Lobster a la carte buffet @ Honjin

Honjin offers a self termed lobster a la carte buffet at $52++ if I remember correctly. Disappointing is the word to describe the experience here. Even for fact that I was already prepared knowing that such an offer comes probably with fine print. Is that bad or what? The buffet includes a tiny menu tiny various sashimi, sushis, tempura, yakimono, agemono, ramen, temakis and so forth. UOB card holders get a 1 for 1 deal in this buffet. Now that "buffet" and "1 for 1" is mentioned, one would think you're probably geared up for what's to expect for the lobster. You think! Behold the lobster butter yaki portion for 2!


Yeah, that's pretty much 2 mouthfuls for you there. The condition attached to this a la carte lobster buffet is that each table is only eligible for one serving. One serving per table, not per patron. Yippieee!!! I wonder why is it that with foresight did I not see that coming. This place is suppose to be run by a top notch executive chef that has 15 years of experience in places like Nadaman and Keyaki? This puts into me some questionable light about what kind of experience was that. Dish washing is experience too.

Doesn't the sashimi presentation look just fabulous??!!

The food was palatable. Certain items turned out to be pretty good (tasting better than they look) while others fared worse than Sakae Sushi. This is definitely not a place that I would re-visit. One can reasonably expect lowered standards because of the nature of buffets in the effort to churn food out en mass to mobs hungry people. This, was simply a lack of effort with respect to the quality. Without the benefit of the UOB card offer, it would have been seriously overpriced with mediocre food to boot.


I shall refrain from further visual terrorism. I'm positive that in the realms of a la carte buffets, I've had better.

Changing Appetites, Marina Square

Changing Appetites at Marina Square does some sort of western/Japanese fusion food on their menu. I can't put a finger into their identity, but there's a variety. The food's fairly affordable with a somewhat creative menu. I didn't really think too much of them beside being a novelty when I first visited them a few years back when they were just opened.

 

The Classic Double 2 Thick burger ($15.90) was really thick. The patty wasn't as firm as I was hoping for. It fell apart easily and there was no option for done-ness. The marinate of the meat was so strong that it took the beef out of beefiness. Couldn't tell from the taste what meat it was. The saving grace was that it didn't taste bad. They used a butter brown rye bun which was quite good.

Brewerkz, Riverside Point

Brewerkz, conspicuously located at the ground floor of Riverside Point by virtue of the unit, position itself to be one of the really attractive watering holes around. In spite of the emergence of competitors and those that arm themselves with the shiny spiffy arsenal of a microbrewery, this place to me still remains one of the better locations for good beer at pretty reasonable prices. In the afternoons, Brewerkz does have the cheapest beer in town. Bar none.

This also makes it a good place to do dinner because there is really little need to adjourn for drinks. Ever since I can recall, it's always had a healthy crowd and coming by with no reservation is usually never a good idea. Decent selection of reasonable food, great drinks, reasonable prices....note down the secret formula the rest of you!

To the Bistro Burger...


Brewerkz actually serves pretty decent burgersThe Bistro Burger ($19.90) is just a regular hearty burger which is the way burgers should be everywhere else that thinks to justify their upscaled prices. These people should know whom I am refering to. The main factor that drove me to order this is the smelly blue cheese.

Yes, on the patty sits a lump of mould infused pungent milk curdle. This is definitely not the stinkiest of it's varietal, but packs enough stench for most blue cheese lovers to be drawn by the taste. The patty is a good medium done as requested, firm and not crumbly. Very much like the hand chopped patty from the sirloin burger from überburger. Paired with the evergreen Golden Ale (truly a nectar among beers), it isn't very hard to understand why people keep coming back.

Dry Teriyaki Ramen from Ajisen

This wasn't as good as it looked on the menu and I should have known better. But now I can tell myself that I've tried and that I didn't avoid it based on prejudice on my part. The noodles were much softer than those previous bowls I had with the soup. Bottom of the bowl was filled with diluted teriyaki sauce which didn't do much to help. The sogginess as I am guessing, was probably due to the noodles being soaked in the sauce for overly long. The chicken had soggy skin instead of crispy ones and was devoid of fragrance. Looks like it's only soup ramen (which also sees falling standards like many other places over time) for me at Ajisen now.

Ayam Penyet House, 67 Beach Road

This place was actually a basement unit at the junction of Beach Road and Middle Road (#B1-01/02). From the posters on the wall at the entrance, it appeared that they had been featured on television. This shop was better than the one I tried at Chong Pang. There were sides like tempeh, kang kong and tauhu goreng instead of just a cherry tomato and a stick of cucumber. It seems that differet franchise outlets have different serving standards. The Chong Pang version was served with chicken rice while this came with plain white rice. There was a slathering of crispy crumbs which was really a bonus. Curiosity drove me to try the beef version of the dish (at $6) which the menu described as steak. Yeah, right.....! Well, it came as I expected - a dry hunk of beef.

That was the smashed beef. Didn't look like much. Sambal was delicious. This one gave a helluva kick (the kind that sent prickling sensation up your scalp). While it was spicy and sweet, it was more spicy than sweet.


Apart from the dry-ish meat, I've had to admit this was quite tasty. That was also helped by the exceptional sambal. It's so good that I wanted to ask for more.

Oxtail and squid in black

If you're wondering from the title, this is what it is. Squid ink sauce linguine with oxtail and baby squids and it comes from Miss Clarity. This was pretty good, although the al dente factor of the pasta does need some work. With that done plus a bit of polish on the presentation, we're looking at some competition for Garibaldi across the road. Seriously, I think so. I'll be back again another day.