Kyoto Sabo Aji-Tei @ Plaza Singapura

Had dinner there with an old friend of many years, and we were greeted immediately by some polite staff at the door, which is the usual standard expected of Japanese Restaurants here.

The restaurant is not too huge, but the "darker-than-usual" ambience is good for couples looking to have a nice, quiet meal there.

Food is pretty affordable, too.

The Salmon (cooked) meal. Salmon was done quite well, not too oily, not too dry, just right, and able to retain the original taste of the salmon.

My Hokkaido Scallops Spaghetti with Cream Sauce. The spaghetti and cream sauce was the usual taste but the highlight here is, of course, the Hokkaido Scallops.


Close up of the Hokkaido Scallops, which tasted very fresh and tasty.

I spent about $25 per person.

Kyoto Sabo Aji Tei can be located at Plaza Singapura, Unit #02-01.

Hanabi Restaurant @ King's Arcade

Hanabi is located in the corner of King's Arcade along Bukit Timah Road, and you've gotta take the filter lane where BT Road meets Farrer Road to reach there. If you had taken the flyover over Farrer Road, good luck trying to navigate your way back to King's Road via Empress Street.

Parking at King's Arcade is strictly residential only, so you can try parking at Coronation Plaza or the carpark directly opposite Hanabi.

We were immediately greeted a la Jap style when we entered the restaurant, and we were pleasantly surprised that there wasn't a full house of noisy patrons, as we had expected from Hanabi's reputation. The lady boss seemed very nice and helpful, and was also thankful that we were taking photos of our food to help her publicize her restaurant!

Decor of the place





The jar of flowing water next to our table... very therapeutic.




Sushi Bar at the corner


招财猫！


Cheese Chawanmushi! <-- DIE DIE MUST TRY!!!

This one brings tears to my eyes as the flavour of cheese blends in perfectly with the steamed egg here and there's even a cheezy surprise at the bottom - half melted mozarella! Definitely a MUST TRY for cheese fanatics like me. =D


Kushi-style (on-a-stick) Shishamo

This one was grilled to perfection, as the size of the shishamo was larger than the usual you get at those less-than-proper Japanese Restaurants. As usual, my favourite part of this fish is the head (surprisingly not the eggs).


Zaru Soba

This one tasted quite the usual, but the texture of the buckwheat noodles was a little different as there was some degree of chewy-ness. Missing a quail egg, though.


Sashimi Moriawase (Mix Platter)

This one is the perennial must-have for me - the main reason I'm being recognised by my fellow authors as Mr Sashimi(which obviously speaks for itself). The sashimi was very fresh, as usual on tuesdays, but there was an obviously larger portion of salmon to make up for the significantly fewer pieces of Maguro. Another downside is that they do not serve Mekajiki(Swordfish) here.

La Forketta - Ristorante Italiano

Finally my post is up! Hahaha!



Went to this Italian restaurant at Dempsey Hill with Vijay and Jonathan. (Been planning to go out for lunch since forever but the weather...) La Forketa is just around the corner of our workplace. So near yet so far, considering that we walked there and back. Haha. But its good for our digestive system since its a really heavy meal. Went there intending to have Ben and Jerry's for dessert. But end up... too bloated to eat after the 3 course meal. LOL!

The place is very classic, decorated with a very "open" concept. Very different from the only other Italian restaurant (Michelangelo's) which I had been to. But nice all the same.


Tea.


Breads.


Salt and pepper and ??? I have no idea whether that is a display "flower" or lettuces for us to eat. =X

My Order


Minestrone soup.
Very unlike other minestrone soup which I have tried before. Minestrone soup, as I know it, should be orange-y in colour. This, however is towards the light yellow side. It may look creamy but it isn't. The generosity of vegetables in the soup make sure that I enjoy it down to the very last mouthful.


Spaghetti with clams.
More famously know as Spaghetti Vongole. This is a must-try for me! I love spaghetti. I love clams. I love it more when these two are served together in white wine! Need I say more? Haha. One thing I must say is that this restaurant is definitely not stingy with its food! There are like, endless amount of clams! I eat and I eat and I eat and I eat and there still are more for me to eat! =P Overall, this dish is very nice though not spicy enough in my case. Hence even though this dish is up to standard, I still prefer New York New York's Spaghetti Vongole just because its spicier. Haha.


Tiramisu!!!


And a closer look.. *drools*
The texture of all Tiramisu which I have tried before is like normal cake. Hard, not soft. But this cake is creamy! I can literally feel it melt the moment I put it into my mouth! Really tasty with just a hint of alcohol!

Vijay's Order


Bruchetta with Cheery Tomatoes


And a closer look...

Vijay: The bread was crisp and drizzled with just the right amount of olive oil. There was also a sprinkle of dried Italian herbs for its distinctive flavour. The cherry tomatoes, however, were overwhelming but gave the dish its body. Overall, it is a healthy eat, and an excellent starter!



Penne Pasta with Salmon

Vijay: Do not be fooled by its unflattering looks! The sauce is actually cooked salmon, blended, and mixed into the penne pasta. The pasta was cooked to perfection, as was the salmon sauce. The salmon sauce was rich and when mixed into pasta, proved to be a sizable portion, fit for anyone who's terribly hungry!


Warm Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Sauce

Vijay: The cake was warm and it was made with dark chocolate! It was more towards the bitter than sweet, but it was well paired with the sweet chocolate sauce. It was an ideal way to end your gastronomical adventure, at La Forketta!

I love this cake too!!! =P

Jonathan's Order



Tuna salad.


Roasted Pork (I think)


Cheesecake with raspberry sauce.

Its nice. And seeing that I'm not a huge fan of cheesecake, this is high praise! LOL!

And with this, our meal came to an end. =) A restaurant worth trying!

Sapporo Bishamon Ramen @ GWC

Had lunch at Great World City's Sapporo Ramen Bishamon with a colleague today, and was quite surprised at being able to get a table immediately. Which may translate into alot of negative things which I will decline to mention here.

But to be fair, service staff were prompt and courteous enough to greet us on our way in.

Here are a few pics to (hopefully) whet your appetite:


My observations about this place are best described in this picture, a blurry cup of green tea.


My colleague ordered a bowl of Shio Ramen... at least this looked appetising. $11


My Spicy Beef Ramen set, comes complete with seafood tempura, 3 slices of Salmon Sashimi and some fruits. $15.90. This was Tuesday's set meal of the day (yes, they have one for each day of the week).


Close-up of the Spicy Beef Ramen. Not very spicy, not too many slices of beef (I counted only 3.5 slices) that tasted overcooked and ramen looked suspiciously like instant noodles.


The seafood tempura, which I suspect only consists of prawn meat.

The only saving grace of the day was the fresh salmon sashimi. Then again, their wasabi was below standard and not the usual nose-clearing, strong stuff that I'm used to. Good for beginners, though. =)

While being a ridiculously affordable place for Jap food, quality of the food left much to be desired.

I spent $16 per person.

Chappati @ Norris Rd

Had lunch today with Bee and some other colleagues at Azmi Restaurant at Norris Road today!



Azmi Restaurant is located at the edge of Norris Road, which is just off Serangoon Road in Little India. Heard from our colleague that they had been around for almost 40 - 50 years! Thats a REALLY long time for a chappati store...

This place serves one of the best tasting Chappati in Singapore, and with a slew of other yummy side dishes like fish curry, chicken curry and mutton curry to go with it.


Looks yummy...


Glorious Chappati!


Close-up shot of the Chappati

The chappati is fluffy and not too dry, and aromatic too. In combination with the chicken curry, the taste is absolutely out of this world. We all ate it Indian-style - with our hands!


The Curry Chicken that went very well with the Chappati


The nice red acrylic chair at Sakunthala's nearby. Cool, right?


MMmmmmmm.... Teh Tarik... @ Sakunthala's

Price was extremely affordable too - cost a total of $30 for 7 people.

Azmi is recommended for those who are looking for a quick fix of Indian food and for those with a love for chappati.

Ichiban Boshi @ Great World City

Had lunch at Ichiban Boshi with a group of colleagues recently.


Sushi & Sashimi Takeaway Bar outside the restaurant


Sushi & Sashimi Takeaway Bar - Handrolls (Maki) section!

Firstly, they do not do reservations, so you can only do walk-ins. They are usually full during the lunch hour, and if you reach at about 12.45pm it is already full, so there was a queue waiting outside.

For groups smaller than 4 people who do not mind counter seats, you'll probably get a seat pretty quickly, but not for those in big groups. Had to wait about 15 - 20 mins or so before we were ushered to our table.

There was even a variety of 3 different menus, namely the main courses & drinks, Sushi & Sashimi foldout menu and another one which I didn't bother to see because there were so many different menus on the table.

Overall the food is not too expensive, and they come in set meals at an average of 20++ per set. Of course, if you are the type that goes for variety, there's always the choice to go ala carte and order many other smaller dishes to go with your udon / soba / rice.

Nigiri sushi is relatively cheap, going for $2.10 per plate, while ala carte sashimi comes in either 4 ($5.50)or 7 pieces ($9.50).

I would recommend people who come here to try the soft shell crab, fried shishamo and the ever-popular fried salmon skin.

A good place for students / young working adults who like Jap food but are on a budget.

I spent about $30 per person.

Ikoi

On 22 August 2008, went to Ikoi for lunch with the 3 Js - Jeremy, Josephine and Uncle Jimmy (HEHE). Its only when I reached there that I realised I had been there before. Sashimi sashimi sashimi! Haha.

Compliments from the restaurant. :)

Yummy!!!

Veggie tempura and Uncle Jimmy's sake.

Agedashi Tofu. Doesn't look tempting here but it is real tasty. Hehe.

Soba! I love soba. But till now, no restaurant's soba had been able to win Sun with Moon's.

Kaminabe. *drools*

Chicken Wings!

Prawn tea. Not sure of the name. Haha.
Jo - It's called Dobinmushi!

Jeremy - これは鳥からげです。Tori Karage.

Jeremy - The shishamo here is good! Baked, not fried. Best part is the head.. chew it off in one bite and savour the taste!

As per usual, whenever I go for buffet lunches, I will end up being bloated. Haha. But I would say this is money well spent! :D