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

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
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/qwaizakaya1/
Contact: 8336 7728
Reservation: https://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

[Media Invite] Tour East Luxury Tour Lounge @ Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel

Tour East Singapore in partnership with Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, had just launched Singapore's 1st Premium Tour Lounge. Tour East is a member of the JTB Global DMC Network.

Located at Level 3 of Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, this premium hospitality lounge offers a cosy comfortable space for its tour passengers with complimentary Wi-Fi, refreshment, reading materials and a one-stop shop for sightseeing tour needs. The lounge is open from 8am to 8pm daily.

opening ceremony

Tour East Hospitality Lounge

Tour East Luxury Tour Lounge

complimentary refreshment

One could browse the travel brochures, or sign-up for a tour in a relaxed environment. There are tours pertaining to unique experiences such as 'Walk with Our Ancestors' which was nominated for Best Tour Experience 2017 (Singapore Tourism Awards), food and dining tours as well as tours across the Causeway.

[Media Invite] G Session Arcade @ Hotel G Singapore

We took a break from 'adulting' as Hotel G puts it, and let loose at G Session Arcade on 11 Oct 2018. Ginett was transformed into an arcade arena with neon lights, music from DJ Tang and coupled with the adult drinks from the bar to the likes of Jim Beam Highball, beer and wines.

let the fun begins!

For one night only, patrons could have a go (for free!) at the Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) and maybe challenge the professional DDR'ers (who displayed their amazing footwork!), or have tons of fun playing the Bishi Bashi game or the classic claw machine where one could win prizes from Laneige, Mamonde and Hotel G.

G Session

fun spirals at the bar

With a Jim Beam Highball in hand, lively chats amongst friends and next, was which food to choose. Three options were available; beef burger, vegetarian burger or the hotdog with sweet potato fries. Guess which item I went for?

beef burger

The beef burger fits nicely onto one's palm and loved the thin layer of melty cheese on it. Patty was thick and done to a nice pink medium. With the stomach taken care of, it was time for some fun!

I'm a claw machine enthusiast, so gravitated to that naturally.

which one should I rescue out?

Put in those tokens, take aim and drop the claw. Thought I wouldn't catch any because one of the claw was at the outer side of the plastic barrier and only three were somewhat touching the target's body. But it lifted and successfully carried the toy to the drop area. Lucky!

hi there~

The folks at Ginett and Hotel G were friendly and they took good care of the guests. Had one of those glow band from one, and another plied me with food. Thank you!

thank you for taking care of us!

Enjoyed the G Session Arcade event and thank you to the team that put it all together for guests to have fun. Special thanks to Natasha, Daniel and team.

[Invited Tasting] T.K Kitchen 小厨 @ 710 荣发 (Rong Fa) Coffeeshop Clementi

We ventured to this place nestled amongst the HDB flats in the Clementi West Street 2 neighbourhood area. Went passed quite a few coffeeshop before coming to this one. T.K Kitchen is one of the stall in this coffeeshop. Its main outlet is at Blk 37, Teban Gardens #01-302, S600037.

T.K Kitchen

menu

Left it to the Chef to introduce the shop's specialty. Because we were just a group of 4, we had small portions for most of the dishes.

are we having steamboat?

There was a small portable gas stove on our table, so I was wondering if we were going to have hotpot/steamboat. Indeed. One of the specialty that is only available at this outlet, is the Chicken Soup Set which uses half a kampung chicken and it even has pig's stomach. Came with a side of vegetables, which we can cook in the soup ala hotpot style.

Chicken Soup Set @$22 (half-chicken) 

The pepper taste was pleasantly good and not overpowering. The free-range chicken (kampung chicken) and pig's stomach combo with red dates resulted in delicious soup . It was ready to drink from the onset with lots of flavour but setting it to a boil with the rest of the vegetables gave it a deeper flavour.

kampung chicken and pig's stomach soup

My impression of kampung chicken was that it would be tough. The version that we had were surprisingly tender but yet flavourful. This was one of those dishes that one could enjoy with the young and old in the family. 

Since this chicken soup can also be the soup base for hotpot, simply order up additional plates of vege, meats (pork and chicken), seafood (prawns, squid or lala/clams) or fish. The price ranged from $1.80 to $7.80.

vegetables going into the soup

Assam fish is typically what one could find, but here, they have assam prawns instead. A tangy dish that whets the appetite for more.

If you have kids, then you might want to get the Cai Pu Beancurd. For me, I loved the soft egg tofu that was not overly eggy but yet smooth and silky. The toppings were caramelized with sugar hence, it has that sugary crunchy bite. The taste of cai poh was not apparent.

Assam Prawns @$15

Homemade Cai Pu Beancurd (菜脯豆腐) @$8

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Sambal kang kung (morning glory) or sweet potato leaves, these are the two favourite choice of diners. If you want to have both of them but don't want to pay for two plates of vegetable, well one could just ask for a mix of these two on one plate.

sambal kangkung and sweet potato leaves @$6

One of the popular dishes from its Teban Gardens main outlet is the Thousand Island Fish (千岛鱼). I think my dad would like this. For those who love creamy sauces like mayo, and something that's leaning towards the sweet side/

Thousand Island Fish @$10

Also had a chance to try White Pepper Crab and Salted Egg Crab (Fried). The former was stir-fried with lots of spring onions. Savoury and strong flavours. Fingers-licking good! The crab was meaty and sweet. White Pepper Crab with beer would make a good pair.

Salted Egg Crab @$40 (one crab)

White Pepper Crab @$40

This place is convenient, especially for those that are staying nearby at 710 Clementi West Street 2. Just come on down the block and voila, there's food! My favourites were the Chicken Hotpot and the White Pepper Crab.

[Media Invite] KANPAI! The Day of Sake 2018 日本酒の日 KANPAI!イベント2018

1 October is also known as 'World Sake Day' or 'Sake Day'. This is an annual event held in the celebration of sake (酒), a well-beloved alcoholic beverage. One of my favourite in fact. Was invited by the good folks at Grand Copthorne Waterfront to join in the KANPAI! event in celebration of Sake Day.

Had fun tasting the sake and shochu from the different breweries and prefectures, and of course, enjoyed the delicious food available from Grissini. This year's food theme for the KANPAI event was local favourites. There were buffet style small plates of chicken rice, roast pork, Singapore laksa, rojak, satay and various kuehs such as ang ku kueh (紅龜粿) and kueh dadar.

The first sake tasted was the Daiginjo Tokugawa Ieyasu (named after the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate, and one of the three unifiers of Japan). The Tokugawa clan crest is printed on the box.

Tokugawa Ieyasu Daiginjo (Maruishi Jozo) - 徳川 家康 大吟醸

Daiginjo Tokugawa Ieyasu

The taste was a balanced sweet with a smooth mouthfeel. Lovely!

sake set

Next up, was Apple Chan. Cute, right? I believe this was the first time am trying a Nama Sake (生酒) which is said to be the freshest sake because it did not underwent any pasteurization. A Tokubetsu Junmai (特別純米) is a high quality sake. Apple Chan (Ringochan) tasted light, dry and slightly fruity. It was almost as if the sake was imbued with the fragrance of green apple.

AZAKURA RINGOCHAN TOKUBETSUJUNMAI NAMA (秋田酒こまち) and DAINA TOKUBETSU JUNMAI 13 GENSHU (山田錦)

Let's move away a little while from the delicious sake to sample the food from Grissini's kitchen. There were live stations for Singapore Laksa, Satay and Chicken Rice.

Singapore Laksa - one for you and one for me

Satay

Steamed Chicken Rice with Roast Pork

Peking Duck

With food in the belly, it was then time to sample more drinks! This time round, shochu. Shochu is distilled while sake is fermented. Shochu can be distilled from rice, sweet potato, buckwheat (soba) or brown sugar. I've tried all except the ones distilled from soba.

Shochu (焼酎)

Be forewarned that shochu has higher alcoholic content than sake and wine but weaker than whisky. One could have it neat, on the rocks, with water or mixed with oolong tea or fruit juice or mixed with soda and other flavours such as yuzu/ume.

these two were pretty potent (the one on the left strongest!)

can't resist

so many to try

And at the appointed hour, everyone raised their glasses to toast for a bountiful year ahead! Kanpai!

乾杯

Thank you Gilbert for the invite and Grand Copthorne Waterfront for hosting the event. It was enjoyable and educational as well. Learnt more about sake (and shochu) and still discovering the characteristics of the different types and specialty of the breweries.