Why the Japanese created powerpoints

I love most things Japanese, food included. What gets me most about Jap food is the effort put into each bowl of ramen, each slice of sashimi, etc. Presentation is not superfluous. It signifies the intent of the cook to present, in as pleasing a manner, the item which has almost become an extension of himself.

Whenever I recall my trip to Tokyo back in 2000, a scene immediately snaps to mind. The setting was an innocuous pit-stop along a highway, a place for tired legs to roam and to get cheap coffee, and a cigarette or two.

An elderly female cleaner was clearing the trash from one of the bins near where I was seated. She then proceeded to wipe the exterior of the bin thoroughly. I remember thinking to myself: wow these Japs really know how to take pride in their work ah, rubbish bins also must wipe!

Then she began to do the same to the inside of the bin.

That one experience has probably shaped my understanding of the Japanese work ethic. I mean, dude, their taxi drivers wear full business suits and their rides are immaculately polished.
So, the point is, the Japanese really know what attention to detail is, and how to take pride in their work. Which brings me to today's feature: Tampopo Family Dining

Tucked away in the basement of Liang Court, is this gem of a Jap restaurant. It's signboard is barely readable and the crowd is healthy without being donut-factory like.

We learned that their specialties were Kyushu Ramen, Scoop short cake and Black Pig meat.

I had the Kyushu Ramen, which they claim is boiled for two days straight, with pig bones.

Clockwise, from top-left: Green tea, Kyushu Ramen, Egg from Kyushu Ramen, Scoop Shortcake

The ramen, was really good. Every aspect of the dish, was excellent. The broth was flavourful and tasty, without tasting too jelat. The Char Siew was stewed to perfection, with equal parts fat and lean meat. The noodles were springy and freshly made.

We also had the scoop short cake, which consisted of very light cream liberally smothered over chiffon cake and dotted with fresh fruits.

The cream came as advertised, light and sweet, and very fresh. Sigh, I'm sure I will be back here again.

Tampopo Family Restaurant
Liang Court B1
63383186

Taste: 4/5
Value: 4/5
Ambience: 4/5

How many crabs can a crab shack shuck if a crab shack could shuck crabs?

The BMers, all 13 of us (not everyone could make it), trooped over to Eng Seng Restaurant for Pepper crabs. There are plenty of things to blog about this particular excursion, so I'll keep the report snappy.

Ok, how many crabs do you think 13 people can eat? 8 girls + 5 boys. I was thinking... Seven, so that's what I ordered when I got Jole to call them the day before. And then, today when I told the BMers what I'd ordered, this was what they said:

Liru: "...."

me: "what? we going to eat crabs right? I ordered seven leh! Too many ah?"

Liru: "..."

me: "don't tell me too little"

Liru: "yeah, I eat two crabs on my own."

me: *Stunned face*

So, in the end, we re-ordered another 5 crabs, bringing the total up to... 12 crabs! A DOZEN! WTH!! And then, when we reached the place at like, seven, the queue was already snaking outside of the 50-plus seater coffee shop. Amazing man!

Anyhow, here are the much-vaunted crabs + mee goreng


Awesome stuff man. The pepper crab that is. Oh oh, remember the soup nazi from Seinfield? Man, he died and came back in the form of this damn anal auntie manning the queue! Wah lan! Damn rude lor!

She will point one stubby finger at you once, then at the seat your are supposed to take, and shout "GO!" or "STOP!" or "SIT!", in various stages. I can't stand these arrogant hawkers. Much as I loved the pepper crabs, I won't be browbeaten into taking her swishing finger one more time.

Anyhow, more pics!

The greenlanders doing our best crab impersonation

All's well that ends well

Mama Mia, Italian in the middle of nowhere? It's true, my friends! After repeated nudges from Jole and Pat to bring the missus over to Galbiati's, at Railway Mall, I finally did so and boy were we in for a treat.

We walked in and were treated to this beautiful sight...

Rows and rows of Italian delights

We had a small sampling

The portobello was really, really mushroomy. I know this sounds bimbotic, but seriously man, it was wayyy too strong for me, and I'm quite a mushroom person. Oh well.

The Salmon Pizza was pretty darn good, I liked the crust, the tomato paste tasted fresh, and the cheese divine. The only draw back to this was, unfortunately, the salmon. Hang on, it's not that it wasn't fresh or anything. It's just... I dunno man. Salmon + pizza? Not my cuppa tea.

Which is why, I had the beef lasagne! Man that stuff was the BOMB man. I don't think I'll ever wanna eat another crappy swensens lasagne after this stuff. The texture of the cheese was excellent, the sauce was fresh, the beef used was also higher grade than most.

Overall, this place is chic, serves fresh food and isn't very pricey. I'll be back. Oh, and take note if you're ordering anything from the display counter, everything's priced per 100 g, so don't think it's THAT cheap and order a shitload of stuff. haha.

Galbiati's
Railway Mall (Opp Mindef)

Taste: 3.5/5
Value: 4/5
Ambience: 5/5

It was also our sixth anniversary the other day. I can't believe we've been together for this long!
We went to the beach, cycled, got butt cramps and surrendered to Delifrance by 530p.m.

Oh and thanks for the veryyy early birthday present guys, I'm sure we'll have tonnes of fun with this one too!

Ticket to Ride

BM Silent Library

Long post

It's been awhile since I've posted any reviews, though it's certainly not cos I've been letting up! Just haven't had the time to post them up, so here they are...

I've heard much about Mellben Crab Bee Hoon. How it's an institution, how you have to wait 1.5 hours for a bowl of piping hot crab broth, etc. And like any good Singaporean, I went with my family to this AMK seafood haunt, tunked away under a block of flats.

The moment you make it clear that you're there to, like the rest of the crowd, tuck into huge-assed Sri Lankan crabs, you're whisked into a queue where you have to wait for a table. No kidding. This isn't any ordinary coffeeshop dude, when the tables are controlled by one stall.

The wait isn't all that long, you get your food about 30mins into the wait, with the crabs coming at the end, prolly a full hour from the time you start queuing. So, come only if you don't mind having a slow-paced, leisurely crab dinner.

Mellben Crab Bee Hoon (2 crabs for 50 bucks)

Overall, I'd say it's worth trying at least once. The soup may be a little rich for some, though I thought it was great. You can taste milk, ginger, crab and the wok it was fried in, all in one mouthful. The crabs were really, really fresh, and went really well with the broth.

Mellben Crab
Taste: 3.5/5 (the crabs were excellent, but the sides were pretty awful)
Value: 3/5
Ambience: 3/5

Ah, the next place was one I've been meaning to go to for awhile. Curry Flavour, over at City Hall, serves up Japanese curry. I'm not exactly a fan of Jap curry, as it usually means I'm on a budget at a Jap restaurant.

I had the beef tenderloin curry rice ($16! Nothing budget about that!) while she had the fried pork katsu curry rice ($16). I'm telling you, the beef was totally, unexpectedly good. You know how, many places offer "steak" sandwiches, and the "steak" you get is really something resembling beef jerky, or at most the kinda beef you find on a yoshinoya beef bowl?

I was expecting that, but I was well and truly proven wrong. The beef tenderloin was succulent, juicy and seared to perfection before being slathered in a curry stew which contained carrots and potatoes. It really was just prime tenderloin cut up and soaked in curry. Fantastic.

Moreover, the gravy was altered to suit both types of meat. It's good to know that they don't treat their curry as a "one-size-fits-all" cure to mask the failings of the meat, not that there are any.

Her pork katsu was fried really crisp, though not too oily, which sat well with her. And hor, she had an entire aladin's lamp full of gravy! Not fair!

Curry Flavour
Near city hall mrt
Taste: 4/5
Value: 4/5
Ambience: 2/5 (the decor screamed pretentious minimalist cafe, but cannot make it lah)

I'll be back, for sure.

Phew, that's alot of food.

Ok, break over.

To celebrate the end of internship, we went to Aerins, opposite Soup Spoon at raffles city. I've been meaning to try this for the longest time. The desserts look yummy! Thanks for the treat darling!

I like the water feature there

Fish and Chips ($16)

Hmm. Not bad, but not fantastic. Though the fish was fresh, the batter wasn't up to scratch.

Bangers and Mash ($16)

This was... okay, but definitely not worth the money.

Ok, if you can sense my restlessness, it's because I can't wait to get to dessert!

We had the double fudge chocolate cake ($5.50), and it was AMAZING. Oh. My. Gawd. Seriously awesome stuff. I'll be the first to admit that I'm skeptical of many cafes' claim that their chocolate "decadence" cake, or their chocolate "of a thousand leaves" or their "Awfully sinful" chocolate cake is for "all chocolate lovers". Seriously, most places just don't cut it with me.

Having tasted the Chocolate Bundt cake Starbucks used to have, before switching to their new pastry/cake retailers, I now measure all these supposedly "chocolatey" creations against that very high bar.

Aerin's double fudge choc cake is deceptively undressed. No fancy swirly chocolate design, no chocolate sauce liberally swished around the plate, nothing. It wasn't even all that big, and we had only bought one slice for the both of us somemore!

The minute you put the first mouthful in you, though, you know that you are in the presence of chocolate royalty. The sponge cake (yes, I also can't believe it's sponge!) was moist, rich and chocolatey. It complemented the thick, deep, dark fudge which smothered it on two layers. There are very, very few times I am rendered speechless when eating, but this was one of them. Even the missus, who is a huger chocolate buff than I am, just sat there and smiled after one bite.

This goes on the go-to list for chocolate fixes, along with Venezia's Dark Chocolate gelato, Menotti's Double Chocolate Souffle and Royce's Champagne Nama chocolate.

And finally, happy father's day!! We went to Oasis taiwan porridge, before it goes away.

Rocky does media monitoring

Greenland adventures

Gluttons Bay

The Greenlanders in the office went to Gluttons Bay on the eve of Vesak Day. Gluttons Bay, you know, the one at the Esplanade? I've never had particularly good thoughts about the place...I mean, doesn't it just scream "tourist trap"?!

Well, I'm proud to say that, even at slightly inflated prices, the food here is as good as advertised ...

First up, the best of the lot:

Orh Luak!!! (large) - $8

The people who know me, know that I don't eat mussels/clams/la-la/oysters, etc, because...I also dunno why. BUT. The one exception I have with oysters, is our very own, Oyster Omelette!

Man. There's something about that crisp exterior giving way to its tender, starchy interior, all the time bathed in a liberal amount of oil. Combined with the sourish, spicy zing that oyster-omelette-chilli has, the result is pure bliss.

This was easily one of the best oyster omelettes I've had in awhile, though I don't profess to be an expert on the dish, it's really not that hard to tell when you taste perfection.

BBQ Stingray (large) - $15

Not bad, but not as nice as the Bukit Timah market one. Still, for town prices, it's pretty good value.

Hokkien Mee (medium) - $6

For some reason, every hokkien mee seller and their uncle is selling hokkien mee on these pretentious banana leaves. Pray tell, since when did we always sell it like this? Stupid manufactured nostalgia strikes again. Thanks for nothing, Food Republic.

The noodles here, though, tasted pretty good. I did have them the last time I was here, and it was much improved this time around. So, I'd say this place is pretty decent, but has consistency issues.

15 Chicken, 15 Beef - 50c per stick

Damn, it's expensive. Some more not very nice. Sauce sucked. For me, satay's 50% meat, 50% sauce. If the sauce CMI, no point thinking bout the meat man...

Overall, this place is a pretty good place to go if you want bring a foreign co-worker to have a "taste of Singapore", or if you just have orh lua cravings. Come in a group, cos we ended up paying like, under ten dollars each. The food you see is only the shared food, most of them ordered a main dish. =)

Gluttons Bay Esplanade

Taste: 3.5/5 Value: 3/5 (considering it's locale) Ambience: 4/5 (Better ventilated than Newton or Chomp Chomp can every be)

We then made our way down to Winebar, which proved unwise on a pre-holiday nite...

Darrell, Me, Kenneth

All the interns!

I heart B*M