Ohsho, Cuppage Plaza

I've been to Ohsho (5 Koek Road, #01-10 Cuppage Plaza) once some years back for ramen and noticed the food at this counter styled eatery which featured Japanese dishes and cooking that reminded more more than a little of zi char. Have wondered if that was Japanese styled Chinese or Chinese styled Japanese? I'm guessing that it's a fusion of both if I had to put a label onto it. It's probably more Japanese than Chinese though. Run by a bunch of Chinese guys that does the cooking and overseen by one other Japanese dude that was probably in charge. Tucked in a little corner by the entrance of Cuppage Plaza, this cosy shop sees their share of crowd during the meal hours.


The menu features a bunch of stir fried dishes, a selection of ramen & fried rice and various set combinations of the a la carte items. There is a set dinner which always seem to be available for $16 which consists of a delicious fried rice, omelette with vegetables and crab sticks, stir fried pork with onions and bell peppers, breaded fried prawn, mashed potatoes, some shredded cabbage with mayo dressing and a bunch of gyoza. The portions of that set is pretty substantial and the fried rice with minced pork here is pretty good stuff. There is also wok hei.

Their gyoza were pretty decent, if unexceptional. Skins were nicely browned, a little greasy and the insides were hot and juicy. The condiments that were available for them included white vinegar, a chilli paste and something that's labelled as gyoza sauce which I didn't try. The vinegar however, went well with the dumplings especially when paired with the chilli paste which had a noticeable kick and added zest. I think I prefer Chinese pot stickers (guo tie) over these though. Maybe, I just haven't had really good gyozas. The char siew ramen wasn't noteworthy except for those tasty char siew slices. The noodle weren't of the type that I liked and their broth didn't come across as outstanding.

Chocolate and banana prata from Spize

I've passed this place (409 River Valley Road) on several occasions, but never really stopped by until today. And I realised that this location is probably really good for the post-clubbing crowd in the vicinity. The menu at Spize essentially featured commonly found local Muslim food like mee gorengs, pratas and et cetera. There is a variety of pratas on the menu which includes some of the common renditions, specialties and dessert pratas. I tried the chocolate and banana prata which turned out to be pretty much how I thought it might have been. This was actually not bad. Semi melted banana slices and chocolate sauce drizzled generously over the top of a freshly made prata. The crispy surface doesn't stay so for very long though.

One cool evening with three Hot Bitches

That's what Wild Oats (Emily Hill, 11 Upper Wilkie road) calls their hot dogs and in the face of perspective, according to a friend whom was present, "These aren't hot bitches, they are just bitches". Really, I have reasonably expected more out of the poor show from Buffy, Dizzi and Sassi. The bitches arrived barely lukewarm and the buns weren't even toasted at all. Now remove all sexual connotations to whatever you've just read. This is a food blog if you remember. The toppings are really, not much to speak of apart from the novelty of having things like creamed peas which really doesn't do much to the dog apart from aesthetic color contrast for the toppings. Peas aren't exactly the strongest tasting of things and having them on sausages with spicey beef sauce already isn't exactly going to add much of a dimension if at all to the flavor. The caramelized onions and mustard were pretty regular tasting and I thought that it would probably be easier if the regular chopped variety were used instead. I must also mention the $6.50 plate of miserable looking and overfried crickle cut fries which looks like the frozen variety that can be purchased from any supermarket. Yikes, and to think that Wild Rocket and this place are related? Who's da boss in the kitchen?

"buffy"

"dizzi"

"sassy"

.

more of my home made pizzas...

One of the random things I made at home. If you recall on the previous occasions, I don't actually make them from scratch. This time round, it's the same brand of frozen pizza with spinach topping....AND additional stuff which I thought would be good to have. I'm talking about shaven breakfast ham, sundried tomatoes, generous sprinkles of grated parmesan & mozzarella and an egg. I was actually pretty surprised that the egg was still runny when the pizza was done, having spent the same amount of time spread out on the top in the oven.

Da Paolo Il Giardino, Cluny Court

I was taken in by the location of this place (501 Bukit Timah Road,#01-05, Cluny Court) which was secluded in the back of the row of shop houses just beside Serene Centre along the junction of Bukit Timah and Adam Road. Funny thing was, there was the huge sign stood just beside the bamboo lined and stone paved walkway. Which was so obvious and I had actually overlooked it before realizing that the innocuous path had actually lead to a shaded sanctuary which was the restaurant.

The starter for lunch was the portobello al forno which were grilled portobello mushroom caps topped with mozzarella cheese, basil and rosemary on some spinach leaves and cherry tomatoes. The mushroom tasted pretty much like how it looked. Was pretty juicy. After having had the magic mushroom from the Original Sin, I found it hard to find better portobellos from anywhere else. I know it's not a very fair comparison here.



Didn't take note of the pasta names but the ingredients pretty much speak for themselves. This duck liver tagliatelle was an outstanding pasta. Well flavoured in the oils of the pan fried liver tossed in cherry tomatoes and sliced mushrooms. The liver wasn't the regular quivery foie gras but it was close and not overcooked. I didn't expect anything less than al dente there for the noodles and it didn't disappoint being firm and of sufficient bite.


This other tagliatelle was tossed in a tomato cream sauce with vodka. Couldn't actually taste any of the liquor in the sauce. I was hoping for a hint of it. That sauce though was rich and flavourful and loaded with minced crab meat. Flavour of that crab was also all over. Definitelysomething that I could return for again.


Don't pass up on tiramisu because it's just so much better than most other places. I'll be lazy here and skip the description because I've already done it previously. Suffice it is to say that the one here is good.

A return to Yoshida

I came back again for lunch because the chiraishizushi was so memorable. I think I got some fish liver today which wasn't in the box the last time I was here. The chutoro seemed to melt more smoothly. I was wondering if that was psychological for the chutoro part. Everything was as good as I remembered it. I'll be hard pressed to want to pick anything else from the lunch menu if I come back again and I'm wondering if this was a good thing or not. Lol. If I really had to find a fault here, it'll probably be the pickled ginger which I was quite willing to overlook. The sashimi moriawase (I believe there was salmon, hamachi, maguro and a juicy scallop) turned up smaller than I had expected. I didn't get to taste it but it looked as good if not as impressive as the chiraishizushi box. And not to forget, the wonderful chilled onsen tamago in yuzu infused soy sauce. Mouthwatering is god damned right!