Bincho - Where you can eat Cock's Comb

 The unassuming door to Bincho. In the morning it's a coffeeshop but it turns into a restaurant at night.

Since its a chicken speciality restaurant, it was a no brainer for us to select one of the chicken menus available. They also have a variety of other dishes, but since it was our first time there, we decided to stick to their sets.

I got the $65++ set, and 'shio' yakitori

 The assorted appetiser, which had this delicious chicken pate (see left bottom).

 Salad sticks and miso paste, as well as the "shio' platter with has chicken necks...

And a variety of chicken parts which also included the bishops nose (which is one of the things I don't eat), kidney etc.

The 'shime' of the day which was oyako don (chicken and egg on rice) - no complaints here - I really liked the chicken broth that came with the oyako don.

Dessert was a variety of jellies.

I added on 2 dishes to the above set :

 The Cock's Comb ($5) - which I was truly fascinated with. When I asked the waiter what this was - he said it was the red thing on top of the rooster (公雞) but just that it was not red after cooking anymore. No one else at my table wanted to try it. Surprisingly it tasted pretty good! It has the texture of chicken feet but not as soft, and slightly smoother.  I finished the whole plate myself :D In Mandarin it's called 雞冠

The grilled chicken hearts ($5) were also pretty awesome - I love the texture of the hearts and it doesn't have the gamey taste of the kidneys/liver. I thought that it went really well with the wholegrain mustard.

The rest tried the Chicken Hotpot ($150 for 2persons) but since I'm quite adverse to steamboat cos of all the double dipping and when people throw in raw stuff when I'm trying in vain to scoop out the cooked foods already. That's why my favourite steamboat is the Bijin Nabe from Tsukada Nojo (since they have tongs and cook everything for you).

The said hotpot - it's actually a portion for 4 people but since our table was too small they cooked it at the side for us.

 Fried chicken

 The yakitori from the hotpot set - no innards here - chicken neck, chicken wings etc

The delicious soup - it's similar to the soup I had with my oyako don. It was a really interesting dining experience - would definitely be back to try more of their yakitori dishes...

There's also a bar where you can get cocktails - about $20+ per drink

Since the 3 little pieces of dessert wasn't enough to satisfy, we trooped over to PS cafe for more desserts.


Bincho
78 Moh Guan Terrace 
#01-19 
Singapore 162078
Tel 64384567

Grand Mandrina

I'm not a big fan of Chinese Food (other than Dim Sum) but during special occasions/once in a (rare) while my parents do like to get some Chinese food. If I get it my way, I would go to a Japanese or Italian or French restaurant without a doubt. So we ended up at Grand Mandrina cos my parents friends invited them for a meal and I tagged along. 

The charsiew from Grand Mnadrina really lives up to its reputation. This is a charsiew not meant for daily nomms, it's a charsiew that should be reserved for special occasions (i.e. CNY, impress your MIL, impress your colleagues at some house party). I really love the crispy layer of caramelised sugar (think the surface of a perfectly done creme brûlée ). I'm not particularly fond of the layer of fat, but it does make the charsiew more juicy than the lean ones. Which is why I say that this isn't meant for daily consumption - not only will you get high cholesterol, you will very likely get diabetes too. The roasted duck was also perfectly done - with the skin shatteringly crispy and not a trace of fat under the skin. Paired with the truffle sauce, it was really memorable.

 The steamed Sea Bass - well executed and no complaints about this dish at all.

The prawn with egg white is a variation on the usual scallops and egg white, and goes really well when topped on white rice.

 Stir Fried Dou Miao with Garlic
The obligatory vegetable dish. I really love dou miao, especially the one from Ding Tai Fung. No complaints about this Dou Miao.

We also tried the Ee Fu Noodles but I've somehow lost the photo.
The ee fu noodles were really one of the best I have tasted - neither too soggy nor too dry, just perfectly braised with minimal interfering toppings so that the full texture and taste of the noodles could be enjoyed.

Out of the 3 desserts we sampled, I would strongly recommend you to take the hot hashima and red dates. For $15, you get a bowl that's packed with hashima. Not just a few miserable bits. Compared to the other desserts that I tried (coconut ice cream with ai yu jelly, and the pumpkin puree with yam ice cream, which costs $12 each), the hashima was the most worth it dessert. I would suggest that if you don't like desserts to be too sweet, do request for it to have less sugar added.

The parking here's a major pain. They should really build a huge multi-storey carpark somewhere...

Grand Mandrina 
325 New Bridge Road 
#01-02-00
Singapore 088760
PHone 6222 3355

Dancing Crab



There's been this massive influx of this Louisiana seafood restaurants. I haven't been to any of them till recently. Actually, if it wasn't a department dinner, I would definitely not have chosen this restaurant (not to say that it wasn't good).  It's just that the whole eat with your hands concept isn't my kind of thing. I hate not using cutlery and getting my hands dirty in sauce (especially since I cannot answer my phone or touch my camera after that).

 

I personally feel that this whole hyped up eat with your hands, no cutlery or plates, is so that they save money on dishes. No need to spend detergent, soap and water washing anything (saves a few staff - no need to employ dishwashers)  - since there is such a dire shortage of labor. Also, the plastic tablecloth is disposables, so it saves the effort in wiping the table. Efficiency FTW.

We had the cornbread which was pretty ok - I somehow think that all cornbread should be like Kenny Rogers, but this ones were more uniformed and cake like. Slightly sweetish, moist and crumbly, went well with the whipped butter.

I really liked the crab cakes - partly because it involves very little effort and yet you get mouthfuls of succulent crab flesh, and also because they were juicy and well seasoned.

The bag of seafood - which has crab, prawns, mussels, potatoes, corn and carrot all cooked together in a mildly spicy Cajun sauce. I don't know why they can't just put everything into a nice bowl(like below) but have to pour it all over the table.

The whole no plates concept also bugs me to no end cos the menu (which I doubt has been cleaned in recent times) and other dirty fomites (i.e. my hand phone) have just been sitting on the same surface that I'm going to eat off . Ok I think this is OCD max and I bet that the other 99.9% of the others diners don't think of this kind of thing, so I shall stop and carry on about the food (which is pretty good).

I must say that the service is not too bad. Not the most attentive but then when I told them that one of the crabs wasn't too fresh, they offered to change it (but then the other half was already devoured by someone else) - which still counted as pretty good service to me.

The clams in this creamy white sauce was also pretty good - just that I really cannot see how you can eat it without cutlery or plates for that matter. It's such a messy and stressful affair.

I really liked their butter garlic prawns. Minimal sauce and flavoring so that the prawny taste can be fully appreciated. I think I'm deprived but I haven't eaten such big prawns for a real long time (rather spend my cholesterol quota on salted egg sotong - shucks I have a massive craving now).

These prawns were freaking huge and I really don't have small hands (that's my thumb btw).  My fingers also continued to smell like sauce the whole night after that (thankfully the sauce smell went away the next day).

 

I thought that their service was really strange - apparently they refused to let us make a booking for anything earlier than 7pm but when the punctual people reached earlier, the restaurant was empty - not like they are having two seatings or anything. Don't see why they can't let patrons sit down earlier (and earn money from drinks/snacks).

 

Dancing Crab

200 Turf Club Road

Singapore 287994

Phone 64663303

Closed Mondays

Where MAD used to be, and near Valentinos

(free parking!!!)





Nirai Kanai - Okinawan food at Liang Court

 Okinawa is a place in Japan which has been on my to-visit list for the longest time, especially cos I want to see the aquarium (I love looking at animals but don't like being out in the sun, so aquariums are perfect). I must say that I have never really eaten Okinawan food  before, so I was pretty glad that someone suggested this restaurant. Of course, while waiting for everyone to arrive, we spoilt our appetites eating cream puffs from the restaurant directly opposite the diner, as well as giving into temptation and eating Japanese curry rice from the food court in Mediya :/

The quintessential Okinawan dish - Champon which consists of bitter gourd and tofu, stir fried with pork belly. I found the dish slightly too salty for my taste (though I do understand that the Japanese like their food salty). It was well executed - hardly any bitterness from the bitter gourd and very tasty.

 The tomato salad was very refreshing - lots of sweet cherry tomatoes lightly dressed and lots of salad leaves.

 Eggplant and minced meat stew - most of us found the eggplant slightly undercooked, and were not used to it cos the usual eggplant we get locally are usually cooked to death and mushy. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be like that?

 I think this was the skewered chicken thigh which was really delicious. I think someone was full so I got to eat double my portion ;D

 The star dish of the day - was the roasted pork ribs with cartilage. Can you imagine the cartilage cooked until it was oozingly soft just like jelly. Plus it was well marinated and slightly charred. Mmmm I will go back just to have this dish!

Stewed pork belly - not a fan of pork belly. The sauce is slightly sweetish and the carrots are stewed until soft. Everyone else loved this so I think I'm just an anomaly. 

 We had to eat some carbs, so this chilled ramen was perfect for sharing and ending off the meal.

Even though we ate so much, I think the bill was about $30 per person (without alcohol), which I think is a very very decent price considering what we ate. Will definitely come back.

We adjourned to the desert store above for some Bandung and green tea chiffon cake. Perhaps it was diminishing returns but then I didn't find either cake particularly mindblowing. Though I must confess that I was super stuffed from dinner and my pre dinner snack...

Nirai Kani 
177 River Valley Road
Singaproe 179030
Tel 6339 4811
I would highly recommend you to call and make a booking - the restaurant initially looked empty but it was really full by the time we left at about 830pm

Sushi Mitsuya Lunch

I've had the pleasure of dining at Sushi Mitsuya quite a few times since they first opened. Having lunch there  is really exciting as I always get to try new fish that I've never had before. Usually, I'll try to go during different seasons, so that I can try different kinds of fish. I usually go for the Ichie (entry level lunch set at about $70) because I'm feel too poor to indulge in anything else, and eating lunch there is an indulgence by itself already... Being the last minute person I am, I tried to book lunch on the day itself and to my horror it was nearly full! Managed to snag the last lunch seats there. Whew!

 Vegetables marinated in tofu and sesame sauce

 Short goldfish memory - can't remember what this was if I'm not wrong it's pickled sardine?

 Sea goby

 Scallop with black salt

 Baby snapper - it's called Hime Kodai in Japanese
Bland tasting whitefish

 Glass fish - I thought this was really interesting - it's similar to the baby fish that we usual fry in the egg, slightly slimy and a bit crunchy (I'm guessing the crunch comes from the skull or eyeballs here) and lightly marinated. I liked the way that it was moulded into a little mound on top of the sushi rice.

 Big prawn that has been marinated in egg yolk and vinegar - just noticed for the first time that they slice it into two if you're female and leave it as a whole if you're male (sneakily peeping at what other people around me are eating hehe)

 I think this was Aji (but I'm not too sure, I didn't write it down and can't remember now!:/)

 Akame (lean tuna) which was lightly brushed with sauce

 Their signature Osaka style bo sea eel  sushi

Light clear broth to end the meal

 6 pieces of assorted maki - with pickles and cucumber

 Dessert was red bean cake and pomelo

The lunch will not make you feel uncomfortably full - most of the time if I'm not exceptionally famished, this will leave me feeling about 80% full (which is supposed to be the correct level of fullness) but since lunches are rare, I usually fill the extra 20% of stomach space with dessert.

Of course, dessert is Tsujiri at the nearby 100am mall.


You can check out my other posts where I got to try different kinds of fish :
Barachirashi set lunch
4th November 2013
26th November 2013 

Hmm I actually went a few more times in between then and now but I think I was too lazy to blog... Can't remember what I ate anymore T-T

Sushi Mitsuya
60 Tras Street
#01-10 Singapore 078999
Tel 64382608
*Do call for reservations as seating is limited