Showing posts with label yakitori. Show all posts
Showing posts with label yakitori. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 22, 2020

[Tasting] The Parlour Mirage - Craft Beer Tap Room @ 140 Owen Road

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In collaboration with The Parlour Singapore (newly opened artist hub, founded by artist jaye), The Parlour Mirage is a craft beer tap room restaurant that serves up creative cuisine, of both Japanese and Mediterranean fusion.

The nearest MRT to Parlour Mirage would be Farrer Park MRT.

The Parlour Mirage (recognisable by the super big QR code signage)

let's drink


Thank you Hence for the invite, Naomi (The Linch Agency) for showing us around and Parlour Mirage for hosting the tasting.

While guests enjoy their ice cold beer downstairs at Mirage, there are plenty of happenings upstairs as well. Head on up and there are rooms for Creative Workshops, Grid Cuture (music production school by Singapore's first Ableton Certified Trainer, Syafiq Halid) and The Music Parlour.

feel the vibe

Second Life flea market products

let's learn music from Grid Culture

The Music Parlour


Follow The Parlour Singapore instagram for updates and latest happenings.

Meanwhile, I'd just head back downstairs for my beer. There are 12 rotating beer taps and I'd be selecting my drink based on 'tikam' basis if not for the friendly bar manager. I gave him key words like "fruity, don't want sour beer" and we ended up with a beer from Wild Brew , one of our local brewery. I liked its refreshing taste, and the immediate sweetness which tapered off to a bitter finish. 

Wild Brew Hammerhead IPA

Chicken Karage @$12



For food orders, Mirage uses the waitrr app. We tried the Chicken Karage with mayo dip. Lovely, chunky thigh that's deep fried to golden. Thin batter and juicy meat. Yums!

chicken and beer, what's not to like?


Another must order at Mirage is the Fried Cheese. Premium aged cheddar is used and these little small cheese balls are huge in flavours. I think of it as dessert. So good that we kept popping one after another till it is all gone.

Fried Cheese @$10

can't get enough of these


Beer and yakitori makes a good pairing as well but have you tried yakitori with hummus? At Mirage, for every purchase of yakitori platter, one could get two accompaniments. My choice would be Pesto and Hummus.

clockwise from top: Asian slaw, fried mantou, Tzaziki, Pesto, Hummus, Guacamole, Pita Bread and Sweet Butter Corn in the center


Hokubee Beef Yakitori @$9.50 (2 sticks)


Salmon Belly @$9.50 (2 sticks)

Tsukune @$6.50 (2 sticks)


left: Devil's Peak Lager (South Africa)


My second beer, Devil's Peak Lager was mild and perfect for our hot and humid weather. If you are hungry, there's Hokubee Beef Don which is quite a substantial bowl. Meltique beef cubes in kombu sauce for that satisfying bite. Overall, the sauce was a tad too sweet for me though but there's the spicy pickles in the bowl to balance things a bit.

Hokubee Beef Don @$24


We also had the Straccietella and this works as a dessert for us. Think soft, mild ad creamy burrata with mixed honey nuts.

 Straccietella @$15

sweet cheese and beer


Overall, it was a fun tasting and I never thought I could have yakitori with hummus, or deep fried mantou with pesto. Am thinking about the cheese balls with Hammerhead beer. So good!


Come visit, and try it yourself!

The Parlour Mirage

Address: 140 Owen Road, Singapore 218940
Contact: 9654 5687 
Business Hours
Daily - 12:00pm to 10:30pm

Sunday, October 21, 2018

[Invited Tasting] Q-WA Izakaya @ 103 Beach Road

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This izakaya is located at the same building as Marrison Bugis Hotel. Nearest MRT would be Bugis MRT and exit via Tan Quee Lan Street. Head southeast on Tan Quee Lan St toward Beach Rd (walk towards Joo Bar and keep left). Once you reached the corner of the road, turn right onto Beach Rd. You would have passed by Kajiken (歌志轩) as well as a self-service laundromat. Q-WA is just right after that. Head towards the Asahi signage there.

Q-WA Izakaya has outdoor seats as well as indoors. The indoor seats are limited hence, reservation is recommended. For our group, we preferred indoor as the interior exuded an izakaya feels.
current promo
interior

Let's check out the decor of the place.

Japanese posters and polaroids of customers (on the left)
Happy Hour - Asahi
coaster
Had the privilege to meet with the owner of Q-WA, Ms Rita and she shared with us her passion for food and Japanese sake, which then led to her opening Q-Wa Izakaya. Q-WA at Beach Road is the second outlet and the first Q-WA Izakaya is located at 39 E Coast Rd, Singapore 428756. She travels frequently to Japan to experience the izakaya.

Q-WA at Beach Road offers predominantly yakimono (やきもの) dishes with some light bites, deep fried (揚げ物) and carb dishes (ご飯物 / 麺類) in the menu.

menu

Let's start with the drinks. For teetotallers, there are soft drinks and calpis (カルピス). Calpis is considered an uncarbonated Japanese soft drink and has a milky appearance, somewhat acidic and tasted like flavoured yoghurt. In Japan, I'd order a Calpis Highball (with whiskey).

During Happy Hour (weekdays: 5 pm to 8pm and weekends: whole day), get half pint of Asahi Super Dry draft beer for just $5. One pint for $9. That's a reasonable pricing. For non-happy hour pricing, half pint of Asahi goes for $7 while the housepour sake is priced at $8 per glass.

For myself, I'd go for their current housepour sake, that is the Gekkeikan 月桂冠 brand. It has a smooth profile and slightly sweet. This may be changed soon, so head on to Q-WA to enjoy Gekkeikan at a special price during Happy Hour.

housepour sake 月桂冠
housepour sake @$5 (per glass) or $19 for 300ml
Asahi Super Dry draft (half pint) and Calpis

Now that we have gotten our drinks, let's have some food! Started with some appetisers of deep fried river shrimps. Tiny morsels that's rather addictive.

Hokkaido Kawa Ebi 北海道揚げ川エビ @$8.90
pick me up and pop me in

Then, there was Pork Katsu Cheese ( from the Deep Fried selections), served with a side of shredded cabbages. Cheese fillings in the pork slice, panko'ed and deep fried to a golden brown.

Pork Katsu Cheese  豚カツチーズ @$14.90
cheese fillings
Shime Saba  しめ鯖 @$18.80
Was surprised by the pale looking plate of Shime Saba. Usually, we'd see it deep fried or grilled but here, the fish was marinated in vinegar before seared and served on a bed of marinated raw onions. Loved that it was already sliced up, deboned and ready for diners to just pickup the smaller pieces and enjoy with their drinks. Makes one feel like having sushi.

Tried the Japanese Squid (Surame Ika) and it was a nice soft chewy texture. Sliced into bite-sized and convenient to eat.

Surame Ika (Japanese Squid) @$15.80


For the yakitori, we had assorted sticks from the chicken, pork and beef selections. My group's favourite seemed to be bacon wrapped items especially the quail's egg wrapped with bacon and tomato wrapped in bacon.

tebasaki (chickeng wings @$3.50), enoki maki (@$3.30), uzura maki (@$3.30) and eboki gyu (@$4.80)
tomato maki (@$3.20), butabara miso (@$3.20), butabara (@$2.90) 
torikawa (@$2.80), tsukune (@$3.60), uzura (@$2.90), negima cheese (@$3.30), negima (@$2.90)

At Q-WA Izakaya, I preferred the items from the chicken. The chicken meat in negima and negima cheese was tender. My must order items for yakitori would be the chicken thigh (もも), chicken heart (ハツ) and gizzard (砂肝).

Chicken Heart and Chicken Liver (はつ @$2.60 / きも @$2.60)
If you like the crunchy texture, then the Nankotsu (Chicken Cartilage) could be your favourite item. I prefer the softer crunch of the sunagimo (gizzard).

chicken cartilage (nankotsu なんこつ @$3.60)

At Q-WA Izakaya, I'd add the bonjiri (chicken tail) as the must-order item. It was my favourite item that night. The bonjiri, nankotsu and hatsu are all limited items hence, do order early!

Bonjiri ぼんじり (@$2.80)
Expect strong seasoning at the Izakaya, and one would need a drink to go along with most of the yakimono.

pick your next drink
To end (and in case still hungry), there are carbs dishes such as the garlic fried rice or the fried udon. The garlic fried rice was a miss for me as the garlic taste was a tad too subtle and pretty small portion.

Garlic Yaki Meshi ニンニクやきめし @$11.90
Yaki Udon 焼きうどん @$10.90

Purple Taste recommends the housepour sake (the 300ml tokkuri version) and the draft beer at Happy Hour, the must-eats yakitori are sunagimo, hatsu, bonjiri, uzura maki and negima cheese, and to share the appetisers of the kawa ebi, Surume Ika and Shime Saba.

Thank you Rita and Q-WA Izakaya for hosting the dinner. Attended with Hence and Tracy, Ivan, Shermaine and Tiara.

Q-WA Izakaya @ Beach Road


Q-WA Izakaya

Address: 103 Beach Road, #01-02, Singapore 189704
Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/qwaizakaya1/
Contact: 8336 7728
Reservationhttps://www.chope.co/singapore-restaurants/restaurant/q-wa-izakaya?sub_source=google_map
Business Hours:
Daily 11:30 AM to 2:30 PM, 5:00 PM to 11:00 PM

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Kyotofushimishinseishuzo Torisei Honten 鳥せい本店 @ Kyoto Fushimi

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Yuka and myself weren't feeling that hungry so we decided to eat nearby Fushimi. She brought us to a yakitori place that's operated by a sake brewery. It has its own carpark, so we didn't have to hunt for a parking lot.

Quite a cool shop. Lots of wooden beams, shelves and shelves of sake bottles and sturdy tables.

similar to housewine so this is their 'house' sake


Had my first taste of matcha sake and it was delicious! It is pretty sweet so, guys might not like it. Similar to dessert wine but not as sweet. Very nice and kind of regretted not getting a bottle home! But the otoshi (お通し) was quite horrible. It was just grated radish with soy sauce?! Ugh.

matcha sake ¥440

Didn't order alot and they ran out of chicken hearts. See, this is one of the favourites. The yakitori prices were reasonable and between ¥140 to ¥210 each stick.

tebasaki and pork belly - salted
chicken liver and momo - sauce

For carbs, we had the autumn seasonal kamameshi. It came with pickles and tofu. The flavours are mild and the hot rice was comforting as it had started to drizzle a bit and night time was pretty cold in autumn.

chicken and mushroom kamameshi - autumn limited edition @ ¥950

Interesting place and too bad Yuka can't drink as she's driving. A nice place to enjoy yakitori and sake.


Torisei Honten 鳥せい本店

Location: 186 Kamiaburakakecho, Fushimiku, Kyoto 612-8047
Contact: +81 75-622-5533
Website: http://www.torisei.com/shop/fushimi/

 
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