shirokiya, chijmes.

managed to snag a sugar voucher for shirokiya's kurobuta kimchi hotpot (usual price $38.80), so i made a reservation and went with L on a weeknight. after looking through the menu, we decided to add on a dashimaki tamago ($7.80) and freshly made hot tofu ($7.80).



all the items arrived surprisingly quickly. the hot tofu made quite a dramatic entrance- the waitress brought out a bamboo basket and started scooping the tofu into a bowl. it was served with three different types of salt- citrus salt, green tea salt and sea salt. the tofu was full of natural soy sweetness, and was different from the usual supermarket tofu. pairing it with the salt added a new dimension, making it subtly savoury. we couldn't tell the difference between the salts, though!

the dashimaki tamago was surprisingly good as well. it was full of the flavour of the stock that was used to cook it, without the over-sweetness that comes with some versions of the tamago i've had.



we busied ourselves with the sides while waiting for the pot to boil, but mysteriously enough, the pot took a really long time to boil. we probably waited for thirty minutes before realising that there was probably something wrong. a neighbouring table ordered the same thing, and when we looked over, theirs was already boiling furiously, despite having been served twenty minutes later. called the waitress to tell her about it, but she just glanced at it, told us that it was because of the fan nearby, and left without doing anything. what??? granted, they were probably busy, but still! it left a bad impression regarding their service. in the end we settled it ourselves by shifting the pot so that it was further away from the fan, and that solved the problem.

we were only able to start eating probably thirty or forty minutes after the pot was actually served. the menu stated that it was for 2 people, but the amount of ingredients in it was more suitable for one. the kurobuta pork was delicious, but there was way too little of it. perhaps we should've added on more stuff to the pot to make it more filling. the guys beside us who'd ordered the same thing ordered two portions of udon- yeah, i could see why they had to. portion aside, the hotpot was pretty delicious. i loved the spicy kimchi soup base. it was spicy enough to give a kick, but not so spicy that we couldn't drink it.

the food was generally pretty good, but it's probably not somewhere i'd head to if i was hungry. as it was, when i got home, i had to eat some more. L also agreed that it wasn't very filling, so it wasn't just me. probably won't be back any time soon- there are better japanese places.

shirokiya chijmes
chijmes
#01-05/06
http://www.shirokiya.com.sg/en