meet up

after more than a week from my birthday, amy, the busy bee from ssc finally has time to meet up for dinner with ml and i today.

by the time i arrived outside sushi-tei at paragon, there was already a queue waiting to be seated. amy was late as usual... somehow, ml and i weren't surprised and kind of expected it.

but she was forgiven when we found out later that she was actually having an 'off' day but had to be back in the office for an important meeting. work mah, what to do?

first time at this outlet since they moved from another location within the same mall. still the same subdued lighting but lots of latticed wood in a much bigger place. yet there's still a queue outside! wow... business must be good.

as both of us were too hungry, we ordered our food first while waiting for amy. and it's my regular negi-toro don and sashimi salad.

yummy!

lunch @ tsubohachi

didn't know where to have lunch at bugis so tried out this new place at level 4 of the iluma. tsubohachi is part of a cluster of japanese restaurants at ebisboshi shotengai.

tsubohachi hails from sapporo, hokkaido and is one of the largest izakaya [japanese bar] chain in japan. an izakaya is a place where the working class gathers for drinks and snacks after work.

that explains the rather extensive alcoholic drinks selection. however, we were more interested with the set lunch menu. estee had the ikura set while my mum and i had the sashimi set. i think the sashimi lunch set is quite reasonable at $14. of course the usual service and gst charges apply.

the kitchen doesn't seem to have gotten its act together just yet. our sashimi sets took such a long time to be served that estee had almost finished her food when they arrived. and you thought they only need to slice the sashimi, right?

what reinforced my impression further was they forgot to include a saucer for my sashimi set. how to eat the sashimi without a dipping dish for the shoyu, right?

and to think that this happened at a restaurant with a japanese manager and server!

tsk, tsk, tsk...

dinner @ mr curry

a new outlet by the waraku group specialising in japanese curry of course. the decor looks as if you're dining in a friend's kitchen. very homey and cosy but it's kind of noisy.

there're 4 different types of curry: original, red, white and black. the red curry is tomato-based, the white curry is cream-based while the black has squid ink added. all 4 come in non-spicy, spicy and extra spicy versions.

i had the seafood curry rice with the orginal spicy curry. the seafood curry was steaming in the claypot when it was served exuding a enticing fragrance. the portion was just nice for me. i think the curry is great and goes extremely well with the rice. even cayden likes it. i wonder if customers can ask for more curry gravy?

good place to go to when you crave for some japanese curry rice.

dinner @ irodori

ml suggested this japanese ala carte buffet at riverview hotel since her colleague gave it a good review.

met up with ml at centrepoint 'cos i was there to buy her birthday present. took a cab with ml to ferry amy to the hotel. the restaurant on level 3 overlooks havelock road.

once seated at the table, we were served a chilled salmon sashimi appetiser which was fresh and thick. then we proceeded to order from the menu. we had sashimi, maki, tempura, tonkatsu, croquette, agedashi tofu, dobin mushi, shishamo, gyoza and grilled mushrooms.

the sashimi is very good! the wait staff will even ask if you prefer thin, normal or thick slices. yummy... check out the pictures here.

the quality of the food is good and the service is not bad too. it's quite a good deal if you can eat lots of sashimi and everythin else. the ladies didn't eat alot while i am too stuffed for desserts. :)

dinner @ waraku

met up with amy & ml for dinner at marina square to celebrate amy getting wiser. :) however, getting wiser doesn't mean being more punctual leh. :P

went shopping for creative speakers and a 'little miss' tee for her when she finally turned up. saw a set of creative t3 speakers that were real cool... sounds great too, to my non-audiophile ears. we bought her miss bossy. thought it's fun... and also to amuse her staff when she wears it to work. haha...

after that, we went to queue for a table at waraku. while waiting for one, somebody behind the glass partition waved wildly at us... then i realised it was ph who got her friend's help to get my attention. she's back from beijing for her brother's wedding and to run the standard chartered 10km.

dinner was fulfilling to say the least. amy and i took the opportunity to do our carbo-loading for sunday's run. i had a negri-toro don and shared a salad and maki roll with the ladies. plus i helped myself to ml's tonkatsu as well.

we were so full that we skipped desserts and drinks. :)

dinner @ wasabi tei

i've heard of this tiny japanese place on the 5th level of far east plaza from a friend previously but didn't have the chance to try it since there seems to be a perpetual queue outside the eatery. me and a friend braved a 45 minutes wait before i was seated around the 16-seater counter.

wasabi tei is staffed by a dour-faced peter and a lady whom i think is his wife. long queues and less than good service mean only 1 thing in singapore - the food must be cheap and/or good. first of all, the prices are nett meaning there're no add-ons of service charge and gst so that's a good start.

peter served an intriguing warm appetiser of indeterminable origin. i think it's fish and something else. if you happen to go wasabi tei, let me know if you can figure out what it is. :)

the size of the california maki are the biggest ones i've ever seen in all my years of having japanese food. taste-wise was pretty standard. when my sashimi set was served, i understood why there's always a queue waiting outside. i think it's the most value for money sashimi set i ever had in singapore. it costs a grand total of $15!

check out the pictures and drool! :P

ramen santouka

tucked into a little corner of the mall, ts decided that this ramen shop needed some business from us. although we were apprehensive about the food before we stepped into the restaurant, reassurances were quick as we noticed tables of japanese enjoying their ramen.

it was a nice ramen dinner although the soup base was on the salty side. ramen-wise, we all felt it is way better than bishamon at the basement of raffles city. perhaps the more chewy bishamon ramen is an acquired taste.

the interesting thing about the santouka menu is that the ramen also comes in set meals with a choice of rice or don. unlike other ramen shops, you can also up or down-size your ramen depending on your appetite.

i couldn't resist not ordering the tokusen toroniku [limited to only 60 servings daily]. those conversant in japanese must be intrigued by the word toroniku since toro is tuna belly and niku is meat.

but it's not melt-in-your-mouth tuna belly sashimi, it's the pork equivalent since the meat is taken from the cheek and slow-cooked to a level of tenderness that i feel can only be achieved with fat, streaky pork belly.

it's yummy without the cholesterol overload. hopefully, they can tone down the salt and that will be bliss.

pasta de waraku

eric suggested to meet alicia for dinner here. and we didn't know that we would have to wait 1 hour and 15 minutes to get a table!

it's really the 'in' place now. pasta japanese style seems to be the latest food fad. most of the selections were interesting and had some japanese influences.

however, we decided unanimously that only the pizza was worth the wait. somehow, the spaghetti wasn't cooked right. eric thinks it's overcooked while i thought it was undercooked.

i was asked by the wait staff that since the ikura [salmon roe] for my seafood salad pasta was not available, would it be ok if they subtitute it with more fish? i said alright without giving it much thought.

however, i later found out that my pasta was slightly bland. hmm... the ikura would have been the perfect finishing touch to the dish.

oh well, better luck next time.

check out what we ordered here.

ikoi @ miramar hotel

made the reservations for the restaurant 3 weeks back. and yet i couldn’t get a table for saturday night dinner. it was already fully booked! so it’s really that popular...

settled for today’s lunch instead. just as well since it’s gordon’s birthday today.

ikoi is a rather small restaurant serving an ala carte buffet. $30+++ for both lunch and dinner.

ky and me were mainly interested in the sashimi. had quite a few servings of sake, maguro, hamachi, tako and kajiki sashimi. very fresh indeed, no fishy smell at all.

besides sashimi, we had salad, temaki, california maki, chicken teriyaki and ebi tempura. the food is generally of good standards. we were also served 2 soups that were not on the menu: teapot and seafood soup.

we had to wait for a while for the food to be served after ordering. wonder how bad the waiting time will be if there was a capacity crowd.

overall a good dining experience.

sun with moon @ wheelock

this dinner was set up 2 weeks ago… yes, not easy to coordinate considering that we have to accommodate the quarter-end closing for some of us and a business trip for another.

sl and ph were early, they had already finished an appetiser when i reached the restaurant at 7:30 pm. yup, they’re that hungry.

we had a booth seat furthest away from the entrance. most private and good for conversations but also meant that service was difficult to come by.

since janet had sms-ed doris to say that they’ll be late as most couples with kids tend to be, we proceeded to order appetisers first.

i ordered the sun salad and yam cake while doris ordered the agedashi dofu.

sl and ph went on to order the okonomiyaki.

the sun salad came in a bottle. the waitress gave a bubble tea “mechanical doll” shake to it after pouring in the sesame dressing. the yam cake was bland in a delicate, japanese way.

the okonomiyaki had lots of cabbage and only half an oyster in the piece that i had. :(

by the time we’re about done with our food, cayden finally arrived with his entourage of janet, jason and nora. :) hehe…

cayden was in a good mood… we passed him around the table. haha…

i ordered the salmon kamameshi which is like a metallic version of our claypot rice. not a very big portion though. if not for the appetisers and the desserts later, i don’t think i’ll be full.

had warabi matcha which is green tea ice cream with green tea jelly cubes. nice!

the bill for me came to about $37. slightly expensive but a good place to go to for the ambience and when you feel like splurging.

dinner @ sakae

had intended to eat at sun with moon @ wheelock but because we didn’t have a reservation, kl & mx went to queue for a table at sakae instead.

in the end, the whole lot of us made it for dinner. ky, gordon and thomas too.

sakae is celebrating their 8th anniversary. so there’s a 2 red plates for $8 promotion plus privilege card members get a generous 18% off the bill. very good value, right?

and then we went to sun with moon for desserts again. :)

this time round, i had the matcha bararoa and a orange vitamin cocktail.

nice!

lunch @ kuishin bo

actually kuishin bo wasn't our first choice for ky's birthday treat since we've already tried it before but i couldn't get saturday dinner reservations at the other 3 that were written on in the straits times a few weeks back.

for sun lunch, it is $25.80+ for a spread that includes sashimi, sushi, prawn tempura, cold crabs and of course the signature kaminabe [paper pot]. quite good value i would say. gordon says it's better than a more expensive japanese buffet that he had in kl.

the sashimi spread consists of sake, maguro and ika only. there's a selection of sushi and maki. you can also order your preferred temaki. besides these, there're a couple of rice dishes and meats for teppanyaki.

another section consists of the cooked/fried items like shishamo, soft-shelled crab and grilled salmon. my favourite potato salad is available too. desserts are morsels of cheesecakes, cakes and konyakku. there's soft-serve green tea ice-cream and fruits too.

too bad kl couldn't make it 'cos he has to decide on his floor tiles for his home renovation starting on tuesday.

stuffed myself silly with sashimi and drank too much green tea. didn't have space for the kaminabe or the teppanyaki, think i getting old liao... :)

burp.