CoCo Ichibanya, 313 Somerset

Tenderloin and oyster set from Saboten

It seems that this wasn't the first time that Saboten had these seasonal oyster promotions where one could order sets of their tonkatsu paired with oysters. And pretty large oysters they served here, expertly breaded and deep fried to the point where it wasn't excessively greasy and the crust maintained crisp throughout. These large oysters that are on their seasonal menu now were large, fat, creamy and juicy. These must be Hiroshima oysters right?

Itacho, itacho, itacho.......

I've to admit that Itacho Sushi makes a very good quick fix for Japanese food. It wouldn't be the type of place where one gets top notch items, but we do get what we pay for. That being said, one also does get some of the fun stuff that might not be altogether a traditional item from Japanese foodlore, but is probably very much contemporary menu items tempered from a loose basis of the rich history of Japanese cuisine.

My ususal/boring selection of ankimo again. I love this stuff.

Smoked duck croquettes which wasn't too spectacular for me. Lacked much of the smoked duck flavors.

This is one of the fun stuff that I was mentioning above. Deep fried oysters with udon. I was initially quite apprehensive since it was fried oysters and I haven't had much that was really worthy of mentions. These ones were surprisingly decent. The oysters were coated in a light batter, fat and not dried out. Not tempura styled. But still tasty. The second surprise came from the udon which looked to me like a bore. I mean, tomato sauce?

The tomato sauce, which wasn't of any pre-made variety was actually pretty damned good. It was honestly, a very surprising enjoyable blend of tart, garlic, sweetness from the onions and a healthy dash of accompanying heat. I liked it even though the noodles weren't as QQ. I think what mattered was that the sauce tasted fresh.

The tempura ebi sushi with curry powder was served literally. But I was glad that they tempura-ed the shrimp much better than I was expecting out of a crowded main street joint like this.

Engawa. Cheap, greasy and not too bad.

I'm not sure what kind of wagyu Itacho uses, but it was definitely a passably decent aburied sushi. One notices the nice fatty marbling.

Inari pouchs are a guilty pleasure for me. This spicy sakura ebi variety that Itacho did didn't really taste spicy at all. In fact, the dominant flavors came from the sweetness of the beancurd skin. The unexpected burst of flavor, came from the dried or toasted sakura ebi. That was nice.

Their aburi foe gras sushi wasn't what I had in mind. The slice of foie gras was a little too thin. Any possibility of a creamy innard was lost. To be fair, the torched crust was nicely done.

Another of those fun stuff were their stuffed tamago. These ones were stuffed with curry mayo lobster. It wasn't a particularly spicy curry actually. It tasted more creamy and the textures from the bites did unveil little chunks of lobster. Maybe it was crayfish. I couldn't tell.

Another fun sushi of mayo lobster on a sake roll.


Next fun stuff, tobiko and cream cheese. This was quite nice.

Another guilty pleasure. Figuratively. Though there really isn't any of that guilt element in there.

Morton's this year

mystery diner "A"

Whole pork fillet tonkatsu and tempura asari from Tampopo

It seems that every time we visit Tampopo, these guys would come up with something new on their tonkatsu menu. The foie gras stuffed rendition which I had from the last time seemed to have become a permanent item on menu now. There's been so much items on the menu that I haven't actually ordered anything twice from their selection of fried pork cutlets. This time round, they have come up with what appeared to be the whole tenderloin for a small pig!

 

The katsu was covered in a golden brown breading. The lean meat didn't have much flavour but was quite tender and juicy. Sauces and dips on the side made up for for the taste. Nothing that a little squeeze of lemon or a dip of shoyu or ponzu dressing couldn't fix.

We got an order of the asari tempura for novelty's sake. Never had tempura clams with the shell on before. They tasted much like how they looked. The tempura batter was nothing to write home about. For those few clams that arrived, the dish didn't represent good value from what the restaurant charged for them.

Lee Kui (Ah Hoi) Restaurant, Mosque Street

This restaurant (8/9/10 Mosque Street, tel : +65 6222 3654) is an institution for rustic Teochew food.

pork aspic

We started off with an order of pork in aspic. Little chunks of pig trapped in a chilled gelatinous stock. This would be considered an Asian cold cut of sorts which is unfortunately, not commonly found anymore. I was glad to discover that the flavour of the stock could be found in the jelly surrounding the meat.

liver rolls and prawn balls (hae cho)

The next dish that was to quickly follow were assorted deep fried rolls of liver and chestnut along with prawn balls. I was expecting more liver-y flavour from the liver rolls, but the taste was quite moderated. Both the rolls and balls were pretty tasty and weren't excessively greasy.

Teochew styled braised duck

There was also a plate of braised duck in dark sauce which is one of the hallmarks of Teochew cuisine. It was quite tasty, but I wouldn't say that it's one of the better ducks that we've had.

oyster omelette

The oyster omelette was a winner here. Unlike the common variety that one can find in hawker centres, there isn't any flour involved in the omelette. It was a hundred percent slab of fried beaten egg that was topped with semi-cooked small fat oysters and spring onion leaves.

sea cucumber stuffed with minced pork patty

The texture of the sea cucumber was a little chewy but no real complains here about this dish. At what the restaurant charged, I am guessing that they aren't of the top tier quality sea cucumbers.

cold crab

Cold crabs were pretty good. The flesh was a little stiff from the cold but tasted sweet. The bodies were filled with heady tasting crab fat (tomally).

orh nee

Dessert was another tradition item of yam paste with sweetened pumpkin and ginko nuts. No lard and fried shallots in there for the aroma but I guess it was still one of the better done ones outside of a pricey Chinese restaurant.