Saturday, March 25, 2017

Aburi Sushi Heishirou @ Westgate Jurong East

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Chanced upon this shop when I was browsing through the JPassport app. It was offering 5 pieces of aburi sushi for $10 (usual price $18). Plus, was looking for a place to dine with my bro as he is working at that area. The deal clincher? 1-for-1 on bottled beer during Happy Hour (till 730pm). Cool~

The shop is located at Level 3 of Westgate, next to Papparich. Nearby, there's Tsukado Nojo and Ippudo. The Japanese chef at Heishirou seemed grumpy that day, though he'd still nod his head at you when eye contact is made.

Orion bottled beer $9++
The menu seemed limited with most of it being sushi, aburi sushi, donburis and the usual sets. Then, there's the tamagoyaki section which states that these are made upon order. Well, that's that and wouldn't miss the chance to try.

For the two of us, we ordered a seafood salad, plain tamagoyaki, a dragon roll and that plate of aburi sushi's on promo plus our beer. An abundance!

seafood salad @$15++


The seafood salad was actually mainly aburi salmon belly salad, with a bit of ebiko and seaweed that made up the 'seafood'. It was pretty looking, and loved the fresh vegetables. Pour in the salad sauce with abandon and enjoy! With this size, the salad could have fed 4 pax as starter.

aburi sushi - salmon, tuna, kajiki, scallop and yellowtail @$10++ (u.p $18++)

Am heartened by the size of the sushi at Heishirou. It was of the right size. If it was those tiny tiny sushi that some joints are serving nowadays, I'd be angry. Seriously.

plain tamagoyaki 卵焼き @$12++

The tamagoyaki was slightly sweeter than expected and its texture not as smooth. Enjoyable nonetheless. Hot eggs and beer. Yums.

When the waitress said their dragon roll is the biggest, I was amused. But she tells the truth. While it may or may not be the biggest, it was certainly impressively large. Tasty and not too overpowering.

our meal

It was actually too much food for the two of us. Felt so full after that. Hahaa!

Estimate to spend about $35 per pax for a meal here with a drink.


Aburi Sushi Heishirou

Location: 3 Gateway Drive, #03-05 Westgate Mall, 608532
Contact: 6369 9489
Website: http://www.aburiheishirou.com.sg/
Business Hours:
Lunch: 11am - 230pm 
Dinner: 5pm to 930pm

Sat, Sun, Public Hols - 11am to 930pm

Sunday, March 19, 2017

Ginett Restaurant and Wine Bar @ Hotel G

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This beautiful place is located on the first floor of Hotel G, located at 200 Middle Road. Uniquely, one needs to pass through its carpark for its taxi drop-off (and pick-up) point. There, at the hotel lobby, take the lift down to the restaurant.

High ceiling, dimly lit cosy classy ambiance at this European-styled restaurant. The bar area is very striking. The upper level is where the kitchen is. The chefs were looking quite serious.

Ginett

interior

street level
Floor manager and supervisors were quick to attend to our queries and requests. However, a few staff was noticeably new and has limited product knowledge.

promotions
Noticeably, the bottled wines at Ginett are priced reasonably. We started with a bottle of merlot which presumably was picked by Ivan? I do like merlot. In terms of red, my top preferences would be the likes of merlot and malbecs.

Château Martinat, Côte de Bourg @$55++
The Martinat was medium bodied, dry and easy to drink. Low tannins meant no siap-siapness (hokkien colloquial). Yay.

I was soo hungry. Ever since I've started this new job, I'd be the last to arrive at any dinner gatherings during the weekdays. Much apologies to my friends!

Chewy crusty bread served slightly warm. Just spread some of those salty creamy butter on it did wonders to curb that hunger. Plus it allowed me to steal some sips of that delicious wine. Yums.

complimentary bread with butter
The food and drinks here are decidedly French, so we started with Pâté en Croûte. This starter has terrine encased in puff pastry and cooked. The accompanying bread was crisp and flavourful. The terrine is black pork and French foie gras. Not that am able to differentiate non-French foie gras for that matter. This dish was sublime. However, am opined to think that I like rillettes more for its stronger flavours.

Pâté en Croûte@$19++

Ahh, so what's the difference between pate, terrines and rillettes? No idea man, so I did a quick Google search. Interestingly, all pâtés are terrines, but not all terrines are pâtés. All of these are basically preserved meats. Terrines are usually made of ground meat, while rillettes are chopped/shredded and pâtés are blended.

La Joue de Boeuf @ $32++
Our first main dish arrived in the form of La Joue de Boeuf or also known as wagyu beef cheek that has been braised for 12 hours, with sauteed mushrooms and served with a side of smooth creamy mash.

closer view of the beef cheek

Beef cheek was well-braised and the sauce was just right. Not too overpowering. The mash was enjoyable.  The next meaty main course came in the form of roasted baby chicken. Lovely colour and served table-side. The staff would help to carve out the chicken. Lovely service.

Le Coquelet De Ferme Rôti aux Herbes de Provence @$34++
bite-sized
French-styled roasted chicken are always subtle. Mild flavours all round and tender chicken with some moist retained. I got the breast meat and it was still nice. This came with truffled mash and the whole table simply adored that as well.

Next up, was a new dish that I had never seen before. Ivan said he ordered fish dumpling, so in my mind, they'd look something like a ravioli or such. Imagine the surprise when a large yellow sausage looking dish arrived. Hee!

La Quenelle de Brochet Gratinée @ $28++

As I am the group's unofficial cutter, had the honour to slice through this 'dumpling'. It was so soft! The texture and flavour was akin to tofu with minced fish. The dumpling itself has such soft, gentle flavours but the sauce (and cheese, yes?)  provided a twist in the taste with its stronger flavours. If you are like me and need to know how does a pike fish look like, here is a link.

pike fish dumpling chardonnay sauce

To continue with our meaty adventure, next was the pork chop, served with potato wedges. The meat was adequately seasoned but it was just lacking abit of fats. The lean meat was dangerously and almost veering towards the dry side.

Kurobuta Chop @ $32++
sliced pork chop
Luckily, the finale meat dish did not dissappoint and that, came in the form of La Côte de Boeuf. A hulk of a prime rib that was meant for 2 pax but eaten by 8.

La Côte de Boeuf @ $120++
I saw you, medium rare

Served with three types of sauces; Béarnaise, pepper, blue cheese. All sauces were pretty nice. The meat was wonderful. Thick slices of tender beef cooked medium rare. Each person still gets to enjoy a good-sized cut of the meat. Red meat, red wine. I was happy.

Lastly, our night cap included another bottle of wine. Hey, a sparkling for $30? Why not?

Cuvée Splendid, Sparkling Wine @$30++

And of course, we had to check out the desserts. Ordered a couple to try. Out of the lot, the least enjoyable one was the mille-feuille. The crust was not flaky.  The creme brulee was a tad too sweet for me, so I went with the profiteroles. The choux was decent and who can resist ice-cream?

Mille-feuille @$13++
Crème Brûlée @$8++
Profiteroles @$13++

Expect to spend about $57 to $65 per pax for a meal with a glass of wine. Recommend the La Côte de Boeuf and wines.



Saturday, March 18, 2017

Black Cow @ South Beach Avenue

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South Beach Avenue is pretty near JW Marriot Hotel and nearest MRT would be Esplanade. There is an enclave of new restaurants including Black Cow, Fynn's, Atmastel and Alchemist amongst others. Was pretty amazed that there are people who knows about this place. From observation, the interiors of these places were done up pretty good. Very nice.

Met up with fellow foodies over lunch at Black Cow and we ordered a couple of items to try, including the signatures of wagyu truffle uni donburi and the kurobuta tsukune don. The crowd seemed to start after 1pm. Understandably so for weekends. One need not be up so early, ya?

table for four

Service was courteous, and there are off-menu items being introduced as well. Be prepared to spend.


cold tea
As we were the first few in the restaurant, the food arrived fairly swiftly. We spent quite a while taking photos and one of the staff approached us to gently prompt us to try the food before it got much colder.

Kurobuta Tsukune Don @$28++
The Tsukune Don is basically minced black pig on rice with onsen egg. All lunch sets came with soup, salad and pickles.

onsen egg lava

The most photogenic of the donburis would be the foie gras beef steak don. Cubed foie gras and wagyu beef were glistening and beckoning for a taste. Smooth, firm and well-oiled. Good clean flavours, which surprised me. Thought it would taste 'heavy'. Lovely.

Foie Gras Bifuteki Don @$45++

A visit to a place that serves Japanese food will not be complete without having a look at the drinks menu. Whisky, beer or sake?

Dassai 39 Junmai Daiginjyo @$78++ (300ml)
Finally, managed to try a Dassai. Very easy to drink and my preference is always a junmai daiginjyo whenever one is available.

Of all the dons, my favourite turns out to be the Signature Truffle Don with additional uni topping. The amazing flavours that had settled onto the rice, was really the clincher.

Signature Truffle Don (with add-on uni) @$60++
And, of course, if there's a time-limited-by-chance-special that was available just for that weekend only, the food-lovers decided to go-ahead and get one to try.  An appetiser portion cold dish. Presented with a luxurious feel with a gold flake adorning the top of the caviar.

Uni Truffle Somen with caviar @$78++
And, as part of the set lunch, one gets ice-cream at the end of the meal. A couple of flavours available. Most surprisingly? There wasn't any matcha flavour to choose from. Say what?!

Choose from yuzu, kyoho or black sesame.

yuzu ice-cream
But of course, the shaved ice here was good too. So we had one for desserts. Shared amongst the 6 of us. I think it was made for 2-3 pax.

Signature Milk Shaved Ice @$12++
Upcoming in new menu, warabi mochi desserts, adorned with edible flowers. Pretty looking and I liked the translucent jelly-thingy with black sugar syrup.

warabi mochi dessert

A cosy place to enjoy Japanese food. Would love to try other items in the lunch sets.

Lovely lunch with fellow food-lovers; Justin, Siew Yan, Mya, Belle and Ken.


Saturday, March 11, 2017

[Media Invite] Yomoda Soba x J Passport @ Japan Food Town Wisma Atria

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Am unabashed about my love for Japanese foods. Have been trying the shops at Japan Food Town Wisma Atria. Thus far, have tried Hokkaido Izakaya, Nabe Seizan, Rang Mang Shokudo, Yakiniku Heijoen and now Yomoda Soba. Yomoda Soba originated from Nagano Japan.

menu

Tried the Hot Tempura Soba as it was drizzling and warm broth sounds just right. The soba is made from refined buckwheat flour imported from Japan and thus, it is lighter in taste as well as in colour of its noodle strands. The light soy based dashi is made from kelp, sardines, mackerel, bonito and shiitake mushrooms. Its soup had just a tinge of sweetness.

ミニ天丼セット

If you feel that the taste is too light, then the accompanying chili flakes did help to add that bit of spice into the soup. Quite nice actually after the addition.The yuzu peel gave a bit of refreshing variation to the taste.

slurp it up
As for the tempura, there were mushroom, red capsicum, pumpkin, long beans, chicken, braised pork and small prawn. Best one was the pork. Delicious!

天ぷら

Here is a link to JPassport Yomoda Soba page for more information: http://bit.ly/2mJ9Xmy

JPassport is an app which offers coupons to dine-in at selected Japanese Restaurants in Singapore. Pretty useful.


Yomoda Soba よもだそば

Location: Wisma Atria 238877, Wisma Atria, 435 Orchard Rd, Singapore 238877
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YomodaSobaSingapore/
Contact: +65 6262 3467
Business Hours:
Daily 11:30~22:00 (last order 21:30)


Saturday, March 4, 2017

[Media Invite] Siam Mookata @ 83-85 Pasir Panjang Road

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Located at an old school coffeeshop, Siam Mookata offers casual Thai steamboat & BBQ option to those who seeks it. The coffeeshop that houses it is called Par Shi Coffeeshop.

Siam Mookata
The specialty for Siam Mookata would be in its house concocted chili sauce. Not too overpowering and was a good accompaniment to the grilled meats. You could also order up a cool Thai Ice Tea to quench those fires.

special chili sauce
Thai Ice Tea @$3.50

For a group of 3 to 4 pax, the platter for 4 ($39.90) offers enough variety in that there's pork, chicken, prawns and squid. The types of cut included pork belly, marinted chicken thigh in garlic and marinated pork in black pepper. There were some crab stick and sausages too. The vegetable basket contained enough greens (bok choy) and chinese cabbage, and a bunch of golden mushrooms. Enough lard was provided to oil the grill. The stall provided a large container of chicken broth for our use. Quite liked the soup!

ready to start

One could also do ala-carte order of the Special Pork Belly (marinated). The marinade for this was really light though.

Special Pork Belly @$7.90
It was fun having Mookata with friends. Conversations flowed while the food cooked slowly. The prawns were of a good size, firm and fresh but it was too much of a hassle to eat.

let's eat
do you prefer it bbq'ed or in the soup?

The vegetable basket did contain tanghoon but if you need more carbs, you could also do ala-carte orders of rice or mama noodles. Nothing beats having the tanghoon though. Slurpiliciously good!

mama noodle @$1.50

Expect to spend about $17 per pax for a platter with additional top-up of pork liver and special pork belly, and a cold drink.

Also watch out for Hungrygowhere deals. Just so you know, till 31 March diners gets 50% off total dining bill at Siam Mookata when booked via Hungrygowhere. Terms and conditions applies.

Special thanks to Siam Mookata and HGW for the invite.



 
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