Sushi Tei @ Vivocity

Located at Level 2, this outlet seem to be crowded during lunch time almost everytime that I passed by. Decided to drop in for lunch today, and queued for about 10 minutes before getting seated.

Currently it is having an Autumn Promotion where you can get to try fugu fish! However, it was a tad too expensive (and probably luxurious) to have that item for lunch, so we decided to just order a Matsutake Dobinmushi from the autumn promo menu. Also ordered a Kan Buri sushi (coldest season yellow tail sushi) to try from its Kan Buri Promotion menu.

As we were in the mood for sushi, we ordered nama hotate, salmon belly, hon maguro (blue fin tuna), mekajiki and sea welk sushi.

dobinmushi, served with a slice of lime

I've always heard of Matsutake mushrooms when watching Japan Hour, so it piqued my interest in this breed of mushroom. The taste of Matsutake was not as strong as anticipated. Kind of woody and has a nice scent. The soup was clear and light flavoured. Enjoyable.

Matsutake mushroom!

When eating sushi, how can one forget about wasabi and vinegared ginger?

wasabi

ginger

The Kan Buri sushi came out looking quite different from the picture depicted in the menu.

kan buri sushi

Hon maguro was bright red in colour and has nice texture.

hon maguro

The sea whelk sushi was crunchy, so it's a refreshing change from the softer texture of say, salmon.

sea whelk sushi

mekajiki

salmon belly

The Matsutake dobinmushi costs $9++, and the Kan Buri sushi is $5.80++ per 2 pieces.

Old School Delights @ Upper Thomsom Road

Read about this place from a popular local magazine some months back, and we used to pass by it when we were seeking food nearby, so finally decided to drop in recently on a weekday night for dinner.

menu on chalkboard and yummy cakes on display

We ordered mee siam, laksa, nasi lemak and deep fried chicken wings. Top up $3 to get 1 drink (eg. barley, lime juice) and a small basket of fries.

For drinks I had iced lime tea. It looked like regular iced lemon tea due to its colour, but with lime taste. I think I still prefer iced lemon tea, thank you.

iced lime tea

The place exudes old-schoolness in the utensils as well. Check out the container that holds the chopsticks and spoons.

old school container

I had mee siam, and it was pretty decent. Much sweeter than I expected, and not spicy at all! The ingredients were pretty simple, just taupok, tauhu and half an egg.

mee siam

nasi lemak

The fries arrived piping hot, and has curry powder sprinkled on it. Hmmm.. it was a curious taste. But I liked the tartar sauce dip. Goes well, with the fries.

The deep fried chicken winglets (about 6 small winglets per order) were nicely browned, juicy and tasty. Yummy and recommended.

In total, we spent $30+ for the meal and it was enough to feed all three of us, with no room for cakes.

Boon Lay Raja @ Jurong East

Located Level 2 of Block 135, it is directly opposite of Jurong East MRT station, walk across the sheltered walkway, reach traffic light, cross the road and you will see NTUC Fairprice. Walk to the left of NTUC, pass by all the small shops and turn right to access the stairs or lift to Level 2. The lift opens directly infront of the restaurant.

Yesterday, we saw the place was 80-90%  full at about 8pm. I actually thought they had a wedding going on! It was my second visit to the place. The first time, it was rather quiet on a weekday night with probably only 30% occupied. The atmosphere yesterday was rather rowdy. With tables and tables of people eating, chatting and drinking beer.

We ordered crispy chicken, deep fried baby squids, claypot tofu (with roast pork) and a braised pork (南排). We were in a party of 4 adults and 2 young children.

deep fried baby squid

crispy chicken

claypot tofu

braised pork

The crispy chicken has became the de-facto dish to order. The kids loved it! The braised pork was rather lean, and it looked like dong po rou. Liked the vege that came together with the meat. Rather sweet. Baby squids were really tiny, and after leaving it out on the table for some time, it got rather hard to bite.

The meal costs about $68.