Small Potatoes Make The Steak Look Bigger

For $10.90, this burger is pretty decent stuff. I was pretty surprised by size of it when it was served and it's not often that I'm taken aback by the size of the patty of most burgers. Vittles at Sembawang Cottage, across the road from Khatib Camp is apparently a pretty new diner that does western chow at very affordable prices sans GST and service charge. This would put it up in the good books of many people since most places that do actually charge for service don't actually deserve a small fraction of it. This place works somewhat like Cafe Cartel where you write your orders on a chit and bring the chit up to the counter for payment and then you wait for your orders and help yourself with free popcorn.

Back to the burger, it's really quite a decent attempt here despite it not being the best one around. But at the price, this is something I think is worth checking out if you like big meat. Big hand chopped patty meat (250g of it) with onions, sauteed mushrooms, real bacon, cheese and lettuce on a lightly oat encrusted bun that probaby uses the oats for decorations rather than anything else. The beefy patty definitely a noticeable up from the kind that you get from Botak Jones and certainly has potential still, for improvement. One main gripe which is a personal thing here is the barbeque sauce which is something that I really do not understand about in burgers. Doesn't make it taste any better for me and if there is a need to break the monotony of the taste in the huge patty, aged cheddar works as well. I'd be willing to throw in a dollar or two more for a better cheese option. With an egg, it'll give the Epicurious burger a big run for it's money. Do take note again, that this burger is really huge. Remember not to dislodge your jaws if you're eating with your hands.

Watershed as I've learnt is one of the few vineyards that resides in the region of Margaret River down in Australia. This wine dinner - a collaboration of WineBOS and Senso, as you may have surmised from the name is accompanied by various wine from Watershed. I'm not knowedgeable about wines, but I do drink it and preferences at this point of time is purely dictated by the tongue. I know what I like or not based on the taste, and very little else despite having attended wine appreciation. The differences between the new and the old world doesn't quite settle in me and I haven't quite gotten the grasp of the varietal of grapes that are used for various wines. So I hope you're not expecting me to engage in the subtleties of the drink. But for those that might be interested, I do have the listed course and accompaniement of this 5 course dinner.

Rigatoni pasta with braised rabbit in tomato sauce with Taggiasche black olives and fresh thyme served with
Watershed unoaked Chardonnay, 2005

Traditional Carnaroli risotto with braised duck and Italian porcini mushrooms served with
Watershed Shades, 2004

Chef's selection of cheese served with
Watershed Shiraz, 2003

The food was pretty much as I had expected in terms of taste and quality, but some factors fell flat on the overall satisfaction experience. Despite it being of expected standards, it was so uninterestingly expected without much notes that the cheese was actually a point of highlight of the 5 courses. Those cheeses were really quite enjoyable for me and to think that it was probably something that required the least preparation.

There were a few items that I thought could have been improved. For one, the rabbit in the rigatoni tasted pretty much like fish and the braised shredded duck meat of the risotto tasted flat rendering it almost unidentifiable as duck. This poached crabmeat salad seems quite overdone and brought up more than a faint reminder of a unremarkable trout and crab roll from Bontá. To top that, we didn't even get a real ossobuco. It wasn't even the whole piece of the lamb shank with the bone. What that came up on place was just part of the meat from the shank. So that made the only justification to the price tag of the dinner, was pretty much the generous pours of the wine.

There's a place down at Chulia Street just beside the OCBC building near Raffles Place done like a cafe in a small park call Superfamous. The cuisine reads like fusion/Australian and I'm not sure of the actual differences between the two. Perhaps it can just be described as largely European with some Asian accents. Anyway, I dropped by for lunch prior to an appointment and decided to try out their Wagyu burger. Now I'm just wondering, since Wagyu is a breed of cattle, does it mean that there are those that do not go through the fattening treatment process or is something like Grade 1 really affordable? This one is priced at about $24 dollars and after knowing how places like One Ninety or the defunct überburger charges for a Wagyu between bread, this does smell like a different beast. Pun intended.


Honestly, I've definitely had better. Better and less costly, with the Garageburger from Wine Garage coming on top of that list of cheaper and better. Similar does the Wild Rocket Burger fare. Sure, those aren't wagyu but they were certainly much more enjoyable then this which happens to be meat that I felt is marinated almost to death resulting in a sweetish herbish flavor to the patty. That to me isn't enjoyable for a beef patty. It could do with flavors, but it still needs to retain the beefiness which this particular one didn't quite carry. I would have preferred sauteed onions rather than the caramelised ones that was used. So the end result is a slightly pepperish/sweetish taste that reminds me faintly of cheap black pepper sauces.


The upside of the lunch was actually the seared tuna salad which comes with rather delicious seared tuna slices with a very generous helping of greens with olives and quail eggs. The portions of this is unexpectedly bigger than I had expected. I'm not too sure what was the dressing but I thought I detected sesame sauce and vinegrette.

These Mexican stuff seems to be my recent craze lately, so you unfortunate readers will have little choice but to bear with it since this is my blog. Hahaha! No, really, I do dig the food here and it's really quite funny how little of them I've had until recently, which pretty much started from that night at Cha Cha Cha. Now that I'm pretty enamored with Café Iguana, I've decided that doing a late Sunday lunch at this place might be in order since it would be probably the only time, I get to look at everything that I'm eating in clear daylight. At Clark Quay, serving tasty food at very reasonable prices in decent portions means that people will just come back, again and again. You can bet everything, including your bottoms, that this will not be my last time. Back to the main deal, it's a lunch that I'm doing with my brother, so we wisely stuck to a single order of a starters of an ancho dusted calamari, along with a shredded steak burrito and tuna enchiladas.




The last time I had enchiladas, the skin was softer. This time round, I definitely see more crisp and it does look a little like prata. So more black beans and rice which I'm definitely not complaining about at this point of time. There's the saltish fried black tuna wrapped in the tortilla skins and topped with melted cheese and the tomato/onion things. Pretty damn good and I must say that I like this.

Heads up, this is pretty good stuff there. Located right at the entrance of Lorong 37 of Geylang, this coffeeshop known as Ya Kwang Dai Pai Dong does some pretty damn tasty tang hoon stir fried with whatever special mix of sauces and stock to produce a very tasty and flavorful dish, accentuated with the flavor of crab. The tang hoon also comes up to be in a very vibrantly springy consistency and is a bit thicker than the usual ones that are normally seen that tends to be harder. I found it really enjoyable slurping them in to have them slither down the throat. The place looks to be selling some pretty delectable looking kuay chup right at the front, however it also contains a kitchen at the back where the owner is able to whip up some of his specialty seafood dishes. This crab tang hoon is just one of it. Since we were there, we decided to take on one of this recommended steamed fish head in bean sauce and try out the kuay chup.


The steamed fish head wasn't too bad. Though I must say that it is the tasty bean sauce that does most of the trick for the dish, imparting the large bulk of the flavor. Apart from the very noticeable freshness of the fish, this is basically a very regular steamed fish head. It wasn't bad at all, but it probably isn't something I'll see myself coming back for. I'm not exactly a big fan of fish head unless there is something truly exceptional in it for me.


The kuay chup offerings in this place is very enjoyable. The mixed dish comes with braised duck, and some pork which I thought might have been pork trotters, braised egg, tau kua, the regular intestines, salted vegetables and fish cakes. I definitely can see myself ordering this again should I come back.

I'm having quite a bit of fun exploring Mexican food lately and this is something which is called a New York Steak ($21.99) from Café Iguana. This comes under a section which is labelled Tequila Grill which features lime marinated meats that is finished with a spicy tequila glaze. The steak sits atop a stick of grilled vegetables that's lying on some sweetish poblano scalloped potatoes. It turns out that this steak is pretty good for the medium rare that I requested. The lime marinate does come through in the meat in terms of flavoring, but I couldn't quite make out what the tequila glaze much. What I thought was good about this is that the marinate and glaze was sufficient to be noticeable, but wasn't too strong a taste which allowed the flavor of the beef to still be tasted. There's also a decent char on the surface of the meat to ramp up the flavor. This is definitely a thumbs up here. The faith that I have in this place is slowly starting to build up, so that means that I will probably come back again for the food.

I'm beginning to understand why this place (30 Merchant Road, #01-03 Riverside Point) is often crowded. Just like Brewerks just down the river, the food is pretty affordable and margaritas are at half price up to 9pm and after 12am. The crowd is so consistently present even on weeknights, that reservations can only be made up to 7 in the evening. It definitely took me a while to start coming by to this place, but I do foresee more instances of returning back for the food which I personally think is not bad. In conversation with a new Korean friend, it seems that the standards of the Mexican Food at Cafe Iguana seems to be quite similar to that in Texas. With less grease in them. It's also much cheaper there of course, with their proximity to Mexico. Like in Italian food in Italy, Mexico has cuisine that tends to vary in various aspects, depending on which region of the country it hails from. Not being the expert, I can't really pinpoint anything of the origins, but I guess it's probably enough to be generic of Mexican food. Are there any good or better ones around here?

These quesadillas come pretty cheap and freshly baked. There is still a bit of the crisp freshness on the tortilla skins which are filled on the inside with cheese and mushrooms. This definitely makes a good beer snack for the taste and cost.

The mini chimichangas here come with the option of either shredded chicken or beef for the fillings inside. The initial impression of them are that they look pretty much like cut up Old Chang Kee curry puffs that comes accompanied with guacamole and sour cream dips. They're also a reminder of the kolkatta shingara which I've had at Mustard down in Little India. Thick crispy and fried skins of flour with fillings. They're not too bad and it fills you up quite a bit. And I feel inclined to think better of these puffs against Old Chang Kee for the latter's diminishing quality coupled with increasing prices.

I'm not too sure why some of the photos that I take from Kazu tend look worse than usual. Not that it is a deterrence for me from coming back to visit again and again. The menu of the place has seen some small changes over the previous visits to what it offers today. No, I'm not refering to the seasonal items that rotate throughout the year with their exotic delicacies. Some of the regular items that are being offered now comes in sized portions - which was not available such options previously. The old prices for those said items are now tagged onto the smaller potions. Some of which, are smaller than the original ones (single size portion available only) that was previously sold. That means that while you get the option of getting larger portions of your favorite items, we also see an upping in the cost of eating here when you compare it to how things were months back. Now that was a bit confusing.

These clams aren't as buttery as those from Sushi Yoshida, but are pretty tasty along with the salty broth that is filled with golden mushrooms. The portions, I felt are a tad small.

This item seems to be seasonal on the menu and taste like something I've had before in Chinese mixed fish soups. The pinkish appearance on the exposed sections of the cuts indicates that it is not fully cooked. The texture of the salmon milt is akin to a harder tofu, but I couldn't really taste much of it when eaten with the ponzu sauce and mildly spicy grated radish.

I'm not sure if there is a change in the preparation of this pork with apple, but I they did come with some mashed apple sauce the first couple of times I had them here. And that was definitely much better than these ones without.

The squid ink rice comes quite heftily priced at $20 for a small pot. A pot of it has enough to fill 2 bowls so you can do the math on how much it costs, per bowl. The squid ink flavor is very apparent in the rice which is mixed with some mushrooms, vegetables and bits of squid. It wasn't bad, just another one of those items that wasn't spectacular.

This grilled whale tongue is something from the seasonal menu. It is also something I probably will not be ordering again. The taste is not bad by any means. It's just unremarkable and it's probably good just to try them out. The meat has a fatty texture pretty much like satay, but the fatty portions are tough and chewy instead of soft. In fact, it was chewier than the beef tongue. Apart from that, it isn't really identifiable as any form of other meat.

I've been hearing some good things from various friends about this Mexican restaurant located just across the road from Wala Wala and next door to a competitor place El Patio. Cha Cha Cha (32 Lorong Mambong) does seem to have a healthy crowd going for it even on weeknights and I thought the food was actually not bad. The portions do come a bit small for the price they charge for the food ($15 for what you see up there), so one main course isn't really going to do the job. Even for this combinados (if I remember correctly) item which allows you to pick a duo of either a enchilada, taco (soft or hard) and a fajita. I found the ground beef for the soft taco to be quite little and I'm sure it does not cost that much to be a little more generous since the rest of it are simply a corn flour shell , a bit of cheese and vegetables. I was quite sure of reading about refried beans, which turns out to be the tasty beany mash on the side. Still the food goes down pretty well and the satisfaction factor was there. I'm still getting the hang of the names of Mexican food here, but I think I'd probably be an enchilada person. The crispy things don't really work out for me most of the time.

I think that this place (UE Square #01-75) has quite some potential, just like it's related peer establishment En, just around the block. The biggest gripe over this place that I actually have is the air conditioning. Lol. It really needs to be turned up. That aside, this modern Japanese bar and restaurant certainly whips up chow with standards that I didn't quite expect. This comes from their surprisingly firm and fresh swordfish and yellowtail sashimi which turns out better than I thought it would have in a place like this. Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of those. Apart from the regular and traditional Japanese staple fare, the modern counterpart of Z'en really didn't disappoint much at all. Of note, the service is marked by very observant and courteous staff.


This is just described as pumpkin that is cooked in butter from the menu. I'm not really sure how the cooking is actually done, but it does taste steamed before a very light fry. There is a hint of butter on the surface of the hot pumpkin flesh itself, but I thought it would have been much better if there was a lot more butter. This almost reminds me of the sweet potato with butter from Kazu. Almost.


The grilled asparagus isn't really exceptional in any way beyond regular grilled asparagus. I generally like them so it's something that I would order. The bleu cheese dressing was a major plus factor that contributed to the decision to try this and the cool thing about this asparagus dish is that it comes with slices of bread which you can mop up the excess blue cheese sauce. The sauce itself does not come as strong as the actual cheese, so I would think that it is quite palatable for those who are not inclined towards the pungence. YMMV though.


The presentation looks quite fancy and a tad gimmicky for tuna carpaccio. Like En's maguro tataki salad, the carpaccios here are sliced thicker than others. I am guessing that it probably is the way Japanese interpret theirs. It's the same way at Ma Maison with their scallop version. Z'en's carpaccio comes a tad over cooked on the perimeter of the fish slices resulting in a much more cooked taste than desired. On top of that (pun intended), the baked garlic chips in their bursting fragrant flavor contended with the small slice of fish in the sour soy sauce resulting in a taste that wasn't quite carpaccio like in texture nor flavor. I wouldn't say that this tasted bad, it's probably overdone in intentions.


Decent grilled squid here, however it is quite lacking in the char aspects which I enjoy. The only charred parts were the tentacles which made them the tastiest parts.


I must comment that this unagi fried rice turned out pretty well in it's bamboo "trough" container. There is miminal salt in the rice and from appearances, looks to have been cooked with very little apart from oil and unagi that is already prepared in it's brown sauce. The result is a fried rice that does actually contain a noticeable taste of unagi in the rice itself. Despite appearances, the portions aren't too huge and it can be easily finished by a hungry person alone.


The need for something really meaty prompted me to order this and at $30, it doesn't come too cheap. I really wasn't expecting much in the way of the sliced steaks, but it turned out pretty damn good in the taste department. There is true and proper searing done on the surface of the beef leaving the inside succulent medium rare. The ponzu sauce didn't overpower the natural flavor of the beef which was filled with yummy fats in the meat. This is quite a pleasant surprise and I would feel inclined to order it again if I do come back.

On the whole, this was a pretty good experience at Z'en. A re-visit in the future would definitely not be out of the question.

Dinner, courtesy of Junie. It's been some time since I last visited this place. Despite the fact that the claim to fame of Tampopo (Liang Court #B1-50) to be the kurobuta pork, my most glaring memory from the restaurant is actually the cream cake with fruits. Which to me means that I didn't really find anything of exception with their supposedly famous black pig. From the thin sliced ones in the pork bone soup of the ramen to the crispy fried katsu, the only noteable trait of their kurobuta was the noticeable tenderness and a cleaner taste to the meat. Granted, we get a very tasty fried piece of pork with crispy skin, I'm quite positive that a place like Tonkichi would do as well for me. The ramen is of the type which I rather enjoy, but really, Ajisen does them pretty well too. I never understood why that place took so much heat from people about their noodles, but I would attribute it to the fact that most people who actually blast that establishment are way over enthusiastic in showing off their ramen knowledge and slamming anything that veers from the authentic Japanese style. So, it'll probably be a long time before I'll want to visit this place again since there isn't really much to look forward to.


The irony of the pork is that the fat laced charshu side was actually tastier than the kurobuta pork cutlets. The fact that it was braised probably infused more flavor into the meat. Not to mention the fat that breaks apart in your mouth. The braised egg on the other hand didn't have the runny liquid yoke which Noodle House Ken was able to produce. Then again, it costs $1.50 here while the latter location charges $2. So could I assume that the difference of 50 cents determines whether you get a liquid yoke or not?


We picked a black pig and prawn wrapped in cabbage soup dish which turned out to be quite the disappointment. Seeing that it comes from the summer menu, I thought that it might have been something worth trying. Unfortunately, the dish turns out to be a simply some prawn and other identifiable meat based paste wrapped in cabbage simmering in clear brown broth. Honestly, it didn't taste like much. I seriously doubt if there would be any difference if some other pork were to be used to create the paste in the cabbage which was like a prawn based fishcake of sorts to be described.


Dessert was a hit and miss affair. That'll be literally one hit and one miss to be precise. The scoop short cake with the light and fresh tasting cream was still pretty good like I remembered it. This is something that is worth trying if you ever visit this restaurant. The macha chiffon cake on the other hand features a rather dense cake which I don't think ought to be labelled chiffon. I'm not an expert on cakes here, but the texture and density felt more like a butter cake. The only remote break to the monotony of the taste were the red beans within the cake which didn't really do much to help make it taste better. It will definitely be quite some time before I come back, if ever.

Oh well, maybe it has. This is another one of the fast dinners that I made. This time round, I used the same Dr Oekter's pizza as I did for the 7 cheese version I made. I simply added shredded breakfast ham which you can purchase from Cold Storage. Place the ham over the frozen pizza, sprinkle some shredded parmesan cheese over the top of them and it's ready to go into the pre-heated oven. Next step, pretend that it's really parma ham. Watch out, Da Paolo. Lol.

One of the claims to fame according to the posted news clippings in the front of this self proclaimed chicken rice restaurant is their awesome chilli sauce which the owner refuses to talk of when asked about the ingredients. I think the chilli from The Big Bird (217 Bt Timah Rd, #01-07 Balmoral Plaza) deserves special mention simply because it tastes quite different from the chilli sauces that are provided in other chicken rice stores. Being a rooted cultural dish here and with the chilli sauce being one of the determining factor of the dish, this place certain makes a noticeable mark as chicken rice places go with their presence. I came back two evenings in a row because of the chilli sauce which I hear is also sold by itself. It simply makes you want to consume copious amounts of it with the rice.

This restaurant is definitely one that ranks up high in my good books for chinese food. Located on the 37th storey of Pan Pacific Hotel, you get dining with a view at this place; albeit one that isn't as spectacular as Jaan or Equinox.



I'm not too sure how good can peking duck get, but this is one of the better ones that I've had. It speaks of thin crispy skin and minimal fat. It also means that while good, there's also nothing very exciting in terms of taste and texture in comparison to other good peking ducks around. The appreciated point of the peking duck here is that the meat is carefully deboned and served up on a plate instead of having them put into some fried rice or noodle option.


These steamed prawns arrive hot and are excellent. Excellent here is made a notch better with a light soy sauce and importantly, the mashed garlic which is topped on the prawns in generous portions. I can see this becoming a perennial favourite with anyone that eats prawns and I'm almost positive that if I ever do return, I'll order them again.


The ostrich comes across as one of those unidentifiable meat substances. It could have been beef for all I know. The honey pepper sauce probably had something to do with it as well since the black pepper in the sauce is definitely better than the usual gamut of these sweetish pepper sauces, carrying the distinctive flavor of the pepper across. This also means that the type of meat is reduced to become a textual accompaniment since it's flavor becomes overwhelmed by the sauce.


Sauteed scallops and lobster really doesn't need much description. This dish taste pretty much like the way it looks, which means it's pretty good. The simple name on the menu doesn't mention that it comes with pan fried asparagus and deep fried golden mushroom in batter.


I didn't really know what to expect of the snow peas until it arrived and noticed that they're exactly the same thing that came with the ostrich. In fact, the ostrich dish looked like it had more of these fresh tasting and crunchy snow peas than this snow pea dish itself. The deep fried crispy dried scallops are probably there for garnishing effect than of taste since they didn't do much to add to the flavor.


Tofu dishes generally don't have much for me in the way of description. We normally expect them to be soft and smooth and the rest of it is pretty much dependent on the sauces. Apart from the fact that it's quite good and carries a distinctive fragrance from the skin, we get a semi-spicy sauce with rounded meat and shimeji mushroom. This is one of those dishes that tastes pretty much like the way it looks.



The cod served in this restaurant comes in various options. I picked the Moët & Chandon sauce option because I thought it was the only one that sounded interesting, compared to very boring sounding barbeque sauce, preserved vegetables or a Portuguese styled bake which I really have no idea what it's about. The bake and glaze did dry up the meat noticeably. On the whole, the cod was decent with the light and semi runny champagne sauce which still held its distinctive taste of alcohol. Interesting fish dish, but nothing exceptional.



These fish noodles are flavorful, excellent and recommended! Although the menu describes them to be stewed, I noted some char marks on the noodles which indicated that they could have been wok fried over high heat for a while in the cooking process. I certainly have nothing against it since these char fragrances add a depth to the fish infused flavor of the noodles. In fact, I liked them so much that I felt that the taste factor of the noodles competes almost on par with the king prawns which are pretty good on its own merits, thick with succulent flesh. This is probably one of those occasions when I lament over the fact that the portions of the noodles are insufficient.

I've never really had meals at Prego (Level 1, Raffles The Plaza) before so this is my first time eating here. My previous couple of visits in the past which was many years ago, involved only tiramisu. There's also the usual ramble of how this place used to be much better in the past and that the quality of the food has noticeably declined over the years. Well, I don't know anything of that from the past so I guess there will be nothing but a clean slate, unblemished by real or imagined prejudices.

Service from the waiting staff was very prompt and attentive. That's pretty much about the only thing I pay attention to from restaurant services anyway in most circumstances and anything else to me is a bonus. Frankly, prompt and attentive service is something that many places aspire to make claim and fail miserably. Let's not digress further onto that. The menu comes with the standard offerings for starters, salads, pizza, pasta, mains and dessert. That's what you get from most Italian places with the noted difference of maybe Pasta Brava, which has a considerably larger selection of pasta choices. The differences between the restaurants hence lies in the actual makeup and execution of the dishes. Prego serves a tasty wheeled shape loaf of bread which comes accompanied with a dish of very chilled tomato pesto of sorts which I thought was pretty good. On top of that, the olive oil and vinegar are on the table for you to help yourself with.

The parma ham starter which I had comes with a rather interesting blob of fig preserve on the side which I was initially skeptical of. It turns out that the preserve actually functioned as an excellent accompaniment, intentionally thought out or not, and believe it or not, to the rocket, melon and the parma ham. All bets are cancelled of course, if you don't like the taste of figs in the first place. The parma ham itself comes a tad more moist than others which I've had and felt a bit more thickly sliced.


The osso buco was excellent in the department of meat. I ate the whole thing with a single fork since the meat fell off the bone that easily. The only gripe is, there was no marrow to be had. So this comes across more like a veal shank than a real osso buco since the marrow is suppose to be part of the appeal of the dish. I'll remember to go somewhere else for them when I want the real thing. The shank is served on lemon scented carrot strips and a bed of saffron risotto which tasted only lightly of saffron, and more of cheese. It was definitely a cheesy risotto with a hint of saffron rather than just a saffron one if one had to describe it by taste. On the whole, it was enjoyable really. It just wasn't really what I expected it to be.


This dessert on the menu is known as ravioli al Gianduja, Composta al Rabarbaro e Fragole. It's described to be a chocolate dumpling with a rhubarb & strawberry compote and liquorice ice cream. The ice cream in the photo looks like chocolate because it is chocolate. I don't think I would have enjoyed liquorice anything and it was definitely a good call that the ice cream flavor was swapped out because the chocolate ice cream was probably the best thing out of this dessert. That is not because of any exceptional quality on the ice cream, but rather, the round dumpling things can simply be best described as 'just like Ferraro Rocher'. Crispy outer shell filled with a creamy hazelnut chocolate centre. How does one spell unremarkable again?

Tripe C here refers to gouda cheese, parmesan cheese and curry. There's nothing exotic here, it's just something that I've whipped up for dinner.


Firstly you'd need to get a packet of penne. I'm using dry ones which I've bought for times like these when I don't feel like leaving the comfort of home to look for dinner. Pastas are pretty easy to cook. Throw some salt into a pot of water and heat it to a boil. After that add in the pasta.


The gauge of the duration comes partially from experience and partially through the actual checking of the pasta. These dry ones should be in there for a good 5 minutes or so before you need to dredge them out to see if they are soft enough. Another sign that they might be ready is the bloat after absorbing the water which makes them noticeably bigger than when you popped them into the water. I'll skip the picture of the pasta soaking in cold water after the cooking process.


This is local, cheap and tasty. I prefer this one better than the chilli flavor tuna. Open one can of these and heat the contents in a bowl with a microwave oven.


I've some remains of a slice of Dutch Gouda in the fridge. They're sliced and can be added into the pasta after you have added in the heated curry tuna and given them a first round of tossing.


Follow that up with some shaved parmesan. I used packaged ones that can be bought from Cold Storage. You are free to substitute them with any other cheeses. I just thought that the sharper parmesan could add more of an edge to the more subdued goudas.


After adding the cheeses, toss them for another round. Put the tossed pasta into the microwave on high for about 30 - 45 seconds to get things heated and after, it is ready to be served. The purpose of heating the pasta is actually to get them warm rather than getting the cheese to melt, so there is no need to keep it there for much longer than my prescribed time unless you intend for the pasta to be gooey. The can of heated tuna can only do so much to the ice soaked pasta, so this last step helps get it up to a good warm temperature. The cheese in the pasta are softened by the heat, but still remain in solid state enough to be picked up using a fork.

Lunch with Junie & Chris. This pleasant and secluded lunch sanctuary (which requires reservations) is probably like one of the shrines of Japanese food which people with more discerning palates should make their pilgrimage to at least once for the experience. Incidentally, this place is one of those that actually did not disappoint after being washed quite thoroughly by the eddies of hype of its mention across various reviews, professional and private. Deep inside, I've quietly suspected that it is probably as good as people say it is. Or close to the literal accolades it has received. I've actually been planning to visit Sushi Yoshida (10 Devonshire Road) for quite a while, but never quite found the time and appropriate company until today. The seclusion mentioned of this place plays only to those whom are visiting for the first time without specific instructions to the actual location. After the first enlightenment, you'll know where to look out for the small sign that hangs atop large potted plants that front the inconspicuous entrance of this small Japanese dining hall.


The interior of the restaurant is wallpapered in a dull wasabi green and clad in dark wooden furnishing creating a stark and darker, but much appreciated reprieve from the blazing afternoon light that filters in from various tinted windows of the restaurant. Counter seats are limited to 10 with approximately 20-25 table seats and an and additional private dining room. The menu of Sushi Yoshida as described by lunch mate strongly suggests, comprehensive list. The set lunch menu stretches across a small range of prices to about $45 if my memory serves well, however, the highlight of the lunch offerings actually stems from their chiraishizushi (sashimi on rice box) at $38. Speaking of which, has been upped in cost from it's much more economical $28. Prices listed are on nett basis so expect to pay just exactly what you order from the menu. Apart from this chiraishizushi, the other item of appeal for lunch is probably the sushi set. Generally, the former holds more appeal even though it is largely a matter of presentation in most cases.

And this would the tasty opening starter for lunch.


It's an egg dish and I have no idea if it has a name. But it probably wouldn't be offended if I just referred to it as an egg thing since I'm basically calling it what it is. Served chilled and bathed in light soya sauce that is tinged with yuzu, imparting a sweetish/saltish, yet refreshingly light amuse bouche if you will. And on the top, a sprinkle of seaweed and a dollop of grated wasabi. The latter kickstarts the taste buds. I had thought that I'd be getting the runny yoke, but apparently it was poached enough to be in solid state, albeit very soft. I think this is pretty damn good.


I think what I got was hokkigai, unagi, hirame, chutoro, ikura, shitake mushroom and crabsticks (??!!). I'm thinking that there's yellowtail in the mix too, but I'm not too sure if it was really hamachi. This is on the whole a pretty looking and pretty good bento as far as quality goes, but there were a few items that didn't quite latch firmly onto the satisfaction factor for me. For one, I think that a couple of pieces more of sashimi would have been great and that I wouldn't have to spend the longer moments of eating this with just the ikura and the pink fish floss things. I would have been totally fine without picked ginger as well. The rice which I'm really not complaining about turns out as a mild incongruous mix of sour from the vinegar in the rice itself, the seeping ginger, daikon and more purple pickles at the bottom. It's a tad much more infused with flavor than I expected and is this just an issue of renditions here? As my lunchmate aptly put across, crabsticks perverses the Japanese of this lunch. Don't look for an easy way out of my description here. If you're intending to just see a thumbs up or down, you're missing the point.


Yes, this is indeed maguro otoro sushi ($17 a piece, so go easy). Remember to keep yourself in check when you have them because despite the tendency for claims that suggests towards epicurious nirvana, this tasty and oily piece of tuna belly is just good. It does not give you an orgasm. I'm sorry to burst your contrived bubble if you had one, but the truth is not always as pretty as fat marbling.


The asari butter itame is something that piqued my interest because of the word 'butter'. You might see that the preparation style of these clams is something that is more of an in house and slightly more contemporary construct. This dish is essentially round necked clams stir fried in a butter sauce. In the realms of Japanese food, I suppose one could consider the butter sauce as leaning towards the heavy side. But it was salty and it was tasty. And it almost did a close to perfect job of masking the flavor of the clams here, which is also not the point of me ordering them. Again, I'm not really complaining. I did enjoy this in a way that I didn't quite anticipate and for me it just rings, excellent beer food. Lol.


Set lunch comes with, apart from the egg thing starter, a soup of choice between clear and miso. I like miso so here you see it, along with some pieces of salmon. Having welcomed additions to the miso soup tends to make me want to compare with similar others that I've had. This one is really sweet in a good way. So good that I'm tempted to commit the heresy of mentioning a particularly dreaded three letter abbreviation that begins with M, followed by S and ends with a G. But I won't so don't leave anything in the comments about blasphemy.

I managed to sample a spoonful (uni-ful as well) of their kaisenmushi (chawanmushi with ikura and uni). I'm surprised that this dish came into existence as I personally thought very little of it in terms of execution. I maintain that uni should be served fresh and un-tempered by heat. Interesting as it may look, I didn't think it deserves the $30 price tag that was attached to it.

Are you expecting summary from me? I can definitely see myself coming back. It wasn't all pink and rosy as we all hope it to be sometimes, but there is enough value on what I've had in lunch to decide to call it good enough. The place can get a little noisy from the chatter of diners contending with the music and the sounds of your own conversations, but it is paired with very attentive service (albeit, mechanical). This place falls short on various factors in comparison with Aoki (which I thought was generally a noticeably notch up in satisfaction factor) especially in the department of desserts which is 2 slices of watermelon. But pet peeves aside, I like it enough.