magurodonya miura misaki kou, suntec city, 3.0.

the daily cut, raffles place.

so many people have been raving about this place, but i've never been tempted to try it, until recently. i was craving steak, but also wanted some vegetables, so it sounded like a good choice.

i reached after the lunch peak hour was over, at about one-thirty, but there was still a queue. just that it was less formidable than what i've seen it to be at peak, so i managed to grab a seat easily.

was deciding between the regular ($12) and large ($15), the difference being one extra protein. eventually, being greedy, i decided on the large.

i got the steak (+$1) and chicken thigh as proteins. initially wanted the sweet potatoes, but then i got tempted by the brown rice- the grains were pearly and looked like exactly the kind of rice i like. as toppings i had edamame, sous vide egg and button mushrooms (+$0.50).

stamping ground coffee, club street.

gastrosmiths, beach road.

i've been wanting to try gastrosmiths for a long time, so when they had a groupon, i immediately bought it. finally made it there for dinner last night, after making a rather last minute reservation.

we had seats outside, but i didn't mind because the restaurant itself was small. the tables were close together, making it difficult for conversation. the outside tables were much better; spaced out. the weather was also cooling, so coupled with the fans they'd switched on, it was nice being seated outside.

i ordered the 220g angus 150-day grain-fed striploin ($33.50) and my sister got the signature hokubee beef bowl ($28). we were pondering over what appetisers to get, so we got the waiter to recommend, and ended up with the roasted bone marrow ($15).



i first had bone marrow at burnt ends, with their bone marrow bun, and loved it. so it was with that kind of expectation that i tried gastrosmiths' version. this paled in comparison. the bone marrow was good, but it got scary after a while- too much, i suppose, without anything to cut through the fattiness. the bread helped, but was way too light for that purpose. interesting dish to try, but we ended up not finishing it. too much for two people to share as it gets cloying after a while- probably better for a bigger group.


this was my sister's hokubee beef bowl, which she really liked. she's not a steak person, so for her to like it, it was a huge compliment. i tried a couple of bites of hers, and what struck me was that the steak was really juicy. the texture was excellent. i know it's manufactured to be so, by injecting oil into a normal cut of beef, but it was surprisingly good. it came with furikake rice and a wobbly onsen egg- i took a liking to the furikake rice. reminded me of wafuken's.






ordering the lava cake with the beet & cheese turned out to be a good idea. one was rich, while the other one was lighter. it was also gorgeously plated- like artwork. all the elements worked well together. smooth cheese parfait, sour beetroot gel, a light beetroot foam cake, vanilla bean ice cream, and a surprise- a thin slice of beetroot pickle. it was a play of textures and flavours that worked.


portions were on the small side, but everything was prepared with care. prices are on the expensive side though. not sure if i'll be back- if i do it'll be for the mee sua.

gastrosmiths
103 beach road
http://www.gastrosmiths.com

magurodonya miura misaki kou, suntec city, 2.0.

came back to try another of their lunch sets. the previous time, the manager recommended the hon maguro hikkaki aburi don ($36), and so i was drawn to it today. the sushi sets looked pretty good too (and cheaper to boot), so i took a while to decide before finally settling on the maguro don.

it turned out to be an excellent choice. it's pricier than the other lunch sets, but oh so worth it.



admittedly it doesn't look like much, but it made up for it in terms of taste. it was a bowl of bluefin tuna scrapping and slices, over japanese rice. the torching was done right at my table, by the manager himself. it was quite theatrical really, what with the sizzle of the fish and the flame. the manager explained that the torching would bring out the oils of the fish, allowing it to soak into the rice below.

the aburi-ed tuna was brilliant. it really brought out the freshness and flavour of the fish. i've never liked maguro, but i take that back. good maguro is in another category of its own. i found myself savouring every bite, especially with the japanese rice. the rice was awesome, with every grain defined- i could eat it on its own. in fact, it was so good i finished every bit of the rice, even though the portion of rice was generous. the don also came with pieces of seaweed under the tuna, and on a separate plate, pickled ginger and spring onions.



yet another very satisfying meal. i left feeling that the amount i paid was absolutely worth it. i really like this place- this might just become my go-to japanese restaurant.

mazazu crepe, liang court.

this crepe place has always tempted me on the way to meidi-ya. so since the food trail coupon included one for quick bites, which included the crepe, i jumped at the chance.

we wanted to add on bananas or some other things, but they said that since we were using the coupon, we weren't allowed to do so. can't understand why, since we'd be paying anyway.

chose the fresh cream custard. in retrospect, maybe we should've just gotten the butter sugar one, because really, what can go wrong with butter and sugar?

lots of things, it turned out, can go wrong with custard. the custard had none of the fragrance that i usually associate with it. it just tasted off and bland. given that the entire crepe only had custard and cream... it didn't bode well. we ended up just taking a couple of (small) bites each; didn't finish it.



doubt i'll be coming back to try this place. i would much rather have doughs of crepes over at cineleisure.

mazazu crepe
liang court
#b1-30

pecori japanese egg restaurant, liang court.

i've always wanted to try the omurice at this place, but there are too many other temptations at liang court...



finally got down to it that day, with the food trail coupon as motivation. shared a spicy tomato omurice with ebi fry with L.



the omelette, usually the star of omurice, was just okay- it wasn't the fluffy type that i like, but it wasn't crap as well. the star was the sauce- it reminded us of japanese curry, and we couldn't stop eating it. liked that the rice wasn't just plain rice or even butter rice, but a tomato rice. though it probably didn't need to be, given how strong the sauce was. the ebi fry was pretty good as well- crisp and not greasy.



























the set also came with free flow salad bar, including corn, beansprouts, kimchi, potato salad and soup. dessert was also included- it was moi lou chocolate. i didn't know what to expect until we were served. looking at its appearance, we were guessing that it might be lava cake, but it wasn't (was that too much to hope for?). instead, it was a chocolate cake that i was undecided about, but L liked. it wasn't sweet, but the texture straddled biscuit and cake, which i couldn't decide if i liked.

it was an alright meal- quite value for money, given the unlimited sides. i wish they had better omelette though. i'd come back if their egg was better done.

pecori japanese egg restaurant
liang court
#b1-31/50

ryoshi sushi ikeikemaru, liang court.

doughs of crepes, cineleisure.

came for the savoury burrito crepe, but apparently they don't do savoury crepes anymore, so i ended up getting a sweet crepe instead. they had a variety of choices for bases and fillings. bases included milk chocolate sauce, which i got, as well as white chocolate. they had pretty interesting fillings- oreo crumble, crushed peanuts, brownies, fruity pebbles, marshmallows, etc. i chose crushed peanuts, banana and crushed cinnamon cookies. it came with ice cream (which also came in a variety of flavours) but i decided to go without. it was supposed to come with a sauce on the outside of the crepe as well, with a choice of things like butterscotch and strawberry, but i chose not to have that.

dulcet & studio, liang court, 2.0.

ever since i saw on instagram that dulcet & studio had a matcha roll cake, i've wanted to try it. so when i was at liang court one night and saw that they had it (it's been elusive- i haven't seen it each time i walk by) i jumped at the chance.

they were having some sort of promotion, so i ended up getting more than i had originally intended to. it was 3 for $12 for selected items, including the matcha roll. being the aunty value seeking person that i am, i hesitated for just a moment before deciding to just get three items. so i got the matcha roll (usual price $4.50), mont blanc (usual price $6) and corn eclair (usual price $5.20) for just $12- a pretty good deal i would say. never knew that dulcet and studio did such deals; i should pop by more often!



i liked the matcha roll best. it was on the sweet side, but the texture of the cake was fluffy enough to save it. the corn eclair was... strange. liked the filling inside well enough, and it was certainly visually appealing, with the corn bits on top, but they should've taken more care with the preparation of the corn. the corn was still attached to bits of the cob, making for a difficult eat. i didn't mind, but my sister and mum did, and they left the corn untouched. i didn't like the choux pastry- it was doughy and didn't taste fresh.

the mont blanc though, was a disappointment. it was way too sweet, and i could barely discern the chestnut taste. i like desserts, but i don't have that much of a sweet tooth, so i couldn't appreciate it.

the cakes were certainly pretty (as are all japanese cakes) but i think i'll stick to the milk puddings (mm...) and cream puffs next time.

https://www.facebook.com/DulcetNStudio

magurodonya miura misaki kou, suntec city.

the vietnam experience, broadway coffee shop, lavender.

merely ice cream, sunshine plaza.

we wanted ice-cream after dinner, so i did a quick search. i realised that there are really a lot of ice-cream places in the bugis/city hall vicinity. competition is fierce! there were three places that we could check out. initially wanted to see which one we liked best, but because it was getting late, we ended up just eating at the first stop.

we got seats- pretty cramped, and we initially had a spot at the giant communal table that was so wide it was difficult to talk across. almost wanted to leave though, when i realised they'd run out of waffles (what?????). then i decided to settle for a waffle cone... but they didn't have it either. okay... so all they had was ice-cream.

in the end, after some trying, we settled for a triple scoop of salted butterscotch, chocolate stout, and apple yakult ($9.20).

ned's crepe, tampines mall.

C and i are always wondering what to eat at tampines on wednesday nights, so we were happy to find that a new crepe place had opened in the basement of tampines mall.

mitsuba japanese restaurant, the central.

L and i were craving sashimi, so of course we had to have japanese buffet. i've been to mitsuba several times way before they introduced the à la carte buffet option, and have always had a pretty good impression of their haru chirashi (thick and fresh slices- doesn't get any better than that). so we decided to try out their à la carte buffet one weekday evening.

we got a table by the window, giving us an awesome view of clarke quay.


scallop mentaiyaki were served complimentary. promising start- these were good. so good, we wished we could get some more.


the sashimi came generously sliced and fresh. it even came with a few slices of salmon belly! liked that portions were small and they did let us know how many slices came with each order- one serving of sashimi was two slices.





we also got their cooked food, trying out a few from each section. happily enough everything we ordered was pretty good. especially the beef enoki maki- came with a slightly charred, crispy crust. mm.


off the makimono section, we tried the mitsuba maki (breaded prawn with chicken floss, below) as well as the ebi tempura. each serving came with three pieces. it was average, nothing to shout about. probably one of the weaker items on their menu. i also tried their soft shell crab temaki, which i did like.



of course we tried a bunch of other stuff (given our bottomless pits) and found the food in general to be pretty competent. service was also attentive. they refilled our tea without our asking, and kept our dirty plates promptly. food was also served quite quickly.


http://www.mitsuba.com.sg

shibuya omakasei & sushi bar, seah street.

read about this place (cheap sushi!) and i'm a sucker for value for money set lunches, so since i was nearby, i headed over.

it was a really small space, with only counter seats inside, with a couple of tables outside. but of course i wasn't about to brave the heat. it was surprisingly crowded, so what i got was a seat facing the window near the door.

i was hoping for a quick lunch, so after flicking through the menu for a bit, i got the aburi mori set ($20) and ocha for an additional $1. menu description was basically nonexistent, other than stating that it came with a salad and soup, so i asked what was included when i placed my order. what i got was a vague reply- pickles and a listing of the various aburi sushi included in the set, so i gave up and waited to be surprised. from the blog post i read regarding the set lunch, i did expect sashimi and a cold udon, but weirdly enough, i got neither. hmm.

the salad was served first, after about ten minutes of waiting. i was getting antsy so i asked how long the rest would take. after another bout of waiting i got the aburi sushi and a pitan tofu. there were six pieces of aburi sushi, along with a piece of tamago. i'm a sucker for most things aburi, and this was not bad considering the price point. my favourite was perhaps the salmon mentai one. what i really liked was the pitan tofu though- it's one of my new favourite things, so i was happy to be surprised with it.





only after i finished my aburi sushi and tofu did the rest of my items arrive. weirdly enough, the watermelon came first, before the mori soba and miso soup. would've liked to have the miso soup together with my aburi sushi, though. the soba was alright, nothing to shout about, but i was hungry so i finished it easily.



i'm wondering if they change the items in their set lunch every day; would've liked to have had more information in their menu.

i think they're relatively new, which explains the conspicuous lack of google results. but they were also majorly understaffed (only two people running the whole place!) which led to a less than stellar dining experience- i like my food served all at one go when it comes to japanese set lunches. i would come back if i had the luxury of time- this is hardly the place for a quick lunch. i'll agree that their food is value for money, though.

shibuya omakasei & sushi bar
39 seah street
https://www.facebook.com/SHIBUYAOMAKASEI