New York in Mexican

I've been having a bit of fun exploring Tex Mex food lately. This was something called a New York Steak ($21.99) from Café Iguana. It's from a section which is labelled Tequila Grill which featured lime marinated meats that is finished with a spicy tequila glaze. The steak sat on top of a stick of grilled vegetables that's lying on some sweet poblano scalloped potatoes. It turned out that this steak was the medium rare that I requested. The lime marinate did come through in terms of flavour but I couldn't quite make out what the tequila glaze was. I was pretty glad that those marinades weren't too strong which still allowed the flavour of the beef to come through. There was also a decent char on the surface of the meat to ramp up the flavour. Thumbs up here. The faith that I have in this place is growing so that means that I will likely come back again.

Café Iguana, Riverside Point

I'm beginning to understand why this place (30 Merchant Road, #01-03 Riverside Point) is often crowded. Just like Brewerks down the river, the food was fairly affordable and margaritas are at half price up to 9pm and after 12am. Reservations can only be made up to 7 in the evening. It definitely took me a while to start coming by to this place, but I do see myself returning. In conversation with a new Korean acquaintance, it seemed that the standards of the Mexican Food at Cafe Iguana were quite similar to that in Texas. Albeit with less grease. It was also much cheaper over there of course with their proximity to Mexico. Like in Italian food in Italy, Mexico has cuisine that tends to vary in style depending on which part of the country it comes from. Not being the expert, I can't really pinpoint anything. I guess it's probably enough to be generic of Mexican food. Are there any good or better ones around here?

quesadillas ($2.99)

These quesadillas were pretty cheap and freshly baked. There was a crisp on the tortilla skins which were filled with cheese and mushrooms. This made a good drinking snack.

shredded beef mini chimichangas ($7.99)

The mini chimichangas here come with either shredded chicken or beef for the fillings. The initial impression of them were that they look like cut up Old Chang Kee curry puffs with guacamole and sour cream dips. They also reminded me of the kolkatta shingara which I've had at Mustard down in Little India. Thick crispy and fried skins of flour with fillings. They're not too bad and quite filling.

camarones al diablo ($14.99)

Babelfish told me that the name of this camarones al diablo translates to "shrimps to the devil". The devil in the name I presume, came from the sweet spicy sauce. The sauce which the shrimps were sautéed in was supposed to include habanero chile, capsicum, ginger, cumin and lime. Said sauce had a pretty good balance between being sweet and spicy at the same time. Didn't pack a strong heat if you're wondering. On the sides are more...quesadillas. This kinda made the dinner pretty filling with all the flour and cheeses at this point.

green chile stew ($12.99)

For $13, this was pretty good main course. I was initially quite skeptical of the coriander that I remember being mentioned in the rice, but it turns out to be alright. Found this nutty tasting stewed pork with rice and beans (which tasted better than they look) to be pretty good and the portions were actually hefty.

Back in Kazu

I'm not sure why some of the photos that I take from Kazu tend look worse than usual. Not that it's a deterrence for me from coming back to visit again and again. The menu seen minor changes since the previous visits. No, I'm not referring to the seasonal items that rotate throughout the year. Some of the regular items that are being offered now comes in differently sized portions - which was not available previously. The old prices for those said items are now tagged onto the smaller potions. Some of which, are smaller than the original ones (single size portion available only) that they previously had. That means that while you get to choose larger portions of your favourite items, prices also have gone up. Now that was a bit confusing.

short neck clams cooked in butter

These clams aren't as buttery as those from Sushi Yoshida, but are pretty tasty along with the salty broth filled with golden mushrooms. The portions I felt are a little small.

salmon milt (sperm)

This item seemed to be seasonal on the menu and taste like something I've had before in Chinese mixed fish soups. The pinkish appearance on the exposed sections indicated that it was not fully cooked. The texture of the salmon milt is akin to a harder tofu. I couldn't taste much of it when eaten with the ponzu sauce and spicy grated radish.

foie gras

fatty pork with apple

I'm not sure if there is a change in the preparation of this pork with apple but I they did come with some apple sauce the first couple of times I had them here. Those were definitely much better than these ones without.

prawn and scallop wrapped with bacon strips

shimeji mushroom in pork belly

chicken hearts

lamb chops

beef and cheese roll

squid ink rice

The squid ink rice was quite heftily priced at $20 for a small pot. A pot of it has enough to fill 2 bowls so you can do the math on how much it costed per bowl. The squid ink flavour was very apparent in the rice which also had some mushrooms, vegetables and bits of squid. It wasn't bad, just another one of those items that wasn't spectacular.

grilled whale tongue

This grilled whale tongue was from the seasonal menu. Womething I probably will not be ordering again. The taste was not bad. Just unremarkable. The meat has a fatty texture much like satay but the fatty portions was tough and chewy instead of soft. In fact, it was chewier than the beef tongue.

japanese sweet potato

These Japanese sweet potato takes time to grill, so it's good to have them ordered early. Hot and buttered, these will make you hot and bothered. Lol.

grilled beef tongue

Kazu's tiramisu

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.