S is for......

......Squids. That were Seared and Sizzling on a Saturday.

S is for Sapporo, that was conveniently located beside the Succulent squids.

S is for Snack, which we made out of the squids and Sapporo on a Saturday.

S is for Satisfied.

Bites from the Hokkaido Fair at Isetan

Strawberry shaved ice at Isetan

Not cheap at $12 a pop but those thin shavings of frozen strawberries were invigoratingly refreshing even in that luxuriously rich cream and condense milk. Loved how it melted and trickled down the throat. 👍🏼

More eats from Isetan....and a crab

Ok, I've been guilty of lurking around Orchard on Saturday again because of the Japanese fairs. And some other appointments that I have in that area. It's the last weekend of this particular fair and I wanted to drop by Isetan for some of the winter goodies before it's over. The only thing I ended up buying was more of the shio ramen. I realized that it's a good idea to go at the end of the fair because that's when stocks have to be cleared and offers get better. The ramen which I had purchased were going at 1 free packet for every 3 that was purchased. Here's lunch and some pre-dinner snacking. Also, I saw a very big crab there. It looks cold, angry and lonely....

Lunch...




After having tried the umaki tamago from Botan, I decided to grab these chilled and takeaway version from the supermarket in Isetan. These were cut in big slices. The toppings were teriyaki unagi encased in tamago and were much larger than the vinegar-ed rice bottom. That made it a challenge to pick them up with chopsticks. Flavours of the eggs and eel were much less compared to the warm and freshly made ones.

You might also have noticed that I liked the otoro sushi quite a bit to be eating them again. The batch from today looked fattier and indeed tasted more flavourful than the ones which I had last week. In fact, I enjoyed them so much that I got a second round of them later in the day. The swordfish sashimi wasn't too bad as well.

Before dinner...

pumpkin croquette

This ice cream was strangely shaped like a jester's cap. The light pink side is actually sakuramochi flavour. There're some chewy bits which was supposed to be the mochi. Of the sakura, I didn't quite detect. The yellow side of the jester's cap is pumpkin. Flavour was more light rather than rich for the pumpkin.

Spanish Fair @ Isetan

This must be the first time a fair like this have appeared at Isetan since it's been mostly Japanese and Korean ones that have made their presence felt in this corner of the departmental store. Truth be told, after numerous visits, it has started to become a little boring with the usual stuff in circulation that eventually felt like recycled events. Let's hope that this marks the beginning of more of such small food fairs from other places than the usual suspects. This Spanish one (9th - 18th Sept), although tiny was probably a good start.


What attracted me were probably the Spanish hams which were the counterparts to the prosciutto di Parma of the Italians. I managed to sample some together with a couple of variety of chorizos. I couldn't tell if the jamon were really any sweeter but I could taste that there was more depth in the aroma. If these were the lower grades of the major artisanal jamon, I would imagine the jamon iberico could be exceptional. Unfortunately, I haven't had the opportunity to try them and they don't seem to be available in this fair.

There was a also a variety of cheeses, largely from sheep and inclusive of a blue variety (Valdeón) to be had along with an an assortment of wines, preserved produce, date cakes and pastas. I didn't manage to get them all on photo. Today also marks the first day of their ham slicing demonstration which ends in 3 more days.


Now it wouldn't do at all to just view and just simply walk away without getting anything especially when it's something that new. So here's a borcadillo (baguette) with that jamon serrano and some freshly fried churros with chocolate dip. It was a nice sandwich on heated bread with butter and their Tomaca sauce and all, but there's really nothing majorly exciting. I would presume that such a ham would be better savored on its own. Fresh churros were also nice since we don't get them outside of restaurants. It seems that Alegra, a Spanish restaurant down at Clarke Quay are part of the team that's doing this little fair.

Edit 10.33pm
I've been informed that these fairs do rotate quite a bit, so I've probably never had the chance to see them happen.

Strawberry dango from Isetan

Got these from the dango stand at Isetan. I had the idea that it was some strawberry sauce lathered on top of those dango but it was actually strawberry flavoured bean paste.

Japanese sweet potato jelly cakes from Isetan

Got a box of them from one of the Japanese fairs over at Isetan during the weekends. I'm not sure why these things are called sweet potato jelly cakes since they don't resemble jellies in taste nor in appearances in any way. The textures of these things felt like reconstructed steamed sweet potatoes that are chilled. It was as if cooked sweet potatoes were mashed, mixed with something sweet (just sugar maybe) and then packed back into these bricks. Despite finding them a little too sweet for my usual liking, they were quite addictive. There was a nice flavour from the sweet potatoes as well. I guessing that there wasn't much other ingredients that were used to make them.

A walking brunch at Isetan

Here're some chopped toro maki and fried scallops from another one of those Japanese fairs at Isetan. One can generally get better quality tuna at the fairs than those from the regular pre-packed sushi section and these were actually quite good. The price of course, commensurate with said quality. The scallops today were fat and freshly fried.

Every, Havelock Road

Every (#01-03 Isetan Office Building, 593 Havelock Road, tel : +65 6732 8866) is a konbini - or convenience stall. With an attached cafe.

They're located at the ground floor of the Isetan Office Building just next door to Ya Hua Bak Kut Teh.

We came by for lunch and had their keema curry rice. Curry was a little bit sweet but altogether enjoyable. The mince meat they used was beef and you could taste it.

There's mentaiko pasta too which was creamy and buttery. Not the most mentaiko-y we've had though. Still enjoyed it. 

Not a fan of their beef & chips though. Those nuggets of tenderloin weren't nicely charred and there was too much of their sweet barbeque sauce for me.

Picked up some spring munchies since we were here.

Alegro Spanish Street Food, Clark Quay

I was initially alerted of this place (3D River Valley Road, #01-13 Clarke Quay) from a Spanish fair at Isetan some time back when I purchased one of their borcadillo de Serrano and was handed a business card. I recalled being quite impressed with the sandwich down at the fair and decided to give this supposedly street food kiosk a try. I didn't expect to be underwhelmed by the selection of what they had to offer. Apart from the borcadillos with the jamon Serrano and chorizos, I was hard pressed to find something else of interest and had to settle for just that. In the end, the sandwich didn't taste as good as I remembered it from the fair and came across as rather pricey for a sandwich with what, 3 thin slices of chorizo and some tomatoes? The subtleties of their flavours was mostly lost on me tonight. Even the churros didn't quite feel like the other time.

I doubt I'll ever return if that's all there is and I'm pretty sure this is a poor showcase, if any, of Spanish street food. By that, I refer to both the variety and the quality. I can always get fried calamari and french fries elsewhere.

Supermarket sashimi from citysuper

Here's some sashimi bought off the citysuper down at Causeway Bay (Basement 1, Time Square, 1 Matheson Street, Causeway Bay)

No, it wasn't anywhere close to being cheap, but I guess it would be slightly cheaper than back home and definitely gave better bang for buck in terms of both quantity and quality. In fact, apart from those Japanese fairs that featured tuna slicing demonstrations, the general offerings from Isetan doesn't quite come close. Not even in Meidi Ya. With exceptions occasionally.

The fish was generally just a little fattier and fresher tasting, scallops and botan ebi were plump and sweet; there was even a fairly generous amount of uni thrown it. And this was the quality of sea urchin that people describe as having a floral bouquet, not the shrivelled slivers of ochre zombie flesh that some places pass off for uni sashimi.

If anyone was wondering, this little haul was 509HKD.

Comically Lovecraftian

One of the curious sights that I was greeted with as I walked into this Hokkaido Fair at Isetan was a half man, half scallop in the midst of the bustling crowd promoting the dried and seasoned scallops that was one of the signature items of the fair. After numerous attendance, the boil of enthusiasm has somewhat simmered down for me. The offerings have somewhat become quite expected and very little is new. There's still a thing that they have against photography during the fair itself but "scallopman" obliged for a couple of shots.


Here's more of some of the stuff/loot I managed this time round.


Hotate pachi balls which had whole small scallops in them. These are better made than the usual ones that you find in outside. They're actually creamier and I find that scallions is a much tastier topping compared to bonito flakes.


A Hokkaido curry bun. Just as you may surmise, it's a breaded bun filled with curry.


There you go.


I forgot what these are called, but they're like Japanese pancakes and this one has a creamy custard filling in it. It's actually pretty good when you eat them hot.


As usual, some economically priced otoro from the sushi section. They tend to be better when there are Japanese fairs about. The usual ones that come up normally don't deserve to be called otoro.


These are sliced katsuo. I don't remember having had them before and the taste was a little fishy.


Ikura and sake sushis. As with the otoro, the salmon and their eggs seems better during the fairs.


This egg was from the croquette store. I got one of them because they reminded me of scotch eggs and true enough, the wrappings surrounding the egg were minced meat. They're so very tasty...


My favourite squido rice.


These otaru sweet potato are regular Japanese sweet potatoes that have been halved. The insides are scraped out to be mashed with custard leaving the the skin with some of the flesh behind like a shell. The shell is then filled with some custard and then topped over with the sweet potato and custard mixture. After that, baked. They're supposed to be eaten chilled and if you know of Japanese sweet potatoes, it's nothing surprising in terms of taste. They're quite good.