Black Cow @ South Beach Avenue

South Beach Avenue is pretty near JW Marriot Hotel and nearest MRT would be Esplanade. There is an enclave of new restaurants including Black Cow, Fynn's, Atmastel and Alchemist amongst others. Was pretty amazed that there are people who knows about this place. From observation, the interiors of these places were done up pretty good. Very nice.

Met up with fellow foodies over lunch at Black Cow and we ordered a couple of items to try, including the signatures of wagyu truffle uni donburi and the kurobuta tsukune don. The crowd seemed to start after 1pm. Understandably so for weekends. One need not be up so early, ya?

table for four

Service was courteous, and there are off-menu items being introduced as well. Be prepared to spend.

cold tea

As we were the first few in the restaurant, the food arrived fairly swiftly. We spent quite a while taking photos and one of the staff approached us to gently prompt us to try the food before it got much colder.

Kurobuta Tsukune Don @$28++

The Tsukune Don is basically minced black pig on rice with onsen egg. All lunch sets came with soup, salad and pickles.

onsen egg lava

The most photogenic of the donburis would be the foie gras beef steak don. Cubed foie gras and wagyu beef were glistening and beckoning for a taste. Smooth, firm and well-oiled. Good clean flavours, which surprised me. Thought it would taste 'heavy'. Lovely.

Foie Gras Bifuteki Don @$45++

A visit to a place that serves Japanese food will not be complete without having a look at the drinks menu. Whisky, beer or sake?

Dassai 39 Junmai Daiginjyo @$78++ (300ml)

Finally, managed to try a Dassai. Very easy to drink and my preference is always a junmai daiginjyo whenever one is available.

Of all the dons, my favourite turns out to be the Signature Truffle Don with additional uni topping. The amazing flavours that had settled onto the rice, was really the clincher.

Signature Truffle Don (with add-on uni) @$60++

And, of course, if there's a time-limited-by-chance-special that was available just for that weekend only, the food-lovers decided to go-ahead and get one to try.  An appetiser portion cold dish. Presented with a luxurious feel with a gold flake adorning the top of the caviar.

Uni Truffle Somen with caviar @$78++

And, as part of the set lunch, one gets ice-cream at the end of the meal. A couple of flavours available. Most surprisingly? There wasn't any matcha flavour to choose from. Say what?!

Choose from yuzu, kyoho or black sesame.

yuzu ice-cream

But of course, the shaved ice here was good too. So we had one for desserts. Shared amongst the 6 of us. I think it was made for 2-3 pax.

Signature Milk Shaved Ice @$12++

Upcoming in new menu, warabi mochi desserts, adorned with edible flowers. Pretty looking and I liked the translucent jelly-thingy with black sugar syrup.

warabi mochi dessert

A cosy place to enjoy Japanese food. Would love to try other items in the lunch sets.

Lovely lunch with fellow food-lovers; Justin, Siew Yan, Mya, Belle and Ken.

[Media Invite] Yomoda Soba x J Passport @ Japan Food Town Wisma Atria

Am unabashed about my love for Japanese foods. Have been trying the shops at Japan Food Town Wisma Atria. Thus far, have tried Hokkaido Izakaya, Nabe Seizan, Rang Mang Shokudo, Yakiniku Heijoen and now Yomoda Soba. Yomoda Soba originated from Nagano Japan.

menu

Tried the Hot Tempura Soba as it was drizzling and warm broth sounds just right. The soba is made from refined buckwheat flour imported from Japan and thus, it is lighter in taste as well as in colour of its noodle strands. The light soy based dashi is made from kelp, sardines, mackerel, bonito and shiitake mushrooms. Its soup had just a tinge of sweetness.

ミニ天丼セット

If you feel that the taste is too light, then the accompanying chili flakes did help to add that bit of spice into the soup. Quite nice actually after the addition.The yuzu peel gave a bit of refreshing variation to the taste.

slurp it up

As for the tempura, there were mushroom, red capsicum, pumpkin, long beans, chicken, braised pork and small prawn. Best one was the pork. Delicious!

天ぷら

Here is a link to JPassport Yomoda Soba page for more information: http://bit.ly/2mJ9Xmy

JPassport is an app which offers coupons to dine-in at selected Japanese Restaurants in Singapore. Pretty useful.

Yomoda Soba　よもだそば

Location: Wisma Atria 238877, Wisma Atria, 435 Orchard Rd, Singapore 238877
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YomodaSobaSingapore/
Contact: +65 6262 3467
Business Hours:
Daily 11:30～22:00 (last order 21:30)

[Media Invite] Siam Mookata @ 83-85 Pasir Panjang Road

Located at an old school coffeeshop, Siam Mookata offers casual Thai steamboat & BBQ option to those who seeks it. The coffeeshop that houses it is called Par Shi Coffeeshop.

Siam Mookata

The specialty for Siam Mookata would be in its house concocted chili sauce. Not too overpowering and was a good accompaniment to the grilled meats. You could also order up a cool Thai Ice Tea to quench those fires.

special chili sauce

Thai Ice Tea @$3.50

For a group of 3 to 4 pax, the platter for 4 ($39.90) offers enough variety in that there's pork, chicken, prawns and squid. The types of cut included pork belly, marinted chicken thigh in garlic and marinated pork in black pepper. There were some crab stick and sausages too. The vegetable basket contained enough greens (bok choy) and chinese cabbage, and a bunch of golden mushrooms. Enough lard was provided to oil the grill. The stall provided a large container of chicken broth for our use. Quite liked the soup!

ready to start

One could also do ala-carte order of the Special Pork Belly (marinated). The marinade for this was really light though.

Special Pork Belly @$7.90

It was fun having Mookata with friends. Conversations flowed while the food cooked slowly. The prawns were of a good size, firm and fresh but it was too much of a hassle to eat.

let's eat

do you prefer it bbq'ed or in the soup?

The vegetable basket did contain tanghoon but if you need more carbs, you could also do ala-carte orders of rice or mama noodles. Nothing beats having the tanghoon though. Slurpiliciously good!

mama noodle @$1.50

Expect to spend about $17 per pax for a platter with additional top-up of pork liver and special pork belly, and a cold drink.

Also watch out for Hungrygowhere deals. Just so you know, till 31 March diners gets 50% off total dining bill at Siam Mookata when booked via Hungrygowhere. Terms and conditions applies.

Special thanks to Siam Mookata and HGW for the invite.

Edogawa 江戸川 近鉄京都駅店 @ Kyoto Station

It was our last meal in Kyoto and with such a thought, it was really a 'no-holds-bar' situation. However, with wrist and feet hurting, I just wanted somewhere nearby. So off to Kyoto Station we went, in search for dinner. We were staying at Fushimi Inari Station, which was about 7 mins away with one transfer to main Kyoto Station. Not too bad, just that we went out on a Friday evening. Haha.

Walked around Kyoto Station before finally made our choice. Edogawa, for its unagi. Keke! I think I was sold by the unagi character at its signboard...

Edogawa Kyoto

Got a table pretty fast and gave the menu a good look-through. Made my choice and ordered. Can you guess what was my choice? First, drinks. のみますか？推測できますか? Something alcoholic? Yes, you know my style. Had a small tokkuri of warm sake for about SGD7. Kinda nice on a cold night. Actually, every night is perpetually cold in Kyoto during November period.

日本酒 sake @ ¥430

The sake was mildly fragrant and the alcohol doesn't hit you till later. Though it was a small flask, I'm convinced that am not able to finish it all by myself.

Truth be told, I was bent on trying Japanese beef. So, naturally, it became a must-order. A small set was about SGD24 and it had 5 slices of thick cut beef, some vegetables like green pepper, a slice of brinjal, a slice of pumpkin, shitake mushroom and corn. All these to be cooked on your own at your table. Just like what we usually see in Japan Hour!

Beef teppanyaki set @ ¥1,800

closer look at the meat

small fire to grill

The meat was beefy and mostly lean. I think our palates had become accustomed to the softer more marbled beef that we normally associate with Japanese beef. It was still rather fun and enjoyable. Am satisfied to have tried this in Kyoto.

on the grill

Next, was main course. Did you think I'd just be eating those few slices of meat? Hahaa! Need to eat those unagi! It was both a need and a want. Since I had hitsumabushi already, this time round, chose a unagi don with tamagoyaki. Moreover, the rolled egg had some unagi bits in it. It was really delicious and value for money. Came with pickles and a bowl of clear soup with some somen in it.

う卷丼 @ ¥1,360

first time seeing noodles in soup that came with a rice set

Lovely meal and interesting adventures in Kyoto.

Edogawa 江戸川 近鉄京都駅店

Location: Kintetsu Meitengai Kyoto road, ３１-１ Higashishiokoji Kamadonocho, Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture 600-8215, Japan
Contact:  075-672-2081 (+81-75-672-2081)
Website: https://tabelog.com/en/kyoto/A2601/A260101/26003102/

Business Hours: 

11:00～22:00

Open on Sundays for lunch

 

[Media Invite] JIM GARDEN 珍厨明苑私房菜

Jim Garden is a relatively new place that serves up Chinese dishes of the 东北 (Notheast) style. Googled and read that 东北 cuisine involves foods from the Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Hebei (north-eastern region) and inner Mongolia. Usual 东北 cuisine representative dishes are 酸菜白肉鍋 (pickled cabbage and pork stew) and 猪肉炖粉条 (pork stew with vermicelli) amongst others.

Jim Garden 珍厨明苑私房菜 shopfront

interior

The restaurant has mostly square tables and a few round ones for the larger group. Staff are knowledgeable and able to make recommendations to guests. Had an enjoyable time learning about Chinese cuisine from the staff from the mainland.

hello Chef

We were in a party of 6 pax and we managed to try the recommended dishes as well as some Chef's Special. There was another interesting item that we wanted to try as well, the Pig Skin Jelly but alas, we didn't manage to. Made in limited quantities, this is a rarely seen delicacy. Not sure how it would taste like but if you are keen, then do arrive early or make a one-day advance reservation prior to your visit to avoid disappointment.

good food, reasonable price

One of the boss recommended dishes is the sauteed tender meat with black fungus. Tasted very homely, strongly flavoured and very suitable to eat with steamed rice.

Boss recommendation - 东北大酱烧芸土非@$12.80

Next up, we had something similar to the black fungus dish but this one had tofu in it. Braised tofu in special sauce. Yes, yet another yummy dish to eat with the white rice. Since both dishes are quite similar, I'd recommend to take the braised tofu simply because it has better pricing with more ingredients; tofu, black fungus, chili slices, pork slices and yummy sauce.

Chef's recommendation - 风味酱焖豆腐 @$8.80

Let's roll out the heavyweights. The meaty dishes. How about a whole fish? The sweet and sour whole seabass has a very nice presentation. Its fish fillet were carved out into flowery petals and deep fried to golden. Can you believe that this dish was made without vinegar? The 'sour' element was achieved by natural acidity in fruits that were carefully selected to make this sweet and sour sauce.

Boss recommendation - 糖醋金目鲈鱼@$32

One of my favourites that night was the Qiubi shrimp. Don't ask me what qiubi means. I have no idea! But, what I do know, was that this dish was seriously addictive. Battered and fried, yet not overcooked plus tasty. Lovely!

丘比虾仁 @$22

How about Gold Medal Pork Ribs with Pineapple. Likely the name came about because this dish won a gold medal? Am guessing only. The presentation was good and the ribs were leaning towards the sweeter side of things.

Chef recommendation - 金牌西波排骨@$28

For the older folks, perhaps the stewed pork in brown sauce resonates better with them (us?). Boneless braised pork belly that is not 'jelak' sitting ontop a bed of dihuang miou (帝皇苗) vegetable. Again, this goes well with that bowl of rice.

Boss recommendation - 私房红烧肉 @$16

Wanted to try the 酸菜白肉鍋 but unfortunately, the staff shared that they are unable to continue with this dish in the menu. Primarily because they couldn't get the ingredients in. Hence, we had the other one which was the stewed pork feet in chinese cabbage.

It has the dullest colour when comparing with the rest of the dishes, but do give this a try. Comfort food and suitable on colder nights. The pork feet was soft and collageney, both the cabbage and the porous beancurd gave burst of flavours as it had absorbed the soup. This was surprisingly, good.

猪手顿白菜@7.80

How about dumplings, you might ask. Common in all Chinese restaurants, Jim Garden has their version too. Below are those that we've tried. The fillings were more or less the same. Pork and cabbage.

Wealth Dumpling 百财水饺 @$6.80 (10 pieces)

pot stickers 锅贴 @$6

pan fried bun 生煎包 @$5 (3 pieces)

For desserts, one could try the tau-sar bun where its skin has been infused with milo for a very mild cocoa taste or the sweet pancake, which is one of my personal favourite as well.

tau-sar bun 豆沙包 @$5.80 (3 pieces)

sweet pancake

But if you only have stomach for one dessert, then I'd strongly recommend the Papaya Jelly. Definitely a must-try! Was rather impressed by this. The coconut jelly has a great consistency and not to mention, it has a thick coconut fragrance and sweetness. No extra sugar added nor required. Plus, the papaya was oh-so-sweet. Goodness, get this. Pronto.

木瓜冻 @$5.80

All in all, the prices are reasonable and from what I saw of the other tables, the portion was good too. Suitable for family and friends.

Thank you to Jim Garden's management and staff for hosting the dinner and Hungrygowhere for the invite. This place serves tasty and reasonably priced food.