Element on Tras

C says:

Element on Tras, at Amara Hotel, is an annexe of sorts to Element, which is the hotel's buffet restaurant. At Element on Tras, you can order a la carte from the Chinese, Thai and Spanish sections of the restaurant.

The Spanish kitchen is helmed by Basque chef Mikel Badiola, who used to cook at Martin Berasategui in San Sebastien. We only tried the tapas rather than the main courses, but those were more than enough to impress.

Definite must-haves are the mushroom brochette, and the bacalao bechemal stuffed in piquillo peppers. The flavours were strong but not overly assertive, and overall just very refined.

The tortilla was quite a substantial portion, and while I appreciate that it was well executed, with a nice still-runny centre, I found it slightly underseasoned, and it needed the sauce from the bacalao. The grilled octopus with potatoes and pimenton was simple but very good.

The Basque fish soup was a winner for me. The flavours were again restrained but still very complex, and there were generous portions of perfectly cooked, moist codfish inside. I would be happen to return just for this dish.

The menu is still quite limited, and we've probably ordered most of the highlights of the tapas/pinxtos section, but there's still the main courses to be explored.

A says:

I went in with very high expectations so perhaps it's not fair when I wasn't impressed. Honestly speaking though, the food is still very good food. And I must mention the amazing service.

Having tried the buffet as well, I would say ala carte is the recommended option here.

Element on Tras
100 Tras Street
Tel: 6879 2607
Sunday – Thursday / Public Holiday: 11am - 1am
Friday, Saturday, Eve of Public Holiday: 11am - 2am

Sweet Spot Deli

C says:

Sweet Spot, Marina Bay Sands' pastry shop, has opened a NY-inspired deli selling bagels and cured meat sandwiches.

Their sandwiches come in a variety of options, with pastrami and/or corned beef, and sauerkraut or coleslaw. You can get a full portion, or a half. We ordered 2 halves, one with sauerkraut and one with coleslaw.

For a non-sandwich eater, I found these very good. The bread was buttery and grilled, the meats were tasty and the combination of ingredients was just right. I preferred the sauerkraut as it added a tart balance to the sweetish Russian dressing.

A also tried the smoked salmon bagel which in comparison wasn't as good. The smoked salmon was good but proportions were a bit off, and the bagel overpowered everything else. Much better deconstructed; the cream cheese here has a nice light texture.

Not sure how long it'll last, since it was pretty deserted on a Friday evening, but I'm sure A will want to come back at least a few more times.

A says:

Best deli-style sandwiches in Singapore. Awesome, awesome, awesome. The staff were super friendly too. Approved.

Sweet Spot Deli
#01-30 The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands
10 Bayfront Avenue
Tel: 6688-8584
Sun - Thurs: 8am to 11pm
Fri, Sat and PH: 8am to 12 mn

Lady M at One Fullerton

C says:

Lady M has opened its second outlet at One Fullerton, offering a wider selection of its signature mille crepes (like matcha) and other dessert creations.

We tried the banana mille feuille, and one of their other signature creations, the Checkers, which has alternating squares of vanilla and chocolate sponge cake bound together with a light pastry cream, and coated with a thick chocolate ganache.

The banana mille feuille was ok - it was more cream/custard than I expected, with only a small square of puff pastry and a thin outer layer acting as the feuille. The Checkers, on the other hand, was superb. Light, airy, with just enough cream and chocolate to not be overpowering. Possibly my new favourite cake.

The ambience at One Fullerton is also much more conducive to chilling than at Marina Square, with its harsh fluorescent lighting and openness to wandering passersby.

A says:

As much as I like mille crepes, I must say the Checkers cake is even better. Win!

Lady M Fullerton
#01-10, One Fullerton
Tel: 6820-0830
Open daily: 10 am - 10 pm
www.ladym.com.sg

Peaspoon's Black Label Chicken Liver Pate

C says:

A's friend passed us a jar of this heavenly stuff, made coincidentally by one of my old schoolmates PP.

The pate is incredibly smooth - don't expect rustic, slightly chunky pate. It's whipped to an almost airy cream-like texture, which makes it very spreadable, and very easy to eat copious amounts thereof.

I detected hints of alcoholic sweetness too, so I'm not sure if some kind of Sauternes reduction was added, since that's a natural accompaniment to foie anyway. A liked the sweet element; I'm personally more of a savoury person and prefer my pate unabashedly liver-y.

This is obviously Peaspoon's signature item, but I think she does make a few interesting-sounding jams as well. If anyone's keen, do check out her Facebook page here.

A says:

Very good. Check it out if you like sweet pate.

Char

C says:

Clearly we're not the only ones who've heard/read the buzz about new restaurant Char at Guillenmard. So much has been said of their sticky black char siew and crispy roast pork that despite the location, I insisted that we try it one Saturday.

It was a good thing we made a reservation, because the place was packed. I don't think they were prepared for it, because we still had to wait about 10 minutes while they sorted out our table and fended off walk-in vultures who tried to steal tables from under the noses of those of us waiting patiently.

Thanks to online tips, we also pre-ordered a portion each of the char siew and the siew yok. Both cost $5 per 100g, with a minimum order of 300g.

Without further ado, let's talk about the char siew. We never got a chance to try the legendary char siew at Oversea Restaurant before they closed, so we can't compare it to Char's. I can say, though, that Char's is superb. It's everything I thought it would be - sticky caramelised exterior, with fatty, juicy, tender pork inside. It's not for the faint-hearted because the flavours are very intense, but that's exactly what I love about it.

The siew yok was also really tender and boasted incredibly crisp crackling. My one criticism though, is that they're a bit too heavy handed with the five spice powder, which tended to overwhelm everything else.

We also tried the claypot eggplant with minced pork, which was very tasty and went perfectly with hot steamed white rice.

Food is excellent, and the owners are very friendly, but the service staff, though polite, seemed a bit frazzled because of the crowds. Once they sort that out, I think they're on to a winning combination.

A says:

As befitting the name, the char siew is superb. Everything else is above average. The only drawback is the chaos in getting a seat. Even with our reservations,we had to put up with pushy people barging in and just grabbing their own seats. The staff try hard, but they really need a proper greeter to manage the crowds that gather at the door. Once you're finally seated though, the food comes to the table fairly fast, so at least the kitchen is a well-oiled machine.

Char
393 Guillemard Road
Tel: 6842-7759
Tues - Sun: 11.30 am - 2.30 pm; 6 pm - 10 pm
Closed Mondays
www.char.com.sg

Stirling Highway

C says:

We read about Stirling Highway, a new cafe at Ridgewood Condo, a few weeks ago in the papers. The article/review made it sound very promising, and since it was quite close to home, we decided to try it for brunch one Saturday.

Well, either no one else read the article, or the place only fills up after noon, because when we were there between 11 and 12, we were the only table for more than half that time.

They were also severely overstaffed, with 5 people (including, presumably, the owner who was doing paperwork at one table) there to serve our single table of 2. I can only hope that most of them are there on a voluntary basis, to help/hang out with friends; otherwise it would make no sense at all.

We tried the 2 recommended dishes - the Pulled Pork Pancakes, and the Eggs Ben. Having had Strictly Pancakes fairly recently, I thought these fell short. The pancakes sandwiched with pulled pork just made for a rather monotonous eating experience, and I got quite bored halfway through. The Jack Daniels maply syrup packed quite a boozy punch, but was also a little too liquid for my liking.

The Eggs Ben, which comes with both smoked salmon and spinach on top of brioche, fared only marginally better. The eggs were well poached, but they used too much vinegar in the poaching liquid so it just overwhelmed all other flavours.

I was too full for their salt caramel tart, but A went for their chocolate mousse torte. This really looked a lot better than it tasted. Far from being light layers of mousse and cake, it was hard and dry, and almost impossible to cut through with a fork.

The only saving grace is that we chanced upon Poulet Vous a few doors down, which looks like it could have way more potential.

A says:

Given all the great coffee joints, cafes and bistros in Singapore, this place turned out to be a big disappointment. It's perfectly passable, but I'd only recommend it for residents in the area. Certainly not a worth a trip out.

Stirling Highway
5 Ridgewood Close
Unit #G1, Ridgewood Condominium
Tel: 6464-9607

Tsukune Ichigo

C says:

Located behind heavy wooden doors at one end of River Valley Road, Ichigo really is quite the hidden gem. I love the fact that nothing on the exterior betrays the fact that it's a yakitori izakaya inside; diners are there specifically for the food, rather than curious walk-ins.

Unlike places like Kazu or Nanbantei, Ichigo only serves yakitori in the true sense of the word - various different parts of the chicken. So no foie gras or wagyu beef or bacon-wrapped anything. Just chicken skewers, including their signature namesake - tsukune.

I'd recommend starting with their tsukune platter, which offers 5 different varieties, including one topped with cheese, and another with avocado mayo. Their tsukunes are excellent - very refined and very tasty. I personally like the one that includes some chicken soft bone, which adds a bit of textural crunch.

Of their yakitori skewers, we tried the chicken thigh, chicken heart and garlic wrapped with chicken skin. All no frills, with no fancy fixings, and all delicious.

They also had an appetiser with my name written over it (though I appreciate that this may not appeal to some) - chicken skin with cucumber. For me, the best kind of chicken skin is the sort from poached chicken rice, which is the kind used for this dish. The skin was tossed with cucumber and a light soy and sesame oil dressing. Perfect.

They have a few different kinds of pudding for dessert; we tried the milk pudding, which was more like a creme caramel than a milk pudding, but still a very good end to the meal.

I love the authenticity and unpretentiousness of this place. The dedication to perfecting the items in an unelaborate menu really shows, and I hope they always retain that charm.

A says:

Most of the stuff is average but that's besides the point because the chicken tsukune is AWESOME! Plus, the vibe is like the yakitori joints in Japan, except without the smoking indoors.

Tsukune Ichigo
399 River Valley Road
Tel: 6736-1340
Open daily: 6 pm - 11.30 pm

Strictly Pancakes

C says:

We had to run an errand at Siglap on Good Friday, which is how we ended up at Strictly Pancakes for an early dinner. Besides fairly elaborate dessert pancake concoctions, they have basic stacks of 2, 3 and 5 pancakes with your choice of butters.

I decided on a simple 2 stack with salted butter and maple syrup, and A had the Snuggle Up - basically pigs in blankets, with 2 pancakes wrapped around sausages with garlic butter.

Both were surprisingly very good. The pancakes were light and fluffy, though perhaps just a tad too thick for my liking. 2 of them really filled me up. The pigs in blankets were good too - the sausages had a good snap to them, and the garlic butter was heavenly.

Of course, I couldn't not have a side of chicken wings, and though these were a bit more breaded than I usually like, they were still pretty tasty and, more importantly, juicy and not overcooked.

It was good, but we wouldn't travel all the way to Siglap for them. Luckily, there's another outlet at Prinsep Street so that could be a more viable option.

A says:

Great pancakes. Decent sides. Not expensive. Defintely an option on the rare occasions we're in the area. Looking forward to trying the Prinsep Street branch soon.

Strictly Pancakes
81 Upper East Coast Road
Tel: 64487332
44A Prinsep Street
Tel: 6333-4202
www.strictlypancakes.com.sg

Niseko and Otaru

C says:

In the 2 years since we were last in Niseko, it's gotten even more crowded and touristy, to the point where dining out feels more like you're in Australia than in Japan... Still, Niseko will always be our happy place; we just have to look for less touristy hideaways on our next trips.

Bang2

No trip to Niseko is complete without a trip to either BangBang or Bang2, the 2 sister yakitori joints that serve some of the best skewers we've had, anywhere. Besides the awesome yaki camembert, this time we tried the grilled king crab legs, and thought we'd died and gone to heaven.

I never really understood the appeal of crab legs, since the ones I've tried have mainly been watery or tasteless. I thought the garlic ones at Crab in Da Bag were pretty good, but the one here completely blew us away. The legs were packed with meat, which was sweet, tender and smokey yet perfectly cooked from the expert grilling.

Tsubara Tsubara Soup Curry

Arguably the best soup curry in the Niseko area, this was a 10 minute walk from the centre of Hirafu, but it was well worth it.

Better than the Soup Curry Lavi chain from Hokkaido, the soup curry here is thin and soupy, yet still packs a spicy punch. Extremely addictive. My only regret was only have one meal here. Next time I need to plan for at least two.

Ezo Seafoods

Just like the Bangs, Ezo is consistently on everyone's list of recommended restaurants in Niseko. We missed coming here on our last 2 trips, so we made it a point to make a reservation here for our last night.

The seafood here is without question incredibly fresh. We had yellowtail, salmon and chutoro sashimi, all of which came with incredibly thick, unctuous slices.

The seafood and squid ink paella was very good, with lovely bits of charred rice to scrape from the pan.The crab legs here were simply boiled and served with a ponzu dipping sauce. Again, the crabmeat was amazingly sweet and meaty, but given the choice of this and the grilled ones at Bang2, we'd pick the grilled ones in a heartbeat.

Otaru is an hour and a half train ride from Niseko, so we took a day trip to visit all our favourite food joints, including Rokkatei soft ice cream and Kitakaro's cream puffs.

Sushi Gen

We stopped at Sushi Gen, the hole-in-the-wall sushi joint for which we have a soft spot. A ordered a set, while I ordered single pieces of my favourites like uni and toro.

All of them were very refined and very good. I love that because it's quite a random place, it's not at all touristy and we can go in, quietly have a few pieces of really good sushi, and pop out again.

Yabuhan Soba

Again, this place isn't along the main tourist street; hidden off the main street, it's an unassuming little haven for really good soba.

I had the cold soba with a hot duck dipping broth, and A had a simple zaru soba. So simple, and a simply perfect way to end our Otaru food crawl.

A says:

Bang Bang and Bang2 are AWESOME. Some of my fav bites in Japan. And best crab legs I've ever had. EVER. And of course Otaru is a fav place for us to get sushi, cream puffs and snacks and ice cream. If only we could go back every year.

Koyoshi and Kigawa, Osaka

C says:

Osaka may be the land of street food, but we also had a couple of non-street eat meals here, with varying degrees of success.

Koyoshi Sushi

Every trip needs at least one Anthony Bourdain recommendation; this time it was Koyoshi Sushi, a tiny little sushi bar run by a sweet little old couple.

We were a bit apprehensive, because they don't speak English, but armed with both a physical phrasebook and a few loaded onto my smartphone, and a perfunctory knowledge of sushi names, we actually managed to get by.

This was definitely one of our more memorable meals of the trip. The space was absolutely tiny - slide the door open and the seats are literally right in front of you. The sushi here isn't fancy and delicate either. They're big, hearty portions with thick, generous slabs of fish.

We ordered omakase, and left ourselves in chef's good hands. The quality was really good - very fresh and tasty, and some items just lightly seasoned to bring out their flavour. In particular, the bonito with thin slivers of garlic was a burst of flavour, and the otoro was possibly the best I've ever had.

Despite being somewhat lost in translation, we had a really enjoyable experience. They were very amused by our attempts to speak Japanese, and somehow, we managed to communicate on a very basic level.

Kigawa

Osaka is also known for kappo cuisine, where the chef prepares the food in front of you, open kitchen style. Chef Ueno, from Kigawa, is known as the father of kappo cuisine, and we read some good reviews of his place, so we thought we'd give it a try.

Suffice to say that it was a bit of a letdown. The kappo experience is somewhat lost if you can't really banter with the chef. And while I appreciate their efforts to provide us with written translations of our food, I think they viewed us more as tourist inconveniences. Maybe they're right, to some extent. While some of the dishes were good, I honestly couldn't appreciate some of the offerings, like the very strongly flavoured nori served with the porridge at the end, or the heavy hand with the mitsuba that tasted disconcertingly like cilantro.

Maybe fancy Japanese just isn't for us. Our palates aren't quite refined enough for the onslaught of different flavours that are part of the whole seasonal dining experience.

A says:

Koyoshi was hard to find but a thoroughly enjoyable experience in a tiny mom-and-pop-style sushi joint. Plus, great value. I'd rather come here than the more commercial places.

Kigawa was good, but I think we were fine-dined out after Kyoto and weren't really blown away.

Overall, in Osaka, I'd stick to the Dotonburi street food for great value. Oh, and the Hanshin Department Store Food Hall. RAWK. Easily rivals any you would find in Tokyo.

Street eats in Osaka

C says:

Osaka is the land of kuidaore, and what better place to do so than on the Dotonburi, where you can gorge on all manner of street eats.

Takoyaki, incendiary balls of grilled batter filled with diced octopus, are everywhere. We sampled from 2 different stalls, and those from the unassuming, non-touristy one were far superior.

Probably the best deal ever were the 6 gyozas for 100 yen - approximately S$1.20. Insanely good value and really tasty too.

The kushikatsu at Daruma was a bit of a letdown. I didn't expect that much batter, so despite ordering different meat and vegetable skewers, everything tasted quite similar.

Last must-have on our Osaka street food list was okonomiyaki, and all research pointed to Mizuno as serving the best in town. Far from being a generic tourist trap, Mizuno is apparently still a family-run restaurant, where focus on quality is more important to them than churning out multiple orders.

We ordered 2 types of okonomiyaki - a standard one, and one with a thinner pancake. The thin one was crispier but it also lacked the sinful oomph of the regular one. Both were cooked perfectly, with crisp outsides and steaming hot, gooey centres.

Not quite a street eat but just as satisfying was the kare raisu at Jiyuken. Here, the curry rice is almost risotto-like, and it's served with a raw egg on top. You're supposed to stir it in and add Worcestershire sauce to taste. Bizarrely, it actually all works and is the ultimate comfort food.

A says:

Dotonburi. Never has cheap and good been truer. Although my favourite thing on the street was still the Lord Stow's portuguese egg tarts from Macau. Possibly even better than the original.

Our trip to Arashiyama

C says:

We took a day trip to Arashiyama from Kyoto, mainly to see the famed Bamboo Forest, but managed to fit in some pretty good meals as well.

Unagi Hirokawa specialises in all forms of unagi. Their signature unagi don features perfectly grilled unagi, seasoned with some sweet soy but not so much that you can't taste the unagi, over perfectly cooked rice.

In addition, their unagi and burdock stew, and grilled unagi liver, were really good too.

Just outside the Tenruji temple was a yuba shop that sold an awesome yuba soft serve ice cream, that set the standard for all other tofu ice creams that we subsequently tried on our trip. It had just the right amount of sweetness, balanced with the flavour of the yuba. The other ones didn’t even come close.

Tempura Matsu

Tempura Matsu is slightly further out from the main centre of Arashiyama, but it was well worth the walk. Originally just a tempura restaurant, the chef's experiments soon became more popular than his tempura, and now they're known for an excellent, and very good value, omakase.

Some particular standouts in a very good meal were the fatty yellowtail that they lightly seared on hot stones right in front of us - smokey and almost buttery, this first course set the tone for the rest of the meal.

The rice duo was also amazing. 2 small bowls of rice, one topped with otoro, and another with crab meat mixed with crab brains. Heaven.

Another very interesting dish was the unagi hotpot. They heated a pot of eel broth, and cooked slices of unagi, shabu shabu-style, before giving it to us for dipping in a ponzu sauce. Tasting the unagi without the usual adornments of grilling and sweet sauce was quite an eye-opener - it had the potential to be very fishy but it was perfectly balanced.

Dessert was grilled mochi balls with kinako (roasted soybean) powder, which A fell in love with and again, no other version we ordered elsewhere even came close.

For such a tiny little town, Arashiyama certainly has lots to offer, food-wise. There's even, inexplicably, the only Arinco King outlet outside Tokyo – go figure.

A says:

Tempura Matsu was a highlight of our trip. Well worth the walk and getting lost by the river. The tofu skin ice cream was also a great eye opener. Approved.

Kyoto kaiseki

C says:

When you think about food in Kyoto, kaiseki - meticulously prepared and painstakingly presented multi-course meals showcasing seasonal ingredients - immediately comes to mind. Since fine dining Japanese food is (to us) prohibitively expensive in Singapore, we decided to try our fill in Kyoto.

Kikunoi

Kikunoi has been endorsed in almost every Kyoto food guide. For us, it also helps that it's been featured in numerous foodie shows and books, including Lucky Peach and The Mind Of A Chef.

There's no doubt that it's quite an experience. From the minute you arrive and are ushered to your own private tatami room to the time you leave and they bow till you're out of sight, you're treated as a special guest. They thoughtfully even prepared an English menu for us, knowing we were tourists.

The presentation of the food was spectacular and, having read Chef Murata's cookbook beforehand, the time and effort that went into each component was mindblowing.

A few standouts were his signature otoro with soy-egg yolk dipping sauce, and the soup. For the otoro egg-yolk dish, he marinates egg yolks in soy sauce for 2 days, then whips them together to form the sauce, which complements the otoro perfectly.

What fascinated me about the soup was the paper thin sliver of daikon radish that covered the surface of the bowl. Because it was winter, that was supposed to evoke images of a pond that had frozen over.

Some of the other dishes weren't quite suitable for our palate, like the fugu sashimi, and the wild boar hotpot using a broth of sake lees. I'm sure only the best ingredients were used, but it's just a matter of not quite being used to the flavours and textures.

Hiiragiya Bekkan

Our second kaiseki experience was at the ryokan where we stayed - a cheaper, more casual sister property of the more lauded and expensive Hiiragiya. We had 2 very good meals there - a kaiseki dinner, and a pretty good breakfast.

While it wasn't as fancy or elaborate as Kikunoi, the food was very tasty, and probably a bit more comforting too. They served their eel lightly aburi-ed, which really brought out the flavours.

Kyoto is known for its tofu, and we had some really fresh tofu here, simply steamed with a bit of dashi and yuzu. The best part of kaiseki is how they just let the freshness and seasonality of the ingredients speak for themselves.

While I'm glad we've tried authentic kaiseki in Kyoto, I think we still prefer more casual dining experiences, especially in a place like Japan, where good food can be had at almost every turn.

A says:

Imho, I found that once you get to a higher level of kaiseki (moderately expensive to very expensive), it's just all very good seasonal product. So the only difference is the prettiness of the presentation and the formality of service. So it really depends on what you're after, just the food, or more of the experience. Having tried both, I'll stick with the more affordable option in the future.

Blu Kouzina

C says:

I'm usually not a fan of Greek or Mediterranean food, so I wasn't particularly enthused when A suggested trying Blu Kouzina, after hearing rave recommendations from his friends.

How wrong I was. It turned out to be nothing like what I expected. It's an unassuming, homely neighbourhood joint, without any fanciness or fuss.

We started with a pan-fried feta cheese with honey, which was hot, sweet and oozy, followed by one of the best grilled octopus we've ever had - super tender and incredibly charred.

Their signature dish, the beef skewers, was pretty good, but what really impressed were the lamb chops. Grilled very simply without overpowering seasoning, they were perfectly cooked and incredibly flavourful.

I still don't really like Greek desserts - too sweet for my liking, but A really enjoyed the phyllo dough and almond parcels doused in syrup.

Now I know why it's so hard to get a reservation here at short notice - the place is small and the food is excellent. Not exactly a spur of the moment place, but definitely a must-try for the octopus and lamb.

A says:

I like it. Thanks to my friend SL for the recommend.

Blu Kouzina
893 Bukit Timah Road
Tel: 6875-0872
Lunch
Fri - Sun: 12pm - 2.30pm
Dinner
Mon - Sun: 6pm - 10pm