Cha Cha Cha, Holland Village

I've been hearing good things from various friends about this Mexican restaurant located just across the road from Wala Wala and next door to competitor El Patio. Cha Cha Cha (32 Lorong Mambong) did have a healthy crowd going for it even on weeknights. Thought the food was not bad. The portions were a bit small for the price they charged. One main course isn't going to do the job. Even for this combinados (if I remember correctly) item which allowed 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 measly. The rest of the fillings were just a bit of cheese and vegetables. Still the food went down pretty fast and it was satisfying to say the least. I'm still getting the hang of the names of Mexican food here. Think I'd probably be an enchilada person. 

Z'en, UE Square

I thought that this place (UE Square #01-75) has potential,  like its sister establishment En just around the block. The biggest gripe I had was the air conditioning. Lol. It needs to be turned up. That aside, this modern Japanese bar and restaurant was better than I had imagined. That came from their surprisingly firm and fresh swordfish and yellowtail sashimi which turned out better than I thought. Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of those. The service staff were observant and courteous.

pumpkin cooked in butter ($8)

This was just described as pumpkin that is cooked in butter on the menu. They tasted like they were steamed before frying lightly. There was a hint of butter on the surface of the pumpkin, but I thought it would have been much better if there were a lot more butter. Reminded me of the sweet potato with butter from Kazu. Almost.

grilled asparagus in bleu cheese dressing ($12)

The grilled asparagus were just regular grilled asparagus. The bleu cheese dressing was what made me decide to try this. Came with of bread which one can use mop up the excess blue cheese sauce. The sauce didn't taste as strong as the actual cheese, so I think it might be palatable for people who don't do blue cheese. YMMV though.

maguro carpaccio ($16)

The presentation looked quite fancy for tuna carpaccio. Like En's maguro tataki salad, the carpaccios here were sliced thicker than I expected. Probably the way Japanese interpret theirs. It's the same way at Ma Maison with their scallop version. This carpaccio was served a little over cooked. On top of that (pun intended), the baked garlic chips contended with the puny slices of fish in the ponzu resulting in a flavour and texture that wasn't quite carpaccio like. I wouldn't say that this tasted bad, it's probably overdone in some areas.

grilled squid ($11)

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

unagi chahan ($15)

This unagi fried rice was served in ia bamboo "trough" container. There was little salt in the rice. Did not look like it had much ingredients beside the unagi that were already prepared in teriyaki sauce. Despite how it looked, the portions weren't huge and can be easily finished by a single person.

sirloin steak seared rare in ponzu sauce ($30)

The need for something meaty prompted me to order this and at $30, it wasn't cheap. I wasn't expecting much gor the sliced steaks, but it turned out pretty damned good. There was proper searing done on the surface leaving the inside succulent medium rare. The ponzu sauce didn't overpower the flavour of the beef which was filled with yummy fats. This was quite a pleasant surprise. Would order again if I came back.

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

Tampopo, Liang Court

Dinner courtesy of Junie. It's been some time since I last came to Tampopo. While their claim to fame was their kurobuta pork, I remember them for their cream cake with fruits. Had a bowl of their tonkotsu ramen. Think this is of the type which I enjoy. Not so dissimilar to Ajisen actually.


The fat laced charshu that we ordered on the side were actually tastier than the kurobuta pork cutlets. The fact that it was braised probably infused more flavour into the meat. Not forgetting that those charshu had fat that just fell apart in your mouth. The braised egg didn't have the runny liquid yoke which Noodle House Ken had. Then again, they charged $1.50 here while Noodle House Ken 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. I thought it was quite disappointing. This was from their summer menu. Thought that it might have been worth trying. Honestly, it didn't taste like much. Doubt I could tell if regular pork were used instead of kurobuta.


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.

Ham and cheese pizza never looked so good

Oh well, maybe it has. This is another one of the fast dinners that I made. This time round, I used the same Dr Oetker'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 Parma ham. Watch out Da Paolo. Lol.

The Big Bird, Balmoral Plaza

One of their claims to fame according to the news clippings on the front of this chicken rice restaurant was their fiery chilli sauce - which the owner refused to discuss when inquired regarding the ingredients. I thought that chilli from The Big Bird (217 Bt Timah Rd, #01-07 Balmoral Plaza) deserved mention because it tasted different from most of the other chicken rice chillis. Believe it or not, I came back two evenings in a row because of the chilli sauce which I hear is also available off their shelf. That stuff made me want to eat a lot of their chicken rice.

Big Bird's chicken rice ($1.00)

half a fried chicken ($14)

eggs and chicken liver ($0.50 per egg/liver)

crunchy poached vegetables ($5)

lotus root and peanut soup ($3.50)

lala (stir fried clams in some spicy garlic sauce $10)

Besides steamed and fried chicken, Big Bird has a bunch of other dishes. Such as poached vegetables, stewed eggs, stewed tofu and chicken innards. There's other cooked food as well and some of them were apparently positioned as their signature dishes like the lala (clams), cold crabs and assam fish head. Prices were arguably reasonable. Except for the rice which I thought was a little expensive at a dollar a bowl. The flavour of that rice was also different from most of other chicken rice. These were not the beady or fluffy variety and the colour was a shade darker. I had initially thought that the rice wasn't so remarkable on it's own. But then the chilli worked its lip burning magic. Made me down two bowls of that "unremarkable" rice. The chicken was served warm and that probably meant that I got some fairly freshly fried birds. Tasty with the skin still slightly crisp.

Their lotus root soup had a very robust flavour. To the point that I couldn't really tell it was sweet or salty since it tasted like both. It was piping hot, tasty and for what they charged - a very good deal. Those poached vegetables were fresh as they looked. I thought that the lala (clams) were also quite good and packed a punch with the spicy garlic sauce. I could still taste that after having my tongue numbed by the chilli sauce.

Hai Tien Lo, Pan Pacific Hotel

This restaurant definitely ranked up high in my books for Chinese food after today. Located on the 37th storey of Pan Pacific Hotel, it's dining with a view. Albeit one that wasn't as spectacular as Jaan or Equinox.

Peking duck

meat from the peking duck

Not sure where on the scale of good this Peking duck was but this was definitely one of the better ones that I've had. Thin crispy skin and just enough fat for flavour. Enjoyed it. We had the meat deboned and sliced up instead of having them destroyed in fried rice or noodles.

steamed prawns with mashed garlic served in a bamboo basket

These steamed prawns were served piping hot. Delicious crunchy prawns with a light soy sauce and generous portions of minced garlic. I'm thinking that if I ever do return, I'll get these again.

sauteed slivers of ostrich with honey pepper sauce

The ostrich sadly tasted like another unidentifiable meat substance. Could have been pretty much any meat for all I knew. No small thanks too, to that honey pepper sauce which was actually pretty good. This also meant that the meat was reduced to become a textual accompaniment since the flavour was mostly just from that sauce.

sauteed scallops & lobster with garlic

Sautéed scallops and lobster. This dish tasted much like the way it looked - which meant pretty good by the way. The menu didn't mention that it came with pan fried asparagus and deep fried golden mushroom.

sauteed snow peas with deep fried crispy dried scallops & fermented mustard vegetables

I didn't 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 crunchy snow peas than this snow pea dish did. Those deep fried crispy dried scallops were probably there for garnishing rather than taste since they didn't add much to the flavour.

Hai Tien Lo Homemade Beancurd with Minced Pork & Pine Mushroom Sauce

I'm not so good at describing tofu. They're usually soft and smooth and the rest of it depended heavily on the sauces. This was nicer than what I normally get. There was a fragrance from the skin. That and it was slathered in a semi-spicy sauce with ground pork and shimeji mushroom. Tasted much like the way it looked.

cod, baked and glazed with Moët & Chandon champagne sauce

close up of the cod

The cod in Hai Tien Lo came in various options. I picked the Moët & Chandon sauce option because I thought it was the only one that sounded interesting, compared to the mundane sounding choices like barbeque sauce, preserved vegetables or a Portuguese styled bake which I have no idea is what. The meat was a little dry but on the whole, the fish was decent tasting with the light and semi runny champagne sauce which still had the taste of alcohol. Interesting fish dish.

stewed fish noodle with ginger & spring onions served with king prawn

prawn wide open

These fish noodles were flavourful, superb and recommended! Though the menu described them to be stewed, I noticed some char marks which indicated that they could have been wok fried over high heat. The char add a depth to the fish infused flavour of the noodles. I liked them so much that I felt that they were on par with the prawns. Which were also delicious on its own merits. I found myself lamenting over the tiny portions of the noodles.