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25 May 2013

Tonkotsu Kazan Ramen - A little crampy


I have been wanting to include Japanese restaurants into this supposedly dessert blog of mine ever since I
changed my blog focus from cravescraze.blogspot.com to dessertingbeauty. I felt that it was quite a waste
if I just left these pictures to rot in my hard disk, without sharing my personal opinions of my dining
experiences. I shall only include Japanese cuisine since I am a fan of it and I find it closely related to beauty
and zen which is still part of my blog focus.
I shall start with Tonkotsu Kazan Ramen which is located at Novena Square 2, cramped into a small outlet
space. Just like a small typical Japanese restaurant with the right ambiance where the voices of staff kept
booming throughout. I felt slightly irritated by the noise level in this squeezy restaurant at first but my
irritation was quickly dismissed upon the arrival of my food.

I ordered the Karamiso Ramen with gyoza set and the ramen can be easily defined by the little molehill of
blended spicy miso paste. After a thorough mix of the paste with my soup, I found the soup broth spot on
with my taste buds, although the spiciness level was not there. I can say that it was fortunate for me as I
have really low tolerance for spiciness. Sadly, the flavoured egg was slightly overcooked and the yolk was
only semi molten. As for the pork belly, it was definitely not the melt-in-the-mouth type and it required
some chewing to be done. Overall, I still wiped the entire content in my bowl clean.  

I shared the gyoza with my friend and it was rather decent. Although slightly
oily, the gyoza skin was really thin, resulting in it being less filling and more meaty.

My friend ordered a different set so that we could explore more from its menu. His Shoyu Ramen which
was with soy sauce paste, had a rather mild soy sauce taste and would be really suitable for people who
were afraid of having too much sodium intake. 

The fried rice which was part of my friend's ramen set came in this really hot stone pot. My friend began
his mixing as soon as the pot hits the table to prevent the base from being burnt. While he mixed, I felt that
the sizzling sound was instigating us to dig right into the piping hot fried rice. Look at that amount of spring
onions which my friend went to remove bit by bit as he disliked them. The egg was the one that enhanced
the taste of the fried rice, giving the dish its fragrance as well as a slightly charred taste. 

Just like the flavoured eggs from the ramen, these add-on eggs were also slightly over cooked. My friend
and I should have waited for our ramen to arrive first, checked out the eggs before ordering extras.

11 May 2013

Dolce Tokyo Japanese . Italian Cafe - Satisfying Meal


After dumbly going up the escalators for a couple of floors instead of just taking the lift, I finally found
Dolce Tokyo among the many apparel outlets. After waiting a couple of minutes without anyone coming to
lead me to my seat, I took my initiative to walk in and choose my own preferable spot. The place was kind
of dim and rather cramp and I was glad that it was still too early to crash with the dinner crowd. 

Here is my complimentary set meal voucher which I was lucky enough to win from a
blog's giveaway and I decided to try out the food. By the way, I am that type of
assholes who love to near the walkway where people walking past could peek and
have a glimpse of the yummy food that I was about to be served.

My matcha latte arrived first and I was glad it did as I was getting thirsty. Taking a
sip, I felt a rush of sweetness spreading across my mouth rapidly before the green tea
taste actually surface. I understand that not many people would appreciate the bitter
taste of green tea itself, or was it a sugar syrup overshot? The latte felt musty and
diluted with plenty of ice which I did not quite like as I would normally opt for a hot
one if I had a choice. I still finish it up though.

My curry omelette rice with pork belly skewers and other sides arrived shortly and I was amazed to see
such large portion, awaiting me to indulge in. However, I resisted my barbaric urge to start gobbling bites
of everything within mere seconds. The omelette rice was mediocre to me while the sides were awesome. I
did a really stupid mistake by taking in a mouthful of unchewable jellyfish and I had to swallow the entire
mouthful down my throat. The cold potato salad had apple slices in them and they were all gone in a big
spoonfuls. The baby octopus was in dismembered form except of its head and they tasted just like those
usual ones. The best which I kept for the finale was the pork belly skewer. Tender, delicious and FATTY
which I tried not to mind due to the word collagen spinning in my head, distracting myself from thinking too
much.    

Another picture of the side dishes! I really love the pork belly and I foresee myself
coming back again for their desserts if I had the chance and the company.

5 May 2013

Ladyfingers and Tiramisu!


A couple of weeks ago I decided to prepare some tiramisu since my brother have a lovely bottle of Cafe
Boheme standing stagnant in the refrigerator. Cafe Beheme is actually a coffee flavored alcohol which
make a perfect refresher after adding a couple of ice cubes. I bet coffee and alcohol lovers would want to
try it! Anyway, I baked some ladyfingers sponge first from the recipe below:

4 egg whites
78g caster sugar (A)
15g caster sugar (B)
3 egg yolks
60g cake flour
1) Egg whites and sugar (A) for meringue (Whisk till glossy and firm peak)

2) Egg yolk and sugar (B) (Well blend)
3) Fold egg yolk mixture into meringue (Gently)
4) Fold in cake flour (Gently)
5) Pipe into fingers and bake at about 180 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes  

As for the tiramisu, I used 750g of mascarpone cheese which was a bit too much
(I think 500g would do fine in future). I mixed coffee powder with the Cafe Boheme
alcohol to increase the coffee flavor and then dipped the ladyfingers into the mixture.
Lay the ladyfingers in any container/bowl, spread a layer of Cafe Boheme infused
mascarpone on top and sieve an even coating of cocoa powder. (I repeated the
process twice for more layers.) The above was about 8 servings size, so chill it and
enjoy! I also want to thank my friends for the positive feedback!!