Tonkatsu Ginza Bairin, ION Orchard

Out of the numerous food outlets that has popped out of ION, this shop (2 Orchard Turn, #B4-39/40 ION Orchard, tel : +65 6509 8101) which originated from the Ginza district of Tokyo was one of those that had caught my attention. It also turned out to be one of the better eats in the overwhelming sea of stalls (Arinco King just dropped out of the map here so they don't count). 

While they don't look to be in the leagues of places like Tonkichi or Tampopo or even Romantic Kobe, I think they're still decent. I might have to come back again (which I probably will) to be sure since the hire katsu that came with my rice bowl option was smothered in the sweet and savoury soy sauce that led to a soggy breaded exterior. Still the filet was quite tender and nicely marinated through. Portions were generous and there was a tasty tonjiru soup on the side that had thinly sliced strips of pork belly in them.

There was also a pork rice bowl which wasn't as small as we were led to believe that was not bad (though not as awesome as the one at Baikohken). Meat was a little dry-ish. And some cheese katsu sandwich which featured very thin slices of cheese that couldn't be tasted. While so, the breaded pork was good and a better sandwich could probably not be found in the building. I'll might come back to try the unagi katsu another time.

Some Wagyu pastrami sandwiches from Moomba Tuckshop

These were suppose to be a wagyu pastrami and a roast beef sandwich from Moomba Tuckshop (4 Battery Road, #B1-01 Bank Of China Building, tel : +65 6536 5235), but the lady working at the counter apparently grabbed the same wagyu pastrami for both sandwiches when the pile of roast beef was actually sitting near the pastrami. I didn't think it was worth the time to correct the order and ended up with 2 similar sandwiches with different bread options. The fillings differed only between the sauerkraut and chopped onions. Otherwise, the pastrami was actually a Reuben. What's happening here?

Still, I would suppose that this place offered one of the better tasting and decently decked sandwiches. Would have preferred more generosity with the fillings though. The pastrami did taste spiced and were pronounced even when it had to contend with the sauerkraut and mustard dressing. And at the region of $18 after adding a coffee, I am guessing this place wouldn't be a regular quick lunch option with the sub $5 places nearby even if I worked around the corner.

The Illy's coffee here in this place was quite bad too.

Takoyaki from the Kyushu Fair @ Isetan

Because scallion toppings taste better than bonito flakes!

Imperial Treasure Noodle and Congee House, ION Orchard

Well, this is definitely an overdue post which I've put off writing for quite a few weeks already. What started off as an entry for a visit to Imperial Treasure (2 Orchard Turn, #B3-17 ION Orchard, tel : +65 6509 8283) has become a culmination of a few visits because getting on with this took much longer than I had expected. Still, it has marked the fact that I've found a pretty good place for Hong Kong styled food and dim sum to that I won't be thinking of getting back to Crystal Jade outlets anytime in the near future since this was very much better in terms of variety and for some instances, quality.

poached noodles with prawn roe

These noodles were something I missed having when I visited Hong Kong a few months back and I was pretty surprised to find them here. They turned out to be much like I expected with the powdery prawn roe providing a savoury flavour with a hint of crustacean sweetness over springy noodles. The noodles were of course not as good as I had unrealistically hoped for. There was something about their texture that didn't quite feel as springy.

bbq chicken liver with honey sauce

These barbequed livers were also another good find. Despite the method of cooking that resulted with the insides being well cooked, the livers still tasted creamy. Imagine liver versions of char siew. That was pretty much what these were.

cheong fun with pork liver

There were a variety of fillings for the cheong fun and the pork liver option came generously stuffed with the livers. It wasn't so much the novelty than the option of it that made this restaurant appealing to me and having innards stuffed into rice rolls definitely rings an attractive chime.

deep fried pig intestines

These deep fried intestines were really good. Crispy on the skin and lightly chewy and greasy on the insides, filled with a healthy amount of that porcine intestine flavour that wasn't overwhelming. If I had to gripe, it would have to be with the portions

har gao

The har gaos from Imperial Treasure are a little smaller than the usual ones but they still tasted decently good and were a lot more juice filled than the regular ones as well.

pan fried radish cake

Pan fried radish cakes were creamily textured and had would have done much better if the skin had a little more crisp. But I'm not complaining here at all. I've been ordering this almost every visit.

xiao long bao

Juicy and decently tasty, I think that these dumplings are a match for the over rated ones from Din Tai Fung which seems to see declining standards over the years.

egg tarts

The egg tarts were freshly made as we had to wait 20 minutes for them. I am able to attest that freshly made, these were definitely one of the better ones that I've had locally. They arrived almost scalding on a crispy crust that wasn't to heavy with the grease.

beef brisket e-fu noodles

I'm not usually a soup noodle person but I had to try the ones here as they had e fu noodle options which I don't remember seeing elsewhere apart from the trip down to Kau Kee last year. Keeping in mind that Kau Kee was suppose to be a landmark for beef brisket noodles, I found myself liking the ones here much better. For one, there was a greater proportion of the beef stew soup resulting in a much better flavour. To gripe, I only wished that the noodles were less well cooked.

roasted duck

The roasted duck was a little disappointing, tasting quite ordinary and lacking in the department of tenderness for some portions of the meat. The skin was sufficiently crispy, but lacking in the underlying layer of fat which could have better enhanced the flavour. I would definitely pick one of my favorites down at Circular Road over this.

salted yolk custard bun

We get some pretty good salted egg buns here. Not that I've been going around eating them but I thought that there were pretty well done, having had some terrible renditions before.

dumplings in chilli oil

Honestly, I've had better and the spiciness was really questionable since it wasn't really so at all. An note to myself to avoid ordering these again.

chee cheong fun with fish and century egg

This was probably not one of the better options for fillings in the rice rolls. The fish didn't taste exceptionally fresh and was rather flaky. There wasn't that much of the century egg to go around so here's something that I can strike off for the subsequent visits.

Viet Inn, Circular Road

pho

hu tieu mi

goi cuon

The recent streak of craving for soup noodles led us down to Viet Inn (49 Circular Road, tel : +65 6536 1847) which apparently has been operating for a number of years. There was a relatively enjoyable pho bo that would have been more enjoyable if it had a beefier tasting broth and a specialty call hu tieu mi - a prawn and sliced pork noodle that featured thin and chewy egg noodles that reminded me of those from wanton mee. The texture of those egg noodles was unfortunately not as Q as I had imagined. The broth of hu tieu mi was pretty tasty but I was unable to identify what made it so besides the pork and fried shallots. Maybe it was just MSG.

We found the goi cuon to be pretty good. Those rolls were loaded with ingredients and the accompanying bean dip with crushed peanuts helped make these fat rolls more tasty.

A taste of Burgundy...

This visit happened at Bistro Du Vin because I was informed by a little bird that the consultant chef Maria Goncalves from Burgundy was to be in this weekend and that she would be whipping up some of her own food which was off the regular menu. I got interested and got table for lunch in the weekend.

We started off with a zucchini minestrone with prawns and poached eggs and a pasta and broccoli in skate wing broth. 

The former was different from the commonly seen minestrone from the lack of tomatoes in the soup. The flavours in the light vegetable broth came mostly from the bits of bacon which accented it with savoury smokiness. Upping the ante for this soup were a couple of crunchy textured prawns and a wobbly poached egg. 

The pasta in skate wing broth was also delicious. Soup based pastas aren't generally a thing for me. This one surpassed what I had expected. Robust and flavourful with bits garlic, highlights of poached tomatoes and some spiciness from red chilli. As if accentuate how much we had enjoyed this, we had to ask for extra bread to mop the plate dry with.

After a warm up from the delicious soups, came the braised veal knuckle with ratatouille and a roasted duck breast with foie gras and truffles sauce. 

The former looked to me much like an osso buco rather than a veal knuckle, complete with the boned in middle that contained that precious scrap of oesophagus clogging marrow. The meat was expectedly, "fall off the bone" tender that one could just attack with a mere fork. 

Well done also were the thinly sliced tender roasted duck breast, medium done and lying in a pool of very fragrant truffle sauce. The accompanying slices of foie gras weren't as impressive as I would have liked, but the highlight was the nicely done duck in the sauce. Would be really great if this ever turned up on the regular menu.

This dessert was known as Poires Belle Hélène. A spiced poached pear with vanilla bean ice cream, slathered with melted dark chocolate and shaved almond flakes. I liked that the fruit still retained a little hint of crunch in the texture and the rest of the dessert tasted pretty much as it looked. In a good way that is.