Tampopo Japanese Restaurant

Having had a fantastic ramen months ago, i had long wanted to revisit this family restaurant located in Liang Court, which is frequented by Japanese too. The restaurant accepts no booking for dinner, so go early if you are visiting on a weekend.

As usual, the wooden furniture with japanese touch were the main decor. Ocha was served free flow, and not the teabag type. They use the powder type, which was much better tasting. Menu was large and rather hard to navigate, with different menus for different kinds of promotions and items.
And so, XX and Fishy had the Kurobuta Shabu Shabu Ramen ($13.80). This ramen was the same one i had long ago. Previously the tonkotsu soup was fragrant, creamy and thick, and went very well with the chilli flakes mixed in. I could really believe it was brewed for two days. The star was the thin slices of black pig (Berkshire pork) which were very meaty and moist, with a juicy fatty layer, and cut so thin, they could nearly melt in your mouth. Sadly, this time the ramen was a failure. Thin and tasteless soup, with passable noodles. Wonder what went wrong. Even so, it's a good choice to order if you cannot decide on anything else.
Willy had the Layered Tonkatsu Set($19). As the name implies, the tonkatsu isn't made from one single cut of meat, which tends to make it dry and tough after the frying process. This tonkatsu is made from meat folded upon meat, with a total of three layers. The idea is that the space between will help retain the moisture and make it taste more tender and juicy. I tried one, and the skin was really light and crispy although slightly oily. The meat was indeed tender and rather juicy, although not as juicy as I expected. Nevertheless it was a nice thick and large cutlet that will score with people who like tonkatsu. What was pathetic was that it came with a large bowl of...shredded lettuce.

And here is my own Tsubodai Shoyuzuke Gozen (Armorfish Dinner set $18.90). This special set is only available on weekdays, and the Tsubodai is air flown. Tsubodai is a small spiny fish about the size of a black pomfret and here, the fish was soaked in Shoyu, then roasted. The skin was really tough (it's the fish problem) but delightfully crispy with a slight salty taste that was brought out by the lemon juice drizzled on top. The inside of the fish was incredibly soft, melt in your mouth and juicy, with a fresh saltish and roasted flavour. Very nicely done, although the part of the fish near the pectoral fins was slightly fishy. Nevertheless the texture was great. That yakitori thingy at the upper right is a piece of duck yakitori. It tasted of smoked bacon, with the texture of duck, and with layers of tasty fat in between the meat. Fabulously delicious but there was only one. Upper right is an Okinawan inspired champuru. Bittergourd fried with egg would be something easy to do at home, but this was so nice even for a side dish. The bittergourd was not bitter, and was fried till the right balance of texture, not too hard nor too soft. The egg was well mixed in, with tasty marinated chicken pieces, and the whole dish had this very strong 'wok hei', a heavenly aroma testament of skilled stirfrying. Everyone who tried it complimented it.

Of course, to see Fishy off, we ended the meal with a tokkuri of hot sake, as was my promise to teach him to enjoy alcohol my way. The goodbye and see you next year went down warm with the smooth sake, amidst a sweet aroma wafting up the nose.

Food: Family japanese dining with competent food, although standards may not be consistent.

Cost: 6/10 Quite expensive expecially after GST. And given the consistency, i had to drop the score somewhat, even though i was really happy with my meal.

Location: 7.5/10 Liang Court is actually next to MOS.

Ambience: Japanese dim lighting and furniture, with frying sounds to accompany you if you sit close enough. Quite crowded and noisy at dinner times.

Address: #B1-50 Liang Court Shopping Centre