Spicy Thai - Thai Cafe @ Blk 115 Aljunied Avenue 2

This place could be a bit tricky to find, especially if you aren't familiar with that neighbourhood. From Aljunied Crescent, turn into Aljunied Avenue 2 and walk towards the hawker centre. Blk 115 is behind the hawker centre and somewhere round the corner of Blk 114. Or, ask the residents or nearby shopkeeper and tell them you'd like to go to the Thai restaurant.

shop front

Opened by our local businessman, Ron Poh, whom loves Thai cuisine. Spicy Thai Thai Cafe prides itself in serving northeastern Thai cuisine in a casual setting. The condiments and chilies in the restaurant are imported from Thailand, and he has chefs from Thailand and Malaysia working the kitchen. While some of the condiments, ingredients, and serving style remained authentic, Spicy Thai Thai Cafe menu also included a few original or fusion items that owner, Ron had came up with together with his chefs. Well, as long as it taste good, the more the merrier as that means more options for us, diners!

Was invited for a tasting and we got a chance to try northeastern Thai cuisine which are stronger in flavour.

"when in Thai restaurant, drink Thai iced tea" - purpletaste

The Thai iced (milk) tea here was decent and not overly sweetened. Just the drink to quench the thirst. The dishes came our fairly quickly after ordering. A myriad of dishes with meat ratio overpowered the vegetables by ... plenty? Haha!

dinner is served

One of the usual orders for side dishes when in Thai restaurant would be either the fish cake or the prawn cake. We tried the prawn cake. Flattened mound of prawn paste, coated and deep fried to a nice light brown colour. The texture was bouncy. Enjoyable with the chili dip. In the menu, one can find "Larb Moo Tok" aka pork meatballs. Nice dish to go with beer.

Prawn Cake @$2 per piece (min. order of 2 pieces)

Prawn Cake - cross section view

For families, usually I'd see them ordering omelettes. We had the restaurant recommended Dill Pattie (Cha Om) Omelette. Thai dills are wrapped inside the omelette and pan-fried. The cha om did not have a strong  herby taste and thus, can be easily eaten along with the egg. Interesting but the egg was a tad oily though.

Dill Pattie (Cha Om) Omelette @$12

From the grills and barbeque pit, we had the BBQ chicken wings and BBQ pork neck. The advise is to quickly eat these once it is served. Had mine after quite a long while, and unfortunately, the meat tasted a tad tough.

BBQ Chicken Wings @$9 for 6 pieces

BBQ Pork Neck @$10

Loved their deep fried items. The Deep Fried Pork Belly with Garlic and the Deep Fried Kang Kong with Special Thai sauce were both excellent! Pork belly was well marinated and flavourful, and with good texture. The kang kong remained crispy for quite a long while and it paired so well with the special sauce. Will gladly eat this vegetable. Memorable.

Deep Fried Pork Belly with Garlic @$12

Deep Fried Kang Kong with Special Thai Sauce (sauce not in photo) @$10

Spicy Thai Thai has a special otah that is called Hommok. Presented in a coconut and has a rich coconut cream and curry taste. Good to be eaten with rice.

Hommok Thai Style Otah @$16

For seafood options, we had the Thai Basil Black Pepper Crab and the Walking Catfish with Spicy Lemon Soup. The Basil Pepper Crab had watery sauce but boy, it was spicy! The flesh of the crab was so good. Sweet flesh that was firm and stringy.

Thai Basil Black Pepper Crab @ seasonal price

Thai Walking Catfish with Spicy Lemon Soup @$28

The Walking Catfish sounds weird and scary but this dish ought to be on the table of every diner. A good sized catfish that was served warm over the charcoal fire. If you worry that catfish may have that muddy taste? Fret not. The version served here was devoid of any mud taste. The charcoal fire actually continues cooking the fish and even so, the flesh remained tender. The soup was so good. Tangy, spicy and very appetising. Be careful of the tiny fiery chilies though.

For supper, perhaps the La-La Bee Hoon may tickle your fancy. Stir well and try to get those bee hoon to soak up the sauce. Savoury, sweet with a tinge of spicy kick.

La La (Clams) Bee Hoon @$18

For desserts, get the Tapioca in coconut milk. Super good.

Tapioca in coconut milk (warm) @$3.50

The Sticky Rice with Mango was let down by the too compact/dense glutinous rice.

Sticky Glutinous Rice with Mango @$6

The Red Ruby and Lemongrass Jelly with Aloe Vera and Calamansi had very much lighter sweetness and taste than accustomed to.

Special thanks to Christina and Ron for hosting the dinner and for sharing more about northeastern Thai cuisine with us. Thank you Shauniee for the invite.

Spicy Thai - Thai Cafe

Location: Blk 115, Aljunied Avenue 2, #01-35, Singapore 380115
Contact : +65 6747 8558
Business Hours:
Opens Daily from 11 a.m. to 12 a.m.

MaguroDonya Miuramisakikou Sushi and Dining まぐろ問屋 三浦三崎港 @ Suntec City

Who would understand maguro better than a maguro supplier? Lucky us, MaguroDonya Miuramisakikou Sushi and Dining, a renowned maguro and sashimi wholesaler from Japan, is bringing in quality maguro and sashimi for our local dining consumption.

banner at front of the shop

Was invited there for a tasting recently by the good folks from Hungrygowhere. Thanks to MaguroDonya's friendly and knowledgable manager, Mr David Lim, we learnt quite a bit about maguro that day.

Our delicately fresh maguro and fishes are supplied from Miura Misaki Harbour by Misaki Megumi Suisan. To enable diners in Singapore to experience the freshness that is comparable to those in Japan, the maguro fishes were prepared via shinkei-jime to stop the production of lactic acid and then frozen at minus-60 degrees. These are then thawed prior to lunch or dinner service in the restaurant. As a result, the sashimi texture remained relaxed and retained its freshness in taste.

menu

To get to the restaurant, head towards Tower One and take the escalator up to Level 3, or access via the Sky Garden. MaguroDonya is located at the Eat at Seven cluster of restaurants.

entrance to Eat@7

interior of Maguro-Donya

mini chalk board menu of daily catch specials

neko-chan is waiting for the fish to be served

We started off strong. First dish was a platter of Otoro sashimi (one portion) and 3 Cuts of Hon Maguro (two portions). I think this would be the 'wagyu' of fishes. For the best mouthfeel, hone in direct to the prized otoro; the fattiest and best part of the belly. The leanest part would be the akami (deeper red in colour). Clean tasting and, felt luxurious in enjoying the otoro.

3 Cuts of Hon Maguro consisting of otoro (大トロ), chutoro (中トロ) and akami (赤身)

bonito soy sauce for maguro sashimi

For drinks, they do have sake, whiskey, shochu and beer for those whom prefer some alcohol.

sake

If you like experience something slightly different, how about having some frozen hon maguro tomi (頭身) sashimi? This item is not in the regular menu, so you would have to ask the chef or David for it when you are at the restaurant. Available in limited quantity. It looks crunchy but once the slice was dipped with sashimi sauce and placed in the mouth, and when you start chewing, the texture was perhaps a tad like chutoro. Interesting.

frozen hon maguro tomi (頭身)

Next, we sampled the Yamamori Hikkaki Gunkan. Gunkan maki is also known as the 'battleship' maki, a more traditional type of maki. Maguro scrapings are piled high up onto this gunkan. Not to be mistaken with negitoro which is usually chopped/minced.

Yamamori Hikkaki Gunkan @$12+

If you happen to be there during lunch hour, you might want to try the Hon Maguro Hikkaki Aburi Don. Maguro slices and scrapings ontop of Hokkaido rice, aburi'ed (torched) to release the oils and fragrance. Gentle tasting and the texture of the aburi'ed hikkaki was almost like cheese.

Hon Maguro Hikkaki Aburi Don (before)

Hon Maguro Hikkaki Aburi Don (torched) @$36+

For diners whom would like to have the Kaisen Don and the Bara Chirashi, we too sampled these two bowls. The colours of the Bara Chirashi was vibrant and inviting. The Hokkaido rice was firm and not too sticky.

Kaisen Don (7-cuts of Sashimi Rice Bowl) @$21+

Bara Chirashi Don @$18.80+

We heard that the Hon Maguro Kama Yakimono (Grilled Bluefin Maguro Collar @$34+) was also highly sought after. Perhaps, you might want to give that a try too.

As the restaurant may get pretty busy during lunch hour, you might want to make a reservation first via the fuss free online reservation of Hungrygowhere. The link is provided towards the bottom of this page.

Thank you to MaguroDonya and David for hosting the session and Hungrygowhere for the invite. Much appreciative of the Chefs whom worked hard. ありがとごんざいます！

David

(left to right) General Manager Chef Watanabe, Executive Chef Shuji Sawada and Chef Takuya Matsumoto

Here is the current monthly promotion that you might want to take advantage of while it is available.

nice

MaguroDonya Miuramisakikou Sushi and Dining まぐろ問屋 三浦三崎港

Location: #03-314 Suntec City North Wing, Suntec City Mall, 3 Temasek Boulevard, S038983
Website: http://www.neo-emotion.jp/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MiuraMisakiKouSushiAndDiningSG/
Reservation: http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/magurodonya-miuramisakikou-sushi-dining-suntec-city-hall/
Contact: +65 68846884
Business Hours: Daily 11:00-22:30

Festive Dining - Colourful Christmas @ Café 2000 M Hotel

Come December, Café 2000 will be having a Colourful Christmas with highlights of Whole Roasted Char Siew Turkey with Chestnut Stuffing, Roasted Bone-In Baked Ham and Roasted Beef Prime Ribs at the Carving Station, Roast Cajun-spiced Whole Lamb at the Roasting Pit and a whole array of Christmas sweets, and some with a local twist such as the M' Special Chempedak Log Cake.

Was good to see Chef Danny again after two years. Here is a link to my first encounter with this affable man.
Café 2000 was bustling as usual, and we were invited there for a preview of the Colourful Christmas buffet menu.

Bone-in Honey Baked Ham and Char Siew Turkey with Chestnut Stuffings

To start, how about some sweet boiled tiger prawns and fresh oysters?

US Fresh Oysters and Boiled Tiger Prawns

As usual, the prawns were good and firm. Oysters had adequate meat and not too briny.

lovely seafood

If oyster is not your thing, then how about Alaskan Snow Crabs? Think it was my first time seeing Spanner Crab. 

Spanner Crab

Alaskan Snow Crab Legs

The Carving Station is also the place where most hot items are located. On top of that, one could not help but to be enticed by the beautifully roasted turkey, bone-in honey baked ham and beef prime ribs.

(left to right) Bone-In Honey Baked Ham, Chestnut Stuffings, Whole Roasted Char Siew Turkey, Roasted Beef Prime Ribs

Roasted Beef Prime Ribs

The Char Siew Turkey tasted good. Beautifully roasted with tender white flesh and finished with char siew glaze. Not often can I associate the word 'tender' with turkey. Enjoyed the ham too. So succulent and yummy! Great with a glass of wine. The sausage looking item was actually the chestnut stuffings. Took a slice and its texture was like firm fish cake. Something different and not what I thought it would initially taste like. Good but a tad salty.

The roast beef was slapped onto the hot grill upon carving. Resulting in that pleasant smokey charred taste that worked best at the fatty bits. Ate it simply with some mustard but you might want to try with other sauces. Nice.

Honey Baked Ham and Roast Beef Prime Ribs

Char Siew Turkey and Chestnut stuffing

Over at the cooked food or Hot Items, there's Christmas Seafood and Pumpkin Paella Rice which was rather unique and sweet. The Braised Duck with Sea Cucumber was enjoyable and the must-have would be the satay. I think they have the winning formula for the satay. Loved it and ate at least half a dozen of those.

Chef's Special Salted Egg Yolk Crab

Braised Seasonal Vegetables with Fish Maw and and Mushroom in Conpoy Sauce

Oven Slow Cooked Oxtail with Winter Root Vegetables

Buttered Festive Season Vegetables

Sze Chuan styled Wok-Fried Turkey

satay - must try

Alas, had missed out to try Chef's Specialty Salted Yolk Crabs but managed to get my hands on the steamed mud crabs. Firm texture and could taste its natural sweetness.

Steamed Mud Crabs

The Desserts counter was stacked high with Christmas goodies. Pretty and Christmasy.

sweets

Christmas Fruit Cake

Linzer Pie

Raspberry Chocolate Hazelnut Feuilletine Cake

Assorted Christmas Cookies

Signature Rum and Raisin Log Cake

M' Special Chempedak Log Cake

Chempedak is from the same family of fruits with jackfruit but they are not the same. The Chempedak Log Cake has a subtle fragrance that is unique to the fruit and light tasting.

fruit cake

See if you are able to spot the Spiced Mulled Wine with Pear, warmed in a a copper pot. Made of red wine and served warm. The usual mulling spices are cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and maybe cardamon or star anise. Dried fruits or orange rind may be included as well. Tasted nicely sweet and warm.

Christmas Spiced Mulled Wine

Not only is the buffet priced so reasonably for Christmas Eve, diners will also be treated to a glass of champagne to accompany the buffet plus a chance to get lucky to win a M Suite stay worth $850++ with every $100 spent at all three food and beverage outlets (Café 2000, The Buffet and J Bar).

Thank you Malcolm and M Hotel for the invite and for hosting the dinner, and also to Chef Danny for the sumptuous buffet menu.

Café 2000 @ M Hotel

Location: 81 Anson Road, Singapore 079908
Website: http://www.millenniumhotels.com.sg/mhotelsingapore/dining-specials/christmas-promotion-at-m-hotel.html
Christmas and New Year's Eve Buffet Price: $55++ per adult (usual price @$75++) with valid reservation and full payment before 15 December 2015.
Contact: (+65) 6500 6112
Opening Hours: Daily, 6.30am - 11.00pm