Watami @ ION Orchard

Super duper long queue on a Friday evening. Queued for more than half hour, and was offered a table for 3 (in order not to wait any longer...). We deliberated for a while, and fortunately, a group of 4 finished their dinner at that same moment, so we got their table. Lucky us.




There were four of us, so we ordered most dishes to share. Watami salad, potato gratin, seafood doria (baked rice), squid (grilled), cheese croquette, wafu steak and brownies with ice-cream for desserts. Also ordered a regular rice-set ($2.80++) which is 1 bowl of rice, with miso soup and pickles.



watami salad


sauce for the salad


The sauce for the salad is quite salty, so you may want to use it sparingly. Watami salad consists of leafy greens, bell peppers, onions, some crunchy deep fried bits, cherry tomatoes, laver and poultry meat. Liked the meat in the salad. Tasty and nice.




We ordered most dishes for sharing, and one opted to have something more filling, baked rice. Had a taste of her seafood doria, and it tasted sweet and cheesy. Preferred the potato gratin that another friend had ordered. The potato gratin looks exactly like a mini version of how the seafood doria looked. Haha!


baked seafood doria


The ika looked impressive but taste-wise, it was so so. The tender parts are really the ringlets at the mid-section. The tails were rather chewy but the charred bits quite flavorful. Probably good with sake or beer.


ika


I was glad I ordered the rice set. Wafu steak was very salty. Otherwise, it has a good texture that is in between of being chewy and tender at the same time.


wafu steak


closer view (glistening with oil!)


My friend commented that the cheese croquette wasn't as tasty because it had begun to turn cold. To me, it was alright, with cheese trying to ooze out on first bite. It's not a big mound, so one or two bites will finish it off!


cheese croquette


We were surprised by the ice-cream in our desserts. It looked like sorbet, but tasted like ice-cream without the 'cream'. The ice-cream was quite sweet, while the brownies tasted quite mild.


brownies and ice-cream


close up on brownies


The seats were comfortably apart, so that is a plus point, although you can still hear what the neighbours are talking about and vice-versa. It would be a good idea to make reservations on Fridays, otherwise, be prepared to queue.

Mana Mana @East Coast Lagoon

Located at East Coast Lagoon, and if you're unsure of where it is.. just head towards the Jumbo Seafood that area. Towards the 360 Ski area, and it's near to the seaside. Rather secluded for first time visitors! We parked at the carpark near Jumbo, so the walk to Mana Mana was about 10 minutes.


see this sign, and you're really near the restaurant


sails greeting


interior of the restaurant


The ambience was pretty good. Relaxing and good for chill out... It would've been perfect if only the service was better...

Ours was a party of about 13-15ish people that night, so we opted for sets. I chose salad as appetiser (the other choice was soup), chicken cutlet as the main (others were margherita pizza or spaghetti), and brownies for dessert (or fruit platter). It also comes with coffee/tea/fruit punch. Quite a good deal for just about $30 per pax.


salad


Not too sure if it was supposed to be healthier, but the salad came without dressing except for tiny dots of olive oil. Had to dab the 'dry' vege into the chili sauce at times! Yup, could've asked for dressing, but the staff was quite overwhelmed by the workload that night. We had orders that weren't delivered till reminded, coffee orders taken but lost the order chit, guests seated and started eating but no offer to bring water was made even if the rest of the group had their water glasses.


chicken cutlet


The portion of food here, is rather generous. The salad was laid to fill up a main dish plate size. The chicken cutlet were two big slabs of meat. The brownie was huge. And should've taken a picture of the fruit platter. Haha, really!



juicy chicken


dessert




All in all, it was value for money. Just be more forgiving with regards of certain service lapses. After all, it's a place to chill~

Bon Gout @ Robertson Quay

Was at Robertson Quay on a Friday. Walked around quite a bit looking for a place to eat. Passed by many restaurants and finally someone recommended Bon Gout. Quaint little place, where half the shop is filled up with comics, magazines and books. It's a Japanese bookstore cum cafe.


bookshelves of comics


There's a daily set meal, and that include a main, a side dish, pickles, rice and miso soup. The set meal of the day on that Friday was beef and eggpplant cooked in miso, with vinegared tako and seaweed.


beef and eggplant cooked in miso


The lady boss recommends the set of the day, as the rest of the set meals are available daily but the set of day is sort of like 'special'. I joked that since most of us were there for the first time, everything is special to us! ;)

But trust the boss, because the beef in miso was very tender and the miso taste was just right. Tasty but not too salty. It really has the homecooked flavor, and I wouldn't mind eating it daily. Egg plant was still firm, and the side dish was mildly flavored, which cleanses the heavier tasting miso.

There were five of us, so we ordered two sets of panfried beef steak set, one unagi set, one tonkatsu and one miso beef set.


table full of set meals!


unagi set (front), panfried beef steak (back)


unagi


tonkatsu set (front), miso beef set (back)


tonkatsu


beef steak (but a little too chewy for us)


tender beef, we liked!


All in all, it was a cosy experience. The shop people are courteous and polite. Enjoyable experience.

Hua Yuen Porridge @Tiong Bahru Market

Wanted to eat porridge and raw fish tonight, so hopped onto SBS bus 123, and about 10 minutes later, voila! Tiong Bahru Market at Seng Poh Road. I thought there will be a couple of stalls selling cantonese porridge, but I was wrong. Most were selling Teochew fish porridge! Hmmmm, I know... it's been ages since I last visited this market :P

The porridge stall was manned by a young chap and a lady. Opted for the value set of century egg with shredded chicken porridge + raw fish slices for $4.50 only. Good right?



value for money



yummylicious


The porridge was thick, and every bite has century egg bits and chicken shreds. Mine has thigh meat, and that's exactly what I liked! Tasty!


I don't know why, but the raw fish slices were whitish in color. Was kinda expecting like pinkish raw colored...


looks like kinda cooked, hor?


The fish slices were quite decent, but some of the meat has tendons so those parts turned out to be rather tough and chewy. Otherwise, the fish was tasty from the drizzling of sesame seed oil, lime juice, soy sauce and eaten with spring onions, ginger and chili padi.

Shin Kushiya @Vivocity

Located at Level 2 of Vivocity, I took a wrong turn and ended up having to search high and low for this restaurant. Haha, bad sense of direction as usual. Reservation was a breeze, and they usually gave me a seat by the window. Can say that it came with a view, but the only downside was that view is currently all construction stuffs!

We're small eaters, us girls, so between the two of us, we ordered the unagi maki, sanshoku don and a mushroom with stuffed minced chicken meat kushiyaki.


unagi maki


Unagi maki (sushi roll with grilled eel, in teriyaki sauce with asparagus and cucumber) was rather dull. Can't taste much of the unagi too. Hardly taste any asparagus too! Perhaps can do with a bigger slice in it. The rice (at least for the maki and the don) tend to harden as the night progresses.


I liked the shansoku don though. The color, the glistening oil from the fish, arrangement of the bowl, simple yet ppeals to the senses and I can't wait to sink my teeth into the fresh fish slices!


sanshoku don (salmon, maguro and kajiki)


fresh fish slices


The item with the 'heaviest' taste, the mushroom kushiyaki was eaten last. Quite an enjoyable snack.


stuffed mushroom with minced chicken


Total bill was $40+ for 2 pax.