Kyoto Fair 5 Feb to 11 Feb 2015 @ Tampopo Liang Court

Kyoto would be one of the destinations if I ever visit Osaka. When I think of Osaka food, takoyaki and okonomiyaki would come to mind. When it comes to Kyoto, tofu is the word.

Was influenced by the blog posts by The Silver Chef and Dairy and Cream. A good chance to try out Kyoto food. I think of it as a preview to the eventual, so as to manage my own expectations if I travel to Kyoto.

Kyoto Fair menu

Got the Gion dinner set @$78++. Pre-dinner drink, an Asahi please.

Asahi (bottled 330ml) @$9.95++

The 6 kinds of appetisers and the kyo-yuba uni were brought out to start the dinner course.

6 kinds of appetisers

 

daikon with miso

The tofu was quite dense. Similar to the one that I had at the Okinawan diner. Kyoto version was very light and with a dash of minced ginger while Okinawan version had sweet sauce.

Enjoyed the kyo-yuba uni. This should be placed permanently in the menu. Light, refreshing and for the first time, the uni tasted so fresh and creamy. That dash of wasabi was useful to wakens the senses. The small block of kyo-yuba here tasted like tofu or was that tofu? No idea as sometimes the substitution of ingredients do happen.

pretty kyo-yuba with uni

While they did not serve the fresh gluten cake with miso, the deep fried yuba dish that they brought out was fantastic. Served with an almost translucent jelly-like savoury sauce, this dish was easily likeable.

deep fried yuba with sauce

layers

The star of the dinner set; Kyoto Beef "Miyabi" A5 Shabu Shabu with Kyoto Soy Milk Soup served with udon, tsukemono and miso soup.

Kyoto Beef "Miyabi" set with udon, pickles and miso soup

as soy milk boils, you will find a film of fresh yuba forming at the top~

this is how an A5 wagyu looks like

lovely chewy udon

The course ought to be shared by two person. The soy milk soup and the A5 wagyu combined, was a very rich taste. As usual, loved the hakusai in any form of sukiyaki or shabu shabu. The soy milk was in its original healthy taste.

matcha fondue dessert

My friend helped with the desserts as I could not eat anymore. But the matcha fondue was like chocolate, tasty sweet and addictive.

petite desserts

It was an interesting experience.

Chinatown Food Street @ 335 Smith Street

Attended a Reunion Supper at CFS (Chinatown Food Street) yesterday. With Lunar New Year just round the corner, it felt like as though everyone had congregated in Chinatown! Long lines of humans thronging the streets, right from the start of Exit A of Chinatown Station. The walk to Smith Street took forever. Well, almost. At 930pm, Chinatown was bustling!

sought shelter, away from the crowd

Truth be told, it has been ages since I've been to Smith Street. Probably when it was still in its open-air era. Was feeling nostalgic already.

great turnout

congregation of stalls in CFS

Glad to be seated with familiar faces. Great to see everyone again.

waiting to start, must resist ngoh hiang  五香 temptation

let's start the prosperity toss 撈起 (lo hei)

Yusheng (鱼生) is a Teochew-style raw fish salad. Always liked it with grass carp, but guess it is more common with salmon nowadays.

yusheng, convenience style

一本万利, 财源广进 (pouring the oil of wealth~)

All together now, Huat ah! Live healthy and prosper!

After yusheng, we sampled some of the hawker fares available in CFS. Did you know that there are 24 hawker stalls to choose from? Let's see what we ate.

First up, Chong Chong Ngoh Hiang Prawn Fritter 忠忠五香酥虾饼. The prawn fritters stayed pretty crispy throughout. That ubiquitous plate of bee hoon was pretty tasty!

freshly fried ngoh hiang

economical bee hoon

Satay sounds like a perfect supper food, yes? How about this plate from Newton Circus Ahmad Ibrahim Satay. Chicken satay was nicely sweet and tender.

tender and sweet

Is that all for supper? Well, not quite. Here was what my table ended up with. Can you spot the dishes from Odeon Beef Noodles, Food Street Fried Kway Teow Mee, Joo Chiat Ang Moh Noodles House, Chinatown Enak Fritters, Katong Keah Kee Fried Oysters, Bugis Street Famous Hainanese Chicken Rice and Chinatown Food Street Hot/Cold Beverages?

now, this is supper 开动咯~

For a limited time only, from now till 18 Feb 2015, Chinatown Food Street will stay open for all the night owls, the curious and the hungries all the way till 2am daily for supper.

Now you know where to head to.

Happy Lunar New Year 新年快乐!

Shinkei Japanese Restaurant @ Toa Payoh

If you are not familiar with Toa Payoh, then there is a high chance that you might not be able to find this restaurant easily. Knew that this place is near Toa Payoh Library but its address of Block 600, threw me off-track as the nearby blocks were numbered as 183, 190 etc. So, if you are heading here for the first time, head towards Toa Payoh Library and at one of its corner, you will see large white tent-like canopy with benches for folks to rest, and in-front of those, you will find Block 600.

It's been quite a while since I last had any ala-carte Japanese buffet.

ala-carte buffet menu

The item portions are per-pax portion, so do indicate to the service crew on the quantity required. Besides the buffet items, do look-out for the Chef Specials usually dished out during festivities. The menu may also have an insert which states the current on-going Specials. Some do require additional top-up.

Seasonal Specials

The restaurant is quite spacious and there are private rooms as well.

interior

Let's start with the food. Usual practice, a round of sashimi moriawase (mixed sashimi platter).

sashimi moriawase 刺身盛合せ - 5 pax portion

The platter comprises of tai (snapper), hamachi (yellowtail), salmon, maguro (tuna), mekajiki (swordfish), tako (octopus) and ika (squid). Note that ika and mekajiki are not available for lunch. My recommendation would be salmon (belly, if available) and hamachi. Skip the snapper.

assorted sushi

If you need to have rice, the suggestion is to skip the sushi and go straight the makimono section.

spider maki

California maki with apple sauce

Special item: Ebi tempura maki with mayo

Enjoyed the California maki with the sweet apple sauce and the special ebi tempura maki. Loved the still crispy prawn tempura within the maki.

Shinkei has temaki as well, if you fancy one.

spider maki handroll

Next up, fried food from the Agemono section.

Age Gyoza

tempura

The ebi tempura was enjoyable.

chawanmushi

One of the items that I'd usually order at an ala-carte Japanese buffet, would be the gyu yakiniku or stir fried beef.

gyu yakiniku

 Portion was manageable. Liked the flavours but the meat was a little tough with
 the ligaments. A bit oily too but otherwise, a good dish that goes well with a glass of cold beer.

Orion beer (additional charges for drinks)

For yakitori, we tried the chicken heart and buta kare. The hearts were sliced and maintained a chewy texture. Not amongst the best, but it was adequate.

tori hatsu (chicken heart)

buta kare (pork marinated with curry)

The buta kare is one that can easily be categorized as must eat. Excellent execution of the meat with the right balance between fats and leans. However, it can do without the curry marinade.

Had a couple of Chef's Special too.

tuna tataki

oysters from Japan

Liked the Japanese oysters. Big plump ones, yum.

To end the meal, one could get the Hokkaido ice-cream (with extra cost). Sweet, cold and creamy.

Hokkaido ice-cream matcha flavour

If you are around the vicinity for lunch and feels like having Japanese but not buffet, fret not. Shinkei has lunch sets that starts from an affordable $10 to $20++.

Special thanks to Anderson for hosting the tasting and to HGW for the invite.

Shinkei Japanese Restaurant

Address: 600 Lorong 4 Toa Payoh, #01-06/07/10, Singapore 319515
Contact: (65) 3158 8527
Website: http://shinkei.com.sg