Sunday, March 30, 2008

Singapura oh Singapura

Singapura Seafood Restaurant
Blk 9 Selegie Road
#01-31 Selegie House

Tel: 6336 3255


Cold crabs rock. It is crab au naturel and because of that it is essential that the crab is of the freshest quality. At Singapura restaurant, the flesh is firm and compact, the roe is creamy and the garlicky vinegar chilli sauce is a great complement.

This restaurant has been around for while. Its operations are now run by the second generation but the food still holds on to good traditions. Other than the solid chunks of cold crab, there was more good food that came from.

Unlike the usual prawns rolls that are made from a combination of minced pork and prawns and rolled in bean curd skin, their special prawn rolls were made form whole prawns and deep fried to a crisp. And their pork ribs, tender and sticky sweet are finger licking good should not be missed.

Our attempt at ordering a vegetable dish was derailed when the staff suggested that we tried their baby kalian with pork liver, another deliciously sauced dish that disproportionately had more liver than leaves – so much for trying to order something healthier!

Last up before our noodles was the fish head. The fresh dish head was steamed with a generous handful of garlic and then sauced with tau cheo, very simply put together but very good. To finish it all off, we split a plate of Foochow noodles, after all we are in a Foochow restaurant, and that rounded up dinner.

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Saturday, March 22, 2008

Ten-Jyaku - to inspire tranquility

Ten-Jyaku Japanese Sushi
Millenia Walk
9 Raffles Boulevard
# 01-11
Tel: 6837-3960


H's Maki

A few weeks ago a friend brought me Ten-Jyaku - a two year old Japanese establishment that has a small sushi bar, serves up specialty hot pots and has these intimating bamboo cage-like sitting areas.

From the outside looking in, I was apprehensive but when I entered I was met by a familiar face that stood behind the sushi bar, this chef that I met a year ago and I felt a little more at ease.

The good people at Ten-Jyaku serve up fabulous aburi sushi. The courses leading up to that also deserve a mention – a refreshing momotaro tomato consommé jelly, oden, pork ‘sushi’ and homemade salmon tofu topped with oyster and miso. The highlight for me, however, was still the sushi or more accurately aburi sushi. The sushi chef pulled out all the stops and served us what he a sushi roll that he named after himself, let’s just call it Chef H’s sushi. It was a tempura prawn and spicy mayo roll that was stopped with tai and more spicy mayo and gently applied the glowing flames to the sushi’s surface. The whole roll was a great pop of flavours and textures. Following which he served us more sushi of salmon belly, yellow tail, snapper and scallop all baptized by the blow torch flame and topped with a combination of their different flavour enhancing garnishes. And to finish it off, we pieces of rice that was topped with an obscene amount of creamy Russian uni that was free from any fishy scent.



Admittedly I would have liked to have a wider range of fish to choose from, but what they might lack in quantity and choice, they make up in quality and fun through their swift reach to their blow torches and their garnish kits.

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Sunday, March 02, 2008

WFSKFHSH - Fish Steamboat!

Whampoa Food Street Keng Fish Head Steamboat House

556 Balestier Rd
Tel: 9769-4451

116/118 Rangoon Road
Tel: 9023-2854



I was first introduced to this steamboat last year through one of the Makankaki’s session and I instantly fell in love with it.

The past few days of rain have got me craving for some soothing hot soup. My favourite place at the moment to slurp and to warm up is Whampoa Food Street Keng Fish Head Steamboat House aka WFSKFHSH. There they prepare a rustic charcoal heated steamboat filled with fresh fish slices, yam, vegetables and a stock that is unbelievable well flavoured and delicate – we suspect it is a good mix of fish bones and a load of ti po (dried sole fish).