The raw and the cooked at Tampopo

I'm thinking the cooked food is pretty much what works for me at Tampopo rather than the uncooked ones. Beside from a couple of rice bowls (special mentions to the negitoro don). This pricey chunky cut sashimi turned out to be quite mundane and did nothing to satiate what I missed from the chunky elegance of the late Wasabi Tei. The "toro" quality of the tuna was lacking and instead, a little too sinewy.

On the other hand, the BBQ charshu tonkotsu ramen was almost deeply satisfying. Despite the fact that it didn't taste very much different from their standard Kyushu, black pork rib or their shabu pork renditions. 

End of ramble.

The obento box from Nanbantei today...

Been quite a while since my list visit to Nanbantei for lunch and I predictably ended up with their obento set which featured some of their kushiyaki with rice with toppings. I should try something else the next time just to see if the other options are good. Nothing much has changed. The food was still delicious. I still felt hungry afterwards.

Keisuke Tokyo, Parco Marina Bay

Decided to make the trip down after hearing about this place (9 Raffles Boulevard, #P3-02 Parco Marina Bay, Millenia Walk, tel : +65 6337 7919) and their special prawn based broths for their ramen. From what I gathered, Keisuke's ramen shop has a small chain in Tokyo and is apparently the first outlet outside of Japan. I was a little disappointed after trying the ramen.

The word is that owner/chef had been a chef for French cuisine in Japan for a dozen years. And something about him making shrimp consommé is somehow related to that French background and their ebi ramen. The broth of said ebi ramen tasted much like a greasy prawn noodle soup - albeit one with fancier toppings. Like prawn wanton, chilled chicken slices, pickled vegetables plus some thinly shaven shreds of yuzu which added some extra flavours to the relatively flat broth. 

The thing that I thought enjoyable were those chilled slices of chicken which was kinda like a sober drunken chicken if you catch my drift. The straight yellow noodles were chewy but it wasn't the type that I usually liked in ramen.

Doubt I would make the effort just to come back here again.

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!