Arirang Korean Restaurant, Liang Seah Street

Unusual how we were led to this restaurant (1 Liang Seah Street, #01-07/08 Liang Seah Place, tel : +65 6333 0025). We were looking for a place to eat where we could pay by card because we had run out of cash. Coming in from Beach Road and hungry, this happened to be one of the first places that we came across that looked decent and with the recent Korean food craze we were in, it looked like it was a good idea.

We were quite glad that we gave it a chance despite the initial apprehension I had after seeing the crazy crowd seated indoors for their all you can eat "Korean" BBQ buffet.

We started off with a plate of japchae (sounding suspiciously like a Nonya chap chye) which was a large portion for something that came from the appetizer section. I was initially worried from the first mouthful that the sweet flavour of the vermicelli would become overwhelming like the jajangmyeon experience previously, but the taste actually grew on me. The sweetness were relatively mild and the play of textures between the chewy glass noodles and mix of vegetables were enjoyable. Will definitely put this under a re-order consideration.

The spicy seafood soup here put the one at Crystal Jade Ginseng Chicken to shame. It was a notch spicier. In the unassuming pot of orange broth beneath the vegetables and tofu, were 4 large prawns, mussels, fish and squid. In spite of being slightly overcooked, the natural sweetness of the prawns came through. This soup was a daily special of the week and the setback for it was an affordable $10. Considering that it came with rice and refills of banchan, I thought it was a pretty good deal.

What took us by surprise for the spicy beef soup was the beefiness in the broth which we had assumed would be subdued by the spiciness. Again, another interesting bunch of textures coming from the meat, sprouts, spring onions, egg and vermicelli. The fact that there wasn't really that much beef in them didn't even matter.

I think I'm willing to overlook the mediocre banchan and come back again.

Your Woul, Goldhill Centre

We liked the food at this place (165 Thomson Road, Goldhill Centre, tel : +65 6251 0123) enough that we came back for seconds on the very next day to do dinner again. The crowd on the weeknights helped convince us that we were eating at some place right.  But service sure did become very spotty once it got crowded. It was rather difficult to get any attention during those peak hours, especially with the refills of the banchan. There was definitely some preferential treatment going on around here. I'm serious.

Service aside, the food was unpretentiously hearty. A couple of notables from the banchan included the smoky sweet radish and fragrant fried anchovies. I haven't yet mastered the subtleties of kimchi. To me they were pretty much just a variation of different levels of sour and spiciness, so I couldn't really comment if it was good.

1st night

We opted for a kimchi jigae and a aal-bab set. The latter a stone rice bowl that came topped with what looked like tobiko. I guess what I liked about the spicy kimchi soup was the bodied aroma apart from just the obvious sour and spicy flavours. It was almost like there was miso in them. The aal-bab was a reminiscence of Chinese claypot rice with a medley of flavour from the pickled vegetables, seaweed and burnt bits of rice off the sides. Apart from the occasional pop between the teeth, I couldn't get much out of the fish roe.

2nd night

On the returning night, we grabbed a dong tae tang which was a pollack soup and a spicy stew of baby octopuses and pork belly. Beside the hassle of having to remove endless amounts of fine fish bones off the pollack, the food was all tasty with the sweet and savoury almost miso like quality of the soup filled with the big headed bean sprouts which I liked. Same for the nutty and spicy gravy which the sliced pork belly and octopus came in. The gravy from the latter made me order extra portions of rice.

I would love to come by for more of the food here. But I suppose it is time for me to give the other places a chance.

Crystal Jade Ginseng Chicken & BBQ, Ngee Ann City

Here was an opportunity to get reacquainted with some Korean food and even though this Crystal Jade (391 Orchard Road, #04-20 Ngee Ann City, tel : +65 6733 3229) might not have been the best place to start, it was convenient. The setup was much like many Korean outfits. There were tables fitted with a grill for meats. Things got moving after orders with a serving of banchan. I loved those big headed bean sprouts there.

The stewed beef ribs was pretty good at the start with generous portions and caramelized bits. After a few pieces, the sweetness became cloying and it started becoming a chore to finish. The meat was not as tender as I was hoping for and they certainly weren't the type that slid of the bone easily. Wasn't something that I disliked, but one could just eat a little before the taste became monotonous. Definitely for sharing between more than 2-3 persons.

Faring better in my opinion was the spicy seafood and tofu soup. The combination of savoury and spiciness definitely helped offset the sweetness from the ribs. I was actually expecting a larger variety of seafood from the name of the soup but I guess it was just shrimps and squid.

A Hamburg rosti from Shokudo

This was surprisingly not bad. I've never really given much though to this Marché styled, pseudo Japanese food market (252 North Bridge Road, #B1-44E Raffles City Shopping Centre, tel : +65 6837 3793) but in the midst of it all, there was actually something simple that appealed to facets of my craving. It could have been the buttery yet crispy rosti which was tasty or the nicely salted and grilled beef patty strapped with the grill aroma and bits of fragrant onion in them. Was definitely not the best of beef patties, but I wasn't expecting anything remarkable in the first place. I guess it did the job for a quick fix. 

What tasted strange was the sour cream on the side which had a texture like beaten cream from eggs instead of the usual kind.

Entre-nous Creperie, Seah Street

This was a Brittany based crepe place (27 Seah Street, #01-01, tel : +65 6333 4671) that I've been wanting to check out for a while. It probably wasn't so much of a coincidence that watching Bourdain in Brittany recently also helped ignite my interest in them. My previous experience with French crepes educated me that I probably shouldn't be visiting one of them if I'm seriously hungry. Even though they weren't exorbitantly expensive, the weren't filling either and it could get pretty expensive adding up.

la belle, -ile -en mei

i'ile aux moines

We started off with a couple of the cheesy (yes!) galettes. One that was curiously named i'ile aux moines which means 'island with the monks'? It definitely moved with the right notes in me as there was a pretty generous layer of creamy Roquefort on the insides exuding an aroma of the blue cheese. Perhaps the metaphorical monks being referred to here are the bits of walnuts that added textural character. The other galette was filled with a pungent (and nicely so) and creamy goat cheese drizzled with honey had me sold as well.

entre nous (salted caramel butter)

lemon and sugar

The crepes weren't too bad. Not that I'm any authority of these pancakes but I'd give them a small thumbs up for their flavours. The salted caramel was a robust buttery sweet and savoury piece while the lemon with sugar crepe came with freshly squeezed lemon juice that added a refreshing tart to the bits of sweetness from the sugar. Will definitely consider coming back again someday.

Chikuwa Tei, Mohd Sultan Road

Rising from the ashes of the old Wasabi Tei is Chikuwa Tei (9 Mohamed Sultan Road, #01-01, tel : +65 6738 9395).

Clearly, this place would be of interest to the people who once clamored to the drab 16 seater that once graced Far East Plaza. This new location by the former chef looked almost nothing like before and it seems that quite a bit has changed.

For one there was a larger menu now in the restaurant and there were actually a few wait staff manning the current premise which is much more spacious than before. The place even accepts reservations these days it seems. Changes as they were, did not come totally and some remnants of the old trademark of the now smiley chef could still be seen. Hell, even the cuts of the raw fish looked like before and their ankimo still looked like the maimed chunk of discolored wet clay.

After a few orders, one could also say that the quality of the food did not change but however, portions have become a little less generous and prices have gone up. Certainly, some of the dishes which I've never had the chance to order still came in rather large portions. Noticeably the hearty and comforting oyaku don which came a in a large steaming bowl of rice laden with the sweetish egg, chicken and onion over the top and a very nicely grilled squid which wasn't shabby at all. There were even the seasonal sawagani (small deep fried river crabs) which were lightly salted and nicely crispy and crabby in flavors.

Still, I think I would have preferred the old and regularly overlooked stall back in the day where one could not call up for a seat and had to queue 45 minutes in line waiting for the moment when either the chef of the wife would give the signal that we could enter and be seated. The slightly frantic but subdued shuffling of 16 pairs of feet into the restaurant where customers would quietly eye each other across the U shaped table as they got quickly to the seats and ordered quickly and then proceeded for the next wait over the preparation of the food.

What I had missed about that experience was a sort of anticipation of the unknown coming from the once dreaded service with a scowl.

sawagani

ankimo

sake

amaebi

oyaku don set

chirashi set

cod hot pot set

grilled squid