24 Mar 2012 - Yomenya Goemon and Genki Sushi

Had wanted to have ramen, but there were long queues everywhere, Tampopo, Ippudo... so they ended up at 313@Somerset.

Opted for Gomenya Goemon, since they hadn't tried it before. The display window "hinting" at what they serve.


She got a "half and half" set of vongole and carbonara. Came with soup, and choice of dessert or drink. $20++.

A cup of soup served while waiting for the carbo-treat.


Her set was the first to arrive. The vongole bianco was delicious, with the appetizing aroma of garlic and herb.


The carbonara with egg yolk sitting pretty in the middle looked even more inviting. After mixing in the yolk, it was a richness indescribable. So good the thought of lapping of the gravy crossed mind.


Finally, his cuttlefish ink pasta arrived to made his lips black like he had been poisoned. Doesn't look appetizing? Looks can be deceiving. The sprinkle of tasty dried fish roe was well received, complimenting the already fragrant garlic and olive oil base. This set $16++ came with a drink and a bowl of salad. Which reminds him, the salad also had tasty bits, which he suspects to be dried fish.


Matcha jelly and ice cream for dessert.


Afterwards, she kept nagging about sashimi, something she had done daily for some weeks. Sick.

Went to next door to Genki Sushi, Orchard Central to finish up.

Orders arrived on a rocket.


Could never do without refreshingly cold salmon sashimi $5.80++.


Seared black pepper salmon, $2.30++


Salmon rolls $5.80++. Can't get enough of the flavorsome salmon roe.


Also ordered one botan shrimp sushi each, $5.80++ per shrimp. Flesh looks really smooth, texture was firmer than amaebi and the flesh was also quite sweet.


Came with the head, deep-fried so that you could finish it all up. This one came blind in one eye though. No discount.


Her botan shrimp "reanimated".


There's one last dish of whole sea eel, but the picture's nowhere to be found. Also $5.80++.

That's all, folks.

20 Mar 2012 - Dian Xiao Er

They had the Set A the last time they visited Dian Xiao Er. This time round, he picked Set B ($38++) - consisting of Steamed Rice, Roasted Duck with Ten Wonder Herbs, Stir-fried Chinese Yam and Black Fungus, Mongolian Spare Ribs, and Soup of the Day was corn and carrot soup. He found the soup a little too oily, but that could have been contributed by the spare ribs in the soup.


The pork ribs were succulent, slathered generously with sauce. Tasted a little like satay sauce, except that it was a little spicy and saltier.


Chinese yam was refreshingly crunchy, the mom usually cooks this in soup until it has a soft texture.


Roast duck, one of his favourite meats. Preferred the Angelica herb sauce to this "Ten Wonder Herb" sauce. Meat was tender and skin was crispy, perfect duck meat.

18 Mar 2012 - Itacho Sushi

A la carte order of salmon $3.60++, fatty tuna belly $22.50++, swordfish belly $10.50++ and sweet shrimp $9.60++.


Fuji set, $27.50++.


Assorted sushi of the Fuji set.


Smoked duck, $3.00++, very smokey flavor and had a ham-my texture, unlike most dry and rough duck meat.


Salmon lobster roll $7.20++. Hmm what did the health column say about putting cooked food and raw food together? Enjoyed this anyway.

17 Mar 2012 - Army mates reunion at The Square. Furama Riverfront

Decided on the place again for its 1-for-1 promotion, for a total of 6 people.

No more snow crab legs this time round though, quite disappointed. However, the chilli crab was still good, meat was sweet, and did not stick to the shell.

The guys also enjoyed the cold tiger prawns as much as he did.

The staff also brought out a small complimentary cheesecake, when informed that amongst them was a birthday boy. Good service, and the cheese cake was delicious.

16 Mar 2012 - Pin Si AMKHub

Dined out for the second consecutive day. Was queuing at Pepper Lunch until she suggested trying the Cantonese restaurant at the basement. Realised afterwards that there was no service charge, only tax.

The bubbly waitress took orders in advance from people standing in the queue so that they wouldn't have to wait long after getting seated.

Ordered braised pork hock for $6.80+, didn't expect the serving to be so generous. This was easy on the seasoning, felt like a healthy version. Loved the gelatinous skin.


Seafood rice in soup, had huge chunks of fish and a few shrimps. This was listed as "seafood fried rice" in the receipt, costing $8.80+. Simple dish, comforting to eat. A little too pricey though.


The popular sweet and sour fried fish slices as recommended by the waitress. $8.90+. Not too bad.


Salt-baked chicken.


The entire salt-baked chicken set, $8.80+. Rice wasn't oily, soup was light, and chicken was also easy on seasoning. Seemed like the cafe had a healthy notion going on.


After all that food, she still wanted mango pudding, $3.50+. Ouch.


Seating areas were cramped, but the service was really good. Waiters and waitresses were smiley and attentive.

15 Mar 2012 - Genki Sushi

Got nagged at to eat out on a daily basis, finally relented this day.

Met up at Genki Sushi, Orchard Central. Guess the iPad ordering system and the train delivery is still fascinating, to some.

Sushi on F1, anyone?


Ate a lot, and some hadn't got a chance to smile for the camera.

Flying fish roe.


Shrimp roe.


Shrimp and flying fish roe vis-a-vis.


Whole sea eel, with a mound of rice wrapped within the fold.


Seared salmon.


Salmon and roe don, loved the flavour bursts from each roe.


The "yolk".


Northern shrimp sashimi (amaebi?). Sweet little shrimps.


Swordfish belly was disappointing, the surface was rough, suggested poor knife-skills?


Medium fatty tuna also disappointed, had a very fishy smell, couldn't match up with the experience during the previous visit. And this cost $15.80++.


Egg custard with crab meat. The broth topping was reminiscent of Chinese-style chicken stock with crab meat soup. Egg custard was really smooth though, with other ingredients like fish cake, shiitake mushroom slices and crab stick.


Fried oysters, spurted hot oil.

26 Feb 2012 - Birthday dinner at The Square, Furama Riverfront

Chanced upon the 1-for-1 promotion and managed to get a reservation. The regular price was $55++/pax, sounded like quite a spike from the previous pricing.


It was a rude start on arrival. The attendant at the counter produced a pissed mien, probably because their check-in interrupted her flipping of some pages. She showed them to their table anyway, seated by the window. Would have been a reasonable view, had it not been blocked by the conical roof of the lobby.

The Chinese waitresses had higher standard of service. One of them saw that they were eating crabs, and brought them some crab scissors, claw crackers and a bowl of water with lemon slices. Nice touch. They would also ask if plates could be cleared before picking them up.

As the crowd started to come in, manpower seemed to be reallocated. The new batch of attendants cleared plates from the table without asking, prompt service, but not very polite huh.

Let's get to the food...

Seafood counter first, as always.


First blood. Didn't like that the restaurant removed the claws away from the "arms". But the quality of the crab meat was much better than the one he had at Straits Cafe, Hotel Rendezvous (early February 2012). Prawns were ice cold and tasty. They noticed that the restaurant did not serve oysters on a weekend dinner this day.


They had Belgian mussels though, and these tasted sweet and more tender than the ones at Straits Cafe. Sashimi though laid out for self-service, was also well-cut and neatly arranged.


Various salads. The buns were too oily to his liking, but she would go on and have a few more later.


Chilli crabs didn't appeal to him initially, as he felt that mud-crab meat would not be as enjoyable. The restaurant shone again, not too sure how they did it, but the meat was sweet, totally unlike the mushy ones he had in recent. Prawns however, were mushy, so he preferred the cold prawns.


Lamb with mint sauce. Lots of fat to be cut out, but the meat was tender and with no hint of gaminess.


Fried kuay tiao (flat noodles), chicken and more fried buns...


From the roasted meat section, quite a mess. The chef was quite polite though, guess he had too much on his hands, time-slicing between cooking pasting, chopping up meat and probably some other stuff.


He liked the peach pudding best. But because it was very sweet, you'd probably be overwhelmed after having 2 of it.


Check out that strawberry throwing its weight on the thin slice of toffee cake.


Creme brulee, looks quite the mashed up affair, but he just couldn't stop eating.


Almost forgot, the restaurant had good ice cream. Especially liked the creamy durian, and tangy mango flavours.

Reflections in the window when night came.


Asked for the bill, and the Chinese waitress patiently spoke about the various promotions with different payment modes. Well-equipped. Service standards of such levels have been a scarcity.

It had to end on a sour note though. On their way out, they met the same attendant who showed them their table, and she was still producing sulk on her face.