Showing posts with label Japanese Cuisine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Japanese Cuisine. Show all posts
31 Jul 2013
Tonkutsu King Four Seasons - Artificial beauty blossoming
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| The moment I stepped into Tonkutsu King Four Seasons, I almost went OMG aloud. I was awed and impressed with the effort involved to furnish the restaurant into so Japanese-like. Artificially beautiful cherry blossom hanging along the walls, round lanterns, wall paintings as well as the open kitchen concept made me felt like I was entering a ramen outlet in Japan. |
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| An urge to risk, I ordered the Japanese green tea cola to try as it was a rare beverage option in Singapore and it was my first time coming across one. Upon reading the label, I realised that the brand was from Tonkutsu King itself. Fizzy and tasting like an ordinary can of cola, except that the colour was more towards the darker tone of olive green. |
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| My friend's bowl of 'Autumn' arrived with colour so vibrant that it reminded me of the season's departing leaves. The bright warning colour was a mix of spices and meat cuddled into an orb, slowing diffusing its fieriness across the umami broth. A mouthful of soup was already too much for me to handle and I was thankful that this bowl was not my choice! Not to forget, there were free flow of hard boiled egg and marinated beansprouts (just like Ramen Keisuke Tori King) to bring down the heat. |
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| My 'Summer' arrived shortly after my friend's 'Autumn' and the colour contrast reassured me that I would not have to sweat over my meal. Unlike Autumn, Summer's broth was intensified by a lovely load of mushroomy bits which emitted an unforgettable earthly taste. I felt like I was eating a high class 'bak chor mee' (minced meat noodles) with springy and relatively medium-hard noodles. As for the char shu, it was towards the leaner side with minimal fats, posing a slight challenge for a lazy person like me to chew. On the whole, I would definitely be back to try out the other seasons! |
8 Jul 2013
Marugoto Shokudou Ramen - A place so off the radar
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Marugoto Shokudou is located at Ang Mo Kio Central, in an isolated building where
K-box is. Although that location was pretty off the radar for people who are not
frequent amk wanderers, it was surprisingly packed that night. After browsing the
menu for quite some time, my mum decided to try the Katsu Chicken Ramen. I
always start describing the ramen by its broth, and it sure was slightly thick (even
you could tell just by looking at the picture) and had the pleasing umami taste.
(I accepted the fact that it was natural to be slightly salty for ramen broth.) As for
the chunky katsu chicken, the crispiness was certainly there but due to the thickness
of the batter, it was being dragged down. My mum went to the extend of partially
removing some 'crisp' off those cutlets!
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As for my Tokyo Shoyu Ramen, the broth definitely tasted the same as my mum's
ramen. I had cravings for fatty pork belly that day and my wish was granted. (I meant
over granted in a way.) I had 2 pieces of really thick and extremely fatty, slightly
chewy pork belly sinking halfway in my broth. The meat to fats proportion was
interestingly about 1 : 3 ! So not good for people on a low-fat diet. Despite being
on the pricey side, the overall bowl of ramen tasted unique on its own. However, I
would need to reconsider before coming back for my second round.
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30 Jun 2013
Menya Koji Ramen Dining at Paragon
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| Hidden at the basement of Paragon and located right opposite Ding Tai Feng, my friend and I went to try the Special Cha Cha Ramen since there was a promotion and it was 50% off that day itself. The sight of a mountain of beansprouts normally put me off but I still ate everything up, unlike my friend who was busy setting them aside. The thick salty broth was reaching almost an intolerable level but was toned down by adding more spices. The cha shu and molten yolk egg were decent and the entire bowl had nothing to wow about. |
25 May 2013
Tonkotsu Kazan Ramen - A little crampy
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |