Ryoriya Sangokushi, Robertson Quay

This place (30 Robertson Quay, #01-03 Riverside View, tel: 6238 8962) which I've happened by from time to time, from what I've been told is suppose to be Taiwanese and Japanese. I'm not sure which is suppose to come first, but the restaurant serves bottled beer from both countries and the food leans towards being very much Chinese styled while a large number of the clientele is actually Japanese. I suppose that there is an element of Okinawan influence in the food here since the Okinawa Prefecture extends all the way to Taiwan and the food that hails from that region does appear noticeably, very much like Chinese food.

The menu items at this place ranges from really affordable ($3 braised meat rice) to a brow raising pricey ($35 for fried oysters). I'm not sure I have the logic behind the prices figured out here. The food is pretty enjoyable to the point that I'm quite positive I'll be back again someday.

fried rice

deep fried pig liver with garlic

ruo cuo fan (braised spiced pork with rice)

guo tie (minced meat and chives dumpling)

One of the items which I did not pass up on was the braised pork rice which I had a basis of comparison from the lu rou fan from both Peng Lai Ge and Lai Lai. Besides, I love that stuff. The one served here tasted much like the ones served in the former location, being savory rather than slightly sweetish. The portions of that did turn up a little smaller than I had expected, but it was tasty and I could have downed two of those. There was a pretty good fried rice as well as deep fried pig liver which I've not had done in such a manner before. The pot stickers or guo tie was quite decent, but I think I prefer the ones that are sold at the food centre down at People's Park which is meatier and has more flavorful fillings with crispier skins.

Being a Taiwanese place, I was hoping to see either braised or fried pig intestines on the menu. Unfortunately, those weren't available. And I'll also stick to a tried and proven Asahi compared to Taiwan Beer the next time.

Yuzu gum candy from Muji

These jellies have the little devils in them that make you subconsciously reach out for the next one after you've had the first and then another. This will only stop when the packet is finished. There's actually very tiny bits of yuzu peel in them jellies too.

Chella's, Take 3

Chella's is fast becoming my favorite Indian eating place and little had I expected that for a place that doesn't serve meat. But things are still looking pretty good from my third visit in a couple of weeks. The main draw to this place for me is the tasty food, affordable prices and a very healthy variety in the menu. Apart from identifying a couple of favorites like the kesari bath and the marsala teas/milk, I'm still finding new things to like about the offerings here.

One of the things that got me excited about Chellas is the cheese pav bhaji which is essentially some sort of thick, sourish and spicy gravy with potatoes or yellow beans. There're a couple of options for this item, but I picked the cheese version which comes with a blanket of shredded cheese. The bhaji is served with buttered and toasted soft buns and some chopped onions on the side which adds a very pleasant depth of fragrance to the spicy dip and I found myself wolfing this stuff down really quickly.

Another notable mention goes to the jeera ghee rice which despite its plain appearance, contains a remarkable fragrance like those found in good chinese fried rice. I was quite pleasantly surprised by the depth of the aroma from this small innocuous looking dish which made me want to consume copious amounts of. Remember the old Gardenia tune "So good you can even eat it on its own."? That's what they were talking about there.


Over the past few months, I've had a few renditions of gobi manchurians at a few places and the one here would be one of the better ones, alongside the rendition served at Spice Junction. The gobi (cauliflower) is lightly battered and fried before being stir fried in the gravy which tasted a little like a garlicky kung pao gravy here. For me, it would have been perfect if not for the ginger.


These dahi puri are rather appetizing snacks as small bites go. They're actually somewhat of a spherical taco like things and hollowed out on the insides. The insides are filled with potato, some chutney and yoghurt before being blanketed by the crispy yellow bits which are known as sev. Each of these balls are a fairly large mouthful to be popped in whole at a time.

Akashi again!

It is said that a picture paints a thousand words.......so I'll let the pictures do most of the talking here. I always thought that Akashi (290 Orchard Road, #B1-01 The Paragon, tel: 6735 8887) which has been around for about 10 years or so is pretty good for Japanese food, however there seem to be others that feel otherwise. I wonder what kind of comparisons are being made. I'm normally one that avoids things like Californian and spider makis and I found them to be pretty tasty here. There's definitely no complains on the portions nor the freshness, though I must say that prices have noticeable inched up a little this year. But then again, prices always go up some time or another.

The Butterfly Effect

I was prompted to visit Le Papillion (28 Maxwell Road, #01-02 Red Dot Traffic Building, S069120, tel: 6327 4177) before they were closed for good at the end of the month because of their highly recommended rigatoni pasta with crustacean oil, shave bottarga and tiger prawns and this I did. It's quite unfortunate that this dish may not see the light of day for much longer. This turned out to be one excellent pasta and one of the more enjoyable ones that I've had from memory. My photo of it unfortunately does not do it much justice.

Rigatoni Pasta Tossed in Crustacean Oil, Shaved Bottarga, Tiger Prawns, Seaweed and Arugula Salad

I can't begin to even describe how impressed I am with the al dente quality of the rigatoni. I'm sure many Italian restaurants, good as they may be in the execution of the cuisine of their homeland falls short of the standards that I tasted here in a French place. Or maybe the restaurant wasn't very busy and more attention was put into the cooking of the pasta? The doneness was excellent and the crustacean oil which I was told once tasted like hay bee hiam from Wild Rocket, didn't quite taste so much that way here in Le Papillion. It was aromatic to an extent without having the flavor being to excessive and the spiciness was definitely appreciated. This comes paired with four plump tiger prawns shelled to the tail that are crunchy to the bite. Those were definitely enjoyable. The bottarga slices were unfortunately a tad underwhelmed by the spicy nature of the pasta. So, where's the seaweed?

After extolling the virtues of the pasta which I thought should be mentioned before the rest, let's take a step back in time and start from the beginning......

The bottom line of Le Papillion was that, I'm not too impressed. With the exception of the rigatoni, I think I can see why a place like Red Dot Museum would be a place that draws a crowd all around while this restaurant was barely a third filled on a Friday evening. Dinner started with an amuse bouche of a cube of green apple with crushed toasted almond, balsamic vinegar and a leaf of arugula. I must say that I had expected something more out of this, which is something I probably could have done myself at home. Me, someone with minimal to no cooking skills of mention.

Freshly Picked Mud Crab with Mango and Tomato Salsa

Served with a Light Orange-Mango Espuma

Sauté Foie de Canard “Duck Liver” with Vanilla-Pineapple Compote Brioche Toast, Mesclun Lettuce and Spiced-Pineapple Syrup

The opening notes definitely didn't leave much of an impression. I thought that the mud crab smothered in everything mango turned out quite refreshing to the taste because it was nicely chilled, but that was all there is to it. The terms "freshly picked" didn't quite register on the taste buds. For a French place, the foie gras was quite unremarkable. There was a glaring omission of the flavor associated with the duck liver and instead of a charred appearance, it looked a little blistered. Usually, the accompanied glaze/compote/sauce would be something with citrus, a little sour zest or a tartish flavor to compliment the rich fatty liver. This liver didn't really taste fatty at all and the pineapple compote was all sweet.

Chicken Consommé with Foie Gras de Canard and Truffle Oil

So we see the same kind of foie gras here again with the chicken consomme which was decent but otherwise quite unimpressive if not bolstered by the truffle oil.

Grilled Yorkshire Pork Rack with Orange and Honey-Glazed Carrots
Granny Smith Apple Compote and Raspberry Vinegar Glaze

The Granny Smith apple compote was very nice, so were the orange and honey glaze carrot strips which was pleasantly, slightly sweetish. Cushioned with a small amount of fats, the pork rack was a tender piece affair which was downplayed by the raspberry vinegar glaze which was again mostly sweet and didn't really remind anyone of raspberry of vinegar. I think salt and pepper would have sufficed.

There wasn't enough of a wow factor to this point to inspire a pick from the small selection of desserts.

Au revoir, le papillion. Je ne m'affligerai pas pour votre perte.

Chellas Vegetarian Corner, Serangoon Road

I like this place (70 Serangoon Road, tel: 6297 6297) down in Little India more than just a little bit despite the fact that I'm a meat loving person and there is only vegetarian food that is served here. I had some initial apprehension about the food here since the front of the restaurant looked like a fast food joint of sorts and indeed, the food was served pretty fast after we had ordered. All of the lingering doubts were dispelled after a very satisfying dinner from Chella's.

Being not too familiar with many of the items on menu, we picked what we thought looked interesting and asked the serving staff when we hit things that we didn't recognize at all. Here's a show of what we ended up with apart from the stomach comforting masala tea and milk.

pineapple & cheese dosa

gobi masala

ragi iddiyapam

kara bath

paneer butter masala

paper dosa

What I found very appealing was the variety of appetite whetting sauces/pastes that were available for the dosa. In effect, it gave variety to the flavor of the rice flour pancakes. As I had preemptively guessed pineapple & cheese dosa was a rather savoury and delectable, married by the salty cheese and appetizing pineapple chunks in the centre. The ragi iddiyappam was a variant of the regular iddiyappam (string hoppers) using what was mentioned to be made with another type of flour. The taste was quite similar to the regular version and it came across surprisingly freshly made and was good with both the orange sugar and spicy coconut chutney. I think I may have found what I've been looking for from what I had some time back in the Song of India, in the form of the kara bath which was a savoury semolina cake with diced vegetables. I'm fairly sure that the sweet version called kesari bath is the very thing I've been looking for.

The gobi masala's delicious with the bits of battered and fried cauliflowers soaking in the spicy gravy. I was a little surprised to see an actual piece of butter melting in the paneer butter marsala.

This place had me scraping up the residual sauces with the spoon. All for $20.50 and very friendly service.

19/04/2008 update - A revisit!!


I had certainly not planned to return just the next day, but I'm definitely not complaining about it. The original intention was to drop by Chellas for some nice hot masala tea or milk, but we ended up ordering something to chew on while at it. This innocuous looking earthy orange mound as you can see above, is the kesari bath which I have mentioned earlier. A sweet steamed semolina cake with bits of of sultana inside. Now in case you are wondering, this wasn't excessively sweet as one is used to having in Indian desserts. In fact this item wasn't even on the desserts section of the menu. I think this stuff is pretty awesome.


While at it, we grabbed also, a chilli, cheese and mushroom dosa and helped ourselves with an order of rasamallai. This particular dosa came with a healthy kick from the spices and also, the salty cheese. The rasamallai we were told is a milk based dessert. I had something similar back in Mustard which was made of cottage cheese and had a texture like damp cardboard. Does anyone know the differences if any between these two?