320. Watami

The loud red walls called out WATAMI. I have not visited the first outlet at ION despite its grand opening in July 09 nor did I know that 和民 is Watami until the familiar Japanese characters told me so. The saturday prior to its opening on 15 Sep, I was invited for a tasting session at Watami's second outlet at Clarke Quay.

Green Tea Ice Shake @$5.80

Half Watami Salad @$4.80

A garden salad with big chunks of well marinated chicken and a scoop of Watami's special creation - Tuna Mayonnaise. The salad was delicious with the tuna mayonnaise. It had a mild vinegary taste and the addition of peppers, cherry tomatoes and cracker strips gave the salad the crunch and colour. Flavourful and satisfying. It was this good that I recommend you should double the 'half' and get a watami salad at $7.80.

Ika Korikori Yaki @$5.80

Grilled squid soft bone. It was something different. We're not just eating ika (squid) but also their soft bones.Eat it while it's hot. I took some time to take the photos of the food that were placed on the table and when I had it, it turned cold. I bet it tasted better while it's still hot.

Ishiyaki Bibimbap @$8.80

You are not seeing wrong. Yes, bibimbap, the Korean stone pot rice dish. Here, we had beef and kimchi. It was very considerate of them to design a wooden square holder to contain the hot stone pot, avoiding scalds. It was superb hot. The ingredients sizzled as I flipped and tossed them like rojak.

It was this hot that the rice turned charred and crispy after a few minutes. For crispy and charred rice lovers, do try the bibimbap. For the hot stone pot and tasty kimchi, I highly recommend the bibimbap from Watami.

Tori Yasai Kushi @$3.80

Big chunks of mildly marinated chicken with mixed peppers. Logically, the mixed peppers should complement the chicken chunks but they were pretty much strangers. Each to its own, they drew a clear line. Taste was quite isolated.

Teppan Bou Gyoza @$6.80

I was attracted to the picture of the sizzling big gyoza on their menu and so I decided to order one. I thought I will see the gyoza sizzling on the hotplate but the 'aftermath' was presented instead. On the hot plate, I saw a gleam. It appeared shiny black, all thanks to the layer of oil. I find the gyoza slightly too oily. I feedbacked on this. Hope that it is better now. The interior contained diced cabbage and pork but somehow I felt the cabbage did not made the filling sweet.

Cassis Grapefruit @$5.80

I'm glad that I had this drink. The bittersour grapefruit helped rid off the greasiness from the gyoza. The sweet syrup at the bottom less the bittersour content.

Mango & Ichigo Daifuku @$3.80

Initially, I was hesitating if I should take the daifuku or I should change it for some alluring desserts like strawberry or chocolate parfait because I always felt the daifuku served in casual restaurants were mostly made-ready some very long time ago and stored for use at any time. Luckily, I didn't. The daifuku was different.

The rice cake was made into thin, soft and chewy strips. Diced mango and strawberry cubes, cream and red beans were evidently seen to be wrapped into rolls with the rice cake. But hey, I tasted chocolate and I saw there was a thin chocolate sponge at the bottom of the roll. Overall, the taste was great!

Seated at the second floor of Central, it overlooks the Boat Quay. Dining was comfortable as ample space was provided, not squeezed together. Service was excellent during the tasting session but not sure if it will be maintained when Watami is opened for business to the public with the long queue. Good range of food is available. Looking at the menu, I felt Watami wants a bit of everything, trying to provide anything that can be made possible. Ramen, hotplate, sushi, sashimi, Nabe, Korean dishes and etc.

No reservations is allowed so it is best to go early to avoid queuing. The outlet at The Central has something different from its first outlet at ION, that is, a long red sofa at the entrance is provided for customers in the queue. Also, Watami's entrance is located along a corridor hidden from sight from the other floors. Do look out for the word 和民, which also means Watami.

Lastly, Thanks to Watami and Kit for the hosting.

Watami
The Central
6 Eu Tong Sen Street
#03-82/83/85/102/108/109
Singapore 059817

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319. Manhattan Fish Market

Garden salad with citrus dressing

Salads...have always loved salads, easy to make but always have the whole lettuce plant to myself and I couldn't finish it. What a waste. Sometimes, it will be better off to just have it outside. So, my friend and I decided to try something different, instead of the usual fave-caesar salad. Citrus dressing was just citrus juice with olive oil. So, the salad was not really special in anyway.

Shrimp Soup

So you thought that this was the bosch or tomato soup? No, it wasn't. It was shrimp soup. I asked the waitress because it did not taste like any of the two. I thought it tasted a bit weird. It was pulpy but the shrimp taste was very bland.

Country Mushrooms

Grilled Platter for One

The grilled platter was good. I liked the garlic rice which was mixed with cream sauce drizzled onto the grilled prawns. The rice was sticky and chewy like having had mixed with coconut milk like the Thai glutinous rice dessert. The fries were fat and crispy. We added $4.90 to the dish to make it a meal with the shrimp soup and a tall glass of ice lemon tea.

My friend and I paid about $15 each with her $10 voucher for the food we shared. It was a long wait to get a table. It is just like the second Fish & Co. Although there were many young waiters and waitresses, service was not as prompt. I requested water for my friends at the point of order and requested again for another 2 times before I got my water. It was minutes after we finished our food.

Manhattan Fish Market
68 Orchard Road #06-07
Plaza Singapura
Tel: 6835-9300

318. Raffles Hotel - Snow-Skin Mooncake with Champagne Truffle & Ganache

Snow-Skin Mooncake with Champagne Truffle & Ganache 8pcs @$52

The mooncake festival is here again. In celebration of the mooncake festival, we get to savour all kinds of mooncakes. This year, the first one that I have tasted was the snow-skin mooncake with Champagne Truffle & Ganache, the highly sought-after mooncake from the prestagious Raffles Hotel.

The small sized mooncake was filled with lotus paste and in the centre, a vanilla truffle filled with vanilla ganache. The snow skin was exceptionally soft and light. The lotus paste was not too sweet and it complemented well with the vanilla flavour. In fact, the champagne taste was rather light.

Someone said he do not go for such mooncakes when offered. He preferred the traditional kind. Baked. His words struck me to connect the taste of the mooncake to romantic. Gentle and dainty sweet~

317. Mart Boulevard II

Phad Thai @$4.90

I would like to call it the Thai char kway tiao. No cockles, no sausages and no black sauce. In place, there were tofu, crushed peanuts and fish sauce. This is Phad Thai. A simple dish it is, yet one of the national dishes of Thai. Phad Thai is sweet because of the addition of fish sauce (which I felt is the crux condiment) and for some had added sugar. I like the Phai Thai served here. It was delicious. The fish sauce was not overpowering. The slight sourish taste due to the tamarind juice made the phad thai appetizing. The only flaw I found was it was not served piping hot and this led me to suspect the food was pre-cooked to handle the lunch crowd. Probably.

Thai Fish Cakes @$5.50

News headline. "Counsellor attacked by patient, Manslaughter murderer on the prowl".

Victim: Foodies Queen, the counsellor.
Weapon: Fish bones.
Murderer's Features: 'Notorious'. Clad in a rugged attire, skinny and not highly distinctive. Accompanied by a sexy partner.
Victim's Statement: I adviced and talked to him. I thought I have pried his heart, I saw his inner soul, unbothered by his unappealing appearance. I urged his sexy partner to stick through thin and thick with him. He looked like a simple man. But....never did I think of his sudden attack against me.

If you see the above murderer, please report.

Green Chicken Curry w rice @$5.90

The green curry did not look appealing but do not judge by its appearance because it is definitely not that yucky. I am not sure if it is the same across all Thai restaurants to cook curry using a high content of coconut milk but the one here did. It was fragrant and sweet. My mum always say to cook tasty curry, you need to add more sugar and coconut milk. I did not eat the green curry but I saw lots of onions in it. Onions will make the gravy sweet. Just like when you cook vegetables curry, the vegetables which were fried will give a sweet taste than those not.

3 of us had a quick lunch which cost in total about $25. To me, Mart Boulevard is a Thai food restaurant with Indochina setting and yet working in an express mode during lunch. There was also the al-alfresco dining area outside the restaurant. I preferred to sit indoors with the intricate sculptures keeping me occupied while waiting for my food to be served. The normal pace returned during the off-peak hours. Service staffs were very amiable.

See previous entry

Mart Boulevard
#01-08 Temasek Tower
8 Shenton Way
Tel: 6227 3487

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316. Boon Lay Raja Restaurant II

Chili Crab @$38.50, Steamed & Fried Buns @$2/3pax each

Was the chef changed? Yes, they changed the chef. Out of the uncountable times I have been to BLR, I have never seen once where the pincers were arranged nicely like this. BLR engaged chefs from China. The chili crabs tasted different from the last visit. It was not spicy. The chili gravy was more of like sweet and sourish tomato gravy. Thus, the shiokness was not there. Also, they did not serve the buns in steamers last time but they did this time round. Marks were added for the presentation.



Fei Cui Beancurd @$10

I liked the idea of the addition of greens to make a dish healthier. It would have been great if the beancurd were crispy. But as seen evidently from the photo, they were more like tau pok. I would like to point out the vegetables that were laid underneath the beancurd. They were vegetables from China. I knew it because my mum used to grow them from the young plants she had gotten from China. They called it the China cabbage. And they grow like big green roses in soil. The texture was harder than the white cabbage that we usually eat. I think we are not able to get the vegetables in supermarkets.



Pork Ribs @$20

It was not marmite ribs and it didn't taste like either. They named it 青椒白酒烧排骨 but I didn't see any green peppers either. It was a tad too salty. Unfortunately, it didn't make me wow-ed. But, the honeycomb crispy crackers which I supposed were made from rice flour were nice. It tasted like the Indian keropok.



Celery with Scallops @$20

One more thing which I have noticed. They changed the plates. It was nicer. In fact, the food tasted better with the current chef. And business was better.



Roasted Chicken (half)@$8

If you have been a regular reader here, you would have known that I often sing praises for the roasted chicken from BLR. Unlike previous visits, the chicken appeared in a light brown shade. But, the roasted chicken was crispy, tender and juicy as usual.

Overall, we spent $120 on this dinner. I got a 10% off with the discount card. Food was decent and price was reasonable. As it is one of the few bigger Chinese restaurants located in the West, sometimes weddings are held in BLR. It is always wise to call if there are availble tables. Also, BLR has rooms with KTV functions.

See previous entry

Boon Lay Raja Restaurant
Blk 135 Jurong East Street 13
#02-337 Singapore 600135
Tel: 6563 6643

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