Hajime 初め Tonkatsu and Ramen @ MyVillage Serangoon Gardens

Hajime "初め"  means 'beginning'. Did you know that Chef Tan-san is the first tonkatsu chef in Singapore? Now we can enjoy this taste that has been mastered over the years at Hajime located at Level 2 of MyVillage Serangoon Gardens.

Bright and spacious but do go there early as there will be a crowd during weekends.

shopfront

what shall we have today?

Of course, one should be getting a tonkatsu. It was only a matter of which one. For meat, we chose the premium pork loin and the other a fillet. One with miso and the other without. Also took a bowl of shabu shabu to try.

grinding sesame

For appetiser, we tried the chicken skin. All agreed that these salty, crisp sinful bites are to be had with drinks. The edamame too was tasty with the generous sprinkling of salt over the charred skin. Someone please get me an Asahi!

deep fried chicken skin @$4.50

edamame @$4

Of course, the heavyweights are the much awaited tonkatsu. My goodness, please go for the premium pork loin. Wonderfully smooth and firm meat that's gentle to the jaw. Clean tasting and loved the crisp crumbed batter.

Nagoya Miso Fillet Set @$19.50

Premium Loin (ala-carte) $13.90

I love Japanese rice, and the Niigata rice served at Hajime satisfied the need for carbs. Could finish the rice even if it's with the occasional salty deep fried skin and lots of shredded cabbage with tonkatsu sauce dressing. So yums.

rice

Tried the kurobuta shabu-shabu and it had a mild pleasant flavour. Lovely broth and comforting to eat when the weather is colder.

Kurobuta Shabu Shabu Ramen @$15

lifted and ready for take-off!

Would definitely return for the premium pork loin tonkatsu.

Jalan Petaling 茨厂街美食 Famous Malaysian Food Street @ MyVillage Serangoon Gardens

The shop's name is quite a mouthful but hey, since it has Malaysian chefs cooking up street food, let's give it a try! Located at MyVillage Serangoon Gardens, level 2.

茨厂街 must-eats are chee cheong fun (steamed rice roll) that's paired with yong tau foo (tofu stuffed with minced meat), claypot lou shee fun (claypot bee tai mak with a raw egg in it), claypot chicken rice paired with ikan bakar (grilled fish) and so much more! Read about some of it here.

entrance

There's a couple of menus available; individual eats, or communal dining (zhichar) styled, or special menu of seafood hotpot. Seafood hotpot like this? A smaller version from its sister restaurant.

individual meal menu

So what did we try? Let's see the varieties sampled with Jennifer, Ivan, Alvin, Hence and Tracy.

curry chee cheong fun with yong tau foo @$6.80

pork trotters bee hoon @$8.80

The chee cheong fun was smooth and the curry complemented it well. And, how Malaysians like their local chee cheong fun? With yong tau foo, of course! The yong tau foo gave it some variety to avoid being too monotonous. The pork trotters were forgettable though.

Now, for the taste test. The KL hokkien mee. Ooh, don't forget the sambal which one have to take albeit self-service styled.

KL Seafood Hokkien Mee @$8.80

Happy to report that the hokkien mee came laden with lard bits at the bottom. So toss it up a bit before eating! The wok-hei was subtle but it kept us happy. Slurpiliciously good. The colour of the soy sauce was right. KL hokkien mee must be dark dark then nice.

round noodles? oh yes!

But of course, my preference of good tasty KL dark hokkien mee will always be the pork slices version with cabbage, chicken gizzard, crispy lard bits and fried with enough wok-hei.

Yong Tau Foo platter (own mix) @$1 per piece

Soy Sauce Chicken @$16 (small)

Another favourite of ours, was the delectable soy sauce chicken with its smooth gelatinous skin. The 滑滑 (wat wat in Cantonese) feels~. The marinade was good and strongly flavoured. Order this to satisfy meaty cravings.

All in all, we had a good meal and the service staff was friendly and has good knowledge of shop's namesake 茨厂街 (KL Chinatown).

Wishing you a happy meal at Petaling Street!

Jalan Petaling 茨厂街美食 Famouse Malaysian Food Street

Address: 1 Maju Ave, 556679 Singapore
Contact: 6509 9872

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JalanPetalingFamousMalaysianStreetFood/

[Media Invite] Long Jiang Chinois @ Orto Park

Address is 81 Lorong Chencharu, located right inside of Orto Park. I always see this place from the MRT tracks when the train passes by. Inside the park, there are more than one eatery and Long Jiang Chinois entrance is right at the drop off point near the carpark.

The restaurant offers healthy housebrewed drinks such as the pumpkin barley drink. It has a nice orangey hue and tasted pretty much like barley. There were some small pieces of pumpkin that has natural sweetness to it when chewed. Thirst quenching and of light sweetness.

pumpkin barley drink @$3.80

As I was late, my table-mates saved me a plate of assorted appetisers. The ngoh hiang has an easygoing taste with some refreshing crunchy waterchestnut bits in it. I enjoyed the fish skin tremendously. Good tasting and the salted egg in 'powdery' form still packed a punch.

ngoh hiang and salted egg fish skin

deep fried baby squids @$14

It's always nostalgic when eating deep fried baby squid. This was one of the first few zichar dishes that I had when I was a kid. Crunchy and savoury sweet with the sticky glaze.

Seafood Hotpot @$128 (4 pax portion)

The highlight of the meal is the Seafood Hotpot which feeds about 4 to 5 pax. Diners could add more items into the hotpot, depending on their preferences by topping up the item price ala-carte. For example, one could add more prawns, change the fish to some other type, other types of seafood or simply more vegetables into the hotpot.

The chicken soup base was already flavourful and sweet. With the seafood, its flavour was further enhanced. Very soothing and comforting on a cooler nights.

yummy tender squid

The soon hock fish was sweet and smooth. It was like eating steamed fish which sat in a hotpot. Very nice and goes well with a bowl of white rice!

Rojak Chicken @$16

Stir Fried Fine Beans & Crispy Shredded Yam @$14

The Rojak Chicken dish was basically chicken cutlet in rojak sauce. For the purist, we'd likely be looking the you tiao (fried doughstick). The stir fried long beans was so good. There were some bits of bak kwa in there that gave the flavour profile a light twist.

Also sampled the Cheesy Crab Bee Hoon which was presented in a large bowl, with crab and bee hoon submerged in a yellow-hued broth. I was apprehensive about the taste of cheese in the soup but it came out pretty well. There wasn't any overpowering taste of the cheese as everything had melded into the rich broth. Slurpilicious!

Cheesy Crab Bee Hoon with Crab Roe @$44.80

Wait, don't leave till you've tried the Orh Nee dessert or also known as the yam paste dessert. Shareable between 6 pax. This is a must-try!

Orh Nee @$12