Sugisawa @ Robertson Quay, Riverside View

While looking for this place, we had walked past it unknowingly. Kind of easy to miss. It's actually located next to Shunjuu's and opposite of Harry's.

This place has quirky service level. When we first reached the restaurant at about 730pm, we were informed that all the tables inside were taken. A quick glance revealed many many empty tables. Of course, it didn't matter as alfresco dining works for us as well. Then the waitress told us to sit on any table that we liked, and so we did. Just 5 minutes later, another lady (boss?) came out and told us that our table actually was a 'reserved' table. Obviously, they do not practice placing 'reserved' signs anywhere. But perhaps the indication was, just don't sit on any tables that has sauce plate, paper towel and chopsticks already set up on the table. Probably those were the 'reservation' signs.

Anyway, we moved tables and just a minute of two later, we were told that we can move back to our original table because apparently the party that reserved the table didn't want it anymore. Err, no thanks.

menu cover

I think most locals go there for their bento. Quite reasonably priced between $16++ to $20++. My friend ordered the Sakana Teriyaki Bento, and the fish given was cod fish. Nicely priced at $19++. I wasn't feeling that hungry, so ordered a saba shioyaki (grilled mackerel with salt).

beer and lime juice

cold beer on a warm night

too bad the beer went lukewarm quite fast on a non-chilled glass

The food came pretty fast. First to arrive, the saba shioyaki. It looked nice with glistening skin with slight char. But unfortunately, the fish wasn't that good.

saba shioyaki

Next, the Sakana Teriyaki Bento.

sakana teriyaki bento (codfish)

That piece of codfish that came along with the bento was quite generous in size. Pinched half a fish, and enjoyed the plump, melt in your mouth texture. Yums.

yummy codfish

salmon and tuna slices

The total cost of the meal was $47 for two pax.

Lao Beijing @ Velocity Novena Square

Located at Level 2 of Novena Square. Take note that the dinner opening hours is after 6pm.

interior

ala-carte menu

condiments

Ordered two items from appetisers; sliced pork with garlic sauce and chili beef tendons. For mains, my friend ordered lamb and dumplings. Tea was counted per head but served in a teapot. Had eight treasure tea (unsweetened).

wet towel was complimentary but do refuse the peanut if you don't want it

Service was brisk, and had some difficulty understanding the accent of the waitress.

looks pretty, right? (八宝茶)

The 'treasures' were actually just add-ons in the tea cup. The pot of the tea tasted quite normal and no 'treasures' in the pot. Hmm. Oh well, quite liked the mild taste. Unlike some other Chinese restaurants where the service crew might come and pour the tea for you once in a while, this was not practiced here.

The appetisers came next, and they're basically cold dishes. The tendons looked different from the picture in the menu because I don't remember seeing it being sliced so thinly.

sliced pork with garlic sauce and beef tendons

sliced beef tendons

sliced pork with garlic sauce (蒜泥白肉)

The sliced pork was a little tough, but overall had a pleasant taste. Felt that the beef tendons were practically quite tasteless though.

Next was the dumplings. First impression was "wow.. so small." I think I'm quite used to a slightly larger version of the shui jiao (水饺) and probably expected it to look like an unfried version of guotie (锅贴) . My friend commented that it looked more like a yuan bao (元宝). But quite liked this small parcel of delight as the ingredients tasted fresh and not dried out. But more pork and chives than shrimps though. Best eaten with the ginger shreds and vinegar.

chives, pork and shrimp dumplings (三鲜水饺)

The dish that made its grand entrance towards the end of our meal, was the lamb dish. Our polite waitress did inform us that this dish would take a longer time to arrive so we were forewarned.

forgot what's the name of this lamb dish (@$18++)

mint sauce

yummy looking

The lamb does smell gamey but the chopped stalk (was it thin asparagus?), red chilies, fried garlic and shallots bits were good. The meat was actually quite tender and the mint does help to mask out abit of the smell. It was oily too.

The meal costs about $50 for 2 pax. On hindsight, we could've come for the high tea buffet (@$18.80++ 3-5.30pm) instead since most of our dishes can be found in the buffet menu except the lamb. Hahaa!

Pu Tien Restaurant (莆田菜馆) @ Vivocity

Located at Level 3, within Food Republic. From what we observed, usually this place is not that crowded. Though it was part of the food court, this small corner of a restaurant has its own seating area and service crew. In fact, I felt that the service here was quite good.

interior

table setting

appetiser of preserved vegetables (those kind usually eaten with teochew porridge)

We ordered items such as drunken cockles, braised intestines, sweet and sour squirrel fish, lor mee and dou miao (recommended by the captain).

drunken cockles(@$5.90++)

The cockles (sea hum) was really small, served cold and came with loads of garlic and drenched in light wine marinade sauce. Addictive (if you like it), but my tummy couldn't take too much of this. Can't really taste the wine though.

Next, was the braised pig intestine. There's some effort in presentation, though unnecessary as there were only a few pieces of the intestines for that dish.

braised pig intestines (@$9.90++)

closer view

The intestines were nicely tender and Q. No funky smell, and light tasting. Quite yummy, but it's just for tasting since there're 3 of us. Not enough to go around!

We liked the deep fried live squirrel fish very much! Nicely presented too. Pretty and vibrant in colour.

deep fried live squirrel fish (@$35.90++)

The fish was nicely large, and deboned. Meaty and tasty. The sauce was appetising and not overly sweet. Nice.

Forgot to take a picture of the Putien Lor Mee, but just the smallest serving size of the noodles (@$7.90++) can easily feed 3 pax! We shared amongst two ladies and each had about 3 small bowls portion. Quite a feat to finish the noodles, considering that we had other dishes to eat as well. But who's complaining? Not us!

The chili sauce on each table, was quite nice and match well with the lor mee. It added some oomph to the noodles.

chili sauce

We had a pot of tea, to aid digestion and to wash away all the oil but the dishes that we ordered weren't oily at all.

nice big teapot of pu-er, and water was filled to the brim!

Special mention, was the vegetable dish. Part of Putien's Eating Well menu, it's called braised chicken with dou miao. So imagine our surprise, when it was served. Didn't see any chicken meat, so thought it was the wrong dish....even the dou miao looked different...but the waitress verified that it was indeed what we had ordered. Hee!

braised chicken with dou miao

The dish is supposedly to be resembling 'fresh greens sprouting in a field of melting snow'. Hahaa, our plate of 'snow' probably melted way too fast? But still beautiful to look at. It tasted good and healthy. Liked the egg white blended with chicken fillet bits. The dou miao was tender and soft but not limp. Generous with the shredded dried scallops too. Yummy.

Spring Hokkaido Fair @ Takashimaya

The fair is happening from 30 March till 8 April 2012, at Food Hall B2 of Takashimaya Department Store. Absolutely loved these fairs! Been to the one last year too! So this year, concentrated on getting stuffs that I didn't manage to try last year. Heh heh.

This year decided to get one of those freshly made bento from Kani Kobo (is it literally translated as crab factory?). Bought the seafood bento (@$24).

Seafood Bento from Kani Kobo

salmon, ikura, uni and shredded crab meat

star of this dish, was the marinated ikura

closer look on the shredded crab meat

uni~

salmon was pretty run of the mill

here's an indication of the 'depth' of the rice

The bento was enjoyable. The rice was soft and sticky, and each mouthful of rice with ikura was just another form of happiness. Pure bliss. The shredded crab meat was rather bland though, and the uni wasn't as creamy.

Next, got myself something from Petite Mervielle. Last year, I've enjoyed the pumpkin pudding, so this year got the Mel Cheese Mix (plain and pumpkin) @$18 per box of 8 pieces.

Mel Cheese Mix (Plain and Pumpkin)

inside the box

mini cheesecakes!

I liked how Japanese confectionary items are always so prettily packaged.

plain

soft and fluffy

pumpkin

slightly denser and sweeter

The Mel Cheese cheesecakes were really tiny. Just two bites and it's gone! Good things don't really last, do they?

Next up, the 'Rare Cheesecake' from Komagatake Gyunyu. It was sold out last year, so this was one of the must get items for this year and went there on Day 2, so lots of bottles left.

the loot from Komagatake Gyunyu

Bokujo Rare Cheesecake (@$6)

after unwrapping

yummy cheesecake!

If you've bought the White Pudding (mascarpone cheese), then it's better if the White Pudding is eaten before having the Rare Cheesecake. The White Pudding has a much milder taste with natural sweetness and texture as bouncy as tofu. The Rare Cheesecake on the other hand, is exactly like a very dense, tasty cheesecake. Cheesecake in a tiny milk bottle is a novelty for me!

Also bought the milk chou by Maoi. Kept the milk chou inside the freezer for about 20 minutes before eating it. The fresh cream was so cold and creamy that it tasted like ice-cream! I like the chou pastry. It's similar to those cream puffs that I ate many years ago when I was still a child. Yums!

milk chou (@$3)

nice skin, nice filling

it's like eating ice-cream~

Currently, there's a sure-win lucky dip if you've spent above $50 at the fair and amongst the first 5000 customers. Not much luck though, so got the default prize of either butter candy or postcard.

butter candy?