Monday, March 31, 2008

Otoro Chutoro Toro

How exciting! I think it's tuna season or some other (hmm I always thought all these fatty fish were best eaten during winter...) and Iseatan has a tuna fare!
And of course, to save money, I get my sashimi fix from Iseatan (when I happen to be nearby) after 830pm cos there's 50% off most of the sushis and sashimis. Why pay more when you can get it at half price?

Of course, I took advantage of the 50% off to get myself some much loved Otoro. It's $10.50 for 5 pieces of top grade bluefin tuna! In sushi tei, they sell 2 pieces of otoro sushi for a whopping $18 bucks!

Otoro is the highest grade of bluefin tuna, and in a humongous bluefin tuna (which apparently can grow up to the size of a baby elephant??!!) there's only a tiny portion at the belly, near the head which is considered as top grade tuna - the Otoro part.
Look at the pale pink flesh and delicious marbeling? It doesn't even look like it comes from a fish. The tuna is firm and when you bit into it, it's juicy and you can taste the buttery fish oils and the whole piece melts in your mouth and slides down your throat. Yum! Of course, owing to this being a 'luxury' I try to prolong the melting and sliding part...
Hope all the omega-3-fatty acid can help me in my upcoming end of posting test!One grade down from otoro is Chutoro. This comes from the underbelly of the bluefin tuna too, but it comes from the further back part of the belly. So it has less fat. But it has much much more fat than the normal deep red tuna (akami) that you find at conveyer belt sushi places.Toro just means any part of the tuna belly. One of my favouriter sushis is the Negiritoromaki, which is minced toro mixed with a bit of spring onion and wrapped up in rice rolls. It's really tasty and delicious and not as ex as otoro/chutoro.

No more akami for me!
For more information on toros, click here and here

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Karm Kettle Rhapsody

I like Dempsy cos there's sooo much food and it's pretty near my house and Holland Village is getting a bit boring. There's so much yummy food and restaurants in Dempsy, and the best thing of all - parking's FREE. (the cheapo me).

Today, there was a tough choice between Oosh, La Fondue, PS cafe, Jones the Grocer and Karma Kettle Rhapsody. Karma Kettle Rhapsody won cos my friend has been to PS cafe, we couldn't find Jones the Grocer (it was further in, and we parked at the wrong cluster), La Fondue was probably too ex even though they had lunch menu and Oosh was the first restaurant we went to see and we wanted to walk aroud and see other restaurants and I guess we didn't really turn back).

I got the Pie set lunch ($14.90++) which consisted of a pie (a few choices including fish, chicken tika and beef), a side salad and a soup of the day.
They have another lunch set which has other mains (like pasta) and coffee/tea for $17.90++ which is quite worth it as some of the mains are about $18. The lunch sets are only available from 12-3pm.

Soup of the day was creamy tomato soup, with a slice of garlic bread. The soup was very tomat0-ey, not too thick or runny and was served piping hot. I ordered the Ice Mocha (something liddat can't rem the name) ($7++) cos it was so hot and I wanted an ice cream in my drink :D It has vanilla ice cream, coffee and chocolate sauce. The margarita costs $6.50 though it doesn't taste very good apparently (but I didn't try it).This is my fish pie which consists of white fish of the day. There is a layer of potato and cheese on top, and a mixture of fish, mushrooms and herbs below. It's quite tasty and filling. Though I won't be trying this again (cos I don't like this kind of pies - I prefer the pastry kind). I actually wanted to order the Prawn and Truffle Oil pasta (cos I really like Truffle Oil) but then I was very hungry and didn't want to end up with a measly portion of pasta so I thought pie would be more filling. Nevermind, there is always a next time and next time I will go to the one at Cluny Court cos it's so much nearer my house. This is the "Across the English Channel" which is lots of mushrooms cooked in a herb cream sauce served with pasta. The pasta is seasoned and al dente, and the mushrooms are creamy and done to a buttery perfection. The portion of pasta is really quite big (drats, I should have ordred my Prawn and Truffle Oil pasta!)



Being the greedy people we are, we ordred one-and-a-half desserts each! Partly cos I couldn't decide between the ice cream ($4++ per scoop) or the Royal Belgian Truffle Cake ($7++)
The front one is my Banana Dulche de Leche (which I read somewhere is somewhat like the equivalent of our condensed milk) cos I wanted to try the dulche de leche. I don't really like banana but I really really wanted to try dulche de leche so I ordered this. Not too long ago either starbucks or coffeebean was having some dulche de leche but dunno why I was so incredibly busy and hiding under a rock that I never got to try it! :( well, it tastes a bit like not so sweet caramel to me and the banana taste is really strong. Tastes way better than the HL banana milk! I quite like the Dutch Lady banana milk though... and the Strawberry and the Chocolate Dutch Lady milk is very nice too!This is the Royal Belgian Truffle Cake which is nicer than the cedele chocolate truffle cake but then I think it's more ex too! I shall just let the next picture do the talking lah its quite nice but then we had diminishing returns cos we were so stuffed after the ice cream (cos the scoop was really very big, and of course you have to eat the ice cream before eating the cake cos the ice cream melts!)
ahhhh such a delicious lunch! I wanna try all the other dempsy lunch places cos lunch is so much cheaper than dinner! savemoneysavemoneysavemoney yay the end of the mth is coming soon so I can get my pocket money and I won't feel so poor! Its wonderful being a dependent! :D
The place isn't as posh as the one at Cluny Court, and the floor has SMALL TILES, which are the bane of my life but luckily it's not small tiles in the toilet (I hate small tiles especially in public toilets YUCKKKKK).

I must say that Dempsy generally has quite a high standard of service, and Karma Kettle Rhapsody is no exception. Though it was pretty quiet, there was only one main waiter serving 3 tables. However, the service was prompt and efficient, and the waiter was knowledgeble and helpful in recommendations.Karma Kettle Rhapsody in Dempsy. Yums!
I shall be kind and look for the address on my receipt, but then I doubt that the unit numbers will help much!
#26B Dempsy Road
Tel 64720221

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

I hate bad service

Haiz remember how pissed i got with the crap ultra shit service I got at the chocolate factory?
I actually went back again (cos someone wanted to eat souffle - even after a full jap buffet) and guess what???

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The service is still shitty! And it's even shittier than before.



The french (or is he italian) chef is such a bitch! making so much money alr and still so crappy. Bet he'll die from a CVA or something. STRESS + RICH FOOD :S

When we went in and wanted to order out food, he just kept ignoring us (even though he was just infront) and kept harrassing his poor waitress with drama-mama exclaimations of 'service! service!' and ringing the bell madly -he's obviously not blind and his waitress wasn't idling away in some corner painting her nails - she was very busy and taking orders from the customers! I wonder why the heck she bothers working for such an unreasonable employer. And what's more, he was busy shouting SERVIC SERVICE into our faces -_- Just go and do it yourself lah! cannot walk a few steps to serve ur customer issit? Someone, send the man for a course on how to be more efficient!


He does have quite alot of staff - bet he's just inefficient and disorganized. Yucks.


This is my all time fave chocolate tart- sigh next time i wanna eat this i should just go and dapao no use paying service charge for ultra shit service.
The souffle is really very nice - for $16.50 ++ (++++ bad service ++++++++ stupid french/italian chef ++++++++++++ always no seats). The chocolate souffle is lovely - crispy on the top, airy in the middle and it comes with delicious vanilla ice cream and a little jug of molten chocolate. The souffle isn't overwhelmingly sweet - and the chocolate taste comes through nicely, BUT the service still sucks even though I love the food. Sadly, the souffle can't be dapaoed and the waiting time is more thn 20min. Sigh.

I guess good food comes with a price.

Haiz another "Food Nazi" but this is the more uppity snotty kind. PUI

Monday, March 24, 2008

Minori

Went for Jap buffet last wk - my personal rule is not to eat more than one buffet per month! so no more buffets for March...
Minori at UE square -the parking is 2 bucks after 5pm on wkdays. super good!

blogger is being a bitch it's not letting me upload my photos! But I've already uploaded quite alot. I've been super busy the past week growing old already must sleep more more more!Go for Jap buffet must always eat sashimi! Look at the lovely fatty salmon! Actually, the first plate we ordered was a very good cut, but then subsequently, they gave us the ends (which shouldn't even be used for sashimi). When I requested that they give us a 'better cut for the next plate' the waitress actually took back the plate and gave us the fattier parts. All the subsequent plates of sashimi we ordered had the huge, orange-white-orange-white pattern. Super yummy! Hope they didn't spit in my food (very scared tt they will spit in my food when I complain). They had the usual salmon, tuna sashimi, and yellowtail (hamachi), black snapper, squid and octopus. The chawanmushi is smooth and tasty - best to be eaten during buffets cos if you get it alacarte in most restaurants, it's quite ex! Agedashi tofu (back) and hiyayakko [cold tofu] (front). Another item best eaten during buffets :P
Unagi (Eel) sushi
Some teppanyaki chicken with garlic. Its not bad though I can't remember exactly how it tastes. ont) Yummy grilled food - the shishamo (pregnant fish) was much better grilled than fried. The fried one was terrible cos it was coated with a thick layer of breadcrumbs (think katsu fillet kind) and covered with a squirt of bbq sauce - which completely ruined the taste (not to mention texture) of the fish. The grilled version is lightly salted and the eggs still have a bit of the bouncy texture.And the had other interesting things like pork neck with garlic, chicken heart, gizzards, cartilage etc. There was also grilled vegetables such as ginko nuts, eggplant, leek, Shitake mushrooms etc. The yakitori (grilled skewered chicken) was juicy and succulent, and slightly charred. Grilled quail eggs - lightly salted.From front: Tamago sushi, Chicken meatball yakitori (which I didn't really like cos the meat was very salty) and some braised salmon in a special sauce. The braised salmon was quite tasty and just cooked so it was tender juicy and flaky.Pork neck marinaded in garlic (left) and chicken heart (right). I've never tried chicken heart before but for those who haven't tried it, you're not missing anything. It's pretty tough and has a weird smell. And it's quite small too. Lucky it's a buffet or not I'd have wasted money on this. Buffets are wonderful cos I get to try lots of stuff that I won't usually try.Cucumber salad with miso paste - refreshing and good for mopping up all the free radicals from the meats! California handroll in the back. (Btw, California maki was the first sushi I ever tried)
Peach salad (behind) which had a tangy dressing which I didn't quite like (cos it was too tart) and pumpkin chawanmushi (steamed egg). It's just normal steamed egg with a layer of pumpkin puree on top.Zaru soba - skip this ! it was soggy and limp and a waste of space...
Yup so this concludes my Jap buffet :D
I'm so not an expert on Jap buffets cos I usually just go back to my usual fave one - Ikoi - but then I've been told that the Kushinbo one is very good - I shall try it next time!
The buffet dinner costs about $38.60nett per person. I suppose that you can get cheaper buffets (ie Ikoi) but the spread here is really quite good - and I didn't have a problem with the service. The place is quite new and the tables are spread fairly far apart (unlike Ikoi where you're really squashed quite close and the acoustics are terrible).
Minori Dining & Sake Bar
81 Clemenceau Avenue #03-15/16
UE Square (Shopping Mall)
Singapore 239917
Tel 67363353

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Galbiati - Rail Mall

Rail mall has quite a few new good restaurants - and Galbiati is one of them. Actually, I visited Galbiati before I went to Sweet Salty Sour Restaurant (it was closed cos it was 4pm on a weekday). The pizzas are located at the counter facing the door, and they looked so delicious - and reminded me exactly of Da Palo Gastronomia (but with seating and dine-in).

The pizzas are the thin crusted kind, and I tried the Smoked Salmon and zucchini pizza. The pizza had a tangy and not too salty tomato base, and the salty smoked salmon tasted great. The zucchini slices offset the salty flavour of the salmon and the melted cheese was super duper yummy. Best of all, it's pretty affordable at about $6 per slice (If I remember correctly that is...). You can take it away too - which will be even better since you won't have to pay service charge.


A piece will be enough for a small eater I suppose, but for the general public, the portion is enough so that you'll have space to spend on dessert. Which is a good thing since the desserts here are quite interesting.



Galbiati has so many desserts that I spent a fair amount of time agonizing over which one to eat.

Of course, when I try a new italian restaurant, I will definitely try the tiramisu. The tiramisu is quite a small portion (but i really can't remeber how much it costs) but the marscapone cheese taste is distinct and there is a splash of alcohol - though it's not as generous as Fren(s)h's one.

I liked the Lavander Cheesecake (I love all thes herby-aromatheraphy tasting stuff). It's the heavy kind and the lavander taste (and smell) is distinct. Furthermore, paired with the decadant vanilla cream sauce, the cake was heavenly. I was quite stuffed by the time I finished my heavy cheesecake and my pizza.

They don't serve water - which is quite sad for a dessert place. HOWEVER, they made an exception and gave us a glass of warm water when we requested for it since the desserts were very sweet. If they serve water, I would really recommend going to this restaurnat - the service is above average, and the staff are knowledgable.



Galbiati Gourmet Deli

Rail Mall

400 Upper Bukit Timah Road

Tel: 6462-0926

Nectarie le'Dessert Patisserie

Tried Nectarie quite long ago but then didn't have the chance to blog about it till now. It's another of those dessert places which sell tiny well presented cakes with slightly above average prices.I was feeling indulgent after eating a very healthy dinner it Isshou (at The Central). I ordered a Waffle with Alfonso Mango and Lemongrass, and added a scoop of Honey Lavander Ice cream. I quite liked the ice cream cos it was quite a large scoop, and the flavour was light and refreshing. It's a great change from the normal vanilla chocolate strawberry ice creams. The alfonso mango was sweet and tangy, and the lemongrass taste and smell went very well with the juicy mango. The waffle was freshly made and smelt delicious. Ahhh I feel like eating it again! (But it's so ex and im trying to save money!!! sighh!)This is another waffle with Jack Daniels Ice Cream. The ice cream is very yummy and the alcohol taste is really strong. And it goes really well with the generous amount of strawberries. The next time I visit I shall go and get a Honey and Lavander Ice cream waffle with strawberries topped with chocolate sauce. I think the waffle is about $13+ with ice cream and fruits. This is the Raspberry Chocolate dessert (can't remember the exact name) which has a mousse-like chocolate with a little hint of raspberry. I think it was about $6? Not too sure cos this wasn't my dessert though I koped some. But it wasn't really fantastic - maybe cos my waffle was so delicious!
This is some chocolate dome thing I shared but there was diminishing returns cos I was so stuffed from dinner plus the waffle (which was very yummy indeed!) I really can't remember how it tastes so it can't be that fantastic I guess. it's about $6.
I would rate the service as slightly below average cos the staff is nowhere to be found most of the time, and believe it or not they didn't have enough cash to break a $50 note for us - considering how late it was they must have really poor business if they didn't even have much cash in their register.

Nectarie le'Dessert Patisserie
Address:3C River Valley Road #01-05 The Cannery, Clarke Quay
Tel: 6305 6728

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Shokudo - Japanese Marche

Shokudo is a japanese Marche. I've been to Marche once, and never again. Well, we all know where this post is going to lead to, but nevermind, I shall try to make some objective reviews...Here's my not-so-oishi Grilled Chicken Chop with Omelette Tomato Rice and Lettuce Leaves. At $6.80 in this pretty ex place, it's a steal in Shokudo. The chicken chop is pretty big in size, but not on taste. Pre-cooked chicken chops are grilled to a crisp on this smoky grill with other meats such as sausages, salmon, beef etc. It tastes of nothing and the only way to make it more palatable is to add copious amounts of chilli and tomato sauce. It's cooked pretty fast despite the que - actually, I chose this dish (out of the sooooo many other Japanese 'stalls' which had ramen, sushi, sashimi, teppanyaki, tempura, yakitori, Japanese Curry, etc etc) cos I thought the food was the most-worth-it in terms of value for amount of meat and portion size, as well as because (horrors of horros) - THE QUE.

THE QUE is also pretty unorganized - there are 2 lines, one for ordering, whereby right after, you will be told to 'come back in 5 min' and then when you come back, there is a collecting line. If you get back in the ordering line quick, reguardless of what time you ordered, you will get ur order quicker.

The chicken chop wasn't very good - it was pretty hard and dry and tasteless. However, the omelette and tomato rice was above my expectations - the omelette was slightly runny, and the rice (it's probably just tomatosauce and rice) tasted of tomato sauce, which saved me the trouble of putting my own tomato sauce into the egg.


This is the very expensive $5.80 mushroom omelette. Its really quite small. I think they add lots of mirin for taste so it's quite sweet.
Pumpkin soup japanese style - with lots of unidentifiable ingredients. It's quite buttery and not very thick. Homemade Cheesecake ($3.80) which was not too bad - creemy and drizzled in strawberry sauce. I wanted to try the ice cream waffle ($6.80) actually because it looks really big and nice, and it's the soft kind but then I didn't have much space left.

They charge 10% service charge and 7% GST. We're all wondering where the service is, cos other than a few people standing around to tell you not to leave your 'reservation block' (which you can leave on the table to reserve it while you go and get food) on the table and not to loose it, there isn't any thing that you can vaguely call service.
The drinks here are priced crazily. Yucks.

Shokueo is located at Raffles City B1