Malacca & My Malaysian Menu of Mirth

Posted on July 24, 2013 by nicjorach

The alliteration of ‘M’ words is by no means coincidental. Put together the ‘M’s and it spells ‘Mmmmm’ – which is exactly how one would feel after a trip to our friendly neighbours Malaysia.

Food in Malaysia tends to be identified with a particular area or town – Ipoh hor fun, Penang laksa, KL hokkien mee, Klang ba ku teh. All these individual locations deserve a post on their own, given the true gastronomical excellence that they provide: in each locality, almost every outlet selling the said dishes are of decent, if not top notch, quality. I shall attempt, in this post, to offer a glimpse into the spectrum of Malaysian fare available using the town of Malacca as an example.

In a recent trip to Malaysia, I was in Malacca and made a trip down to the famed Jonker Street – which , at night, turns into a pedestrianised street (aptly called Jonker Walk) night market selling foodstuff, mobile phone and fashion accessories and much more. Being a food blog, we will of course focus on the food; however, the history of the street should not be neglected. Back in the old days, Jonker Street was where rich Chinese merchants – trading in the port of Malacca – congregated and settled, making the street the centre of the Chinese community. If you look around, old buildings of Chinese clan associations and temples still exist in their original incarnations.

The street market offers fare ranging from the sweet to the savoury, snacks to wholesome meals. Here are some highlights.

Muah Chee – glutinous rice snack coated in peanuts Photo 24-07-2013 11 06 28 AM

The muah chee here was really smooth and I liked how the peanuts actually are able to fully coat the rice chunks . Also, the peanut coating was not overly sweet and you could taste the roasted flavour of the peanuts – which is something most muah chee stalls aren’t able to boast.

Fried Carrot Cake

We get this almost everywhere in Singapore and given a choice, I’d opt for the Singaporean version more often than not. However, note that the fried carrot cake in Jonker Street (and the wider Malaysian food scene) is different from what we’re used to in Singapore. Vendors tend to add bean sprouts into the frying mix and this, I feel, makes a huge difference to how it tastes – perhaps a little too healthy hence my deference to the Singaporean version. Also, often there isn’t a choice between the black and white versions that we are familiar with in Singapore. I guess that’s a good thing because you only need to order one plate, unlike in Singapore where it’s too tempting to just order both!

Potato Roles Photo 24-07-2013 11 06 20 AM

This is interesting. Basically it is a deep fried whole potato cut into small slices. After which you can choose your flavouring ranging from mayonnaise, chilli, black pepper to cheese. Essentially this is like your packet potato crisps, just that its freshly made on the spot.

Durian Puff

Just look at the durian cream oozing out of the puff! This was really good, especially since it’s served chilled. The pastry was thin and light, which complemented the durian cream inside. If you’re looking at this and expecting it to taste like the S$7 for 2 durian puffs sold at Goodwood Park Hotel, Singapore, you’re missing the point. The puffs here are not stuffed with a thick durian filling; rather it’s a watered down version which is surprisingly refreshing – a unique description of anything durian-related. Moreover, at RM5 for 3 (that’s S$2) it is well worth the money spent

Coconut Jelly Photo 23-07-2013 10 35 39 PM Photo 24-07-2013 11 05 33 AM This is my personal favourite. It is basically gelatinised coconut water. This means that the natural coconut taste is preserved and not artificially enhanced and, once again, an extremely refreshing option on a hot, humid day.

Dim Sum

This was not anything particularly special, aside from the fact that the variety was pleasantly abundant and that the ingredients were fresh and served piping hot. No need to queue for hours (*ahem* Tim Ho Wan) or pay sky high prices (*ahem* Yan Ting) if all you want is to satisfy a craving for a couple of prawn dumplings or siew mais.

Takoyaki – Japanese Dumpling Balls

I have always felt takoyaki should be a staple in street markets, given how light a snack and how universally palatable they are. I mean if you don’t take the original octopus fillings, go for cheese! Or if you’re allergic to prawns, have the sausage option! In fact, to me at least, takoyaki balls actually whet up one’s appetite so its presence should benefit the other stallholders as well. The ones here aren’t exceptional as they are too floury for my liking. But, as I mentioned, a must have in every street market.

Fried Oyster

As a dish, this is one I always look out for anywhere I go. The thing about Malaccan fried oysters is that they fry the oysters for a rather more substantial amount of time than Singaporean hawkers. Hence you get a oysters that are more cooked. Somewhat similar to the oysters you get in Penang. I personally prefer this style because the oysters become less watery and, texture-wise, goes better with the fried flour. If you are Hepatitis-paranoid, perhaps this version will set your mind at ease (if only by a little).

Nonya snacks

There are also sweet snacks available along Jonker Walk. Here is kueh dadar, a nonya pancake role filled with grated coconut. The one I bought was pretty mediocre but at only RM1? Always worth a punt.

We adjourned to a nearby zi char restaurant for dinner after roaming the streets for snacks. Well everyone deserves a proper meal after walking so much!

We elected to come to this eatery just metres away from the main food street. The waiting time for the food was more than half an hour but I tell you when the food arrived it, it was thoroughly worth it.

Curry Fish Head

The curry fish head was delightful, the fragrant curry taste and generous servings of veggies. It also wasn’t too oil unlike most other curry dishes. The fish was fresh and cooked to perfection – usually most curry fish head would be pre-prepared, and hence likely to be overcooked; this one had no such problems.

Salted egg yolk fried chickenBasically this was fried chicken coated with a salted egg yolk paste. It could be ordered with pork ribs, prawns or chicken and we opted for the latter. This was quite a unique take on a common zi char dish. The salted egg yolk paste was not too thick, yet it was ultra creamy in texture. No way did it taste like a heart attack waiting to happen as you’d expect with such a rich dish. I also found it a nice touch that the chicken pieces were filleted for our convenience and I was happy to devour each piece whole.

Claypot pork cooked with sesame oil and salted fish

This was nice, especially when eaten with plain rice. The pork was very soft and the salted fish bits added a panache to the overall taste of the dish.

Tofu with seafood topped with dried scallops

This was another enjoyable dish. The seafood, comprising prawn and squid, was fresh. What impressed me was the generous toppings of dried scalloped – which was fried till crispy, so much so I almost mistook them for shallot bits! That, of course, would not have done the dish any justice as the scallops – in the way they were fried – definitely enhanced the taste of the dish by miles.

For the sake of a wholesome meal, we also ordered spinach fried with garlic and long beans with dried shrimp. The long beans were especially good, in fact it was so good that it was long gone before I could even snap a close up picture of it. I guess it was due to the fragrance of the dried shrimp; again I suspect that they had pre-fried the dried shrimp before putting in the beans.

Restaurant Chong Sek

20,Jalan Portugis,75200 Melaka
75200 Melaka, Malaysia

Malacca, and indeed Malaysia as a whole, is certainly a good place to visit for food – the peranakan food scene here is famous but sadly overly commercialised. But try your luck and visit any independently-run eateries or stalls and you’ll be pleasantly surprised. More Malaysian posts to come – watch this space!

Saveur, Singapore

Posted on July 24, 2013 by nicjorach

i first patronised Saveur about a year ago at their bugis branch and remember being quite satisfied with the lunch i had there, so i was quite excited when they opened another outlet at far east plaza a few months ago!

the crowd at far east plaza seems to be a bit more manageable; i remember having to go to the bugis branch right at opening time so that we were guaranteed a seat at their first seating. once the restaurant filled up, you’d be sent away and told to come back later. i’m not sure if thats still the case there, or if the crowd was merely due to the initial hype that came with an ex-coffee shop stall serving up affordable french cuisine moving to their own restaurant-style premises. whatever the case, i was pleasantly surprised when we did not have to queue at all when i visited the far east plaza branch at 1230pm on a wednesday afternoon. the restaurant gradually filled up though, and a queue soon formed outside the door. service is rather efficient and quick however, and so the queue moves relatively quickly.

the decor at both branches is modern (albeit simple), and very pleasant for a good meal. i think i prefer the ambience at the bugis branch to that in the far east branch though! if my memory serves me well, the bugis outlet has a white colour scheme, making the restaurant appear quite nice and bright. but food-wise, i think they are pretty much the same – as good as each other!

we ordered Saveur’s signature pasta to share as a starter. at an extremely affordable price of $4.90 for a regular-sized portion (we paid an extra $2 for a bigger sharing portion), its hard to go wrong with this order.Saveur’s pasta tossed with chilli oil, japanese konbu & sakura ebi with minced pork sauce – $4.90

i thought this was a very well-presented dish (given the price – equivalent or even less than a bowl of bak chor mee!). the angel hair pasta was cooked just right; it was moist and retained a bite while not being too hard. i liked how each strand of noodle was infused with subtle tastiness and this was achieved without having them swimming in a dish full of sauce (in fact as you can see from the picture, there is no excess sauce on the plate at all), keeping the dish light, as a starter should be! the ebi contributed to the texture of the dish, adding a nice crunch to the pasta.

for mains, the first thing we ordered was the duck confit:
duck confit – $10.90

i don’t think there’s anywhere else in singapore where you can get duck confit of this quality at $10.90! of course its not the quality of duck you’d get at a fancy french fine-dining restaurant, but for the price you are paying, there is really nothing at all to complain about. the duck was well-cooked as duck confit should be – the skin was crispy while the meat within was tender and moist. the mashed potato was smooth and creamy, and the mushrooms were juicy and well-cooked (if only they gave a few more!), this is definitely an extremely popular item on their menu; nearly every table in the restaurant had at least one serving of this main.

the second main we ordered was the beef:
beef short ribs braised in red wine – $14.90

being beef, it is one of the more expensive mains on the menu (along with the fish) at $14.90. the beef was very tender and juicy and the sauce it was braised in was nice. however i think if we hadn’t shared all our mains and i had ordered this dish just for myself, it might have bordered on being “jelat” towards the end, because the sauce tends towards being heavy. the potatoes (potato au gratin) that accompanied it were delicious! despite the creamy sauce, they were not heavy at all and were a nice balance to the beef’s sauce.

our final main was the pork:
pork belly with lentils and soft-boiled egg – $10.90

i love pork, i would say its probably my favourite meat along with duck! the skin of this pork belly slab was divine – it was crispy and very much like the skin of the best chinese roast porks. the meat was also very good – it was tender, juicy and moist. my only qualm is that the serving size was really small. 2 mouthfuls each and it was gone! i like lentils, and am also the hugest fan ever of soft boiled eggs (the one here was cooked to perfection) so this dish was really just my cup of tea 🙂

we skipped dessert as they were not that cheap (unlike the rest of their dishes) and we figured we’d probably be more satisfied with a huge cup of bubble tea or froyo each 😛

i would say my expectations for my visit to the far east plaza branch of Saveur were definitely met. the quality of the food was as good as i remembered it to be, though the serving sizes were also as small as i remembered them to be hahaha. ordering a main each is definitely insufficient (unless you have a tiny appetite). ordering starters thus becomes quite necessary and i suppose this might make you spend more than you initially planned on. but then again, for the price you are paying, i think its a very decent meal that you get.

saveur is known for providing quality french food inexpensively to the masses, and i think they are doing a pretty good job at living up to this reputation.

Saveur

14 Scotts Road
Far East Plaza #01-07B
Singapore 228213

Kilo at Pact, Singapore

Posted on July 19, 2013 by nicjorach

at the junction of orchard road and killiney road, take the outdoor escalator into orchard central and you will find yourself right outside pact – an interesting store that houses 3 things under one roof – a hairdresser, a boutique and a restaurant (kilo at pact). having heard rave reviews about this place, my friends and i headed there for dinner last week to check out whether it was really as good as people say it is!

we went at 730pm on a thursday night and the restaurant was nearly full save for a few seats at the bar, so i think reservations are probably a good idea if you are planning on dining there. i think having 3 different things within one common space is quite an interesting concept, and the shop has a very nice, clean and modern/minimalist feel to it with its huge glass windows, concrete tables and floor, and simple wooden seats and walls:

the food is fusion-ish; the dishes are pretty much modern takes on traditional vietnamese/japanese cuisine (eg summer rolls, makis etc). don’t think very much can be seen here (sorry!!!), but if you squint hard enough, you might be able to get an idea of whats on the menu heh:

we ordered 5 items to share among the 4 of us.

first up, the baby eggplant:baby eggplant in donburi sauce, with marscapone cheese & tempura flakes – $12

we really enjoyed this delicious starter! the eggplant used was very fresh and the tempura flakes added a nice bite to the eggplant (that in regular tempura would normally only come from the entire piece being coated in batter), keeping the dish light. the donburi sauce and marscapone cheese combination was surprisingly good – the cheese added a twist to what would otherwise have been quite an ordinary japanese dish, albeit a very yummy one. it was a really promising start to the meal!

for our second starter we had the tuna tartare, which our waiter said was the most popular raw dish on the menu:Avocado-wasabi tuna tartare & flour chips – $20

it was a good recommendation! even my friends who don’t normally eat tuna sashimi enjoyed it as the strong taste that sometimes accompanies raw tuna wasn’t there at all, probably because the tuna was nicely seasoned. the tuna was very fresh and despite it being a tartare, the pieces were distinct and not too finely minced; they retained a chunkiness to them which i really liked. it would have been nice if there was a little more avocado though. we also couldn’t taste any wasabi at all! a very yummy tartare that went well with the flour chips.

we also opted for the mentaiko pasta:
spaghetti tossed with cod roe, spring onions and shoyu – $18

i know it doesn’t look great in the picture, but i really enjoyed this dish! it was simple, but super tasty. they were generous with the mentaiko and the spaghetti was done just right with a nice bite to it. it wasn’t a sauce-y spaghetti, but wasn’t dry either. despite this being quite a common fusion of italian and japanese food, i was still impressed with this dish because i thought it was well-executed.

beef short ribs rice bowl:beef short ribs rice bowl (all rice bowls come with nigata rice, sweet corn, radish, sugar peas & wasabi sprouts) – $17

i can definitely imagine myself returning to pact for lunch one day and ordering a rice bowl for myself. besides the beef being tender, juicy and well-cooked, the rice was really yummy! no idea what nigata rice is and what makes it different from other types of japanese rice, but the rice was delicious! we all figured they must have seasoned it with something. it was sticky and moist, the texture somewhat resembling what you will get with mango sticky rice. eaten together with the beef and the vegetables that accompanied it, it was a satisfying dish that was not too heavy despite the carbo, and seemed very “clean”.

our fifth and final dish was the salmon avocado sushiro:salmon avocado sushiro with prawns, japanese cucumber, tamago, spring onions – $15

the sushiro was like a giant maki, which they very kindly cut into 4 so that we could share it easily. this was the last dish to arrive at our table, and the one that i felt was the most disappointing. it was rather average and i thought there was nothing that set it apart from regular sushi rolls! although i liked the fact that it was packed with ingredients, i would have preferred the rice to be less compact; it was almost like a huge mass of rice. the sushiro was accompanied by a side of soy flaxseed chips, which were nice, but i didn’t (and still don’t) really see how they complemented the sushiro. doubt i’ll order this again – it is filling and i feel that there are other more interesting things on the menu to be tried.

all in all, we had a great dining experience at kilo! the food was a refreshing change from run-of-the-mill cafes and restaurants, and ingredients used were fresh and of a high quality. however for the price we were paying, we all agreed that the servings were on the small side and could definitely have been bigger. dessert choices are also not very extensive and we ended up heading to cold stone creamery downstairs for a yummy dessert fix! besides that though, no other complaints at all! i will probably be back 🙂 i would love to try their weekend brunch menu!

Kilo at Pact

181 Orchard Road, Orchard Central
#02-16/17/18/19
Singapore 238896

(given the nightmare that navigating orchard central is, the easiest way to find kilo is to take the outside escalator from the intersection of orchard road & killiney road as mentioned above!)

Oriole Cafe & Bar, Singapore

Posted on July 13, 2013 by nicjorach

had been hearing pretty positive things about this place since it started gaining popularity in recent years but never got the chance to try it, so i was more than happy to have lunch here when my friend suggested it.

oriole cafe is a nice spot to rest your tired legs after indulging in retail therapy along orchard road. its at somerset, so if you start your shopping at far east plaza and make your way up along orchard road, i think somerset is around the point where a good cup of coffee or waffles for tea will be a welcome break!

we went on a wednesday afternoon and it was easy to get a table. the restaurant is rather spacious and i felt that the tables were nicely spaced out so its a really nice and comfortable setting for lengthy conversations over a meal. the huge glass panels and high ceilings also add to the relaxed vibe of the place!

they serve breakfast till 5pm daily, but we decided to go for the lunch menu as there wasn’t anything that seemed out of the ordinary among their breakfast offerings – they have standard brunch fare like eggs benny, french toast etc. we weren’t particularly ravenous (i had a breakfast feast at tiong bahru market that morning hahaha) so we settled on the spicy calamari and the beef cheek tagliatelle to share! here is nikki looking excited that the food has arrived heh: 20130710_131935

spicy calamari: it was recommended by the waiter as one of their most popular starters. the chilli was very much like belachan and i thought it added a nice twist to regular calamari, with its spiciness and tinge of sourness. the batter of the calamari was very well done – it was light, crispy, and neither too oily nor thick. we could tell that the oil used was fresh and i loved the fact that it was delightfully fluffy which gave it a really nice bite. i think i would have been happy eating just the batter without the squid within (though the squid within was nice and fresh too)! i would have preferred thicker and crunchier squid slices though, so that the taste of the squid didn’t get lost in the batter.
not sure if it shows in the picture but the serving was big! there were probably 15-20 calamari rings there and given that they were rather big pieces individually, its a wonder we didn’t start sprouting tentacles after eating it all hahaha.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
spicy calamari, $15

as for the beef cheek tagliatelle: we enjoyed this very much! the beef cheek pieces were very nicely braised in red wine (according to the menu, though i didn’t taste a hint of it!), making them deliciously tender. the mushrooms were also very yummy, and the tagliatelle had a nice bite to it (it was very much like western mee pok). nikki and i agreed that we’d gladly come back to have this tagliatelle again!
the serving was very generous once again; we shared this and were both very satisfied when we were finished with it. needless to say, the sauce in this dish is heavier than tomato-based sauce for example, and so given its consistency, i think i might have found it hard to finish if i had ordered this alone. its quite a thick stew-like sauce, but i didn’t find it overly heavy – i’d take this over a creamy carbonara-type sauce any day!

beef cheek tagliatelle, $22

oriole cafe and bar is well-known for its coffees but since we didn’t order any with our meal we decided to go with a coffee-based dessert! and luckily we did, because the honey crumble affogato (vanilla ice cream, espresso and crunchy honeycomb bits) was really really good. the giant scoop of vanilla ice cream was thick and creamy, the espresso was very good and everything came together to give us a very enjoyable end to our meal! i can imagine myself coming back to oriole to have this as a mid-afternoon snack/break from shopping 🙂honey crumble affogato, $9.50

i hadn’t seen this girl in the flesh for 9 months and so you can imagine how much we had to catch up on… we spent a good 3.5 hours at oriole and never felt like we were overstaying our welcome at any point in time. the staff were polite and friendly and i think if we had continued sitting there for another hour, they wouldn’t have minded at all! given the size of the portions, i feel the food is reasonably priced, and definitely above average as far as cafe/bistro-style food goes. a good place for all-day dining options!reunited in completely unintentionally & unplanned colour-coordinated outfits heehee. still telepathic even after 9 months apart 😉

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA Oriole Cafe & Bar

#01-01, Pan Pacific Serviced Suites
96 Somerset Road
Singapore 238163

Bloomsbury finds, London

Posted on July 8, 2013 by nicjorach

had the chance to explore more food options in the bloomsbury area when the family visited and stayed in cartwright gardens just before i came home for summer! what a pity i never got down to trying these outlets earlier; i would probably have visited them quite a bit. good thing i’m not moving very far (at all) next year and so i’m going to have plenty of chances to frequent these places and make up for lost time hahaha!

1st place on the newly-discovered list: Chilli Cool!
should really have tried this place earlier. i think its the perfect place for students to get a legitimate asian food fix – reasonably-priced authentic sze chuan food in generous portions that are perfect for sharing! my friends and i had heard of and toyed with the idea of checking this place out and the hotpot buffet they have there at some point during the year, but just never got round to going… i think the lure of the juicy roast duck (and hazelnut + pistachio gelato at oddono’s after) at goldmine normally triumphed.

but because my dad is the ultimate china man (he needs his chinese food everywhere he goes – steamed white rice, piping hot soup etc), chilli cool (2 minute walk from our hotel) was the obvious choice for dinner on the first night we were back in london after cruising for 2 weeks with a lack of proper chinese food. (according to my mum, my dad’s cheeks had were getting more and more sunken by the day lol)

chilli cool occupies 2 spacious units along leigh street and is simply decorated but quite homely. we visited on a friday night and it was nearly full, patronised by a good mix of both asians (more often than not, a sign of the real deal when it comes to asian food heehee) and caucasians. besides the a la carte menu, they also have a hotpot buffet option – perfect for a cold winters day! we weren’t up for stuffing ourselves (post-cruise detox time!!!) so we ordered a few dishes from the a la carte menu to have with rice.

(sorry the pictures i have aren’t great at all; the lighting wasn’t very optimal and everyone was starving and wanted to tuck right in!)

here’s the chicken fried with chilli and cumin which was recommended by the waitress:

not sure if you can see from the picture, but the servings are pretty big compared to what you’d get at a typical chinatown restaurant, and really good for sharing in a group. this chicken was probably my favourite dish of the night. it was fried to perfection and extremely flavourful! crispy on the outside in this yummy batter and juicy and tender on the inside. the chilli and cumin were also added in just the right amount, giving the dish a really satisfying kick! definitely going to order this again when i return… SO yummy that it made me forget every bit of deep-fried unhealthiness that was being consumed wahahaha. unfortunately, the picture really does not do the dish any justice 😦

another typical szechuan dish: fried long beans with chilli
the beans were fresh and not overcooked such that they retained a nice bite. it was again a generous serving, but i wouldn’t recommend it to the faint-hearted (when it comes to spicy food), especially if you aren’t armed with tissue paper for dripping post-chilli noses. it was spicy even for us and we were really impressed by the caucasians at the next table who were happily devouring all of it… immunity achieved from repeat visits, maybe? 😉 the dish was really tasty and was delicious when eaten with rice.

HUGE bowl of fish soup:

the bowl was seriously gigantic. to give some scale, the diameter of the bowl was nearly the width of the table!!! but our initial worries of not being able to finish it turned out to be unfounded since it was so delicious that there was nearly nothing left by the end of the meal. the soup is typically sze chuan and was served piping hot, full of green and red chillies, preserved vegetable, potato and plenty of fish slices. the fish was extremely fresh (definitely not the frozen kind), and what i really liked about it was that they were very generous with the ingredients, as you can probably see from the picture. this soup is perfect for sharing in a big group (it was way more than enough for the 4 of us) and i can imagine it tasting even more delicious on a blustery winters day… my only qualm about it was the shocking amount of oil that formed a thick layer at the top of the soup when it was first brought to our table, like an oil spill at sea. i was initially quite put off by it but we managed to scoop out most of it before tucking in, and once i did, it was so good that all oily thoughts were banished and everything was fine and dandy.

this was probably the most forgettable dish out of everything we ordered – tofu with black fungus and edamame:

in terms of flavour it was definitely outshone by the other dishes, but i suppose that’s what made it different from the rest, and not necessarily in a bad way! it was good palette cleanser since it was light and the least oily of all. definitely the healthiest too! the serving for this dish was exceptionally small though, and i probably won’t be ordering this the next time i go.

chilli cool was a great experience overall. service was prompt and friendly, and my family enjoyed the food (my dad certainly left a happier man with fuller cheeks :P) though we all agreed it definitely wasn’t the healthiest kind of food around given that most of it is fried and oily. nevertheless, am quite certain that i will be back, brandishing tissue and an empty stomach to try the hotpot buffet, maybe! if not, the a la carte menu has an extensive range of dishes so i have many more to try!

Chilli Cool

15 Leigh Street
WC1H 9EW

2nd place on the list: North Sea Fish Restaurant

another joint along leigh street, which caught my attention on the way to chilli cool because of the impressive number of stickers and accolades they had stuck in the shop window:

(i was particularly taken in by the tripadvisor certificate of excellence + 2012 winner sticker wahahaha i am a tripadvisor review junkie)

there are 2 shops to the restaurant: one of them is for takeaways while the one is a proper sit-down restaurant that appears to be a nice little cosy and chill place for a good seafood meal. the mother and i were craving some good fish and chips one night after a long day of shopping and decided it would be perfect to buy some fish and chips back to our hotel to feast on 😉

they have a range of fish available (check out the menu below), but we went with the cod as recommended by the very friendly guy behind the counter in the shop! we also wanted to try the salt and pepper squid but were sorely disappointed when we were told that they didn’t have them that day 😦

the service is efficient (which should be the case in takeaway outlets) and there were a few pieces of fish being kept warm in an oven-like thing, ready to go whenever a customer came in with an order. we ordered a jumbo-sized portion though, and so had to wait for about 10 minutes for it to be fried. there was a steady stream of customers coming in and leaving happily with their takeaway bags while we waited, adding to the anticipation that was building from the moment the gregarious guy behind the counter told us was the “only fish and chips you’ll eat in london from now on”! i later found out that the fish and chips here has been touted as a contender for the best fish and chips in london!

bag of purported goodness:

got back to the room and was greeted by this piece of fish gloriously glistening away under the light:‘
we felt that it was definitely worth paying a little more to get the jumbo-sized portion because it was really a rather big piece of fish! but of course if you’re having it alone then a regular-sized portion would probably suffice. the fish was EXTREMELY fresh – we were told that the restaurant only uses fresh fish and never any frozen fish at all, which i really like about them because usually for fish and chips and other fried fish dishes in general, its often the case that frozen fish is used instead of fresh catch and not much attention is paid to the quality of the fish used.

the batter was light, crispy and not too thick. it was clear that the oil used was fresh, and i know i’m repeating myself here but the fish was really of great quality. a drool-worthy close up of the fish:
as for the chips, they were alright, but nothing to shout about. i felt that they could have done with a bit more salt & vinegar, but that can be easily requested for when placing your order. i would also have preferred them to be a little crispier on the outside. its possible that they became slightly soggy from the condensation that resulted from being wrapped up in paper while hot, but the walk home was only three minutes and so i think they probably weren’t very crispy to begin with. do note that they charge separately for the fish and the chips.

20130629_214133

think i might go with a different accompaniment to my fish the next time i patronise north sea… am eyeing the beer battered mushrooms and the salt and pepper squid! might also give the sit-down restaurant a try – they serve a range of seafood in a range of cooking styles (grilled, fried etc) along with homemade desserts.

best fish and chips in london? i would say its definitely one of the better renditions of this national dish, but wouldn’t be so quick to say its the best, especially since i felt that the chips could have been done better! i have also had some really good fish and chips at Bonnie Gull (21A Foley St, London W1W 6DS). both are worth a try!

North Sea Fish Restaurant

7-8 Leigh Street
London WC 1H 9EW

3rd place on the list: King of Falafel

grabbed a quick bite from this little cafe serving moroccan/lebanese-type food, and immediately wished i had discovered it earlier on in the year!!! had the falafel wrap which was SUPER delicious, filled with the yummiest falafel ever and lots of fresh salad and scrumptious homemade sauce. i had it in a normal wrap, though there’s the option of paying a little more and having the wrap in homemade spinach/tomato (if i’m not wrong) moroccan bread. there’s also the option of adding halloumi cheese, which i am sure is delicious! its a big wrap which they cut into 2, and it’s overflowing with goodness heehee. i LOVE falafel, and this is probably one of the best i’ve had. it was perfectly spiced and just the right amount of crumbliness while not being too dry at all – a must try for all falafel fans out there!!!

i definitely want to go back to try their range of meat skewers and salads and houmous. was eyeing the super hearty and wholesome plates of food that some at the cafe were having while i was getting my wrap to go. just look at that hunger-inducing display that’s filled with all things amazing:
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everything is really reasonably priced too! they have coffees for under £2, and the lebanese falafel wrap was just £3.50 if I’m not wrong…
king of falafel is definitely going to be one of my first stops once i’m back in london after summer!!!

King of Falafel

5 Tavistock Place
London WC1N

Gorging in Germany (Berlin)

Posted on July 5, 2013 by nicjorach

Now that Rach’s opinion of the phrase ‘fat pig’ has been taken to a whole new level, to preempt my swinish laziness from redefining it even further, I have decided to emerge from my hibernation. While Rach traveled to French Riviera and all its glory, I visited their best friends – the Germans – in their capital, Berlin. Now I know that it is a common mindset that if you visit a place, you should strive to try local food as it would be an experience unique to the land. However, I disagree – I mean, why would you deprive yourself of objectively good food in general just for the sake of having an arbitrarily local experience – especially if the locals themselves have been receptive to outside influences and cuisines? That doesn’t necessarily mean that certain local foods are less delectable than others (to each his own, I guess) but so long as good food is available does its provenance really matter??? It’s like choosing 100 Zimbabwean Dollars over 100 USD just because you’re physically in Zimbabwe? (FYI the Zimbabwean Dollar has been indefinitely suspended since 2009, but you get what I mean)

OK. Enough of Zimbabwe; back to Germany. I was there over my Easter break – yes, it was eons ago – and wasn’t expecting much gastronomically. After all, Berlin isn’t well known for her culinary identity, unlike say Naples in Italy, among others. Heading into Berlin, the most uniquely-Berlin dish I could think of having heard of was currywurst – even then it turned out to be more a street snack than a wholesome meal. More on that later though, let’s zoom in on the heartier highlights first.

As I mentioned, coming to Berlin one does not necessarily have to only try authentic Berliner food. After all, not all geographical or social bodies have cuisines that are unique to them and them alone. More often than not, their culinary development would have had been influenced by outside cultures and hence diluted into something more universal. The same applies to Berlin I guess – a city with a rich cultural history but also one whose past was intertwined with many external incursions, bringing along with them new influences.

Hofbräu Berlin

Most culinary cultures have comfort foods of their very own. For instance, as a Singaporean, I’d hazard a guess that most of my countrymen would pick Hainanese chicken rice as their go-to fare. Likewise, in London, it is never surprising to see Londoners going for their fish & chips or fisherman’s pie as their fail-safe option. For German cuisine schnitzel and roasted pork knuckle are two that immediately comes to mind. Despite not being dishes native to Berlin, they have become standard fare for Germans in general. Hence that was what I looked for immediately upon my arrival. We found this beer garden near Alexanderplatz called Hofbräu München, Berlin – a beer garden chain from Munich. The restaurant was styled after traditional Bavarian beer gardens with its long wooden tables and benches. We ordered a schnitzel each with a pork knuckle to share plus a beer…….little did we expect the beer to be more filling than the actual food.

The glass of beer was HUGE. Just compare it with my head. And the serving of food was pretty hearty as well.

The schnitzel was fried to perfection, crispy on the outside with just enough batter used and the meat inside was soft and juicy. What I loved most about it, however, was the mushroom sauce that it was coated with. Not that the schnitzel would have been too dry without it but the sauce – which I must add was extremely buttery – brought a mellowness to the savoury fried fillet.The pork knuckle was another delight – the skin was so crispy and and flavourful; it was as though all the essence of the meat had been sucked out into the skin. It wasn’t a trapping of oil, just like many mediocre pork knuckles are, and the meat was soft and rather juicy.The only pity was that the meat wasn’t as tasty as the skin itself (which was to be expected) and that there was too little skin for the meat underneath (maybe they should roast me instead since my skin is so thick). Thus once the skin had been devoured, there was nothing much to complement the meat with. Bavarian delights in Berlin – so far a good start.

Hofbrau Berlin

Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 30, 10178 Berlin, Germany

Monsieur Vuong

As we had to see the Brandenburg Gate in its lit-up best at night, we were left scrambling for a place to have dinner after. No worries though for there was a highly recommended Vietnamese restaurant called Monsieur Vuong which we heard is open till late. As we made our way there, we were excited about how we managed to find an eatery whose opening times suited our itinerary and that we’d arrive post-peak hour, hence avoiding the dinner crowd. We were wrong, however, as off-peak does not seem to exist in Monsieur Vuong’s vocabulary. It was 9:45pm and it was still packed. Thankfully the turnover was pretty fast and we only waited 10 minutes to be seated. The dumplings were heartwarming, literally – in the coldness of Berlin’s pre-spring and the minced meat was soft and well-seasoned. Even the dumpling skin was tasty. We also ordered a cold dish – glass noodle salad with chicken shreds. I felt it was a good contrast to the warmth provided by the soup – it was light and refreshing. What I absolutely adored about the salad was the fried shallot. It was simply divine and added a whole new dimension to the taste of the dish – crunchy and flawlessly-fried, with the shallot oil shamelessly oozing out as I sank my teeth into each piece. It was like having whipped cream with your frappuccino (Rach – remember Starbucks happy hour craze before Panama??) – not necessary but a wonderfully decadent addition. However all my praise is reserved for the main course – the pho. For the uninitiated, pho is a form of Vietnamese noodle soup, a form of street food served with a topping of chicken or beef. The reason why Vietnamese restaurants are aplenty in Berlin was due to the city’s Cold War legacy where the East Berlin, under communist control, hired workers from Vietnam – who were also communist then. Following the fall of the Berlin Wall, these Vietnamese settled for good in Berlin, contributing to its strong Vietnamese community and hence a propagation of its mouth-watering cuisine. Here we decided to go for the chicken pho. It doesn’t look much but, as the saying goes, appearances can be deceiving. Indeed, despite its plain Jane look, the pho tastes anything but. Its broth was sweet, blending the taste of the chicken and other spices which I couldn’t distinguish – and I think that’s the beauty of the broth: to me the fact that one cannot identify the constituent components despite its rich flavour is testament to a perfect balance of ingredients. Lots of beansprouts and a fair dosage of small chilies – perfection! It was wonderful and, having been to Vietnam before, I still feel that this was the best pho I’ve ever eaten. Just look the smile of obvious satisfaction on my friend, Anish’s, face after slurping every drop of soup and every strand of noodles from his bowl. If the bowls could be eaten we would probably have done so. Simply put, it was phontastic.

Monsieur Vuong

Alte Schönhauser Straße 46, 10119 Berlin, Germany

Burgermeister

Burgermeister is a burger joint converted from a public toilet underneath a bridged motorway. Its provenance alone was worth the visit but the food too was thoroughly deserving of a trip down as well. If my memory serves me well we got a Meisterburger and a Hausmeister. Here is the menu and just look at the pricing – I felt we got a really good deal, especially when you look at the burgers themselves. I mean, a hearty, juicy patty with such a generous serving of caramelised fried onions to perfection with a strip of bacon for less than 4 Euros? Not to mention the Hausmeister which has cheese, jalapenos and roasted mushrooms for slightly more than 4 Euros? The patties were juicy and well seasoned, the meat finely minced and fried just right, not overcooked unlike many other burger joints. It was a pity I wasn’t allowed to take a picture of the open kitchen to show you how the chefs worked but, hey, that just means that you gotta head down to check it out yourselves!

Burgermeister

Oberbaumstraße 8, 10997 Berlin, Germany

Gambrinus

This was a restaurant we stumbled upon whilst checking out an old abandoned building which used to house independent artists. It purports to serve authentic Berlin food and had a historical feel to its layout with many photographs of old Berlin as well as artifacts representing Berlin across her history. The service was really friendly and as my dining partner and I enquired about the portions, they were really upfront about the serving sizes and even recommended that we downsize our order (swinish behaviour, no doubt). This is bratwurst in beer sauce with sauerkraut and potatoes and the portion was really hearty for only 7.50 Euros. The bratwurst was well seasoned and you could taste of herbs and spices was really strong.We also ordered this smoked pork served with bacon and potato omelette and if the bratwurst was hearty this was lungy. The mixed veggies were nicely buttered which made them even more delicious and the omelette was crisp and light, not too much oil used. The bacon and potatoes in the omelette complimented each other very well, the former giving a savoury taste and the latter providing a smooth fluffy texture. The pork unfortunately was a tad tough and dry, but the gravy was thick and flavourful and it added moisture and taste to the otherwise pretty disappointing portion of meat. Given the charming historical ambience of the restaurant we decided to stay for a bit more and each got a desert – a cherry and raspberry compote with cream and vanilla sauce which was refreshing after the onslaught of meat and carbs. However whilst the serving of fruits was generous, the vanilla taste was sorely lacking. If ambience is a big factor in your choice of a dining location then this is the place for you; otherwise the food, whilst more than decent, may not be worth a trip down specially for.

Gambrinus

Linienstraße 133, 10115 Berlin, Germany

Fassbender and Rausch

Everyone has a sweet tooth so when we discovered this chocolatier in the heart of Berlin’s business area, it blew me away (it was so good, however, that it blew me back again the very next day). It was raining and cold so what better beverage to have than a hot chocolate? Fassbender and Rausch have an entire catalogue of beverages for one to choose from, but being traditionalists, we each went for a conventional hot chocolate with cream topping – one dark, one milk. No surprises when our drinks were served that a small piece of chocolate, containing the actual chocolate blend used to make the hot chocolate, came together. What I found interesting was the serving of water that came with the beverage. It was meant to cleanse one’s palette after each sip so that, I believe, the purity of each taste is preserved. However, after trying a sip of the hot chocolate, I would never have wished to clear my palette as it tasted heavenly. Now Belinda Carlisle’s song finally made sense; and for that moment it resided in the cup in front of me.

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-WP6POdTgY

It was thick, creamy, smooth and the taste of the chocolate distinct and fragrant . I preferred the dark chocolate over the milk as the latter was a little too sweet (but I concede this is nitpicking as I would have found the milk chocolate faultless had I not tried the dark one). As it was lunch time and the rain was still pouring, we ordered lunch dishes which use chocolate as their main seasoning. This was fascinating to us for never had we expected chocolate to be used in savoury food. This was venison sprinkled with a dark chocolate coating – the meat was tender and juicy and the potatoes had a nice roasted taste to it. However, I felt the taste of the dark chocolate was too overpowering and the taste of the meat was lost in the strength of the chocolate. It was a shame as the venison was really cooked immaculately as the edges were crisp and the inside supple; and the meat was, by itself, very tasty.The chicken with milk chocolate was far better as the chicken itself was saltier hence offsetting the sweetness of the chocolate. Also, the use milk chocolate instead of the darker variant gave a sweetness that was not too intense, in fact it blended in nicely with the saltiness of the chicken to give a rather rounded taste. Yet all things considered, we felt that the chocolate infused lunch dishes were a tad indulgent by Fassbender and that chocolate is meant to be a sweet treat and probably, in our eyes, will remain that way. With all the chocolate on show, we had to go for a course of dessert. Again, there was a plethora of tarts, pastries and cakes available – ah, the agony of choice. After much consideration we settled on a dome dessert with dark chocolate and walnut mousse, another dome dessert with white chocolate mousse and raspberries, and lastly a marzipan pouch with raspberry jam – the latter specifically chosen because we saw tables around us ordering it. The mousse on both deserts were creamy and smooth, the sponge biscuits blending in nicely with the walnut mousse and white chocolate respectively. My pick of the bunch however was the walnut dome, with its rich dark chocolate outer complementing the thick yet light walnut mousse inside. Just look at mousse oozing out! The marzipan pouch was a real disappointment – the only thing we gained from it was a lesson learnt in not following others blindly. The marzipan layer was so thick and chewy and its sweetness did not mix well with the raspberry jam. Despite a mixed experience with the deserts, the hot chocolate was enough to bring us back the very next day; and again we tried our luck with some sweet treats. This tiramisu-based confection was so good – it had a rich tiramisu taste and the sponge cake was really smooth. It also contained some coffee and rum which added another dimension to its taste, without overpowering the tastebuds. This is a cream-based dessert topped with cherries and kirsch mixed with a dark chocolate coating. The kirsch and dark chocolate went well together as the chocolate’s aftertaste blended in with the mildness of liqueur the cherry. It wasn’t too sweet and the cream gave the desert a nice silky texture. Fassbender and Rausch is definitely a place that I will return to, if only for its chocolate desserts and its hot chocolate – which is to die for. Even if you don’t have time to eat-in, check out their amazing chocolate shop – I mean just look at the Brandenburg Gate and Reichstag! And compare it to the vehicles and people walking outside. They are HUGE. And their selection of chocolates for sale can possibly rival the Rolling Stones for number of smash hits. You have to see it to believe it, taste it to savour it. Best (hot) chocolate in the world? Very possibly.

Fassbender and Rausch

Charlottenstraße 60, 10117 Berlin, Germany

Café Nö!

On our last night in Berlin we decided to treat ourselves to a nice meal (not that all our meals hadn’t been nice) and we came across this quaint cafe on a street off the main business district. It was highly welcoming with its warm yellow lights and compact cozy layout. Despite having to wait for our table, we were still attracted by the restaurant’s decor. In fact it’s the kind of place to go out on a dinner date to – not that it would detract 2 maleswines from checking it out.Pretzel to accompany the sausage!My favourite: boiled sausages – which was so juicy and silky.I was so excited to try it when tragedy struck………Unfortunately, our clumsiness with our utensils left us with only one of the two sausages and the sense of loss probably augmented my opinion of it. *SOBS*Here is venison with potatoes and asparagus. It was really herb-y and rich in the taste of thyme and lemongrass. I mean just look at the whole stalks of thyme served with the dish! Well cooked meat with a generous serving of spices – and how fresh and fragrant they were; I sucked the thyme stalks dry! – what more can one ask?

I guess the fallen wiener was forgotten, for a while at least. What I liked about this cafe was its ambience fused with the close attention of the service staff, who constantly check up on how we were finding our meal; had they offered to replace our sausage, I’d have given them a 10/10 for dining environment. Nonetheless the food was extremely fine, very polished – unlike our handling of utensils – and the meal definitely well worth the money.

Café Nö!

Glinkastraße 23, 10117 Berlin, Germany

Some more pictures of the rest of the food we ate!

Vietnamese coconut cream soup!Fried dumplingsStir-fried glass noodles with mixed veggies and chicken. The chicken was so succulent; according to the restaurant owner, it was possible because of no MSG used!!!Schnitzel with Spezi, an orange flavoured cola drink popular in Germany. It was super refreshing and nice – this coming from a non-soft drink fan…….

No one can say that they have been to Berlin without at least trying the iconic dish of the city: currywurst. Here are some pictures:This version was rather sweet, the tomato taste still very distinct and strong.This was saltier – just look at the curry powder sprinkled on top! I reckon it’s more than the amount of gravy?

Sausages being cooked.

As I mentioned, currywurst, is to me at least, more a snack than a meal – which is good because of its portion size, many portions can be had a day without guilt! The sausages tend to be very smooth – in Germany one can’t really go wrong with sausages anyway. The yardstick to measure if the currywust is good or not is, for me, the gravy – usually a tomato based base with curry powder. Some are sweeter whilst some are a bit more savoury. I guess in this regard it’s a personal preference. I personally prefer a slightly savoury incarnation, as it tends to complement the saltines of the sausage. However, since the servings tend to be small, I guess the onus is on you to try as many to suss out your personal choice!

Berlin is an amazing city: her nightlife, arts scene and history are possibly amongst the greatest in Europe. Indeed one event Berlin will always be remembered for is the tearing down of the Berlin Wall; I, for one, will forever look back at Berlin and recall how my stomach walls almost tore, bursting with such diverse gastronomical goodness. Looks like Panamanian pigs aren’t the biggest after all; a Singaporean swine in Berlin can now lay claim to that crown .

Flat Iron, London

Posted on May 18, 2013 by nicjorach

what better way to celebrate release from the evil clutches of exams than feasting on some good food? my friend suggested trying flat iron right after our criminal law paper and we were all so happy that she did, because it was really really good stuff.

got a little lost walking to beak street from school (our brains were fried from the mad rush that writing – or should i say scribbling – 4 essays in 3 hours is) so by the time we reached flat iron at 2pm, we were all super starving. but our hunger pangs were very quickly satiated by what they put on the table once we arrived:

POPCORN!!! we all thought it was such a cute/novel touch! along with the mini choppers for knives hahaha.

anyway, the menu at flat iron is really simple and straightforward. there’s steak for £10, and a range of sides and sauces to choose from to have with your steak.

we planned to save space for dessert so we didn’t order much – just a steak each, and a side of roast aubergine to share!

the steak. was. SO. GOOD.

(sorry these are bad pics i know 😦 the lighting wasn’t very optimal for good pictures with my phone camera!)

the meat was perfectly done – every bite was amazingly juicy, flavourful, moist and tender and even though i had mine done medium, it was not AT ALL dry or tough. so so so good. i’m nearly salivating just thinking of it. srsly. really really good steak. my friend who normally doesn’t take meat was saying she probably wouldn’t be able to finish her beef but once she took the first bite, all such thoughts were banished and her plate was as squeaky clean as all of ours were at the end 😉

we found the portion just nice though i think some might find it on the small side, especially hungry boys! the greens that came with the steak were really fresh and had a nice, light dressing, and the aubergine was a hit among the 4 of us. it was simple but very delicious! apparently the creamed spinach is something thats very popular there as well, but i only found this out after we had our meal so that’s something i will have to try next time!

we also tried fred’s sauce, but it was nothing to shout about. personally i think you can give the sauces a miss because the meat by itself is super delicious and really doesn’t need much to make it even better. in fact, the sauces might even mask the natural sweetness of the meat?

the restaurant isn’t very big and i think the only reason why we didn’t have to queue is because we had a late lunch (2pm). they don’t take reservations and the queues are apparently snaking at dinnertime so if you’re planning on going, either go early or go late!

there’s no service charge too, so its really just £10 for a really good steak.

will definitely be heading back when i’m feeling carnivorous…

Flat Iron
17 Beak St
London W1F 9RW

La Nonna, Singapore

Posted on April 16, 2013 by nicjorach

checked out this italian restaurant on a tuesday afternoon, and we enjoyed an amazing 50% off the food bill (an ongoing offer they have at their outlet at namly place)!!! good food + great company + amazing discount + parallel parking success outside the restaurant = three happy girls.

we had a late lunch at 130 and were the only customers when we arrived. they (rather unhappily; probably weren’t expecting any more customers for lunch) told us they were closing at 230pm but that didn’t deter us one bit! good food awaited us and we were ravenous!

the meal started with some bread rolls which were nicely warmed up.

the first thing we ordered was a crabmeat linguine in creamy tomato sauce – this wasn’t on the menu but my friend requested it and they were more than willing to do it for us, which was nice. it was very good! the crab was fresh and they were generous with it – definitely not shredded up frozen crabsticks or anything of that sort. the sauce was also great, it had a cream base but was light and of a great consistency – thicker than normal tomato-based sauces but not too thick at all!

we also ordered their signature pizza which had tomato, mozzarella, parmesan, asparagus, egg and black truffle – it was a really delicious combination and this is something i would go back to la nonna for! not just because i LOVE truffle, but also because of the wet egg yolk (MY FAVOURITE OMG), asparagus and the thin crust! it was a light pizza and something very different from what you’d get from the commercialised pizza chains – the usual oily, unhealthy, processed pepperoni/pineapple/ham stuff.

the third thing we ordered was the gnocchi. i can’t remember exactly what went into the sauce, but it was cream-based with a touch of lemon zest. we agreed that we preferred antoinette’s version of gnocchi in cream sauce (though that one seems to be heavier), but this was not too bad either! the gnocchi was soft and quite fluffy, and the sauce was not too gelat (i realise i use this word a lot hahaha but it is really the most apt thing i can think of in many situations!!!).

the servings were pretty big so by the time we got to dessert, we only had space for 1 to share – the panna cotta, which was really really good, and quivering away in all its wobbly goodness! it was extremely well done, and we derived great excitement from watching the wobbly tower threaten to collapse as the waitress brought it to our table. it was light, creamy and of the perfect texture – a great rendition of a classic italian dessert!

total bill: SGD42 (after 50% discount – AMAZING DEAL)

who i would recommend this to: people who drive as the namly outlet is pretty inaccessible on foot. an alternative would be to go to the holland village outlet which is a lot more convenient to get to via public transport, but the offer there is a 1-for-1 offer instead of a 50% one. a place for a nice, casual, leisurely lunch with food that’s of a good quality and great value for money when the discount is available for lunch on weekdays!

will i be back? will definitely go back to enjoy the great savings at lunch and if i’m craving italian food!

La Nonna
76 Namly Place
Singapore 267226

Menya Musashi, Singapore

Posted on April 12, 2013 by nicjorach

ramen is all over singapore! there are way too many choices – so much so that everytime i feel like having a good bowl of ramen, i end up spending more time searching which shop i should go to and reading reviews than actually eating the bowl of noodles.

this time, the choice was menya musashi. i used to wonder how good it was when i saw the snaking queues outside the raffles city outlet and this time, it was the outlet at ion orchard that we headed to to see whether it was really worth the queue!

this shop is supposedly one of the most popular in tokyo, and their specialty is the tsukemen, where the ramen and soup are served separately and you are supposed to dip the noodles into the soup with each bite you take! wasn’t feeling particularly adventurous that night so i stuck to the ramen we are used to – a piping hot bowl of delicious noodles. their menu is pretty straightforward: they have a black, white and spicy soup base and for each soup base, there are 4 options, each differing based on the amount of toppings given.

we ordered one bowl of black big tiger ramen and white big tiger ramen.

(black on top, white at the bottom!)

what’s the difference between the white and black soup? the black soup is more garlic-y and also a little saltier – a heavier soup in general.

the “big tiger ramen” comes with the most toppings; i suppose its meant to be the “top of the range” bowl (at SGD16.90) – it comes with a mixture of shabu shabu pork and cha shu, half an egg, and a whole bunch of other garnishings. it was the most expensive on the menu but i would say it was very worth the money.
i have to say, they are EXTREMELY generous with the toppings, which is what i really liked. every bit of noodles could be eaten with something (unlike some other bowls of ramen where its just a lot of noodles with a few measly slices of pork) and the cha shu was one of the best i’ve had with ramen! it was cooked to perfection – tender and very very tasty.as for the soup (which is key to any bowl of ramen), it was definitely not what i was expecting. it was so thick that it was almost like a gravy – i think i remember remarking that it reminded me of lor mee gravy. don’t get me wrong – it tasted good, but was just much thicker than i had imagined soup for ramen would ever be! because of the super generous amounts of toppings given and the extremely thick broth, it was a very filling and satisfying bowl of noodles. definitely not something that everyone will like though, as its not the normal tonkotsu/shoyu soup that most of us are used to. however, another good thing about it was that i didn’t feel too thirsty after the meal, which means the tastiness is pretty natural and doesn’t come from too much msg!

out of sheer coincidence, the lady sitting next to me on the bus home had had her dinner at menya musashi as well. i sheepishly (or shamelessly?) admit that i eavesdropped on her phone conversation as she recounted to whoever was on the other end of the line how her shoe-shopping trip failed because apparently shoes that are both comfortable and nice-looking just do not exist, and how she did NOT like her ramen at menya. in her words, she said it was “super gao” (gao = thick in hokkien dialect, for the uninformed). she also complained that she didn’t get to drink coke because they only serve pepsi (heads-up for all coke lovers out there lol).

total bill: SGD39

who i would recommend this to: people looking for a different sort of ramen, either the dipping sort (if you are interested in trying something new) or one with an extremely thick soup. guaranteed to be a filling meal! i’m not sure how crowded it normally is as we went early and on a weekday but given the crowd i’ve seen at dinnertime at the raffles city outlet, i’d say its best to go early to beat the crowds. when we went at 630pm, there was no queue, but there was a steady stream of customers.

will i go back? i don’t really foresee myself going back in the near future unless i’m craving this sort of ramen. i think i still prefer the normal soup bases, though this is an interesting change. probably the kind of place i’d consider going to if i’m in orchard with no food ideas and am craving some ramen. i’d definitely say its worth trying at least once though!

Menya Musashi
2 Orchard Turn
#B3-25 ION Orchard

Little Diner, Singapore

Posted on April 8, 2013 by nicjorach

i had been wanting to try this place for the longest time after hearing from a friend that they serve red velvet pancakes. red velvet and pancakes??? i’m personally not a huge fan of red velvet (don’t really understand the hype that always seems to come with it), but the idea of the 2 combined sounded rather novel and enticing nonetheless.

made a trip to this new york-inspired diner found at a rather nondescript row of shops just before 6th avenue on good friday. my mother remarks every single time we drive by the row (which is often since I stay a stone’s throw away) that the restaurants there always seem to be struggling, with few customers each time we’ve passed them. the shops change hands frequently and I didn’t even know this place had popped up there! i really hope it stays though, because it was a satisfying meal and i will certainly be going back for more!

we ordered 3 items from the brunch menu (that is served only on public holidays & weekends) – the epic breakfast platter (a special), delancey red velvet pancakes & cereal-crusted french toast.

the cereal-crusted french toast was a real crowd (they say 3’s a crowd :P) pleaser – the toast was ultra thick and of just the right moistness – the texture reminded us a little of bread & butter pudding. It was sufficiently covered in sauce while not being completely soaked, and the cereals added a nice bite. we loved every bit of it!!! for some reason, the pictures make it look rather cloyingly sweet (I think its the bright red of the berry coulis) but it wasn’t the case at all!

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Super cereal-crusted french toast: showered with powdered cinnamon sugar, whipped cream, berry coulis & maple syrup.

the red velvet pancakes were good, but none of us are particularly diehard fans of red velvet so we weren’t exactly raving about them. the pancakes were done really well though – of the right thickness, fluffy, and with a nice red velvet flavour, nothing too overpowering. they came with frosting that looked like a scoop of ice cream (what is red velvet without cream cheese frosting?) and it was good stuff! i think more toppings (mixed berries would have been wonderful) would have made the dish better though! although i understand that they were probably trying to stick to traditional red velvet – just cake and frosting, i got a little sick of what i was eating about 3/4 into my pancake (and so did my friends!). can’t imagine what it would’ve been like to have the whole serving of 3 pancakes to myself! but they were still yummy, so don’t let my less-than-stellar review deter you from ordering them; i do think they are still worth a try!

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delancey red-velvet pancakes: showered with cinammon sugar, cream cheese frosting & maple syrup.

the final thing we ordered was from the specials menu – the epic breakfast platter. given that it was priced higher than the other 2 items we ordered and its name (“EPIC”), we were expecting something either huge or super extraordinary. unfortunately it was neither, though it was a very delicious traditional fry-up. the sausage was made of kurobuta pork, and it was juiciness, crunchiness and tenderness all in one roll – good stuff!!! as for the bacon, it was fried to perfection and the thick slices of toast went great with the scrambled eggs. the potatoes were also very well done and so was the grilled tomato. it was not too oily and overall a very enjoyable and satisfying plate!

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E.P.I.C breakfast platter

The super yummy kurobuta pork sausage

besides the great food, the service at little dinner is also amazing. check out what greeted us at our reserved table when we arrived – such a simple but sweet touch! the staff were also extremely sincere and friendly, happily chatting to us and patiently acceding to our numerous photo requests (the waiter helping us take a picture even re-arranged stuff on the table several times to make the shot look better hahaha! that was at the start of our meal and we were sold on the place from that point onwards ;)).

here is the brunch menu:

they also have some specials everyday written on blackboards in the cafe.

total bill: SGD58

who i would recommend this to: people looking for a casual place for a relaxing meal. the interior of the place is rather simple but that’s what makes it laidback; it is the kind of place i’d go to on a sunday morning with my newspapers and without having to dress up. the service is great and staff are really friendly, so you feel at ease while having a leisurely meal.

will i be back? i hear the lunch/dinner menu at little diner is also very good. their burgers are supposed to be delicious, along with their pastas and fried chicken. the risotto balls also caught my eye! would love to go back and try it one day; maybe in summer! 🙂

faces of satisfied customers:

Little Diner
789 Bukit Timah Rd
S(269763)

and just because my friends and i are silly like that:

love these girls hahahahahaah.
oh, its good to be home :’)

rock a bite, baby

Category Archives: Restaurant