Sumiya Charcoal Grill Izakaya @ Orchard Central

Located at Level 12 of Orchard Central. Took the lift to Level 11 and then have to take the escalator to the next level. Reservations via TableDB was conveniently fast.

Visited on a weekday for dinner and it was rather quiet. Got a table with high chair by the window.

interior

view from our table

Their staff was subtly attentive. We were looking quite unsure on whether to put our bags onto the next chair when one female staff quickly descended upon us to offer her help. There's actually a hook underneath the table for light weight bags. Having understood that we are not able to hook the laptop, she requested for another staff to bring us the bag stool. Good service, and customer centric. Nice.

not Asahi Shimbun but Sumiya's paper menu

Having gone through their online menu, it was easy to quickly order our food. But before that, let's quench thirst with a small mug of ice cold beer.

Asahi Draft @$4.90++ (Happy Hour till 8pm)

Let's have potato salad to start. Andy must've quite a sense of humour. What's with the cutesy cherry tomatoes'eyes'? There's the usual hard-boiled egg, mayo, mashed potato and juliened raw onions and cucumbers.

Andy's Potato Salad @$4.50++

For main course, friend ordered the unagi rice which can be enjoyed two ways; as it is and with the dashi added so that it becomes like ochazuke.

Unagi Hitsumabushi @$15++

Portion was smallish, so no worries. One pax can finish it all and still have room for beer. The soup was really light and preferably eaten while still hot.Some wasabi for that bit of a kick! Rice was abit hard though.

with dashi

Also tried the fatty pork yakitori. Too much radish piled onto it. Would've been better if there was more meat. Otherwise, quite interesting texture.

Taki san's fatty pork yakitori @$6++

And the dish that took the longest to arrive, was the grilled salmon collar. Was ok, mildly seasoned.

grilled salmon kama @$9++

Every $50 spent will get a chop on the rewards card. Expect to spend about $30 per pax.

Thank you my friend, for the early birthday treat!

Miam MIam @ Westgate Jurong East

Located at Level 1 of Westgate. Patronised mostly because wanted to see what's the hype is about.

That day was hot and humid, and we were told that the only seats left for 2 pax, was its outdoor seats. Ok, no problem. Just that, 5 minutes later, my friend commented that he saw a couple whom was ushered inside the restaurant. Hmm, perhaps someone exited? I offered an explanation. Not a chance, he said. And, of course he has a better view of the ongoings since my back was to the entrance. Oh well.

menu

tick your orders

 Menu states minestrone and clam chowder. Order chit states Soup A and Soup B. So I thought Soup B was clam chowder. Apparently, I was wrong again. The waitress said, "Ma'am, Soup B is minestrone. Is that ok?" I said, "Oh, then Soup A is clam chowder?" She smiled and said, "We only have minestrone today." Cool.

minestrone @$5.80++

The small bowl minestrone was not bad. Tangy and light. The bread was likeable too. More butter will be better. Or garlic spread.

Oh, water is chargeable here @50cents++ per glass. Good news. It is refillable.

Souffle Au Curry @$15.50++

spoonful of rice

Ingredients inside the curry souffle was minimalistic. A broccoli at each end. Frankfurter chunks lining its sides, and laying still amongst it all was the heavy japanese rice coated with curry, onions and carrots. Quite a bit of rice. Moist but this is just not my thing. Luckily, it was friend's order.

And, it turns out. Chocolate was not his thing too. So I got the whole valrhona chocolate souffle all for myself.

valrhona chocolate souffle @$13.80++

what you see is what you get

Literally. The molten chocolate that is seen in the picture. Well, that's about it. Inside, it's just chocolate souffle. Souffle that's a tad watery inside.

All food are served piping hot. Though am not impressed, this place does have its fans. Evidently from the weekend crowd.

This meal costs about $42 for 2 pax.

Xin Mei Le Bak Kut Teh 新美乐肉骨茶 @ Tanjong Pagar Road

Amongst rows and rows of Korean eateries and drinking places, found this little bak kut teh shop. Seemed like some Taiwanese celebrities had tried it before, as there are photo evidences plastered at its front door.

menu

The service crew is young and polite. And there was just this other table occupied as we were there early. Like around 6pm on a weekend. The place is airconditioned and provided a cooling respite from the hot and humid air outside.

interior

Was in the mood for braised pork knuckles 卤猪脚, so got a bowl of that plus a bowl of regular pork ribs soup. Stir-fried vege was kinda pricey for a small portion, so got ourselves a bowl of soupy tang-o.

Food was delivered pretty fast, except for the tang-o.

dinner

The you tiao 油条 (fried dough fritters @$1.20+) was bad. It tasted heavily of stale oil so we left it untouched after one piece.

Thankfully, the rest of the food was alright. The tang-o portion was little (@$3+) but adequate for the price. The pork ribs was nicely tender and with fiery peppery soup with herbal aftertaste. It was like teochew styled bak kut teh with a hint of hokkien.

original pork ribs bak kut teh (@$7.80+)

Soup refill is free but probably not a good idea to drink too much. Not too sure if it had MSG but felt rather thirsty after that.

Quite liked the braised pork knuckles. Adequately braised with sauce permeated into the meat. Yums. Good to drizzle over the white rice (@$0.60+ per bowl).

braised pork knuckles (@$7.80+)

Dinner for 2 costs about $27.