The Hitsuji Club, Circular Road

The Hitsuji Club (65 Circular Road, tel : +65 6221 3789) opened about 5 years or so ago and remains one of a few true lamb specialist on this island.  They're from Hokkaido and serve Hokkaido styled Jingiskan/Jingisukan yakiniku which is their take on the Mongolian styled grill. 

Suntory draft is available. Something I nursed while keeping our mouths busy with their otsumami while waiting for the real eating to begin.

We ordered their premium Jingiskan with lamb chop set.

Otsumami included lamb sashimi. This was the fillet which was served with shoyu and a sesame oil with salt dip. Those raw lamb fillet had texture that was akin to a chewier tuna (akami). Didn't taste like tuna though. Tasted like red meat to me but I couldn't quite positively identify them as lamb.

This was the iburigakko with cream cheese. Smoked radish. These were made in a process involving smoking the vegetable before the actual pickling. A style of making pickles from the northern Akita prefecture because of the cold climate. Tasted like a smoky takuan.

The table side grill was prepared by the server using rendered fat from lamb as the oil. We basically just ate what was ready as it was doled out.

Servings of the lamb rotated between the tender fillet...

...and the loin. And the vegetables in between and along the way. The eringi and the pumpkin were my favourite since they were the ones that managed to retain a nice balance from the flavour of the lamb fat and its own.

The more exiting part of the grill involved the lamb chops. The meat was partially cooked before the fatty outer layer was sliced out. That slice of fat was later cubed and then cooked till it was crispy like fried pork lard. This sure was heavy. Deliciously heavy.

The server grilling our meats got a nice char on those chops which were pretty good. Believe it or not, we got lamb-ed out from this dinner. As much as we enjoyed it, we were stuffed in the end and to the point that we'd be staying off any lamb for a while. Just a while.

Paneer uttapam from Kebabs 'n Curries

I noticed that there was a paneer uttapam on the menu the last time we were here Kebabs 'n Curries so that's what it looked like. A crispy orangey yellowy crusty pancake. 

Could definitely taste some of the crumbled paneer that was sprinkled all over the uttapam but I couldn't figure out what the other colours were. I did think that the yellows resembled egg but I don't think those were. Anyway, didn't get much of the paneer experience from this uttapam - which was a little disappointing. Today's coconut chutney was too gingery for me too.

Kabayan Filipino Restaurant, Lucky Plaza

We were in the vicinity and had lunch at Kabayan Filipino Restaurant (#03-25 Lucky Plaza, 304 Orchard Road). I've heard of them for some time and have been wanting to check out their food. Which is done cafeteria styled like Sari Ratu or Minang House where one picks dishes of their choice to go with rice.

Food's not bad. The options were a little overwhelming so in the short moments of agonizing over what to pick, I ended up with a plate with longanisa (sweet sausage), lechon kawali (roasted pork belly) and some long beans in a vinegar sauce. The latter was dangerously appetizing while that longanisa reminded me of 台湾香肠. Pork belly wasn't so crispy but I didn't quite mind that.

Also liked also their peanut-ty kare kare with tripe that came with a side of bagoong which was pretty awesome with either the stew or on rice with everything else. Gotta come back another time to see what else is good.

Todamgol Todamgol to buy a fat pig...

We've gotten a little bit wiser with the ordering at Korean restaurants. But wiser still we must be. Here's some recent eats from Todamgol.

We've tried their bossam previously, liked it but we were also curious about their jokbal. A combo platter resolved it by giving us both. Both the boiled belly and knuckle were pretty good especially paired with their nutty ssamjang and salty saeujeot. The portions were huge.

There was an option to top up $10 for oyster kimchi. We thought that it would replace the regular kimchi but these came in a separate serving. Not bad. Between the banchan, the bossam/jokbal platter and this, we had a lot of kimchi.

Tried chueo tang for the first time. It's boiled loach soup. The method of preparation resulted in the fish being pretty much disintegrated from all the boiling. All that was of it was just a gritty texture in the soup. Which became a bit tastier after we've put in some of the saeujeot.

Non-fried fish soup noodles from The Ship

It does exist. Most people who end up with an order of their fish soup noodles at The Ship get the fried fish option. Which is a good eat. This non-fried option came with what looked to be thicker and firm slices of boiled snakehead that was equally delicious in its own ways. One can up the ante with a spicy warmth by introducing a few slices of the chilli padi they provide on the side into the milk infused broth. 

Li Bai, Sheraton Towers

I've been wanting to come to Li Bai (Level 1 Sheraton Towers, 39 Scotts Road, tel : +65 6839 5623) for a long time. The restaurant is located at the basement of Sheraton Towers even though the address puts them on the first level. To the food...

This was a dim sum lunch. Had their century egg and pork porridge. Pretty good. I did not expect to like their crunchy fried crullers (油条) as I generally don't enjoy crunchy fried crullers.

The menu described their har gow to include bamboo shoots. Couldn't taste any of those. The prawn stuffing was springy and full of bite but was also absent of sweetness.

Their scallop and white asparagus dumplings were pretty good though. I thought they managed to achieve a balance of two delicate flavours pretty well with these.

Siew mai was delicious. The flavours of the ingredients were defined in a way that each of the ingredients were individually identifiable, enjoyable and came together nicely.

Chicken claws were slurp off the bone tender. I was surprised that the flavour from the skin was lacking though.

I ordered this because it was called Californian orange chicken. Or something like that. It's fried chicken that stir fried with a sweet and sour sauce that's presumably made with oranges. It's actually kinda nice in the same way sweet and sour pork are.

Deep fried pig intestines had light and crispy skin. Not bad tasting these were.

These crystal dumplings with mixed vegetables (碧绿水晶饺) were outstanding. I'm guessing that the vegetables were stir fried before being stuffed into those crystal skins and subsequently steamed. So filled with flavour. Smoky and savoury would be good words to describe them. I'd come back just for these.

In Li Bai, I have found the fish paste noodles that I've been searching for a long time. Fish paste noodles that were made on order, scorched in the wok before being tossed in the stock with the other ingredients. In this case, the other ingredients were some plump prawns and mushrooms.

Flavour and texture was pretty much what I had been looking for. They've outdone Imperial Treasure Fine Teochew Cuisine. I'd come back here for these too.

Stuffed as we were, we managed some black sesame dumplings coated in peanut powder.