It seems to me that Orchard Central has quite a number of Japanese Restaurants, so much so that shoppers are totally spoilt for choice!
Anyhow, we decided on Tonkichi because firstly, it looked damn good. Secondly, there was a long queue, and thirdly, there were Japanese folks queuing to get a seat too. That's a definite indication that this place serves good Jap food, no?
They were famous for their Tonkatsu (fried pork fillet) so how could we pass that up?
Ok let's cut to the chase, here are the highlights of what we ordered:
Sashimi ($40 for 14 slices) Definitely not cheap, but pretty value for money? The slices were fresh, extremely thick and served cold. I'm a sucker for sashimi so this dish was gone in less than 5 minutes.
Oyster & Hire Katsu Set ($24) Served with rice, a mountain of shredded cabbage and miso soup was two big oysters and three slices of pork fillet, all fried to a crisp. Thankfully, it wasn't oily and the pork fillet was quite tender. Loved it!
Premium Rosu Katsu Set ($25) This is one big piece of pork loin pre-cut for your convenience, served with rice, shredded cabbage and miso soup. There really is a difference between the Premium range (these pigs were supposedly grain-fed and from Australia) and the Original Tonkatsu. The former is much, much more tender and juicy.
We also ordered some form of ramen though I can't remember what and didn't get to taste any so I can't quite comment. But they have a set meal with certain ramen so it's quite worth it, do check it out!
The service is pretty fast. To my surprise, a waitress came along and asked if we wanted a second helping of the shredded cabbage since it was free-flow. Free-flow cabbage, imagine that! That's a first for me. But I already had a mountain of it on my plate that I couldn't finish, so I politely declined.
I loved the Tonkatsu, will definitely go back again for more!
Ah, who can resist an extremely good durian mooncake, especially since mid-autumn festival is right around the corner?
I came across this particular brand at the mid-autumn festival fair at Ngee Ann City. They boasted a mean D24 Pure Durian Mooncake, and so I succumbed. I'm a sucker for the strong tasting, mind-numbing, unabashedly delightful flavour of durian, and no durian lover can resist this.
Having tried the durian mooncake from both Goodwood Park and Home's Favourite, I've got to say they're pretty much on par. It's very dependent on individual taste. The latter is cheaper, though ;)
I bought a box of 4 for $41 (original price at $48, but they had a 10% promotion going on) and it all came individually packed in styrofoam boxes in little gold trays. It had to be kept frozen, so this is a huge plus point for packaging. The pretty floral white box with cream and pink ribbons as the handles make this durian mooncake an ideal gift for friends and family, or even as corporate gifts.
They have other flavours as well, like the Black Durian Mooncake and Golden Phoenix Durian Mooncake. I was quite tempted to try the Lycheetini Mooncake, but I was on a budget, so maybe I'd go back and indulge myself after payday... After all, mid-autumn festival only comes once a year, right?
No pictures because I was too eager to eat those yummy yummy mooncakes :P
If you don't live around the area, you probably wouldn't know this place exists. Tucked away under a HDB block next to the Toa Payoh industrial park, it's easy to get lost especially when you're driving.
Nonetheless, it was a traditional Chinese restaurant boasting good seafood, so how could I resist?
Though it looked like the typical zi char stall, it had an air-conditioned section cordoned off specially for the restaurant. Plus points for comfort!
There were only four of us, but we were hungry and we ordered...
Jin Du Spare Ribs Tender and sweet, I love how it wasn't chewy and average like the other zi char stalls.
Three Type Egg with Kow Kee A dish cooked with normal eggs, salted eggs, century eggs and Kow Kee. The gravy wasn't thick and flavourful enough but it wasn't bad either.
Pumpkin Custard Baked Live Prawn Now this is a dish with an identity crisis. It had pumpkin, it had custard, it had curry leaves... I wasn't quite sure how to react! The curry taste overshadowed the pumpkin taste, and the strange slightly spicy and sweet taste reminded me of Japanese curry. Not a bad dish, but could be better
Chilli Crab How can you go to a restaurant with the name of Famous Crab King and not order crabs? We ordered only one chilli crab, and the plate that arrived was humongous. There was so much gravy that we had to order an extra plate of Fried Mantou. The Fried Mantou was awesome, though. The outside was crispy but when I tore it in half, the insides were so soft and fluffy it was almost cotton-like.
But I digress. Back to the Chilli Crab! The sauce was much more spicy than your regular chilli crab sauce. Loved it to death.
The pincers were HUGE and the shell was so thick that even the crab shell cracker couldn't even dent it. The meat inside was so juicy that the juices keep running down my hands as I was trying to get the meat out in one piece.
My only gripe is that the shell was so huge but the meat inside was only 2/3 the size of it... Paid $51 for the crab itself... The shell was so hard and thick I think we were paying more for the shell than anything else!
While I was there, I saw the next table order things like Suckling Pig and Lobsters and I'm so tempted to try them... I think this warrants a trip back sometime soon, when I have lots of money to burn.
I bought two make-up palettes from Magical Tannsu - the 88 Ultra Shimmery Eye Palette and the 66 Lip Palette as a gift for my friend, as I know she has been meaning to get them but never got around to doing it.
These palettes claim to be from the supplier of Coastal Scents, a claim I can neither refute nor confirm.
Anyhow, there are many blogshops selling the same item but I needed these palettes urgently, therefore I decided to buy them from this store as it was the only one that had both items in stock. Otherwise, I would have purchased them from My Classy Closet - they have better reviews and lower prices anyway.
So here's my experience - I added everything to cart, checked out and got an automated invoice instantly. There was no instruction on payment mode, I had to scour her very unorganized blog site before I found the "Payment Procedure" tucked away in a obscure corner of the sidebar.
There were 2 options - make my payment first to speed things up or wait for her email. I opted for the former, obviously because it was urgent.
After making my payment, I emailed her (Tues night) and politely requested for an immediate shipment the next day as it was a really urgent order.
I did not get a reply until Thursday afternoon. She confirmed my payment and stated that my parcel will be mailed out 3 days after payment. Obviously, she did not bother to read my emails, or she failed to understand the concept of urgency.
You may think that I'm being impatient, but let me point out what's wrong:
1) Other blogshops reply within 24hrs 2) Other blogshops send shipments the next working day after receiving payment. 3) While looking for her HP number on her blog, I realised she had time to update her many blogs, but did not have the time to check her emails, which, let me remind you, are the main source of her income, and the logic in that is completely beyond me. 4) She did not offer any explanation for the late reply, even though I emailed twice chasing for her to at least confirm my payment.
Fine, maybe she's too busy to read emails. I decided to text her and request for a self-collection instead, since it couldn't possibly reach me in time by post anymore. After some discussion, we decided on Thursday night itself. She said I could collect the items at her block anytime after 9pm and I could just text or call her when I was there.
So Thursday night, I reached her block at around 9.15pm. I called her phone. It was switched off. Naturally, I feared that I had been scammed. I tried to text, and called several more times. It was still switched off.
I gave her the benefit of the doubt still - maybe her battery died? I waited 5 minutes and called again. This time it was turned on but it rang and rang and rang until it got cut off and she still did not pick up. I gave her a total of 11 missed calls.
At 9.45pm, she called me back and said she just reached home and she was coming down with my package now.
She came down, with no apology, no explanation and handed me the items for me to inspect. I was fuming, but I kept quiet, because you don't reprimand the waiter before he serves you the food, right? I checked the items, they looked fine, and I left.
What I don't understand is, if you tell your customer to collect something after 9pm, you make sure you're bloody home by 8.45pm right? Instead, I was kept waiting, with no explanation. Even if she was going to be late, at least have the decency to inform me beforehand. I, the customer, was made to wait like a fool.
I find her absolutely irresponsible and inefficient. I will never buy from her blogshop again, and I strongly advise you not to either.
Nurasaid: And she didn't even bother apologising explaining? Complete lack of responsibility. She ought to have given a huge discount for her overpriced products at least. 16 Sep 2009 at 7:43 pm
candicesaid: I had to ASK her for a refund for my shipping charges. I paid $5 extra for registered post, and since I wanted to collect myself, she should have offered to give me a refund, right? 17 Sep 2009 at 10:08 am
magicaltannsusaid: Hi! This is Magical Tannsu here. Please accept my apology. My full response: http://magicaltannsu-blog.blogspot.com/2010/10/reply-and-apology-to-candice-chua.html Thanks! 18 Oct 2010 at 11:06 pm
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!
It is pretty hassle-free and cheap to print namecards here. Much can be improved about the service though.
After many back and forth emails about how my image is not in the right colour mode, after me changing it several times, they finally provided me with a screenshot about what they meant.
It was such a duh moment, they could have provided me with a screenshot right from the start, I bet it's a common occurrence especially when most people design in RGB rather than CMYK.
So anyhow that got settled, and they told me I could collect it on 1 Sept but they will call me when it was ready.
1 September came and went, with no calls.
So I emailed them to ask about my order, only then did they reply to tell me that my order was ready.
When businesses promise a service or a product, make damn sure they deliver it, or it'll just reflect really badly on their image.
But I've got to admit, it's cheap and the quality's pretty okay for its price.
Anyhow, we decided on Tonkichi because firstly, it looked damn good. Secondly, there was a long queue, and thirdly, there were Japanese folks queuing to get a seat too. That's a definite indication that this place serves good Jap food, no?
They were famous for their Tonkatsu (fried pork fillet) so how could we pass that up?
Ok let's cut to the chase, here are the highlights of what we ordered:
Sashimi ($40 for 14 slices)
Definitely not cheap, but pretty value for money? The slices were fresh, extremely thick and served cold. I'm a sucker for sashimi so this dish was gone in less than 5 minutes.
Oyster & Hire Katsu Set ($24)
Served with rice, a mountain of shredded cabbage and miso soup was two big oysters and three slices of pork fillet, all fried to a crisp. Thankfully, it wasn't oily and the pork fillet was quite tender. Loved it!
Premium Rosu Katsu Set ($25)
This is one big piece of pork loin pre-cut for your convenience, served with rice, shredded cabbage and miso soup. There really is a difference between the Premium range (these pigs were supposedly grain-fed and from Australia) and the Original Tonkatsu. The former is much, much more tender and juicy.
We also ordered some form of ramen though I can't remember what and didn't get to taste any so I can't quite comment. But they have a set meal with certain ramen so it's quite worth it, do check it out!
The service is pretty fast. To my surprise, a waitress came along and asked if we wanted a second helping of the shredded cabbage since it was free-flow. Free-flow cabbage, imagine that! That's a first for me. But I already had a mountain of it on my plate that I couldn't finish, so I politely declined.
I loved the Tonkatsu, will definitely go back again for more!
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!
I came across this particular brand at the mid-autumn festival fair at Ngee Ann City. They boasted a mean D24 Pure Durian Mooncake, and so I succumbed. I'm a sucker for the strong tasting, mind-numbing, unabashedly delightful flavour of durian, and no durian lover can resist this.
Having tried the durian mooncake from both Goodwood Park and Home's Favourite, I've got to say they're pretty much on par. It's very dependent on individual taste. The latter is cheaper, though ;)
I bought a box of 4 for $41 (original price at $48, but they had a 10% promotion going on) and it all came individually packed in styrofoam boxes in little gold trays. It had to be kept frozen, so this is a huge plus point for packaging. The pretty floral white box with cream and pink ribbons as the handles make this durian mooncake an ideal gift for friends and family, or even as corporate gifts.
They have other flavours as well, like the Black Durian Mooncake and Golden Phoenix Durian Mooncake. I was quite tempted to try the Lycheetini Mooncake, but I was on a budget, so maybe I'd go back and indulge myself after payday... After all, mid-autumn festival only comes once a year, right?
No pictures because I was too eager to eat those yummy yummy mooncakes :P
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!
Nonetheless, it was a traditional Chinese restaurant boasting good seafood, so how could I resist?
Though it looked like the typical zi char stall, it had an air-conditioned section cordoned off specially for the restaurant. Plus points for comfort!
There were only four of us, but we were hungry and we ordered...
Jin Du Spare Ribs
Tender and sweet, I love how it wasn't chewy and average like the other zi char stalls.
Three Type Egg with Kow Kee
A dish cooked with normal eggs, salted eggs, century eggs and Kow Kee. The gravy wasn't thick and flavourful enough but it wasn't bad either.
Pumpkin Custard Baked Live Prawn
Now this is a dish with an identity crisis. It had pumpkin, it had custard, it had curry leaves... I wasn't quite sure how to react! The curry taste overshadowed the pumpkin taste, and the strange slightly spicy and sweet taste reminded me of Japanese curry. Not a bad dish, but could be better
Chilli Crab
How can you go to a restaurant with the name of Famous Crab King and not order crabs? We ordered only one chilli crab, and the plate that arrived was humongous. There was so much gravy that we had to order an extra plate of Fried Mantou. The Fried Mantou was awesome, though. The outside was crispy but when I tore it in half, the insides were so soft and fluffy it was almost cotton-like.
But I digress. Back to the Chilli Crab! The sauce was much more spicy than your regular chilli crab sauce. Loved it to death.
The pincers were HUGE and the shell was so thick that even the crab shell cracker couldn't even dent it. The meat inside was so juicy that the juices keep running down my hands as I was trying to get the meat out in one piece.
My only gripe is that the shell was so huge but the meat inside was only 2/3 the size of it... Paid $51 for the crab itself...
The shell was so hard and thick I think we were paying more for the shell than anything else!
While I was there, I saw the next table order things like Suckling Pig and Lobsters and I'm so tempted to try them... I think this warrants a trip back sometime soon, when I have lots of money to burn.
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!
These palettes claim to be from the supplier of Coastal Scents, a claim I can neither refute nor confirm.
Anyhow, there are many blogshops selling the same item but I needed these palettes urgently, therefore I decided to buy them from this store as it was the only one that had both items in stock. Otherwise, I would have purchased them from My Classy Closet - they have better reviews and lower prices anyway.
So here's my experience - I added everything to cart, checked out and got an automated invoice instantly. There was no instruction on payment mode, I had to scour her very unorganized blog site before I found the "Payment Procedure" tucked away in a obscure corner of the sidebar.
There were 2 options - make my payment first to speed things up or wait for her email. I opted for the former, obviously because it was urgent.
After making my payment, I emailed her (Tues night) and politely requested for an immediate shipment the next day as it was a really urgent order.
I did not get a reply until Thursday afternoon. She confirmed my payment and stated that my parcel will be mailed out 3 days after payment. Obviously, she did not bother to read my emails, or she failed to understand the concept of urgency.
You may think that I'm being impatient, but let me point out what's wrong:
1) Other blogshops reply within 24hrs
2) Other blogshops send shipments the next working day after receiving payment.
3) While looking for her HP number on her blog, I realised she had time to update her many blogs, but did not have the time to check her emails, which, let me remind you, are the main source of her income, and the logic in that is completely beyond me.
4) She did not offer any explanation for the late reply, even though I emailed twice chasing for her to at least confirm my payment.
Fine, maybe she's too busy to read emails. I decided to text her and request for a self-collection instead, since it couldn't possibly reach me in time by post anymore. After some discussion, we decided on Thursday night itself. She said I could collect the items at her block anytime after 9pm and I could just text or call her when I was there.
So Thursday night, I reached her block at around 9.15pm. I called her phone. It was switched off. Naturally, I feared that I had been scammed. I tried to text, and called several more times. It was still switched off.
I gave her the benefit of the doubt still - maybe her battery died? I waited 5 minutes and called again. This time it was turned on but it rang and rang and rang until it got cut off and she still did not pick up. I gave her a total of 11 missed calls.
At 9.45pm, she called me back and said she just reached home and she was coming down with my package now.
She came down, with no apology, no explanation and handed me the items for me to inspect. I was fuming, but I kept quiet, because you don't reprimand the waiter before he serves you the food, right? I checked the items, they looked fine, and I left.
What I don't understand is, if you tell your customer to collect something after 9pm, you make sure you're bloody home by 8.45pm right? Instead, I was kept waiting, with no explanation. Even if she was going to be late, at least have the decency to inform me beforehand. I, the customer, was made to wait like a fool.
I find her absolutely irresponsible and inefficient. I will never buy from her blogshop again, and I strongly advise you not to either.
Nura said: candice said: magicaltannsu said:
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!And she didn't even bother apologising explaining? Complete lack of responsibility. She ought to have given a huge discount for her overpriced products at least.
16 Sep 2009 at 7:43 pm
I had to ASK her for a refund for my shipping charges. I paid $5 extra for registered post, and since I wanted to collect myself, she should have offered to give me a refund, right?
17 Sep 2009 at 10:08 am
Hi! This is Magical Tannsu here. Please accept my apology. My full response: http://magicaltannsu-blog.blogspot.com/2010/10/reply-and-apology-to-candice-chua.html Thanks!
18 Oct 2010 at 11:06 pm
After many back and forth emails about how my image is not in the right colour mode, after me changing it several times, they finally provided me with a screenshot about what they meant.
It was such a duh moment, they could have provided me with a screenshot right from the start, I bet it's a common occurrence especially when most people design in RGB rather than CMYK.
So anyhow that got settled, and they told me I could collect it on 1 Sept but they will call me when it was ready.
1 September came and went, with no calls.
So I emailed them to ask about my order, only then did they reply to tell me that my order was ready.
When businesses promise a service or a product, make damn sure they deliver it, or it'll just reflect really badly on their image.
But I've got to admit, it's cheap and the quality's pretty okay for its price.
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!