Sometimes, things deserve a second chance - Marutama Ramen (Liang Court)

I have to admit, I am someone who has no patience when it comes to queuing for food. Especially when I am hungry.

This was probably why I swore off Marutama Ramen when I first tried it years ago. Back then, it saw very long queues at its The Central outlet and I was invited to go along and check it out. I think the long queuing time affected me to a certain extent so my expectations were heightened at the same time as I expected something good enough to justify the time investment. Unfortunately, what I tasted then was really not to my satisfaction. It could also be partly due to the fact that during that era, most of the pioneer entrants in the ramen market here were featuring tonkotsu-based soups which was comparatively richer than the chicken-based soup from Marutama so I wasn't used to the difference in taste. Since then, I didn't go back to Marutama anymore.

What made me decide to give it a second chance this time was yet again hunger. This time, I wanted something filling and yet not as rich as the usual tonkotsu-based ramen. I deliberated for a while and was about to give up when I saw the less-than-flattering pictures of the food outside the restaurant. Surely, something can be done to make the pictures a bit more appetising, clearer and brighter to entice the customers? Then again, I was too tired and hungry to search further and decided to give it a try, the first time after so many years.

To my surprise, the standard Marutama Ramen was satisfying in many regards. The soup was rich and flavourful but not overwhelming. There was also a lot of spring onions which I liked and the seaweed soaked up the flavours of the broth which I attribute to the fact that it was already shredded into pieces compared to many other versions where the seaweed came in its original form of sheets. Not a bad idea after all. The noodles were springy and went well with the broth but the chashu was oilier than I liked. For a price of $13, I thought that the portion and quality was well worth every dollar.

Gyoza is usually a standard accompaniment to my ramen so it was natural for me to do the same this time. Unfortunately, the pan-fried gyoza was not so satisfying because the skin should be crispier. The filling also needs to be more flavourful. Next time, I'll have to try the water boiled version and see if it will be any better.

Besides the food, there is something about this branch of Marutama which had helped to make the dining experience more pleasant. The nice BGM blend of Japanese enka and old Japanese songs gives a nostalgic feel amidst the wooden-based decor. It was a surprise to hear Takeuchi Mariya's "Camouflage" for the first time in years. Honestly, there are times when I dine at Japanese restaurants but the BGM can be quite jarring on the ears e.g. they play song covers not by the original singers or the music is so noisy that it makes it difficult to hold decent conversations. A small thing like BGM may seem insignificant but it is actually important in enhancing the dining atmosphere.

Frankly speaking, there are very few instances when I actually give something a second chance like this. Maybe it's because people tend to be unwilling to change their views of things once they have developed a negative first impression. Other than having a largely satisfying meal, I guess this episode has reminded me that there are times when I need to give things another try. It may jolly well turn out to be better than expected and open up new options which I had previously ruled out.

New tendon specialty restaurant in town - Shitamachi Tendon Akimitsu (Plaza Singapura)

I'm usually not the type to head to the newest places even if I do know about them mainly because I simply hate to queue for a long time no matter how appealing something may be to me. In other words, I have no patience and interest in wasting time in queues. As such, I tend to wait till the hype dies down before checking out new places such as restaurants or food shops e.g. Bake Cheese Tart.

Coming across Shitamachi Tendon Akimitsu (下町天丼秋光) was a coincidence. I happened to be at Plaza Singapura to do something and was walking around when I saw this new shop on the 4th floor of the previous Atrium@Orchard wing. Apparently, this is a tendon specialty restaurant which has been around since 1889 and is located at Asakusa in Tokyo. For those who are interested in checking this out when travelling in Tokyo, here are the address and contact details on their official website. Akimitsu has been expanding overseas since 2016 and they can be found in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Philippines, Australia (Melbourne) and Canada (Toronto) which is opening in October. Apparently, the Singapore branch is less than a month old since it only opened in mid July.

Although I do like to eat tendon, I don't eat it often mainly because of the composition of the tempura items provided. For example, Tendon Itsuki has one thing which I really dislike i.e. chicken breast meat which tends to be dry and rough to eat. And it doesn't help that the bar counter seating there is really uncomfortable and I always get a not-so-nice smell on my clothes after I leave the place. That's why it's always a struggle for me whenever my friends want to go there. At some other places where I've been to, vegetables such as eggplant or eggs are added so whenever I see things in the menu which I don't like or eat, I tend to avoid ordering the tendon. I don't really What attracted me to try Akimitsu was the fact that they had an all-prawn tendon with none of the things I dislike and I was keen to find out if they are really as good as reputed. It also helped that the layout of the shop would probably not result in the customers smelling bad after eating there (the kitchen is sealed off with glass panels, there was a fair bit of ventilation and the shop space was wide enough without making me feel uncomfortable about sitting too close to the table next to me.

On the tables, you can see the two pickles containers which contains beansprouts and cabbages. Personally, I prefer the beansprouts version which tasted more seasoned to me while the other version seemed a little bland. Perhaps it needed more time for the flavours to seep into the vegetables. For those who need more of the tendon sauce, you can have your fill as there is a bottle of it on every table.

In the menu, there are four choices of tendon i.e. signature tendon which contains prawns, white fish, egg, seaweed and assorted vegetables, ebi tendon which is the prawns-only version, vegetable tendon which contains assorted vegetables and the kakiage tendon. All these sets come with miso soup and chawanmushi. Alternatively, you may vote for the teishoku versions of mixed tempura, ebi or vegetable where the rice and sauce is served separately. Those who like chasuke should be happy with the kakiage tencha version (tendon chasuke) where you pour the dashi over the kakiage don.

I ordered the ebi tendon set which slightly surprised me because I wasn't expecting to see as many as 6 prawns in the bowl. The price of the tendon was the most expensive among the four types of tendon while the bowl's size was a bit smaller than I thought so in that sense, it was pricier compared to similar versions from other places. The good thing was, the aroma of the tendon was very inviting when the dish was served. I also liked the fact that the batter covering the prawns was on the thin side because some tempura batter versions I tried before tend to be too dense or overpower the taste and affect the texture of the ingredients within. The downside to having the batter so thin is that you probably can't take your own sweet time to take photos of this beautiful dish as the tempura will cool down pretty quickly and you may find the batter flaking off as you pick up the tempura with your chopsticks. The prawns were rather large and tasted really juicy and fresh. When eaten with the rice and tendon sauce, the combined taste was heavenly. If there was only one thing which I may complain about, that would be wanting more rice to go with the tempura. Nonetheless, I guess this portion size is just nice for most people so for bigger eaters like me, you may find yourself running out of rice when you still have quite a few pieces of the tempura left. You may wish to order other items like edamame, cold tofu or baby octopus or opt for a dessert to round up your meal to make it more satisfying.


Currently, there is a promotion going on where you can get a free matcha ice-cream puff as per the photo on the right or a bottle of Ito-en green tea if you "like" Akimitsu's Facebook page. The catch is that you have to dine in between 2pm and 5pm on weekdays.

On the whole, I was happy with my unexpected discovery but can't help but worry if the shop's location may not be in its favour since it's on a higher floor and not as visible than those on the lower floors due to the foot traffic. Nonetheless, if you do a quick search on the Internet, it seems like the more prominent food bloggers have already been there and written some good stuff about this place so it will probably help to boost the shop's popularity. Moreover, I haven't seen how the shop's crowds are like during weekends so it may be that you have to queue for a while during those days. Last but not least, if the food is good and prices are reasonable, I'm sure that there will be many repeat customers which will surely bode well for this restaurant. I for one would like to go back and try the ebi tendon again and this time, with the spicier version of the tendon sauce since I had the original version this time.

Thai goodness amidst fresh greenery - Basil Thai Kitchen @ Paragon

Whenever I go to Orchard Road, I sometimes find it difficult to find a nice place to eat at without burning a huge hole in my pocket or having to queue for ages just to get into the restaurant or put up with the buzz in a packed place. Coming across Basil Thai Kitchen was a coincidence as I needed to eat dinner on a weekday night near 9pm but some places were about to close then. As the food photos looked rather decent and the prices seemed reasonable, it was then decided that we would eat here.

Before I entered the restaurant, I wasn't aware that it was a different dining concept under Thai Express. As compared to the signature orange-themed Thai Express, Basil Thai had a lot of greenery in the form of flowers and green plants placed on the tables which gave it a fresh feel in line with the basil element in its name. Upon closer scrutiny of the menu, you would then notice some similar dishes between the two restaurants although servings and how they are plated do differ to a certain extent.

The first dish was tom yum soup which I thought was pretty good and whetted my appetite. To be honest, I usually do not like tom yum soup because some versions can be too sour while some are too spicy to my liking. However, this had the right balance and the amount of ingredients was more than I expected for a price of $8.90. I don't know if there are any differences in how they make this tom yam soup as compared to Thai Express because I usually found the latter to be too sour for me.

Next up was another Thai cuisine signature dish - pineapple fried rice ($11.90). The portion did seem a bit small as compared to the price but the saving grace was its taste and generous portions of seafood hidden within that bowl of rice. There was a nice aroma when this was served and the rice grains were fluffier than what I tasted before at Thai Express. The freshness of the seafood embedded within the rice also made a good impression on me. However, it might be good to alter the size of the plate as the extra space as seen in the photo reinforces the impression that the serving is small. Personally, for a big eater like me, this portion size is hardly satisfying but for small eaters, they might be content with this amount.

The Massamam chicken curry served with rice ($13.90) was definitely my favourite because the chicken's texture was so tender and the curry went very well with the plain white rice. The amount of chicken was also quite substantial for a big eater like me. Some curries tend to be quite heavy on the palate and leave a very strong aftertaste but this version was actually lighter and not that spicy as it looked even though I was slightly worried when I ordered this. Actually, the default option was to eat the curry with the crispy roti but I was too famished that night and wanted to have rice instead. Thankfully, the staff members were very accommodating and accepted my request for an alternative for this dish. Perhaps I will go back to try the roti version and see which pairing is better.

On a separate occasion, this time on a Saturday evening, I went back and ordered their green curry chicken with rice ($10.90). Visually, it was rather disappointing to see such a big plate with so much empty space. The lone piece of lettuce didn't do much in enhancing the visual appeal of this dish and the rice wasn't even in a complete circle shape. As for the curry which I always order when I eat at Thai Express, the portion seemed somewhat smaller because I didn't get that many pieces of the chicken and the curry was on the bland side but somehow looked oilier. Considering the price, I might have been better off getting the pineapple fried rice which would at least satisfy my taste buds even though the portion sizes still left much to be desired.

Last but not least, here's the Virgin Basil Mojito ($3.90) which I considered to be a steal because you hardly get drinks below $5 in most restaurants these days. This is the perfect antidote for the sunny and hot weather here with its refreshing sensation and taste being a match for the spicy Thai cuisine. In terms of the portion size, there is also nothing to complain about.

Considering that there are still many dishes which I have yet to try here, I should be coming back for more visits especially if I need to get a decent meal at relatively affordable prices. Especially considering that the restaurant is located in the middle of Orchard Road and in a shopping mall known for its high-end branded offerings, this will be a good place to keep in mind during your Orchard Road visits. However, even though it is another dining concept under the same company, there needs to be a bit more done to differentiate the offerings from both brands. In terms of decor, there is nothing that links both brands together because the main theme colours are different but some of the dishes are replicated across both menus so there may be a need to adjust accordingly to the positioning of the brands. And one last thing, the portions either need to be adjusted to make them more filling or the plates need to be shrunk or else that feeling of dissatisfaction will probably mar the dining experience to a certain extent.

Lunchtime goodness at Shin-Do (Century Square)

Shin-Do is strictly speaking not a new restaurant. It occupies the same shop space in Century Square's B1 and used to be known as Shin-Sapporo Ramen. However, the change is not merely in its name but also its entire concept because the former was more ramen-centric while the new version includes more options in terms of teishoku, sushi and appetisers.

To be honest, I wasn't too impressed with Shin-Sapporo Ramen in the past so I stopped going there since a long time ago. Apparently, under the new concept, ramen is still an integral part of the menu with the biggest attraction being the fire ramen but there are options for people who might not want to eat ramen that day. In a way, that helps in attracting a wider pool of customers other than the usual ramen lovers.

On a weekday afternoon while on the search for a late lunch venue, I walked past Shin-Do and saw its promotional panels. There they were, wholesome lunchtime-only teishoku sets which were going for as low as $8.90 ($10.90 for the more expensive items) nett with a free cup of hot or cold green tea thrown in. If you would like to have other drinks, you need to pay a small amount to top up. The food displays outside the restaurant looked rather appealing and I was keen to try a good deal if I spotted it so I decided to revisit or should I say, give Shin-Do a chance.

The set I ordered was the teriyaki chicken set which came with pickles (takuan) and a healthy dose of shredded cabbage with a small tomato. First of all, I've not been seeing takuan that often in the Japanese teishoku sets these days so it was a pleasant surprise to see it in my bento box. I really liked it for being of the right taste and the texture was crunchy enough despite it being sliced so thinly. I would have preferred this to be slightly thicker or to have more slices in the set. As for the cabbage salad, I thought that the portion size could be a tad too much for those who don't like their greens but I personally felt that it was a welcome addition to give the meal a slightly different texture. With regard to the rice, I thought that it was a bit too soft and overcooked but the grilled and shredded seaweed lent a nice aroma to the rice which was drenched in a sauce that tasted similar to the teriyaki sauce. Just one note of caution then, the chef might have to go easier on the amount of sauce for the rice since there was too much and made the rice saltier than I would have liked. Last but not least, the teriyaki chicken was tender and flavourful and there was more pieces than I assumed the set would contain. Anything that exceeds the customer's expectation is always welcome.

On another day, I came back for the tori karaage set which gave me a slightly different experience. The time of my second visit was during lunch hour so the wait for the food to be served was much faster than during the first visit. Not that I really minded the wait since I liked the taste of what I ate during that visit but it sure wouldn't hurt to have the food served quickly when I am hungry. In terms of portion size, I thought that the amount of the cabbage salad seemed to be slightly lesser and there was one less slice of the takuan. As for the rice, there was lesser sauce poured onto it and the flavour of the seaweed was even more noticeably this time which I attributed to it being grilled for a longer time before being shredded. The rice texture was also more to my liking this time. With regard to the tori karaage, it was slightly different from what I usually get which tends to be round-shaped. The version at Shin-Do had the chicken in long strips which I don't really mind unless they use breast meat which I dislike for its dry and tough texture if overcooked. Luckily, the fried chicken here was tender and juicy enough but there should have been more mayonnaise provided to eat the chicken with.

Both sets I had were in the $8.90 group and I must say, I was quite satisfied with their quality and portion size despite the low price. I'm glad that I found another nice place to eat at and will probably go back soon to try the other lunch sets or the items in the ala carte menu.

Review of Rakuzen (Millenia Walk)

I'm not a frequent visitor to Millenia Walk primarily because most of its retail options are rather out of my budget and there's this "atas" image that the mall has. However, in terms of dining options, there are a few places there which I like so you can say that I'm there for the food most, if not all the time. Rakuzen is one of my favourites after a friend brought me there once.

My recent visit was rather ad-hoc since I was looking for a dinner place but didn't want the meal to be too overwhelming in terms of volume nor too rich for the palate. Although it was a weekday night, some of the places there were quite full due to the evening crowd from offices nearby. I have a personal preference of avoiding crowded places for meals if I can help it so those were naturally out of my consideration. While walking past the line of restaurants located outside the Millenia Walk building, I came across this signboard from Rakuzen offering a customised sushi set as part of their 10th anniversary celebration. Most of the time, such sushi sets tend to have the options fixed by the chefs so I do not like to order them because there is always bound to be at least one or two items which I don't like in the set. Rakuzen's promotion was good in the sense that I could choose whatever I wanted from the list of 21 options and I could choose multiples of the same item. The only condition was that if you want the more pricey ootoro and ikura sushi, you'll have to order the 12-piece set and each of these two items can only be ordered once. This didn't bother me since I wasn't going to order them anyway but if you happen to like them, you might want to keep this condition in mind.

I ordered the 8-piece set which consisted of nama hotate, ebi, ika, tako as well as 2-pieces of nii-hotate and zuwagani each. Besides the sushi, the set also included a miso soup, chawanmushi, pickles (radish slices) and dessert (jelly with watermelon cubes). I felt that this was a pretty good deal for the price of 16 dollars since each piece of the sushi was about 2 to 4 dollars if you order them ala-carte. Just the sushi alone would have cost me at least 24 bucks on the assumption of an average price of 3 dollars per piece. Coupled with all the side dishes, I have to say that this is a steal. Other than the fact that the sushi here is a bit slimmer than other places I've been to, I'm actually very satisfied with this set. It was also just nice that I wasn't feeling very hungry that night so the size issue wasn't much of a problem.

The miso soup here was comforting i.e. warm and flavourful without being overly salty. The pickles were crunchy and refreshing on the palate. I don't take chawanmushi so I can't comment on its taste. As for the dessert, the watermelon provided great comfort from the sweltering weather but the jelly was too soft and sweet for my liking. Perhaps they had used gelatin or agar agar for that but I prefer the kanten's texture which is firmer.

Although my main aim was to have the sushi set only, I got tempted by the delicious-looking karaage from a nearby table and couldn't resist ordering this. The portion is good enough for sharing among a few people and I must say that for this quantity and quality, 8 dollars is a great deal. The chicken's batter was not overly thick and I liked that it was not overcooked like what some places offer where the exterior looks dark brown. The chicken meat within retained its juices thus even without an accompanying sauce, I thought this was good enough to eat on its own with the salad. If the chicken had been dry, it would have been difficult to stomach this without a sauce.

It's not stated on the signboard how long the sushi set promotion will last but it looks like it's not restricted to lunch or dinner hours only. Be sure to check with the staff if this is what you would like to go for just to ensure that you'll get what you want since items are subjected to availability too. There are other good items on their menu which I tried before on previous visits and liked such as the kyuri asazuke (cucumber pickles), buta shabu (pork shabu shabu with sesame sauce) and surumeika sugatayaki (grilled squid). Other than this branch, there's another branch at Telok Ayer so you may wish to visit their website to find the details.

A respite from the busy city life - Tadd's @ Montigo Resorts Nongsa (Batam)

During the recent Lunar New Year holiday, I went on a short trip to Montigo Resorts Nongsa in Batam. The area is rather undeveloped or should I say, in the process of being developed so there are only a few resorts in this part of Batam. This is good in the sense that the environment is left as natural as it is but I guess in a few years' time, the landscape and view here could change drastically as more resorts open here and the area gets developed.

Due to the fact that the Montigo Resort is quite far from the city area, it became a natural choice to have our meals here during our stay. Tadd's is one of the two restaurants here so I will be reviewing this first.

As the colour theme of the resort is blue and white which brings to mind Santorini in Greece, the restaurant is also dressed in similar colours with its wooden furniture, blue chairs and white walls. With the huge fans on the ceiling and the sea breeze, the whole place gives off a relaxed vibe. In line with the Lunar New Year holiday then, there were dashes of red everywhere with decorations on the tables and ceilings in the form of red packets and lanterns etc.

Here were the dishes and drinks we had during lunch on the two days during our stay:

The white drink on the right was a mojito mocktail while the other was a lychee-based soda. The mocktail tasted relatively close to the real mojito without the distinct taste of alcohol that some people may find overwhelming and the good thing was that it wasn't overly sweet which provided some much-needed relief when the weather was a bit hot and stuffy after a short drizzle. The mint leaves were fresh and added a welcome refreshing taste to the drink. Perhaps it might have been better to go easy on the amount of ice because the amount of ice diluted the drink a bit too much towards the end. As for the soda, I felt that it was too sweet especially when the ice had yet to melt but it got more palatable towards the bottom of the glass.

Next up was was the sate campur i.e. assorted satay (9 sticks) with rice cakes, peanut sauce and crackers. The satay options here are beef, chicken and prawn but if there's anything which you don't eat, you can always ask the staff to change the combination. In our case, we asked for prawn and chicken only since we do not eat beef. Frankly speaking, I don't really like having chicken satay for the fact that it gets dry too easily due to the grilling unless the portion used contains a bit more fat or moisture like thigh meat. As such, I tend to prefer pork satay which is more "resistant" to the grilling process and doesn't lose its tenderness nor taste. However, being in Indonesia, the meat options would not have included pork but it wasn't that much of an issue after all since there was still chicken to choose. Thankfully, the chicken satay was not too dry and was marinated well. As for the prawn, it was of a decent size and was pretty fresh. What I liked more were the crackers and rice cakes while the peanut sauce could do with a boost in the fragrance department.

The nonga nasi goreng contained a grilled prawn, a fried chicken wing, two sticks of chicken satay (supposed to be beef but we asked for a change), a fried egg, vegetables, fried rice and a cracker. It was a decent portion good enough for two people to share especially if you aren't too hungry or have a small appetite. As per the same with the satay set, you can ask for some customisation to the preset items if need be so please check with the staff on the available portions. At the price of IDR 125,000 (about SGD 13), the amount of items and the quality of food are quite worth the deal. Perhaps the only drawback was that the amount of vegetables seemed a bit too little when compared to the other items in this set.

The montigo ayam panggang berempah contains half of an oven-roasted spring chicken, sautéed
long beans, prawn crackers, steamed
jasmine rice and sambal. The rice was lacking in fragrance and was a bit too soft to my liking. As for the chicken, I liked the flavour but the texture was a bit dry. Somehow, I find that spring chicken tends to be dry like breast meat regardless of the cooking method, be it deep fried or grilled so I suppose that it's very difficult to retain the moisture and texture. The sambal went well with the rice and chicken. One thing worth noting was the prawn crackers used in each of the dishes were really good and I really enjoyed seeing them in almost every dish I had during my stay at the resort.

The dessert tray comprised of green tea tiramisu, triple chocolate truffle,blueberry cheese cake, ginger crème brulée, strawberry pannacotta and chocolate crémeux. Frankly speaking, we ordered this because we were not sure what we wanted to order as there were multiple items which we were interested in. Presentation-wise, this looked pretty good with its variety of colours. Overall, I felt that the quality of the items in this set were a bit lacking despite the price being even higher than a main dish. Nonetheless, the cheese cake, chocolate truffle and crème brulée were the better ones in this selection while the others were rather weak in the taste department. Quantity-wise, this is more of a tasting menu so the size of the items tend to be small. Even so, it may be a bit too much for one person if you are a small eater so it's good for sharing within a group especially if you want to try various items at one go.

Here was the young coconut juice which surprised us due to its sheer size. Coincidentally, soon after we ordered one of this, the other tables also started ordering the same thing. Seems like it's the herd syndrome at play here because if we find something that appears appealing from the other tables, chances are we will be tempted to order the same thing. The challenge in ordering something like this is how to scrape the coconut flesh from the inside of the fruit without making a mess. I must say, it was rather tough to do so because the flesh was quite thin and firmly attached to the interior wall of the fruit but if you finish drinking the juice before you start scraping the coconut flesh, it will be easier without the juice splashing all around. I learnt this the hard way when I almost spilled a good amount of the juice. As this was a young coconut, the taste of the coconut juice was not that sweet and had a tinge of sourness. I thought it went well with the strong-flavoured food and took away a bit of the greasy aftertaste.

The duck ragout fettucine is actually listed in the dinner menu but was available for ordering during lunchtime which I suppose should be due to the festive season. I tend to prefer pasta which are on the thin side such as linguine and capellini or macaroni or penne so fettucine usually gives me the impression of being rather thick and difficult to eat. In addition, due to the large surface area of the pasta, it tends to get soggy too quickly as it absorbs the pasta sauce very readily. Luckily, this version did not have a lot of sauce thus there was no problem of the fettucine being too soggy towards the end of the meal as the sauce was pretty concentrated. When eaten together with the smoked duck slices, shredded duck meat and garlic bread, the tastes of these items complement one another pretty well. Due to the substantial portion size, the after-meal feeling might be a bit heavy so this might be good for sharing within a group.

After the lacklustre experience with the dessert tray on the first day, we decided to order the desserts we were originally interested in. First up was the sago malacca which consisted of the palm sugar, crème anglaise and vanilla ice cream. The red sago layer when eaten with the cold ice cream and accompanying sauce brought about an interesting combination of tastes and textures. Visually, I thought it might be better to have more colours in this dish to accentuate the aesthetic factor although I thought that the bright red sago layer was nice to look at. However, the portion was a bit small despite the big serving dish so it should be fine for one person to finish this alone. After having this, I suddenly have this urge to try making something similar with modifications to the components.

Last but not least, here's the warm apple tart which was made from granny smith apples, rum raisin ice cream, vanilla sauce, cinnamon. I was actually a bit disappointed with the portion size of this dessert and that the apple tart here is the "deconstructed" type, Personally, I felt that the tart crust was a bit thick and tough so it might be good to improve on this area in order to make this dessert better.

On the whole, the food at Tadd's was pretty decent and had healthy portion sizes. The variety on the menu was also quite extensive so even if you stay at the resort for a few days, there should still be room for you to choose a different dish each time. However, in the dessert department, there were some flaws here and there and the portion size was a tad small when the prices were taken into consideration. Hopefully, there will be more improvements made to the menu's offerings by the time I revisit this resort.

Savour Niigata ramen from Sanpoutei @ Shaw House

Ramen lovers like me are in for a treat with more and more ramen brands coming to Singapore, each offering their unique concoctions. One biggest grouse I have though is that the ramen places that I like don't have a branch in my neighbourhood so I always have to travel to town just to get my ramen fix. Of course, there are some ramen brands which have made inroads into the housing estates but most tend to limit their expansions to various spots within the city area.

Sanpoutei Ramen has been around since 1967 and comes from Niigata, Japan which is usually more well-known for its Koshihikari rice and sake. As such, I was curious how the ramen from Niigata would taste like and decided to give this a try.

Upon entering the restaurant, there are two types of seats i.e. the table seats and those at a long rectangular table at the centre of the restaurant. In the middle lies a charcoal fireplace which is of course meant for ornamental purposes and a wooden screen which has a warm feel (perhaps because Niigata is well-known for it being a region with heavy snowfall) and offers some privacy from fellow customers which are seated across you at the same table. For people who dine alone, you don't have to feel self-conscious compared to when you occupy a table seat. Besides, it is easy to observe from these seats how the staff prepare the ramen since you can see the noodles preparation room and kitchen clearly which offers some "entertainment" while you wait for the ramen to be served.

There are four main types of ramen offered here i.e. the Niigata shoyu ramen (soy sauce base), rich tori x miso ramen, rich tori x spicy-miso ramen and W soup tonkotsu ramen (pork bone base). W soup actually means double soup and refers to the fact that there are two types of soup being blended together to form the broth in this ramen. As the name suggests, there is tonkotsu soup made from simmering tonkotsu for 12 hours plus rich tori soup (made from chicken) to form the thick broth as seen from the photo. Honestly speaking, I was a bit taken aback when I saw the soup and wondered if it was going to be too thick and salty for me.

I ordered the W soup tonkotsu ramen with extra aburi chashu (5 pieces) which comes with everything as per the full set except for the egg. As I mentioned above, I had misgivings about the soup initially but to my surprise, it was not as salty as I thought and the rich-bodied soup was so flavourful and had a nice aroma. Considering that both the tonkotsu and the rich tori soup should be quite concentrated, I was amazed by how light it was on my palate. However, for people who prefer lighter soups such as shoyu, you might not be used to seeing your soup being this thick and slightly gooey as you get to the bottom of the bowl.

As for the noodles, the type used at Sanpoutei is a bit different from the usual thin vs. thick noodles or round vs. flat noodles. It's actually flat noodles being slightly thicker than mee pok but not as broad in terms of width. I tend to prefer the thick curly noodles used in Hokkaido-style ramen rather than the thin straight noodles in Kyushu-style ramen but there are times where I would wish for the best of both worlds i.e. curly noodles which can absorb the soup well but not too thick. Surprisingly, Sanpoutei has a nice hybrid which I like where the noodles absorbs the thick broth well and yet is not too lumpy. It's great to finally find something which suits my preferences.

As for the aburi chashu, I was a bit concerned that it might be a bit too dry due to the grilling. However, the chashu had a fine balance of meat and fat which probably helped in it retaining a certain degree of moisture thus preventing the chashu from being too tough. I also liked the fact that the chashu was tender enough to be easily split into smaller pieces with just the chopsticks and seasoned in such a way that it went well with the soup.

It's a bit of a disappointment that there was no gyoza to order here but there are various small bites like mini-don, salad, rice rolls and fried chicken offered. I chose the Sanpoutei deep fried spring chicken with oroshi yuzu ponzu sauce. With regard to the karaage, I thought it was a bit tough because breast meat seemed to be used in this dish which doesn't turn out very well when deep fried since there isn't a lot of fat in this part of the chicken. The thigh portion turns out better when used in a dish like this but unfortunately, not every place uses this. Luckily, the oroshi with yuzu ponzu sauce and the vegetables helped in accentuating the taste of the fried chicken and made it a bit more moist and savoury than if it was just plain karaage being served.

On the whole, I like the ramen served here at Sanpoutei although I felt that the small bites selection is not as appealing to me. I think I'll be back for another visit pretty soon to try out the other types of soup bases.

Somewhat like Japan yet not quite like it - The Sushi Bar (Ngee Ann City)

I was craving for something Japanese during lunch one day so headed to The Sushi Bar at Ngee Ann City to give it a try. Although the online reviews were generally quite favourable, I think it was a mix of hits and misses for me so it will take a few more visits to find out which items are the ones to choose and avoid.

First was the chicken katsu rice which came with some coleslaw and cucumber slices. The fried batter was OK but the chicken meat within was too thin so it felt more like I was eating the skin and batter rather than the chicken. In addition, the rice was rather lumpy and sticky which seemed to suggest that there was either too much water or it was way overcooked. Despite the presence of a sweet sauce to be eaten with the dish, the addition of mayonnaise to the sauce altered the taste and there was too little of the sauce thus making the dish taste rather dry on the whole. It might have better if there was more sauce or the meat was thicker and juicier.

Next was the teba gyoza which means chicken wing gyoza. On first sight, this resembled the stuffed chicken wings commonly seen in Thai restaurants served with sweet chili sauce. The version here was made to be like gyoza where instead of the gyoza skin, the chicken wing which had the bones in the mid section removed was stuffed with meat filling. The accompanying sauce was replaced by mayonnaise. Overall, I thought that the taste of this teba gyoza was not much different from its Thai counterpart and the sauce didn't really do much to accentuate the taste of the dish. Although I thought that it was a pretty gimmicky idea to position this dish as a gyoza-lookalike, the dish probably needs a major change to make an impact on the customer's palate. Perhaps something like a wasabi-based mayonnaise might help in making this dish more interesting.

The kani maki turned out pretty ordinary in terms of taste which can be considered a good and bad thing. The good thing is, it doesn't taste awful but on the other hand, it fails to leave an impression on me. Appearance-wish, I thought that it could have looked slightly better. Given that the name of this place is called "The Sushi Bar", I was expecting something better even for a simple offering like this. It's the simple things which need more skills so in this sense, I thought that it should have fared better. The only thing I liked was probably the wasabi which tasted fresh. Just be careful not to take too much of it at one go or you might find yourself coughing when you choke on the sudden rush of the wasabi's spicy flavour.

The hotate miso yaki was one of the two dishes I liked during my visit. Despite miso having a pretty strong taste and potentially covering up the fresh seafood flavour if it turned out to be too overpowering, the good thing was that I could still taste the hotate's flavour and liked the texture i.e. still crunchy and not overcooked. When eaten with the spring onions, it added a welcome layer of texture to the dish. I didn't try eating with the salmon roe though. However, in order to do justice to the fresh seafood, it might be good to have another option where the hotate is grilled on its own thus allowing its natural flavour to be infused into the hotate due to the heat or adding soy sauce or some other lighter seasoning when grilling. I've tried eaten grilled seafood in this manner while in Japan and really liked the natural seafood goodness which was not overwhelmed by strong-tasting condiments.

I've been craving to have some yakitori, not the sauce version but the salt version. Ever since I tasted the latter from a convenience store in Japan, I've grown to like the salt version a lot. However, a lot of Japanese restaurants tend to have the sauce version only so I was quite happy to find the salt version offered here. The disappointing thing was that, the meat was not grilled yet and lost its meat juices so the resulting product was tough and dry despite the use of the thigh portion (momo) which should have been juicier and more tender than breast meat. The salt flavour was also hardly detectable. Perhaps the sauce version will taste better so I'll probably give that a try next time. As for this version, I think I'll go back to Family Mart to relieve my craving instead.

Last but not least, the tontoro yaki was one of my top 2 dishes that day. I don't know if this was done by the same person who did the momo yakitori but this version tasted much better. Not only was it juicy, the fats on the tontoro added some much-needed texture to the meat thus making it crunchy and nice to chew. The flavour was just right too. I think I might order this again during my next visit.

On the whole, I thought my visit to this place was not that bad because service was prompt and the restaurant was pretty spacious. However, the food turned out to be slightly disappointing. It could also have been that they specialise more in sushi than the other dishes but even so, the quality shouldn't be too far from one another. I would probably go back a second time to try a few more dishes but there's got to be more "hook dishes" to pull me back for the third visit onwards.

A place for comforting Korean stews - Masizzim (313@Somerset)

I've always been keen to try Korean stews locally but there were two major obstacles preventing me from doing so. First of all, many places I've been to so far tend to have such stews in sharing sizes which effectively meant that for someone like me who eats out often on my own, there was no way I could have finished the food singlehandedly. Even if I could, some restaurants had the rule that there must be at least two persons present before certain dishes can be ordered (yes, I'm referring to a particular bijin nabe which I've yet to try because of this rule). Secondly, a lot of the stews tend to use beef which I can't eat for religious reasons. It was really difficult to find a place which offers stews using anything other than beef and in a size friendly to singles.

Imagine my excitement when I heard about Masizzim at B3 of 313@Somerset. Not only do they offer the pork ribs stew, they even have it in single and double portions! Given that they emphasized the word "jjim" which means stews in Korean and claimed that their stews are delicious i.e. "masi" is short form for delicious in their name, there must be something about their stews worth boasting about. As such, there was no way I could have let this slip off my radar and thus decided to try if it was good as it was said to be.

The atmosphere of the restaurant can be considered as simple and no frills. From the outside, the restaurant looked a bit dark due to its extensive use of black and brown colours. It was pretty down-to-earth and not the flashy type of upscale eatery which you might have second thoughts entering if you are either dressed really casually or eating alone. Considering how I dress really simply due to sheer laziness and the hot weather, a place which allows me to be myself rather than worry about how people would look at me when I'm eating alone will end up in my favourites list. In this sense, Maizzim is a place which I would have no qualms coming back to. As seen in many Korean restaurants, K-pop music was blaring from the sound system which I have no problems with. If you are in a group though, it may be difficult to hear one another speak due to the music. One peculiar thing I noticed though was, I kept hearing 2NE1 songs while I was having my meal but saw Big Bang's music videos on the TV screen. Perhaps the owner has a particular preference for YG artistes? ^__^

First up would definitely be the pork ribs stew. There are three types of meat stews to choose from i.e. pork, beef and chicken. Note that for the chicken stew, the default option is spicy so for those who can't really take spicy food, you might want to keep this in mind. Personally, I'm not too good with spicy stuff too but I would probably come back another day just to try the chicken stew.

I really liked the pork ribs which were well-marinated and absorbed the flavours of the slightly spicy soup which goes well with the multi-grain rice served together. Although I ordered the single portion, there were more than 5 pieces of the pork ribs and they were mostly soft ribs which meant that there was more meat than the typical spare ribs used in bak kut teh. The meat texture in turn was soft and you could detach the meat from the bones very easily.

After choosing your meat, you can then select the spiciness level. For a "beginner" like me, I chose Level 1 which was slightly spicy in my opinion. For those who are OK with spicy stuff, you might find this not challenging at all so by all means challenge yourself with a Level 4.

Next, you get to choose between Korean udon and glass noodles. I'm not sure what Korean udon is and how it differs from its Japanese counterpart since I ordered the latter. However, I was rather disappointed to see the flat and thick version rather than the thinner one in my stew because it tends not to absorb the gravy/soup/sauce as well as the latter. True enough, I didn't like how the glass noodles tasted. As the thick glass noodles was rather stretchy and difficult to lift from the pot, I was conscious of the fact that whenever the glass noodles snapped backwards into the pot, the gravy seemed to spurt outwards to my neighbours and myself. Might be worth considering that if you want to avoid this messy situation.

If you find that your stew is not filling enough, you can add other things like Korean rice cakes as a top-up. I didn't add any this time since I wasn't sure of the portion size. I guess if I am just ordering the stew without other dishes next time, I might want to try adding the rice cakes.

The squid and leek pancake was a hit with me too. I really dislike versions of this with lumpy spring onion or leek strips (too dense or moist so it loses its crunchiness and flavour), negligible amounts of seafood bits, seafood cut into such small bits that you can hardly taste anything or too much egg in the pancake mix thus causing it to be dense and sink rather than be crispy and light. Fortunately, the version here has very generous amounts of leek and squid in long strips. Coupled with a crispy edge and the pancake not being too thick and dense in the middle, this has got to be one of the better versions I've tasted so far locally. The only drawback was that the sauce seemed to be a bit heavy on the vinegar so the sourish taste overpowered the savoury soy sauce's flavour. Nonetheless, on the whole, it was still good enough to be eaten with the pancake.

Last but not least, to round up the meal, I ordered the peach tea in a bid to remove the spiciness left behind by the stew. Strangely enough, I didn't taste much of the tea flavour but rather this felt more like peach soda to me. It still served its purpose of relieving my palate of the stinging sensation from the stew but I don't think I'll be trying this again. I was more keen on trying their sikhye but it only comes in a 600ml size which again is not a single-friendly item so I can't order that unless I'm in a group or would like to take away the remainder if they allow me to do so. I haven't asked the staff about whether this is OK though.

On the whole, I think the experience at Masizzim turned out quite well and I was quite satisfied with the quality of the food. I wouldn't say that it has a very extensive menu but I have no issues with this lack of variety and would prefer them to focus on their specialties rather than be a Jack of all trades. Now that I've finally found a place where I can get pork rib stew in a single portion, I think I may go back to Masizzim again very soon whenever I have the craving. Next time, it might be good to have the spicy chicken stew with the potato pancake. I just hope that the spicy chicken stew doesn't use breast meat which gets really tough if you cook it for a long time.

Outback cuisine for the first time - The House of Robert Timms (Suntec City)

The House of Robert Timms is not exactly a new name to me but I've never had the chance or inclination to give it a try especially after hearing that it serves some exotic fare such as kangaroo meat which I must admit that is too adventurous for my palate. Nonetheless, while thinking of finding somewhere new to try in the Suntec City Mall and after doing some research on its website, The House of Robert Timms seemed like a a pretty decent choice so I went ahead with it in the end.

Robert Timms is well-known as one of Australia's oldest and most established gourmet coffee brands and was only introduced to Singapore in 2010 at Wheelock Place. I'm not a fan of coffee though but the promise of wholesome cuisine from Australia did sound like an enticing prospect. Then again, I've not tried Australian cuisine before so I'm clueless as to what exactly defines Australian food other than the fact that the ingredients should come from there.

First up was the clam chowder served with toast which was truly delectable. The amount of clams in the soup was much more than the number of shells seen in the bowl and they were as fresh as they could get. The soup itself was rich but not to the extent of overwhelmingly creamy. The garlic toast was done very nicely with a nice fragrance and to top it off, the bread used had grains and nuts in the crust which further accentuated the flavour. This has got to be one of the best versions of clam chowder which I've tasted so far.

The main course was the herb roasted half-chicken with criss-cut fries and salad. Instead of the usual long fries served in most restaurants, I think the criss-cut fries were a rather unique choice but personally, I felt that it might have been better if the fries were reduced to bite-size portions. Generally, the chicken was nicely grilled and went well with the sauce. Nonetheless, I do not like breast meat which usually tastes tough and dry no matter how it is cooked unless it's used in macaroni soup or Cantonese congee. In the case of this dish, the only drawback was that the other parts of the chicken tasted well but the breast meat was a disappointment as usual or I would have given higher marks for this dish.

The chocolate mousse cheesecake came in a portion larger than what's served in most places but given the price tag of 9 bucks per slice, I think that should be the case anyway. Much as I think that the flavours of the chocolate mousse and cheesecake layers were fine on the whole, I found that them being equally dense meant that the cake was somewhat too rich to finish by the time I was halfway through. It might have been better if the mousse layer was lighter which would provide a difference and graduation in textures within the cake and make it easier to finish alone. Otherwise, it might be best to share this cake with someone else or in a group as this can be rather filling as a dessert or tea-time choice.

On the surface, this may look like the usual nyonya kueh with the coconut shreds but this is actually an Australian dessert called lamington. I didn't know this until I asked the waitress and she described it as a sponge cake with coconut shreds on the surface. Further research on the Internet suggests that the traditional Australian version has a coating of chocolate sauce with coconut shreds on the outside while a layer of cream or raspberry jam is spread between the two layers of sponge cake. There are variations in the flavours depending on the area as it is said that Australia has a lemon version too while New Zealand has a raspberry version. Apparently, the version served at Robert Timms does not have a chocolate coating.

Although there were three flavours to choose from, one was sold out i.e. orange. I then decided on the strawberry version over the lemon one in case the latter was too sour. When taking the first bite, I didn't really like the smell and flavour of the sponge cake which had an artificial flavouring somehow. After a few more bites, the taste would grow on you. In any case, having sponge cake with coconut shreds is a rather new experience for me so I would not rule out the likelihood of going back to try other flavours of the lamington.

Meant for royalty? - The Queen & Mangosteen (Vivocity)

Every time I walked past The Queen & Mangosteen, it felt strangely intimidating for some reason. It wasn't easy to see from the outside how the restaurant's decor was (posh or casual?) and the prices on the menu displayed at the entrance didn't quite strike me as being pocket-friendly at first. Actually, if you look hard enough, they aren't that bad especially when you consider that the portions are quite big. As such, even though it seemed like a fun drinking place for the after-five working crowd (I'm not that into drinking though), I just didn't have the inclination to check out this place.

On a weekday evening while in search of a quick dinner before a movie, I chose this place after looking through various options at Vivocity. I guess the prospect of trying something new won me over rather than going back to the places which I've tried and tested. After scrutinising the menu for a while, I decided to head inside. As it was still before 6pm that evening, the restaurant was relatively empty. However, the tables started to fill up soon after which suggested that this is indeed a popular place after all.

For a start, I ordered the Mojito mocktail. The version here is very refreshing because the mint hits your tongue first before the alcohol does and the fragrance of the mint leaves was very noticeable even before taking the first sip. Some versions I've tasted elsewhere had the alcohol overpowering the mint so it was too heavy to my liking. However, one thing I couldn't understand was that I had ordered a mocktail but I felt as if I had a cocktail. After I left the restaurant, I could feel the effects of the alcohol kicking in so I wondered if there was a mistake with my order. If it wasn't, then I would have to be careful about ordering mocktails here because they are actually not much different from a cocktail.


My main course was the duck confit with mashed potato and vegetables. What impressed me was the duck meat being full of flavour but not to the extent of being too salty and that it was soft enough but not overcooked. Although I do not know how to make this dish, it's evident even to a layman like me that it takes a lot of skill to do this dish well. In this regard, the version here has won me over on the duck meat alone. However, the sauce didn't quite leave an impression on me. It wasn't because it was bad but rather there wasn't nothing in it that really stood out. Likewise for the mashed potato, I do not know if it was deliberately left bland so that it would taste good when eaten with the sauce. To me, eating it with or without the sauce didn't make that much of a difference in the end because I didn't feel that the sauce accentuated the flavour of the mashed potato anyway. Perhaps I should have gone for the signature fish & chips after all since this is a British restaurant after all?

Luckily, the dessert was the saving grace for the evening. I ordered the chocolate lava cake which had a scoop of vanilla ice cream and various berries on top i.e. strawberry, raspberry and blueberries. The cake was baked in such a way that the crust was crispy and the interior was moist and luscious. When the spoon came into contact with the cake, the liquid chocolate within flowed freely outwards like a beautiful stream. Eating the liquid chocolate with the cake was such a heavenly and tantalising experience that this has got to be one of the better versions I've tasted so far. When eaten with the ice-cream, it adds a creamy dimension to the taste and the coolness from it helps to make the hot lava cake a bit more palatable for people who might prefer to have their cake at room temperature. The berries' sour taste also presents a different taste of the chocolate cake by neutralising the sweetness of the chocolate and might be favoured by those who don't have a sweet tooth.

To sum up the dining experience at The Queen & Mangosteen, I have to say that on the whole, I was satisfied with what I ordered although there were some flaws here and there. Perhaps it was just me who had these issues or I didn't order what they specialised in. One non-food-related thing I noticed was, the restaurant was really dark and relied on using fake candles on its tables rather than use real ones which I guess was due to fire safety and cost concerns. I usually won't have issues with this kind of thing but the flickering fake candles were making my eyes so tired that I would rather they not be put on the tables.

Frankly speaking, I still don't know why the restaurant's name is named as such but I guess the reference to the Queen probably has something to do with its British-influenced food. As for the mangosteen, I am guessing that it's because the fruit is the Queen of Fruits thus being synonymous with the Queen. As for whether the food is meant for royalty, I would say that the prices are, to a certain extent as they can be a bit steep depending on what you order. With regard to quality, I think it's a bit premature to judge them based on just two dishes so I'll probably have to try it again to see how things go.

Fancy nostalgia with your curry? - Curry Times (Changi Airport Terminal 3)

It seems that many eating places are going big on the nostalgia factor with old-school or retro furnishings, cutlery or traditional foods which are not widely available these days. As things around us change at breakneck speed, it is no wonder that people feel a longing for things in the past.

Curry Times, a new brand under the familiar Old Chang Kee, has a new branch at the airport's terminal 3's level B2 which is easily noticeable as soon as you exit from the MRT station. You can see various old-style items displayed at the counter area and the furniture used here are marble table-tops with wooden chairs which were seen commonly in old-style coffee shops.


As the name suggests, the selling point of this eating place would be different types of curry. Old Chang Kee prides itself as being able to produce the best curry puffs thus it seemed like a natural extension for them to open a curry-themed restaurant. First up was the curry chicken hor fun which actually looked quite presentable in the sense that the ingredients were nicely laid-out rather than scattered in a haphazard manner. Following that was the curry chicken set which you can choose to pair with the conventional choices of rice or bread or a relatively new idea of prata. I've never seen prata being offered together with curry chicken so far but since I'm not a fan of prata, I chose the tried and tested rice during my first visit and bread on a separate occasion. Actually, the curry used in the chicken hor fun and the curry rice is the same so taste-wise, they are largely the same. I like the curry here for the fact that there is no heavy curry powder smell and it is not too spicy for me. Be it whether you pair it with hor fun or rice, I think it tastes equally good. As for the bread which I suppose is a French loaf, I would have preferred it to be lightly toasted on the outside because it seems a bit too soft and mushy when eaten with the curry. A crispy exterior would have made the texture a bit more exciting and different.

Here comes the side dishes and we started off with the potato prawn ball which actually wasn't given any recommendation mark in the menu. Nonetheless, we wanted to try some unusual stuff and this wasn't something readily found elsewhere so we decided to give it a shot. Personally, I think it's not bad with a good balance of potato and the prawn and neither ingredient was too overwhelming or overly heavy in terms of proportion and flavour. However, it would have been nice to have something like a Thai sweet chilli sauce to go with this which I suppose may be better at improving the taste of this dish compared to mayonnaise. Not many people prefer the taste of creamy taste of mayonnaise with fried items but I think kids and adults would like the Thai sweet chilli sauce to go with something which looks as cute as this.

Next was otah which on the surface may seem a bit boring or nothing unusual. The catch here is that the otah was made from salmon which I've never tried or seen before. In addition, the dish looked pretty appealing on the menu so we decided to try it. However, being not so much of a fan of salmon, I think I wasn't very impressed with this. No doubt it tasted alright, the texture of the fish just felt too different from the otah I usually eat. Even if I wasn't told beforehand that this is made from salmon, I think I would still have my reservations over whether salmon is a good choice for this traditional dish. I applaud Curry Times for having the guts to do something different but I would prefer to have a more ordinary type of otah in future if they do revamp their menu.

Last but not least, we chose chendol to round up the meal. Do not assume that the portion is going to be as big as what you see in the menu. We were quite surprised to see such a small bowl when it was served and wondered if we should have ordered more. Anyway, this chendol was fairly decent except for the fact that the coconut milk on top of it had solidified due to some unknown reason. I wasn't sure if this had to do with the freshness of the coconut milk or whether it was meant to be as such but it was kinda shocking to see bits and pieces of it on the top so we ended scrapping it off.

In conclusion, I think Curry Times offers a pretty good deal with nice food and a rather comfortable old school setting to relax in. However, not all of its non-curry dishes scored with me so it remains to be seen if I will be impressed by the other items in the menu or continue to be disappointed during subsequent visits. Even if you are not so much of a curry person, there are other local dishes for your selection so you may wish to give it a shot. I think I'll probably try a non-curry main dish next time to assess how it performs in this area.