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Polarbear's Reviews

    1841. Marutama Ramen   
       07 Jan 2008 at 10:48 am
    Category: Japanese
    feizhu feizhu says:

    Tiny Singapore recently saw the opening of Central, a SOHO building sitting atop Clarke Quay MRT station. Boasting a cluster of Japanese dining outlets on the third level, it is probably the only mall in Singapore to house so many Japanese eateries under one roof. Marutama Ramen is one such eatery within the cluster and that was our choice for dinner that evening.

    Marutama's interior is quite small and can be rather uncomfortable at times due to the close proximity of the tables as well as the lack of open spaces. Seating capacity should hover around 30 pax or so and the decor is kept clean and simple. If you so happen to get a table with a window, you are in for a stressful session as the only thing that seperates you from the queuing customers outside is the window. Imagine people peering at you and your food. Not a nice feeling if you ask me.

    Aka Ramen - Seven kinds of nuts soup base Ramen with Coriander - This soup base was supposedly of a limited nature aka while stocks last. It was a little spicy and tasted very strongly of coriander. Honestly, I couldn't make out the taste of any of the seven nuts and it was really salty, not to mention "sweet" from all the MSG in it. It was quite bad really. I had to down glass after glass of water just to get rid of the MSG induced thirst. That aside, the noodles were quite springy, but tasted rather flat. From what I understand, the soup base is supposed to be flavourful to make up for the flat ramen, but its really like two extremes coming together but not exactly jelling well.

    I had added on a side of Char Siew and it was simply fabulous. The fatty portions of the Char Siew literally melted in my mouth and the meat was tender and flavourful. I've honestly never tasted Char Siew like that. The only bummer was the not too generous servings. Please note that it is not your usual Char Siew that you can buy from the marketplace. In case you are wondering what are those balls in the picture, its some kind of a meat ball with a weird taste to it. Nothing fancy or impressive though.

    Marutama Ramen - Chicken Base Soup Ramen - This soup base came across as slightly heavier and tasted rather common. As with the Aka Ramen base, it was heavy on the MSG and way too salty. The additional side of pork belly was good though. Quiveringly tender, it dissolved ever so readily in my mouth. This is definitely as good as the Char Siew.

    Considering that it was only 2 bowls of ramen with an additional 2 sides, $40 is heck of a lot to pay. The noodles and soup base were not to our liking, but the Char Siew and pork belly could prove to the biggest draw. Having said that, I don't think I'll be back in a hurry, especially with the mad queues.

    See all my pictures here


    Rating given:Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5

    1842. Bombay Cafe (Katong)   
       06 Jan 2008 at 9:11 pm
    Category: Indian, Vegetarian
    Bobo Bobo says:

    Prata? Everytime I head out for some Indian food people ask me if I had prata. The funny thing is that they don't serve prata at all here.

    Bombay Cafe
    is an vegetarian eatery along Tanjong Katong Road which you can't miss. And I mean it. It's black with Fuchsia pink colours. Who can miss that shocking pink?

    That fateful New Year's Day, we stepped into this dimly lit restaurant and were surrounded by Bollywood posters and MTVs playing at every corner. Sychronised Indian dancing has never failed to mesmerise me. So I entertained myself with the MTVs whilst my companion studied the menu.

    Food Ordered:

    Adraki Gobhi ($8)
    Cauliflower cooked in spicy paste. The cauliflower is a little too mushy for my taste but I loved the paste. I also liked the way it went with the Naan. It was very flavourful. A great accompaniment but not to be eaten alone.

    Garlic Naan ($4)

    For those who don't know this is a bread, usually to go with masalas and curries. This one is quite thin and crisp, which is nice but I found it a tad too oily.

    Kurkuri Mushroom ($12)
    It looked ugly. Really ugly. But you have to put the entire piece into your mouth to get the burst of freshness from the vegetables in it. This was undoubtedly, the best dish of the night.

    Masala Dosa ($6)

    This is the one that looks like a large pancake foldover. The sides are slightly sweet and breadlike and there are potato fillings in the centre which are savoury and a little tangy. I loved it.

    Ragda Patties ($7)

    This was the puzzling and disappointing dish of the night. I ordered it thinking it was potatoes. But when it came, it looked like a whole plate of peas! This was a little cold and we managed to find the mashed up potato cakes in the centre... buried under all the peas. A very odd dish which didn't really go down too well with us.

    Masala Tea ($2.50)

    A hot tea of spices. I didn't drink it but my friend really enjoyed it so I'd say it was money well spent.

    All in all we spent $46.50 for the two of us. I think it was a pretty cheap New Year's Day dinner. We were very full when we were done.

    They provided great service, pretty good food and a nice ambience. The two things that made me take one star off was that there's little parking space around and that they didn't have a washroom. That's a big minus as they are not located in a shopping centre where there are public toilets nearby.

    Definitely worth a try!


    Rating given:Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5

       06 Jan 2008 at 5:42 pm
    Category: Fusion, Steakhouses
    subbie87 subbie87 says:

    Started not long ago, Tim's Restaurant and Cafe serves typical western food (think steak, fish 'n' chips, etc.), and other courses. Although they mentioned 'Nepalese cuisine', I do not really see much of it that is really special, just a few items on the menu.

    Food is decent though, and steaks come with a baked potato with toppings for you to choose from, much like what you see in Jack's Place. Servings are of decent sizes too, and prices are comparable to a HDB-estate stall. (I still find UNO steakhouse cheaper anyway.) Taste-wise, not bad, and I like their black pepper sauce (in their steak or chicken chop) for the kick it gives.

    Service is rather good, with small group of staff that pays attention to details right down to arranging the salt and pepper on the table.

    Being near SPH and the Yellow Pages office, this place tends to get crowded with office-goers during lunch hours on weekdays. Other than that, getting a place in this two-unit outlet isn't too much of a problem.

    Worth a try if you happen to pass by, but nothing to shout about, nor the need to travel across the island. For someone living just a few blocks away, it's good enough.

    [Edit on 07/01/2008, 12.30pm]
    Managed to get some prices:
    Main courses start at $5, with an option to get a value meal (tea/coffee with dessert and soup of the day) at only $2.80. Combos would cost above $10, usually around $15.

    And oh, I almost forgot. No service charge and GST at all. So what you see is what you pay!


    Rating given:Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5

    1844. Marcial Kobe   
       06 Jan 2008 at 5:15 pm
    Category: Bakeries
    ladyironchef ladyironchef says:

    After lunch at Kyomomoya, tay went to the basement there to buy donuts, Marcial Kobe - its mini (small ring size) donut.

    Plenty of varieties to choose from, dozen small size donuts for $4. Tay xuan took a bit of this and that, never really notice what favour he choose. Tried a few and they were quite okay, like all donuts, after eating fried stuff very thirsty. But the donut-craze that is going on is n’uff reason for the crowd buying donuts. Donut shops are springing up like nobody business, from the popular donut factory at city hall, Vinco the donut parlour at Vivocity, missy donut, yummy donut, Dunkin Donuts, just to name some of the more prominent ones.

    Doughnuts The Next Big Thing?

    By Melissa Pang - Jan 21, 2007
    The Sunday Times

    "A LONG line forms every day at Donut Factory in the basement of Raffles City.

    Customers wait for up to two hours for the shop’s freshly made doughnuts - deep-fried yeast pastries glazed with chocolate, filled with kaya or topped with fruit.Call it pent-up doughnut demand - the shop was swamped shortly after it opened in the middle of last month

    The pastries are mixed and cut by hand, then fried in a machine. After that, they are decorated by hand. The result? Light, fluffy doughnuts which are a contrast to the often heavy ones found in Singapore bakeries.

    After coming up with a winning recipe, he customised flavours for the Singapore palate. So alongside bestsellers like Double Chocolate, Glazed and Strawberry White Chocolate, he has Wasabi Cheese and Kaya White Chocolate.There are signs that his doughnuts might trigger yet another Singapore food fad, which has seen people here going gaga over bubble tea, Portuguese egg tarts, buttery coffee-glazed buns and apple strudel."


    Do you rise each morning and make love to your favorite sweetie? Per chance, would your sweetie be filled with sugar and have a hole in the middle? If so, you are not the only donut lover in the countryside….

    The problem - or should I say ‘problems’ with donuts is that they are filled with sugar, fat and calories and simply put, we are what we eat. Cramming your favorite sweetie down your throat translates to sugar, fat and calories inside of you.

    Donuts Sugar Raised - Calories 340

    Walking - with dog 252 calories in 1 hr

    Thats hardly enough to burn the calories of eating ONE donut. Imagine eating a few donuts at one go.

    Stay away from me, you evil donuts. Shoo!

    Say NO to donuts, YES to a better life!

    You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )


    Rating given:Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5

    1845. Kyomomoyama   
       06 Jan 2008 at 5:00 pm
    Category: Japanese
    ladyironchef ladyironchef says:

    Central @ Clarke Quay, one of the place with many japanese restaurants around. At first we wanted to try Ma Maison, but in the end we end up in Kyomomoyama for some unknown reason. hahaha! Hmm.. Kyomomoyama, how the heck do you pronouce it? I think its Kyo-mo-mo-ya-ma : )

    When we went in at about 1130am, there was not much people around, so we manage to get the window seats by the river. The interior was quite well decorated, pleasant and neat looking. The menu is quite extensive with a wide range of sashimi, sushi, and japanese food. And their set lunches are quite reasonable, prices ranging from the cheapest at $12 to $30.

    Saba set: Grilled Mackerel ($15)
    Served with appetizer, pickles, steamed egg, rice, miso soup and dessert.

    Set lunch special eel set B ($18)
    Kyomomoyama is offering this special eel set lunch with four different sets available. My set consist of green salad, special eel roll wrapped with japanese radish, steamed custard egg with eel, grilled eel (above), pickles, rice, soy bean soup, & dessert. At $18 i though the price was pretty decent. The eel was nice, as in you don’t feel the eel-ily taste, in fact i felt it was rather delicious.

    Unagichatsuke ($28.80)
    Grilled eel served with seaweed tea. The grilled eel here was the same as the eel i had for my eel set, just that there is two piece of eel here (more expensive).

    Sake Teriyaki ($12.80)
    Side order we had sake teriyaki - which was grilled salmon

    Overall, our bill was $113.45 for 4 person. The price is quite reasonable i guess, that is if you stick to the set lunches, if you start to order the side dishes, this is wad happen to us. hahaha! But one thing is by the time we leave about 1pm, the place is not really full, as compared to the other restaurants beside Kyomomoyama, the rest are almost full. For a sunday a restaurant not full is not really a good sign. The lady boss was quite friendly, she came out to chat with the customers, when she was at the next table to us, we pay up and fled. lol! Somehow, the lack of a theme for Kyomomoyama i don’t know works to or work against them. For restaurants like Waraku, they have causal japanese dining, Wakashiya is famous for its curry udon, Ma Maison is its european-japanese fusion of western food, Marutama everyone knows it for its ramen. What do you think?

    You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )

    " Food and me always go together well "


    Rating given:Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5

    1846. Vilage (Heeren)   
       06 Jan 2008 at 4:37 pm
    Category: European
    ladyironchef ladyironchef says:

    Went to Vil''age (pronounced "V-Lah-J") for dinner with my friends some time back. Upon entering the restaurant, we were given a bar-code ticket which was being used to scan for any food or drinks purchase.

    This idea of using a bar-code can be good or bad; good because we can pay upon leaving for what we actually selected from the freshly produced products available at the many market stalls, giving us the freedom at eating in a peaceful mind, and bad because we will end up losing control, because it is simply very easy to just scan your card without thinking of the price.

    I ordered a pork chop with potato mash which comes at 8.80. I found the price to be rather reasonable although the servings are rather small and not filling. One of my friend ordered steak which has salad with it. The steak is so small that it is not bigger than my palm, i kid u not.

    My other friends ordered sausages, pizza which turn out to be quite decent, but of course it came with a price.

    Overall, Világe provides a new eating experience, dining in Vila'ge is like sitting in an old European Village outdoors and eating direct from the Farm fresh market stalls on a Saturday market. The environment and atmosphere is pretty good, but if only they provide a bigger serving. "

    " ladyironchef.wordpress "


    Rating given:Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5

    1847. Terra Cafe (VivoCity)   
       06 Jan 2008 at 4:29 pm
    Category: American
    ladyironchef ladyironchef says:

    When you are at Vivocity and did not feel like going to foodcourt, but at the same time also want to give the posh-yet-expensive restaurants a miss, Terra Cafe might just work for you. Although the food there might not be comparable to good restaurants, but the price certainly will give most cafes or restaurant a run for their money, especially so with their set meals available whole day.

    Terra Cafe have different set meals available, and of course all this are the difference in the price. Decor-wise, simple and plain, but then do you really expect more for the interior when the set menus are at this price? Service-wise, i do not really appreciate the waiter’s attitude, he wasn’t very interested in taking orders. A friendlier approach and a smile on the face do makes patrons feel more welcome.

    All set meats include a soup, choice of a main course and a scoop of ice-cream for dessert.

    Fish & Chips ($11.90)

    Starting the bang at Terra Cafe was the ever-present in every restaurant, fish & chips. I would say the fish is decent, not lest for the price of a dish at a cafe, but there do exist better fish & chips at around the same price you know?

    Pasta Lasagna ($11.90)

    Grilled Pork Chop ($13.90)

    The pork chop was all right i guess, pork-items are slowly becoming more popular nowadays (except for the muslims). Last time it used to be quite little pork-related items available in restaurants, but now u can surely find quite a number of them around in restaurants. Kudos! More variety offer only means good things for foodie.

    Grilled Lamb Chop ($13.90)

    The lamb chop served here looks good on the outside, but then on the inside too much fats. A case of more fats than meat never wins you over, unless you are a fat-lover : )

    Ice-cream

    Single scoop ice-cream for each of us, coffee, vanilla, strawberry, chocolate.

    All in all, Terra Cafe offers reasonable food at affordable pricing. The food might not be excellent, but for the value i suppose they are still acceptable. Total Bill was $80.50 for five of us, but then trying it once, i am not sure whether i will be back again since the food there are all ordinary nothing special. Frankly speaking, in the sort of price range Terra Cafe offers, there are better alternatives such as Miss Clarity.

    You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )

    " I am your superman, and you are my wonderwoman "


    Rating given:Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5

    1848. Swa Garden Restaurant   
       06 Jan 2008 at 2:37 pm
    feizhu feizhu says:

    My family's hunt for good Teochew food continues with a visit to Swa Garden located along MacPherson road. It is a small reclusive restaurant with no outstanding signage or features. Frilly white curtains from yesteryear don the eatery and shelter diners from the prying eyes of passersby. The interior is sparsely furnished, with tiled walls and foam block ceilings. Although the set menus looked reasonable and interesting, we decided to go ala carte. Ordered the Braised goose, Four Treasures Beancurd, Sea Cucumber with Fish Maw, Ha Zhor (Prawn roll), Stir Fried Kailan and Orh Nee.

    The dishes came fast and furious, almost simultaneously. The braised goose was a little too soft for my liking and was nowhere as good as the ones from Guan Hin, Hung Kang or Huat Kee. However the portions are quite substantial, which propels it to the top of the food portions category. Stir fried Kailan was pretty normal. The Ha Zhor was pretty good. Crispy and compact. However the dipping sauce was sweet sauce and not the traditional plum sauce.

    I only had a bite of the Fish Maw and found it quite decent, but nothing too outstanding unlike the one I had at Beng Hiang. The Four Treasures beancurd is slightly better than the homemade beancurd I had at Guan Hin. Though made in the same way(I presume so cause both had rough textures), Swa Garden's offering was slightly more robust in texture and flavour. However, having said that, I am still of the opinion that it was not impressive.

    Swa Garden's Orh Nee is a little different from the Orh Nees that I have eaten. Firstly, it comes submerged under a layer of syrup. Secondly, it is more watery than the others that I've tried, which isn't a bad thing really. It makes the paste smoother and it just glides down your throat. However, I did find it a little too watery for my liking. My dad liked it though.

    $78 for 4 pax isn't really too expensive, but it stops short of being cheap. Not exactly an impressive dinner, but an enjoyable one nevertheless. The set menu for 4 does offer some really good bargains and I'll definitely be back to try it.

    See all my pictures here


    Rating given:Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5

    1849. Japanese Dining Sun   
       06 Jan 2008 at 1:39 am
    Category: Japanese
    ladyironchef ladyironchef says:

    Japanese Dining Sun at Chijmes, went there last night with zh, tay, karen to celebrate zh birthday. At chijmes, from the outside u cant tell how the restaurants looked like, but once we stepped into Dining sun, they had very nice decor, the kitchen is a open-concept where u can see the chef cook. I made a reservation specially requesting good seats, in the end got a seat in the corner that was uncomfortable with the spot light. O well

    I had Salmon Steak ($16.80), the dish is done quite nicely, but then i had tried better ones elsewhere. 3 out of 5. I also had the garlic rice ($5.50) to go along, its nice, quite similar to fried rice but nicer. 4.5 out of 5

    Zh had the Unagi Kabayaki ($15.50) which is eel, i had a taste of it and it tasted great, at least better than my salmon. But then i think if u just ordered the eel, u wont be full. 4 out of 5.

    Karen had Amaebi & Zuwaigani Don ($19.50) which is actually sweet prawn & pacifice snow crab. The appearance tell it all, need i say more? 4 out of 5

    Tay had the Yakiniku Kameneshi ($14.80) which is stir-fried beef topped with raw egg, and another dish called Tontoro Yaki ($12.80) which is pork. We found the stir-fried beef quite delicious, it is fried beef and egg on top of rice. The Tontoro Yaki (pork) is also very nice, the meat is quite tender, and is very diff from the normal pork we eat.

    Desserts!! The fame tofu cheesecake ($5) of Dining sun. Its very nice, a must try if you go dining sun. Pity its too small. No words to describe, just try it. 5 out of 5

    Uji Macha Min Parfait ($6.50) or rather green tea ice cream. Lol. At the price i find it a bit ex, you can always get better one at a cheaper price at island creamy or the daily scoop. 3 out of 5

    Thats the end of all the dishes folks! The total bill comes up to $132.75 for 4 person. I think its quite reasonable consider the fact that it is fine dining in a posh restaurant. But i find the fact that they charge us 10% service charge when there is really not much service provided. I got a lousy seat, a bit hard to get the waitress attention, takes a while for the bill to come.

    BUT hold on a sec, you MUST go and try Dining sun at least once. Except for my poor seats, the food is great, the decor is pretty, and the price is reasonable. Go on, try it tomorrow or the next weekend.

    You are always welcome to visit Ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )

    " I love food and food love me "


    Rating given:Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5

       06 Jan 2008 at 1:35 am
    Category: Thai
    ladyironchef ladyironchef says:

    Hmm.. Don’t know what to eat, so after walking around for a while, we saw siam kitchen was having a eat-all-you-can lunch buffet for $14.90, 14 dishes to choose from, add $1.99 for your free-flow of iced lemon tea. Mr tay was keen to try and besides nothing much to choose from, so here we go.

    The menu is basically what is available in the “buffet”, actually i dun really think it is a “buffet”. Definition of buffet, courtesy from wikipedia: A buffet is a meal-serving system where patrons serve themselves. It is a popular method of feeding large numbers of people with minimal staff. So you have it, we certainly didn’t serve ourselve by getting the food from the usual-buffet-style, instead we choose from the menu the 14 dishes. The first round they gave us all to test-test, so after that we can ordered what we like for our “second round”. This supposely is not to waste food.

    Well well, the 14 dishes but hold on a sec, i think they onli serve us 13. O well, they must have somehow missed out one dish. The food was so-so, serving was for two person because the restaurant was afraid we “wasted”food, they say we can always ordered in the second round if we liked the food.

    Lets see, the dishes that i notably still remember; the lemongrass chicken wing was okay i guess, as for the spicy thai vegetable pickles i found it rather refreshing. Omelette with onion was fine but they came in two small slices. Kangkong with chili was not hot at all, pineapple fried rice does not have any pineapple but still taste quite nice all the same.

    As for the rest of the dishes, you have to try it for yrself as i can’t remember, or rather i only have a bite of them. Although the food i did not enjoy, but the service in the restaurant was good, the staff was quite attentive and they re-filled our free flow ice lemon tea very fast, we had about 7-8 glass i think.

    Conclusion of meal, thai food is not for me, or rather i am not for thai food.

    You are always welcome to visit Ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )

    " I am your beloved's, and my beloved's is mine "


    Rating given:Rating: 2 out of 5Rating: 2 out of 5Rating: 2 out of 5Rating: 2 out of 5Rating: 2 out of 5

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