Category Archives: Buon Appetito!

Lunch @ Tonkichi at Orchard Central on 22Mar2013

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chawanmuchi (茶碗蒸)

chawanmushi (茶碗蒸)

had a simple pleasant lunch with my sister at Tonkichi @ Orchard Central today.

we were both eyeing the Friday special chirashi don lunch set when we passed by the other day, so we just ordered that – 2 sets.

the shortage of foreign workers is  showing up clearly in many economic sectors in Singapore, not least the restaurant service sector. we saw only 2 waiting staff, they were both well-trained and efficient but very busy as there were quite many tables taken up even though it was just 12.30pm – that maybe a good thing actually.

we were quickly given our chawanmushi – to keep us occupied. this was good. texture was very slightly dense but of smooth consistency, sweet-tasting and the chicken was good, no ginkgo nuts.

chirashi don

chirashi don

it was a rather long wait after the chawanmushi starter, just about 1/2hour. luckily we were not in a hurry.

chirashi don

chirashi don

the chirashi don has 7 pieces of sashimi – 2 salmon (good), maguro (ordinary), 2 tamagos (good) & 1 amaebi (good), and the vinegared rice was good too. I would consider it a good quality chirashi don set at S$15.90++ by most comparison. However the S$20++ chirashi don set at Kuroson would beat this hands down in terms of both sashimi quality & quantity & overall set quality which also includes free refillable green tea (hot or cold).

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Tonkichi @ Orchard Central

the set also included a tiny soba – quite irrelevant carbo load but no harm having.

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watermelon – looked slight pale but was sweet & juicy

the watermelon was juicy & sweet.

given a choice, I would always go to Kuroson, but if I am in the area (Orchard Central), I might just do this again.

c.h.e.f andy

Lunch @ Sarang Restaurant at Orchard Central on 20Mar2013

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korean banchan (side dishes) comprising kimchi, peanuts & kimchi carrots

korean banchan (side dishes) comprising kimchi, peanuts & another veg kimchi

had lunch with my sister today. I had 2 xS$30=S$60 deal.com Sarang vouchers (which I paid S$30 for) expiring soon so we decided to lunch there.

I don’t frequent korean restaurants much these days. My family are mostly carnivores aka meat-eaters and for barbeque beef we generally prefer the Japanese-style korean barbeque yakiniku restaurants. One of my wife Lisa’s favourite yakiniku place is Aburiya. We used also to go to Chang & Hyangtogol but find them rather expensive. Though we all like banchan, those very nice free & refillabe korean side dishes, but they cannot be our sole motivation for having korean.

Sarang at Orchard Central served a very small banchan, comprising just peanuts (which was very nice & we duly had our free refill of peanuts), and the usual cabbage kimchi & another vegetable kimchi.

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kimchi belly pork with tofu stew – S$15.80

We ordered the kimchi belly pork.  Though I would have liked it with a lot more soup (like the kimchi chigae which I always like and order at Aburiya & Watami),  this belly pork was differently done (not just boiled like in kimchi chigae to add base to the soup) & very much better, had very good “mouth-feel”(口感) in texture and taste.

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spicy sotong (squid) – S$11.80

We also had the spicy sotong (squid) which was a generous helping. It might be too spicy for some but was perfect for me.

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galbi (korean beef ribs) – S$24.80

We also added the usual galbi – korean beef ribs. It did have a bit of fat & tendons but it was a very nice dish which I liked a lot and was as good as that served at Chang (though I would need to confess that was many years ago). I guess the chef was a bit modern in his approach so his banchan was not quite the traditional big spread of side dishes, his sotong (squid) was accompanied by thin white noodles & this galbi dish also came with a cup of smooth potato mash (not in picture).

The meal comprising 3 very good dishes & banchan came to just S$34nett (about S$26++) using the vouchers.  I think the prices were actually quite fair for the quality of food offered even though I am unlikely to frequent soon without the discounts.

c.h.e.f andy

Restaurant Week $35nett Lunch @ Kumo Kaiseki Restaurant on 19Mar2013

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Menu-Restaurant Week $35nett set lunch at Kumo Kaiseki Restaurant

Menu-Restaurant Week $35nett set lunch at Kumo Kaiseki Restaurant

A friend bought lunch today. We had great time chatting about the charity he was actively leading last 25years, travel & food.

As it was DiningCity Restaurant Week (18-24mar2013), I suggested the $35nett lunch set at Kumo Kaiseki Restaurant. There was just a little confusion as many restaurants were awarded DiningCity Star (and Kumo Kaiseki was 1 of them), and this meant they charged additional S$15 & S$20 respectively on top of the standardised S$25++ lunches & S$35++ dinners. Most if not all ‘Star’ restaurants would simply indicate lunches as S$40++ & dinners as S$55++ to avoid confusion but Kumo did not. So we called up to make sure that we would be paying S$35nett and NOT S$50++ & that was indeed the case (good to be certain than have wrong expectations and be disappointed..haha..). 🙂

I have stopped going for Restaurant Week these days as there is nothing much on offer. S$40 lunches & S$55 dinners at the ‘Star’ restaurants like Oso, Gaia, Absinthe etc are not cheap and also usually restrictive on the menu items especially mains c/w their daily lunches. Last year for example, UOB had very good 1 for 1 Young Chef Creation Menu in many restaurants and you get a 4-course S$68 1 for 1 menu at Gaia vs a S$40 3-course Restaurant Week menu at the same restaurant! Even at La Cicala Gastrobar (which has no Star), the usual S$25 set lunch menu is to me better than the same-priced Restaurant Week menu.

This Kumo S$35nett menu looks good though.

I had a kaiseki dinner only once at Kumo using a $50 Kitchen Language (which owns Kumo, Salta, Ochre, Saltwater cafe) voucher. Kumo’s food is good but not great for the price c/w say Hachi, and if you are not overly enameled with kaiseki presentation, I think Kuriya Dining’s monthly sets offer better value. For me, none of them can compare with Mikuni using the Feed@Raffles card with 50% discount for 2pax, so I usually frequent Mikuni, but it is good to have a change once a while.

The first course, tai (sea bream) sashimi topped with ikura (salmon roe), was truly delightful in all departments – taste, colour, presentation! the jelly  (can’t remember what it is) went really well with the tai sashimi. every item (broadbean, petals & all) was edible. This dish was very impressive even for a full course kaiseki! 🙂

tai sashimi topped with ikura - so pretty (every item edible!)

tai sashimi topped with ikura – so pretty (every item edible!)

The lotus & prawn dumpling were ok & tasty, nothing to wow about. the bonito soup was also ok with a nice after taste.

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lotus & prawn dumpling in bonito soup

The main course comprised a braised saga wagyu shank & some vegetable items in batter & the usual gohan set of rice, pickles & miso soup. This really was quite so-so, very average taste wise.  As a braised item, one could not tell much between wagyu (& Japanese wagyu at that!) & normal beef.

braised saga wagyu shank & yasai furai

braised saga wagyu shank & yasai furai

also done this way it is more commonly served as an appertiser item (eg Dozo serves a japanese braised beef as an appertiser item in their 6-course lunches which maybe tastes same or better), and is no comparison with the modern european braised lamb shanks served in many restaurants here.

braised saga wagyu shank in miso

braised saga wagyu shank in miso

The yasai (野菜) furai (not a tempura batter) was a good complement to the braised beef.

yasai furai

yasai furai

Well at S$35nett (S$30++ just for comparison though Kumo actually does not charge 10% service) for such a lunch, I guess there was little to complain about except for the parking costing S$10 at neighbouring Amara Hotel. 🙂

sakura mochi with Japanese strawberries

sakura mochi with Japanese strawberries

The dessert was a nice red bean mochi which I liked & 1/2 a strawberry.

Overall, it was a very pleasant meal and also nice way of keeping up with a friend.

c.h.e.f andy

Great Family Lunch @ Imperial Treasure Teochew Restaurant Ngee Ann City on 17Mar2013

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har gau (蝦饺)

har gau (蝦饺)

See also my review on imperial treasure teochew on 1.9.2013. 🙂

had a really nice family dimsum lunch today @ Imperial Treasure Teochew Restaurant at Ngee Ann City today.

They are really packed. We managed to book 11.30am and supposed to clear out before 12.30pm. The food came really fast, and though we did not feel rushed at all still we did not have any problem leaving before 12.30pm after a very satisfying lunch indeed. 🙂

We ordered Su Min’s favourite har gau & fun cheung with prawns (or har cheung), pork neck char siew, braised duck, steam pork ribs, a teochew dumpling, and 2 deepfried dumplings. The entire lunch came to $79 for 4pax – a really great lunch, good food, good friendly if speedy service, and very enjoyable meal. 🙂

The har gau was very good, skin not soft or soggy, prawns fresh & firm. The steamed pork ribs were very tasty & have good pieces of meat, not too fatty.

steamed pork ribs

steamed pork ribs

The har cheung was one of the better ones, though still could not compare with the very good smooth ones we had in Hong Kong.

har cheung (虾肠粉)

har cheung (虾肠粉)

The hum sio gok was also very good, fillings were tasty & the dough nice & little sticky too (as it should be).

hum sio gok (咸水饺)

hum sio gok (咸水饺)

And the teochew dumplings were actually better than I expected. I had some not so great ones previously.

teochew dumplings (潮州粉果)

teochew dumplings (潮州粉果)

The pork neck char siu was slightly sweet but overall very good, portion was small but it was only S$8. I have tried cooking this before & I know pork neck is really the best part for char siu, much better than the loin or belly. 🙂

pork neck char siew (炭燒猪项肉) - S$8

pork neck char siu (炭燒猪项肉) – S$8

I could not remember the name of this crispy dumpling,  it was something I used to like much before but did not take often lately. It was still good.

crispy buns

crispy dumplings

The braised duck here & in Crystal Jade were always good. The portion (partially eaten already in the poorly focused photo below) was good for the price – just S$14.

teochew braised duck - S$14

teochew braised duck – S$14

We ended with the salted egg buns which we all liked. This was very good here. The salted egg taste was strong but not overpowering & it was not too sweet. One of the best I had – I liked this a lot.

salted egg buns (咸蛋流沙包)

salted egg buns (咸蛋流沙包)

salted egg buns (咸蛋流沙包)

salted egg buns (咸蛋流沙包)

I think Crystal Jade & Imperial Treasure have really improve Singapore’s dimsum & restaurant food quality at affordable price over the last 10 years, and now we have really good eats at prices that do not burn a hole in the pocket. 🙂

Imperial Treasure Teochew Restaurant @ Ngee Ann City

Imperial Treasure Teochew Restaurant @ Ngee Ann City

c.h.e.f andy

Beef Hotpot @ Budaoweng(不倒翁) at iSquare, Tsimshatsui Hong Kong on 9Mar2013

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handcut US angus marbled beef (肥牛)

handcut US angus marbled beef (肥牛)

The beef hotpot at Budaoweng(不倒翁) is favourite with my wife Lisa (& with me too!). Everytime she is in Hong Kong. she will go for a late supper (宵夜-there is a 40% discount after 9.30pm during weekdays & after 9.45pm during weekends), sometimes twice during her stay. This time is no exception.

During our recent trip to Hong Kong, we arrived & checked-in to Marco Polo Prince Hotel about 8.15pm, so timing was quite perfect. 不倒翁 was just a short walk to iSquare and there was no need to pre-book. We did this again on the evening of 11.3.2013, before flying back Singapore the next day.

We ordered the usual large portion of specially selected handcut US angus marbled beef (特选手切肥牛)- HK$168 after 40% discount. You can see the marbling, and this is really flavourful & tender, melting in the mouth. I thoroughly enjoyed this even though we ate exactly the same thing the second visit. Both times we were greedy and ordered another small portion of beef  – HK$138 after 40% discount. Our daughter Su Lin was with us, so there were 3 of us. I could just eat the beef & vegetables and nothing else.

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very nice prawn dumplings, each with 3 very fresh big prawns

We also ordered a plate of prawn dumplings – 8 for HK$58. You could also order a 1/2plate – 4 dumplings for HK$30. This was really good too. Each dumpling had 3 very fresh large prawns, the skin was smooth, and it’s super tasty.

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脆鲩鱼骨腩 (grass carp bones & belly)

I also added a 脆鲩鱼骨腩 (grass carp bones & belly) – HK$38. I like fish so I quite enjoyed it, but though 脆 means crunchy, it can mean tough & also several pieces have bones, so not everyone will like. We did not order that the second time we visited.

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prawn paste (虾滑)

Lisa also ordered a prawn paste (虾滑) – HK$58 – which is nice too, though we don’t really need to have that, and we did not order it the second time we visited.

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vegetable basket

We also had the vegetable basket. I cannot remember the price but it should be like HK$88 of HK$108. You must have vegetables for balance for a meat steamboat and Hong Kong vegetables are fresh & nice. On the second visit though we ordered just the Chinese lettuce for HK$48 & that was really quite sufficient.

hotpot soup base (汤底) - we had the HK$88 clear vegetable soup

hotpot soup base (汤底) – we had the HK$88 clear vegetable soup

There was a wide range of hotpot soup base, but since we went there primarily to take the beef, we opted for the cheapest HK$88 clear vegetable soup. There was also a HK$20pax charge for the condiments (调料) – haebeehiam, garlic, spring onions, chilli, chilli oil, wasabi, soy sauce etc (most hotpot restaurants in Hong Kong charged this also).

condiments platter - haebeehiam, chilli, chilli oil, wasabi, spring onions, sesame sauce, garlic etc

condiments platter – haebeehiam, chilli, chilli oil, wasabi, spring onions, sesame sauce, garlic etc

The entire meal, if you were to say order for 2pax 1 plate of beef, 1 plate dumpling & 1 Chinese lettuce + the plain soup base, it will set you back by HK$442 (inclusive of HK$20pax for the condiments & 10% service on top), and if you add a bottle of 350ml sake, that will be another HK$300+, so it is not really that cheap even after 40% discount. But to me the food quality & the enjoyment of it is well worth the price! Service is efficient, and they will bring hot water & ice, which are free (they don’t serve cold water only mineral water, I did not check the price but it should be ok to order it if you need to have mineral water..), we don’t really have any complaint about that.

c.h.e.f andy

Incredible Value Dinner @ Taoheung Carnavorn Road Tsimshatsui on 11Mar2013

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DSCN4149

Taoheung group is my favourite restaurant group in Hong Kong. I specially like the set meals at Ying (迎) at Nathan Road and at Chung Cuisine (锺菜) at Times Square Causeway Bay.

They have ongoing promotions, and we managed to book a table for 3pax at Taohueng @ Carnavorn Road Tsimshatsui during our recent visit (they will NOT accept table booking on the same day but you can go at 6pm OR 9pm to queue up for the dinner OR supper promotions – they even have an electronic colour-coded queue system for 2pax, 3-4pax, 5-6pax, 7-8pax etc, more sophisticated than the banks..lol..). 🙂

There was NO service to talk about here (well at least for the 1/2hr starting from 6pm where there seemed to be orderly mayhem!). I had tried previously another of their restaurants Pier 88 (稻香超級漁港) during the promotion hour and to their credit service there was ok despite the mad rush at 6pm.

We had the incredible value promotion in the picture above=HK$99 for a steamed live garoupa (I estimated about 700g-800g) PLUS a platter comprising suckling pig, roast duck, char siew & soy chicken! 🙂 The normal price for the tiger garoupa alone (w/o promotion) was HK$238!

The steamed garoupa was very good, which was like “routine” in Hong Kong.

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steamed live tiger garoupa

The suckling pig platter – what can I say? every item was very good even including the black fungus, which was crunchy with a touch of sesame oil. Not sure the normal price for such a platter, but I would gladly pay HK$99 or more for the platter alone.

platter=suckling pig, roast duck, char siu, soy chicken

platter=suckling pig, roast duck, char siew, soy chicken

You kind of “have to” order 例汤 (soup of the day) when in a cantonese restaurant in Hong Kong, so we dutifully ordered one on the menu=chicken & fish maw (花膠) soup. It was a big pot costing HK$108. It was good but NOT great! Auntie Bes can make just as good soup at home. The one we had at Lei Garden (利苑) Time Square – which is famous for its soup – the day before, a smaller pot at HK$88 was by far the better.

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& when in Hong Kong, you “have to” order vegetables. We had choy sum with moi choy (梅菜菜心). It was wonderful! 🙂

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choy sum with moi choy (梅菜菜心)

The very satisfying dinner for 3 of us came to HK$331 (which already included 10% service charge), like S$53 nett! I can certainly do this every time. 🙂

c.h.e.f. andy

The Clan Restaurant @ Bukit Pasoh Singapore on 8Mar2013

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had a great lunch with my daughter at The Clan Restaurant at Bukit Pasoh. We had the 5-course set lunch.

This my second time here – I was here with wife 3 weeks back. We both liked the food. The Chef, Ken Teo, was formerly the Executive Chef of Dozo, and we have always liked Dozo’s food. The price of the 5-course lunch, S$42.80 (6-course dinner S$63.80), is slightly higher than Dozo (& w/0 the cooler drink), but I think overall the food quality is better. There are 5 choices of appetizer & dessert, 4 choices of soup & 6 choices of main course.

I suppose the name has got to do with its location at the premises of The Gan Clan Association. Bukit Pasoh locale is home to a good few top restaurants like Majestic, Oso and nearby at Kiong Siak Street – Ember, Nicolas Le & Bistro Soori. The food is I guess nothing “Clanish”, being in the modern european genre similar to Dozo with touch of Japanese fusion – perhaps there is a new “Clan” there slowly in the making. 🙂

just like Dozo, we started with a nice thirst quencher.

The Chef Starter is a trio comprising duck rillette, pan-seared scallop with lots of foam (this is very good & definitely better than Dozo) and a salmon mouche cone (Dozo serves a smoked salmon, tiny pan-seared piece of foie gras & pan-seared scallop).

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duck rillette, salmon mouche cone, pan-seared scallope with foam, thirst quencher

Next we had a choice of appetizer. I had the bamboo clam. This was really very good. the clam was very sweet & bouncy fresh, and the ikura (salmon roe) flavour & saltiness combined very well with the shellfish texture indeed. daughter had the deep-fried foie gras, which was not a common preparation. I stole a bite. It was different & quite good, not sure it would become popular enough to be avant garde but unlikely to displace the all-time favourite pan-seared caramelised foie gras anytime soon. In terms of quality, quantity & presentation, both these appetizer choices certainly qualified as appetizers in a 3-course lunch in a fine-dining restaurant, nevermind a 5-course lunch priced at S$35++pax after 15% discount.

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bamboo clam with ikura, deepfried foie gras

Next up is the soup. I had the cepes mushroom bisque. It was very good, maybe slightly more quantity-wise but not much different from Dozo. daughter had the crab bisque which came with a prawn twister. I think this had a lot more foam than that served at Dozo & was overall better.

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cepes mushroom soup, crab bisque with prawn twister

Next came the 48hr beef short ribs served on hoba leaf on a lava stone. I really, really loved this dish. The quality of the beef was much superior to that at Dozo. The meat was just so sweet & flavourful & the texture was just super.

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48hrs beef short ribs

For the dessert choice, daughter had the chocolate lava cake. It was good but daughter thought it was no better than the one I made at home and perhaps my 70% cocoa chocolate flavour was indeed better. I had the 4-cheese platter-good stuff!

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chocolate lava cake, 4-cheese platter

Overall, it made for an extremely satisfying meal. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy