Farm to Table

We were on our way to Flor to get a strawberry cake for YJ birthday. Our initial intention of eating lunch at a small Japanese restaurant in that area was thwarted, when we found that we were out for so late a lunch the restaurant had already closed for the lunch session. So we were roaming around aimlessly looking for an alternative lunch place and the words "ALL-DAY BREAKFAST" caught our eye. So in to Farm to Table we went.

Because it was so late (about 2 plus pm maybe), we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves. The menu isn't huge, but enough selections to spoil us for choices already. After much deliberation, we settled for these: Truffle fries, Gourmet croissant, Breakfast plate, Chicken pie.

The truffle fries were amazing. Super fragrant from the truffle, nicely crisp. Even had some herbs tossed in. We love. So much more effort put in to these fries than those superficial ones that just dump on some truffle salt and leave it at that.

Truffle fries

J had the gourmet croissant. Scrambled eggs and a gourmet sausage sandwiched within a croissant. J liked it very much. The eggs were done nicely, the sausage beautifully criss-crossed and charred.

Gourmet croissant

FQ, as usual went for the breakfast plate, with his eggs scrambled. The creamy scrambled eggs and the crisp bacon were so ooooooh inducing. Plus the bacon wasn't too salty, a huge plus!

Breakfast plate with scrambled eggs

I went for the chicken pie, and I totally didn't regret it. It was soooooo yummy! The crust was browned beautifully. And the filling. Hmmm... Generous portions of chicken, and the seasoning was perfect. Warm, crusty pastry with the warm, oozy, yummy chicken filling. It was comfort food at its best. I think this is one of the best chicken pies I've eaten in Singapore. I love love love it. I can imagine how comforting it will be on a rainy day.

Chicken pie

Look at all the chicken spilling out of my pie!

J and FQ loved the pie too, after I gave them a mouthful each to sample. FQ was having a bad cough, so no chicken for him. But I gave him a piece with the gravy alone, and that was enough to make him love it. I now remember this joint as the place with the very nice chicken pie. Maybe I'm biased. I do love pies, but I don't eat a whole lot of them to make myself a world expert on pies. But really, this one really hits the spot for me. 

The Dough Shoppe

This new sandwich joint opened recently, and we saw it when we walked pass to go to another place for lunch. J subsequently told us she had tried it, and the sandwiches were nice, and the set lunch is pretty worth it. So one fine day, JK, FQ and me went to try it out. The set lunch is $10.90 for a sandwich with side salad or chips, a soup of the day, and a drink. Considering some of the sandwiches cost as much as $10, the set meal is definitely a good deal.

JK went for the pulled pork ciabatta. He loved it! The pulled pork was flavourful and juicy (look at the dots of juices that escaped). Their ciabatta was home made, and had the right soft, chewy texture, without the annoying, overwhelming layer of flour that some ciabatta have on their surface (for some unknown reason). He opted to have them with chips. Those were black pepper chips, which I spied from subsequent visits to be Kettle's.

Pulled pork ciabatta

As for me, the beef fan, I went for the corned beef. I have tried their multi-cereal bread before when J bought it for my breakfast once. So I opted to swap the ciabatta (because I haven't tried their ciabatta then and was expecting the powdery ones) for the multi-cereal bread. The sandwich contain a pretty sizeable portion of corned beef, topped with a nicely fried egg. Add all the veggies in, it makes for a juicy and tasty package. Best thing is, the corned beef isn't too salty, which suits my palate to a T. I had this with a side salad that was drizzled lightly with a balsamic vinaigrette.

Corned beef sandwich, with ciabatta changed to multi-cereal bread

View of the beef and egg

We tried their truffle fries. The fries themselves are nice thick cut fries. However, I found the truffle flavor pretty weak, so I would recommend just getting regular fries if you're here.

Truffle fries

FQ, our breakfast king, went for the DIY breakfast platter. No set meal for this, but since he's not exactly a huge beverage drinker, it works fine for him. He chose scrambled eggs and pork sausage for his platter. This platter was served with a bread basket with 3 breads: a multi-cereal, a cranberry walnut bread, and a rainbow colored bread of some sorts that I can't quite figure out. The most interesting thing about the platter is the pork sausage. It came split down the centre, which meant there was more charred surface. FQ usually de-case his sausages, but in this case, the case wasn't so tough that he actually didn't mind it and finished the entire sausage. He loved the eggs (Of course. He love eggs no matter where.). The baked potatoes were nice too! He couldn't actually finish his bread basket, and the staff very kindly gave us a paper bag for him to take away the last piece of bread for his tea break!

DIY breakfast platter with scrambled egg and pork sausage

We've been back a few times since. And J also occasionally buy bread or sandwiches from them for our breakfast. We love their breads and sandwiches. Did I mention they make a decent chocolate cake too? I have yet to try their signature red velvet cake because they rarely have a whole cake available on the days I have sudden needs to buy birthday cakes for the lab.


The Dough Shoppe
61 Kampong Bahru Rd
#01-01 Singapore 169368
Tel:6423 9936
enquiry@thedoughshoppe.com

AOne Claypot House (Causeway Point)

This was a random discover that I ended up liking. The hubby and I were at Causeway Point to get something from Metro. Looking around for dinner places, we spotted a few vegetarian options in AOne Claypot House's menu. Partly because of a mistake on my part. I had assumed that they serve all claypot rice, and seeing the mushroom and tofu I had imagined a vegetarian version of our standard chicken claypot rice. It was only after we were seated that I realise its just mushroom and tofu, no rice. Hubby was fine with it though, so we stayed.

So yes, we ended up ordering the claypot mushoom and tofu. Plus a few more dishes that the hubby can eat. He went for rice, I spotted a congee option so I ordered that. The server seemed shocked that we want rice on top of congee. I was surprised by her shock, but I stuck to it, because the congee contained silverfish and scallop so the hubby can't eat. He's not a very congee person anyway. It was only upon serving that I understood her shock. When I saw the congee option, I had thought it was just one bowl. Turned out it was one pot. And its a pot comfortable to be shared by 2, thus explaining the server's shock. Because we ordered one pot of congee plus TWO bowls of rice (for him).

Silverfish and scallop congee

But anyway, I loved the congee. The consistency is perfect. It was a thick and silky congee, yet the rice are still visibly whole not disintegrated. The pot kept the congee hot the whole time, and despite the duanting thus of having to finish the entire pot alone, I did it. This congee alone makes this place go to my 'like' list. Especially when I'm sick, or having a bad stomach, or on a rainy day. I love congee during any of those scenarios. Oh wait. I love congee any time actually.

Claypot mushroom and tofu

The claypot mushroom and tofu that tricked us into going in the restaurant in the first place is very normal braised tofu and mushroom with some veggies. It wasn't amazing, but wasn't bad either. The Caipo egg was done nicely. A good brown to the outside, salty preserved radish mixed into the egg. What can possibly go wrong with caipo egg right?

Caipo egg

The three egg spinach ended up with a small unexpected topping that I had to clear before the hubby can eat. They sprinkled silverfish on top. So I picked off all of them before he tucked in. We always liked this rendition of spinach so it was finished off quite quickly.

Three egg spinach

I subsequently dragged my colleague to the Chinatown Point branch because I wanted to eat congee for lunch. We tried the ginger onion frog leg, which was overcooked and a little too tough. But the sauce was very nice to go along with congee. This time round we went for the congee with more stuff cooked into them. Very nice!!

Onion ginger frog leg

A wasn't into congee so he opted for hotplate noodles. The mushroom pork noodles actually looked not bad.

Mushroom pork noodle

I'm biased because of the congee consistency. But subsequently went to the Junction 8 branch with the hubby and found all the vegetarian options disappeared from the menu. Whether it was a branch specific menu, or was it a general reduction in menu across all branches, I haven't checked it out. Lynn rarely have congee craving, she's more a fried rice kind of gal. So I haven't been back to AOne despite me liking it so much. Moreover, there are more tempting things at Chinatown Point such as Laiyulai, haaa. That said, I will still love to go back there to enjoy their thick yummy congee. Maybe alone.

Trattoria Capri

It's our 5 year anniversary, and lazy us... Neither of us planned anything for that day! It was only at somewhere around 5pm, that we started discussing where to go. I just got him a wooden wine rack for our Wood Anniversary, so I wanted to swing by ToTTs to get the wine glasses to go with the rack. So my solution for shortlisting locations was by going on to HungryGoWhere, and searching for "romantic" and "Bukit Timah" area. Then found this Italian place known as Trattoria Capri. Looked up their website to check out their menu, saw some vegetarian risotto and pizza options. Hubby say looks ok, and so there we went.

Parking was quite a nightmare, because it was actually in a corner of a landed property estate. They do provide valet service, though hubby refused to use it. In the end we managed to find a parking space a distant away and walked to the restaurant.

The service staff were friendly, although for some reason our table was slightly neglected. We had no spoon on the table setting (which, by the way, wasn't a table a staff brought us to... more of hubby just sat down upon walking into restaurant). Then we weren't served bread until I saw the table next to us being given bread then I asked for it. But the waitress was very nice and apologetic about all these, so I couldn't find it in my heart to fault them.

Very pretty oil and vinegar bottle

As you can see in the background, the bread only appeared after my starters have been served. Which wasn't exactly in the correct order of things but I only noticed the next table's bread a period of time after we ordered our food. But anyway, these are the crusty type bread. More of the soft, fluffy, herb-y bread, which soaks up the oil and vinegar very nicely.

Bread

The soup of the day was pumpkin soup. I seldom can resist pumpkin soup. Actually, I seldom can resist soup, full-stop. Warm, hearty, not overly creamy. I liked it, and was happily dipping my late bread into it. Late has it's benefits too!

Pumpkin soup

We both love caprese, so we ordered caprese salad. I know I said I have a new favourite cheese, but that doesn't mean I'll stop liking Buffalo mozzarella. They do have Burrata cheese, but unfornately, it's served with parma ham so a no-no for the hubby. The classic fresh cheese + juicy tomatoes + peppery rocket combination just CANNOT go wrong. I spotted the next table finish their starters leaving all the wild rocket behind. What a waste!!!! *facepalm*

Caprese salad

For main I ordered a Baccalá alla caprese, baked cod fish. Ooooohhh... It was SOOOOOOOO nice!!! In fact, the hubby summarized it when he saw the happiness on my face upon the first bite: "Is it skin crispy crispy, flesh soft soft, sauce nice nice?". Coming from a vegetarian, I think I trained my hubby well. But yes, that's essentially the gist of this dish. The skin WAS crispy, and the flesh WAS perfectly done, nice and flakey. More of fish juices than a sauce, the liquid WAS really very yummy, fragrant without overpowering the natural milky flavor of the cod fish, which was really the star of this dish. The baked veggies alongside were bathed in the same yummy juices. I especially loved the mushrooms, which absorbed the flavours of the juices. And yay! More wild rocket for me!

Baked cod fish

Look at how nice and flakey the fish is!

He ordered the Tartufata pizza, which has porcini mushrooms and truffle cream. It's nice! But cream based pizza tend to be more rich than the tomato based ones, so he got a bit sick towards the end. I helped him with 1 slice.

Tartufata pizza

And since it was a special occasion, how can we not order a dessert? I ordered a lava cake to share. Theirs was served with flaming Grand Marnier. So pretty! The result is a nicely crispy surface, which we broke through to find a soft cake encasing the oozy filling. YUM!

Lava cake

Maybe the cod fish skewed my bias, but I really want to return here, if not just for the fish. But that said, I saw on their menu a lobster pasta for two. And spotted some other table ordered it. They weren't joking about the lobster, it was one entire lobster on the plate! Now that's something try-worthy. So yeah, I wanna bring Lynn back. But I'll be sure to use their valet parking service, available on Fri to Sun evenings. Haha!


Trattoria Capri
3 Binjai Park Singapore 589819
Tel: +65 6468 4886
reservations@trattoriacapri.com

Wang Dae Bak (China Square)

Yay... Finally reach a post which is categorized 'recent finds' in my mental drawers. It was a weekday dinner when hubby wasn't free. J was on leave so I asked the only dinner kaki left, FQ, whether he's free for dinner. He said he was having dinner with his BFF, D, whom I know. Asked me if I mind having dinner with them? I was like, if they don't mind the extra me, who am I to mind anything?

But anyway, we agreed to meet D at Chinatown point, but we hadn't decided on what to eat. I off hand said I haven't tried Wang Dae Bak, which the two of them had recommended me before. So they said, why not? And off we went to Wang Dae Bak.

So Wang Dae Bak is a Korean joint, it serves both cooked food, as well as table BBQ. We opted for table BBQ and in no time, red hot charcoals were set up at our table. Real charcoal BBQ! Cool! And after the grill is set in place, the waiter poured something that is pre-tty unique to this place. Beaten eggs. That's that yellow ring you see around the grill. Egg is FREE-FLOW! I think that's FQ's bias for this place. He loves eggs! The typical korean side dishes were quickly brought to the table, kimchi, cold mashed potatoes, seaweed... etc. We were happily munching while waiting for our orders to arrive, but that wait wasn't very long. Oh well, how long will they need to bring raw food to the table right?

Red hot coals

Ring of egg, and all the side dishes

Meats! The boys said the 'marinated chickens' is good (That's exactly what is written on the menu. It's not typo on my part.). So we ordered 2 portions of the chicken, and one portion of pork belly, and one portion of boneless prime rib. D found the pork too tough for his braces, and he doesn't take beef to begin with. So FQ and I polished off the whole plate of beef and pork between the two of us. I quite like the beef, and agree that the pork is a little on the tough side. The boys were right, the chicken is good. It was well marinated and tender. Despite me being a beef lover, I had to declare the chicken the winner. *Update: On a subsequent visit, I found that the pork shoulder loin is more tender than the pork belly.

Boneless prime rib (top) and pork belly (bottom)

Marinated chickens

Nice thing about Wang Dae Bak is their adjustable UFO-like smoke vent. U can shift it up to give yourself space to maneuverer the food. Then shift it down to maximise it's venting power and reduce heat and smoke on yourselves while the food cooks. Here u can see the half the egg ring gone, due to our continuous digging.

Meat cooking under the UFO smoke vent

The only cooked food we ordered on that occasion was the seafood pancake. I like it! It was crispy, very fragrant, and yet fluffy inside. There's alot of veggies and prawns and whatnot, and the light soy based sauce it was served with complemented it well. This is a "To-Order" dish I will highly recommend. On separate visits, I had tried their dukboki and japchae. Liked both of those dishes. I've also tried their Ginseng chicken soup. Warm and nice. Mmmmm

Seafood pancake

Spicy rice cake

Japchae - stir fried noodles with vegetables

I liked Wong Dae Bak enough to bring people back twice already. Do note that you'll still come out smelling like BBQ despite their UFO vents. Fear not, they provide Febreeze spray at the counter. Lol!! Lynn wasn't very impressed by their food though. Maybe that's because we ordered the platter on that occasion instead of focusing on the chicken. Really, their chicken is the best dish they have. Moreover she was on a super BBQ crave that day. For a BBQ focused meal, there are other places with buffet based BBQ which are much more value for money - IF you're not an egg addict like FQ. But I will be back. If anything, for their seafood pancake.


Wang Dae Bak
22 cross street (China Square Central)

#01-64

Singapore 048421
Tel: 6225 2646

Ikoi Japanese Restaurant

This post is a place highly recommended by JK. This post doesn't have a lot of pictures. Because this post is about Ikoi Japanese Restaurant, which was serving Japanese ala carte buffet. And it was 11 of us visiting. So, with 11 pax and an ala carte buffet, you can imagine the speed at which we were ordering and wolfing down our food. But I will do my best to describe some of the favorites from my memory.

Sashimi. Really, at $38++, free-flow sashimi is a deal. We started with three plates of mixed sashimi. That meant it came with Salmon, Tuna, Swordfish and a few others. The few others probably included octopus and mackerel, but because we didn't enjoy those as much, they didn't stick in my brain very well. THE SWORDFISH IS AMAZING!!!! Cold, juicy, sweet. I was inhaling swordfish like nobody's business. Even J, who usually don't take sashimi because she dislike the 'fishiness', could try and liked the swordfish. She did ask my opinion which sashimi she should try, and I told her very pointedly, only the swordfish. N, our Dutch intern, loves salmon and tuna. She said back in the Netherlands, Japanese buffet will never include sashimi, so she was going to town with the salmon and tuna. Somehow, all the sashimi lovers were seated at my end of the table. The other end had a few who don't do raw fish or don't do fish in general. So as one of those at the other end observed: "it was entertaining to see sashimi disappearing down your end of the table".

Our table some time in the middle of the meal

They also served a soup in a little tea pot. I'm actually not sure what soup that is, but it's a delicious soup. They also served chawanmushi in the cutest little cup. When placing order here, you pretty much don't need to worry about portions. Because one portion is for one. So for example, grilled salmon. We were expecting the usual restaurant size piece, so we ordered two portions to try. Ended up it was tiny two-mouths slices each. You get the gist.

Things we loved: grilled saba fish, grilled salmon, yakitori, shishamo, soft-shell crab handroll, sushis (that's what the colleagues said. They disappeared so fast I didn't even know we ordered them).

Things we didn't love: tempura were generally so so

We totally ignored the noodles and rice.

We loved this place, and returned with a huge food coma. Needless to say, it was a very unproductive afternoon that day.

Ikoi Japanese Restaurant

Hotel Miramar Singapore
401 Havelock Road
Singapore 169631

Lobby, Main Wing
Phone (65) 6887 3788

Ristorante da Valentino

It's my birthday!!! And the hubby and I arranged to have dinner together. But he didn't mention where we were going. Knowing how bochap he usually is, I was expecting one of the usual places we go. To my surprise, he didn't say anything, just asked me to get in the car when he picked me up. I fell asleep, and woke up to find myself in The Grandstand. Still he kept mum about where we're having dinner. He couldn't find the place and we were staring at the directory. I asked him which restaurant he still kept quiet. Just dragged me all around the Grandstand, until we found the restaurant at some ulu corner with it's main entrance from the outside of the mall. And no signboard. It was until he spotted the menu with the restaurant name on it then he was sure he got the right place.

So here we are at Ristorante da Valentino. A quaint little Italian restaurant hidden at one corner at a mall in the middle of nowhere. He actually found it by random search online. After we browsed through the menu, the server came by and gave us a verbal commentary of the specials, of which I understood only parts of. But one of the recommended starters was something he described and sounded like 'mozzarella with tomatoes'. Hey, that sounds like Caprese salad and I like that! So we went with that (without even knowing the price actually).

When it arrived, the waiter let me take a photo of the whole plate, before he divided it into two side plates for us. And that's the moment that I was blown away, and HAD to immediately google what I thought I heard the dish is called. And I found it. That's a Burrata cheese. Something I've never heard of before this point in time, but something that replaced Buffalo mozzarella as my favourite cheese from this point forth. Imagine the freshness of Buffalo mozzarella. Now, keep that same taste in your head, but imagine a creamier, richer version. That, is Burrata. It was sooooo creamy... I looooove it. Totally. And the accompanying cherry tomatoes were so sweet and juicy, complementing the Burrata so well. I was totally in love with the whole dish.

Burrata cheese

I wanted a mushroom soup so we got mushroom soup. Theirs was served in a cup, and it was the velvety, mushroomy kind. As opposed to chunky or creamy kind, if you get my drift. Nice warm start to the meal. But pales in comparison to that amazing salad I just had. And what's Italian food without good crusty Italian bread? We were given three crusty rolls to go with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Hubby stopped at one so I polished off two. Yum. I love bread.

Mushroom soup

Crusty Italian bread

The hubby went for a Spinach lasagne. It's creamy and fragrant. I tried a bit of it and I liked it. The pasta was perfectly cooked, and the sauce perfect. But it was a little to rich for the hubby and he struggled through the second half of it. He never really did well with cream based food.

Spinach lasagne

I greedily went for the Carbonara. This was a REAL carbonara. Made with mainly eggs and lots of cheese, very little (if any) cream. It was RICH! I did enjoy the 'realness' of it, but I found the pasta a little too al dente to my liking. I would have preferred the pasta be cooked that little bit longer. So actually, I found myself liking my hubby's dish more...

Carbonara

Overall, I enjoyed the dinner. I'm not sure if the Burrata totally skewed my impression of this place to a highly positive bias. That may well be, because now as I'm writing, I remember I didn't enjoy the Carbonara. But it's a nice cosy place for that special occasion. In fact, we were almost the only Singaporeans in that restaurant. Almost all other guests were Caucasians! Guess that speaks volumes about its authenticity.

Ristorante da Valentino

200 Turf Club Road, #01-19
Singapore 287994
Tel: 6462 0555
Email: ristvale(@)singnet.com.sg
SMS - 9463 8033

Feedlot Steakhouse

It was post-gym, we had steak cravings, it's the night before my birthday, sooo... we thought we'll eat "better". We had came across Feedlot Steakhouse on those 'best steak in Singapore' lists, so we thought we'll give it a try. It took me a two drives pass it to find the entrance into its carpark, so do take note to turn into the left side of that road because the carpark entrance is right after the turn, there's no time to make a filter to the left after you have turn.

Post gym we are alway ravenous, and always welcome something warm. So mushroom soup sounded lovely. And it was served in these super pretty bowls! Pretty bowls aside, the soup was very nice!! Fragrant and truffly and smooth. Totally hits the spot.

Cream of mushroom with truffle

We requested that everything else be served at the same time, rather than starters first. First to reach, our Black Angus Ribeye steak, served with bordelaise sauce. We asked for sea salt and Lynn loved it. The beef was good, and well flavoured. I hardly ever need extra salt for my steaks most of the time, unless the salt is flavoured. But Lynn loves her beef with sea salt, and she especially loved it this time round.

Black Angus Ribeye

For sides we ordered truffle fries. Although it looked impressive with the black truffle bits, it wasn't super truffly. Yes, I know the strong truffle taste of truffle oils are just factory synthetic flavouring. Call me a sucker if you will but I love that factory synthetic flavouring. Lol...

Truffle fries

Our 'starter' that we requested be served alongside was a pan seared foie gras. It was very flavourful, but wasn't very melt-in-the-mouth. We enjoyed it nonetheless. How far wrong can foie gras go right?

Pan seared foie gras

The second main we ordered was the Iberian pork chop. I... actually cannot remember much about it. So I'm guessing it wasn't super impressive, nor was it bad. I guess it just was normal.

Iberian pork chop

We actually liked the atmosphere, service and food at Feedlot. They subsequently had a lobster mac n cheese promo that Lynn wanted to come for but we couldn't find the time. But sure, I'll love to come back for more mushroom soup and beef please!

Riccioti (Star Vista)

So it was Commencement Day! And because I've been allocated to the evening session, we decided to go Star Vista for dinner before the ceremony. Because the hubby is vegetarian, I decided on Riccioti. There's always vegetarian options in Italian joints.

Lynn and XP met us at the restaurant, because XP was graduating too! Because of time constraints, we decided on our orders pretty fast. In fact, I went ahead and ordered for XP even though he hadn't arrive yet. We've eaten together often enough that I know what he likes.

For starters, we went for mushroom bruschetta. Nice change from the usual tomato, served on crusty bread with slices of parmesan. We found out these aren't easy to bite into two, so we just shoved the entire thing into our mouths.

Funghi bruschetta

Lynn and I decided to share a pasta and a main course. So for pasta we chose Linguine al granchio. I liked it, alot! It was a mixture of cream and tomato based sauce. Richness from the cream, tartness from the tomato to balance out the rich, and voila, you have a delicious winner that doesn't overwhelm you with too much richness. And the shreds of crab meat inside the sauce was a winner too! I really liked this dish, as it appealed to my cream+pasta+crab craving all at one shot.

Linguine al granchio

For XP I ordered him a salmon pasta. Because he like fish in general. It was served in the same tomato+cream sauce, making it an equal winner. With flakes of salmon, he enjoyed it very much as well.

Tagliette salmone

The hubby got Spaghetti Pomodoro. Spaghetti in tomato based pasta sauce. No frills. It was in reality the best way to taste the original flavors of the sauces, although I tend to be swayed by frillier alternatives. He liked it fine, so I guess Riccioti's tomato sauce agrees with him.

Spaghetti Pomodoro

The main course that Lynn and I shared was the boneless grilled half chicken. I was amazed. It was really boneless except for the wings. The meat was tender, juicy and well seasoned. The lack of bones made for an exceptionally easy to eat meal, with little need to dissect anything. The dissection part is what turns me away from most roast or grilled chicken so Riccioti scored with their boneless verison. The mash potatoes, however, were a little on the dry side.

Boneless grilled half chicken

For a place I randomly picked off the mall directory, I was actually very pleased with the food. I really liked their pasta and their chicken, and I believe I will be back to try their pizza. They have another branch nearer to my workplace. I may very well end up there soon enough.

Riccioti

1, Vista Exchange Green,
#01-33 # 01-K2,
The Star Vista
Singapore 138617
Tel:(65) 6694 4101

Fax:(65) 6694 4102

Sumiya

Lynn and I had to go to Orchard Central to collect our race pack for the Garfield Run. So after collection, we browsed through the mall directory to find a dinner place and decided to give Sumiya a shot.

Located on the top storey (or was it second top?), Sumiya is a Japanese restaurant serving mainly sumiyakis, ie Japanese BBQ skewers. It wasn't incredibly crowded and we got a table immediately. Their menu are presented as a rolled up newspaper, pretty cute. They have a very cute system for edamame. You pay a fixed amount of money for (drum roll.....) as much edamame you can grab with a single hand as you can. We didn't try that as we felt both of us didn't have very large hands. I'm not kidding with the drum roll, they really have someone beating the drums as you grab the edamame. We heard the commotion several times during our meal. As we browsed the menu, we were attracted to way too many items at one go. After a lot of contemplation, we settled for these:

Raw cabbage served with spicy miso paste. This is something I've had at Kazu, and liked. So we both thought it would be nice, and it was! Fresh cabbage, dipped in that lightly spicy miso, slightly juicy, slightly salty, totally yummy.

Cabbage with spicy miso

For sashimi, we discovered that their uni is going for only $15. Quite an affordable price for uni, so we ordered it, alongside salmon sashimi. The salmon was normal. The uni was creamy and fragrant. The seaweed served alongside the uni was a very nice complement. The portion wasn't huge, but with uni, too much is actually not a good thing as you will get sick of it. So I felt that the portion was just nice. Would have liked more seaweed though.

Uni (bottom) and salmon (middle) sashimi with nori

Then we had a snow crab tempura, which sounded very unique. Turned out it was actually quite normal. The crab legs weren't super sweet or anything, so we decided it was a can-be-passed dish, and that we won't order it again.

Snow crab tempura - spot the crab

Then we move on to the main dishes - sumiyakis. First off, wagyu beef and beef-wrapped foie gras. These were blissful. The wagyu beef skewer was tender and fragrant. The foie gras was oh-so-melt-in-the-mouth, and the buttery livery goodness was soooo blissful. It was leaving its fats everywhere we placed it, and we were happily trying to absorb it up with whatever we could.

Wagyu beef (left) and beef-wrapped foie gras (right)

The 6 piece omasake had chicken, pork, beef, prawn, sweet potato and mushroom. All three meats were tender, juicy and nice. The sweet potato was a little on the dry side but we were using it to absorb foie gras fats so that was ok. The mushroom was pretty normal, but grilled mushrooms are always nice anyway. The prawn. Oooooohhhhh. It was soooo nicely grilled, with just the perfect touch of char, then the flesh itself was juicy and sweet. We ordered a second set just for the prawn, because unfortunately, they don't have just prawns on the menu.

6 piece omasake

The garlic fried rice, we didn't care for. It tasted like what we call 'rice cooker fried rice'. As in, it felt like it was fried up as one huge batch, then kept in the rice cooker and scooped when someone order. Very similar to those birthday buffets fried rice. Very insincere, lukewarm fried rice. The taste was't very garlicky, the rice wasn't very sticky like the usual Japanese rice. It was just overall not impressive.

Garlic fried rice

The whole meal speaking, we liked it. It was pricey, for sure. But the skewers quality were impressive, and we were quite blown away. I will definitely return when I have a sumiyaki craving.

Sumiya
ORCHARD CENTRAL
#12-02, 181 Orchard Road,
Singapore 238896
(formerly known as Kuriya Penthouse)

Tel: +65 6509-9618
Fax: +65 6509-3886