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我輩について 男 中華と日本料理 客人数 Counters 通告！ Trip will proceed with 3 pple - Spice Peranakan - budget: $15 - Shimbashi Soba at Paragon - budget: $25 - P&P Thai Food - budget: $15 Reviews 評判 怨言与投诉
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Sunday, November 15, 2009 Go Go Curry  ION food hall at B4 has really a lot of things to try, and I suggested this curry place to Cheese and Cai. It was a Friday night and we had to wait a while for the seats. The curry itself was offered in four sizes, with succeeding sizes indicating an increase in the amount of rice, but not the toppings. We were quite hungry so we went for the Chicken and Pork Katsu Business Class (second largest) Cai's Chicken Katsu was nice and huge. The oil was not of prime freshness but tolerable,. Crumbs were crispy, and the meat was decently juicy, but a little dry on the inside. It reminded us of Taiwan XXL chicken. The curry was outstanding. First mouthful was a surprise because unlike most Japanese curry this was not the sweet sort. It packed a powerful punch of Indian curry spices, cardamon being especially obvious. The spices' fragrance really wafted up your nose and redefines a Japanese curry. As with most well done Japanese curries, this one went very well with the sticky rice, with each mouthful full of the strong fragrance and slight spiciness. The consistency of the curry tells of machine processing, but I still love it for the good recipe and of course, the fragrance. Pork Katsu was a lot smaller. The meat was fatty but the fat somehow was, not the melt in your mouth type but more of the slight jellyish texture. I'd recommend the chicken.Food: I crave the curry.... Cost: 7.5/10 The curry... Location 8.5/10 ION's basement 4 Ambience: noisy, since it's part of the food hall...the curry.... Address: #B4-54/55 ION Orchard Saturday, November 07, 2009 Little Part 1 Cafe  As a birthday treat, the Lady brought me to this little cafe near Thomson Plaza. Situated in a small estate of SemiDs and other expensive properties, Little Part 1 Cafe will not really catch your eye unless you knew about its existence. The interior was rather homely and cozy, like a room of a retro fan, complete with a TV from the 1980s and some board games and a small collection of books donated by people. We looked through the menu, which was made to look like a notebook. They offer a decent variety, with some unique fusion dishes and an interesting selection of savoury crepes. Lady wanted to try this Mango Udon Roll ($8.90) for appetisers. Apparently she read it as Mango UNAGI roll, so she was pretty disappointed by the absence of lovely barbequed eels. So, the rolls reminded me of Vietnamese spring rolls. These were stuffed with flat udon, mango, cucumber and lettuce with a tangy sweet sauce. Although highly recommended by the menu, we found this a rather lacking. For one, too much lettuce obscures everything else. Two, there's no avocado as was promised on the menu. Three, the udon was tasteless. Probably should go for the wings next time. Lady ordered the Sheperd's Pie ($14.90). I liked the look of it. The potato on top was smooth and tasty. The beef filling was a little strange at first, probably because we did not expect this "indian-ish" spice mix. But after a while I found it rather unique and decent. The minced beef itself was moist and very piquant with the spices, but the Lady didn't seem to like it as much though. I had the Little's Crabbe Crepe ($13.90). Quite a nice large crepe was served with salad. The crepe itself was fine, a little elastic, just to my liking. I especially liked the filling, which was rather generous with crab meat chunks, mixed with spicy raw leeks and a tangy, savoury and creamy sauce. The sauce was particularly unique, but i found it a little on the salty side. Nevertheless I enjoyed this crepe. Warm Apple Crumble ($7.50) came as the dessert. I expected bigger, but no matter. The crust was well baked and crumbly, while the apple cinnamon filling had feeling, was moist and soft. Overall not bad. The ice cream itself was nondescript.We played some Indian poker-like guessing game as well. And flipped through a book on dreams. The place seems cozy for lazing around on a lazy afternoon, with a glass of Belgian beer (which was unfortunately sold-out). I liked the ambience but I guess the food could do better. Food: Decent, and made from unique recipes, but I believe there's more potential for improvement Cost: 7/10 I believe the Mango Udon Roll shouldn't cost that much, but the crepe was well priced. Location: 1/10 Rather out of place, especially if navigationally challenged Ambience: Pretty fine and cozy. Quaint and quiet. But i generally dislike staying too long at a place after i have finished my food. Address: 15 Jasmine Road Site: http://www.littlepart1cafe.com.sg/ Tuesday, October 20, 2009 The Handburger  The day after a great meal at La Braceria, Cheese got me out for a second birthday treat. He suggested this newly opened joint at Raffles City, complaining that no one likes burgers so no one ever wants to try this place with him. Being an avid burger lover, I decided to check it out with him. The Handburger has a simple white layout with cute pull-out squarish chairs. I was expecting to enter and proceed straight to the counter for my orders, but the waiter showed us to our seats instead. We flipped through the interesting menu and decided on 2 burgers to share and a side of Parmesan coated Chicken Strips. The Parmesan Coated Chicken Strips arrived first, with a small serving of homemade BBQ sauce on the side. I love the crispy coating of the strips which had parmesan and rosemary. It lended a nice aroma to the moist and tender chicken breast strips. They were the most tender chicken strips I have ever had. The BBQ sauce was not bad, smokey with a tangy flavour but i liked my strips plain and crispy. The Works Burger $16.80 came with...the works. I shall describe from the top. Crispy bacon, resting on juicy and delicious Basil Pesto mushrooms, which rested on onion rings. The rings were actually crunchy and sweet on the inside, and the batter itself was tasty as well. Next was a simple sunny side up egg, followed by the star, a 180g thick sirloin beef patty. It was well seasoned with pepper and salt, and very tasty albeit the inside left much to be desired about the moistness and tenderness. It was a little too tough. The Duck Leg Confit burger ($17.80) got us both hooked dearly. I love the presentation of the dish! The mandarin slices matched the duck of this burger very well, along with the doumiao. The duck itself was incredibly tasty. I never knew confit to be this wonderful. The duck was probably grilled to give it a slightly crispy exterior, with the meat within tasting sweet, tangy and savoury all at once, along with a moist and tender texture. It was so much better than any duck I have eaten before. Food: The duck confit is definitely one of the nicest burgers I have ever had. The Works burger was pretty good too, but the beef could be improved upon. I will definitely return for the other burgers. Cost: 7.5/10 May seem expensive to fork out for burgers, but these burgers are good and really filling! Location: 7/10 Only one branch at Raffles city basement. Another opening soon at 313 Somerset Ambience: Lively and bright atmosphere, great lighting for enjoying the great presentation of the burgers. Address: Raffles City Shopping Centre #B1-77/78 Monday, October 19, 2009 La Braceria It was my birthday and without any plans set out for the night, I took up Kokand KBL's idea to have dinner with the gang at La Braceria, an Italian restaurant set in the high class estate of Greendale (behind NJC). When we all sat ourselves in the alfresco portion of the restaurant it was already dark and the lamps lit the area with a soft glow, a perfect ambience for some wholesome Italian fare. We didn't get to sit inside the restaurant, but I saw a stone oven for pizza baking glowing gently in one corner, and a few Italian chefs chatting with each other. The menu was varied with many interesting yet traditional offerings while prices for each dish were all about $20. We decided on two appetisers, a pizza, a risotto and a ravioli dish for the night.  The first dish to arrive was the Antipasti Braceria. Antipasti is an Italian appetiser dish consisting of cured meats and grilled vegetables. I started off with the prosciutto di Parma (Parma ham). Sliced so thinly it was easy to roll it up and chew on it, tasting all the flavours of this famous cured meat. The pepperoni was good too, with a surprisingly piquant flavour, and just the right level of saltiness. I love it. Sauteed porcini mushrooms were full of earthy goodness and juicy to the bite. The porvolone cheese and grilled mozarella cheese were fantastic too, one soft and creamy, the other firm, bouncy and flavourful. We rounded off the dish with the grilled asparagus, fig, olives, eggplants and a serving of salad. Parmigiana di Melanzane was an oven baked dish of a savoury and meaty tomato sauce base with thinly sliced eggplant and mozzarella cheese. I especially liked the wholesome tomato sauce, which was full of a meaty flavour (they probably used a beef stock to prepare it), and this flavoursome sauce went very well with the juicy grilled eggplant slices, complemented by the creamy cheese melting together with it. What I really liked about the service was how they actually try to customise your orders. We wanted a pizza. The pizza section on the menu was split into White and Red. We enquired on the difference and apparently the red is tomato base while the white has a cheese base. We were then stucked between Rucola Prosciutto di Parma (white) and Alla Braceria (red), and in the end, apparently we could have both, half half on one pizza. The waitress then asked if we'd like a ONE METER pizza, which we promptly refused though I would have like to see it. Anyway on to the pizza. The left side is the Rucola Prosciutto di Parma, with a tasty cheesy base and a crispy thin stone baked crust, i was hooked immediately. The Parma ham was just as good as before, and they were generous. The Rucola is a leafy vegetable with a slightly herb-y and spicy flavour that went very well with the ham. Alla Braceria had lovely moist and tender tenderloin slices generously covering the tomato base. I loved the tenderloin for its flavoursome gravy and moist, tender texture. Ravioli del Giorno. Why is it Ravioli of the day i have no idea. The menu looks pretty fixed that this is ravioli stuffed with Ricotta and porcini. Anyway the al dente 5cm diameter ravioli came looking tasty in a creamy but lightly flavoured sauce. The filling was chock full of porcini mushroom's earthy flavour mixed with the creaminess of ricotta cheese. Very fragrant and smooth flavour. The Risotto con Porcini e Profumo di Tartufo was the highlight of the evening. As Ed described it, the risotto made your mouth rebound when you chew it; such was its texture. The sauce itself was really thick and creamy, with the ever welcome porcini mushroom flavour with hints of truffle oil. I found it strong at first but as i ate more, it grew into a pleasantly earthy aroma that blended well with the strong flavours of this dish. Food: traditional Italian fare with strong flavours that may be difficult for some, but really heavenly for those that love it.Cost: 8.5/10 Yea each dish is about $20, but portions are generous and quality is good! Location: 2/10 Unless you have a car getting to Greendale is a journey in itself. Aim to get to RGPS and keep on walking forwards. La Braceria is at the back of the row of restaurants. Ambience: Lovely calm ambience which is perfect for a date. Address: 5 Greendale Avenue Telephone: 6465 5918 Saturday, October 03, 2009 Suki-Ya  I always wanted to try sukiyaki, and the chance came when the gang of 4 celebrated J's birthday at Suki-Ya, a place suggested by him, and serves buffet style shabu-shabu and sukiyaki. The meat served was beef, pork and chicken, sliced very thinly and the rest of the ingredients were available at the buffet counter. It wasn't your usual buffet with a huge assortment of everything, but more of a buffet of whatever usual ingredients that would go into a shabushabu or sukiyaki pot. There was a rather good variety, including kamaboko, fresh shiitake, daikon, carrots, harugiku leaves (a rather spicy kind of vegetable), cabbage, tofu, kitsune, onions etc. The pot was heated on an electric heating stove that used no fire, and we were rather impressed by how fast the stove could boil the soup. I prefered the sukiyaki broth, which imparted a sweet and tasty flavour to the ingredients and the meat. The beef in fact tasted like yakiniku after cooking in the broth. There were a few dips available too, including ponzu (a citrusy shoyu like sauce), goma (sesame sauce) and even raw egg for sukiyaki. The meat was the highlight. I think between the 4 of us we polished off more than 40 plates of the meat. Very thinly sliced, so much that a few seconds cooks the meat through. My favourite method is cooking it in sukiyaki broth and dipping in raw egg. The egg actually imparts a smooth creamy texture to the meat. The rest preferred the sesame sauce with garlic added. By the end of the meal the shabu-shabu broth became very very delicious too owing to the quantity of meat cooked in it. We just kept eating and eating... HOWEVER there is a limit of 80 minutes for the buffet, so make sure you polish off enough food within that time.Food: great sukiyaki and fresh meat, lots and lots of nice meat. Cost: 8/10 I thought $15.90 for buffet with so much meat was pretty good Location: 7/10 At a corner in Marina Square's central area Ambience: The service is pretty bad, but the restaurant was comfortable. Friday, October 02, 2009 IndoPadang  What would fit better than Indonesian cuisine for lunch during a gathering of classmates from Indonesian class? So we arrived at this restaurant at the basement level of Cathay Cineplex, which I had passed by a few times before but never got to actually try it. The restaurant offers a few set meals for specified number of people, so we got the set meal for 6 people, which offered quite a variety of dishes all for around $75. Rice. Always served in a nice basket in Indonesian restaurants, and often well cooked and fragrant, just how I liked my rice. Free flow as well. Sop Kambing (mutton soup). A very piquant mix of herbs and spices went into this rich broth that was full of mutton meatiness as well as a sweetness from the carrots. Generous and tender mutton pieces rounded off the soup, which would definitely appeal to any mutton lover. It was itself a good companion to the meal, being rich in flavour although clear and light. I love Sayur Lodeh, a bunch of mixed vegetables cooked in a rich coconut milk gravy. The vegetables were well stewed and in small bite sized pieces, with each piece yielding easily to your teeth. The gravy was rich, fragrant and sweet, a great companion to the rice. Sambal kangkong done Indonesian style is slightly different from the drier version done at tze char stalls. Although wetter, the lovely spiciness from the chilli still manages to get you all heated up. Kangkong itself was nice and crunchy, not overly cooked, but still managed to absorb all the spicy aroma from the gravy. I thought the beef rendang was okay only. Can't compare it to the peranakan versions. The beef was not very tender, and tended to be tough at parts. Gravy was thick, rich and beefy though. Grilled chicken was a tad dry on the inside, but kudos to the great seasoning. The exterior was grilled to a dark brown perfection, with a bit of toughness to it and flavoured with a sweet and slightly smokey seasoning. Sambal Petai with Shrimps. Petai ranks high among my favourite vegetables; I love the pungent but fresh green flavour and the crunch. Sadly, this dish had too little. What was fortunate was that i was one of the few at the table who loved petai so I had almost all the beans to myself. The shrimps were delicious and fresh, and well imbued with the sweet spiciness of sambal. The rest of the dish was made up of fried taukwa cubes. Nila Goreng (fried tilapia) is a must try. Perfectly seasoned and fried. A crispy outside and a juicy, soft and fresh inside. Eat it with that floss on top (i still have no idea what it is) for greater enjoyment.Food: Offers pretty decent indonesian fare for sharing. Cost: 8/10 pretty reasonable for the quantity and quality Location: 8.5/10 Ambience: When we were there the restaurant was near empty. I figure it's because we went after lunch. The deco is Indonesian and pretty. Xin Wang Hong Kong Cafe I never really trust Hong Kong cafes, having had a very lousy experience at Wongkok HK cafe, but I succumbed to the cute pleas of the lady to have her meesua... and so we ended up at the Xin Wang at ION Orchard. Xin Wang does decorate their cafes nicely, it was spacious and well lit, and the menu is pretty extensive too just like other HK cafes.  And so, without much consideration, the Lady settled on Meesua with Fish Slices. I was expecting something much less, honestly. So I was quite pleasantly surprised when I saw the dish. The meesua was of the fat variety, not easily found here in supermarkets, and had a nicer bite and texture than the thin version. It was itself drenched in a gravy that was not too heavy yet savoury and tasty, a little like gan lao mian. Yes the meesua is served dry! The fish slices were very well done indeed. Generous slices of fat dory fish seasoned and fried in a batter and topped off with a sweet oriental sauce. They tasted very much like something you'd get at tze char stalls instead. I ordered this unique Pork Chop with noodles in Papaya soup. It was a large bowl of creamy white soup with thin Hong Kong noodles (sheng mian) and a huge pork chop dunked in it, along with 2 pieces of papaya, some carrot and 2 corn on the cob segments. I would have liked my pork chop separate instead of being soggy, so I put it on a separate plate instead. The chop was surprisingly good, with a slightly crispy exterior that was well seasoned and a juicy and rather tender inside. The pork chop came with a rather tangy sauce that went very well with it. Noodles-wise, I thought the noodles were fine, but nothing very special about them. It was the soup that got me hooked. If I'm not wrong it's a chicken stock but with milk added and a slight sweetness probably due to the stewed papaya in the soup. The papaya sounds weird but is actually a great addition to the dish itself. I like to eat it together with soup and noodles and some meat; the papaya lends a nice mildly sweet taste to the dish.Food: Quite impressed with the food we had, will be back to test out the other dishes. Cost: 7.5/10 Not say very cheap, but is the usual HK cafe price, and the food was worth it Location: 10/10 everywhere...There's many branches all over the island Ambience: I like the decorations, and the service was good too. Tuesday, September 15, 2009 Swee Choon Tim Sum Restaurant  Halfway along a long night cycling route, we stopped by Swee Choon Tim Sum for a late night meal. It was 2.30am but the place was packed and we had to wait for some time just to get outdoor seats. Swee Choon sells both tim sum and some Shanghai based dishes such as their xiao long bao and la mian. Thus the menu was pretty long and varied. The standard fare definitely gets ordered, such as this har gow. Skin was a rather soft and slightly bouncy, prawns were tasty and pretty crunchy. However I thought they were a little too small. Century egg porridge came with creamy but little century eggs and the porridge itself tasted pretty mediocre although smooth. This is probably the ugliest siew mai I have ever seen; it doesn't even have the orange dot on top! Looks aside, the siew mai was pretty much the same as those you get at non Hong Kong dim sum restaurants. I.e. they were the big and rather meaty with no prawn type. However, it was decent i guess. The fried carrot cake was surprisingly good. The exterior was tasty, crispy and well fried, while the inside was moist and melts in your mouth with a good amount of shrimpy taste. And so was the red bean pancake, which looked quite dubious at first, but beyond the thin skin, was a nice smooth and rich red bean paste that was not too sweet. However, i found the pancake a little too oily. The char siew bao had a nice savoury taste of oyster sauce along with generous char siew pieces; I found it quite tasty and fragrant. The skin was a letdown though, for it was dry and very factory-made as you can see for yourself. One thing to say only. This is breakfast chee cheong fun you can get anywhere. Don't bother with it. For variety, pork chop la mian was ordered also. The la mian was quite Q and elastic, texture was good. The pork chop was nicely breaded with seasoned flour and well fried. The juicy and tender pork meat surrounded by the crispy exterior was very delicious indeed. It was sold out when we first got there, but after some time, the shop made more and came to us offering it so we got a plate as well. This is their famous fried mee sua. Yea, how mee sua can become something that looks like fried carrot cake is a mystery and a curiosity. You can clearly see fried mee sua strands on the top. The exterior was very crispy alike the fried carrot cake and it was piping hot, since it was just made. The inside had a really interesting look - it was like a bunch of meesua compressed together, but not mashed up. The individual strands are still discernable, and the taste of the meesua seemed to be amplified by the frying; you can clearly taste the rice-y flavour of meesua along with the crispiness of the crust. Food: Some delightful choices and the rest being standard dim sum fare. It is worth a visit if you crave for dim sum in the dead of the night. Cost: 8/10 not too bad. We ordered in excess and paid about $7 each for stuffing up too much until the next phase of cycling was quite a sleepy torture. Location: 6/10 It's opposite the McDonald's along Jalan Besar Ambience: Crowded at night. Sitting in the open eating dim sum past midnight is interesting though. Address: 187-191 Jalan Besar Tel: 62945292 Business hours: Mon-Sat 6pm-10am Sun, Public Hols 6pm-12nn Closed on Tuesdays Monday, August 17, 2009 Wan Zai Cha Chan Ting I brought the Lady shopping for a brand new tennis racket one day and we ended up at IMM, more than halfway across the island for her. Now, in IMM is one Cha Chan Ting that I actually don't mind patronising, and that's the Wan Zai located outside Daiso on level 4.  The place has no real shop of its own and as such is just plonked right outside Daiso. It can be pretty crammed when there's many people, and service can be a little slow too depending on your orders, but the menu is extensive and interesting.  I ordered a hot Yuan Yang for myself and a cold one for her. On that day the quality was a little off. There wasn't much coffee richness and was a little too dilute to me. The Lady's cold version was a nice surprise with a dollop of vanilla ice cream on top, making it creamier on the whole. Having had the Portuguese Curry Baked Rice on my previous visit (a must-try), i decided to go for something different, namely the Beef Brisket Noodles. Noodles were of the wanton mee HK noodle variety. The gravy was simple and non pretentious but flavoured the noodles sufficiently. Beef pieces were large and fatty, much to my liking, and the braised beef flavour was strong and tasty. However, some pieces were quite tough which detracted a few points from this dish. The Lady chose and chose and finally ordered the Chicken And Mushroom Baked Rice. The rice was flavoured and savoury, and went well with the brown gravy. Mushrooms were non descript, but it was the chicken that stole the show. One huge chicken leg, baked to a nice crispiness outside, with juicy and tender meat inside. Although some parts were tougher, but overall the chicken really held the dish together. It was really tasty and was further complemented by the brown gravy which had a little BBQ and teriyaki flavours.Food: A cha chan ting that actually meets my standards. Some dishes may fall short but the baked rices generally do not disappoint Cost: 8/10 pretty okay for a cha chan ting. Location: 4/10 IMM is very much out of the way for most people Ambience: not really suitable for a long meal and chat... feels more like a rushed kopitiam than a cha chan ting actually Address: Level 4 IMM outside Daiso Gindaco Takoyaki I love takoyaki, those cute dough balls with a piece of bouncy octopus inside, but Takopachi just can't make the mark. Then I heard that ION basement 4 has a new takoyaki stall drawing the crowds everyday, and so...you know what happened.  The queue was long even for a weekday afternoon, and the cashier was darn slow for unknown reasons, but after some 5 mins or so of watching the Japanese dude flipping the takoyaki and twirling the serving plates, I got to place my order. 6 takoyakis come for $4.80, which works out to be around the same as Takopachi. They come really fresh and hot, with takoyaki sauce, a little mayo and katsuoboshi on top. Each one measures about 3.5 to 4cm in diameter and will seriously burn your mouth should you stuff one in immediately. Biting through the crispy outer layer, I am assaulted by wafting aromas of pickled red ginger and its piquant taste mixed in the gooey dough with pieces of fresh spring onion as well as the occasional poor resistance provided by the tenkasu (small tempura flour fried bits). It was already enjoyable and then came the octopus. Large and chewy, a very nice contrast of texture to the rest of the takoyaki, not to mention the fresh taste of it. Very irresistable and impressive. I'm craving it again just by blogging about this.Food: Excellent must-try takoyaki. The matcha is really thick bitter and authentic too. Cost: 9/10 Yes it is rather costly but really worth the money Location: 10/10 ION orchard, easy enough Ambience: None to speak of. Do queues count? If you come on weekends, prepare to wait long long Address: basement 4 ION Orchard |
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