[Tasting] Botan Japanese Restaurant 牡丹 @ Far East Square

Nearest MRT would be Telok Ayer, and the restaurant is within 5 minutes walk from the station. Botan prides itself in using premium ingredients from Japan and serves authentic and traditional Japanese cuisine. Helmed by Executive Chef Thomas Kok, he is one of the first few local chefs who introduced Japanese food to Singapore in the early 1980s. Thanks to chefs like Chef Thomas, there are now an abundance of options for Japanese food in Singapore.

Thank you Jennifer from JY Consultancy for the invite to the tasting, special thanks to Chef Thomas Kok for the delicious meal and Botan for hosting the dinner.

restaurant interior

The experience begins once the customer is seated and an oshobori is presented. Wipe your hands on the hot towel before eating. Lovely Japanese hospitality.

おしぼり

For the discerning diners, one could start with the appetiser of pidan tofu, or the delectable onsen tamago with Hokkaido shoyu ikura, or the mirin fugu. I spied the board outside the shop where drinks such as highball and Asahi beer (draft) are going for just $5.80++ and $6.20++. WoOHooO! Excited much? For teetotallers, don't worry as there's the good 'ol ocha. I had mine cold.

iced green tea

pitan tofu 皮蛋豆腐 @$6++

Let's see how wobbly and bouncy the tofu is.



Overall, the pitan tofu had a balanced flavour where all the ingredients are in harmony without outshining the other. Palate tingled but anticipating for more.

Next, we had the fugu mirin which is the grilled marinated dried pufferfish glazed with mirin. I thought it tasted like bak kwa! Sweet, and a good snack with alcohol.

fugu mirin  河豚味醂 @$15++

Next, I tried the ankimo. Never had this before, so didn't know what to expect. Monkfish liver wasn't as rich in flavour as say, foie gras and it definitely wasn't gamey. Its texture was smooth and rather delicate.

ankimo 鮟肝 @$18++

For another light appetiser, one could opt for the ikura onsen tamago with Hokkaido shoyu ikura, served room temperature. No further sauce is required as the ikura had been marinated in shoyu (soy sauce). Served in a pretty little bowl, I actually hesitated for a while as to whether to break the yolk or not.

ikura onsen @$15++

Eventually I did, and made it into a short clip. For those who likes to see yolk swirls. Hahaa!



Next up, we enjoyed a selection of sashimi with premium ingredients; salmon belly, scallop and aburi otoro. Enjoyed the natural sweetness of fresh ingredients.

sashimi trio; 鮭, 帆立貝, 大とろ @$48++

so good!

They say good things come in threes. Indeed, we had good sushi at Botan. No other sauces are needed with the sushi. Each piece was a favourite!

Sushi 寿司 @$24++

pretty from all angles

Hirame (flounder)

going for the next one, kanpachi!

botan ebi ぼたんえび

If you crave for A5 Miyazaki Wagyu Beef, try it at Botan. The beef cubes are served with beef fats and garlic crisps. The wagyu beef itself was tender and with good oily mouthfeel. There's a sprinkling of salt if you need that extra seasoning. I used it for the tomato instead. Such sweet tomato! I was pleasantly surprised by the burst of flavours from the beef fats!

A5 Miyazaki Wagyu Beef @$80++ (100g)

mesmerized by the glistening oil

For friends who doesn't take beef, you could try the Japanese pork instead. Braised till tender and with good ratio of fats for the almost melt in your mouth feels. Looks good and tasted fantastic but I won't trade my A5 Miyazaki wagyu beef, nope.

Hokkaido Pork Honey Black Pepper Yaki @$18++

Another first for me, is the Kuruma Ebi. Eh, it's actually Japanese Tiger Prawns. The prawn is of a good size and grilled with mentaiko sauce. Guaranteed flavourful! This has been elevated to one of my favourite dish at Botan.

Kuruma Ebi 車海老 @$18++

Here's a short video of the fleshy prawn.

To end, let's have a plate of hot noodles. Ramen? Nah, that's too mainstream. Let's go for a Nagasaki Sara Udon. Interestingly, sara udon means 'plate noodles'. Here's the link to wiki on the noodles.

Nagasaki Sara Udon 長崎皿うどん @16++

This plate of noodles tasted homely, and it was almost as though I'm eating at a mom and pop shop. Plenty of vegetables in the plate. There's much feels to this. Served hot, the noodles tasted like our 

"生面" or sang mien (crispy noodles).

For dessert, we had the yuzu sorbet. Loved the candied peels in the ice-cream.

yuzu sorbet @$7++

Once again, thank you Jennifer for the invite and Chef Thomas and Botan for the food. ごちそうさまでした!

Chef Thomas Kok

counter seat view

restaurant exterior

Botan Japanese Restaurant

Address: 37 Pekin St, #01-01 Far East Square, Singapore 048767
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Botan-Japanese-Restaurant/171194699572987
Contact: 6536 4404
Business Hours:
Monday to Friday:
Lunch:11.30am to 2.15pm
Dinner:5.45pm to 10pm

Saturday and Sunday
Lunch:11.30am to 2pm
Dinner:5.45pm to 9.30pm

[Travel] Ipoh - Where to eat Bean Sprouts Chicken (芽菜鸡) and Best Ipoh Hor Fun (鸡丝河粉)

There are tons of write-ups on where to go for 芽菜鸡 aka taugeh chicken (beansprouts chicken) and Lou Wong would be frequently mentioned as the spot for tourists. Well, we headed towards that direction anyways and decided to try Ong Kee (安记芽菜鸡) which is like beside Lou Wong. Similarly, Ong Kee has a big shop and busy with tourists. We sat alfresco, and the service staff will bring you the menu (has photos of the dish and prices).

shop front

menu

You have the option to choose either rice or sar hor fun (沙河粉).  My advice is, go for the sar hor fun because the soup was so darn tasty and it would make a good base for the gai see hor fun (thin flat noodles with chicken shreds). Of course, we didn't know because we were first-timers, and all of us ordered rice.

Bun Tong Bean Sprouts (文冬豆芽) @RM12 for large

Farm Chicken (whole) 菜园鸡 @RM66

must have chili

rice

super tasty chicken soup

The sprouts was really good and refreshing. It came as a mountain on a plate but we finished 'em all. All us 7 adults. The farm chicken was lean but not too chewy. The soy sauce on it was good. Slightly sweet savoury. Rice was cooked with ginger and garlic and not too oily.

Just beware of the streetside vendor who goes from tables to tables. She sold me an overpriced packet of biscuit which I later found out, was also available at the biscuit shops around that area.

night fall

Ong Kee Bean Sprouts Chicken Restaurant

Address: 48, Jalan Yau Tet Shin, Taman Jubilee, 30300 Ipoh, Negeri Perak, Malaysia
Contact: +60 5-253 1562
Business Hours:
Daily: 10.30am to 2am


Next, we sampled the best gai see hor fun at Thean Chun Coffeeshop but the wait was super long. At least 15 to 25 minutes to wait for a table and another 45 minutes for the noodles. That is considering we went after 1.30pm.

Thean Chun Coffeeshop

the famous stall for 鸡丝河粉

First, be warned that the coffeeshop is kinda old and dingy looking. Definitely crowded and we stood behind some tables to wait for our turn (like food-court!) and in-turn, sometimes got scolded by the stall assistants for blocking their way. And, often times, the table will have like a few that are already done with their lunch and one who was still waiting for the hor fun. So those are no-go as well.

Not easy when you're in a group of 7 pax and wants to eat at a crowded coffee shop. Finally, we got our table and since we had to wait 45 minutes for the hor fun, we went and ordered chee cheong fun and satay while waiting.

chee cheong fun and satay stall

Most of the stall owners are above 50 years old. So you'll get to taste authentic and old school recipe for the dish.

chee cheong fun

Old school chee cheong fun does not have the additional yong tau foo items as other places in Malaysia, and is served simply with pickled green chili, some shallots and good drizzle of the sauces. My mom says this was what chee cheong fun tasted like when she was growing up.

The satay stall had run out of the innards and only remained a few sticks of pork satay. So we had a mix of chicken and pork satay.

pork and chicken satay with peanut sauce

pork satay

Satay was good and the peanut sauce was thick and chunky. Not that spicy though.

Finally, the wait was over and we were served the hor fun. My first impression was...how come the soup got so many bubbles one? Putting that aside, the soup was flavourful and the hor fun was slightly soft. Loaded with lots of shredded boiled chicken meat and there were some prawns too.

鸡丝河 Chicken Shred Hor Fun Soup

close-up view of the noodles

After Thean Chun, we tried other gai see hor fun at other coffeeshops, but their soup couldn't match up with the stall at Thean Chun (maybe the Ong Kee tauge chicken one can).

Would I want to wait another 45 minutes for a bowl of gai see hor fun again? Well, if you have not tried Thean Chun's version, will recommend to try at least once.

Restoran Thean Chun 天津茶室

Address: 73, Jalan Bandar Timah, 31650 Ipoh, Negeri Perak, Malaysia
Contact: +60 5-255 3076
Business Hours:
Fri to Wed: 8am to 3pm
Closed on Thurs

[Travel] Ipoh - 玉福满点心楼 Yoke Fook Moon Dim Sum Restaurant

Tried this restaurant that's nearby Foh San. Walk-able distance from Ipoh Downtown Hotel. Went there seven early eight early (七早八早) at about 8.30am and the place was rather quiet with just a few tables taken. First impression was that the restaurant had a slightly stale musty smell.

entrance

interior

Its interior was well-kept and has clean bathroom too. Service staff are probably in their late thirties and some even older.

There are signs everywhere that informed customers to top-up their own hot water (for the tea) but since they are not busy, the service staff did it for us. They were rather friendly too. Near the cashier counter, they have a dedicated space for take-outs.

menu

takeaway counter

To order, you could inform the staff whatever that you'd be interested in having, or have them bring out the trays of goodies for you to choose at the table. Not trolley service but close. Having dim sum should have these kind of feels. The price range for the dim sum is between RM2.70 to RM11.30 (~SGD0.95 to SGD3.90). For tourists, the prices are pretty reasonable.

order chit

Ordered up a pot of "bou-lei tea" which is pu-erh tea (普洱茶) in Cantonese.

drink tea, eat dim sum

Let's see what we had for breakfast that fed a party of 7-pax. Started with the usual orders of har gao (蝦餃) and siew mai (烧卖), of course.

siew mai, har gao and more

siew mai (烧卖) close-up view

芋角 woo kok (fried taro puff) 

fish balls, chicken feet, beancurd skin and cheong fun

Another must order for us, is the porridge. They have century egg porridge with peanuts and it was gooey and tasty. 

yummy porridge

Hence, we ordered up a steamed pork bun (大包). Whoa, we were impressed by its size when it was brought out. It's like 4 to 5 times the size of the big bao version that we get in SG. Wow! Not only that it was big in size, it was also big in flavour too! Moist, loaded with well marinated meat of pork and chicken, shitake mushroom and that quintessential hard boil egg. Oh, did I mention that the bao skin was fluffy with slight chewiness too? Yums!

look at the size!

大包 that's bigger than my hand @RM10.20

loaded with pork slices, chicken, mushroom and hard boiled egg

Also ordered their special item, which is the fish paste noodles in pepper soup. No idea what it was but it is priced at RM11.30 for an individual portion.

'fish noodles' soup @RM11.30

The noodles are made of fish paste, so essentially we are chomping down on fish paste noodles. The soup has a peppery taste to it and loaded with pig's stomach. Nice tummy warmer on a cold morning.

Overall, we enjoyed the food and service from Yoke Fook Moon. Must order the big bao!

Yoke Fook Moon 玉福满

Address: 65-69, Jalan Leong Sin Nam, 30300 Ipoh, Negeri Perak, Malaysia

Contact: +60 5-241 6589

Business Hours:

Daily: 6am–1:30pm, 6:30–10pm