Hiang Ji Roasted Meat and Noodle House (Toa Payoh)

C says:

This noodle stall near the Toa Payoh HDB Hub is a tribute to lard. Besides little cubes of it in the noodles, there’s also the flavour of it permeating the noodles and adding its distinctive richness and smoothness. Lard rocks!



I ordered the soya sauce chicken noodle, A had the hor fun with cha siew and roast pork. Both were delicious, although the hor fun tends to absorb more of the oil, so you get a lot more of the lard flavour coming through. And because the hor fun is soft and smooth, I can imagine that the texture combined with the richness could get a tad jelak after a while. In contrast, the noodles are springy and eggy, so you get more texture and bite, but less of the flavour.

I can’t quite decide which is better. Though it doesn’t really matter because both are just delicious.

A says:

Awesomeness!!! My new standard order will be hor fun with roast pork and char siew. A definite must-try.

Hiang Ji Roasted Meat and Noodle House (Toa Payoh)
190 Toa Payoh Lorong 6
#01-512
Tel: 9726-7338
Open daily: 10 am to 10 pm

Menya Shinchan

C says:

Thanks to a reader for suggesting this ramen joint in one of the back alleys at Robertson Quay. I’d walked past it a couple of times but it looked a little forlorn at the time, so I (quite unfairly) didn’t give it a second thought.

After the recommendation, we went there on Thursday night and were very pleasantly surprised. The place looks really authentic, with lots of Japanese having a quick noodle dinner there so it must be good.

As per the recommendation, A had the miso ramen with scorched sesame and garlic oil. I decided to try the salty pork bone broth (rich). I thought rich would just mean the broth would be thicker, but actually it just means there’s a layer of oil on top. I added a stewed egg, and A added chashu.


A’s had an interesting flavour from the sesame (the garlic wasn’t very pronounced), but ultimately this isn’t to my liking. I don’t like anything that had too much peanut or sesame flavour. A really liked this though.


Mine was in comfort zone territory. The broth was pretty oily, but very tasty and not that salty notwithstanding the name. The noodles are quite thin, nice and springy, and the stewed egg was really good, albeit a bit on the salty side.

Service is really good and prices are what you’d expect at a typical ramen joint these days. The food comes really fast so it’s ideal for a quick dinner after work.

A says:

Very good and not super expensive. Well worth a try.

Menya Shinchan Japanese Noodle Restaurant
30 Robertson Quay
#01-05 Riverside View
Tel: 6732-0114
Lunch (weekdays only): 11.30 am to 3 pm
Dinner: 6 pm to 10 pm

Prosperity Kitchen

C says:

Prosperity Kitchen (or Mun Hung Lau) sort of sticks out like a sore thumb amidst the bars and Japanese restaurants along Mohamed Sultan Road. This is a Hong Kong cha chan teng opened by 3 TVB stars.

We walked in to an empty restaurant on Tuesday night, and only 3 more people arrived over the course of our meal. I was nursing a bad throat, so decided on something soupy and ordered the beef brisket noodle soup. Having read that they’d poached their roast meat chef from Crystal Jade, A had the 4 Treasures roast meat rice, which consisted of char siew, roast duck, salted chicken and assorted pot-stewed meat.


The beef brisket noodle was pretty good – the meat was quite tender, and soup was thick and flavourful and I like the texture of the noodles.


Unfortunately A’s rice was a complete let-down and a rip-off. The roast duck and salted chicken portions were all bone and hardly any meat, and the “assorted pot-stewed meat” turned out to be gizzards and duck feet/webs, and not very well stewed either – they were hard and chewy.

A’s dinner was slightly redeemed by the ah balling that he ordered, but it took so long to arrive that our spirits were sinking by the minute.

They have a pretty comprehensive menu with some other dishes that I wouldn’t mind trying, so I won’t exactly write them off yet. But they seriously need to clean up their act if they want to compete with the more established restaurants along the stretch. Frankly, I think it’s just the wrong location. There isn’t enough demand in the area to sustain this kind of food if it’s not exceptional. They should have opened at The Sail instead, which I think is sorely in need of an Asian restaurant like this.

A says:

It’s okay. Nothing great.

Prosperity Kitchen
15 Mohamed Sultan Road
Tel: 6884-8888
Sun to Thurs: 10.30 am – 3.30 pm and 6 pm – 10.30 pm
Fri to Sat: 10.30 am – 3.30 pm and 6 pm – 1.30 am

Ryoriya Sangokushi

C says:

This place bills itself as serving “Japanese style Taiwanese cuisine”. A bit of an identity crisis, you might think, but I think the Japanese part is just a marketing ploy to target the clientele in the Robertson Quay area, because the food seems quite decidedly Taiwanese. We came with A’s friends so we managed to try quite a number of dishes.


I ordered a dish that was described as spicy chicken with century egg, but the literal Chinese translation was “Weird Taste Chicken”. I should’ve known better. Well, to be fair it was perfectly edible, and A and P seemed to like it even, but it had a predominantly sesame/peanut flavour which just isn’t my thing.


I would strongly recommend sharing their noodle dishes, because their portions are massive. The zha jiang mian that some of the others ordered was very tasty, but it came on such a huge plate that 2 people could easily share. And the mixed vegetable and mushroom noodle soup that I had was chockfull of vegetables, very light yet tasty, and just what I needed after a weekend of binging. They have sample portions of their Taiwanese soup noodle and their braised pork rice, for $4 each, which make for a good alternative if you want to try more dishes. Unfortunately the yummy zha jiang mian doesn’t seem to come in mini portions.


We picked at some of the dishes that the rest ordered. The Taiwan sausage is notable because of the presentation – from afar it almost looks like a Caprese salad, but taste wise I thought the sausages were a bit too lean. The stir fried beef with eggplant had rather overcooked and tough beef, but absolutely delicious eggplant. And the mixed vegetable and mushroom noodle soup that I had was chockfull of vegetables, very light yet tasty, and just what I needed after a weekend of binging.

None of us had any expectations, so the general consensus was that the food was actually pretty good. I know this isn’t quite A’s thing, but I really like the food here, so we better come more often while we're still in the area, because A certainly won’t agree to this as a destination place.

A says:

It’s not bad but I certainly wasn’t blown away. If C wants to go, I wouldn’t say no. But if she asks for suggestions, I wouldn’t bring it up.

Ryoriya Sangokushi
30 Robertson Quay
#01-03 Riverside View
Tel: 6238-8962
Daily: 11.30am - 2.30pm, 6pm - 10.30pm
(Closed during lunch on Mondays)

ION Basement 4 Street Food

C says:

We decided to explore the eateries at Basement 4 of ION this afternoon. I don’t mean the food court Food Opera, but rather the little standalone street food stalls outside Food Opera.

Granted, if you want a proper sit down dining experience, you’re better off in Food Opera because apart from the stalls selling more substantial food like R Burger and the Thai stall, for the most part there isn’t any proper seating here and you have to stand around to wolf down your food. Not the most convenient if you’re laden with shopping bags.


Still, the array is so much more interesting and inviting than the rather generic and soul-less offerings at Food Opera. I was a bit stunned at the array of choices, and was wondering how on earth I was going to decide what to have, when we walked past the roasted meat stall. The glistening roast ducks being deboned and the huge pig in the window did it for me. We ordered the peking duck ($6 for 5 pieces) and the roast pork ($6 for very generous 6 slices).


This was really good, especially the peking duck. I think it’s a great idea to make peking duck pancakes available to the masses, rather than being forced to go to a fancy Chinese restaurant to have it. Plus the duck was really tender and juicy, with nice and crisp and not too fatty skin.


The slices of pork were a bit of a meat overload, even for me. It’s a really good deal though – all that meat for just $6. It's more than enough for 2 persons to have with rice for a very substantial meal. The skin wasn’t as crispy as I’d hoped, but the meat was really tender, not dry, and no stray bits of soft bone either (like you get in many hawker centre roast porks).

Some other things we had were:

- Tokyo Crepe Girl. A had a mushroom and cheese crepe, and a chocolate and banana crepe. He said the sweet one was way better.

- Korean bulgogi skewers. I had a beef and a pork. The beef was tough and dry, the pork on the other hand was deliciously tender and with the right amount of sizzling fat.

- Marvelous Cream. This is a marble slab ice cream place, where the ice creams are apparently made with 100% Hokkaido milk. We shared a yogurt flavour with frozen strawberries; the ice cream was good but the strawberries were too cold and too sour. They do some interesting pre-made ice cream puddings for take out. Maybe we’ll try those next.

If it's your first time (it was for me), I'd recommend just walking around all the stalls to recce what’s available. It’ll take more than a few visits to try everything that we want, plus R Burger and the takopachi stall are perpetually packed, so either we have to be patient and queue, or keep coming back in the hopes that the furore eventually dies down.

A says:

Modern Peking Duck – RAWK!
Tokyo Crepe Girl – stick to the dessert crepes
Marvelous Cream – Not worth $5.20 a scoop. I’m gonna try the Hokkaido soft serve stall next time.

To me, this is the best part of Ion. There’s loads of stuff I can eat here. The only problem is there are no bloody seats!

Modern Peking Duck
#B4-75 ION Orchard

Kith Cafe

C says:

Many thanks to P for recommending this cafe, which is located at The Watermark condominium at Rodyk Road, opposite Gallery Hotel. It’s a tiny little hole in the wall coffee joint that’s somehow drawn quite a following, and apparently was even featured in Monocle.

Space is tight, with only 2 large and 2 tiny tables indoors, and another few tables outdoors facing the river. When we got there at around 10 am on Saturday, we were lucky enough to get the last table inside. They’re expanding though, most likely taking over the vacant unit next door.

Considering their kitchen is just the tiny space behind the cash counter, and fits about 4 people back there, they have a seamless operation going, turning out surprisingly good food and even better coffee given their space constraints.


A ordered the smoked salmon, rocket and tomato Panini, which came with a generous serving of potato chips. The bread was well toasted and nice and thin, so you could still taste the ingredients, though A felt that the tomatoes still overwhelmed the flavour of the smoked salmon.


I ordered the bacon, cheddar and scrambled egg toastie. This was a steal at only $5.50 – 2 large, generously-stuffed triangles, and a sweet orange salad to boot. You can’t really go wrong with this combination, though I would’ve liked a bit more cheddar cheese. Still, the bread was crispy and the egg inside was light and fluffy. I can’t wait to try the nutella and cornflake toastie next time.

The flat white here was one of the best I’ve had in Singapore – strong and full-bodied yet not overly bitter. Better than A’s cappuccino, though he begs to differ.

All the servers, particularly the head waitress/owner manning the cash till, are extremely efficient, friendly and professional, and while they’re sometimes quite swamped with orders, they have a wry acceptance of their current limited space and still never lose their cool. Whilst we’re in the vicinity, I foresee that this is going to be a favourite weekend brunch spot.

A says:

The smoked salmon sandwich came with crisps which I’m not a big fan of. Next time, I’ll ask if I can get another side instead. As for the sandwich itself, the tomato kind of overpowered everything else. Luckily, I found a really simple and good solution. Just flip it open and have yourself two really good open-faced sandwiches.

The service is fantastic and I have to say it’s incredible what they can do in the small space that they have. And considering the location, the prices aren’t astronomical either.

Except for the extreme lack of seating, I really like this place. Top marks. I’ll be back if I can find a place to sit.

Kith Cafe
7 Rodyk Street
Watermark @ Robertson Quay, #01-33
Tel: 6341-9407
Sunday – Thursday: 7 am to 7 pm
Friday – Saturday: 8 am to 10 pm
www.kith.com.sg

Mondo Mio

C says:

Next on our Robertson Quay list, Mondo Mio is a few doors down from Shunjuu and bills itself as a South Italian restaurant. We didn’t make a reservation on Friday night, and just about managed to get a small table outdoors.


In addition to a pretty comprehensive menu, they also had some specials written on a chalkboard. We decided to share the ravioli stuffed with porcini in a truffle cream sauce as a starter. This set our hopes pretty high for the meal – the ravioli wasn’t too thick or chewy, the filling was generous and the cream sauce was good, albeit lacking in much truffle flavour.


I ordered the special, which was a spinach pappardelle with prawns and mussels in a saffron cream sauce. A ordered the pappardelle in the regular menu, which came with bacon, sundried tomatoes and pesto in a tomato cream sauce.


On hindsight, it probably wasn’t a good idea for both of us to order pappardelle. The pasta, which was apparently home-made, wasn’t rolled out very thin so it didn’t have the smooth silkiness of the home-made stracci at Pasta Brava. Also, I think they rushed a bit in the cooking, because while some pieces were properly cooked, some had stuck together so they were tough and chewy, taking al dente to a whole new level.

Flavour-wise, A preferred the seafood one, while I thought the bacon one was better. The colour of the bacon one wasn’t very appetising though, and the combination of pesto with tomato cream sauce was a bit out of sync.

Prices seemed quite cheap, with the premium pastas going for just $22, but portions are on the small side – definitely meant for a first course rather than a proper main. Service wasn’t too bad, but with Bella Pizza round the corner, I’d hesitate about coming back.

A says:

The service here is superb. The head waiter is very friendly and attentive without going overboard into irritating territory.

The ravioli we tried was very good but the other two dishes were average. And really, don’t bother with the desserts here.

Overall, I’ll probably come back for some simple pseudo-Italian since I’m living in the area (C says: Temporarily! Don’t get too comfy, dude...). But it’s definitely not a destination point.

Mondo Mio
30 Robertson Quay
#01-02S Riverside View
Tel: 6736-2503
Lunch: 11 am to 2 pm
Dinner: 6 pm to 10.30 pm

Shunjuu

C says:

Still on our quest to conquer everything in the Robertson Quay area during our temporary squat in River Valley, we met up with a few of A’s friends last night and tried Shunjuu, an izakaya (grilled skewers) joint next to Bella Pizza.

The selection is huge, and when faced with so many choices I tend to overestimate my appetite and always end up ordering too much. Some of the standouts that we had were:


- grilled swordfish skewers. Wow. This was my favourite. The fish was really fresh, with a wonderful texture and an almost buttery flavour.
- pork belly stuffed with kimchi. I’ve recently acquired a taste for kimchi (in limited quantities), and I think it goes perfectly with pork.
- chicken hearts. Some of the best grilled chicken hearts I’ve ever had. They sliced these really thinly so it’s not too icky, and grilled perfectly so they’re nice and tender. Even A, who’s distinctly not a chicken offal eater, tried and liked these.
- cold udon with sesame sauce. A ordered this and was raving about it.


Various items wrapped with bacon/pork belly also featured prominently in our selection, including cheese, garlic, cherry tomatoes, scallops and okra. All were good, though anything would taste good wrapped in bacon and grilled, in my opinion.

After a heaty meal like that, we needed some kind of dessert to cleanse our palate. They only had 2 choices – a green tea ice cream and a yuzu sorbet. We ordered one of each to share. It was a good thing the yuzu sorbet wasn’t up A’s alley, because I loved it and promptly claimed it for myself. The flavour was delicate and a perfect balance of sweet orange and bitterness. A great end to the meal.

Service was excellent – they kept topping up our tea without being asked, and were very polite and efficient in taking our orders. As with all izakaya joints, it isn’t cheap, especially when you’re atetoomuch. Having said that, we did order quite a bit, and average bill was around $50 per person, which I guess is pretty standard these days for a non-austerity drive night out.

A says:

The skewered stuff is not the best I’ve had but it’s still very good. And the cold udon rocks. The wait staff are also very friendly and attentive.

Shunjuu
30 Robertson Quay
#01-15 Riverside View
Tel: 6887-3577
Lunch: 12 noon to 2.30 pm
Dinner: 6 pm to 10.30 pm (11 pm on Thurs to Sat)
www.shunjuu.com

Vom Fass

C says:

I personally haven’t been to this store, which is on the 4th floor of ION, but I’m certainly very keen to check it out after cousin L gave me a selection of oils and vinegars from there as a belated birthday pressie (thanks L!).

Apparently the store has loads of different types of flavoured oils, vinegars, cognacs and spirits, and you can taste them all there. If you bring back the little bottles, I think they can refill them for you too.


L got me a raspberry vinegar, pumpkin seed oil and a 16 year aged balsamic vinegar – gals (you know who you are), looks like I’ve got aged balsamic in my larder now after all, heh.

We bought some Fougasse bread from Choupinette to try them out. The raspberry vinegar has a very fresh and pronounced raspberry flavour, and I think it’ll work very well in salads. The pumpkin seed oil was surprisingly dark and very intensely flavoured. The balsamic was really smooth and mellow, not tart and acidic like regular cooking-grade balsamic vinegar. In terms of bread-dipping, the pumpkin oil and balsamic vinegar tasted interesting on their own, but really complemented each other when paired.

I’m really psyched to check out the store to see what other cool flavours they’ve got.

A says:

Raspberry – No.
Pumpkin Seed Oil – Maybe.
Balsamic – Yes.

Although to me, having very good bread makes more of a difference than very good condiments. As in I’d rather go with killer bread and ordinary accoutrements than ordinary bread with killer oil, vinegar, etc...

The Chip Shop

C says:


Definitely not my first choice, given that it’s nothing but deep fried food. This was A’s choice, after BodyPump no less, but I must admit that as far as fish and chips go, this was decent.

A says:


Dining options at The Cathay really suck. Chose this as a last resort and surprisingly, it didn’t suck. Not good, but not bad. Very sloooowwww service though.

Space @ My Humble House

C says:

R and P are regulars here, so they suggested it when we met them at Esplanade tonight for a couple of Baybeats performances. I must say my first impression wasn’t great – we arrived earlier and waited outside to be seated to no avail. We ventured into the restaurant and asked for a table for 5, at which stage the snotty door bitch said they only had counter space available. Bear in mind the restaurant was only ¼ full. We said we had to check with our friends first, and she told us they’d clear the counter and asked us to take a seat outside.

We waited outside for a good 5 minutes without any progress. R and P arrived, and we just breezed into the restaurant and plonked ourselves at an available table. I guess we should have asserted ourselves and done that at the start, rather than meekly listening to the door bitch. R and P assure us that the service isn’t usually like this.


Anyway, on to the food. The chicken rice is Sam Leong’s grandmother’s recipe and is apparently outstanding, so I ordered it. I like that you can choose whether you want the thigh or the breast portion. I had the thigh, of course, and I must say it was very good. The chicken was tender and moist, and the sauce had a hint of Chinese rice wine that I really like. The rice was fragrant yet not oily, and it came with a double-boiled soup. All for only $9.90.


A had the laksa, which at $14 was a lot better value than the one at Canteen. This came with large prawns, cod fillet, fried oyster, scallops and taupok. The laksa gravy was quite light, which is a good or a bad thing depending on what kind of laksa you prefer.


We ordered the carrot cake to share, but this was a bit disappointing. It came with lots of ingredients again – crab meat, prawns and scallops, but the carrot cake itself tasted a bit flat and too floury.


We were full but had to try their desserts, which were from the Humble House kitchen. A and I shared the Pumpkin crème brulee with mango sorbet. The sorbet was so-so, but I really like the crème brulee. P had the lemongrass gelee with lime sorbet. I had a bite of the gelee and it was very light and refreshing.

The menu is pretty limited, but there are a couple more dishes I wouldn’t mind trying, like bak kut teh with lamb ribs, and a wagyu beef hor fun. I also loved their chrysanthemum tea, which had a wonderful flowery fragrance. Note to self: find out if they sell their tea leaves.

A says:

Very slow service and one of the waitresses was not very polite. The food however was excellent. Not exactly cheap, but not expensive considering the quality of the ingredients. Definitely worth considering if you’re at the Esplanade.

Space @ My Humble House
#02-25 Esplanade Mall
8 Raffles Avenue
Tel : 6423-1881
Opening Hours:
Lunch : 12:00 - 3:00PM
Dinner : 6:00 - 11.00PM
www.myhumblehouse.com.sg/space/concept.php

Saizeriya

C says:

Saizeriya, which opened in Liang Court about a year ago after the mall’s revamp, takes up a fairly large space on the second floor. The decor seems a bit stuck in the 80s, so it was with some trepidation that we joined the (then) relatively short queue on Friday night.



I’m finding it hard to be objective about the food there, simply because it’s just SO cheap! A and I each had a starter and a pasta main, and our grand total bill was $23.90. For starters we ordered tea smoked duck breast, and chicken wings (they were out of the mid joint wing, and asked if we were ok with the drumlets instead). Each dish was only $4.48 – very reasonable, especially for the duck, which was clearly pre-bought and just sliced, but still quite tasty and honestly, at that price, who’s complaining?


I ordered the Pollock roe spaghetti, which was essentially a mentaiko-like sauce topped with seaweed. For $5.68, this was very decent – the spaghetti was quite well-cooked, and the Pollack roe sauce was pretty tasty.


A ordered the bolognaise-esque spaghetti with meat sauce, also $5.68. Again the pasta texture was good, but the sauce was a bit too thin (and not enough of it). It was a little bland and needed some parmesan cheese, but luckily the waitress managed to find a jar of it for us.

We just had plain water, but they’ve also got a drinks buffet for $3.99, where you can get unlimited soft drinks, coffee, tea and iced milo. We had a pretty good experience here, but when we told P about it, she begged to differ, saying that she really wasn’t impressed when she tried it when it first opened. She had their so-called specialty the Doria – a cheesy baked rice gratin, which she said was really burnt and not at all appetising.

Maybe they’ve improved since then, and perhaps you just need to order the right things. They run like a well-oiled machine, with very efficient and extremely polite waitstaff. This is a good no-frills place for anyone on a budget, which is evidenced by the long line that formed while we were eating. Just come without any expectations.

A says:

Don’t expect fine dining but for the price you pay, you get very pleasant service and excellent value for money. Fully recommended for when you want passable pseudo-Italian and are a bit broke.

Saizeriya
177 River Valley Road
#02-22 Liang Court Shopping Centre
Tel: 6337-9001
Open daily: 10 am to 10 pm

Wild Oats

C says:

It’s been more than two years since our one and only visit to Wild Oats, and to be honest I didn't know that they still existed, until I read a recent post on Chubby Hubby’s blog about their Spam (or rather, luncheon meat) fries. Since I read the post, I couldn't get the thought of fried strips of luncheon meat out of my head, so we made a date with some of A’s friends for a late dinner there on Saturday.

They’ve certainly expanded their food menu considerably since they first opened, when they only served chicken wings and a selection of hot dogs. They’ve trimmed the hot dog selection to just one, and the chicken wings now just come with one dip (the yummier gorgonzola), but they’ve added at least ten new items. Between 4 of us we ordered quite a few items to try.


First up was the whole reason for coming here – the luncheon meat fries. Luncheon meat is cut into thin strips, deep fried and served with a kaffir lime mayonnaise. I had high hopes for this dish, but I must say I was slightly disappointed. For me, the perfect piece of spam is fried till crispy on the outside, yet still a bit soft and pale pink inside. These were overfried so they were cooked all the way through and therefore a bit too hard. And while the kaffir lime mayo on its own was a really fragrant dip, somehow I think it’s just too posh a flavour for humble ol’ spam. I found that the fries went better when dipped in regular ketchup.


They’ve got mini Wild Rocket burgers too, which were pretty good. The patty was a little on the dry side, but otherwise I was quite happy with these.


Their minced pork meatballs are served with some kind of tomato salsa, and while they weren’t spectacular in any way, I found them incredibly addictive.


In classic Wild Rocket style, they incorporate local flavours into Western dishes, and one example is the Sarawak chicken curry shepherd’s pie. While this may sound slightly dubious, I actually thought this was very good. The curry didn't seem to be dumbed down – it was quite heavily spiced and had a decent amount of heat too. And it surprisingly paired quite well with the mashed potato.

I find it a bit of a bummer that they don’t serve soft drinks or coffee here, though. I was having one of those days where I really needed a coffee, but ended up being ‘forced’ to order a cocktail instead. The food is interesting, but because it’s primarily a bar, the vibe is just a tad too chi-chi and not conducive for just hanging out.

A says:

I didn’t really expect much but was very pleasantly surprised. Excellent bar food and superb service. Fully recommended for some light bites with drinks.

Wild Oats Bar On the Hill
11 Upper Wilkie Road
Tel: 6336-5413
Open Tuesday to Sunday, 6 pm to midnight

Aoba Hokkaido Ramen

C says:

Our very first trip to ION was on a Thursday evening after work. Big mistake – the traffic was terrible, and we missed the whole reason for our visit, which was a friend’s performance. Still, we met her for dinner after her gig and after a failed attempt at getting a table at Watami Izakaya (they closed off the queue at 8.40 pm!), we tried our luck at adjacent ramen joint Aoba Hokkaido Ramen, and managed to secure a table after a short 5 to 10 minutes in line.


Their specialty here is there Shoyu ramen, so even though I’m usually a Kyushu (pork bone) ramen girl, I ordered the Shoyu ramen with braised pork belly. The pork belly was pretty fatty, even for me. I think next time I’ll go with the char siew instead.

Hokkaido ramen seems to be thicker and chewier than the normal ramen we’re used to, so those who like their noodles on the softer side may find this a bit too firm and starchy. I found that it went really well with the broth, which was packed with umami flavour. Surprisingly, although it was shoyu based, it wasn’t excessively salty.


A decided to order the Shio ramen with scallops. The broth was lighter in flavour, and because of that I preferred mine.


We also ordered the mentai chicken wings, which were just fried chicken wings topped with some kind of cheesy mentaiko/mayonnaise sauce. Yummm… these were totally addictive, and I dare say the best part of an already pretty good meal.

ION certainly has a wealth of new restaurants to try. The crowds are currently putting me off, but at some point I do want to give the more interesting ones a go.

A says:

It’s good and well worth a visit, but I wouldn’t queue up for this given the wealth of choices here and in B4.

Aoba Hokkaido Ramen
#B3-25, ION Orchard
2 Orchard Turn
Tel: 6509-9394

Les Artistes Bistrot

C says:

Les Artistes Bistrot is the more casual offering from Chef Nicolas Joanny, of Nicolas Le Restaurant. It's actually at Nicolas’ original premises, and Nicolas has moved a few doors down. We were very impressed with the set lunch that we had at Nicolas the last time, so we thought we’d give Les Artistes a try. (Do note that since then, Nicolas has raised their prices for their set lunch – it's no longer a super affordable $38 for 4 courses.)

The Les Artistes set lunch is $34 for 3 courses. I must say I’m quite impressed by the selection – you get at least 5 choices for each course. This also means a considerable amount of indecision because you feel like trying everything…



A went straight for the trout gravlax without hesitation. After much pondering, I decided on the rillette and terrine platter, only to feel slightly cheated when the amuse bouche arrived – it was rillette on toast! Hmph. The gravlax was a bit too raw for my liking, but the rillette and terrine were lovely.


A ordered the entrecote of beef with red wine reduction, which was topped with caramelised onions and served with a glass of potato puree. I expected this to be quite basic, and was very pleasantly surprised at how well executed it was, with the beef cooked perfectly. The potato was excellent as well.


I went for the Kurobuta pork cheek with penne in a porcini mushroom and thyme sauce. The pork tasted a lot better than it looked – I expected it to be quite dry, given the pieces were quite browned and rather thin, but it was melt-in-the-mouth tender and very flavourful from all the fat. The penne unfortunately fared less well. You definitely had to eat it together with the pork, because on its own it was a little tasteless.



For dessert, I went with the apple tarte tatin with cinnamon cream, and A had the caramelised banana. I actually found the cinnamon cream a tad overpowering, and preferred the dessert without it.

For an amuse bouche + 3 courses, this is very good value for money. Nicolas next door also has a set lunch - $42 for 3 courses and $52 for 4 courses. We walked by after lunch and peeked at the menu, which looked quite similar to the offerings at Les Artistes, so I wonder what could justify the slightly higher prices at Nicolas.

A says:

Awesome. Definitely worth it.

Les Artistes Bistrot
35 Keong Saik Road
Tel: 6224-1501
Lunch: Monday to Friday: 12pm to 2pm
Dinner: Monday to Saturday: 6.30pm to 10pm
www.restaurantnicolas.com/thebistrot.html

Meidi-Ya food court part two – Romantic Kobe curry rice

C says:

Strangely enough, we patronised the curry rice stall but neither of us ordered the curry rice. I ordered the teriyaki beef short rib rice, and A had the pork katsu bento. At least A’s friend M tried a chicken cutlet curry rice, which didn’t look too bad.


The beef rice was ok but I found the teriyaki sauce to be a tad too sweet, although the beef was quite tender.


A’s katsu was well-fried – nice and crispy and quite juicy.

This didn’t wow me the way the udon did, though. And with each plate being about $3-$4 more than a standard bowl of udon, I’d much rather have the udon any day.

A says:

Not bad, but not cheap considering it’s like a food court stall. I’m not a big fan of curry rice anyway so this may turn out to be my least favourite stall here.

Romantic Kobe
177 River Valley Road
#B1-50 Liang Court
Tel: 6333-0630
Open daily: 10 am to 9 pm

Meidi-Ya food court part one – Tsuru Tsuru Tei Udon

C says:

We’re also about 5 minute walk to Liang Court, so we’re on a quest to try every single one of the stalls in Meidi-Ya Supermarket. First up: Tsuru Tsuru Tei Udon.


A went for a Karaage Udon, and I had the Chili Pork Udon. A’s was a clear soup with the chicken karaage served separately. It looked quite nondescript but the soup was excellent – really cheng, clean-tasting yet flavourful.


Mine was the polar opposite of his. This was almost like a kimchi soup base with sliced pork. This is good if you want lots of flavour, but if you’re after a traditional clear soup udon, go for the regular ones. I’m going for the beef udon next - the same clear soup topped with slices of beef.

It was only after we got home that we realised that it’s opened by the same group as Tampopo. No wonder the quality was good.

A says:

Not the best udon I’ve ever had, but it’s certainly served up quick. Passable for a fast food version of udon I guess.

Tsuru-Tsuru Tei
177 River Valley Road
#B1-50 Liang Court
Tel: 6339-7264
Open daily: 10 am to 9.30 pm
http://www.cfc.com.sg/tsuru.htm

Bella Pizza

C says:

We’re squatting in the Mohamed Sultan/Robertson Quay area for the next 3 months, which is not going to do wonders for our austerity drive. Sure enough, on Friday night since we were moving some stuff into our temporary home, we decided to pop down to Bella Pizza, which was just a 5 minute walk away. We learnt our lesson and made a reservation in the afternoon.


We started with a salad of bocconcini, cherry tomatoes and rocket to share. This was quite a tiny portion but it was only $7, after all. Nothing spectacular, but a good way to whet our appetite nonetheless.


I ordered the ravioli stuffed with beef, served with porcini mushroom sauce. There were some good flavours going on here, but it can get slightly rich so it’s best to share. My one criticism is that the ravioli were slightly hard – the pasta skin wasn’t thin enough.


One of their specialities is a boat-shaped pizza, the Barca. It comes in two flavours – one with Italian sausage and sautéed onions, and the other with buffalo mozzarella wrapped in Parma ham. Goes without saying that A ordered the Parma ham one. This was visually quite interesting, but I think their regular pizzas are better – crispier and less crust. Another interesting thing about this was that when you had the parma ham and the crust alone, you could really taste the parma ham, but once you took a bite with the cheese, you couldn’t really taste the ham; you just got a general salty flavour.

We each had the banana crepes with mascarpone cheese and nutella – this dessert is just too good to share.

Well, I think we came to the same conclusion as the last time – there’s a reason they’re called Bella Pizza. Their pizzas are better than their pastas, and their regular pizzas are definitely better than their folded ones.

A says:

I likea the pizza here. Expensive, but good.

Bella Pizza
30 Robertson Quay
#01-14 Riverside View
Tel: 6734-0139
www.bellapizza.com.sg