Matsuo Sushi, Goldhill Plaza

At the behest of several urgings and a few tempting photographs later, I've finally made my way down to Matsuo (1 Goldhill Plaza, #01-17 Goldhill Plaza, Tel: 6356 2603) for their lunch. Matsuo does a daily lunch special, of which on Mondays and Fridays, they're actually chirashi.

For $15, I have certainly nothing to complain with this set that comes with chawanmushi and miso soup. In fact, this turned out to be one of those good recommendations and I'm pretty sure I'll be returning in the not so distant future again. The chirashi as reasonably expected isn't fancy. For this price, I'm not sure if anyone should be expecting so. The blanket of sake, maguro, ebi, amaebi, hotate, hamachi, mekajiki, grilled unagi, a small piece of ika and tamago was definitely of fresh origins and a bigger bang for the buck in this don as compared to anything else which the plethora of pseudo Japanese chain outlets elsewhere is offering. The half prawn and piece of unagi in the chawanmushi was a little pleasant surprise too. Oh, did I mention a fatty unagi it was at that.

Another crack at the walnut...

Lunch with some a.m.i.gos. I remembered that the previous visit here at La Noce (3 Chu Lin Road, S669890, tel : 6877 1986) wasn't one that inspired much confidence. I've convinced myself to give this place another chance to see if things will improve since it's been several months from that last time and sometimes, things change for the better. Sometimes. Two things happened here. I shook hands with Salvatore Catalano. I shook hands with Mia, the Skinny Epicurean. Lol.

The draw for this journey into the obscure part of the west was their fagotino. It's a dumpling based pasta stuffed with pear and cheese which I thought was interesting. This pasta which was made in house came with the option of the regular/boring pomodoro, arrabiata or quattro formmagi sauce. To form, it arrived pretty much like how I imagined it to be. Dumplings of pasta skin filled with cheese and pear. The texture of the fruit was lost along with the sweetness. There was an almost indiscernible fruitiness which was buried under the sauce and cheeses. Could have been a lot better. Funny thing is, the old fried calamari starter was actually pretty good. Crispy batter and chewy insides. That's something that many places can't get right.


The other special of the week was a ravioli stuffed with ricotta and porcini mushrooms. The commendable part was the robust flavour of the mushrooms. The skin seemed a tad undercooked.

Little pig little pig let me in...

This was actually just a little side trip back to Mimigar for small bites and desserts. Apparently I have become quite fond of this orange hue saturated place that plays quirky and sometimes folksy (and sometimes also, strange & harmoniously discordant) Japanese music. The menu has changed a little from the last time I visited but I noticed that they no longer place the otoshi (which they charge $10 per person for) on the table. I guess they must have gotten feedback that it's either too costly or that no one really likes them.



I decided to check out a couple of the cocktail beers which they did not have on their menu previously. Those turned out to be a more delicious than I had expected. The sikuwasa which was actually draft Tiger beer mixed with what is described as Okinawan kalamansi juice turned out to be invigoratingly zesty a drink. There was enough of the kalamansi juice in there that the lime-ish flavour was actually predominant. This was actually addictively pleasing. The glass actually emptied itself before I knew it. The other cocktail beer from the same origins came mixed with tomato juice. This didn't turn out weird in any way at all and the taste was like a mildly carbonated gazpacho of sorts.  I think I might have found new drinks to like.

I mentioned small bites back at the top there so here's the rafute (fatty braised pork belly) and the umi budou (sea grapes) which I enjoyed.


The department of desserts has seen some changes as well. There was a rather enjoyable macha baravoi which isn't on the menu anymore, but we got a brown sugar mousse and red sweet potato ice cream. The brown sugar mousse which was smothered in a blanket of powdered peanut. The brown sugar flavour was quite....subtle. I had thought it to be some peanut mousse if not for the name. There wasn't too much that could be said for the ice cream which tasted slightly butter-y and milky, but then again. Not so much sweet potato flavour in there.

Ryoriya Sangokushi, Robertson Quay

I've walked past Ryoriya Sangokushi (30 Robertson Quay, #01-03 Riverside View, tel: 6238 8962) from time to time. Was told their food was a mixture of Taiwanese and Japanese. I'm not sure which was suppose to come first. There's bottled beer from both countries and the food was very much Chinese styled while a large number of the clientele were Japanese. I'm guessing that there was an element of Okinawan influence in the food as the Okinawa Prefecture extends all the way to Taiwan and the food that hails from that region is very much similar to Chinese food.

The menu item ranges from really affordable ($3 braised meat rice) to a brow raising pricey ($35 for fried oysters). I'm not sure I have the prices figured out here. Food was pretty enjoyable. Would like to come back again another time.

fried rice

deep fried pig liver with garlic

ruo cuo fan (braised spiced pork with rice)

guo tie (minced meat and chives dumpling)

One of the items which we got was the braised pork rice. I love that stuff. The one served here tasted much like the ones served in Peng Lai Ge - more savoury than slightly sweet. The portions were a little smaller than I had expected but it was so good that I could have easily downed two of them. 

There was a pretty good fried rice as well as deep fried pig liver - something I haven't had deep fried before. The guo tie was decent. No as memorable as a local stall at People's Park which were meatier, has more flavourful fillings and crispier skins.

I was hoping to see braised or fried pig intestines on the menu but they didn't have that. And I'll also stick to Asahi over their Taiwan Beer the next time. The coarse bubbly from the Taiwan beer reminds me so much of Tiger.

Yuzu gum candy from Muji

These jellies have the little devils in them that make you subconsciously reach out for the next one after you've had the first and then another. This will only stop when the packet is finished. There's actually very tiny bits of yuzu peel in them jellies too.

Chella's, Take 3

Chella's is fast becoming my current favourite Indian eatery. Little had I expected that for a place that didn't serve meat. Things were still looking pretty good from this third visit in a couple of weeks. What reeled me in were the tasty food, affordable prices and the interesting variety in the menu. Beside a couple of favourites like the kesari bath and the masala teas/milk, I was still finding new things to like.

One of the things that got me excited was the cheese pav bhaji; which was some sort of tangy and spicy mashed vegetable mash with potatoes or lentils. There were a couple of options for this pav bhaji. I picked the one topped with cheese. The bhaji was served with buttered and toasted soft buns and chopped onions on the side which added a very pleasant depth to the spicy dip. I found myself wolfing this stuff down really quickly.

The other notable mention goes to the jeera ghee rice which in spite of its plain appearance, was packed with an amazing fragrance akin to those found in good Chinese fried rice. Was pleasantly surprised by the aroma from this innocuous looking dish. Remember the old Gardenia tune "So good you can even eat it on its own."? That's what they were talking about there.


Over the past few months, I've had a few renditions of gobi manchurians at a few places. I thought the one here would be one of the better tasting ones. Along with the one from Spice Junction. The gobi (cauliflower) was lightly battered and deep fried before being stir fried in the gravy which tasted a little like a garlic-ky kung pao gravy. It would have been perfect if not for the ginger.


These dahi puri are part of what is known as chaat. Snacks by another name. They're spherical taco like shells that were hollow and filled with potato, some chutney and yoghurt before being blanketed by the crispy yellow bits which are known as sev. Each of these balls were a large mouthful to be popped in whole at a time. I liked these.