Ramen Champion @ Great World City

Ramen Champion Great World City (GWC) opened in early November 2013. This is its 3rd outlet after Bugis+ and T3 Changi airport. Was recently invited to try the ramen from the four contenders of Ramen Champion GWC.

entrance

They are Bishamon Zero, Tonkotsu Itto, Miyamoto and Butaou.

who's going to be Ramen Champion?

nice colourful backdrop

huge lantern inside the restaurant

My first time trying all four brands so was anticipating for the first sip of soup, texture of the noodles, flavours of its ramen egg as well as how its chashiu is going to be like.

First up, Bishamon Zero. Not new to the ramen scene in Singapore. Originated from Sapporo, Hokkaido but interestingly, it has a China-born chef, the boyish Chef Wang Hu Rong. He has undergone intensive training with Mr Koji Tashiro of the Menya Koji Group.

stall front

Bishamon Zero sent out its Sapporo Miso Special Ramen. Soup was flavourful due to its meat (chicken and pork) based broth and miso taste was evident. Not too salty and warms the belly. If the corn had been sweeter, it would've been perfect!

Noodles were springy and cha shu was tender with good ratio of fats and lean. Liked the thickness. The eggs were good, with both the whites and yolk well-flavoured. Yummy. The spicy beanpaste (豆瓣醤) added some kick to the ramen.

Bishamon Zero's beautiful bowl of Sapporo Miso Special Ramen (@$14.80++)

springy curly noodles

For the hungries, one can try the side-dishes too if that bowl of ramen wasn't able to fill you up. Chicken karaage was pretty good. Looked abit flat but its meat was tender enough. Batter tasted very familiar ;)

tori karaage (@$4.80++)

mentaiko gyoza (5 small pieces @$5.80++)

Okonomiyaki Gyoza with bonito flakes (5 small pieces @$5.80++)

snow pear juice is available

Chef Wang made a special appearance, so here's a snapshot of him.

Chef Wang Hu Rong

Next up, sampled the Special Tonkotsu Ramen from Tonkotsu Itto. This brand originated from Tokyo and helmed by Chef Yukihiko Sakamoto. This is his first outlet  outside of Japan, and serves Hakata-style ramen.

Singaporeans are very familiar with tonkotsu (豚骨) broth, boiled for several hours from pork bones resulting in a rich tasting broth.

Tonkotsu Itto's - Special Tonkotsu Ramen (@$16.50++)

cha shu overflowed as it was served in a rather shallow bowl with thin straight noodles

Liked the robust tasty soup full of pork-bones goodness but there was too little of it! Noodles were rather thin and abit soft. Cha shu was good, firm to the bite and not too lean. The wood fungus added some crunch when eaten together with the noodles. The ajitsuke tamago has good flavours in its yolk but the egg whites portion were rather bland.

After this elegant, dainty looking bowl of ramen from Tonkotsu Itto, next was a rather masculine looking one! The Pork and Vegetable Ramen from Miyamoto. Helmed by Chef Ryutaro Miyamoto, this brand was voted as 2012 Narita City Most Popular Ramen, and runner-up in 2013.

Miyamoto - Pork and Vegetable Ramen (@$16++)

Loaded with lots of bean sprouts and cabbage, and had a small mound of chopped garlic. Noodles were of the thick variant kind (similar to mee hoon kueh texture but in noodles form). It's a huge bowl. Generous servings of thick cha shu slices too. Cabbage taste is prominent in the soup. Best amount of vegetables amongst all the contenders. Frankly, this bowl of ramen is not much of a looker but it tasted good. If you fancy thicker noodles and wants more vegetables in your diet yet able to have enough meat, then Miyamoto Pork and Vegetable ramen can fulfill these.

best flavoured yolk!

Finally, it's Butao's turn. Originated from Saitama Prefecture in Tokyo, and was awarded Outstanding Ramen Rookie Award at Hong Kong's The Ultimate Ramen Champion competition. Doesn't that makes you eager to know how well it'll fare in Singapore?

Butao - Special Sukiyaki Ramen (@$16++)

Chef Toshikazu Yoneda had indeed created something special. Poached egg? Sukiyaki soup base for ramen? Ok, a first for me. Soup was sweet as expected of a sukiyaki broth cooked with pork bones and vegetables. Light tasting with sweetness. Break the poached egg, stir well into the soup. Quite yummy. Didn't like the pork slices though as they were a bit tough.

soup slurped up in no time!

Also tried a personal favourite of Malcolm. Butao's fried chicken wings. One pax can easily polish off a plate of these. Beer food, or children's favourite?

sprinkle with lots of chili powder, add a squeeze of lemon

Don't forget to vote for your favourite ramen contender to become the Ramen Champion!

whom has captivated your tummy?

Special thanks to Malcolm, Komars Group for the invite. Ramen Champion, ごちそうさまでした!

Morgan's Christmas Platter 2013 @ Morganfield's Star Vista

Christmas came early at Morganfield's! For the month of November and December, one can try the ala-carte Christmas Cranberry Sticky Bones, Christmas Thyme Sticky Bones, or Morgan’s Christmas Platter (for 4 pax). There are festive drinks too. Fancy a Red Christmas Cooler, White Christmas Sangria and Santa's Big Mug. Sounds very xmas'sy, ya?

Thanks you Morganfield's for giving us the opportunity  to try the Morgan's Christmas Platter, Festive Dessert Platter and Christmas drinks. Warning: Only meatatarians shall proceed! (seriously)

Morgan's Christmas Platter (for 4 pax @$149.90++)

The Christmas Platter needs to be reserved 5 days in advance, and delivery islandwide is available too with an additional charge of $25 per delivery location. Party at the office? At home? woOOooHoOo!

The restaurant was bustling with customers, and seems like the Christmas Platter is already becoming quite popular as I saw other tables also had this too!

It needs about 15 minutes for them to prepare prior to serving, so we had sauteed mushrooms with parmesan. This was one tasty dish, albeit a tad heavy on salt. Good as beer food. Definitely need a drink when eating this.

sauteed king mushrooms with merlot garlic butter, sprinkled liberally with chopped spring onions and parmesan cheese

Red Christmas Cooler (@$8.90++)

Red Christmas Cooler tasted primarily of watermelon, cranberry juice and a touch of lemon with some raspberries thrown in. A refreshing drink but was patiently awaiting the alcoholic ones. Keke.

xmassy deco

Had expected quite a bit of food, but yet, was still awed when the platter arrived.

Morgan's Christmas Platter 2013 (for 4 pax, and some more)

There were 2 humongous turkey drumsticks, a couple of thick slices of ham, good amount of boiled broccoli, roasted pumpkin and potatoes, many sausages (6), one half-slab each of cranberry and thyme ribs, and 3 muffins.

dinner guests couldn't help but to snap a few shots of that huge platter

Essentially, it did look like 4 main courses all plated together but between the four of us, we couldn't finish everything. So, this one is good for 5 pax, unless your group consists of very very hungry people and those that can eat alot type!

let's dig in!

The ham looked abit dry but it was good. Thicker slices of good ham always worked. For the ribs, personal preference was the Christmas Thyme Sticky Bones but my friends mostly preferred the Christmas Cranberry Sticky Bones. They felt that the sweetness found in cranberry ribs was more natural than thyme ribs. Hmm, salty sweet for Christmas Thyme Sticky Bones!

The Italian sausage was pretty spicy, so it served as a counter-balance for all the sweetness from cranberries coated turkey and ribs.

hey there, cheese sausage *nom nom nom*

White Christmas Sangria (@$12.90++)

White Christmas Sangria is a mix of Sauvignon Blanc, peach puree, diced green apples and oranges. Tasted fruity. Maybe a 10% increase of the alcohol ratio would be good to make this a slightly more 'adult' drink.

Serving turkey drumsticks, would be a first for Morganfield's. Don't think I've ever come across any other restaurants that does the same. Have you? Turkey, to me is one tough chick. Breast meat cooked fine, would come across as a little dryer than chicken meat. How about turkey drumsticks? First time having 'em at Morganfield's!

do engage the men, in carving the meat out of the turkey drumsticks

Was informed that preparation of the drumsticks prior to cooking required some tedious effort from the kitchen staff in de-veining it. Hence, we ate it with appreciative hearts. Thanks. That said, do use the ribs knife to cut the meat, exercise some patience as there are still some tough bits (think it was some finer bones) in it or best, ask somebody else to cut it for you. Flavour wise, it tasted sweet because of the cranberry sauce coating its skin and its meat was denser than chicken's. Turkey always gave a xmas'sy feel~

For (thirsty) guys, you may want to drink this. Santa's Big Mug, a 1-litre mix of american craft stout beer and Kronenbourg Blanc! It's a man's drink! Looking like a lager, some bitterness but not very stout-tasting and pretty smooth.

Santa's Big Mug (@$21.90++)

Then, it was time for desserts. Top up $10++ with each order of Christmas Platter to get the Festive Dessert Platter. Yep, our stomachs were already bursting at its seams but we grew another one for desserts.

long, long plate of Festive Dessert Platter

Festive Dessert Platter consists of bread and butter pudding, Christmas pudding, brownie and 2 scoops of vanilla ice-cream.

Christmas Pudding to get all the xmas'sy feels, brownie to give a solid down-to-earth familiarity while bread and butter pudding was winner! Bread and butter pudding was yums (but very sweet!)

Christmas pudding tasted like fruit cake but with less 'cake'

very sweet, good alcohol buzz from the sauce and pudding'gy texture that's just right

Thank you Morganfield's for the invitation. Your team of dedicated staff who's proud of what they do, translated into guests receiving good service while dining at the restaurant. However, on the night of visit saw a busy restaurant and at times guests had to wait that bit longer for their bill.

Have a Merry Christmas everyone! Now you know there's a Morganfield's option for your party~

J's @ Purvis Street, Bugis

Located at 7 Purvis Street, which is at the street full of shops opposite of Bugis Junction, near NLB. This restaurant serves halal latin american food, mostly mexican food. It has vegetarian menu too. Its dinner opening time is 630pm, so if you're there earlier than that timing, then you'll have to wait outside.

Was told that lamb shank is one of their best-seller, so ordered one to try.

braised lamb shank with heirloom vegetables @$32++

Lamb was tender and enjoyable. Quite filling, with the mash potatoes and mushrooms.

colleague's 'catch of the day' (cod fish @30++)

Didn't try the fish but colleague said it was yummy. Waited quite a while for the fish though. Paella was the fastest amongst the mains to arrive, followed by lamb shank and lastly the cod fish.

For desserts, we had churros and flourless chocolate cake with ice-cream. Churros was good but, just two sticks?? Where got enough! The flourless cake tasted better with the gelato.

churros with banana and mangoes @$10++

bochas negras (flourless chocolate cake with choco gelato) @12++

Iced water is available. The restaurant is not that big, so the tables are placed pretty near each other. Service was friendly and approachable.

There's a section of the menu catering to vegetarian. A few appetisers and main courses.

Price is slightly on the high side.

Zafferano @ Ocean Financial Centre

Located at Level 43 of Ocean Financial Centre, 10 Collyer Quay. This place is near Clifford Centre and Republic Plaza. My friend parked at Republic Plaza II on a Friday evening, after 7pm and parking was $3 there. Or one can choose to park at Ocean Financial Centre. Was informed by the restaurant staff that parking there is about $6.

Reservation was a breeze via online reserveit.sg, or one could just call up the restaurant. Got a call from the restaurant to remind and to confirm the reservation on the day of visit. Not bad.

One gets the ear pressure when going up to the 43rd floor (240m above ground). The restaurant is quite spacious. Indoor dining area is quite lovely, but rather noisy.

centerpiece

table setting

To start off the evening, we got ourselves a glass of prosecco at $8++ during happy hour (till 8pm).

prosecco with a red sticker (to indicate HH glass?)

If one is interested to bring own wine, the corkage charge here is $45 per bottle. That amount could nett you about 5-6 glasses of prosecco during happy hour.

"Sparkling or still water?"

"Just tap water."

regular tap water

The food menu has tiny fonts and can't really read much since I didn't have my spectacles so left the ordering to my friends.

Meanwhile, let's munch on some bread. Warm loaf of bread that's soft but leaves so much crumbs when cutting it. Request for balsamic to go along with the olive oil.

warm bread by the loaf

lovely bread

olive oil with balsamic vinegar

Amongst the five of us, we had 2 loaves of bread! Didn't order any appetiser and restaurant staff did inform us that the waiting time for the mains to arrive is about 15 minutes.

While waiting for the food, went exploring its alfresco area. If the weather is good, then one can choose to have dinner or drinks at its outdoor area.

outdoor seats

susceptible to weather conditions

view from Level 43

Ordered 4 main courses to be shared amongst the 5 of us. But that's because one of the main course, feeds two.

risotto al nero sepia (squid ink risotto)

Would've preferred if the risotto can be cooked that bit longer. Felt that the taste in the rice was somewhat lacking. Baby squids were nicely done though.

Guancietta di maiale Iberico (slow braised iberico cheeks)

Loved the taste of the slow braised iberico cheeks. Tender, warm and comforting. Very much home-styled cooking. The bright yellow polenta stack was interesting too. Thought it was a bit unusual to have the polenta served in its tin container?

We're very fond of meat. So another meat dish, which is the Filetto di manzo, grilled U.S prime beef tenderloin, pan-fried goose liver, celeriac puree and orange scented morels.

Filetto di manzo (beef fillet with foie gras)

Ok, what are morels? Fungus. See that black thingy that's sitting atop of the mashed blob. Has texture like bamboo pith but denser. That blob tasted very much like pureed liver though...I must be hallucinating!

medium rare

The meat dishes portion were rather small. Fortunately, our last main course, Astice allo busara was of a good enough serving for 3 pax.

Astice allo busara (Boston lobster with chili tomato sauce, pine nuts and raisin pilaf rice gratinated with creme fresche)

best dish for the night

Liked the pilaf raisin rice smothered in gratinated creme fresche. Prefered this much more than the risotto, texture and taste-wise. Lobster meat was firm and fresh. The sauce was sweet, thick and has a slight seafood umami to it.

We were there to celebrate our dear friend's birthday, and the restaurant kindly allowed us to bring our own cake. Ontop of that, Zafferano gave the birthday girl a complimentary birthday dessert. Nice gesture and thanks!

bursting with sweetness (both the cupcakes and birthday girl)

birthday dessert, complimentary

Overall, service was good. Water was topped up every now and then. Dinner was a leisurely affair, and we stayed till late, catching up with each others lives. Happy Birthday Cherlyn, the youngest in our group. Have a good year ahead! Cheers~

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