the food tasting session, and I tried sake for the very-first-time! The new and improved menu was definitely a sign of good things to come; the enormous menu with colourful display of the photos made it much easier for making a decision.

Read about my previous visits to Tetsu here, here, and here.

I always dread to blog on Japanese food; since I’m not a big fan of Japanese food, nor am I knowledgeable about them. It is on special occasions when my friends craved for Japanese food, then will you see Japanese-related posts here.

The prices at Tatsuya, are incredibly not cheap (at least for my standards); we went for their affordable-and-value bento set lunches instead. The sashimi bento set ($28.90) was immediately on the agenda since my friend’s a big, big fan of sashimi. Pardon me, I can never understand the rave about sashimi though, eating slices of raw fishes didn’t exactly appeal to me; but having said that, the salmon sashimi was remarkably fresh.

I always enjoy eating Japanese rice; the white pearl grains are so soft, and seriously, I could step into a Japanese restaurant just to eat their rice. Be it steamed white rice, or garlic fried rice, give it to me!

The sushi bento ($30.90) was visually-appealing with all the delectable and pretty-looking of sushi; I started with the tempura first, the deep-fried vegetables were pretty all right, I’ve never like my vegetables fried. It was the prawn tempura that really got me going.

Without paying attention to what was what, I took up my chopsticks, steadied my pair of shaky hands, and grab the nearest sushi; delicious, I ate another one, then the next, until I finished the row of six sushi.

The same for the fishes, I’ve a hard time differentiating which fishes were there, with the exception of salmon and tuna; so I took up my chopsticks once again, dipped them into the wasabi-infused soy sauce, and carefully placed it into my delicate mouth. Yum! The fish, with the sticky sushi rice, was exceptionally fresh.

We chose to sit in the interior of the smallish restaurant; an elongated space with at most twenty seats, there’s room at either the counter bar or by the side. Naturally, sitting at the counter bar provides the full Japanese experience, with the chefs and staffs conversing in Japanese, and seeing the chefs live in action. But somehow it does gets a little overwhelming and noisy after a while.

Since I already gotton my full Japanese experience, the next time I will probably choose to sit outside in the tranquil al fresco environment instead! Tatsuya’s bento set are very value for money, given that it will probably cost double or triple the money when you order ala carte for dinner.

Tatsuya Japanese restaurant
22 Scotts road
Goodwood park hotel
Tel: 6887 4598

My eyes strayed to the corner as we walked in, the desserts section; I saw the chocolate cake waving to me, the dessert shooters like a lighthouse beaconing the direction. And not lest, the-sight-of-it again: the omnipresent chocolate fondue, my heart just flew over with hugs and kisses.

Not able to resist the seduction, I dropped every last bit of pretence in me and embraced the temptation; lets start with the desserts shall we? We took a bit of everything, and started tucking in. We decided just to have some, and come back for more later. It was a difficult decision; to stop after we started, it was akin to asking a vampire to stop after he started sucking blood from your neck.

And so, the cold seafood counter. There were prawns, there were crabs, and there were mussels & scallops.

A sniff of the icy chilled oyster, the sea breeze gusted into my nose. The hassle of opening up the clam creature was avoided, for it was already prepared nice and clean on the bed of ice. I squeezed a whole wedge of lemon onto it, careful not to spill any outside the shell; every drop of lemon was precious, to fully bring out the quintessence of it. I pitched it up with a fork, and slowly put it into my mouth, one swallow, one gulp, and it was gone.

Our stomach has served us well, and to reward it for the hard work, let’s start with some salad. We took a bit of all the different greens, and dressed it up with the many-variety of dressing available; I always preferred thousand island, while you went for the lighter Italian dressing, and also the adventurous yoghurt one too.

It was fun, the process of ‘playing’ with the Kueh pie tee; we took the shell, add in the typical popiah turnip fillings, sprinkled a bit of the crushed peanuts, drizzled the sweet sauce, beautify it with parsley, and had options of tuna, chicken, and prawns to top with. Boy, it was good! The crispy shell, with the turnip fillings, but it was the sweet sauce and peanut which provided the difference.

There was roasted meat selections, Indian food, Western & Asian mains to choose from too. Again, we ate some of each, and finally it could wait no longer! This time, for desserts, we shall try everything, one of everything. Two if we can help it!

At first glance, it looked like pandan cake. Then, the pistachio financier name tag appeared, in a concealed corner oblivious to the naked human eye. The green stuff, they called it the pistachio nut, it was a personal favourite of our friend; and surprisingly, the pandan-cake-lookalike had a flavourful pistachio taste!

I remembered the truffle berry compote cake for its smooth and silky chocolate, with composition of berries within.

For some unknown reason which continue to evade me, passion fruit seemed to be a popular choice for patissier, I did not have any nice experience with it so far; but I guess it’s the intriguing combination of that-something-sour with the strong cheesecake. I, however, did not like it. I like sweet stuff, something sweet please.

While it had became a common thing for buffets, the chocolate fondue still never failed to excite me, I dipped fruits, puffs, marshmallows, and everything I could find under the flowing chocolate lava.

This, was my favourite part of the buffet. There’s a chef specially preparing waffles and crepes on-the-spot. The waffles were excellent, but they used the same mixture for the crepes, which turned out to be overly thick. And the staffs actually delivered the waffles to our tables when we forgot to collect it, now my dear, that’s what you call service!

I used syrup and butter for my first waffle. Then I returned for more with a topping of all the ice creams available, creativity struck me as I poured some of the lava from the chocolate fondue over my piece of crispy waffles.

The weekend dinner buffet from Mon to Wed is $45++, while dinner from Thursday onwards to Sunday is $50++ per head. We were too full to try all the food; we missed out on the Indian food, and the roasted duck selections. Eating a little of everything was almost enough to fill up the tiny stomach of ours. Plenty of tea and a long chat after the meal aided in the digestion too! My appreciation to Helen, the F&B manager of Traders Hotel, for the food tasting invitation.

Read about my other posts on buffet here.

Cafebiz
1A Cuscaden road
GF Traders hotel
Tel: 6831 4374

Located within the Arena country club at Upper Jurong Road, opposite the Singapore Discovery Centre, Tung Lok Seafood is the mainstay of the Tung Lok group (TLG). This dinner took place actually very long ago, five months to be precise. I was hesitant in writing the post since the food was unremarkable, typical at best, and there were too many photos to handle.

We chose to have their dinner a la carte buffet priced at $33.80++ for adult. The buffet had a wide range of food like Japanese cuisines, cold cut appetizer, soup, seafood, meat, vegetables, rice & noodles selections, and desserts. With a total of 50 items to choose from, we managed to eat close to 30 variety.

I would say that most of the food was average, and we tried quite a lot of variety, so i won’t go into details for each and everyone of them. I’ll highlight the ones that stood out, and the rest are really up to your own judgement if you ever go to Tung Lok to try their dinner buffet.

The pictures were taken with my old canon ixus before i got my present DSLR, so do pardon the poor photos.

Poached prawns (limited to 100g per person)

The poached prawns were one of the few dishes that had limits, which meant that they were not available for re-ordering. Not that the poached prawns were that fantastic anyway.

California Maki

The California maki was actually the saving grace for the dinner. I wouldn’t say that the sushi was exceptionally fresh, but they were acceptable and we had two servings of them.

Barbeque roast meat platter

The barbeque roast meat platter was also one of the few that stood out. The char siew was not bad, but the roast chicken was better. We were in half-mind whether to have second servings but later decided not as we were too full.

Beijing roast duck (limited to two slice per person)

The Beijing roast duck was no doubt one of the more pricer dishes, hence the limitation of two slice per person. The waiteress brought the whole roast duck in front of our table to slice it on the spot and served with spring onion, cucumber and sweet sauce. One of the better dish, but pity the limitation of the serving.

Chili crab A La Tung Lok (limited to one per table)

Tung Lok’s renown for their Chili crab, they are after all a seafood restaurant. Without a doubt, the best dish among the 50 selections, the chili crab was spicy and there was a sweet hint in the thick and wonderful gravy. Served with man tou (soft white bun), i’ll say that their chili crab is on par with Jumbo, NoSignBoard and Mellben. But again, there’s the limit of one per table. Nevertheless, if you are ordering a la carte, this definitely is a must order dish.

Sichuan style dumpling with spicy sauce

Pan grilled miso marinated beef tenderloin

Old cantonese style sweet and sour pork

I’m a huge fan of sweet and sour pork, but Tung Lok’s rendition didn’t have the “wow” factor to entice me for second helpings.

Roast Spring chicken (half)

Another typical dish, nothing exceptional but still acceptable.

Deep fried “soon hock” fish

We were not a fan of rear fish like soon hock, so we were not really expecting much from this dish. And it turned out to be what we thought, the fish wasn’t fresh.

Deep fried fritters with salad sauce

Pork ribs with fruit sauce

Crisp fried baby squids

You would thought that seafood dishes were be better at Tung Lok, but the baby squids were over-fried, too charred and dried.

Vegetarian Spring rolls

Fried hor fun with sliced fish in egg gravy

I was undecided whether to order the hor fun and mee goreng, and the hor fun proved to be a disappoint choice.

Poached Chinese spinach with fresh bean stick and garlic

Deep fried prawn paste chicken

Ice cream puff

The ice cream puff was your normal ones found in the neighbourhood deli, but i was actually quite hooked with it. Well this actually show how desirable the other dishes were.

Glutinous rice balls with peanut crumbs

Chilled herbal jelly with honey

Chilled honeydew with sago cream

Chocolate ice cream

Dessert of the day

Total bill was $142.65 for 4 person dinner buffet. Although it came with a huge selections of 50 dishes, but most of them were mediocre and not worth trying. If you don’t really mind the quality of the food, the dinner buffet does makes a rather value option since you get to try so many dishes. But if you are the type who cares about the quality, I say skip the buffet and go for their a la carte menu instead.

Tung Lok Seafood
511 Upper Jurong Road
The Arena Country Club
Tel: 6262 6996

Welcome to LIC Food event II at Tetsu!

Having the experience of organising my own food outing event at OChaCha previously, this time LIC decided to have the second one at Tetsu. The response has been overwhelming, in fact i think its crazy given its a Tuesday night since people have to work and study. A whopping 51, yes 51 friends joined us for this one.

There will be more thoughts about the event in the next post, The Afterthoughts on Tetsu food event. For now, lets go back to LIC main task, food review!

LIC went for a visit to Tetsu previously, there won’t be repeated pictures, so please take a look at my previous review.

I missed this out the last time round, Tetsu has got many media write-ups which you might find familiar while reading the various newspapers and magazines.

The fresh ingredients awaits to play with our taste buds.

Appetizers

To kick-start our multi course meal, we clear our throat with the warm green tea, follow by the Kami Tofu, Kajiki Takaki, after which we have the Yasai Takiawase, salmon sashimi and the consomme soup. All in good time, read on!

Just a note, for our multi course meal dinner, we have everything done in sampling size, which means to say this is not the real size which you will get in a set. I requested for sampling size so that we can actually try out a lot more variety of food.

Kami Tofu

The Kami Tofu, or century egg with tofu, starts off our multi course meal. The tofu is done delicately with the century egg, petite in size, but suffice for the first appetizer.

Kajiki Tataki

Seared swordfish with special sauce is rather light in taste, but coupled with the special sauce it does brings out the flavor of the Kajiki Tataki, not too fishy and taste fresh. But i do find that the special sauce is slightly on the heavy side.

Salmon/Hamachi Sashimi

Hamachi Sashimi is fresh according to feedbacks from most of our guests. A dip with the wasabi completes the fresh salmon sashimi.

Consomme Soup

Some of you might wonder how come it is consomme soup we are having since initially the menu that i put up states miso soup. After some discussion with Tetsu head chef, Kent, we agreed that it will better to have a clear soup than miso soup since the dishes behind are all quite heavy.

The clear soup with wakame, leak and tamago tastes bland, but it helps to clear our palates and prepared us for the main courses to come.

Yasai Takiawase

Daikon, carrot, pumpkin, snow pea with yuzu flavour sauce makes up the Yasai Takiawase. This appetizer is also a healthy way to start our taste buds working, but some feedback find it ordinary, nothing fantastic.

Sushi roll

The sushi roll with salmon, tuna in double layer within the sushi is actually not on the menu. Complimentary from Tetsu, i also find out about the surprise after i got there. The salmon and tuna meat are mixed together, being a fan of both fishes, the sushi roll works magic for me.

Kushi Age style

Soft Shell Crab, Ebi, Hire Katsu, and Hotate from left to the right respectively. Without a doubt the star of the show, Tetsu is renown for their Kushi style Tonkatsu and Tempura, and it certainly hit home, albeit feedbacks its rather dry, but nonetheless still very good.

On my previous visit, i had my Tempura done in Kushi-Tem which i find its slightly disappointing, and like what i suspected, done in the Kushi-Age style the tempura really shines. Or maybe its just my personal liking, either way you got to try them both to find out.

Kushi-Age: Soft Shell Crab

The soft shell crab is nice, i admit i am lazy to shell crabs so i don’t relaly eat crabs often. But hey this is a soft shell crab, done in the Kushi-age, i finish the whole smallish crab.

Kushi-Age: Hotate

The Hotate or scallop is also done in Kushi-Age style, fresh air-flown from Japan.

Hire Katsu (fillet katsu)

Like what i mentioned before, there is the choice of either the Rosu Katsu (pork loin) or the Hire Katsu (fillet katsu). Pork loin is fatter than fillet katsu in nature, which makes it more tender than Hire Katsu. But because with more of our guests from the fairer sex, we decided on Hire Katsu which has a leaner cut, if not we will have our girls screaming fats!

Famed for their Katsu, the Kushi-age style (skewered with breaded batter) certainly lives up to expectations. The breaded style of the katsu is really good, the panko crumbs on it is very light which gives it a melt-in-your-mouth feel.

Kushi-Age: Ebi

Actually for LIC, my personal tempura will always be the lovely fried prawns. I really find that the Kushi-age style for the Ebi is much better than the kushi-tem style which i tried before. Kudos! Just that you can’t really get enough by eating one ebi, i know prawn isn’t as tasty if its too big, but how about a few more ebi? Sounds great right!

Kushi Tem: Lotus root, mushroom, Green capsicium

The tempura batter had nice texture, but again it wasn’t that seasoned enough, so i think the common reaction its quite bland. Nevertheless the batter is very light, not that oily and it didn’t leave any oily aftertaste that mediocre tempuras do.

And just to answer some common questions asked, why isn’t there tempura sauce to go along? I only manage to ask the chef at the end of the session that he actually meant to want us have the kushi tem together with the udon. My apologies for this mistake.

Hot udon

Taste is personal and unique to every each of us, some find this to be really good and finish the whole bowl (you know who you are), while some wondered at the unevenness of the Udon.

Goma Ice cream

We have the goma black sesames ice cream to end off our food outing. Again there’s a difference in opinion for the ice cream, but for me even though i do not really fancy black sesame i find it to be acceptable.

Total bill is $1,530 for the 51 of us, with the cost at 30 bucks nett per head. I think the conclusion of the food is more or less the same as what i mentioned in my previous visit, but i think for this menu that we are getting at 30 bucks, its a very reasonable and worthwhile deal, many thanks to Tetsu, Food Junction and Pris for supporting me in organising this event.

There will be more of LIC afterthoughts on this food event, please watch out for the next post!

Tetsu
163 Tanglin Road
#03-18 Tanglin Mall
Tel: 6836 3112

Tetsu Japanese Restaurant is listed as one of ladyironchef’s favorite restaurants in Singapore

Tetsu, opening its doors at Tanglin Mall on January 17, 2008, pride themselves in serving Kushi-Tempura and Kushi-Katsu. Their concept is based on a “LIVE” preparation in front of you by their chefs, who have intensive training in their Japanese Headquarters.

The first impression upon stepping into Tetsu is really nice decorations. Contemporary yet not too modernize till the extend of losing the authentic Japanese feel. Chic furnishings like the curtains, and decors in the restaurant. The whole place exudes an elegant feel with its classy and clean look.

Tetsu certainly does not fits the bill with association to Food Junction, your local food courts isn’t it? But the truth is, Tetsu is actually owned and operate by Food Junction. Surprise surprise, i was quite astonished by this fact when i first heard of it. But i am pleased Food Junction is finally making full use to leverage on its experience and connections in the Food & Beverage Industry, to provide us the consumers with a wider variety of choices to dine at.

The counter bars in Tetsu are specially designed in such a way that diners can seat in close proximity to the chef, who will prepared their feast up for them, well its not just the stomach feast alone, there’s the visual feast right before you.

I was invited by Miss Pris Yap, who’s the consultant for Tetsu for a food tasting session. Here i will like to put disclaimer first, the review written herein will not be influence simply because this is a food tasting session. Whatever written herein is the Frank and Honest opinions of my friend and i who went to Tetsu for the occasion.

We had the assurance from Miss Yap that they will seek our honest opinion to improve Tetsu, and that every visit to Tetsu will be the same, the food will not look or taste specially good just because this is a food tasting event.

My secret food partner joins me for Tetsu, and she’s a lover of Japanese food, so the review will be a combination of what both of us felt about the meal.

There’s also a VIP room which u can actually make a reservation to book it if you have a certain number of guests, around 10 at least if i’m not wrong.

At Tetsu, there are affordable set lunches from the Jubako, Katsu, Tempura,Sakana (fish) which are in the 20s to 30s price range. I’ll say the set meals are definitely value-for-money.

There is also the designer Kaiseki sets available. Kaiseki is an 5 course set, made up of 4 seasonal appetizers, designer salad, premium kushi-style main course, imported udon from Japan, and dessert at a mere $35. Of course there are more expensive options of the Kaiseki sets going at $45 and $55.

A wide range of Sake, Shoju, and wine are also available to go along with the food. We didn’t had any Sake because it was still early in the afternoon. Perhaps next time!

Salmon Carpaccio ($18)

For appetizer to start off our meal at Tetsu, we had the Salmon Carpaccio with french dressing. Carpaccio originated from Italy, and its usually slices of beef, tuna, or veal traditionally thinly sliced or pounded thin, with olive oil or vinaigrette drizzled over it.

We’ll preferred the carpaccio to be slice thinner, the thick and generous slices of the carpaccio at Tetsu is almost akin to sashimi portions. For people who like sashimi, they will probably have mixed feelings for this dish because usually sashimi lovers like the clean and fresh taste of the fish, and its raw texture on its own, but for this salmon, it has a french dressing on it.

Nonetheless, the Salmon Carpaccio is quite fresh, and with the current Citibank promotion, receive this as a complimentary with a minimum spending of $50.

The Salmon Carpaccio is an interesting take on fusion japanese & italian appetizer (although this is done with french dressing). The french dressing helps to balances the richness of the salmon with the complex sweet and sour taste of the dressing, the contrast between the taste is definitely appealing.

Roll sushi 6 Pieces ($18)

The roll sushi is covered with crunchy sesame seeds, but on the other end the sushis can actually can get quite dry. My friend thought that if the roll sushi comes with some sauce it will be perfect.

Traditionally sushi rolls are supposed to be eaten in one mouthful by putting the whole sushi inside. But the sushi here is a tad too big, so we couldn’t really fit it into our mouth.

Apparently it has salmon and scallops inside, though when mixed together the scallops taste can’t really be felt. The blend of crunchy sesame seeds and tobiko makes its quite yummy though. However at $18 for 6 pieces, it is considered rather expensive. Have this if you have the extra budget to spend on A la carte.

Onsentamago Tofu Salad ($13.50)

Onsen Tamago is hot spring egg. The eggs here are cooked slowly in hot water, so the whites are still soft while the yolks just slightly cooked. Blended together with tofu and sesame sauce, the combination offers a very refreshing approach to the normal salad.

The salad is served by mixing the egg together with the greens and tofu. A good appetizer if you are like us, prefer runny eggs.

Thats all for our A la carte starters, just to recap, we had the Salmon Carpaccio, the roll sushi and the Onsentamago Tofu Salad. All these three appetizers are ordered from the A la carte menu and are not in the set meals which are coming up next.

Rosu Katsu Set ($24.50)

The Rosu Katsu (Pork Loin) set is the actual main course that we are having for our lunch. There are two options for the Katsu set, you can choose from either the Rosu Katsu (pork loin) or the Hire Katsu (fillet katsu). Pork loin is fatter than fillet katsu in nature, which makes it more tender than Hire Katsu.

Another interesting point to note, besides the usual sauce that comes with the Katsu, Tetsu provides an alternative, the curry powder to go along with the pork loin. The curry powder is another option if you are sick of the usual sauce, however the powder here is quite on the salty side, so just dipped into it slightly.

The katsu is specially imported from Japan, lightly fried to produce a crust that is light but yet double the thickness of the usual katsu. The meat is marinated for 3 days to ensure its tasty and succulent texture.

Famed for their Katsu, the Kushi-age style (skewered with breaded batter) certainly lives up to expectations. The breaded style of the katsu is really good, the panko crumbs on it is very light which gives it a melt-in-your-mouth feel.

Furthermore, the katsu here has a generous cut, unlike some restaurants which cut the pork into very thin slices. At $24.50, the Rosu Katsu set is really a steal, definitely good value for money!

Fresh greens

The fresh greens are the appetizer which comes along with the Katsu set. Basically its a run of the mill salad with japanese sesame salad dressing, ordinary but yummy.

My partner likes the dressing for its slightly tangy but yet salty taste, and the texture of the sauce is creamy. But for me, i’m more of a fan for oily italian salad dressings, so this salad didn’t quite work out for me.

Kaiseki Set Course B ($45)

The Kaiseki Dinner course B comes with assorted 4 on a palatte as its appetizer, stick vegetable, Crab sukiyaki for the paper pot, with tempura as the main, and udon or rich, served with a dessert.

The main difference between course A ($35) and B ($45) is 10 bucks, with the addition of the Crab Sukiyaki. And the differiential between B ($45) and C ($55) is that C has an addition tuna carpaccio.

For our main course in the Kaiseki set B, the tempura is done kushi-tem style (tempura). It comes with six tempura, prawn, salmon, pork, beef, scallop and vegetables.

Tetsu is being known for its Katsu and Tempura aspects, and to tell the truth, we found the tempura to be quite a disappointment as we had expected better things from them. Right, the prawn was a bit small, not fat enough for a tempura, we didn’t get the “kick”from eating the prawn.

The Salmon (beside the prawn) was done better than the appetizer in the course.

My partner love the fresh air-flown scallop from Japan.

The seasonal vegetables are zuchinni and okra which my partner found it to be all right, but i didn’t like my vegetables to do it in this way, i prefer them green!

The pork and beef were quite average too. One thing that my partner concluded was if the mains are done in Kushi-age (breaded) rather than the one we had Kushi-tem (tempura), we felt that it will be definitely be better.

We felt that the tempura batter had nice texture, but it wasn’t seasoned enough, so it was quite tasteless for us. Nevertheless the batter is very light, not that oily and it didn’t leave any oily aftertaste that mediocre tempuras do.

The only reason we can conclude for the disappointment in the Tempura is because we had such high hopes for them, so even they are quite good, but they didn’t come out as well as we are expecting. You should try the Kushi-age (breaded) for this main!

Assorted 4 on palette

This is the appetizer for the course B. One thing that i liked about the starters in Tetsu course meal is that they are changed regularly because the chef will always pick the freshest ingredient for the current season.

The appetizer is suppose to comes in the different flavors, sweet, salty, and sour. Specially designed to tantalize your taste buds and “prepared” them for the main course.

I like the zesty chicken too which comes with orange and lemon flavour to provide the sour-ish taste.

My partner didn’t like the Salmon teriyaki, she preferred the tamago and prawn which helps to the sweet flavoring of the salmon.

Cod is done with miso, to give the salty flavor.

Stick vegetables

The Stick Vegetables also comes part of the Kaiseki set B. Its just your normal vegetables, but it comes with a soy-bean like sauce.

Kani-Suki (Crab Sukiyaki)

The prelude to the main, there’s the snow crab legs which are filled with snowy sweet white meat. However we lamented the fact that there is only two crab legs.

The Japanese straw mushroom is always nice in sukiyaki. And the soup base here is nicer than the other sukiyaki we tried before. It tasted sweet but not excessively so till its artificial.

Inaniwa Udon (warm)

The Inaniwa Udon is also imported from Japan. but the warm udon had a nice soup base so it’s good for rainy days.

Inaniwa Udon (cold) ($6.80)

The udon is not the fat kind, and its sort of flat like ipoh hor fun, nice and slippery! One of the udon comes with the Kaiseki set, and we ordered another one to try both the cold and hot udon.

Banana Tempura & Ice ($7.80)

In our frank opinion, the banana tempura is a ripped-off. For two pieces of banana tempura, we can get better ones at the hawker center at 50 cents each. Certainly not worth the price tag of $7.80!

Kisetsu ice & Warabimochi Monaka ($7.80)

This dessert fares slightly better than the Banana tempura. The combination of the Japanese Mochi with one scoop of normal vanilla ice cream is quite good, but still not worth the hefty price that comes along with it.

Kokonatsu Milk Purin ($5.80)

We concluded that the Kokonatsu milk purin, or coconut pudding is the best among the three desserts. This pudding is something new to us, not your usual run of the mill Japanese dessert which you commonly find in Singapore Japanese restaurants even though its supposed to be a classic Japanese dessert.

Coconut flavor wasnt that strong, we like the sublet flavor! hmm it was really pudding not creamy so i dont really like it
The coconut pudding is good to try for novelty, and it comes with the Kaiseki course set anyway, so there’s no need to order additional dessert.

Tetsu is certainly a nice place to try if you are looking for Japanese food. The set meals are really value-for-money, and the Kaisekis course meals, although heavier in price tag, but they provide more in variety and quality also. We felt that if its two person going to Tetsu, you can either order two set meals, or order one Kaisekis Course meals, and something from the A la carte menu.

The reasonable and affordable pricing at Tetsu means that you will no longer need to spend a bomb for your favourite Japanese food anymore. Tetsu offers a really chic environment, quite unlike your traditional Japanese restaurant. Its an excellent place to either bring a date for her cravings of Japanese food, or a group of friends where you can chill out with the selections of Sake, Shoju, and wine.

My secret food partner and i, plus Miss Yap had a great afternoon enjoying and discussing about Japanese food, restaurants, and some off-topic conservations. We were so full from the meal! My thanks to Miss Yap for inviting us to a wonderful lunch experience at Tetsu.

And one other thing which I noticed, when we went in during 12 noon on a Monday afternoon, there wasn’t much people in the restaurant. But when the clock ticks towards two, the crowd starts coming in already. So you will be fine if you go during normal lunch hour, but still better to make a reservation.

I’ll certainly revisit Tetsu to try out their other stuff, maybe i will have the Kaisekis done in Kushi-age style (breaded) the next time! Tetsu’s at Tanglin Mall level 3, and remember to use your Citicard to get the free Salmon Carpaccio!

All in all, the Katsu is excellent! Its really a must-try if you visit Tetsu. The other fame of Tetsu, their Tempura leaves more to be desired, we felt that their Kushi-age style is better than the Kushi-Tem style. Nevertheless, the Kaisekis course meals are still value for quality. The desserts area is the part which i felt Tetsu must really improve on if i were to go back for a revisit. Being a big fan of any dessert, i must have a nice dessert after every meal. And the desserts selection there can’t quite make it for now.

Tetsu
163 Tanglin Road
#03-18 Tanglin Mall
Tel: 6836 3112

” Singapore’s First LIVE Kushi-style Tonkatsu & Tempura restaurant “

Encountered bad service at a restaurant?

No, thats part of the dining experience.

Taste lousy and not up-to-the-mark food?

Nah, thats also part of the dining experience.

Entering the restaurant and the waitress told you the place is full?

Blame it on yourself who did not make any reservations.

The worst thing, that can ever, ever happen to a food blogger . . .

Is having no camera to take shots of the delicacy displayed upon you.

Thunder never strikes at the same spot, indeed. The last time to The French Stall, LIC forgotten to bring his camera along, and that was an awful feeling. LIC didn’t expect to encounter the same problem, this time LIC did bring the camera, only to arrive happily at the entrance of the restaurant and found out that there was no battery inside!?!

Tsk tsk! LIC shouldn’t taken out the battery to charge and forgot to put it back. A dreadful mistake which must be avoid at all cost next time.

Beware! Warning! The following photos may look awful, terrible, shocking, ghastly, and lousy to you. If you cannot take any of the experience, please DO NOT click on “Read the rest of this entry”

The fatal spot where LIC wanted to take a pot-shot of the entrance and to his horror, discovered that the absence of the battery!

Alas, this post on Kuishin-bo will be short due to obvious reasons, LIC was actually working on Absolute Haven but due to time constraint, this post shall appear before your eyes first. Too many post pending for LIC to write, even OT can’t really help : )

The only “slightly more decent” photo, sushi selections

The sushi are all right i guess, nothing to shout about. Quite a wide selections to choose from though.

Prawn Tempura

The tempura section is most probably one of the place where i consume more, with the exception of desserts (which LIC can’t live without!) The prawn tempura is your normal fried prawn with tempura-flour, it works for me although i pretty much suspect its only decent in the eyes of Japanese food experts (LIC self-proclaimed he isn’t a avid Jap food eater)

Kaminabe paper steamboat

Like what i mention during my visit to Waraku, Kaminabe sounds like a foul-word, it still brings back memories from the last visit, hence the mention. Paper pot, the vegetables, are all there to absorb the otherwise oily chicken and soup. Thinking back now, Beef should have been a better option for Kaminabe.

Desserts – Fruit Tarts

Fruit tarts are LIC favorite! I can pop ten easily into my mouth. The tarts here are pretty standard i guess, but still give them to me!

There are also some miniature cakes around, chocolate ones, mini oreo cheesecakes (really tiny), mini doughnuts in different flavors, quite a variety available.

The chocolate fondue craze might have die down already, but that does not means they are not good. Its just that people forgets easily, before long another new craze will appear and the common folks will start to go after the new hype. Think donut, bubble-tea, luo-han fish, chocolate fondue, well just to name a few.

Total Bill for 2 person during weekday lunch comes up to $46.61 after tax and service charge. Weekday lunch is $24.80++ for adult, and if you Op for the 60 minutes express lunch, it is $19.80+, which we did. I guess the 60 minutes strategy is more to attract office working people, but we took it since we are really full after an hour anyway.

Actually the difference in price is only 5 bucks, if you go for the normal price, you got the luxury to enjoy the buffet from 1130am-3pm, which big-appetite eaters should go for. Otherwise if you are working near Suntec, or like us where you can finish the meal in an hour, the discount of $5 although not much, is still rather substantial.

To be honest, the one hour buffet is rather rushed, and if you are the type that refuse to rush while tasting your food, it is not advisable to take it. But if you know what you are looking for, well just attack those areas and your effort will be paid off for the $19.80.

Kuishi-bo proclaimed itself to be the Authenthic Japanese Buffet Restaurant, which i highly doubted it. Authentic hardly feeds into what they are offering. Nevertheless i believe one sentence should sums it all for Kuishi-bo. Quantity, not quality!

Taste is subjective, if you are not looking for very excellent food, i say the ones at Kuishi-bo are quite decent, and definitely value-for-money since its only $19.80. But if you are into Japanese food, i’m afraid the visit will disappoint you greatly. Nonetheless, comparing Kuishi-bo to Sakura International Buffet, and Sakae Sushi Buffet, i still say Kuishi-bo slightly edged out both the latter.

Many acquaintance mentioned that Kuishi-bo’s standard has vastly dropped from last time, a pale shadow of what it used to be. Well, sometimes you have to experience it for yourself to conclude. I did, which is the reason for my visit to Kuishi-bo. Thus, Yay or Nah, make a trip down.

Kuishin-bo
3 Temasek Boulevard
Suntec City Tower 1 #03-002
Tel: 6238 7088

Quantity, not quality!