[Tasting] 13 Stages @ Kallang Wave Mall

13 Stages has two outlets in Singapore; Kallang Wave Mall and Tanjong Pagar Centre. It is famed for its steamed whole chicken leg rice dishes as well as delicious kopi brewed by barista. Opened by local celebrity Mark Lee (李国煌), 13 Stages at Kallang Wave Mall is into 20 months of operations (since August 2017), while the one at Tanjong Pagar Centre is its second outlet.

We sampled some of their bestsellers and is delighted to know that come May 2019, they are expanding the menu with more flavours for its chicken dishes.

13 Stages at Kallang Wave Mall is huge and able to seat a group of 20 rather easily.

shopfront

menu

Walk right up front to the coffee counter and notice the 13 bottles of kopi powder from the 13 states of East and West Malaysia. How to choose from so many? Fret not, its menu had listed out the profiles for each of the kopi so you may want to decide based on that. Otherwise, one could also do the "Best of 2" or "Gems of 3 States". "Best of 2" means guests could order up a mix of two kopi while "Gems of 3 States" allows a tasting portion for 3 selected kopi of the day.

13Stages kopi

I opted for a taste of my hometown, Selangor (雪兰莪州). Did not know what to expect from the Malaysia Barista Kopi actually. Was pleasantly surprised to see it being served in a clear glass with a tag.

After one sip, I can proudly say that the barista kopi here, hits the spot, especially the kopi from Selangor, The barista made it less sweet to bring out the kopi profile and to me, that was perfect. Adequate, and enjoyable. Thank you!

Malaysia Barista Kopi - Selangor (medium, rich, less sweet)

Gems of 3 States

And if you are ever there during breakfast (10am to 12pm) or kopi-break (2pm to 5pm), do yourself a favour and order up the delicious butter toasted mantou. We had it with kaya but there was an option for condensed milk too. Salty sweet treats that goes well with the freshly brewed kopi.

mini butter toasted mantou @ $4.20/$4.80 (4/6 pieces)

with a good dollop of kaya

We also tried the curry chicken chee cheong fun from its Snacks/小吃 menu. The chee cheong fun was silky smooth and one need not chew too much on it before it disintegrates. The chicken shreds added a tiny bit of contrast in texture. Now, if only we have some yong tau foo items to complete the meal.

Curry Chicken Chee Cheong Fun @$5.50

Oh, I need to tell you about their steamed egg. Now, this is parked under the Sides/小菜 menu. Served in a small rice bowl, its portion is larger than the usual chawanmushi. Tasted homely and eggy. The chicken floss added a bit of savoury sweetness to this light tasty dish. Perfect when you feeling peckish but doesn't want anything too heavy.

Steamed Egg Chicken Floss (肉松滑蛋) @$3.20

sluurpilicious~

Now, let's look at what one could get for lunch/dinner. How about some aromatic chicken rice? It's current bestsellers for its steamed chicken leg rice are the Imperial Ginger Chicken, Sesame Chicken and Curry Chicken. For customers who prefer seafood, there is an unusual 'Steamed Fish and Chips' or one could opt for the Tom Yam Seafood or the Sesame Fish done in the same manner as its Sesame Chicken dish.

All of its Imperial Chicken dishes are priced at $9.50 nett while the Fish/Seafood option goes for $9.90 nett. Each set comes with aromatic chicken rice or plain rice, soup and sauces (chili and dark soy).

menu

let's eat~

All of us unanimously voted the Imperial Ginger Chicken as the best tasting dish!

Imperial Ginger Chicken (姜蓉皇帝鸡) 

The ginger was so good that I do not need to have it with chili. But then, the chili was tangy and did its job to elevate the taste further. The chicken meat was perfectly tender, moist and tasty with the toppings.

The curry chicken here is the lighter version and of very mild spice level.

Curry Chicken (咖喱鸡)

Dang Gui Chicken (当归鸡)

lovely aromatic chicken rice

The assam chicken here is pretty interesting and tasted unlike of the assam dishes that I've ever had. The mala chicken has the numbing spices right but it was oily as well.

Assam Chicken

Mala Chicken (麻辣鸡)

The fish dishes were good too, especially the Sesame Fish. This would rank right up behind Imperial Ginger Chicken, in terms of flavour. Overall, the Sesame Fish leans a tad towards the sweet side.

Sesame Fish 芝麻炸蛋鱼

Appearance-wise, the entire dish was off-white except for the deep fried egg floss topping which was golden brown in colour. There's tofu in the dish as well.

Sesame Fish

tofu

vege sticks with sesame sauce

Steamed Fish and Chips

The Steamed Fish and Chips is actually similar to Teochew styled steam fish dish. There's salted vegetable, tomatoes, sour plum and mushrooms. The fish fillet is wrapped within the thin beancurd skin and is super tender.

Overall, the food was tasty and the freshly brewed barista kopi was fantastic. Would recommend the Imperial Ginger Chicken, Sesame Fish, Butter Toasted Mantous and of course, the kopi.

Thank you Ivan for the invite and Steven for hosting the dinner. Kudos to the barista for the kopi brewed with love.

13 Stages

Address: No. 1 Stadium Place #01-41 Kallang Wave Mall Singapore, Singapore, 397628
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/13-Stages-100404353942702/
Contact: 6384 0502
Business Hours:
Daily 10am to 9pm

[Tasting] Bearded Bella @ 8 Craig Road

Bearded Bella is a cosy casual eatery with good coffee, wholesome food and good company. Started by Regina Tay and Sarah Ling, the place exudes a lovely soft ambiance and staffed by fun, young adults. There's a front-yard where diners could chill outside too.

front-yard

Happy Birthday Bearded Bella!

Was invited for dinner and its dinner menu would be of sharing plates concept. A quick browse of the dinner menu had us easily identifying our dinner plates. But first order of things, would be....drinks, of course. It was TGIF after all!

Wanted something with sweetness and was recommended a G&T named as "The jam sessions." Special drink for its reverse infused gin and tonic. Botanist gin and tonic infused with mixed berries, lemon and sage. A lovely pinkish hued glass that is adequately sweet and easy to drink.

"The jam sessions" @$14

Or, you could opt for some bright gold sparkling Spanish cava. Fresh, crisp and with fine bubbles. 

Franck Massard Mas Sardana, Cava Brut Nature @$14

Snacks

Though we'd start strong with an order of beef cheeks. The portion was just right for us. We were a party of 3! The Australian grass-fed beef cheeks was braised in red wine jus till delicately fork tender and served sitting on-top of a puffy mound of creamy celeriac puree. Devoured in two bites. Ok, probably 3-bites for more lady-like dining.

Australian grass-fed beef cheeks @$15

SGD9 for two eggs are not exactly economical but glad I ordered the Devilled Eggs at Bearded Bella. Lovely golden yellow hues for its crips parmesan chip as well as the tasty miso yolk. Was pleasantly surprised with the slight sweetness at the end of the bite. Was there caramelised sugar?

Devilled Eggs @$9

Garden

Yes, it is mandatory to have two servings of vegetables for every meal. Hence, we got ourselves the cauliflower done three ways; roasted, couscous and crisps. Loved the puree in this dish. So creamy and milky. I enjoyed the cauliflower couscous and the roasted version but not the crisps as it tasted like dehydrated.

Cauliflower done 3-ways @$12

Regina sent us one of her favourite garden plate and that was how, the baby beetroot plate landed on our table. Would I have ordered baby beetroot? Unlikely. But after having a taste of this version, I'd gladly order one if I'm there again!

sweet baby beetroot, beetroot juice, pickled beetroot, feta @$10

Sweet is so apt to describe the baby beets. So sweeeeet~ in fact. So good with a bit of the feta cheese crumbs and those crunchy nuts. More please.

Sea

The treasures from the sea that we opted for was the sea bass. I liked that the sea bass natural flavours were accentuated with the coconut tom kha sauce and the fragrant curry leaf. Good mouthfeel overall.

Sea bass, lime, coconut tom kha sauce, grilled tomatoes, curry leaves @$22

Another dish that I enjoyed was the seared scallops. Good price point, reasonably sized and bouncy scallops with refreshing mint pea puree. Loved the colours on this plate.

Yuzu ponzu pan-seared scallops, mint pea puree, hazelnuts @$17

Land

Pork, beef or chicken? We had pork jowl as well as the beef cubes. Be warned that these would be quite filling especially after all the starters.

Seared Spanish pork jowl, honey truffle pear, celeriac and pork crackling @$13

Yes, we did the pork crackling test and it was amazingly crunchy! If you could only hear the sound of the crunch. So loud! Hahahaa! Yes, it was a tad embarassing but in a good way. For this dish, best to get a drink ready as the pork jowl was fatty and rich. Flavourful, oily mouthfeel with super tender meat and scoop a few of those julienned sweet pear and some celeriac mash. So good!

Of course, on the other extreme, you could opt for the healthy lean chicken. I think this would make very good gym food. Lean white meat that wasn't tough, clean tasting and paired well with creamy cauliflower puree.

Chicken, roasted butternut squash, cauliflower puree @$14

For the second most expensive plate around, it was the Australian grass-fed tenderloin cubes. 180g was enough to induce a short bout of meatgasm. The medium rare meat was jaw friendly, flavourful with each chew and complete with jus.

Australian grass-fed tenderloin cubes (180 g), yuzu shoyu, chili threads @$28

It was at this stage that we figured that we had eaten more than we should. Tummies filled and heart full.

But, what about dessert? Will we be able to bear leaving yet not knowing how dessert would have tasted like?

Plated Dessert

Dark chocolate and orange bread pudding @$13

Yassss to dessert! But because we only can choose one (as any more we would've combusted there and then), we exercised caution and a long deliberation before deciding on dark chocolate and orange bread pudding.

I think this plate was nothing short of magical. Scoops after scoops of that pudding went into our mouth as though we had not eaten anything for dinner prior! It was just that good.

Served warm, its texture was delightfully moist (or dare I say, molten?) and contrasting with the wonderfully cold (but melted too fast) vanilla bean ice-cream. Sweet endings indeed.

This is bounced up into the must-order list.

Thank you Kris for the invitation. To Regina, thank you for your generosity and hospitality. To Bearded Bella crew, thank you for taking care of us on our night of visit.

See you again!

Bearded Bella

Address: 8 Craig Rd, Singapore 089668

Website: https://www.beardedbella.com/

Contact: 9880 0775

Business Hours:

Monday to Thurs: 730am to 5pm

Fri: 730am to 11pm

Sat to Sun: 730am to 6pm

Kafe UTU Revisited @ 12 Jiak Chuan Road

Back again after a month or so, and this time to try some new items in the dinner menu with the rest of the foodie gang. It was a somewhat deja vu moment as we sat at the same table as we did, one month ago! Here is the link to previous visit.

While waiting for the last person to arrive, we ordered up our drinks with half the group opting for mocktails and the other half preferred the alcoholic ones.  That night, we left our drinks selection in the hands of Ivan, the Head Bartender at Kafe UTU.

He asked what would I prefer. I said, "Gin based and slightly sweet. Make it special."  After a long while, my drink arrived in a dainty tokkuri (徳利) and it came with a little cute heart. How'd they know I like Japanese stuffs? *winks*

The Alcoholics

Gin-based Special #1

I liked the special gin mix that was not too strong, sweet and refreshing. Thank you Ivan for the thoughtful creation.

Grapefruit Negroni

Whiskey-based  Special #2

Rum-based Special #3

The Mocktails

Fruit-based and refreshingly tangy

Watermelon-based with egg white

Tiki drink

Berry refreshing

Can you guess which of the above mocktail was for a guy? Hehe.

But where's the food? One word of advice, do place your food order quickly before the kitchen gets really really busy with the avalanche of orders.

KIDOGO (BITES)

Malindi Croquettes @$12

I think the Malindi Croquettes came to our table by mistake but we ended up ordering two more plates of it. Smallish in size, but it packed a punch in flavour. Best eaten when served. The insides are super soft and creamy, with a nice golden crisp batter. Pause for 5 seconds after the first swallow and notice the rising burn. Wow, it was deceptively spicy! Well, the menu did say Habanero...but guessed we just didn't noticed it. But it was shioks!

fresh cassava leaves, ginger, garlic, Habanero, House spices, Bechamel

Pan Con Tomate with House Smoked Anchovies & Garlic @$18

The tomato cold soup was as how we remembered it, and the difference was in the toast. The smoked anchovies added another dimension to this.

SALADS

Roasted Pumpkin Kale Salad (V) @$20

FROM MAMA AFRICA

West African Charred Aubergine Stew with Angus Beef Cheek (served with basmati rice) @$30

We loved to hear the origins of the dish and the aubergine turns out to be Kurt's favourite birthday dish! Can easily understand why, as the beef cheek has a pleasant smokey flavour yet tender with each bite. Moist with the Liberian sauce, its spices were pleasant and delightful when laden ontop a spoonful of basmati white rice. Yums.

Moroccan Lemon Chicken Tagine @$29

Yes, there was no tagine (طجين) for the Moroccan Lemon Chicken Tagine dish. The tagine is a shallow earthen pot which is often recognised for its upside down cone shaped cover. It's ok not to have the tagine though because the chicken was still very delicious.

The star of this dish, got to be the quinoa. Superbly moist, flavourful and delightful with the onions.

Macanese African Chicken with Mango Salsa @$29

The Macanese African Coconut sauce looked a tad oily but we did not care a bit. Cut a small piece of that chicken, swirl it all over the sauce and into the mouth it went. Lovely.

The Macanese African Chicken With Mango Salsa is served with quinoa, and the quinoa in this dish was rather interesting as well. It was made into a patty and pan-fried, which resulted in a nice crust on its outer part much like the taste of scorched rice.

We also had some of the favourites from the previous round; the Swahili Fish Curry and Liberian Peanut Chicken Stew. These two dishes paired so well with the basmati rice.

PASTRIES

We ordered our previous favourites; the carrot cake and the soft serve ice-cream. Malindi Halwa was added after Kurt shared more stories of how this dessert snug into the menu. Yes, we do love stories especially if it was about Sheiks, master craftsmen and their favourite dessert.

Malindi Halwa @$10

"Would it be too sweet?" I was thinking in my mind. "How does Kafe UTU's version of Halwa taste like?"

Halwa is sweet confections made in the Middle East, Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent. There's flour based halwa, nut butter based halwa but this texture was something unfamiliar. I felt like I might be eating a cube of watermelon (based on visual), but it tasted of spices and a pleasant sweetness with a light but not so bouncy texture. The Kafe UTU's halwa is made of dragonfruit juice, hazelnuts and cashew nuts,  macadamia, pistachios with Malindi spices. There's yoghurt on the plate for a slight sour taste. There's crisp spiced Dukha filo too. Interesting!

Carrot cake was a crowd favourite, but soft serve ice-cream is life! The flavour on that night was dark chocolate. Previous visit, we had coffee soft serve.

UTU Soft Serve Ice Cream @$4

SIPPING GIN

One shall not pass a chance to savour some sipping gin. Sipping gin is basically a gin that is good enough to drink neat.

Cheers to Good Food, Good Drinks and Good Company~

Procera Gin

Procera Gin, is an African craft gin and has African botanicals from Morocco, Kenya, Somalia, Zanzibar, Madagascar and Sierra Leone. It is the first and only gin crafted with African juniper.

Lovely aroma, strong and pleasantly smooth on the throat.

Kurt asked if we would like to try something that is currently not on the menu yet. Would we be too full since we were done with dessert as well? And miss a chance to try new menu? No way. And that was how we ended up with more food.

Off menu special Nigerian Beef Suya

The meat was tender, marinade was on point and the crispy homemade chapati provided the contrast in texture to the tender flavourful meat. Eaten like a wrap with pickled thinly sliced cucumbers and piled with as much kachumbari as you like.

lovely onglet

Once this makes its appearance in the menu, hesitate not. It was delicious.

All in all, expect to spend between $40 to $60 per pax for a drink and a good meal.

An enjoyable Friday night out with Kris, Elle, Rachelle, Tiara, Shermaine, Alvin, Hence and Ivan. Thank you Kurt for your hospitality, and team UTU for taking care of us that night.

Kafe Utu

Address: 12 Jiak Chuan Road Singapore 089265
Contact: +65 6996 3937
Website: https://kafeutu.com/

Business Hours:    

Kafe Utu
Closed Monday
Tuesday – Sunday: 8am – 5pm

Utu Lounge
Closed Monday
Tuesday – Thursday: 6pm-11pm
Friday & Saturday: 6pm-1am
Sunday: 1130am - 5pm

[Japan-Nagoya] Nagoya-meshi 名古屋めし or What to Eat in Nagoya Part 2 - Breakfast Nagoya Style at Komeda's Coffee

Yes, we are going to talk about Nagoya breakfast, the Ogura Toast. Interestingly, it originated in 1921 at the Mitsu Ha cafe in the Sakae area of Nagoya. It was created after the shopkeeper of Mitsu Ha noticed his customers dipping their toast in zenzai (sweet red bean soup). Thanks to his keen observation, am glad that we now have this delicious ogura toast in existance.

Komeda's Coffee

morning service

Had woken up early, gotten dressed and went out to hunt for the cafe to enjoy the typical Nagoya-styled breakfast. Alas, the cafe that I wanted was not open yet that day. Hence, I wandered around and found Komeda's Coffee at ESCA underground shopping center.

As with typical Japanese cafés, Komeda's also offers "morning service" (モーニングサービス) or "morning set" (モーニングセット), which is a low-cost breakfast menu available only during selected morning hours and in our case, from 7 till 11am.

The cafe looked pretty packed and was slightly worried if there'll be any seats for me. Waited for about 5 minutes and was greeted by the staff. "Smoking" or "Non-Smoking"? I think that's what she asked. Oh, no wonder I smelled cigarette smoke somehow. "Non-smoking, please." I said.

She acknowledged and asked me to wait. 5 minutes later, a table was available as the previous occupant had finished his breakfast. I was brought to a table big enough for 4 pax. Ooh, such luxury. An oshibori (warm towel) was brought out along with a glass of iced water. Just nice, as it was drizzling earlier.

oshibori (おしぼり) and iced water

Staff was rather nice and let you have your own time before deciding on what to have. It was rather easy for me to decide. Set C of Ogura toast set with hard boiled egg.  At Komeda's Coffee, you just need to order a drink and then the breakfast set is free. Coffee was about ¥560.

Set C - Ogura Toast 小倉トースト with coffee

The milk was strong, hence I only dripped a few drops for a taste. Japanese coffee tend to be slightly more acidic.

coffee au lait

The thick toast was awesome. Spread with delicious golden butter (salted, of course), which by then had gently seeped into the toast, so I just needed to top it with a big spoonful of adequately sweet red bean paste before getting a big satisfying bite out of it. Yums.

delicious toast

Lovely breakfast and good value for money.

Komeda's Coffee

Address: Japan, 〒453-0015 Aichi Prefecture, Nagoya, Nakamura-ku, Tsubakicho, 6−9, エスカ地下街内
Contact: +81 52-454-3883
Website: http://www.komeda.co.jp/
Business hours:
Daily: 7am to 10pm

[Japan-Nagoya] Nagoya-meshi 名古屋めし or What to Eat in Nagoya

If one had Googled about what to eat in Nagoya, the results will likely include foods like kishimen, cochin chicken, miso nikomi, tebasaki and ogura toast. Did a two-days stay in Nagoya and managed to try some of the local delicacies. This was my second time in Nagoya and the first was just a one-night stay so this time round, extended to another night.

Was travelling solo as Shermaine decided to do her own route hence, we parted ways in Asakusa. The next morning, I took the Shinkansen from Kinshicho to Nagoya. As with JR-Pass, am able to take Shinkansen Hikari which was about 2+ hours to Nagoya.



Stayed at Nagoya Liberty Hotel this time round. About 10 minutes walk to the train station and a rather old-school hotel.

Nagoya Liberty Hotel

room

Now that am all settled in for the accommodation, next would be food. The ESCA underground shopping is just about 6 minutes walk away hence, that became my favourite food destination in Nagoya. That, or Family-Mart or the train station where there's plenty of food as well.

Here are some that were bought from Nagoya train station. There are many wings with different restaurant and food kiosks.

Minomisho JR Nagoya Station (food kiosk)

tamagoyaki and karaage from Minomisho Nagoya Station

lovely rolled egg omelette

The take-away set of rolled egg and karaage was close to ¥700. The karaage was lacklustre because it was rather hard and cold. While the omelette was also cold, it had a nice flavour which was a good balance of savoury and sweet.

Furaibo ESCA 風来坊 エスカ店

Furaibo Tebasaki (Chicken Wings) @ ¥590

small fried wings with salt, pepper and lemon

Furaibo seemed packed during dinner, so did a takeaway since am dining solo. There are options for half a dozen or a dozen wings. Opted for the former and ate in comfort in the hotel. Picked up an apple sochu from convenience store as accompaniment. The wings were small, cold and lacklustre. Hmm, am I missing something here?

Luckily, I had a packet of strawberries bought from the department store. When in Japan, I'd make sure to buy strawberries. But often times, it was scarce since it was not in season. Happy that I found some and it was so juicy and sweet! Yums. It lasted me two nights.

strawberries 

いちご

Next installment, let's checkout some Nagoya restaurant food.