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.

Re-eating the charshu don from Baikohken

Probably my favorite thing on menu here. What I found out today was that it was better with a few healthy shakes of pepper and chilli powder that they provide.

Kebabs and kunefe

Valentine's Day

Sandaime Bunji, Millenia Walk

Sandaime Bunji's (9 Raffles Boulevard, #01-14/15 Millenia Walk, tel : +65 6333 1516) models on teishoku set and a la carte options of the mains dishes from said sets. The focus of the menu are their grilled gyutan and oden.

We hit up the small gyutan set which came with a variety of the items from the menu in small portions. That included the mugimeshi (barley rice), tororo, an unexpectedly clear and flavourful ox tail soup, flame grilled gyutan, salad, tofu and some very forgettable salmon sashimi.

The grilled tongue was fragrant and delicious but a little chewy.

I thought the oden was pretty good as well. The taste was both savoury and clear with what I thought to be comforting warm soup. Will want to order this again the next time.

Sandaime Bunji's mugimeshi can be had with their tororo which is flavoured with what I thought was shoyu. Tasted like shoyu.

Ginza Kuroson, Robertson Quay

I guess this place (30 Robertson Quay, #01-10/11 Riverside View, tel : +65 6737 5547) is trying to be quite a bit of things altogether which resulted in hits and misses in my opinion. To elaborate on that, I couldn't say that the food was bad. It was probably not as good as it could have been since these guys were trying to whip up sashimi, sushi, kushiage, kushiyaki, cooked food, French food and it was also a robatayaki to boot; all it seems in a open kitchen that seemed to value a sort of zen aesthetics over function.

What I thought was well done were the squid beaks that were actually knobby circumference of the mouth of squids sans the actual beaks. It was the predictably chewy and squidy flavors melded with a nice browning from the grill. Predictably tasty too. Would definitely order this again. Along with the comforting steamed potatoes with kanimiso.

umaki

sashimi platter

ika "beak"

tuna & leeks

steamed potatoes with butter and kanimiso

richly flavored oyster cream risotto (<--that's what they think!)

bitter chocolate brownie

an alcoholic yuzu drink

Tambuah Mas, Paragon

Yet another place which I've been meaning to mention for a while and have somehow neglected to. Tambuah Mas (290 Orchard Road, #B1-44 The Paragon, tel : +65 6733 2220) serves Indonesian styled food. This was my first visit to this outlet at Paragon after finding out that the other branch which I've been eating for the past few times at Marina Square was no longer in business.

There are more than a few dishes which I enjoyed here, but the laws of physics are pretty much absolute and sometimes, unforgiving.

The chicken satays were a first time order. What really shone for me was the rich and viscous peanut gravy that accompanied the skewers of chunky marinated chicken. I did think that they could have been improved with a bit more char.

The gravy from the sayur lodeh was a little on the thin side, but it still made a good accompaniment with their less than fluffy nasi putih.

Sauces and gravies are really one of the mainstays for me here. Their chicken korma was another order of choice that featured rich coconut laden gravy with a savoury bent and a very mild measure of heat. It certainly made me wolf down more rice than I would normally do.

The other item for us that's somewhat become a regular was their paru goreng. Those savoury deep fried cow lungs have light crisp on the outside and a beefy chew.

We ended this meal with a es buah atap which was essentially a glass of atap seeds in a bandung configuration to wash down the grill and spices.

Nothing earth shaking or mind blowing around here, just down to earth and hearty food to be had.

The crime of crabsticks and truffle paste

Totally home made sandwich of mild cheddar, shredded crab sticks and a Porcini with white truffle puree between sliced bread pan toasted in butter. And introducing, Unique Eats.

Artichoke Cafe and Bar, Middle Road

I have, if my memory serves, eaten here (161 Middle Road, tel : +65 6336 6949) about five times before so I thought it was fair that I gave it a mention. Especially so when I actually like the food here. I first heard of them through a friend. Chef/owner of this joint Bjorn Shen was connected by a couple of degrees of separation.

There were these moreish mezze served with light and freshly toasted bread down at Artichoke. I've had them every time that I've visited and I still find them refreshingly tasty. I particularly enjoyed their labneh and also felt that their hummus with tahini and pomegranate seeds puts many others to shame. It was three plates of honest to goodness, perky and creamy altogether. With fresh warm bread.

The other item that I've been having almost every visit were their organic mushrooms which I believe are sourced locally. I think they're pan fried. I could taste pepper and some truffle oil. Every bite was well greased, succulent and mushroomy. I love them with the rockets.

Off the board special, was a grilled ribeye with rosemary and spicy garlic dip with lemon on the side. This was probably the third type of meat I've had here. The first two being their lamp chops which were really good by the way, and their kurobuta pork which was quite meh. I've never been a big fan of rosemary and I always feel that they're applied too often with a heavy hand. With exceptions. This one was one of those exceptions. Meat was a little sinewy though.

We had a go at their baklava and found it pretty good. In the light and buttery pastry, housed a medley of sweet chopped nuts. That ice cream on the side if you're wondering was honey flavoured. Very nice stuff. Made even better with the bits of fragrant pistachio on the plate.