Ootoya at Clementi Mall

Went to Ootoya at Clementi mall for lunch. Wanted to try something interesting and decided to check out Ootoya. It was pretty interesting that this restaurant brands itself as a healthy restaurant so there are actually calorie counts attached to all the food items. We ordered the curry mini udon and the curry katsu set. The portion for the set was pretty massive and these 2 items were more than enough to fill us up. The set is approximately 1000 calories and it's quite scary how much food is being served at each meal when we eat outside. (Not referring to Ootoya specifically).

Might be back again to try out their other food items ;)

Freshness Burger @ Central

Decided to check out freshness burger at Central Clarke Quay. Asked for additional vegetables in the freshness burger set and they were very generous in giving me 2 more slices of tomatoes which made the entire burger stand up sky high. 

Flavor was great and you had this arsenal of sauces that you can pick from at the sauce bar. We spent about $14 for 2 burgers, one of which we made it into a meal and changed the fries to avocado salad and drink to Yuzu tea. Ingredients were very fresh and I loved the tomatoes. 

Definitely will be back!

Ichiban Sushi @ Clementi Mall

Took mom out for a lunch together at Ichiban Sushi (clementi mall branch). We ordered one of their lunch set specials and it was massive. $25 for this lunch special that consisted of a soup, seared tuna with mentaiko, dragon roll, udon, chawanmushi and a slice of cheesecake. We shared this set and went a la carte on the other gunkans on the conveyor belt. $45 including tax for this set as well as about 5-6 coloured plates. 

Price is ok for a japanese meal, most important thing was that mom was very happy. :) Money well spent. I think Ichiban Sushi's quality of food is better than sakae, that explains the queue that I see all the time!

Japanese Peaches

One of my favourite foods in life - Japanese Peaches. Super yummy. Super sweet. Super delicious. They cost an arm and a leg but the taste is just out of this world. Always look forward to receiving a carton of them when our Japanese clients come to Singapore. 

Mmm. 

Ichiban Boshi @ Nex

Had a $50 Nex voucher so I decided to invite a friend to dine with me at Nex. He was having a craving for Japanese food so we walked around to scout for one. Walked past Ichiban Boshi and quite liked the menu so we went in. We went straight for the kill and ordered a sashimi platter. (~$30) You really pay for what you get, the slices were so fresh and succulent, unlike the buffet ones that you usually get. Although it seemed pricey at first look but the moment we tasted the sashimi, we knew that it was all worth it. 

I also ordered my favourite Negitoro sushi. Negitoro is minced tuna - I don't know what about it makes it so special, is it the spring onions or mincing of the tuna that adds this special flavour to the dish. It is my no. 1 favourite Japanese sashimi ever since I first tasted them in Japan. 

We ordered a plethora of other stuff and the bill came up to be about $64 (including tax) and we could less off our $50 voucher. I finally understand why people would go to Ichiban Sushi and the lines are always crazy during meal times. We definitely will be back! Awesome Japanese food FTW!

S&B Golden Curry Dinner

Cooked Japanese curry for dinner. Amongst all the instant kare (curry) mix that I've tried, I still like S&B the best. Flavourful, sweet, fragrant. Can't go wrong with this one. I think S&B stands for Spice and herB group. Interesting eh.

So I tried to be fancy and added some bonito flakes, peas and seaweed to make the dish more appetizing. Looks like my presentation skills have gained some XP!

Tonkichi @ Isetan Scotts, Shaw House

Tonkichi is one of my favourite places in Singapore to have tonkatsu (apart from Ma Maison). Tender pork with a crispy crust. Free flow of chopped cabbage. I like that the meats are tender and aren't overly greasy despite it being deep fried. They also have this mortar and pestle thing for you to grind toasted sesame seeds to make your own sauce. Super duper yummy.

I don't often take fried stuff these days due to my new diet, but if you want to feed me Tonkichi, I'll definitely save up my calories for them.

Chawanmushi @ Sakae Teppanyaki

Visited Sakae Teppanyaki cause a friend had a craving for teppanyaki grill. I never knew that you could actually cook chawanmushi off a teppanyaki grill. We saw another group of patrons ordering it and decided to get one for ourselves too (S$3.99++). Basically the teppan cook (whatever you call him) plopped a slice of onion ring on the grill, poured in the chawanmushi mix and a couple of ingredients, then he poured some water and covered the entire thing with a metal dome shaped cover. After about 10 mins, the chawanmushi was done. He then served it on a plate. Very fancy but taste wise, could be improved. Just felt that it wasn't tasty enough and the chawanmushi portion seems a bit smaller than the average ones you get at the sakae sushi chains. Maybe it is an optical illusion but who knows? At least I can claim that I've tried it. 

NIHON MURA IZAKAYA @ downtown east

Had a Japanese craving and we went to Nihon Mura Izakaya @ downtown east. Decided to order sashimi and sushi from their buffet menu. I was quite impressed by the serving size but freshness of the sashimi have some room for improvement. Liked the shrimps and salmon. Maguro was not too good. Not sure why but I haven't really had good sashimi grade tuna in Singapore. Oh well. 

And so we ordered that much sashimi in the picture for 2 people, craziness I know. (And that was on top of a lot more stuff that we ordered :/)

The meal cost us approximately S$31 per pax including tax for a weekday dinner. 

Ippudo Ramen @ Mandarin Gallery

Went to try Ippudo Ramen @ Mandarin Gallery. Thank goodness I was a couple of minutes early and we didn't really have to queue. Just 5 minutes after we've settled in, a long queue that vaguely resembles a snake started to form up behind us. The only complain that I have is that the tables are really long and I was having difficulty conversing with my dinner date as we could hardly hear each other at the distance.

You could choose the ramen done-ness as you like. There's like hard, medium and soft to choose from. So based on my observation, it seems like if you're someone who slowly savors your bowl of noodles, it is better to choose hard, because eventually it will soften to a good texture. If you're someone who devours your food, best to go for soft. Medium is for the undecided :P

I went for the Akamaru Kasaneaji. (Approx S$21 incl taxes + charges) The broth is wonderful and you can really taste the goodness of all ingredients that went into making it. There was this special miso paste thing that you mix in. It was a tad salty but that's how the Japanese like their ramen. I don't often finish an entire bowl of noodles but I finished them this time round. Guilty as I might have felt, but I think it was well worth it.

Steak from Angus Steak House

Japanese styled western restaurant which serves a pretty good plate of steak. My close friend brought me to Angus Steak House for my birthday treat and we ordered a lot of food. Saw the steak on the menu and thought that it would be blasphemy if we came to a steak house and not eat steak. And so we ordered this (was it ribeye?) steak medium rare.

Food came in a nice hot plate, sizzling and smelling very aromatic. There's this little butter thing that you can use rub the steak with to enhance the flavour. The steak felt Japanese, I wonder if it was the sauce, or the way they cooked it or just the presentation. Anyway, we just devoured the steak like nobody's business. Prices are pretty reasonable @ $33 for the Ribeye at a more upmarket place that isn't as pretentious. I'll definitely come back again the next time!