A says:
Finally! The East has something to redeem itself. I spent part of my childhood living in Katong and fondly recall how fun Parkway Parade was when it first opened. But we were forced to flee during the war and the whole place went to hell. My occasional sojourns back left me feeling empty at the soulless place it had become.
So it is with great joy that I report of the renewed vitality that has returned to the mall of my youth. Once more, one can find delightful curios that tickle the senses and prickle the imagination.
Anyway… Fish & Chips at basement food court BEST! Be sure to ask for vinegar. There’s also a New Zealand Natural ice cream kiosk on ground floor where you can get an EXTREME shake! Sedap!
C says:
Nice shops… retail therapy… I like…
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Monday, March 27, 2006
Ichibantei
C says:
After watching two weeks of ramen specials on Japan Hour, and reading today’s Sunday Times feature on ramen places in Singapore, we decided to finally succumb to our (or rather, my) ramen craving, and went to Ichibantei at Quayside for dinner.
The place was packed, and I think the waitstaff were rather overwhelmed. They were slightly inattentive, but once we managed to get their attention, we got a table, ordered and got our food all fairly quickly.
We managed to order the eel dish that was sold out when we wanted to try it at Ai Japanese restaurant a couple of weeks ago. This was really good – chunks of eel steamed with onions and beaten egg in a sweet teriyaki sauce.
I had the tonkotsu ramen, which is several slices of char siew, a half boiled egg and some bamboo shoots in Kyushu-style broth, which is made with pork bones. I was in heaven – the soup was milky white from the pork bones and full of flavour, and it even had bits of fried garlic to enhance the flavour. The texture of the ramen was good too, springy and firm with lots of bite to it. A had the tantan men, which had additional ingredients of sesame paste, chili paste and minced beef and pork added to the pork bone soup. This tasted a bit nutty, but because it reminded me of satay gravy, it wasn’t quite my cup of tea.
A great reason to keep coming back to this place is the soft ice cream dispenser. If you order a soft ice cream, the waitress will literally give you an ice cream cone in a metal holder with a handle, and you’re supposed to dispense it yourself. Believe me, it’s NOT as easy as it looks. Mine turned out ok because I decided not to be greedy; 3 swirls were all I dared to do before easing off on the lever. I’ll leave A to share his experience…
A says:
Bloody machine couldn’t be switched off (it’s actually quite simple if you’re not panicking while trying to balance a 4 level tower of power)! So now I’m prepared and going for 5 levels of swirls next time. I ended up catching the tumbling ice cream in my hand and having to gulp it down before further calamity struck.
Anyway, service kinda sucked and the servers looked stressed to hell by the crowd, which could be because the restaurant was in the papers that day as one of the best ramen joints in Singapore. I personally didn’t find the ramen all that fantastic. The unagi rocked but what’s going to bring me back is the soft-serve machine. Damn that machine! Vengeance will be mine!
After watching two weeks of ramen specials on Japan Hour, and reading today’s Sunday Times feature on ramen places in Singapore, we decided to finally succumb to our (or rather, my) ramen craving, and went to Ichibantei at Quayside for dinner.
The place was packed, and I think the waitstaff were rather overwhelmed. They were slightly inattentive, but once we managed to get their attention, we got a table, ordered and got our food all fairly quickly.
We managed to order the eel dish that was sold out when we wanted to try it at Ai Japanese restaurant a couple of weeks ago. This was really good – chunks of eel steamed with onions and beaten egg in a sweet teriyaki sauce.
I had the tonkotsu ramen, which is several slices of char siew, a half boiled egg and some bamboo shoots in Kyushu-style broth, which is made with pork bones. I was in heaven – the soup was milky white from the pork bones and full of flavour, and it even had bits of fried garlic to enhance the flavour. The texture of the ramen was good too, springy and firm with lots of bite to it. A had the tantan men, which had additional ingredients of sesame paste, chili paste and minced beef and pork added to the pork bone soup. This tasted a bit nutty, but because it reminded me of satay gravy, it wasn’t quite my cup of tea.
A great reason to keep coming back to this place is the soft ice cream dispenser. If you order a soft ice cream, the waitress will literally give you an ice cream cone in a metal holder with a handle, and you’re supposed to dispense it yourself. Believe me, it’s NOT as easy as it looks. Mine turned out ok because I decided not to be greedy; 3 swirls were all I dared to do before easing off on the lever. I’ll leave A to share his experience…
A says:
Bloody machine couldn’t be switched off (it’s actually quite simple if you’re not panicking while trying to balance a 4 level tower of power)! So now I’m prepared and going for 5 levels of swirls next time. I ended up catching the tumbling ice cream in my hand and having to gulp it down before further calamity struck.
Anyway, service kinda sucked and the servers looked stressed to hell by the crowd, which could be because the restaurant was in the papers that day as one of the best ramen joints in Singapore. I personally didn’t find the ramen all that fantastic. The unagi rocked but what’s going to bring me back is the soft-serve machine. Damn that machine! Vengeance will be mine!
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Victor’s Kitchen
C says:
If you’re feeling in the mood for classic, good quality dim sum, head down to Victor’s Kitchen, which is tucked away inside Sunshine Plaza on Bencoolen Street. We read about this place in a food blog, and decided to try it on Sunday morning for brunch. Judging from the crowd at the restaurant in an otherwise deserted shopping mall, many other people had read the blog as well.
There isn’t a huge selection of dim sum at Victor’s, but everything that we tried was incredibly fresh. It probably helps that Victor is standing there continually making dumplings and other items, so that you know that what you’re getting is nothing short of 100% fresh.
The siew mai and har kau were amazing – generously filled with fresh prawns that were sweet and crisp and springy. The carrot cake was steamed, rather than the traditional pan-fried variety. This was a welcome change – it was much healthier, and you could really taste the individual ingredients of turnip, dried scallops and lup cheong without being overwhelmed by any oiliness.
The char siew pau and custard pau were good too. Unlike most commercial places where there’s more dough than filling, the paus at this place were very generous with the fillings. Of course, this isn’t exactly a plus point for carb-obsessed A, who would prefer 80% dough and 20% filling…
We had two chee cheong funs: char siew, and a very interesting you tiao one. The char siew one rocked – the cheong fun was very fine and silky smooth, and the sesame oil-laced sauce that it came with was perfect and not too salty. The you tiao one was interesting because of the difference in textures of the soft cheong fun and crispy you tiao, but it became quite gelak after a while.
The great thing about this place is, even with such fresh and good quality ingredients, the average price of each item is $3, which is on par with or even cheaper than other mass market dim sum places that are no where near the standard of Victor’s.
A says:
This is one hole-in-the-wall places I really don’t mind. Overall, it’s damn good dim sum. I like the you tiao chee cheong fun but a bit of an overdose if you eat the whole thing by yourself. The only thing I can think of that’s better somewhere else is the char siew pau (Crystal Jade ones are better).
Expect the staff to be brisk. Think they’re from China. Can be friendly but can also be very, “This your order? Nar!”
If you’re feeling in the mood for classic, good quality dim sum, head down to Victor’s Kitchen, which is tucked away inside Sunshine Plaza on Bencoolen Street. We read about this place in a food blog, and decided to try it on Sunday morning for brunch. Judging from the crowd at the restaurant in an otherwise deserted shopping mall, many other people had read the blog as well.
There isn’t a huge selection of dim sum at Victor’s, but everything that we tried was incredibly fresh. It probably helps that Victor is standing there continually making dumplings and other items, so that you know that what you’re getting is nothing short of 100% fresh.
The siew mai and har kau were amazing – generously filled with fresh prawns that were sweet and crisp and springy. The carrot cake was steamed, rather than the traditional pan-fried variety. This was a welcome change – it was much healthier, and you could really taste the individual ingredients of turnip, dried scallops and lup cheong without being overwhelmed by any oiliness.
The char siew pau and custard pau were good too. Unlike most commercial places where there’s more dough than filling, the paus at this place were very generous with the fillings. Of course, this isn’t exactly a plus point for carb-obsessed A, who would prefer 80% dough and 20% filling…
We had two chee cheong funs: char siew, and a very interesting you tiao one. The char siew one rocked – the cheong fun was very fine and silky smooth, and the sesame oil-laced sauce that it came with was perfect and not too salty. The you tiao one was interesting because of the difference in textures of the soft cheong fun and crispy you tiao, but it became quite gelak after a while.
The great thing about this place is, even with such fresh and good quality ingredients, the average price of each item is $3, which is on par with or even cheaper than other mass market dim sum places that are no where near the standard of Victor’s.
A says:
This is one hole-in-the-wall places I really don’t mind. Overall, it’s damn good dim sum. I like the you tiao chee cheong fun but a bit of an overdose if you eat the whole thing by yourself. The only thing I can think of that’s better somewhere else is the char siew pau (Crystal Jade ones are better).
Expect the staff to be brisk. Think they’re from China. Can be friendly but can also be very, “This your order? Nar!”
Sunset Bar & Grill
C says:
This place has the best buffalo wings in Singapore, by a mile. A discovered it when he went there a couple of years ago for a friend’s stag night, and it was by sheer luck that the both of us managed to find it again a few months after that. It’s tucked deep (and I do mean deep) within Seletar Airbase, amongst old colonial bungalows and aircraft hangars. In fact, the restaurant is situated right next to the runway, and if you’re lucky, you can catch a plane taking off or landing while you feast on the scrumptious food. Of course, once we found the place, we took no chances and asked them to give us a detailed map, which we followed precisely on our next visit, and we’ve been going back so often ever since that the route is now second nature to us.
To me, the place is worth going purely for the buffalo wings. The wings arrive piping hot and are tender and juicy, with the meat practically falling off the bone. The hotness levels range from Level 1 all the way to Level 10. We’ve never tried anything beyond Level 4, though, which already pretty much reduces everyone to tears. The deep fried calamari is also very simple but one of the best I’ve tried, with the calamari crispy on the outside yet tender and not at all chewy.
On Friday night we went with our friends S and E. We had brought S there before, but it was E’s first time. S’s chili tolerance is on the low side, so we had half a dozen Level 1s just for her, and another dozen Level 3s for the rest of us. The wings didn’t disappoint, although they were definitely less spicy than previous Level 3s that we’ve had there. I’m quite sure that chili levels are arbitrary, because unless they have precise measurements on how much chili goes into Level 3, 4, 5, etc, you’ll never get the exact same amount of spiciness each time. Friday’s Level 3 was like a normal Level 2, but they were still enjoyable to the last morsel.
The four of us shared a brownie with ice cream for dessert. A wanted his own brownie but unfortunately they only had one brownie left. The brownie here is baked by the owner Jerry’s wife, and is typically old school – warm, soft and almost cake-like, with only a minimum amount of nuts, then drizzled with hot fudge sauce and served with vanilla ice cream. Interesting point – S asked the waitstaff what brand of vanilla ice cream they use, expecting it to be Haagen Daaz or Ben & Jerry’s. To our surprise, it was Nestle! The ice cream was surprisingly good, so perhaps Nestle’s quality has improved in recent years.
A says:
Unofficial history (derived from rumors, gossip & hearsay) – the owner of Sunset is the Jerry of Jerry’s. He sold that and went on to start Buckaroo’s. Sold that and is now doing Sunset.
Each place has its own specialty in my opinion (Jerry’s has better beef ribs while Buckaroo’s has the onion tower thing), but this place is my favorite. Almost all the starters rock. The calamari is also some of the best I’ve had in Singapore. The starters are so good that we order a whole bunch of those and just skip the mains. In fact, the only main really worth ordering is the hamburger.
I think besides the food, what sells the place is the setting. It’s laidback and getting there is an adventure in itself. So good luck finding the place!
This place has the best buffalo wings in Singapore, by a mile. A discovered it when he went there a couple of years ago for a friend’s stag night, and it was by sheer luck that the both of us managed to find it again a few months after that. It’s tucked deep (and I do mean deep) within Seletar Airbase, amongst old colonial bungalows and aircraft hangars. In fact, the restaurant is situated right next to the runway, and if you’re lucky, you can catch a plane taking off or landing while you feast on the scrumptious food. Of course, once we found the place, we took no chances and asked them to give us a detailed map, which we followed precisely on our next visit, and we’ve been going back so often ever since that the route is now second nature to us.
To me, the place is worth going purely for the buffalo wings. The wings arrive piping hot and are tender and juicy, with the meat practically falling off the bone. The hotness levels range from Level 1 all the way to Level 10. We’ve never tried anything beyond Level 4, though, which already pretty much reduces everyone to tears. The deep fried calamari is also very simple but one of the best I’ve tried, with the calamari crispy on the outside yet tender and not at all chewy.
On Friday night we went with our friends S and E. We had brought S there before, but it was E’s first time. S’s chili tolerance is on the low side, so we had half a dozen Level 1s just for her, and another dozen Level 3s for the rest of us. The wings didn’t disappoint, although they were definitely less spicy than previous Level 3s that we’ve had there. I’m quite sure that chili levels are arbitrary, because unless they have precise measurements on how much chili goes into Level 3, 4, 5, etc, you’ll never get the exact same amount of spiciness each time. Friday’s Level 3 was like a normal Level 2, but they were still enjoyable to the last morsel.
The four of us shared a brownie with ice cream for dessert. A wanted his own brownie but unfortunately they only had one brownie left. The brownie here is baked by the owner Jerry’s wife, and is typically old school – warm, soft and almost cake-like, with only a minimum amount of nuts, then drizzled with hot fudge sauce and served with vanilla ice cream. Interesting point – S asked the waitstaff what brand of vanilla ice cream they use, expecting it to be Haagen Daaz or Ben & Jerry’s. To our surprise, it was Nestle! The ice cream was surprisingly good, so perhaps Nestle’s quality has improved in recent years.
A says:
Unofficial history (derived from rumors, gossip & hearsay) – the owner of Sunset is the Jerry of Jerry’s. He sold that and went on to start Buckaroo’s. Sold that and is now doing Sunset.
Each place has its own specialty in my opinion (Jerry’s has better beef ribs while Buckaroo’s has the onion tower thing), but this place is my favorite. Almost all the starters rock. The calamari is also some of the best I’ve had in Singapore. The starters are so good that we order a whole bunch of those and just skip the mains. In fact, the only main really worth ordering is the hamburger.
I think besides the food, what sells the place is the setting. It’s laidback and getting there is an adventure in itself. So good luck finding the place!
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Student Eating
A says:
C abandoned me for yoga so I decided to save some time and money by going back to eating what I used to as a poor college student. That being said, I had 4 slices of plain bread with ketchup. I’d usually supplement that with a slice of Kraft American Cheese but since we had some leftover Camembert, I finished that off instead.
Side note: There was a picture of a cow on the cheese container and a sticker on the back saying “Made from goat’s milk”. Bloody mis-rep!
Had some of C’s cookies for dessert and washed it down with a glass of milk. Took all of 10 seconds to get dinner ready and a minute to clean up. Super easy, super cheap and super light. Think I should have more of these.
C abandoned me for yoga so I decided to save some time and money by going back to eating what I used to as a poor college student. That being said, I had 4 slices of plain bread with ketchup. I’d usually supplement that with a slice of Kraft American Cheese but since we had some leftover Camembert, I finished that off instead.
Side note: There was a picture of a cow on the cheese container and a sticker on the back saying “Made from goat’s milk”. Bloody mis-rep!
Had some of C’s cookies for dessert and washed it down with a glass of milk. Took all of 10 seconds to get dinner ready and a minute to clean up. Super easy, super cheap and super light. Think I should have more of these.
Monday, March 20, 2006
Sistina
C says:
So much for our resolution to eat prudently this weekend (cos we already fulfilled our allotted two ‘fancy’ dinners per week on Thursday and Friday). A had a pizza craving and didn’t feel like lowly ol’ Rockys, so we ended up at Holland Village where we had to choose between Sistina and Da Paolo’s Pizza Bar. Of course, A inevitably chose the more posh joint… To be fair, we’ve been meaning to try Sistina for the longest time.
We shared a mushroom soup and an insalata caprese (tomatoes and mozzarella) to start. The soup was pretty basic but somehow strangely addictive. The insalata caprese was ok but I found the one at La Vela better, probably because of the quality of the mozzarella.
The pizzas fared much better. We both had thin-crust 8 inch pizzas - I had the pizza of the day, which had bacon, salami, asparagus and mushroom (told them to hold the olives) and A had the Vespa, consisting of rosemary-marinated lamb slices, grilled eggplant and feta cheese (also holding the olives). A’s was certainly very flavourful, but I’m sure not if I could have dealt with an entire pizza on my own; for me it would’ve been a bit gelak after a while. I much preferred my more basic pizza. Also, A begs to differ, but I prefer the pizza here to Peperoni. I think the flavour of the tomato sauce base is much better. I do agree, however, that if you’re in the mood for a no-frills pizza, Peperoni is probably a better bet.
A says:
What is it with paying too much for food lately. The pizzas here are certainly very, very good, but the starters were way over priced. Maybe next time we go we’ll just have pizza or some other mains. Although I think we’ll try Da Paolo before we come back here.
And yes, I still prefer Peperoni because of its nice, clean taste (simple food for simple folk, yo!)
So much for our resolution to eat prudently this weekend (cos we already fulfilled our allotted two ‘fancy’ dinners per week on Thursday and Friday). A had a pizza craving and didn’t feel like lowly ol’ Rockys, so we ended up at Holland Village where we had to choose between Sistina and Da Paolo’s Pizza Bar. Of course, A inevitably chose the more posh joint… To be fair, we’ve been meaning to try Sistina for the longest time.
We shared a mushroom soup and an insalata caprese (tomatoes and mozzarella) to start. The soup was pretty basic but somehow strangely addictive. The insalata caprese was ok but I found the one at La Vela better, probably because of the quality of the mozzarella.
The pizzas fared much better. We both had thin-crust 8 inch pizzas - I had the pizza of the day, which had bacon, salami, asparagus and mushroom (told them to hold the olives) and A had the Vespa, consisting of rosemary-marinated lamb slices, grilled eggplant and feta cheese (also holding the olives). A’s was certainly very flavourful, but I’m sure not if I could have dealt with an entire pizza on my own; for me it would’ve been a bit gelak after a while. I much preferred my more basic pizza. Also, A begs to differ, but I prefer the pizza here to Peperoni. I think the flavour of the tomato sauce base is much better. I do agree, however, that if you’re in the mood for a no-frills pizza, Peperoni is probably a better bet.
A says:
What is it with paying too much for food lately. The pizzas here are certainly very, very good, but the starters were way over priced. Maybe next time we go we’ll just have pizza or some other mains. Although I think we’ll try Da Paolo before we come back here.
And yes, I still prefer Peperoni because of its nice, clean taste (simple food for simple folk, yo!)
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Unknown Jap place at Quayside
C says:
We had dinner with A&C (yes, same initials as us) on Friday night. We were supposed to go to Ichibantei at Quayside, but we got sidetracked by a new restaurant (apparently run by the same Ichibantei management) next to it that had just opened. Neither of us could decide which to go to, so we flipped a coin and the new one it was. Unfortunately the name escapes me, even after spending the last half hour googling and yahooing. If it’s any help, the restaurant occupies what used to be Tamade (*sniff* the place brings back fond memories for A and me…).
I thought the food was ok, typical Japanese fare but nothing to scream about. It didn’t help that they were out of 2 things that we wanted to order – tuna sashimi and some unagi dish. A and I shared a zaru soba which was ok, but we’ve had better zaru soba in an unassuming Japanese joint in the basement of Raffles City. The squid tentacles fried with butter were quite nice, and karaage (deep fried chicken) was served with a rather interesting sour-salty sauce.
After dinner, we went over to Ichibantei for their soft ice-cream, which was yummy. I had a look at the Ichibantei menu while waiting for the ice-cream and now I’ve got a ramen craving. Wonder when we can go back to try the ramen and have more ice-cream…
A says:
We didn’t have the $36 shabu-shabu buffet, which would probably be the only thing worth it on the menu. Food was remarkably average. Nothing bad, but nothing special at all. Could probably get the same things much cheaper elsewhere.
The ice cream place looked fun though. Looking forward to going back there. Highly doubt we’ll go to the unknown jap place again (even if it did take over Tamade’s spot at Quayside).
We had dinner with A&C (yes, same initials as us) on Friday night. We were supposed to go to Ichibantei at Quayside, but we got sidetracked by a new restaurant (apparently run by the same Ichibantei management) next to it that had just opened. Neither of us could decide which to go to, so we flipped a coin and the new one it was. Unfortunately the name escapes me, even after spending the last half hour googling and yahooing. If it’s any help, the restaurant occupies what used to be Tamade (*sniff* the place brings back fond memories for A and me…).
I thought the food was ok, typical Japanese fare but nothing to scream about. It didn’t help that they were out of 2 things that we wanted to order – tuna sashimi and some unagi dish. A and I shared a zaru soba which was ok, but we’ve had better zaru soba in an unassuming Japanese joint in the basement of Raffles City. The squid tentacles fried with butter were quite nice, and karaage (deep fried chicken) was served with a rather interesting sour-salty sauce.
After dinner, we went over to Ichibantei for their soft ice-cream, which was yummy. I had a look at the Ichibantei menu while waiting for the ice-cream and now I’ve got a ramen craving. Wonder when we can go back to try the ramen and have more ice-cream…
A says:
We didn’t have the $36 shabu-shabu buffet, which would probably be the only thing worth it on the menu. Food was remarkably average. Nothing bad, but nothing special at all. Could probably get the same things much cheaper elsewhere.
The ice cream place looked fun though. Looking forward to going back there. Highly doubt we’ll go to the unknown jap place again (even if it did take over Tamade’s spot at Quayside).
Friday, March 17, 2006
Kazu
C says:
We finally went to Kazu last night (Thursday) after reading and hearing so much about it. Reservations are definitely necessary, because the last time we tried to go, at like 7 pm on a weekday, we were turned away because they were completely full. This time we learned our lesson and made a booking almost a week in advance.
The restaurant is tucked away on the 4th floor of Cuppage Plaza, amidst seedy karaoke bars with hostesses milling around outside. It clearly doesn’t need any advertising or marketing apart from word-of-mouth, because even though it was a Thursday night it was still packed. The waitresses were surprisingly friendly though; I expected them to be really atas and snotty to us, since we’re not regulars, but when they found out that we were first-timers, they were really helpful in suggesting their specialties to us.
Almost all of the stuff we had was GREAT. They’re a sumiyaki place as well, but instead of you cooking your own food like at Aburiya, here they skewer it yakitori-style and grill it for you. We were only able to sample like 10% of their extremely extensive menu. Amongst other things, their specialties are chicken skewers and bacon skewers (misleadingly called pork belly rolls on the menu). They have skewers for practically every part of the chicken – wing, liver, heart, gizzard, tail, skin, neck skin (is there a difference?!), soft bone… the list seems endless. We tried a standard chicken, a chunky wild chicken, chicken wing, liver, and crispy chicken skin. We had the chicken meat skewers with teriyaki sauce, but the rest were salt-and-pepper (the default seasoning of most of the skewers). I didn’t see much difference between the chicken and wild chicken, but A preferred the wild chicken (maybe cos it was more expensive, the atas Teochew ah sia...). The chicken wing was great, as was the artery-clogging crispy chicken skin.
The equally artery-clogging bacon rolls, with the ingredients wrapped with bacon, are also delicious. We had several mushroom ones – enoki (golden) mushroom, maitake mushroom (which tasted quite wild and earthy) and eringi mushroom. The eringi mushroom was a seasonal special and was really interesting cos it tasted so meaty that it took me a while to realise that it wasn’t a pure pork belly skewer. I think the enoki mushroom was better than the maitake; the texture lent itself better to skewers. We also had bacon wrapped with sticky rice cakes, which was interesting but I may not order it next time. The potato bacon rolls and garlic bacon rolls were ok but nothing to rave about.
A killer item, of which we had a repeat order, was the beef with cheese skewer. A juicy mozzarella chunk wrapped with a thin slice of beef. Mmmm… The grilled foie gras was also delicious. It was seasoned with salt and pepper, and grilled till the edges were crispy. Some other skewers we had were belly pork, and miso pork with eggplant. We tried the garlic fried rice, which came with a miso soup with meatballs. The meatballs were really good; I think there was some crabmeat in them. The rice had crispy fried garlic chips in it which were really fragrant. Next time I’ll just stick to the skewers tho, I think the rice got me pretty full.
The only downer that we ordered was the yakiniku – sautéed Australian wagyu beef slices. While the flavour of the beef was good, it was incredibly tough. I couldn’t even bite into it, and had to put each fairly large piece into my mouth and chew incessantly before I managed to get it down.
Apart from the beef, everything else was a winner and this is another place that definitely begs a repeat visit.
A says:
Funniest thing was this Russian guy at the next table talking really loudly about this foursome he had (obviously a banker or a trader or something like that cause of the bank name he kept dropping – he was in the Amsterdam, London and New York branches). Haha. Anyway, I’m super impressed by the service. C seemed perpetually gleeful over the location in the seedy heart of Singapore’s Little Tokyo. She kept going, “Do you think those are xiao jie? Can you go ask them if they’re xiao jies?”
Anyway, with regards to the food, the rule of thumb is to stick to the food that is on a stick. Everything else pales in comparison.
We finally went to Kazu last night (Thursday) after reading and hearing so much about it. Reservations are definitely necessary, because the last time we tried to go, at like 7 pm on a weekday, we were turned away because they were completely full. This time we learned our lesson and made a booking almost a week in advance.
The restaurant is tucked away on the 4th floor of Cuppage Plaza, amidst seedy karaoke bars with hostesses milling around outside. It clearly doesn’t need any advertising or marketing apart from word-of-mouth, because even though it was a Thursday night it was still packed. The waitresses were surprisingly friendly though; I expected them to be really atas and snotty to us, since we’re not regulars, but when they found out that we were first-timers, they were really helpful in suggesting their specialties to us.
Almost all of the stuff we had was GREAT. They’re a sumiyaki place as well, but instead of you cooking your own food like at Aburiya, here they skewer it yakitori-style and grill it for you. We were only able to sample like 10% of their extremely extensive menu. Amongst other things, their specialties are chicken skewers and bacon skewers (misleadingly called pork belly rolls on the menu). They have skewers for practically every part of the chicken – wing, liver, heart, gizzard, tail, skin, neck skin (is there a difference?!), soft bone… the list seems endless. We tried a standard chicken, a chunky wild chicken, chicken wing, liver, and crispy chicken skin. We had the chicken meat skewers with teriyaki sauce, but the rest were salt-and-pepper (the default seasoning of most of the skewers). I didn’t see much difference between the chicken and wild chicken, but A preferred the wild chicken (maybe cos it was more expensive, the atas Teochew ah sia...). The chicken wing was great, as was the artery-clogging crispy chicken skin.
The equally artery-clogging bacon rolls, with the ingredients wrapped with bacon, are also delicious. We had several mushroom ones – enoki (golden) mushroom, maitake mushroom (which tasted quite wild and earthy) and eringi mushroom. The eringi mushroom was a seasonal special and was really interesting cos it tasted so meaty that it took me a while to realise that it wasn’t a pure pork belly skewer. I think the enoki mushroom was better than the maitake; the texture lent itself better to skewers. We also had bacon wrapped with sticky rice cakes, which was interesting but I may not order it next time. The potato bacon rolls and garlic bacon rolls were ok but nothing to rave about.
A killer item, of which we had a repeat order, was the beef with cheese skewer. A juicy mozzarella chunk wrapped with a thin slice of beef. Mmmm… The grilled foie gras was also delicious. It was seasoned with salt and pepper, and grilled till the edges were crispy. Some other skewers we had were belly pork, and miso pork with eggplant. We tried the garlic fried rice, which came with a miso soup with meatballs. The meatballs were really good; I think there was some crabmeat in them. The rice had crispy fried garlic chips in it which were really fragrant. Next time I’ll just stick to the skewers tho, I think the rice got me pretty full.
The only downer that we ordered was the yakiniku – sautéed Australian wagyu beef slices. While the flavour of the beef was good, it was incredibly tough. I couldn’t even bite into it, and had to put each fairly large piece into my mouth and chew incessantly before I managed to get it down.
Apart from the beef, everything else was a winner and this is another place that definitely begs a repeat visit.
A says:
Funniest thing was this Russian guy at the next table talking really loudly about this foursome he had (obviously a banker or a trader or something like that cause of the bank name he kept dropping – he was in the Amsterdam, London and New York branches). Haha. Anyway, I’m super impressed by the service. C seemed perpetually gleeful over the location in the seedy heart of Singapore’s Little Tokyo. She kept going, “Do you think those are xiao jie? Can you go ask them if they’re xiao jies?”
Anyway, with regards to the food, the rule of thumb is to stick to the food that is on a stick. Everything else pales in comparison.
Monday, March 13, 2006
Whitebait and Kale
C says:
Had a fairly good dinner here on Saturday night to celebrate a friend’s engagement. Service wasn’t the best, cos it took ages for us to get a waiter’s attention to order some drinks before dinner, but the food was better than expected.
We all shared the deep fried whitebait, which was certainly very addictive and a lot lighter than fried calamari. I had the deep fried mozzarella salad with tomatoes and basil as a starter, and A had the grilled Portobello mushroom with seared scallops. The mozzarella was slightly disappointing, cos I was expecting the cheese to be creamier and richer, more like buffalo mozzarella. The mushroom and scallops were good, though.
I had the risotto with shrimp, asparagus and cherry tomatoes, drizzled with lemon oil. I like ordering risotto in restaurants cos it’s something I can never bother to make myself. This was quite refreshing, but towards the end it pretty much did me in; I guess all the starch just expanded in my stomach. A (as well as practically everyone else at the table) had one of the specials, the grilled rib-eye with chestnut-truffle mash and veal jus. The beef was pretty good, but the winner of the evening was the truffle mash. This ROCKED – the hint of truffle in the mashed potatoes, which were still lumpy enough to have some texture and bite, was really good.
For all my fullness, I still had to have a dessert so A and I shared an Earl Grey infused crème brulee. I thought this was pretty good, cos the earl grey fragrance took away the gelak-ness of the crème brulee. Unfortunately the general consensus on the rest of the desserts, like the profiteroles and the apple crumble, wasn’t quite as positive.
A says:
Steak was good but not as fantastic as the mash. My favourite was the crème brulee though. And considering I’m not a big crème brulee fan, that’s saying a lot. Was surprised that the place was as crowded as it was considering there’s nothing else there (and that the building is haunted…oooo). Overall, it’s quite nice, but the price means I wouldn’t go unless it’s for some occasion.
Had a fairly good dinner here on Saturday night to celebrate a friend’s engagement. Service wasn’t the best, cos it took ages for us to get a waiter’s attention to order some drinks before dinner, but the food was better than expected.
We all shared the deep fried whitebait, which was certainly very addictive and a lot lighter than fried calamari. I had the deep fried mozzarella salad with tomatoes and basil as a starter, and A had the grilled Portobello mushroom with seared scallops. The mozzarella was slightly disappointing, cos I was expecting the cheese to be creamier and richer, more like buffalo mozzarella. The mushroom and scallops were good, though.
I had the risotto with shrimp, asparagus and cherry tomatoes, drizzled with lemon oil. I like ordering risotto in restaurants cos it’s something I can never bother to make myself. This was quite refreshing, but towards the end it pretty much did me in; I guess all the starch just expanded in my stomach. A (as well as practically everyone else at the table) had one of the specials, the grilled rib-eye with chestnut-truffle mash and veal jus. The beef was pretty good, but the winner of the evening was the truffle mash. This ROCKED – the hint of truffle in the mashed potatoes, which were still lumpy enough to have some texture and bite, was really good.
For all my fullness, I still had to have a dessert so A and I shared an Earl Grey infused crème brulee. I thought this was pretty good, cos the earl grey fragrance took away the gelak-ness of the crème brulee. Unfortunately the general consensus on the rest of the desserts, like the profiteroles and the apple crumble, wasn’t quite as positive.
A says:
Steak was good but not as fantastic as the mash. My favourite was the crème brulee though. And considering I’m not a big crème brulee fan, that’s saying a lot. Was surprised that the place was as crowded as it was considering there’s nothing else there (and that the building is haunted…oooo). Overall, it’s quite nice, but the price means I wouldn’t go unless it’s for some occasion.
Sunday, March 12, 2006
Founder Rou Gu Cha
C says:
One of our favourite places, and a good place to go if you don’t want that heavy a meal, is Founder Bak Kut Teh, along Balestier Road. Yes, I’m sure for die-hard foodies there are better bak kut teh joints in far-flung areas in Singapore, but Founder is pretty central and it’s good enough for us.
When we first started going, we were more impressed with the peppery soup, giam chye, tau pok, and pretty much everything except the bak kut, cos the pork ribs were pretty dry and quite bony. In fact, A would just pass on the meat completely and just have the side dishes. Which really are good, especially the tau pok and giam chye. The tau pok is stewed in a really rich salty gravy, and the giam chye is one of the best I’ve had – not very salty and loaded with chopped garlic.
After going a few times, we noticed other tables having proper pork ribs, i.e. long ones shaped like proper baby back ribs. I used to think it was coincidence, that they were just lucky to get those, but one day I just thought I’d ask, “wo yao na ge chang de bak kut, ke yi mah?” And lo and behold, they brought a bowl with 2 huge, proper long pork ribs. This brought our Founder experience to a whole new level, cos now EVERYTHING about it was great. The meat was soft, with just the right amount of fat, and slid off the bone easily. And even A has been converted. Vegetarian bak kut teh, no more!
A says:
The place is just plain fun to go to since you get the Founder founder’s face plastered all over in pictures with celebrity diners. Surprisingly, the staff are really friendly considering they’re one of the most popular bak tut teh places in Singapore. Other places might have the rude “want come, don’t done” mentality.
I used to be put off by the difficulty in finding a parking space until C decided we should just park in shopping centre across the road and cross the overhead bridge directly in front of it. Now, besides the long queues at night, there’s no reason not to go.
One of our favourite places, and a good place to go if you don’t want that heavy a meal, is Founder Bak Kut Teh, along Balestier Road. Yes, I’m sure for die-hard foodies there are better bak kut teh joints in far-flung areas in Singapore, but Founder is pretty central and it’s good enough for us.
When we first started going, we were more impressed with the peppery soup, giam chye, tau pok, and pretty much everything except the bak kut, cos the pork ribs were pretty dry and quite bony. In fact, A would just pass on the meat completely and just have the side dishes. Which really are good, especially the tau pok and giam chye. The tau pok is stewed in a really rich salty gravy, and the giam chye is one of the best I’ve had – not very salty and loaded with chopped garlic.
After going a few times, we noticed other tables having proper pork ribs, i.e. long ones shaped like proper baby back ribs. I used to think it was coincidence, that they were just lucky to get those, but one day I just thought I’d ask, “wo yao na ge chang de bak kut, ke yi mah?” And lo and behold, they brought a bowl with 2 huge, proper long pork ribs. This brought our Founder experience to a whole new level, cos now EVERYTHING about it was great. The meat was soft, with just the right amount of fat, and slid off the bone easily. And even A has been converted. Vegetarian bak kut teh, no more!
A says:
The place is just plain fun to go to since you get the Founder founder’s face plastered all over in pictures with celebrity diners. Surprisingly, the staff are really friendly considering they’re one of the most popular bak tut teh places in Singapore. Other places might have the rude “want come, don’t done” mentality.
I used to be put off by the difficulty in finding a parking space until C decided we should just park in shopping centre across the road and cross the overhead bridge directly in front of it. Now, besides the long queues at night, there’s no reason not to go.
Ichiban Boshi
C says:
We went to the branch at the basement of Great World City on Friday night, with the intention of buying some raw tuna to make carpaccio over the weekend. Unfortunately by the time we finished our dinner, the fish market section of the place was shut, sigh.
Fortunately it wasn’t a wasted trip. The food here is better than expected and very affordable. Most of the sushi items were $1.90 per plate of 2, and the range of dishes is astounding. Almost all the standard items are in the $1.90 range, including the handrolls, and only a select number of ‘premium’ sushi and sashimi items are in the $5.30 bracket. This is unlike other sushi places, where maybe 5 items are $1.90, and practically everything else is $2.90, $3.90 etc.
Apart from the usual suspects like the salmon and tuna sushis, some stand-out items are a seared salmon sushi – slices of salmon seared on one side, with some grated ginger and spring onions on sushi rice. Yummy! A bowl of fried crispy salmon skin served with mayo was another winner in my book, but A wasn’t as impressed as I was with that. Another item that was interesting, but took AGES to arrive, was a tuna salad sushi that was further wrapped in popiah skin and deep fried.
We ordered a portion of the cod with special sauce, but the special sauce turned out much saltier than we expected. It was a good thing we had some leftover rice from the Unagi-Don, or it would’ve been pretty overwhelming.
I think this place excels more in its wide variety of affordable sushis, than in their a la carte menu items. In fact, I’m already thinking of our next visit and what other different types of sushi I’m going to try next.
A says:
Damn cheap and good! Definitely best sushi place in Singapore for that price range.
We went to the branch at the basement of Great World City on Friday night, with the intention of buying some raw tuna to make carpaccio over the weekend. Unfortunately by the time we finished our dinner, the fish market section of the place was shut, sigh.
Fortunately it wasn’t a wasted trip. The food here is better than expected and very affordable. Most of the sushi items were $1.90 per plate of 2, and the range of dishes is astounding. Almost all the standard items are in the $1.90 range, including the handrolls, and only a select number of ‘premium’ sushi and sashimi items are in the $5.30 bracket. This is unlike other sushi places, where maybe 5 items are $1.90, and practically everything else is $2.90, $3.90 etc.
Apart from the usual suspects like the salmon and tuna sushis, some stand-out items are a seared salmon sushi – slices of salmon seared on one side, with some grated ginger and spring onions on sushi rice. Yummy! A bowl of fried crispy salmon skin served with mayo was another winner in my book, but A wasn’t as impressed as I was with that. Another item that was interesting, but took AGES to arrive, was a tuna salad sushi that was further wrapped in popiah skin and deep fried.
We ordered a portion of the cod with special sauce, but the special sauce turned out much saltier than we expected. It was a good thing we had some leftover rice from the Unagi-Don, or it would’ve been pretty overwhelming.
I think this place excels more in its wide variety of affordable sushis, than in their a la carte menu items. In fact, I’m already thinking of our next visit and what other different types of sushi I’m going to try next.
A says:
Damn cheap and good! Definitely best sushi place in Singapore for that price range.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Peperoni revisited
C says:
Ok, must admit that what my cousin C said (in the comment to the first Peperoni post) is true. When we went that day, we waited quite a long time for the waitress to notice/bother with us, and we were finally shown to a table without much of a smile. But once the food came we kinda forgot about the poor service.On Friday night after watching a concert, we called them to order a takeout pizza and said we’d drop by to collect it in about 15 minutes. We ordered half and half – half Funghi (button, shitake and porcini mushrooms) and half Suprema (pork and chicken sausages and chillies). When I went to collect it, I realized the person who took my call made a mistake, and gave us half Funghi and half Parma Ham instead. We were hungry and it was too late to ask them to make another one so we took it grudgingly. Turned out to be pretty good though, even though it was quite cold by the time we ate it.
A says:
The pizza still rocked though. The ang moh that runs the place was nice to us last time. Maybe she’s the only non snotty one.
Ok, must admit that what my cousin C said (in the comment to the first Peperoni post) is true. When we went that day, we waited quite a long time for the waitress to notice/bother with us, and we were finally shown to a table without much of a smile. But once the food came we kinda forgot about the poor service.On Friday night after watching a concert, we called them to order a takeout pizza and said we’d drop by to collect it in about 15 minutes. We ordered half and half – half Funghi (button, shitake and porcini mushrooms) and half Suprema (pork and chicken sausages and chillies). When I went to collect it, I realized the person who took my call made a mistake, and gave us half Funghi and half Parma Ham instead. We were hungry and it was too late to ask them to make another one so we took it grudgingly. Turned out to be pretty good though, even though it was quite cold by the time we ate it.
A says:
The pizza still rocked though. The ang moh that runs the place was nice to us last time. Maybe she’s the only non snotty one.
Monday, March 06, 2006
La Vela
C says:
We went with A’s parents to La Vela, the Italian restaurant at Keppel Club. The place was quite deserted for a Sunday night, and the music playing was decidedly un-Italian, but the food was surprisingly good considering that we didn’t have great expectations.
We shared a couple of starters – the fried calamari itself was nothing spectacular, but it did come with a pretty good aioli-type dip. The insalata caprese – buffalo mozzarella with tomatoes, basil and olive oil – was much better. The cheese was firm yet creamy, and the tomatoes were fresh and sweet.
A ordered the rib-eye steak with gorgonzola sauce, which was surprisingly good. It looked a little hard but was actually very tender, and done to a perfect medium rare. The meat was very tasty – sweet but with a strong beefy flavour. I initially ordered the lobster spaghetti, but I was told that the one lobster they had remaining in the kitchen wasn’t fresh and therefore they couldn’t serve it. I ended up having the beef tenderloin with porcini mushroom sauce. Again this was better than expected. The sauce was tasty, with a pronounced mushroom flavour, and the beef was very tender. After tasting both a tenderloin and a rib-eye tonight, I realize that a rib-eye is much more flavourful. The tenderloin, while definitely very soft and tender, tends to lack character in its taste. I was a bit puzzled with the veggie sides though; A and I had exactly the same sides of potato wedges and baby asparagus, but I could’ve sworn that on the menu, my steak was supposed to be served with spring vegetable fritters… oh well.
Alas, we were too full for dessert. We got a voucher for our next visit though, so I guess this won’t be our last trip. Hope the lobster is available the next time…
A says:
Food’s okay. Starters stood out more than the mains though. Pity the place is so empty. It could do better in a different location.
We went with A’s parents to La Vela, the Italian restaurant at Keppel Club. The place was quite deserted for a Sunday night, and the music playing was decidedly un-Italian, but the food was surprisingly good considering that we didn’t have great expectations.
We shared a couple of starters – the fried calamari itself was nothing spectacular, but it did come with a pretty good aioli-type dip. The insalata caprese – buffalo mozzarella with tomatoes, basil and olive oil – was much better. The cheese was firm yet creamy, and the tomatoes were fresh and sweet.
A ordered the rib-eye steak with gorgonzola sauce, which was surprisingly good. It looked a little hard but was actually very tender, and done to a perfect medium rare. The meat was very tasty – sweet but with a strong beefy flavour. I initially ordered the lobster spaghetti, but I was told that the one lobster they had remaining in the kitchen wasn’t fresh and therefore they couldn’t serve it. I ended up having the beef tenderloin with porcini mushroom sauce. Again this was better than expected. The sauce was tasty, with a pronounced mushroom flavour, and the beef was very tender. After tasting both a tenderloin and a rib-eye tonight, I realize that a rib-eye is much more flavourful. The tenderloin, while definitely very soft and tender, tends to lack character in its taste. I was a bit puzzled with the veggie sides though; A and I had exactly the same sides of potato wedges and baby asparagus, but I could’ve sworn that on the menu, my steak was supposed to be served with spring vegetable fritters… oh well.
Alas, we were too full for dessert. We got a voucher for our next visit though, so I guess this won’t be our last trip. Hope the lobster is available the next time…
A says:
Food’s okay. Starters stood out more than the mains though. Pity the place is so empty. It could do better in a different location.
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Wild Rocket
C says:
We managed to get a table at Wild Rocket on fairly short notice – we called on Thursday for a table on Saturday (table for 4 – C & A, K & J). We’d read many stellar reviews about this place so we decided to check it out for ourselves.
For starters, A and J had the mushroom puree with truffle oil, and 4 of us shared 3 more starters – a sesame marinated chicken salad, seared tuna rocket salad and deep fried new potatoes with aioli and fleur de sel (which was actually one of the side dishes). They were all ok, the soup being probably the best of the lot. The tuna salad was, to me, slightly lacking in flavour – the tuna had a nice texture but the entire dish could’ve done with a little more dressing, or perhaps the tuna could’ve been marinated a little more. The chicken salad had a slightly Asian taste, probably because of the sesame oil marinade. It was quite tasty, but again I felt like it was something that could be made with some greens, leftover chicken from Hainanese chicken rice and a good dose of sesame oil.
The mains were definitely better. J had one of the house specialties, the laska pesto spaghetti served with prawns and a quail’s egg. This was very interesting; I’m not sure what it was, whether it was the laksa leaf pesto or something else, but this really did taste like a dry version of laksa. K had the crusted Chilean sea bass with kale flowers (i.e. kailan…), which was, in our collective opinion, the best dish of the night. I’m not sure how much of this was attributed to the quality of the fish rather than the seasoning, but we all relished it. A had the crispy skin salmon with crabmeat potato mash. This was good but no where near as good as the sea bass. The salmon was a tad overdone, though the skin was nice and crispy. The mashed potato was pretty good, but I couldn’t really taste any crabmeat in it. I decided to try the braised veal cheek penne with green peppercorn, which was a tad disappointing. It ended up tasting like a high-class bolognaise sauce with shredded meat instead of minced beef, but overall it wasn’t unpleasant.
However, in case you’re thinking this place isn’t worth a visit, the desserts are certainly worth trying. We had 2 chocolate lava cakes with flambé banana, a strawberry cheesecake and a kueh bolu tiramisu. One of the lava cakes collapsed a little, so the waiter said if we didn’t mind, we could have it for free. D-uh! The lava cakes were really gooey, more liquid than solid really. (I must learn how to make my puddings gooier…) They were delicious, and the banana was a nice change from the usual vanilla ice cream with which lava cakes are traditionally served. The cheesecake and tiramisu were both ‘deconstructed’, i.e. they weren’t in traditional cake form, but rather their ingredients were just piled into a glass like an ice-cream sundae. While this is fairly common with tiramisu, this is the first time I’ve had a deconstructed cheesecake and I enjoyed every bite of it. A enjoyed the tiramisu, mainly cos it was light enough that he didn’t get tipsy…
Another plus of Wild Rocket is its location within Cathay’s new backpacker hotel, Hangout Hotel@Mt Emily. After dinner, a walk around the hotel’s romantic, lantern-lit roof garden, with stunning views of the city (and a freaky-looking house right below), was a great end to the evening.
A says:
Restaurant quite nice. Staff very, very friendly. Food was good, but nothing unbeatable. It’s a nice place I’d definitely recommend trying at least once, but for the same price, there are plenty of other places I’d rather go. The rooftop does rock though.
We managed to get a table at Wild Rocket on fairly short notice – we called on Thursday for a table on Saturday (table for 4 – C & A, K & J). We’d read many stellar reviews about this place so we decided to check it out for ourselves.
For starters, A and J had the mushroom puree with truffle oil, and 4 of us shared 3 more starters – a sesame marinated chicken salad, seared tuna rocket salad and deep fried new potatoes with aioli and fleur de sel (which was actually one of the side dishes). They were all ok, the soup being probably the best of the lot. The tuna salad was, to me, slightly lacking in flavour – the tuna had a nice texture but the entire dish could’ve done with a little more dressing, or perhaps the tuna could’ve been marinated a little more. The chicken salad had a slightly Asian taste, probably because of the sesame oil marinade. It was quite tasty, but again I felt like it was something that could be made with some greens, leftover chicken from Hainanese chicken rice and a good dose of sesame oil.
The mains were definitely better. J had one of the house specialties, the laska pesto spaghetti served with prawns and a quail’s egg. This was very interesting; I’m not sure what it was, whether it was the laksa leaf pesto or something else, but this really did taste like a dry version of laksa. K had the crusted Chilean sea bass with kale flowers (i.e. kailan…), which was, in our collective opinion, the best dish of the night. I’m not sure how much of this was attributed to the quality of the fish rather than the seasoning, but we all relished it. A had the crispy skin salmon with crabmeat potato mash. This was good but no where near as good as the sea bass. The salmon was a tad overdone, though the skin was nice and crispy. The mashed potato was pretty good, but I couldn’t really taste any crabmeat in it. I decided to try the braised veal cheek penne with green peppercorn, which was a tad disappointing. It ended up tasting like a high-class bolognaise sauce with shredded meat instead of minced beef, but overall it wasn’t unpleasant.
However, in case you’re thinking this place isn’t worth a visit, the desserts are certainly worth trying. We had 2 chocolate lava cakes with flambé banana, a strawberry cheesecake and a kueh bolu tiramisu. One of the lava cakes collapsed a little, so the waiter said if we didn’t mind, we could have it for free. D-uh! The lava cakes were really gooey, more liquid than solid really. (I must learn how to make my puddings gooier…) They were delicious, and the banana was a nice change from the usual vanilla ice cream with which lava cakes are traditionally served. The cheesecake and tiramisu were both ‘deconstructed’, i.e. they weren’t in traditional cake form, but rather their ingredients were just piled into a glass like an ice-cream sundae. While this is fairly common with tiramisu, this is the first time I’ve had a deconstructed cheesecake and I enjoyed every bite of it. A enjoyed the tiramisu, mainly cos it was light enough that he didn’t get tipsy…
Another plus of Wild Rocket is its location within Cathay’s new backpacker hotel, Hangout Hotel@Mt Emily. After dinner, a walk around the hotel’s romantic, lantern-lit roof garden, with stunning views of the city (and a freaky-looking house right below), was a great end to the evening.
A says:
Restaurant quite nice. Staff very, very friendly. Food was good, but nothing unbeatable. It’s a nice place I’d definitely recommend trying at least once, but for the same price, there are plenty of other places I’d rather go. The rooftop does rock though.
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