The Rotisserie @ China Square Food Centre

Located at Telok Ayer Street. Visited on a weekday night and indoor seats were speckled with patrons. Plenty of outdoor seats unoccupied. My friend has been raving about this place since maybe forever, so guess that's enough reason to warrant a visit.

There are menu boards at the cashier, as well as near the big table towards the back of the shop. It's generally self-service, so order and pay at the cashier first, then go towards the food area to collect your order. The prices listed on board are nett price. From observation, most people who were there that night, had chicken.

tables for large groups

nearer to the back of the shop

paper napkin

For the sake of variety, I had the pork knuckles (half portion @$16), and a glass of Yalumba Sauvignon Blanc (@$7). My friend, of course, got her all time favourite de-facto quarter chicken (@$10) and a pot of Pearl of the Orient tea (@$4).

hey, who drank my wine? nah..'twas no one, it just came in this size

One can choose either the hot side dish or the cold side dish. The hot side dishes options are mashed potato, corn, peas or cauliflower. The cold side dishes include coleslaw, potato salad, pasta, and rocket leaves with basil and cherry tomatoes.

I had the potato salad and rocket leaves for my sides, and my friend had cauliflower, mashed potato and corn. Yeap, apparently one can choose not two but three sides from the hot counter.

pork knuckles (half) with potato salad and rocket leaves drizzled with balsamic vinegar

closer view

You'll get a whole lot of meat (and fats as well) with that half portion of knuckles. Unfortunately, the skin wasn't crackling that night, and the amount of meat was just a little too much for me. Perhaps, it'll be better if it can be shared but my friend was just not interested in pork knuckles. She was totally focused on the chicken. I got a little 'jelak' after a while of chewing through half the meat.

On its own, the pork knuckles were kinda juicy. Its meat solid and chewy and can be considered tender (not meltingly soft tender though). But still had some difficulty cutting the meat at times using the butter knife due to the fats surrounding the meat.

The Yalumba wine was light and provided some respite from the heaviness of the meat. Oh, and don't forget the mustard. That too gave it some variety in taste.

quarter chicken with mashed potato, corn and cauliflowers

tender chicken

My friend really loves the chicken. She has declared that she'll be back in two weeks time to eat this again. I had a bite of it, and the chicken meat was fork tender but the skin was a little salty though. Nice and a quarter chicken with that much of side dish can last you a long way, and all that for just $10. Probably, that's the draw.

The House of Robert Timms @ Wheelock Place Part II

Revisited again on a Thursday night for a post-dinner coffee and some dessert. The place was still lively even though it was already past 10pm.

coffee menu and cakes on display

Ordered the sticky date pudding, one hazelnut latte and a piccolo latte.

sticky date pudding

closer view

Our order of sticky date pudding came pretty fast. It was served warm and with vanilla ice-cream that has a sprinkling of raisins. The warm and soft texture of the cake was nice. More sauce would be nicer too. The ice-cream was a tad too sweet for me.

cute bunny in my cup of piccolo latte

According to Wiki, piccolo latte is also known as caffe macchiato or 'espresso stained with milk'. It's a small small cup. Tasted thick, milky and slightly bitter. Had a taste of the hazelnut latte and it was really fragrant and very milky.

can you bear to drink this? heh heh

Total costs was about $26.

Yakitori Enmaru 焼鳥 炎丸 @ ION Orchard

Located at Level 4 of ION Orchard. Went on a weekday evening before 8pm and there wasn't as much of a crowd. Mostly walk-in customers.

shopfront

There are two small boards outside that shows the Happy Hour offerings; with $5 Tiger beer from 5pm-7pm, and selected shochu at $5 per glass from till 5pm - 8pm. What's an izakaya without a drink or two right? Happy hours like these made it all sweeter.

interior

menu

Once seated, an order for shochu (can't resist a good offer!) was quickly placed, and upon recommendation from the friendly and helpful service crew, we had the Tomino Hozan (Imo), a sweet potato shochu served on the rocks (or can opt for with soda).

Tomino Hozan, on the rocks

The Tomino from Kagoshima prefecture has a well-rounded light and clear taste, with a tingle of sweetness. Smooth on the tongue. High on alcohol content at 25%. Wheeee~

Otoshi (appetizer) is served here, free of charge. It's a simple dish of raw cabbage and a spoonful of miso paste. Crunchy vege with natural sweetness made tastier by the miso.

otoshi

Ordered the Ibushi Yaki, a shop specialty. Small pieces of chicken meat grilled, licked and smoked by high flames. The open kitchen allows customers to catch glimpse of charged up fire sizzling the meat whenever this order is prepared. Served on a hotplate with cabbages and with a small dash (on a separate small dish) of grated wasabi mixed with radish (wasn't really paying attention when the service crew was describing it) but it was pretty salty.

Ibushi Yaki (sorry for the messed up picture, was trying not to get the camera melted by the intense heat)

close-up view of Ibushi Yaki and cooked cabbage

It's somewhat different from expectation (in terms of appearance and taste) but still liked its smokiness and was pretty juicy and tasty too. Perhaps, it's the idea of how it was cooked that gave it its novelty.

One thing about this place is that when a skewered item is ordered, it must be in pairs. Meaning, if you want to eat buta bara, it must be ordered as 2 sticks. "So how if you're eating alone?" My friend asked. Hmm...I guess eat two of the same thing? Or order the 5 kinds yakitori and you'll get 5 different types of skewered items which changes on a daily basis. Do ask the friendly service crew if you'd like.

The person who took our order (a young helpful chap) was really patient and can rattle off recommendations should you need any. We ordered wagyu harami (beef outside skirt, one done rare and the other stick done medium), shishito (Japanese variety of capsicum that looks like peppers), tsukune oroshi (chicken balls), and buta bara (pork belly).

shishito, high in vitamin C

buta bara

wagyu harami (medium)

wagyu harami (rare)

closer view of wagyu harami (done rare)

The shishito tasted natural (think it was unsalted, though not sure if that's intentional or not), and it's like a distant cousin of capsicum but definitely can taste the resemblance of flavour.

Buta bara (pork belly) was really quite lean and gives a chewy bite. The wagyu harami was tender for both doneness but I liked it rare. It was considerably light flavoured as well. Less salt is good.

tsukune oroshi (chicken meatballs with grated radish)

The tsukune or chicken meatballs were good. Tasty. Actually this dish and the ibushi yaki gets the vote of being the more stronger tasting items out of all the items that we ordered.

Total bill came up to around $65 for 2 pax.