A shio iwashi set from Nakajima Suisan

There were a couple of hon maguro parts available last night at Nakajima Suisan and then my eyes fell onto something that was possibly even more uncommon. Freshly grilled sardines with just salt. And I knew I had to order them. 

Was that a good fish? Sure it was. The skin was a nice crisp and the meat was tender and moist and almost boneless. Well, almost because most of those bones were so fine that one could just eat them. What I had enjoyed especially were the regions in the head and the belly just past the gills. Those livery bittersweet dark parts. 

Bakmie and sio may from JTown Cafe

We finally got back to try the bakmie from JTown. This was their bakmie ayam cabe ijo - the one with a green chilli stew and bits of chicken. I liked the green chilli stew. There was sufficient flavour going on to be likeable and heat to keep the flavours interesting. The noodles were okay. Would have like them more springy but they were okay. Wouldn't be in a hurry to come back but I wouldn't mind eating them again if I'm in the vicinity.

The sio may on the other hand I didn't take to. The staff paraphrasing my order had called it siew mai which I guess is what sio may was. It wasn't exactly siew mai as most people here would know of it. It was a sort of fish cake and it wasn't even fish cake that most of us were familiar with. These were basically chewy pieces of flour flavoured with some fish. It was as far removed from what is commonly regarded as fish cake as those mutants from The Hills Have Eyes are from humanity.

A tendon from Kanda Wadatsumi

I don't know if the price had anything to do with it but I'm getting the feeling that this tendon from Kanda Wadatsumi was of a better quality than the one from Tendon Ginza Itsuki just a few minutes walk away. And no, I don't have any proof or appropriate points of comparison. I just felt that there was a noticeable difference in the quality of the tempura for both the ingredient and the batter that they had. Even the pearly beady starch-less rice felt like it was better.

This bowl here had kurumaebi, diamondback squid, takenoko (bamboo shoot) and canola; drizzled with some tempura sauce. The two tiger prawns - separated body and heads were well fried to a nice crisp that none of the shell was chewy.  Bamboo shoots were literally the best I've tasted anywhere (I haven't eaten them that much, so...) and tempura-ed canola was a first time for me.

Their miso soup came with two prawn heads and had flecks of orange bits floating about. I was initially excited thinking that this would be a prawny one, but it just tasted like the regular thing. There wasn't much to suck out of those heads too.

Suigei Sake Salon, Singapore Marriott Tang Plaza Hotel

Long introduction short, this sake lounge (#01-04 Singapore Marriott Tang Plaza Hotel, 320 Orchard Road, tel : +65 6235 5514) is a collaboration between Ginza Sushi Ichi and the sake producer Suigei Shuzo from the Kouchi prefecture located at the ground floor of Marriott. There is a limited menu which comes directly from Ginza Sushi Ichi just next door. Apparently, some of their sets like the chirashi are limited to 5 servings per day only during lunch.

Hokkaido Izakaya, Tanjong Pagar Road

Hokkaido Izakaya (95 Tg Pagar Road, tel : +65 6221 7118) has gotten quite a bit of buzz recently online, so I guess we have gotten intrigued by what they had to offer. What stands them apart from the rest of the izakaya here is that the focus of their food is on Hokkaido produce. Namely what they term as the best imported from the towns Yakumo, Akkeshi, Furano and Kamishihoro.

Japanese styled curry beef rice at home

It's sometimes hard to beat home made stuff. This one had slices of shabu slices of beef on top of the minced meat plus a scoop of secret sambal to up the heat factor. So while Japanese curry cubes were used, it didn't taste exactly like a traditional variety. I dare say this was better.