Saw this place a couple of times I been in the Katong area but never got around to trying it out. So after hearing from my friend that this place serves nice coffee and is a popular outlet when she went to Thailand, I decided to give it a shot.
WHen I went there at around late afternoon, not many customers were there. But the staff were not really that prompt in serving us. Nevertheless, they were friendly and gave some suggestions on what coffee were nice. So I ordered a Mexican iced coffee, which had Kahlua syrup in it. It had a nice taste and was served in a cute looking shoe-shaped glass. On the menu, saw that there were acouple more speciality coffee, which I may give a try in future.
Overall the coffee was nice, place was nicely done, but carparking could be the stumbling block for drivers. As for price wise, its reasonable and comparable to that of Starbucks and Coffee Bean
Having heard so much about Aston's Prime, I decided to give it a try last week and see if indeed it is that good(or that bad), as shared by other Yebbers here.
Me and my gf went in at around 6pm and got us a table near the entrance. First impression was that the place was quite small. Thus, for other Yebbers who wanna go there, do make a reservation if you aint gng there early to avoid waiting. As it was our first time there, we decided to try out the steak and ribs, which we think shld be nice. So we ordered the baby back ribs and the USDA strip (12oz slab). We also ordered the msuhroom and clam chowder soup and the steakhouse fries as side dish.
Before the dishes came, bread was served with thier in-house garlic spread and I must say that the bread was soft and fluffy and the spread was tasty, without too strong a garlic taste lingering on in your mouth.
The soup came and was fairly pleased with the amount of clams found in the soup. The mushroom soup was nice as well and was not too thick. As for the fries, they were chunky and served with a dash of spices (similar to the cajun fries served at Botak Jones). They were piping hot when served and crispy when bitten.
As for the main dishes, the slab of beef steak was quite juicy and succulent. We had ordered it to be medium cooked and some blood could be seen, yet did not taste too bloody. However, the exterior was slightly charred which affected the overall taste. Nevertheless, the steak was still quite good. As for the baby back ribs, they were nicely grilled and the meat came off easily from the bones, which was essential, to minimise the fiddling of the utensils by the customers to cut the meat.
And as other Yebbers had stated before, this place doesn't charge GST nor service charge. And given their attentive service by the staff, this was definitely a bonus. I would give it a thumbs up and would return for more in future
Dubbed the penultimate place for tempura in Singapore, Tenshin is also the only tempura specialist in town. Have been wanting to come here a long long time, even though I've seen mixed reviews. I just have to try, at least once, the legendary batter that's airily light. We took the Tempura Set (S$30) and the Tenshin Lunch (S$60) - see menu here.
Indeed the batter was light as air, and in some cases, barely there. So very delicate, maybe too delicate. Almost like eating nothing... and that in itself, was a problem. The meal was so light, it barely satisfied.
I think I enjoyed it more than hubby did. He much prefers our meal at Tsunahachi in Tokyo where you can feast on expertly done tempura for half the price. I do like the freshness of the items at Tenshin and how subtle and refined everything tasted. But I have to agree, the tempura on its own could be a little bland and underwhelming.
Fortunately, the dipping sauce is very flavourful and umami. In addition, there are four types of salt you can enjoy with your tempura - chili salt, seasalt, matcha salt, and curry salt. You can get quite busy experimenting with them and finish off your precious tempura cargo in a flash. Personally I liked the curry salt but thought the matcha one a little too opaque - it threatened to mask the delicate flavours of the tempura item.
But let's start from the beginning. After your orders are taken, the waitress serves you an appetiser (S$3), like the obligatory pickles you get in Chinese restaurants. However, I rejected mine outright since these were CHYE SIM STEMS - my most hated vegetable, and worst of all the stems! I can still eat the dark leafy bits but not the fibrous stems! Hubby enjoyed it though. He has no aversion to chye sim.
This is the salad that comes with all the sets. The familiar tangy Japanese soy-sesame dressing worked great with the greens but the renkon chips were a little too thin and overdone. We much much prefer the version that Wakashachiya serves.
Most sets come with 5-6 tempura items. This is really way too little. The S$30 tempura set (2 prawns, 1 whitefish, 3 vegetables) has different items from the S$60 set (2 prawns, 3 veges, shown here). One tiny gripe is that the prawns are so small (slim finger-sized). And a little limp, but that could have been due to the delay in eating it (hey, photography comes first!).
What is great is that they give you a palm-size dollop of cold, grated daikon to use as you see fit - either as palate cleanser on its own, or to put into your tempura dipping sauce.
The Tenshin lunch set comes with two additional items - steamed dish and tuna on rice. The steamed dish is chawanmushi. But this is no modest chawanmushi. It comes with a mini-comb of shark's fin and special thickened stock on top.
The "special tuna on rice" is a maguro don. But when I lifted the shiso leaf, to my surprise, the bottom row of fish pieces were no less than chutoro! Buttery delicious bites!
All meals also come with rice, miso soup and pickles - certainly fillers, as the tempura alone would not suffice as a meal. The miso soup is of the red variety. Hubby did not like that but I found the flavour hearty and rustic. Plus bonus of baby nameko mushrooms!
The pickles are pretty, crunchy and delicious. You can ask for more portions (S$8 each, I read somewhere). Interestingly, houji-cha is served during main course and green tea during dessert.
Dessert is a simple but refreshingly citrusy sorbet (the waitress said mango but I think it's more like yuzu). You can taste the light bitterness of the rind. And there is this delightful fizzy aftertaste on your tongue. Very effective palate cleanser.
You can choose to sit at the counter and watch the chefs in action but being the shy sort, we sat at a table. The place is really small, though. I don't think it seats more than forty.
So in essence, Tenshin rings true about quality and execution but still does not deliver enough wow factor for what they charge. I wouldn't mind coming back to taste again the Tempura set, this time sans camera, so that I can see what it's like freshly served. I might even try the counter seat - I hear the chef serves you one piece at a time, only when you have finished each piece.
It was a very light lunch on the whole. Hubby said we'd be hungry again two hours later. He was wrong. We were hungry just ten minutes out the door!
Was told that this place offered quite an exquiste range of Jap food. So decided to try it with my gf. Upon arriving there, was quite impressed with the decoration and ambience of the restaurant. First impression was definitely good.
The restaurant, as we learnt from the waiter, was actually set up by the same boss of TAO (the eatery at Paradiz Centre). As such, the method of ordering food is the same, with the customer ordering a dish from the menu selected from each category namely cold dish, main dish, desserts,drinks and a couple more which I can't remember at this moment. In addition, for dinner, there is an additional starter.
Since it was our first time, we ordered different foods to try out. In the end we ordered beef tendons, chicken roulette, beed steak on a hot stone, mushroom soup,seafood bisque, sashimi platter, egg custard, drinks, hot warm chocolate with vanilla ice-cream and macha green tea puree.
The food was definitely tasteful and would light up your palate. The staff were also very friendly and would give you opinions on what to order and how to eat some of the food as well.
ONe thing to take note is that the price may be slightly steep, with dinner at 58.80 for one pax. But to me, I think it was money well spent.
All in all, the service was good and food was superb. In addition, the staff, after we paid our bill, showed us around and said that in future, we could place a reservation and a room (min 4 pax) could be catered for us and the decoration of the room was quite artistic as well. I would definitely recommend this place to my friends who wanna have a place with good ambience to eat and chat.
Was introduced to this small cafe by my boss. So we had a small colleagues' gathering at this place for a meal. Basically this place offers only a small variety of dishes, mainly steak,fish and lamb shank. In addition to these dishes, there were also a few varieties of desserts to choose, mainly chocolate cake with ice-cream as the drawing attention one.
Overall I find that the food is not really that fanastatic. and that the service is a tad slow, as the crew is quite limited. So do be prepared to wait a while. And if you are driving there, do be there early as well as parking lots are very limited as it is very near to Jalan Kayu
I have been conscientiously avoiding the Hong Kong style cafes that have sprung up all over Singapore. Mainly because the "cha charn tang" or Chinese teahouse serving modified Western cuisine simply does not sound appealing to me. However, one day I was enticed by Tong Shui Cafe (some good reviews, delicious website pics and unusual decor).
My friend and I shared an oven-baked rice with chicken wings (S$8.88). He too, had never tried a cha chan tang, not even in Hong Kong. The oven baked rice came in a bamboo steamer. It had a casual homemade feel and taste about it. The cheese and sauce on top was quite delicious. I wished there was more. The rice is a bit like fried rice, topped with two fried chicken wing drumlets coated with BBQ sauce. Surprisingly the rice didn't taste greasy or overly satiating at all. Yum yum. I would eat this again.
Yes, I had my FIRST ever HK-style thick toast (S$2.88), believe it or not. My friend's first time too. The bread is extra soft, just lightly crisped on the outside and fluffy inside. That plus the peanut butter and condensed milk make this a total carbo bomb!
Oh, we had to have this when we saw it on the menu. D24 durian puree on toast (S$3.88)? It was heavenly! I'm sure sugar was added to sweeten it further but the durian fragrance was unmistakable. Another carbo bomb but some things are worth it.
The cha chan tangs are particularly famous for their fragrant milk teas, and some weird concoctions like that awful "yuan yang" coffee and tea mixed together - something I *still* can't get my head around to (yuck yuck). My friend's milk tea with grass jelly (S$3.88) was nice and light though.
Cold Eight Treasures Tea (Ba Bao Cha) comes in an iced carafe: I had the 8 Treasures Tea (S$3.88) which came in a tall carafe, with more than enough for two glasses. Extremely refreshing and best of all - it seemed sweetened only by the longans within.
The decor? Kitschy pink and lime green redolent of "Shanghai Tang"...It's one way Tong Shui Cafe stands out from the rest of its competition. Bright walls, bold Chinoiserie, dark furniture and French chandeliers.
"Tong Shui" means "desserts" in Cantonese but this place serves well more than that, as its menu of over 300 items can attest to. What's even better? Free wi-fi, Chinese movies on cable, football match screenings, and operating hours that run from noon to 6am - good news for night owls seeking a place to chill, eat and chat!
Cha chan tang food is still not my favourite cuisine but it's OK once in a while, I guess. And you have to pick the right dishes, as I hear some others are not too good.
Minori Dining and Sake Bar has been open at UE Square for a while now. The former owners of Hanabi set up Minori with a similar a la carte buffet concept for Japanese food. There have been a flurry of mixed reviews despite a positive press article. So I did not come here with high expectations, only curiosity as to how the place actually fares.
I had heard it can get really crowded but it was empty when I arrived today at lunchtime with my friend. As such, we didn't encounter any service problems or slowness that seemed to plague the restaurant in its earlier days. However, it did fill up considerably still past 12.30pm but service did not suffer too much. The waitresses (some seem to be from Myanmar) were quite patient and even took the effort to recommend popular dishes when we seemed stumped by the wide menu choices.
One of the chief reasons Singaporeans love a Japanese a la carte buffet is the unlimited orders of sashimi. At Minori, you get a choice of salmon, tuna, yellowtail, snapper, black king fish, octopus and cuttlefish. However, I think sashimi at Ikoi's is sliced much more generously, and tastes better too.
I will go through the rest of the food just very briefly. We ate a lot of dishes - really easy to do so as the portions served are very small. The potato salad was creamy but light-tasting, served on an interesting raised glass platter.
The California maki was messy but tasted passable. We had a repeat portion of this.
Handrolls here are not spectacular. Mainly because the dried seaweed sheets they used had a musty odour. Probably an inferior quality or type of seaweed used. And it wasn't crisp nor easy to bite through.
Minori also differs from Hanabi in that it offers grilled skewered items, mostly of chicken parts. The "buta to garlic" is probably the only pork item there, fatty pork belly cubes strongly laced with garlic. The tebasaki (chicken wings) strangely butterflied here, tasted a bit too plain. Kawa (chicken skin) was not crisp enough.
The tsukune (minced chicken meat balls) were huge. They and the yakitori tasted alike. Just all right. Lacked serious punch.
This is the SMALLEST ever tempura moriawase set I have ever seen. Two prawns and three thin slices of vegetable. I guess it's a small eater's single portion only. Average tasting, and the batter could be lighter.
The Kabocha korokke - pumpkin croquette- was a pleasant surprise. Sweet creamy pumpkin mash greets you as you bite through the crisp breaded exterior. It can be really hot though, so beware.
Moyashi itame (teppanyaki beansprouts): Plain looking but intensely garlicky beansprouts from the teppanyaki section. Not bad.
Morokyuri miso (cucumber with bean paste) appetiser: Refreshing kyuri (Japanese cucumber) in this appetiser but I didn't care much for the miso bean paste - a bit too close to "taucheo" (Chinese bean paste) for my liking.
Sushi isn't their forte, I guess. Or maybe I just really don't like that dried seaweed that they use. It made me long for the good quality, crisp seaweed that Sushi Kikuzawa uses.
Hiyayako: Two bites and this one dish is gone. Cold tofu in soy sauce topped with bonito flakes and scallions.
Everything here is in tasting portions. Which is nice too, it lets you try more dishes from across the menu. The saba shioyaki is all right but your mind is on the next item already.
Momo sarada (peach salad): This was quite nice, a sweet fruity salad with a tart, soy-sesame dressing. The peach is of the canned variety, of course.
Fukahire chawanmushi and Pumpkin chawanmushi: There are two kinds of chawanmushi here, the kabocha (pumpkin) one just has the addition of a layer of pumpkin puree on top. The mixture is a really surprising attack of flavours on your palate - both sweet and savoury combining to jolt your senses. The egg custard is quite smooth. and has lots of nameko mushrooms at the bottom. Yum.
Tori karaage (fried chicken nuggets): This was one of the unexpected highlights. I thought they did their tori karaage really well. There is no oilyness on the surface and the meat inside is tender and juicy. Nicely seasoned.
Gyuniku shogatayaki (beef with special sauce): I have seen people rave about this here. It's like a richer-flavoured version of Yoshinoya's beef. The soft beef slices taste almost buttery. We got served a really large portion too.
Shake Wafu Teppan (salmon with special sauce): The salmon teppan special dish was too salty and sweet for me. Very strong hint of mirin (sweet rice wine) in the soy mixture.
Salmon sashimi: Understandably, they aren't the most generous with their sashimi servings. Don't expect the best of fish slicing skills here either. Some of the sashimi were still sinewy. But for the price, I don't think anyone will complain.
Nankotsu karaage (chicken cartilage): This is very similar to the tori karaage, just that it involves the breastbone cartilage. I just love cartilage. Is that really odd? I remember even my Japanese friend looking at me strange when I ordered this at Nanbantei in Tokyo some years back.
Minori serves free-flow green tea and water as part of the buffet. Alcoholic drinks and desserts (mostly ice cream) are available separately. If you don't want the buffet, you can opt for their set meals.
In summary, Minori's food is fairly competent across the board but is still very average. Much like a jack-of-all-trades but master of none. The variety is undoubtedly better than at most joints, but many of the dishes involve same ingredients done differently (as sushi, maki, handroll etc). Personally, in terms of all-you-can-eat places, I'd rather head to Ikoi or Sushi Kikuzawa for a more fulfilling experience.
MINORI DINING AND SAKE BAR
(full buffet menu available online but prices not updated)
81 Clemenceau Avenue #03-15/16 UE Square
Tel: 6737-3353
Open: 11.30am to 2.30pm, 6 to 10.30pm
Lunch $28
Dinner $33 (price raised)
Behold the "homemade beef burger with cheese and caramelised onions"! The patty is thick, moist and full of beefy, savoury juices! This platter of deliciousness comes with crispy hot fries and a nifty side salad - not cheap iceberg, but a delectable mix of curly endive and salad greens, complete with black olive, sweet white onion ring, splash of olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing. All that for only S$12!
Where can you get this awesomely delicious burger? Take note of this name - the Smok'inn Frogz Kitchen! Tucked behind a bar quaintly named "Bar Bar Black Sheep" in a corner kopitiam at Cherry Avenue (close to Sixth Avenue).
They've got lots of other dishes too, all featuring generous portions. The beer-battered fish (S$12) gives you three large slices and a boatload of fries, along with the side salad. The fish is fresh but the batter, although crisp, is a little thick and oddly has a hint of banana fritter scent in it. Have the Malay chefs been secretly frying "goreng pisang" in the oil before this? Haha!
The other burger, for those staying away from red meat, is the chicken burger (also S$12). Slices of well-caramelised grilled chicken doused with a Thai-style sauce, sandwiched between soft, lightly toasted sesame seed bun. Honestly, the beef burger is way better and worth all the cholesterol, purines, saturated fats and whatever else evil that lurks in red meat. Just go for it!
Actually almost everyone of us wanted the beef burger but that would leave us with very few dishes to shoot. So we picked a few other dishes, I chose the prawn linguini (S$14). It is really good value-for-money, what with six huge, crunchy prawns. But I do like my food a bit stronger in flavour, so personally I would have used more garlic, salt, pepper and chili. Thank god I packed home the beef burger for hubby - it was so juicy and delicious, I wolfed down half of it! Hubby liked the caramelised onions but not the sauce though. Good patty nonetheless.
I had been wondering why the stall is called Smok'inn Frogz, until southernoise told me it's owned by a Frenchman. Ahh! Makes sense now. There he is in the kitchen with his jolly helper. They are all very humble and friendly. You can click on the photo to see a bigger version for the menu details. No service charge or GST here.
You can enjoy a beer from Bar Bar Black Sheep - they have unusual stuff like the "Little Creatures" pale ale (bottle shown above). The atmosphere here is casual, laid-back and almost does not feel like Singapore. There is also a North Indian stall at the rear, where you can order tikkas, kebabs and tandoor items. Do I need to mention the beef burger again? Still probably the best thing here! lol
Had a rather small farewell session for one of my colleagues from China a little while back. The meal was organized by another colleague of mine who happens to know the ins and outs of the Geylang area in Singapore and he proposed that we visit one of his well recommended joints for the meal. Alas, coordination is never an easy task and somehow, we managed to get lost and wound up in another shop where leaving wasn't permitted as we have already eaten some of their stuff. As it was, the meal carried on at that restaurant and this is the review.
Well, the pictures should give you an idea of what is available. There's cooked food and the usual food that needs to be cooked yourself, there's crabs, prawns, fish balls, sausages, beancurds, frozen beancurd, crab meat balls, squid, sotong, clams, beef, chicken, mushrooms, fish and much much more. Along with that are cooked food such as vermicelli, sweet and sour prawns and beef, chicken and fish as well. In short, there is a huge selection of food to choose from. And all this is available at a price of $16 with the first drink free. All this may seem like excellent value if not for one very important and neglected flaw. Quality of food. The uncooked food are simply not fresh. No matter how you cut it, its obvious from a start that its no where near the word fresh. The cooked food were mainly left untouched by us because quite simply, it did not appeal to anyone of us and the cleanliness of the place is absolutely worth questioning. In terms of the broth, which happens to be the main selling point, the reddish and fiery hot side is definitely a draw for spicy food lovers. In comparison, the lighter side is actually too bland for comfort. Thats not to say that either side was good to begin with. Also, the moment you step into the restaurant, be ready to be transported to China because quite simply, apart from our group, everyone else in the restaurant happens to be from our big friendly neighbor. What that means is plenty of shouting, drinking and loads of drunks. Take your chances on that front. In the end, i can't say it wasn't moderately enjoyable due to th company but judging on the food, i'm hardpressed and struggling to find a reason to ever return
There are better places out there. Please visit those instead.
Had the opportunity to partake in a tasting session at Persimmon one Wednesday evening, courtesy of its co owner, Helena, who also co owns the casual eatery Epicurious at Roberston Quay. Persimmon bills itself as a fusion restaurant, incorporating both chinese and western food to blend up its own variety of fusion. Think somewhere along the lines of another Singapore fusion restaurant, Wild Rocket.
Stepping into Persimmon is reminiscent of stepping into a high class coffeeshop, with its checkered tile floors, white top tables and wooden chairs. What it lacks is the spinning ceiling fans which have been replaced by air conditioning units but I'm definitely not complaining. Not with Singapore's heat and humidity. Coupled with a low ceiling and retro music, it made for a soothing and laid back atmosphere.
Mushroom & Sesame Shooter - I liked this inconspicuous little shot glass of warm mushroom soup. Savoury with a hint of sesame and bits of mushroom. There was suppose to be 绍兴酒 in it but that was apparently not evident.
Fisherman's Pie - Persimmon's rendition of the fisherman's pie took a different twist from the norm. Instead of the usual seafood ingredients enveloped within a mould of pastry, this one was more of a soup bowl covered with a puff pastry lid. Another interesting thing was the choice of soup, which was a less oily version of the ubiquitous Laksa gravy. Honestly, I didn't find the soup or the ingredients very outstanding, coming across as decent at best. The pastry also needed some reworking in my humble opinion, probably through the addition of more butter to make it more fragrant and creamier to the tastebuds.
Fried Kway Teow with Wagyu Beef - I'm sorry to say this, but as fragrant and tasty as the kway teow may be, it is still CKT (Char Kway Teow), albeit of a less oily version than the ones you find in hawker centres outside. It came with a poached quail egg and mushrooms but lacked the discernible wok hei taste due to it being pan fried I believe. Did I mention that it was a tad too salty as well?
The accompanying wagyu beef came served atop a bed of beansprouts and was tender, juicy and almost mouthwatering. But being too thinly sliced, it was a little overcooked and I honestly couldn't tell that it was wagyu beef. So much for such an expensive breed of beef.
On a side note, it would definitely be funny if someone called it 牛肉河粉.
Wagyu Beef - As with the wagyu beef from the CKT, this dish of wagyu was thinly sliced and a tad overcooked, but at least portions were more significant and each slice held more bite. I just wonder how much would such a dish cost.
White Pepper Crab Cake with Tunghoon Salad & Scallop - I've never really been a fan of crab cakes and Persimmon's offering wasn't just about to change that. But thats not to say it wasn't good. As a matter of fact, it was quite decent, with lots of shredded crab, but just not outstanding.
The tunghoon salad held quite a few surprises with its overly zesty taste harbouring a spicy aftermath that hits you slowly but surely. And the lone fleshy scallop that came alongside was a little too undercooked, soft and bland.
Pineapple Tart - Now this was one huge unconventional pineapple tart. A scoop of ice cream atop a sweet pineapple ring, covering a layer of caramelised pineapple, all on a huge tart base. I'm a sucker for pineapple tarts so I liked it quite a fair bit with the nice and smooth ice cream but I did think that it could have been better. The tart base lacked the oven baked taste which I personally like and it wasn't crumbly enough. That aside, its really quite worth the eat.
Overall I think the food is pretty decent and probably a few minor tweaks here and there would suffice. As mentioned earlier, it was a complimentary tasting session hence I am unsure of the prices but a quick glance at the regular menu shows most main courses to be in the $20 range. I might do a revisit, just as soon as I am able to ascertain the food prices.
To end, please allow me to extend my thanks to Helena for the invite and for being an excellent host.
1=SGD 0.0587
Saw this place a couple of times I been in the Katong area but never got around to trying it out. So after hearing from my friend that this place serves nice coffee and is a popular outlet when she went to Thailand, I decided to give it a shot.
WHen I went there at around late afternoon, not many customers were there. But the staff were not really that prompt in serving us. Nevertheless, they were friendly and gave some suggestions on what coffee were nice. So I ordered a Mexican iced coffee, which had Kahlua syrup in it. It had a nice taste and was served in a cute looking shoe-shaped glass. On the menu, saw that there were acouple more speciality coffee, which I may give a try in future.
Overall the coffee was nice, place was nicely done, but carparking could be the stumbling block for drivers. As for price wise, its reasonable and comparable to that of Starbucks and Coffee Bean
Rating given:
Having heard so much about Aston's Prime, I decided to give it a try last week and see if indeed it is that good(or that bad), as shared by other Yebbers here.
Me and my gf went in at around 6pm and got us a table near the entrance. First impression was that the place was quite small. Thus, for other Yebbers who wanna go there, do make a reservation if you aint gng there early to avoid waiting. As it was our first time there, we decided to try out the steak and ribs, which we think shld be nice. So we ordered the baby back ribs and the USDA strip (12oz slab). We also ordered the msuhroom and clam chowder soup and the steakhouse fries as side dish.
Before the dishes came, bread was served with thier in-house garlic spread and I must say that the bread was soft and fluffy and the spread was tasty, without too strong a garlic taste lingering on in your mouth.
The soup came and was fairly pleased with the amount of clams found in the soup. The mushroom soup was nice as well and was not too thick. As for the fries, they were chunky and served with a dash of spices (similar to the cajun fries served at Botak Jones). They were piping hot when served and crispy when bitten.
As for the main dishes, the slab of beef steak was quite juicy and succulent. We had ordered it to be medium cooked and some blood could be seen, yet did not taste too bloody. However, the exterior was slightly charred which affected the overall taste. Nevertheless, the steak was still quite good. As for the baby back ribs, they were nicely grilled and the meat came off easily from the bones, which was essential, to minimise the fiddling of the utensils by the customers to cut the meat.
And as other Yebbers had stated before, this place doesn't charge GST nor service charge. And given their attentive service by the staff, this was definitely a bonus. I would give it a thumbs up and would return for more in future
Rating given:
Dubbed the penultimate place for tempura in Singapore, Tenshin is also the only tempura specialist in town. Have been wanting to come here a long long time, even though I've seen mixed reviews. I just have to try, at least once, the legendary batter that's airily light. We took the Tempura Set (S$30) and the Tenshin Lunch (S$60) - see menu here.
Indeed the batter was light as air, and in some cases, barely there. So very delicate, maybe too delicate. Almost like eating nothing... and that in itself, was a problem. The meal was so light, it barely satisfied.
I think I enjoyed it more than hubby did. He much prefers our meal at Tsunahachi in Tokyo where you can feast on expertly done tempura for half the price. I do like the freshness of the items at Tenshin and how subtle and refined everything tasted. But I have to agree, the tempura on its own could be a little bland and underwhelming.
Fortunately, the dipping sauce is very flavourful and umami. In addition, there are four types of salt you can enjoy with your tempura - chili salt, seasalt, matcha salt, and curry salt. You can get quite busy experimenting with them and finish off your precious tempura cargo in a flash. Personally I liked the curry salt but thought the matcha one a little too opaque - it threatened to mask the delicate flavours of the tempura item.
But let's start from the beginning. After your orders are taken, the waitress serves you an appetiser (S$3), like the obligatory pickles you get in Chinese restaurants. However, I rejected mine outright since these were CHYE SIM STEMS - my most hated vegetable, and worst of all the stems! I can still eat the dark leafy bits but not the fibrous stems! Hubby enjoyed it though. He has no aversion to chye sim.
This is the salad that comes with all the sets. The familiar tangy Japanese soy-sesame dressing worked great with the greens but the renkon chips were a little too thin and overdone. We much much prefer the version that Wakashachiya serves.
Most sets come with 5-6 tempura items. This is really way too little. The S$30 tempura set (2 prawns, 1 whitefish, 3 vegetables) has different items from the S$60 set (2 prawns, 3 veges, shown here). One tiny gripe is that the prawns are so small (slim finger-sized). And a little limp, but that could have been due to the delay in eating it (hey, photography comes first!).
What is great is that they give you a palm-size dollop of cold, grated daikon to use as you see fit - either as palate cleanser on its own, or to put into your tempura dipping sauce.
The Tenshin lunch set comes with two additional items - steamed dish and tuna on rice. The steamed dish is chawanmushi. But this is no modest chawanmushi. It comes with a mini-comb of shark's fin and special thickened stock on top.
The "special tuna on rice" is a maguro don. But when I lifted the shiso leaf, to my surprise, the bottom row of fish pieces were no less than chutoro! Buttery delicious bites!
All meals also come with rice, miso soup and pickles - certainly fillers, as the tempura alone would not suffice as a meal. The miso soup is of the red variety. Hubby did not like that but I found the flavour hearty and rustic. Plus bonus of baby nameko mushrooms!
The pickles are pretty, crunchy and delicious. You can ask for more portions (S$8 each, I read somewhere). Interestingly, houji-cha is served during main course and green tea during dessert.
Dessert is a simple but refreshingly citrusy sorbet (the waitress said mango but I think it's more like yuzu). You can taste the light bitterness of the rind. And there is this delightful fizzy aftertaste on your tongue. Very effective palate cleanser.
You can choose to sit at the counter and watch the chefs in action but being the shy sort, we sat at a table. The place is really small, though. I don't think it seats more than forty.
So in essence, Tenshin rings true about quality and execution but still does not deliver enough wow factor for what they charge. I wouldn't mind coming back to taste again the Tempura set, this time sans camera, so that I can see what it's like freshly served. I might even try the counter seat - I hear the chef serves you one piece at a time, only when you have finished each piece.
It was a very light lunch on the whole. Hubby said we'd be hungry again two hours later. He was wrong. We were hungry just ten minutes out the door!
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Was told that this place offered quite an exquiste range of Jap food. So decided to try it with my gf. Upon arriving there, was quite impressed with the decoration and ambience of the restaurant. First impression was definitely good.
The restaurant, as we learnt from the waiter, was actually set up by the same boss of TAO (the eatery at Paradiz Centre). As such, the method of ordering food is the same, with the customer ordering a dish from the menu selected from each category namely cold dish, main dish, desserts,drinks and a couple more which I can't remember at this moment. In addition, for dinner, there is an additional starter.
Since it was our first time, we ordered different foods to try out. In the end we ordered beef tendons, chicken roulette, beed steak on a hot stone, mushroom soup,seafood bisque, sashimi platter, egg custard, drinks, hot warm chocolate with vanilla ice-cream and macha green tea puree.
The food was definitely tasteful and would light up your palate. The staff were also very friendly and would give you opinions on what to order and how to eat some of the food as well.
ONe thing to take note is that the price may be slightly steep, with dinner at 58.80 for one pax. But to me, I think it was money well spent.
All in all, the service was good and food was superb. In addition, the staff, after we paid our bill, showed us around and said that in future, we could place a reservation and a room (min 4 pax) could be catered for us and the decoration of the room was quite artistic as well. I would definitely recommend this place to my friends who wanna have a place with good ambience to eat and chat.
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Was introduced to this small cafe by my boss. So we had a small colleagues' gathering at this place for a meal. Basically this place offers only a small variety of dishes, mainly steak,fish and lamb shank. In addition to these dishes, there were also a few varieties of desserts to choose, mainly chocolate cake with ice-cream as the drawing attention one.
Overall I find that the food is not really that fanastatic. and that the service is a tad slow, as the crew is quite limited. So do be prepared to wait a while. And if you are driving there, do be there early as well as parking lots are very limited as it is very near to Jalan Kayu
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I have been conscientiously avoiding the Hong Kong style cafes that have sprung up all over Singapore. Mainly because the "cha charn tang" or Chinese teahouse serving modified Western cuisine simply does not sound appealing to me. However, one day I was enticed by Tong Shui Cafe (some good reviews, delicious website pics and unusual decor).
My friend and I shared an oven-baked rice with chicken wings (S$8.88). He too, had never tried a cha chan tang, not even in Hong Kong. The oven baked rice came in a bamboo steamer. It had a casual homemade feel and taste about it. The cheese and sauce on top was quite delicious. I wished there was more. The rice is a bit like fried rice, topped with two fried chicken wing drumlets coated with BBQ sauce. Surprisingly the rice didn't taste greasy or overly satiating at all. Yum yum. I would eat this again.
Yes, I had my FIRST ever HK-style thick toast (S$2.88), believe it or not. My friend's first time too. The bread is extra soft, just lightly crisped on the outside and fluffy inside. That plus the peanut butter and condensed milk make this a total carbo bomb!
Oh, we had to have this when we saw it on the menu. D24 durian puree on toast (S$3.88)? It was heavenly! I'm sure sugar was added to sweeten it further but the durian fragrance was unmistakable. Another carbo bomb but some things are worth it.
The cha chan tangs are particularly famous for their fragrant milk teas, and some weird concoctions like that awful "yuan yang" coffee and tea mixed together - something I *still* can't get my head around to (yuck yuck). My friend's milk tea with grass jelly (S$3.88) was nice and light though.
Cold Eight Treasures Tea (Ba Bao Cha) comes in an iced carafe: I had the 8 Treasures Tea (S$3.88) which came in a tall carafe, with more than enough for two glasses. Extremely refreshing and best of all - it seemed sweetened only by the longans within.
The decor? Kitschy pink and lime green redolent of "Shanghai Tang"...It's one way Tong Shui Cafe stands out from the rest of its competition. Bright walls, bold Chinoiserie, dark furniture and French chandeliers.
"Tong Shui" means "desserts" in Cantonese but this place serves well more than that, as its menu of over 300 items can attest to. What's even better? Free wi-fi, Chinese movies on cable, football match screenings, and operating hours that run from noon to 6am - good news for night owls seeking a place to chill, eat and chat!
Cha chan tang food is still not my favourite cuisine but it's OK once in a while, I guess. And you have to pick the right dishes, as I hear some others are not too good.
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Minori Dining and Sake Bar has been open at UE Square for a while now. The former owners of Hanabi set up Minori with a similar a la carte buffet concept for Japanese food. There have been a flurry of mixed reviews despite a positive press article. So I did not come here with high expectations, only curiosity as to how the place actually fares.
[See my original review at Camemberu.com for over 20 photos, sorry I can only upload 5 here]
I had heard it can get really crowded but it was empty when I arrived today at lunchtime with my friend. As such, we didn't encounter any service problems or slowness that seemed to plague the restaurant in its earlier days. However, it did fill up considerably still past 12.30pm but service did not suffer too much. The waitresses (some seem to be from Myanmar) were quite patient and even took the effort to recommend popular dishes when we seemed stumped by the wide menu choices.
One of the chief reasons Singaporeans love a Japanese a la carte buffet is the unlimited orders of sashimi. At Minori, you get a choice of salmon, tuna, yellowtail, snapper, black king fish, octopus and cuttlefish. However, I think sashimi at Ikoi's is sliced much more generously, and tastes better too.
I will go through the rest of the food just very briefly. We ate a lot of dishes - really easy to do so as the portions served are very small. The potato salad was creamy but light-tasting, served on an interesting raised glass platter.
The California maki was messy but tasted passable. We had a repeat portion of this.
Handrolls here are not spectacular. Mainly because the dried seaweed sheets they used had a musty odour. Probably an inferior quality or type of seaweed used. And it wasn't crisp nor easy to bite through.
Minori also differs from Hanabi in that it offers grilled skewered items, mostly of chicken parts. The "buta to garlic" is probably the only pork item there, fatty pork belly cubes strongly laced with garlic. The tebasaki (chicken wings) strangely butterflied here, tasted a bit too plain. Kawa (chicken skin) was not crisp enough.
The tsukune (minced chicken meat balls) were huge. They and the yakitori tasted alike. Just all right. Lacked serious punch.
This is the SMALLEST ever tempura moriawase set I have ever seen. Two prawns and three thin slices of vegetable. I guess it's a small eater's single portion only. Average tasting, and the batter could be lighter.
The Kabocha korokke - pumpkin croquette- was a pleasant surprise. Sweet creamy pumpkin mash greets you as you bite through the crisp breaded exterior. It can be really hot though, so beware.
Moyashi itame (teppanyaki beansprouts): Plain looking but intensely garlicky beansprouts from the teppanyaki section. Not bad.
Morokyuri miso (cucumber with bean paste) appetiser: Refreshing kyuri (Japanese cucumber) in this appetiser but I didn't care much for the miso bean paste - a bit too close to "taucheo" (Chinese bean paste) for my liking.
Sushi isn't their forte, I guess. Or maybe I just really don't like that dried seaweed that they use. It made me long for the good quality, crisp seaweed that Sushi Kikuzawa uses.
Hiyayako: Two bites and this one dish is gone. Cold tofu in soy sauce topped with bonito flakes and scallions.
Everything here is in tasting portions. Which is nice too, it lets you try more dishes from across the menu. The saba shioyaki is all right but your mind is on the next item already.
Momo sarada (peach salad): This was quite nice, a sweet fruity salad with a tart, soy-sesame dressing. The peach is of the canned variety, of course.
Fukahire chawanmushi and Pumpkin chawanmushi: There are two kinds of chawanmushi here, the kabocha (pumpkin) one just has the addition of a layer of pumpkin puree on top. The mixture is a really surprising attack of flavours on your palate - both sweet and savoury combining to jolt your senses. The egg custard is quite smooth. and has lots of nameko mushrooms at the bottom. Yum.
Tori karaage (fried chicken nuggets): This was one of the unexpected highlights. I thought they did their tori karaage really well. There is no oilyness on the surface and the meat inside is tender and juicy. Nicely seasoned.
Gyuniku shogatayaki (beef with special sauce): I have seen people rave about this here. It's like a richer-flavoured version of Yoshinoya's beef. The soft beef slices taste almost buttery. We got served a really large portion too.
Shake Wafu Teppan (salmon with special sauce): The salmon teppan special dish was too salty and sweet for me. Very strong hint of mirin (sweet rice wine) in the soy mixture.
Salmon sashimi: Understandably, they aren't the most generous with their sashimi servings. Don't expect the best of fish slicing skills here either. Some of the sashimi were still sinewy. But for the price, I don't think anyone will complain.
Nankotsu karaage (chicken cartilage): This is very similar to the tori karaage, just that it involves the breastbone cartilage. I just love cartilage. Is that really odd? I remember even my Japanese friend looking at me strange when I ordered this at Nanbantei in Tokyo some years back.
Minori serves free-flow green tea and water as part of the buffet. Alcoholic drinks and desserts (mostly ice cream) are available separately. If you don't want the buffet, you can opt for their set meals.
In summary, Minori's food is fairly competent across the board but is still very average. Much like a jack-of-all-trades but master of none. The variety is undoubtedly better than at most joints, but many of the dishes involve same ingredients done differently (as sushi, maki, handroll etc). Personally, in terms of all-you-can-eat places, I'd rather head to Ikoi or Sushi Kikuzawa for a more fulfilling experience.
MINORI DINING AND SAKE BAR
(full buffet menu available online but prices not updated)
81 Clemenceau Avenue #03-15/16 UE Square
Tel: 6737-3353
Open: 11.30am to 2.30pm, 6 to 10.30pm
Lunch $28
Dinner $33 (price raised)
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Behold the "homemade beef burger with cheese and caramelised onions"! The patty is thick, moist and full of beefy, savoury juices! This platter of deliciousness comes with crispy hot fries and a nifty side salad - not cheap iceberg, but a delectable mix of curly endive and salad greens, complete with black olive, sweet white onion ring, splash of olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing. All that for only S$12!
Where can you get this awesomely delicious burger? Take note of this name - the Smok'inn Frogz Kitchen! Tucked behind a bar quaintly named "Bar Bar Black Sheep" in a corner kopitiam at Cherry Avenue (close to Sixth Avenue).
They've got lots of other dishes too, all featuring generous portions. The beer-battered fish (S$12) gives you three large slices and a boatload of fries, along with the side salad. The fish is fresh but the batter, although crisp, is a little thick and oddly has a hint of banana fritter scent in it. Have the Malay chefs been secretly frying "goreng pisang" in the oil before this? Haha!
The other burger, for those staying away from red meat, is the chicken burger (also S$12). Slices of well-caramelised grilled chicken doused with a Thai-style sauce, sandwiched between soft, lightly toasted sesame seed bun. Honestly, the beef burger is way better and worth all the cholesterol, purines, saturated fats and whatever else evil that lurks in red meat. Just go for it!
Actually almost everyone of us wanted the beef burger but that would leave us with very few dishes to shoot. So we picked a few other dishes, I chose the prawn linguini (S$14). It is really good value-for-money, what with six huge, crunchy prawns. But I do like my food a bit stronger in flavour, so personally I would have used more garlic, salt, pepper and chili. Thank god I packed home the beef burger for hubby - it was so juicy and delicious, I wolfed down half of it! Hubby liked the caramelised onions but not the sauce though. Good patty nonetheless.
I had been wondering why the stall is called Smok'inn Frogz, until southernoise told me it's owned by a Frenchman. Ahh! Makes sense now. There he is in the kitchen with his jolly helper. They are all very humble and friendly. You can click on the photo to see a bigger version for the menu details. No service charge or GST here.
You can enjoy a beer from Bar Bar Black Sheep - they have unusual stuff like the "Little Creatures" pale ale (bottle shown above). The atmosphere here is casual, laid-back and almost does not feel like Singapore. There is also a North Indian stall at the rear, where you can order tikkas, kebabs and tandoor items. Do I need to mention the beef burger again? Still probably the best thing here! lol
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Had a rather small farewell session for one of my colleagues from China a little while back. The meal was organized by another colleague of mine who happens to know the ins and outs of the Geylang area in Singapore and he proposed that we visit one of his well recommended joints for the meal. Alas, coordination is never an easy task and somehow, we managed to get lost and wound up in another shop where leaving wasn't permitted as we have already eaten some of their stuff. As it was, the meal carried on at that restaurant and this is the review.
Well, the pictures should give you an idea of what is available. There's cooked food and the usual food that needs to be cooked yourself, there's crabs, prawns, fish balls, sausages, beancurds, frozen beancurd, crab meat balls, squid, sotong, clams, beef, chicken, mushrooms, fish and much much more. Along with that are cooked food such as vermicelli, sweet and sour prawns and beef, chicken and fish as well. In short, there is a huge selection of food to choose from. And all this is available at a price of $16 with the first drink free.
All this may seem like excellent value if not for one very important and neglected flaw. Quality of food. The uncooked food are simply not fresh. No matter how you cut it, its obvious from a start that its no where near the word fresh. The cooked food were mainly left untouched by us because quite simply, it did not appeal to anyone of us and the cleanliness of the place is absolutely worth questioning.
In terms of the broth, which happens to be the main selling point, the reddish and fiery hot side is definitely a draw for spicy food lovers. In comparison, the lighter side is actually too bland for comfort. Thats not to say that either side was good to begin with.
Also, the moment you step into the restaurant, be ready to be transported to China because quite simply, apart from our group, everyone else in the restaurant happens to be from our big friendly neighbor. What that means is plenty of shouting, drinking and loads of drunks. Take your chances on that front.
In the end, i can't say it wasn't moderately enjoyable due to th company but judging on the food, i'm hardpressed and struggling to find a reason to ever return
There are better places out there. Please visit those instead.
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Had the opportunity to partake in a tasting session at Persimmon one Wednesday evening, courtesy of its co owner, Helena, who also co owns the casual eatery Epicurious at Roberston Quay. Persimmon bills itself as a fusion restaurant, incorporating both chinese and western food to blend up its own variety of fusion. Think somewhere along the lines of another Singapore fusion restaurant, Wild Rocket.
Stepping into Persimmon is reminiscent of stepping into a high class coffeeshop, with its checkered tile floors, white top tables and wooden chairs. What it lacks is the spinning ceiling fans which have been replaced by air conditioning units but I'm definitely not complaining. Not with Singapore's heat and humidity. Coupled with a low ceiling and retro music, it made for a soothing and laid back atmosphere.
Mushroom & Sesame Shooter - I liked this inconspicuous little shot glass of warm mushroom soup. Savoury with a hint of sesame and bits of mushroom. There was suppose to be 绍兴酒 in it but that was apparently not evident.
Fisherman's Pie - Persimmon's rendition of the fisherman's pie took a different twist from the norm. Instead of the usual seafood ingredients enveloped within a mould of pastry, this one was more of a soup bowl covered with a puff pastry lid. Another interesting thing was the choice of soup, which was a less oily version of the ubiquitous Laksa gravy. Honestly, I didn't find the soup or the ingredients very outstanding, coming across as decent at best. The pastry also needed some reworking in my humble opinion, probably through the addition of more butter to make it more fragrant and creamier to the tastebuds.
Fried Kway Teow with Wagyu Beef - I'm sorry to say this, but as fragrant and tasty as the kway teow may be, it is still CKT (Char Kway Teow), albeit of a less oily version than the ones you find in hawker centres outside. It came with a poached quail egg and mushrooms but lacked the discernible wok hei taste due to it being pan fried I believe. Did I mention that it was a tad too salty as well?
The accompanying wagyu beef came served atop a bed of beansprouts and was tender, juicy and almost mouthwatering. But being too thinly sliced, it was a little overcooked and I honestly couldn't tell that it was wagyu beef. So much for such an expensive breed of beef.
On a side note, it would definitely be funny if someone called it 牛肉河粉.
Wagyu Beef - As with the wagyu beef from the CKT, this dish of wagyu was thinly sliced and a tad overcooked, but at least portions were more significant and each slice held more bite. I just wonder how much would such a dish cost.
White Pepper Crab Cake with Tunghoon Salad & Scallop - I've never really been a fan of crab cakes and Persimmon's offering wasn't just about to change that. But thats not to say it wasn't good. As a matter of fact, it was quite decent, with lots of shredded crab, but just not outstanding.
The tunghoon salad held quite a few surprises with its overly zesty taste harbouring a spicy aftermath that hits you slowly but surely. And the lone fleshy scallop that came alongside was a little too undercooked, soft and bland.
Pineapple Tart - Now this was one huge unconventional pineapple tart. A scoop of ice cream atop a sweet pineapple ring, covering a layer of caramelised pineapple, all on a huge tart base. I'm a sucker for pineapple tarts so I liked it quite a fair bit with the nice and smooth ice cream but I did think that it could have been better. The tart base lacked the oven baked taste which I personally like and it wasn't crumbly enough. That aside, its really quite worth the eat.
Overall I think the food is pretty decent and probably a few minor tweaks here and there would suffice. As mentioned earlier, it was a complimentary tasting session hence I am unsure of the prices but a quick glance at the regular menu shows most main courses to be in the $20 range. I might do a revisit, just as soon as I am able to ascertain the food prices.
To end, please allow me to extend my thanks to Helena for the invite and for being an excellent host.
See all pictures here.
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