S$18.80 bara chirashi don 

have not gone back to sumiya for a while, forgot how good the bara chirashi don set was for the price.

last time i wrote about the bara chirashi don set here was on nov2014.

today i went with a good friend to sumiya for lunch at 12.50pm on 30.10.2015. ^^ after that we walked over to orchard cineleisure to watch the movie “the martian”. 🙂

sumiya @ orchard central

sumiya was crowded.

full house

full house on a weekday lunchtime. so better book! 🙂

S$18.80 bara chirashi don set

we ordered 2 “mixed bara kaisen don” set @ S$18.80 ea. we asked for sushi rice (there is a note on the menu to say the default is normal rice but you can ask for sushi rice with no charge).

it came with appetizer, salad, pickles, chawanmushi, miso soup & dessert.

japanese tea was also foc. we had 1 cold & 1 hot green tea. 🙂

chawanmushi

chawanmushi was by the way thing. the appetizer, miso soup, pickles as well, but i guess still good to have. 🙂

salad was great.

my own chawanmushi 茶碗蒸

my own chawanmushi is lots better.^^

mochi dessert

& the mochi dessert was quite excellent! 🙂 the mochi dough was soft & perfect mochi texture.

mochi dessert

there was another layer of tasty cream inside the bean paste.

view from rooftop level @ sumiya

restaurant is on the rooftop & we were seated by the window, so there was view as well.

S$18.80 bara chirashi don set 

most importantly, the chirashi don was very good. usually bara chirashi don uses small diced sashimi from leftover bits. this one here has larger cubes & the sashimi was really fresh & sweet. there was no expensive sashimi of course, just salmon, maguro & kajiki, with lots of ikura & tobiko, & avogado.

& the sushi rice was great too!

cannot ask more for a S$18.80 chirashi don set.

c.h.e.f andy

char kuay teow @ adam road food centre

this feels almost like a joke..lol.^^

we had quite poor food for the price at chotto matte on 26.10.2015.

the kind of feeling where we felt not shiok enough, no point ordering more food, might as well go tapao char kuay teow from adam road food centre. 🙂

wife & i prefer hai kee’s char kuay teow, with its huge, plump, luscious “hum” or cockles

but we were not about to wait 45mins for it. so adam road would have ot do. anyway youngest daughter prefers adam road.

char kuay teow @ adam road food centre

it was pretty good. nice wok hae, tasty.

we ordered 2 packets, each S$3 plus S$1 extra cockles.

but cockles were so tiny, have to put on glasses to find them. still likes hai kee’s better la!

c.h.e.f andy

grilled wagyu – S$38

we were celebrating a family occasion on 26.10.2015, not sure why we ended up at chotto matte.

they have uob 15% discount & dbs 1 for 1 main course for dinner & lunch (limited to only 1 free main course for each table).

chotto matte

we were there at blair road about 7pm, but i could not find any parking, & ended up parking at the hdb carpark next to everton park. my daughter & her friend came later but managed to park along the blair road itself near chotto matte.

restuarant was tiny.  most of the recent reviews on hungrygowhere were poor, but mostly about the service. we had a chat with the male server & his attitude was actually quite good & helpful enough, but i think limited training & knowledge about the menu & the discount practice. ok la i guess.

sake – S$95

wife liked the sake after trying 1 carafe from a new bottle they opened. we told them we would take the whole bottle if we liked it, so we did. 🙂

we ordered the grilled wagyu, grilled kurobuta, onsen egg wagyu don, mentaiko pasta, chirashi don & a salmon maki.

we were expecting to try out some decent food first, and then order more.

but was disappointed enough to tapao 2 packets of char kuay teow from adam road food centre afterwards. no kidding…lol… sigh! 😦

grilled wagyu – S$38

the grilled wagyu. can’t exactly say it was bad, but it’s mediocre maybe S$18 or S$22 ok, not S$38.

my own tagliata di manzo

c/w my own tagliata, i think anyday my steak is infinitely better!

of course that’s just my opinion. haha! 🙂

grilled kurobuta – S$35

the grilled kurobuta. i think it was a disaster! you just cannot serve such a dish in a restaurant. i wouldn’t order this for S$12 la!

grilled kurobuta – S$35

it was dry, hard? i mean any normal pork would be a lot better than this in taste & texture, no need kurobuta!

foc’s iberico pork rack

just look at the iberico pork rack at foc. so flavourful, moist, marbled.

if foc’s is 9 or 10, chotto matte’s would be 1?? not sure 1 even if it is worse than normal pork.

onsen egg wagyu don – S$35

the onsen egg wagyu don. ok lah, i guess it was more of the same as the grilled wagyu main. so same ok standard, just ex.

onsen egg wagyu don – S$35

the sushi rice though was quite poor here.

mentaiko pasta – S$18

mentaiko pasta. my wife & daughter quite ok with this, though it was a tiny portion for S$18.

my own mentaiko capellini

for me, i think my own mentaiko pasta was a lot better. 🙂

chirashi don – S$45

& the chirashi don? this is not a S$45 chirashi don. this is a S$25 chirashi don

chirashi don – S$45

must say though that the sashimi were all fresh, sweet & good. the sushi rice was not! there was 1 piece of chutoro, 2 good hotate, maguro, kampachi, kajiki etc.

mikuni’s chirashi don

c/w mikuni’s chirashi don, also S$45 after 50% feed at raffles discounts. well nothing to compare.

kuriya’s chirashi sushi gozen

kuriya’s chirashi sushi = uni, negi toro, maguro, hamachi, amaebi

or with kuriya’s S$62 chirashi sushi gozen set. what’s there to compare right?

salmon maki – S$16

the salmon maki was pretty ok.

salmon maki – S$16

anyhow, after the few signature dishes that failed badly, we did not want to add any order.

the bill came to S$290 (including a S$95 bottle sake) after dbs 1 main course discounts. so less that it would be close to S$180nett for 5pax. may not be expensive on per pax basis but we did not order that much food & the standard was really poor for the price.

we went to adam road food centre afterwards & tapao 2 packets char kuay teow! 🙂

never come back again for me!

c.h.e.f andy

Chotto Matte

• reservations@chottomatte.com.sg
• 54 BLAIR ROAD, #01-01
  SINGAPORE, 089954
• +65 6222 8846
• +65 6222 8845
• Mon-Sun:
  11:30-midnight
  (Last order for lunch at 2pm)

lobster noodles – S$22

we decided to take chinese since the next day we are having japanese at chotto matte.

& we did not want to have outdoor zi char becos of the unhealthy haze, so we went to xin cuisine again on 25.10.2015. 🙂

we were here at xin cuisine some weeks back on 1.10.2015.

si chuan sweet & sour soup 酸辣汤 – S$9

we had a very nice lie tong 例汤 the last time here. this time they had the chinese liang teh base 凉茶, so we decided to try couple other soup.

si chuan sweet & sour soup 酸辣汤 – S$9

the seafood sweet & sour soup 酸辣汤 – S$9 was very good standard, fragrant & also lots of seafood ingredients.

i would say a very good soup except this kind of gluey soup & just a bit sweet (though it was ok for this type of soup) for me not really my preference.

lobster bits soup – S$18

this soup actually had lots of lobster bits. the soup itself (ie the stock base) was also very tasty, but again the gluey texture not my favourite.

lobster bits soup – S$18

at S$18 i am not sure i would order it again, the  lie tong 例汤 or the seafood sweet & sour soup 酸辣汤, at S$9 made a lot more sense. 🙂

tea infused duck – S$28

this tea infused duck is a must-have at xin cuisine.

tea infused duck – S$28

the duck was so flavourful, you could smell the aroma of the tea fragrance when the dish was served & on the table. 🙂

tea infused duck – S$28

we ordered 1/2 duck for 2pax. it was a large portion but we still finished everything. 🙂

lobster noodles – S$22

wife did not want too much carb items so we ordered just 1 loster noodles to share.

lobster noodles – S$22

i must say this was extremely good, very tasty, both lobster & noodles were good.

i must definitely order this again the next visit.

dried mustard vegetable with small cabbage 梅菜烹娃娃菜 – S$18

we had the dried mustard vegetable with small cabbage 梅菜烹娃娃菜 – S$18 again.

dried mustard vegetable with small cabbage 梅菜烹娃娃菜 – S$18

this was really an excellent dish. the 梅菜was so flavourful.

i must really try to do a 梅菜 dish at home. in fact today when i was in sheng shiong i bought 1 packet of the dried 梅菜.

aloe vera with lime sorbet

we shared 1 dessert.

wife didn’t quite like it.

aloe vera with lime sorbet – S$10

for me it was perfectly ok. lime sorbet was great, so was the aloe vera jelly, very refreshing. i do agree with my wife that the couple dessert we took at tunglok signature were better.

for the dinner, we only spent S$67 after 50% amex palate discounts for 2pax.

it was really an excellent meal for that price. ^^

c.h.e.f andy

unajyu oyako don S$12.90

had lunch with a friend at itacho ion orchard today on 23.10.2015. ^^

we were there at 1.15pm, hardly any queue & friend already seated at a table when i arrived.

this friend is quite active in charity work. she is receiving some award from the msf minister this evening.

chirashi don S$14.90

i came here couple times when it just opened, must be like 4 years back? never been since, so no prior record on my blog.

i ordered the chirashi don for myself, S$14.90. 🙂

chirashi don S$14.90

there were 2 amaebi, 2 tamago, 2 salmon,, 2 hotate, 1 hamachi, 1 tai, 1 kajiki, 1 ika & 1 saba. total 13 pieces.

chirashi don S$14.90

quite decent really at S$14.90. hotate was very good. so was the amaebi. tamago & salmon were pretty good. only the tai was tough. sushi rice was not good. i made better tasting sushi rice.

salmon sushi S$0.60

there were promotion items like the salmon sushi for S$0.40, but 1 person could only order 1 piece.

salmon sushi S$0.60 

so i ordered the salmon sushi with mentaiko for $0.60.

unajyu oyako don S$12.90 

my friend had the unajyu oyakodon. it looked ok.

unajyu oyako don S$12.90

she said it was good. 🙂

fatty salmon2 S$5.10

& she ordered some fatty salmon.

fatty salmon S$5.10 

it looked good, but for S$5.10 it was not great.

lunch was S$41.65 for 2pax.

quite doable but nothing great.

c.h.e.f andy

dry wok prawns

only 2 of us for dinner.

helper prepared some prawns & asked me to cook. it’s my usual dry wok prawns style – recipe here.

dry wok prawns 

prawns were very fresh, so very bouncy, good bite & sweet. 🙂

dry wok prawns 

this method of cooking is like baking the prawns in the shells, very flavourful becos of both the bbq charred flavours & the aroma of the fish sauce in a very hot pan.

sambal kang kong 

helper did a nice sambal kang kong. 🙂

sambal kang kong

sambal was nicely done.

sambal kang kong

a bit better to reduce it more to get more intense flavours.

it was a nice, easy, quick dinner. with just a little rice.

c.h.e.f andy

teochew muay dishes

after the very enjoyable 9pax lunch at ye shanghai recently, i am planning to do a teochew muay lunch for my friends. ^^

i can already make several nice dishes –

• quite excellent kong bak (braised pork belly)
• a “kick-ass” haha! steamed salted fish minced pork 咸鱼饼 &
• an equally awesome steamed minced pork with egg

i just need to try out some vegetable dishes, & also the spicy sting ray dish (which is dependent on the supply of fresh sting ray at sheng shiong on the day!)

stir-fry manila clams

for today, as i saw some manila clams when in sheng shiong, i bought about 550g. 🙂

i made some excellent manila clams previously! ^^

it was easy to make-

i fry 1 cut chilli padi, sliced ginger (2cm piece) and 1 stalk of curry leaves (discard the stem) in oil in a pan till fragrant

turn on high fire & place manila clams in the pan, stir-fry & cover. add 1 tbsp oyster sauce, 1tbsp corn flour, 1-2 tsp (to taste) fish sauce mixed with 1/2cup water

cover & reduce till shells open up, just few minutes

when done just right, manila clams is plump & juicy & tasty, the curry leaves giving them excellent distinct flavours. i love the curry leaves. 🙂

spicy tau jeon sting ray

the spicy tau jeon sting ray was my first attempt. very tasty with the salted vegetables & spicy bean sauce.

spicy tau jeon sting ray

they turned out pretty good-

soak 1/2 packet of salted vegetables & cut into thin slices

fry 1/2 cut chilli padi, 1.5 tbsp spicy bean paste & sliced ginger till fragrant

add sting ray (500g diced) to wok & stir-fry to coat the flavourful sauce

add 1.5cup chicken (or vegetable stock), cover & reduce (about 10mins)

it is important to reduce the sauce to make the flavours intense & the sting ray very tasty. 🙂

spicy black beans bittergourd

the spicy black beans bittergourd also my first-

cut the bittergourd into 1/2′ by 2″ pieces & soak in water for 4hrs (i added 1 tsp salt). rinse thoroughly in slow running water to remove some of the bitterness

add 2 cloves chopped garlic, 1/2 cut chilli padi & 1tbsp spicy black bean sauce & stir-fry till fragrant

add bitter gourd & stir-fry to coat it with the tasty sauce

add 1.5cups stock, cover & reduce

spicy black beans bittergourd

the bitter gourd turned out to be very tasty, excellent dish among the 4 other dishes (the manila clams were superb!)

stewed cabbage

i did about the same for the other 2 dishes – stewed cabbage & stewed egg plant. basically add cut chilli padi, chopped garlic & fry, then add the vegetables, oyster sauce, fish sauce or light soy sauce, then add stock, cover & reduce.

they were both very tasty, though nothing special.

the egg plant was my second try. this time i did not add tomato sauce.

but the taste still different from ye shanghai’s excellent egg plants.

stewed eggplant

the egg plant was not as tasty as the wafu 和风 egg plants i did previously.

maybe i will try tsuyu to replace light soy sauce.

teochew muay dishes

each dish takes about 10-15mins, so i did all 5 in about 1hr.

not too difficult & very enjoyable dinner with wife & daughter.

c.h.e.f andy

super tasty red garoupa fishhead steamboat

organiser of this month’s RI G20 dinner selected whampoa keng fishhead steamboat. ^^

it’s a place i wanted to try but never did. it seems it was the same with the organiser as he was overseas when a group of friends went & sent him nice photos. i told him 1 of the pluses of G20 was we get try places we somehow didn’t get to go ourselves.

3 of us decided to go early for a cuppa at the wheeler’s yard. i took flat white. strong coffee with very smooth frothed milk. i liked it.

great ambience & lovely coffee (apparently food not so good & the cakes looked unappealing)

i went early at 5.45pm & managed to get free parking on the road on jalan ampas next to the tai pei old people’s home. 🙂

Whampoa Keng Fish Head Steamboat

after our cuppa, we drove over to whampoa keng fishhead steamboat. i parked at ah hood gardens (HDB) along ah hood road (lots of parking) & got to the restaurant before 7pm.

Whampoa Keng Fish Head Steamboat

restaurant was plastered with photos of the owner, his wives & staff & the more famous patrons. 🙂

pig trotters lagi shiok!

our friend the organiser ordered a S$288set for 10, and changed some dishes.

the signature braised pig trotters replaced the salted egg sotong.

pig trotters lagi shiok!

excellent call! this pig trotters lagi shiok! the best of texture not overly soft & mushy & tender meat falling of the bones. my friend liked the star anise flavours. for me that was just slightly over.

super tasty red garoupa fishhead steamboat

the best undeniably was the fish head steamboat. my friend ordered the red garoupa.

super tasty red garoupa fishhead steamboat

this really a supremely good tasting fishhead steamboat! ^^

the murky soup was such intense goodness. 🙂

& the refills were also not just water or light tasting soup, but almost the same intense stock. i guess the same stock minus the additional taste from the steamboat content.

super tasty red garoupa fishhead steamboat

not sure if it was just the head or a whole fish but it came with lots of meat too.

super tasty red garoupa fishhead steamboat

i think i must go round trying out fishhead steamboat liao! 🙂

stir-fried brocoli with scallops in XO sauce

the stir-fried brocoli with scallops in XO sauce was a pretty nice dish. there was a good serving of scallops.

stir-fried brocoli with scallops in XO sauce

& there was also something that tasted like the cheaper canned shellfish. a friend thought it was gluten but i felt that the texture was shellfish. not sure.

salted egg prawns

my friend changed the prawns in the set to their signature salted egg prawns.

salted egg prawns

it was a good competent dish, looked nice & tasted good too.

salted egg prawns

i guess it was nothing special just a standard dish in any zi char or restaurant.

fried tofu dish

we had a tofu dish. it was apparently a seafood sauce & the tofu was made by blending egg with silken tofu, or so according to other reviewers.

fried tofu dish

didn’t leave an impression with me.

i think the tofu dish at kok sen & also at muliangzai liang kee were a lot tastier.

pork ribs with deep-fried cod strips

the pork ribs with deep-fried cod strips was another signature dish.

pork ribs with deep-fried cod strips

it was competent but like any 排骨王, it’s a passable dish not my favourite.

crispy boneless chicken 金龙鸡

the crispy boneless chicken 金龙鸡 was another signature dish.

a friend thought it was too processed. i totally agree! i think i like the “not favourite” pork ribs better than this.

crispy boneless chicken 金龙鸡

crispy skin was there, but the sweet, moist, flavourful taste of a roast chicken was gone!

alas! i like my roast chicken at 6th avenue coffeeshop better leh!

we had too many dishes liao so did not get to try their 2 other signature dishes – the prawn paste chicken & the hae chor (teochew ngoh hiang). apparently those were quite good.

vegetarian tofu dish

the no. 11 friend is a lacto vegetarian (dairy no egg). he could only joined after 8.30pm.

vegetarian tofu dish

my friend ordered a tofu dish (we didn’t know it was egg tofu).

stir-fried shanghai greens

plus a shanghai green.

anyway he did not take much & we ended up finishing off the egg tofu & the greens.

the dinner was S$33pax, a little more expensive than the usual zi char stalls like-

• keng eng kee
• two chefs
• kok sen

but quite fair price for the food (i would say better food, maybe except for kok sen), especially the alluring fishhead steamboat!^^

c.h.e.f andy

bakuteh

bakuteh is like a dish anyone can make anytime. ^^

bakuteh spices

there are innumerable bakuteh spices in the supermarts.

i use the cheapest ilc brand S$1.50 for 20g spices packet.

bakuteh

this suited the 600g pork ribs i was cooking. for 1kg i use the larger 30g packet.

frozen spanish baby ribs

the last time i used indonesia fresh pork from sheng shiong, price around S$19/kg to S$21/kg.

this time though i am just using frozen spanish baby ribs from QBFood. 🙂

water + garlic + spice packet

bakuteh

bakuteh

bakuteh

for the preparation-

1. add a bulb garlic & the spice packet (20g) to 1.5l water & boil
2. cut defrosted baby ribs (about 600g)
3. scald with boiling water to remove scum
4. clean pork ribs under running cold water & add to pot
5. boil on low fire for 40mins (50mins or longer if you prefer meat falling off the bones)
6. & voila!

meat comes off bone easily

at 40mins or so, meat should come easily of the bone.

personally i prefer the meat texture to be firm with some bite, rather than completely soft & falling off the bones.

also unless you finish all in one go, you may reheat the bakuteh 1 or more times, so i prefer the ribs not to be overly cooked & soft.

bakuteh

& btw, the soup was just delicious!

i did not add any salt, fish sauce & light soy sauce as it was salty enough for me. also no need to add pepper seeds. it is already peppery & just right, not overly!

the pork ribs were not as good as the fresh indonesian prime ribs from sheng shiong which were more marbled & tasted better,

but they were still very good, and with the excellent tasting soup, this home brewed bakuteh was as good as most bakuteh outside except the few very good ones.

bakuteh

one of my friend regularly brings bakuteh spices to cook while traveling overseas. it is easy to get ribs from the supermart & do up a delectable soupy comfort food goodness at a rented airbnb apartment. 🙂

this may not be exactly fine gourmet, but with a bit of plating, it looks good enough to be served as a course meal. for me anyway haha!

c.h.e.f andy

steamed sea perch

had a lovely 6-course set menu at min jiang on 13.10.2015.^^

min jiang 6-course menu S$68pax

price was ok, as the food turned out pretty good. we had 5pax. 🙂

min jiang @ goodwood park hotel

there were fe customers at lunch.

edamame

we skipped tea (normal chinese tea S$3pax no harm to have if need), just had complimentary water.

the edamame was nice.

edamame

they charged S$1pax so that was ok.

醉鸡，咸蛋虾，蒜泥白肉

we selected 醉鸡，咸蛋虾，蒜泥白肉 from the choice of appetizers.

actually it was a friend’s belated birthday, but since she was w/o her reading glasses (haha!), i read out for her veto… 🙂

醉鸡，咸蛋虾，蒜泥白肉

drunken chicken very good standard.

i think 1 friend said the prawn was very good. this a common item in chinese restaurants, i did not find it particularly special.

the 蒜泥白肉 minced garlic pork was good i guess, but i didn’t find it special too.

better look but not better tasting c/w my own  蒜泥白肉 though slightly different style.

crabmeat fishmaw soup 蟹肉花胶羹

the crabmeat fishmaw soup 蟹肉花胶羹 was excellent! really tasty soup.

crabmeat fishmaw soup 蟹肉花胶羹

it was a good serving, though the 花胶was not a whole piece but chopped up.

the key to a good soup is the stock base, and this one was par excellence!

tea camphor duck

the tea camphor duck was also very flavourful.

tea camphor duck

excellent duck, though the wrap was so-so.

tea camphor duck

skin was so crispy & flavourful. and the duck was very tender & moist. one of the best!

may not be better than the equally wonderful tasting tea infused roast duck at xin cuisine i had recently on 1.10.2015.

steamed sea perch

the sea perch was also excellent! ^^

texture & taste almost like cod.

dried scallop seafood stonepot rice

we wanted to order some 锅巴dish. the server recommended this popular dried scallop seafood stonepot rice so we had that instead.

dried scallop seafood stonepot rice

it was good! very flavourful & chokeful of ingredients.

mango sago杨支甘露

the mango sago杨支甘露 was refreshing, good dessert to have though it was just average.

mango sago杨支甘露

our birthday girl makes a better one actually. haha!

overall, a very good set. the ingredients may not be a good as some of the special promotion set at majestic or tunglok or at xin cuisine, but the cooking was very fine & delivered great tasting dishes.

• best 6-course lobster set at tunglok signature
• chinese fine dining set at xin cuisine

the only horrendous thing was that i paid S$22.50 for parking & my friend S$20, no carpark redemption. never ever going to park at goodwood park!

c.h.e.f andy