Joli Creer (Autumn Hokkaido Fair) @ Takashimaya

Puddings. Had wanted to get the one that was advertised in the Takashimaya flyer, but it was very small and pricey. So got these from Joli Creer instead. Each bottle was about 70gms in weight and costs $6 each.

puddings from Joli Creer

green tea flavour

looks abit like tofu

soft and nice

The green tea flavour was rather intense. The deeper the spoon goes, the dryer and more intense the green tea flavour was.

drying up

The tiramisu one was interesting.

tiramisu, with plastic spoon

coffee jelly

wobbly soft, almost mousse-like

The tiramisu pudding basically has a coffee jelly ontop and the usual soft pudding for its body. All the way down of the bottle towards the bottom, there's a thin layer of cake.

cake in the pudding

My bro had the rea-chizu (real cheese?) bottle, so didn't have any pictures of that one.

Ryugetsu Sanpouroku 柳月三方六 (Autumn Hokkaido Fair) @ Takashimaya

This baumkuchen can be found near the cashier (same location as Ishiya chocolate) at the Autumn Hokkaido Fair in Takashimaya.

Am still not quite sure what possessed me to buy this. Hahaa!

sanpouroku (@$14 per box) wrapped

same design as the wrapping paper

unboxed

This could make a good gift, as it was wrapped ever so nicely. Sampled all three flavours; original, chocolate and maple, and personally felt that maple has a more interesting taste.

resting on its own plastic tray

many many layers

Liked that the cake has already been pre-sliced. Just needed to take it out of its plastic wrapping and simply enjoy.

single slice

The outer most layer was coated with chocolate that was thankfully, not too sweet. The inner cake layers were nicely soft and not too dry. The cake has a nice mapley fragrance.

yummy

There was a 10% discount for Sanpouroku when payment is made via Takashimaya credit card. Here's a link to Ryugetsu website, if you're interested.

cute

Seafood Mix Bento (Autumn Hokkaido Fair 2012) @ Takashimaya

Located at Food Hall, Level B2 of Takashimaya Department Store, as part of the Autumn Hokkaido Fair 2012.

The main ingredients seemed to be crab meat, ikura and uni (sea urchin). Bought a Seafood Mix Bento (@$27) set to try. Was rather dissappointed that the bento wasn't wrapped with an external paper like those ekibens.

origin information

Seafood Mix Bento

unboxed

It came with pre-packed wasabi, that was kind of interesting. Most striking was the picture of a mountain/volcano on its packaging. According to Kinjirushi website, its prepared packet wasabi was released in 1972.

Kinjirushi frozen wasabi packet

Kinjirushi wasabi

The taste of the wasabi is in between of a fresh grated wasabi and those artificial ones.

This Seafood Mix Bento has the most variety of ingredients. Uni, ikura, tobiko, salmon, shellfish, pickled vege, crab shreds, and ebi. Never a dull moment.

uni

ikura

salmon

tobiko

shellfish

unknown item (probably fish roe?)

pickled vege

 The rice was tasty and adequately vinagered. Yummy.

rice made even tastier with plentiful of ingredients

 A quick search on the internet on Asahikawa ekiben, and one can see the closest match to this bento.

Nam Hwa Chong Fish Head Steamboat Corner @ North Bridge Road

Located at a corner shop, this restaurant boasts of two storeys of space. Visited on a Friday evening before 7pm, and easily found a table. Spied that there are also some tables at the back of the shop.

menu

carricature of the owner

The price is actually not indicated in the menu, so we took our chances. Ordered a pomfret steamboat, a plate of har-cheong gai (prawn paste chicken) and three bowls of white rice. Drinks are paid separately from the food (cash on delivery).

lime juice

ai yu bing (爱玉冰; aiyu jelly), or ai-yo drink (the staff's nickname for this drink)

Didn't have to wait long for the food as it wasn't too crowded on our day of visit.

white pomfret fish head steamboat

loads of vege, yam pieces, pomfret meat, fried sole fish

The soup was not very salty but my friends thought otherwise. It was rather light and clear type (non-milky). Ample fish slices for three pax. Thought that the yam pieces were still too intact as separate entities and hence didn't contribute much flavour to the soup.

pomfret

chili sauce

The chili sauce would've been nicer if it was spicier. More kick.

prawn paste chicken (har-cheong gai)

The prawn paste chicken (mid-wings only) was just ordinary. Deep fried but lacked the intense prawn paste taste.


The bill for food came up to about $48 (inclusive of 7% GST) for 3 pax. The pomfret steamboat was $35+, while the prawn paste chicken were $8+ for 6-mid-wings.

Boon Lay Raja @ Jurong East

Located at Level 2, Blk 135 Jurong Gateway Road. From the Jurong East MRT station, walk towards NTUC Fairprice across the road and turn left, round the corner to go behind the outlet and you'll find the stairs/lift leading towards the restaurant.

The restaurant decoration is quite old school Chinese restaurant style. Think Chinese banquet table settings.

chopstick

Have eaten here a couple of times for casual family dinners. The friendly male service staff will recommend the portions based on the dining group size.

chinese tea

One of the items that we'd usually order, was the roast chicken.

roast chicken (half)

pickled vegetables (酸菜)

thin crispy skin

flavoured salt for roast chicken

chili sauce (spicy but salty)

Unfortunately, the standard of roast chicken had dropped. The breast meat was hard and dry.

claypot tofu (small)

The claypot tofu with bits of roast pork was served piping hot. However, the sauce became too thick as it continued to cook under the flames.

furong egg

browned egg

at its thickest part

The furong eggs omelette came looking a tad too burnt. However, it was quite tasty with squids, onions and bits of meat in it. My dad enjoyed this the most.

The luo han vegetables was the plate that almost didn't come. It was only served when we were almost finished with our meal. Crunchy vegetables and a plate of chockful of ingredients. Liked this dish.

luo han zhai vegetables (small)

shitake mushrooms, button mushrooms, white and black fungus, baby corn, broccolli, beancurd skin

nice crunchy greens

The gripe for the night was the time taken for the dishes to be served. There was an interval of 20 minutes lapse between first dish and the last dish, and there wasn't even a crowd on a weekday. There was also a lapse in service when we had two dishes sitting on the table getting cold and had to remind them to serve us the rice.

Overall, this is a no frills fuss free airconditioned place, with reasonable price. This meal costs about $50 and it fed five pax.