Ramen is love

Top 10 ramen bar in HGW webbie. And off we go to try it!

Location.... In Mandarin gallery, shop is recognised by long queues and the atas looking shop front.

approximately 4-5 different kind of soup base and 3 different combi for each soup.
1. with tamago
2. with simmered pork belly
3. with simmered pork cubes

What is best is....... EXTRA SERVING OF NOODLES! for just $2!

Some special dishes that i didnt try becos noodles is the best thing there

Special miso paste and fragrant garlic soup, with pork cubes. Plus extra tamago on the side.

See the miso paste? Looks like chilli but its not. The dark sauce is mysteriously tasty and i got no idea what is it. The spring onions from Japan is also different from those we get in Singapore, its not as strong but still the onions goes well and blended with the garlic to be a perfect match!

Boy had spicy miso soup with tamago, i prefered mine better. He's lacked the garlic fragrance but had an extra tinge of spice and more onions to lift the taste.

Generous portions of pork belly and pork cubes. Very well marinated and soft, pork belly has balanced ratio of fats and meat, making it melt in your mouth with the oil infused into the meat.

Pork cubes is tender and moist, the size is just nice to absorb all the juicy marinate.

Noodles for the two kinds of noodles is different. Mine is thicker and softer while boy's is thinner more chewy and a bit curly.... For all noodles, you can choose the "doneness" of your noodles. Hard, medium and soft. I chose medium. It was good.

Tamago can be slightly better. Even thou it was well marinated the yolk can be more runny.

This is not comparable to Marutama ramen even though it is as authentic. The origin and tradition of this ramen is different from Marutama's. So it is dependent on your taste buds to make a choice.

Auntie note: Please be prepared to queue up for about half an hour at least. Ramen is slightly expensive but they do offer ice water. Desert was expensive. Saw the table beside us ordering mini sized desert. For the price, there are better choices out there.

Ippudo

333A Orchard RoadSingapore 238897

Mandarin Gallery

6235 2797
Open Mon-Sat 11am-11pm; Sun 11am-10pm

24 hours Bah Kut Teh

Sin Heng Claypot Bah Kut Teh 24 hours but closed on mondays.

Conclusions?

Best for supper and value for money.

Huge variety and refillable soup.

bad and limited parking system.



Prawn omelette

for a $8 value it can be much bigger.

Eggs was smooth and quite thick for the texture but left overs on the plate was shiny and gives you a shock.

More prawns could have been better.



Ma you and ginger chicken.

Sauce is thick and goes super well with rice.

chicken wings is chopped up into smaller pieces to soak up the sauce.


Bah Kut Teh soup is the peppery kind more than the herbal soup kind. It is always served boiling. Pork ribs are served generously and we always share a large bowl even when we have 8 of us. Refillable right?

Baby Kailan used to be better in the past. Now it is harder and less flavourful. Plus we once found a vege worm in the plate. But was given an exchange.

Oats prawn was also better last time. Now its not as crispy, the head is too hard to be eaten. Less Oats. But overall prices are reasonable and if going with a group of friends it is value for money.

Aunty note: Food is value for money, no Gst and service charge. but charged for towels. Parking is free, but be prepared to move your vehicle half way whenever there is a free slot.

Sin Heng Bak Koot Teh439 Joo Chiat RoadTel: +65 6345 8754
Open 24 hours
Closed Mondays

Old Town coffee

Went for Old Town coffee at ECP after a light dinner with Mister Fat Fingers.
We were deciding between old town, Killiney, and Wang Cafe.
In the end we chose Old Town because we dont know where is the nearest Wang Cafe, and we had Killiney not long ago.
But it proves to be a bad decision.


This is part of a set, a cup of teh tarik and fried fish fingers, approx $5. Superbly overpriced.
Teh was not bad, nice and milky. Tea fragrance wasn't too strong and it was soothing to the throat with no bitter after taste.


The super overpriced fish fingers were small and pathetic. When it was served we were both taken aback. Fries were overly salted. Fish fingers were oily and batter was so thick we hardly tasted any fish.

They claimed to serve Eggs that is omega rich. At more than a dollar each, i can buy a whole tray in supermarkets. Nothing special. Mr Fat finger's eggs were overcooked and not runny.

Auntie note: Too overpriced, bad service (under staff, grumpy aunties), and below average food. I will not go to old town again.

The coooking show

Time for some cooking before school starts. This meal isn't the cheap kind and requires some sourcing of ingredients. But fret not because its not too difficult. There will be 2 parts to the cooking procedures as there are 2 dishes.

Cold soba with Japanese vegetables soup
Soba noodles
2 cups Soba concentrated sauce
Soba noodles
Soup
1 Dashi stock in tea bag form
2 packets Mushrooms
5 bowls of water
1 Carrot
1 piece Tofu
1 plain Fish Cake
Japanese Seaweed
4 tablespoon of soya sauce
Chawanmushi
4 Eggs
2 cups of water

Half cup of Dashi stock
50g Chicken cubes
Half teaspoon of salt to taste

Soba noodles
Firstly, Boil a pot of water deep enough for you to cook the soba noodles.

After boiling till soft put it under cold water. After it cools, place it in the fridge covered.



Before serving, use the ratio of 1:7 of soba sauce to water and put them into the fridge.
Soba sauce is quite expensive, 1litre cost 27SGD
Noodles done.



Japanese Soup
While waiting for the water to boil, prepare all the ingredients. Sliced them into any cute shapes you like.

Boil the dashi stock tea bags.

You can find similar brands in Cold storage. They are really good and super seafoody fresh. For mums who don't have enough time to cook just add in a tea bag and let it boil while you bath and it'll be ready real soon.

Take out half a cup of stock for the chawanmushi and the rest works as your soup base. For 5 bowls worth of soup.

This is how my dashi stock lookes like.

I also used organic japanese seaweed for healthier choice. These are dried and will "bloom" once it touches water. This small little pack can cook for an army

Soak all the different mushrooms of your choice to get rid of the dirt.

Add in all the ingredients to the pot and boil. Simmer for 20 minutes to allow the flavours to be sweeter.
Add in 4 table spoons of soya sauce to taste.

Chawanmushi

Crack the eggs and add in 2 cups of water.
Add half a teaspoon of salt to taste


Cut the chicken fillet into cubes, chicken cubes should be small to place into the chawanmushi.

Marinate it with some soya sauce, pepper and corn flour.

Place the ingredients in the bowl.

Distribute the half cup of dashi stock evenly into 5 bowls. Make sure it is not too hot, or else eggs will be cooked once you pour it into the bowl.
Distribute the egg mixture and now it is ready to be steamed.

Steam it under big fire for 5 minutes then simmer for 5 minutes.
Ensure that the time is not exceeded or else your eggs will harden.

Good luck!

Auntie note: you can use ikan bilis stock cubes if you find the dashi stock tea bags too exp. :)

Sakae sushi with boy

Out with boy for some japanese food is love......

Was planning for sushi buffet at Suki sushi hougang mall but.......... woke up too late and sakae was the nearest solution.

Wanted sushi off the conveyor, but the selection was limited and the sushi looked the least appetizing.

We ordered 2 mains, the first is the Chicken Kaminabe Set. It comes along with rice, miso, fruits, chawanmushi, and ageshi tofu.

Ageshi tofu is not like the usual one. The name is also different. The tofu was coated with tiny shrimps and fried till crispy. Topped with the bonito flakes and dashi stock. Nice and innovative. Flavour was distinct. The shrimps gave a better texture but was a bit messy. The bonito flakes was generous.

Rice was springingly good. Topped with all the sesame and seaweed. Good effort!

Soup isn't. It was rather tasteless, the chicken wasn't marinated and it was totally bland. The vegetables werent simmered before they serve it. The inari has mochi filings ( i dont know the exact name) and it is totally yucky. The mochi was not chewy but soft and had inconsistent texture.

Chawanmushi was finished up by Boy, his comments: you can cook better.

Grilled salmon was tender juicy, and blended well with the terriyaki sauce. Brings out the fragrant "salmon fats" taste. For those who don't know, the fats of salmon is good and the more expensive parts of the salmon is the belly where there's the most fats.

But runny yoke tamago was a failure. Totally far from authentic. Not runny. Looks are deceiving. The sauce totally spoilt the taste and the egg was not cooked in shoyu.

2nd main was terriyaki and hotate bento.

Hotate was delicious, with generous amount of fish roe, and cream sauce baked with cheese, it was moist and oozing with much flavour. There was 3 so overall Sakae is still not too stingy.

The best we had for the day was terriyaki chicken. Well marinated with each and every piece tasting a tinge of sweetness. Yet it was tender and chewy with the skin coated with the sauce that makes it extra succulent. Fried with onions, it was fragrant and had an additional unique taste.

We ordered some sides to go along. Plus some sushi.
Jelly fish the all time favourite, was QQ and bouncy well marinated and in the right thickness to sink your teeth into.

Sushi was ok, the green thing on the left is slightly not well flavoured. The jelly fish on the sushi was chopped up making it lose its QQ ness as they are now minced.

Last but not least soft shell crab roll. The soft shell crab was crispy and match well with the cucumber shreds, you can go crunch crunch with it. But one thing not perfect was the size of the crab. Very ultimately small. Its like 1/6 of the length of the role.

Century Square
^ Tampines MRT Station
2 Tampines Central 5
#B1-02 / 03 Singapore 529509
Tel: 6787 3887
Opening Hours:
11:30am - 10:00pm daily

Kuishinbo

My treat, because i was in a good mood and felt that a full stomach will be comfortable.


And the best place to satisfy the never ending appetite will be to fill it up with snow crabs. Where the hell to get them in Singapore? I think Isetan sells frozen ones. But why go thru the hassle when you can get them at KUISHINBO at half the price?????








Snow crabs wait first because i have to eat some sashimi as appetizer.


Sashimi will always be the first on the list in any buffet because if you have it with a full stomach you no longer can taste the light, fresh and fishyness of the sashimi. Kuishinbo has a variety of fresh sashimi that is cut right in front of you. The fish was tender yet still QQ, look at the picture and you can see the gloss over the fish. They not only have salmon, but also maguro and hamachi. Plus some fresh scallops, and also cold prawns( sorry no pics). All these tasted sweet and as thou right from the ocean.





The exciting part comes. Snow crab the length of your chop sticks. Eat with scissors and cut it right open. Pulling out the flesh in one whole chunk and popping it right into your mouth. Luxury? yes, it sure is.


The snow crabs melts in your mouth, with the texture of a sharkfins but in a solid piece. The sweetness of seafood jus ooze out when you bite thru it. Plus the crab meat is juicy and smooth.


Kuishinbo surprises their customers and continued with their tradition of the hourly special to make you remain alert thru out the meal. Hourly specials are for the first 20 on first come first serve basis. The specials are not dishes you find in the buffet spread.





The auntie spirit motivated me to get 3 out of 4 hourly specials. The first and third is lobster with garlic and white wine sauce. Lobster was very meaty, sweet and fresh, very bouncy, plus the garlic brought out the taste with the help of italian spices. Lobster was crunchy with juice spurting out every mouth you bite thru it.








2nd was this. Frozen strawberry with white chocolate. Yummy. This particular desert is sold in mos burger, quite exp k.... the icy frozen strawberry gives you a brain freeze. Sour on the outside, sweet on the inside.

i am moving on to the cakes section now. My fav part of the buffet is always on the cakes. however, kuishinbo's emphasis is more on seafood and not on pastries!

Cakes clockwise:

Mango cake: taste ok, mango taste not artificial but seems like too much gelatine, the cake's density was more like jelly.

Pistacio cake: very fragrant. Had a little after taste of macha.

Oreo cheesecake: very salty, covered the sweetness of the cake. Saved by the mini oreo on top.

Blackforest cake: very disappointing. The base or rather the whole cake was dry and rough. Not a little bit of moisture in the cake. I had a bite and left the rest.

Overly dense strawberry cake: the whole cake was like a piece of solid with little taste. You need like 3 mouths to tell u that you give up trying to guess what flavour it is.

Tiramisu: Taste like chocolate cake.

Blueberry cake: Good. not too sweet, the topping on top is like blueberry jam.

Newyork cheese cake: Not too salty unlike the oreo cheese cake. The cake was not very dense so you can finish it up easily.

The rest of them here:

The black cup: its choco shavings, with mint in the 2nd tier and choco syrup as the base. Best desert. The mint was refreshing and a perfect combi with the choco shavings. Sweet yet not over powering.

Danish with blueberry jam: pastry is not crispy but quite xiang.

Strawberry cake again: the base is actually some nuts. but not cruchy. so wads the point?

Fruit tart: the filling is custard. But again too much gelatine. The fruit on top too small to make any difference to the taste.

Strawberry cup: another thumbs up. Rich and creamy milky substance over strawberry essence. The cream and strawberry on top also makes the desert attractive and oh-so-love-it.

Alright, back to food. This is pipping hot soup. Tts actually some japanese soup with chicken meat balls. I took it cos it resembles shark's fin. I have to say it does, they even add imitation shark's fin in it but the ginger taste was too over powering i gave up.

They are currently having a seafood feast special so they have more special stuff such as black pepper mud crab and steamed promfet. But so sorry, it ended the day i went.

I didn't eat the black pepper crab cos my braces can't really bite. But boy said it was good. He had 5 of the gong.

This is also another special item. its another kind of snow crab i think. The meat is slightly more salty but it was tender and juicy.

Yakitori. Sweet and soft. Well marinated and juicy. the yakitori sauce was good and it blends well with the chicken. The meat can be easily detached from the stick.

A whole plate of tempura, breaded prawn and soft shell crab.

Tempura was good, prawns were crunchy and well marinated. The batter used was fragrant and stuck well to the prawn not falling off when you bite. Plus tempura sauce was dispensed from a hot water flask so it was pipping hot.

Breaded prawn on the other hand lost the fight. Prawns were barely seen. Tiny and most probaby mashed up. The breaded batter was normal not very tasty.

Soft shell crab was not crispy, i had one cos the crab was a bit soft already.

Chawamushi, right from the steamer. Goodness smooth and the dashi stock used was perfect. The presentation is good and if you do notice, there is a hidden piece of hotate! Plus a prawn! that's like scoring 101 over 100!

The deep fried prawns were not crispy enough for you to chomp down the whole prawn. Nothing special with the batter.

The drumlets on the other hand was good. Comparable to mcwings. It was fragrant, only regret was that it wasn't served hot.

Auntie note for the day is:

Prices vary daily so you can check out their website for the pricing.

Tea bags selection is huge, i think perhaps 30 kinds to choose from. Drink to your fill.

3 Temasek Boulevard#03-002 Suntec City Tower 1

Tel: +65 6238 7088

Lunch11.30am – 3.00pm Dinner5.30pm – 10.00pm