Back in Kushigin

Kushigin has always been pretty respectable for kushiyaki. The experience here has always been along the lines of 'not bad' rather than 'wow!'. Unlike Kazu which just does a better grill and has a larger variety on a menu that seems more interesting. Food at Kazu also tastes like it's a little bit more on the edge and they give the feel that they're a couple of steps up ahead of Kushigin. That applies even to the bill you're expected to pay at the end.

This place as I perceive it, has always been second fiddle. Little brother to the best. Which reminds me, it's been more than 2 years since I've visited big brother. Time to make plans soon.

otoshi

deep fried cuttlefish legs

pork wrapped asparagus

kurobuta wrapped shimeiji

ankimo

chicken livers

bacon wrapped oysters

cabbages stir fried with mentaiko

chicken skin and chicken gizzard 

  

grilled wagyu

Crispy chicken breakfast from McD

This wasn't half as bad as I had thought, being a mass produced breakfast and all. There seemed to be a lot more of the liquid scrambled egg and this breakfast packed a lot more carbs with both muffins and hotcakes. The crispy chicken was unexpectedly juicy and didn't have an overly thick batter which would have really killed it. I guess if I ever had to choose between this and their Big Breakfast, this would definitely be it.

Gerry's Grill, Cuppage Road

Get a load of those murals of aromatic char, scorched along the sides of the squid. These alone made it worth the wait at Gerry's Grill (Ground floor, StarHub Centre, 51 Cuppage Road, tel : +65 8348 7431). Dare I say that Gerry's here has one of the bigger and better tasting grilled squids in town. It's actually kind of sad for this country that attempts to compete for best aviation services and seaport logistics, while claiming to be first world and yet, created an socioeconomic climate where a affordable and delicious grill squid is a rarity. No need to go figure.

I would come back just to have these mouthfuls of sweet, char grilled and chewy goodness.

Their garlic rice was pretty decent. The flavors of the spice was not over the top and the rice was both light and moist.

Gerry's grilled pork belly was another one of those that shouldn't be passed up on. This was the porky and soy savory take of offerings from their char grills. The meat texture was hearty, doused with smokey flavors and fat on the belly that was slightly chewy. Nothing of those melt in your mouth nonsense here to be found in their down to earth grills.

Yes, these chicharron (deep fried pork rinds) were very good indeed. For something that was deep fried, it certainly tasted neither overly greasy nor heavy even without the vinegar dips. Each mouthful was full of crisp and fragrant porkiness. Needless to say, these would make excellent bar food.

As much as I like San Miguel Light for a light thirst quenching make believe that helps to wash off all that excess cholesterol, the green mango shake here was really a much better option. It was certainly also sweeter than the one at 7107, a place which also charged a lot more for food.

Lau Dai Hua Minced Pork Noodles, Food Opera @ ION Orchard

I wonder if this has any relations with Tai Hwa down at Crawford Lane. The names sound almost alike and the noodles that both stalls used are remarkably similar in appearances. But then again, Tai Hwa still does claim that they do not have any other branches, don't they?

I think latter place has better texture for the noodles and there was vinegar going on where this one simply presented vinegar as an option you could help yourself with. This bowl wasn't cheap as ba chor mee goes, but it tasted pretty good and the larger sized orders are pretty generous. I liked the bits of dried sole they added to the wantons. And yes, soup with bits of minced meat on the side that I actually do bother to drink.

Home made roti john

Re-visiting Pizzeria Mozza

I remember being quite impressed with Pizzeria Mozza from the first visit so here's a second one to reinforce that thought.

Their fried squash blossoms stuffed with ricotta were very good. While I had some idea how they might have tasted, I still ended up pretty impressed. Especially by the savoury and piping hot ricotta cheese. One has to be careful not to pop these things into your mouth too early.

Damn, these oven roasted calamari were fragrant. We picked them today because we remembered their smell from the last visit and they tasted as good as we had expected. Especially the charred bits. I'll be hard pressed not to want to order them again the next time.

I'm not complaining but I thought that the oven roasted bone marrow was quite heavy on the oils. Oil from the unctuous bone marrow and the butter soaked toast that they provided for accompaniment. Great stuff which I loved that had robust flavours. But I dread what it is doing to my arteries.

What drew me to Pizzeria Mozza's bianca with fontina, mozzarella, sottocenere & sage for me was mostly just the sottocenere. I hadn't known what to expect out of it but the truffle flavour from the cheese was a little too mild. The sage broke monotony, While it was a pretty decent pie, it was also quite a bit of nothing for what they were charging.

I was as impressed with the desserts this time round as the previous time. What I thought was great were the rich flavours from the dark chocolate sauce, fragrant caramel with almond brittle and the nice crumble base that was all caught up in the light banana gelato. What really left an impression were the quality of those flavours and the fact that amidst all of that, it was never at any point overly sweet.