PerfectION, and chocolate sin

Woooh, it's been a long time since I last blogged but hey, good things must wait right. ION Orchard opened it's doors to the public for the very first time on Tuesday and S and I dropped by like any other kaypoh Singaporean.

I have to say that I liked everything I saw. From the tenant mix consisting of new shops and familiar brands who made the effort to dress up in the form of swanky concept stores, to tiny details such as the rest rooms and not-too-glaring lighting, made for an excellent first impression.

We reached the place at about 8pm, and headed for Watami Casual Japanese Restaurant, after reading a favourable FB status update.

(Source: Watami website)

After a 20 min wait, we were ushered to our seat by the Japanese waitress (seemed like they flew in about 5 - 6 native Japanese staff to level-up the local staff) and promptly ordered the Ramen, some of their speciality sushi and... alcoholic green tea!

Sushi Grandeur ($10.80)

Close up

The unagi was really good considering the relatively low price. Oh, in case you're wondering, by right there are supposed to be three pairs of salmon, scallop and unagi. They ran out of scallop (replaced by salmon) and.....Iateoneunagibeforeshecouldtakeapicturesothere. =)

Tori Karaage and Negi Pirikara ($7.80)

The deep-fried chicken bits in spicy scallion sauce was another interesting dish which was pretty reasonably-priced.

A rather unpleasant incident did happen though, which kinda spoilt the meal for her.

S spotted lipstick marks on her green tea mug, and got the waitress to change it. The waitress was visibly distressed and apologized profusely, before replacing the mug with.... you guessed it, the same mug.

And how did we know it was the same mug? Because the lipstick stain never clean properly - inside still have!!!

Not wanting to make a scene, we decided to just pay and leave after our meal. It was, after all, only 8:50pm; plenty of un-explored shops awaited.

Watami Casual Japanese Restaurant ION Orchard
Taste: 6.5/10
Value: 8/10
Ambience: 8/10

Verdict: Probably won't be back. There weren't any killer dishes and in general the place seems to lack a distinctive "type" of Japanese food, like Tonkichi has fried pork cutlets or Sun with Moon has the whole new-age fusion thing going for it.

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We also walked through the "360 marketplace", another Jasons-type gourmet market, and came across these brightly-coloured bell peppers! As we stood transfixed by the multi-hued veges, we could'a sworn at least 3 different groups walked past, stopped, came back and tried to test if they were fake.

These'll make a fantastic salad I'm sure

Apparently very very spicy

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The past two weeks were filled with so many celebrations for the both of us too. Her birthday, my (delayed) birthday, our anniversay, etc. We had a few celebratory desserts but these two stand out:

Seah St Deli, Chocolate decadence - $11.90

First, Seah St Deli's famous seven-layer chocolate cake. I've been meaning to try this since I heard about it from my colleagues, but never got around to it. In fact, I'd meant to come here to try the key lime pie, the other house specialty.

By the time we got there (9:30pm) we were left with either the chocolate decadence or American cheese cake - not too shabby!

The cake is supremely tall. Seriously. It sort of glares at you and tries to stare you down when it first arrives. Every layer is perfectly even and reminds me of how the pictures on those Betty Crockers Devil's Chocolate Cake look like, uniform in their evil.

Despite its height, you are still able to eat the cake in dignified forkfuls, as the sponge does its job of keeping the shape of the cake beautifully. The cherry sauce and chocolate twirls are nice additions, but really, the star is the cake.

If I have one complaint, both S and I felt it was a tad too sweet. The fudge contained traces of caramel, which some may not really like, though this is balanced out somewhat by the chocolate sponge, which is not overly-cloying.

Over all, I'd say this is one cake you have to have at least once in your lifetime - or once a year if you're a chocolate lover. Any more and you'll turn into a cacao bean!

Canele, Caribe, $8.50

On the other end of the height spectrum sits this unassuming cake from designer pastry maker Canele.

Do not be deceived by its looks, because this cake packs a huge chocolate rush! It is not much larger in girth from an average char siew pau, but boy does it make up for it in its intensity.

Every bite you sink your teeth into brings you closer to chocolate heaven (where the grills are edible!). The smooth, dark chocolate paste contrasts perfectly with the roasted hazelnuts that adorn the square-looking cake.

I would say that this is definitely one of those rare chocolate cakes meant for one person that have to be finished by two. S and I almost lost our voices at KTV after dinner cos of this!

Japanese fondue

Once again, it's Wednesday, a.k.a. Treat-of-the-week day!! Again we went down to HV, cos' she wanted to have the ever reliable Sushi Tei.

Sushi Tei's standard of food is noticeably higher than other Jap restaurants in the same price range, like Sakae Sushi (yucks) and Genki Sushi (double yucks), and it helps that they try to inject some of the famed Japanese creativity in presentation, even in food that isn't necessarily the most expensive.

Pre-meal focus

Soft-shell crab maki with smelt roe

Take the soft shell crab maki, for instance. Rather than simply rolling the crab in some rice (ok, I know I'm abbreviating the whole process, but I'm just trying to make a point), they take the effort to arrange the dish aesthetically. The smelt roe is a great touch, contrasting beautifully with the crisp batter of the soft shell crab (hmm, is it soft-shell or soft shelled?). The final presentation of the maki makes it look like a giant shrimp. Fantastic.

And then, there were these beautiful salmon-smelt-roe roses...

Exquisite? Oui!

Three types of smelt, three ways to spell heaven. I realise now that I really do like roe. Crab roe, prawn roe, smelt roe, salmon roe, I like them all. I guess it's like the poor man's caviar, but hey, now no $$ so boh pian.

Don't you agree that these look absolutely gorgeous?? And now... on to my all-time favourite Jap dish:

The dish that can do no wrong.

SABA SHIOYAKI!!!!! (Grilled Mackerel) at Sushi Tei is consistently one of the highlights of any meal there. You genuinely taste the flavour of the fish (sweet) and the flame (smokey), with minimal seasoning (salty). It helps too, that the texture of well-made saba shio is tender without being flaky, which is exactly what Sushi Tei's is like.

Sushi Tei
Holland Village

Taste: 4/5
Value: 3.5/5
Ambience: 2/5 (way, way, way too squeezy. And it's not just cos i'm fat)

One bowl of noodles later, we headed off to The Coffee Club, our new go-to place for dessert. We will try out everything there soon enough, I fear. Haha.

Fondue: $12.90

The people who queue for not-as-nice-but-more-expensive fondue at places like anderson's and chocz, should just come here. The chocolate could be of better quality, but it's already damn good, given the price. Plus the fruits are sweet.

Sweeeeeet.

Coffee Club
Holland Village

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

Tong Shui Cafe, Aji-Tei Japanese Cuisine and dessert house

It's been some time since the last foodie post, so here are two for good measure! Before I begin, though, here's a shoutout to celebrate my colleague Melvin's recent 'tagging'! Ok, now, onto the food!!!

First up, Tong Shui Cafe, which serves Hong Kong themed food. The first thing you notice about this restaurant is its overwhelmingly red decor. From the door to the menus, just about everything's clad in CNY-red and mahogany. Add in the re-runs of old hk film classics like The God Of Gamble (not a spelling error) and assorted Jiang Shi (Chinese Vampire) shows, and you've got an interesting theme for a cafe.

Then again, ambience is but one of the criteria here, so on to the food...

Hong Kong Iced Milk Tea ($1 something)

MSG-laden noodles

Wah. They sure were liberal with the MSG here. No attempt at stock or alternative natural flavouring. Just pour the bee cheng only. Yuck. Had to keep drinking water after half a bowl of this.

Wolfberry tea ($3)

Thick toast with peanut butter and condensed milk ($2.88)

In most mid-priced cafes here, there is usually one killer dish that keeps me going back for more. St Louis pork ribs at Cafe Cartel, New York Pizza at The Pizza Place, etc. This, my friends, is it: Thick toast generously slabbed with smooth PB and drizzled with condensed milk.

The toast is crisp on the outside and oh-so-soft on the inside. And it's as thick as it looks; you have to literally work your knife. At close to $3 it's not the most value for money snack you can buy, but boy, is it worth it. Awesomely sinful.

We found out later that toast is one-for-one on Tuesdays all day. -.-

Tong Shui Cafe
Liang Seah Street, next to Ah Chew Desserts
Taste: 1/5 (The PB toast on it's own is 4/5, so technically the rest of the food is -3/5, haha)
Value: 2.5/5
Ambience: 3/5

Update: The 1-for-1 toast is CHEAT one!! They will only give you a voucher for your next visit to claim 1-for-1 toast. Blardy cheats. - ireallylovedanny

For dinner, we had intended to go to our usual pasta place at Taka basement, where they make really good Aglio Olio, but they were really crowded and we couldn't wait, so we headed for this promisingly-named restaurant...

Haha, lit words look funny...

Salmon Dragon Maki ($5.80)

Agedashi Tofu ($3.80)

Lotus Chips ($2.80)

Wow, I must relate this incident man. After taking our orders, the waitress then repeated them back to us.

Waitress: In accented English "One Griwl Saba Shio, One Loti Cheese..."

Me: "Huh, what's that again?"

Waitress: "One griwl Saba Shio..." *blank look*

Me: "After that"

Waitress: "Loti Cheese"

- Long Pause -

Waitress takes menu and flips to page with lotus chips and points to it and says very confidently in an I-told-you-how-many-times-already-you-dumb-prick look: "Loti Cheese. Yes?"

Me: Stunned silence. Nods.

Afterwards, when she placed the bowl of chips in front of us she also said somewhat smugly "Loti Cheese". Gah.

Chilled tofu with nutty dressing (Came with the bento)

Loti Cheese aside, the chilled tofu was pretty good, the best thing, in fact, of the whole bento. It's texture reminds you of cream cheese and the peanut/salad dressing complements it perfectly. Nothing else to distract from the fusion of both tastes, which is just as well, because anything else would've sullied the experience.

I'm really not one for fusion food, but this is an exception. Surely the dressing is west-inspired, the salad sauce tastes somewhat like thousand island. I'm not kidding you though, it really is good.

Oh, another thing, we realised after the meal that it's part of the Ajisen Ramen chain! Oh well.
Oh, oh, and we didn't have dessert because no room for it. :)

Aji-Tei Japanese Cuisine and Dessert House
Takashimaya Basement 1
Taste: 3.5/5 (hits and misses)
Value: 3/5 (total bill came up to $43)
Ambience: 4/5

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Note: Please ignore the recent comments on the tagboard, they were made on the back of a rough day and weren't intended to mean anything other than me letting off some steam.