Ippudo @ Mandarin Gallery, Singapore

The main highlight of our trip to Singapore (other than the Wicked musical of course =P) was going to eat yummy tonkotsu ramen. It was a tug of war between Ippudo and Tampopo. After lots of researching, we decided to go with Ippudo.

      

Cute logo

     

Expect long queues

     
Ippudo is so popular that there is always a queue for it even at 3pm!

    

Menu

     
Basically you choose the type of ramen you want on the left page and proceed to the add-ons on the right page.

      

Love their black wooden chopsticks =)

       

Hot & Iced Ocha

      

Complimentary Condiments

    
Cloves of raw garlic and a garlic press were available should you wish to add some kick to the ramen and your breath.
   
It seems like restaurants in Singapore favour this sort of sesame seed dispenser. Both JS and I prefer grinding the sesame seeds to release the fragrant aroma.

    

Loading the pungent missiles

      

Squeeze!

        

Karaka Tamago (SGD 19)

   
The Karaka Tamago is basically tonkotsu broth mixed with special spicy miso laden with minced pork and the ever popular Japanese boiled egg. No comment on this as I did not try it but it must have been good otherwise our foodie friend would not have ordered it =P

     

Akamaru Chashu (SGD 19)

   
A warning: health junkies stay awayyyyyyyyy!!!! This dish of tonkotsu broth and special miso paste with fragrant garlic oil is highly recommended. It comes with chashu, strips of woodear fungus and finely diced spring onions. After you mix everything together, you can see a layer of over the soup as well as bits of white fat floating on the surface. Once you get past the idea of drinking oil and fats, you'll experience the wonderful robust and complex flavour of the dish which is really like no other. I can't describe the complexity of the soup very well - it's just something you have to try for yourself =)

     

Shiromaru Tamago (SGD 17)

 
The Shiromaru Tamago consists of pure tonkotsu broth served with pork loin chashu, cabbage, spring onions, woodear fungus, pickled ginger and Japanese-style boiled egg. It is a wonderful dish on its own but it definitely pales in comparison to the Akamaru broth. For those who can't stand bits of fats and oil floating in your soup, this is the one for you.
 
Ippudo's ramen certainly lives up to its name, springy ramen with flavourful soup. Luckily for you (and us), there is no need to travel all the way to Singapore just to sample yummy ramen anymore as Ippudo will soon be opening an outlet in KL so do check it out once it's opened!

PawPoints: 5 Paws

   
Ippudo

Somerset MRT
#04-02/03/04, Mandarin Gallery
333 Orchard Road
Singapore
Tel: +65 6235 2797
Mon - Sat: 11am - 11pm
Sun: 11am - 10pm

Old Hong Kong Legend Restaurant @ Raffles City Shopping Centre, Singapore

Our friend PMS brought us to Old Hong Kong Legend as she said it was one of the few nice dim sum restaurants at Singapore. You can trust that it's definitely nice as she has good taste(buds) =P

       

Ji Gei Yau Restaurant

          

Complimentary pickles

     
The pickles which had a hint of spiciness were very tangy and refreshing. I couldn't stop munching on them.

     

Barbecued Pork Puff Pastry with Macadamia

      
The Char Siu Sou here is really good - crumbly baked pastry with lots of delectable filling within.

     

Abundant pork

    

Salted Pork with Century Egg Congee

      
The congee is extremely good as it was silky smooth with a sufficiently thick consistency. I love how the yau char kwai (Chinese crullers) is deep fried to a crisp and crunchy texture. Too bad I couldn't have a bowl to myself =P

       

Steamed Shrimp and Pork Dumplings with Scallop

     
Dumplings were springy and well flavoured.

    

Steamed Mushroom Dumplings

     
Somehow I don't recall eating this... =.=

    

Steamed Shrimp and Pork Dumplings

     
Gigantic siu mai with prawns and lots of pork filling - very good.

    

Steamed Shrimp Dumplings

     
The har gau is springy and fresh and the skin of the wrapper is really thin - thumbs-up!

   

Steamed Mushroom Dumplings

     
I found this a little odd with the many ingredients within the translucent wrapper but it tasted quite nice.

      

Steamed Chicken Claws with Black Bean Sauce

     
The chicken feet fully absorbed the delicious savoury flavours of the black bean sauce. Yummy =D

      

Steamed Flour Rolls with Mushrooms, Barbecued Pork and Shrimp

     
The cheong fun consisted of mushrooms, char siu and shrimp so it was tough to tell which part consisted of which filling. Nevertheless, it was good.

    

Pan-fried Radish Cake

       
I love pan-fried radish cake and this was cooked to perfection. The accompanying chilli oil (not pictured) was the perfect companion to the not-oily radish cake.

     

Deep-fried Chive Dumplings

     
The chive dumplings had an abundant amount of chives and minced pork - this was good too.

     

Panfried Shrimp Rolls Wrapped in Beancurd

      
This is something new...I have not seen this in KL before. Shrimps were encased in a dried beancurd wrap which was then deep-fried. It was extremely crunchy and the shrimps did not lose their moisture - very yummy!

     

Mini Egg Tarts

      
The mini egg tarts had a flaky, buttery pastry and smooth egg custard. Yummy when eaten piping hot =)

I gather this is like fine dining dim sum and I wouldn't mind returning here whenever I'm at Singapore. Really good stuff <thumbs-up>
 

   

PawPoints: 4 Paws

    
Old Hong Kong Legend Restaurant
City Hall MRT
#02-18 Raffles City Shopping Centre
252 North Bridge Road

Singapore
Tel: +65 6336 3038

Shimbashi Soba @ Paragon, Singapore

A restaurant specialising in soba? Another must-try since we don't have it here in KL =P We squeezed in a bit of time in our busy schedule and off we went to Paragon Shopping Centre for some unique soba dishes.

    

Soba So Good Indeed

      

"About Us"

     

Part of the menu

     
Sneak peek of the chilled soba available...

      

Hiyashi Kamo Soba (SGD 20.80)

     
This is a cold soba with roasted imported French duck and poached egg. Didn't get to try this unfortunately but it certainly looked good!

    

Salmon Gomadare Salad Soba (SGD 18.20)

   
This is a cold soba salad with salmon sashimi and sesame dressing. It was very refreshing and immediately drained away the heat and fatigue I was experiencing. The soba was silky smooth with a nice bite to it and the salmon sashimi were very fresh. The sesame dressing helped pull everything together nicely.

    

Close-up of the Salmon Gomadare Salad Soba

    
Too bad we were quite full and couldn't try more soba dishes =( There was a lot of variety in the menu unlike the limited options we have in KL which are either hot soba in shoyu broth or cold soba with shoyu dipping sauce =.= Prices are a bit steep and the soba actually tasted rather ordinary but it's a good idea to visit this restaurant and try out the different offerings available.
     

PawPoints: 4 Paws

  
http://www.sobaworld.com.sg/
  
Shimbashi Soba
Somerset MRT
#B1-41, Paragon
290 Orchard Road
Singapore
Tel: +65 6735 9882
Daily: 11.30am - 10pm

Hog's Breath Cafe @ Chijmes, Singapore

I first heard of Hog's Breath Cafe when I was planning for my Australia trip. It is a western sort of grill bar serving food similar to Chilli's and TGIF but with my favourite curly fries! So when I found out they have a branch in Singapore, I had to go have a taste =) But seriously, why do famous chain stores always have branches in Singapore and Bangkok but skip KL?? We Malaysians like food too! >.<

  

Cute artwork

       

Set Lunch Menu

      

Daily Special

       
They have lots of yummy items on the menu - I especially wanted to try the Seafood Gumbo served with Cob Loaf but we were on a tight food schedule and so had to content to sharing the set lunch =(

     

     

Salt and pepper shaker

       

Spicy Seafood Tomato Soup

      
The Spicy Seafood Tomato Soup which came as part of the set lunch was yummy! The soup was thick and rich with tomato paste and spicy sauce and there was a generous amount of seafood among the sprinkles of parsley in the mug. Although it was very yummy and comforting, I rather thought it had a hint of canned spicy sardine gravy =P The small piece of garlic bread was toasted to a crisp and was very fragrant with garlic butter.

     

Aussie Burger (SGD 18)

      
We had the Aussie Burger with a side salad and curly fries. The burger was quite yummy with perfectly fried sunny side up that has an oozing yolk, crispy bacon, well-seasoned and moist beef pattie and adequate and fresh lettuce and tomato slice.
    
The curly fries I had eagerly anticipated was well fried as the outsides were crispy and the insides soft and fluffy. There were also lots of curly bits which are my favourite =D The letdown was that it was too salty >.< Not sure if the chef accidentally reached for the salt bowl twice or this is the standard taste in the cafe.
   
To be fair, the specialty of Hog's Breath Cafe is its wonderful steaks which we did not order. If I were to give it a rating based on its set lunch alone, I would say it's average and not a must-visit.
   

PawPoints: 3 Paws

   
http://hogsbreath.com.sg/on_the_menu.htm
  
Hog's Breath Cafe
City Hall MRT
Chijmes, 30 Victoria Street
Block A, #01-26/27
Singapore
Tel: +65 6338 1387
Daily: 11.30am - 1am

Tonkatsu by Ma Maison @ Mandarin Gallery, Singapore

Ma Maison is a Yoshoku place which serves Japanese-influenced Western dishes. This branch of Ma Maison however specialises in tonkatsu only so I'm pretty sure you can expect the best. After all, it's located within Mandarin Gallery which seemed to me like a Singapore Starhill.

    

Piggy chef

     

Unique open air dining

      
It is not a very large shop and with its immense popularity among the locals, it's best to come during non-peak hours (however, don't go at 3pm like us as the shop is closed in the afternoon) as they do not accept reservations.

    

Piggy decor

     

Part of the menu

     
Apart from the common pig, they also serve kurobuta aka black pig bred in Kagoshima. Expensive yo!

     

Range of sauces

      
At Ma Maison, there are many sauces to choose from. The tall bottles with the red cap and white cap are soy sauce and sesame dressing respectively. In the cute and fat little teapots are tonkatsu sauce, the variation clearly written on the sides of the pot and the lid. The blue pot consists of sweet tonkatsu sauce, similar to what is provided in Tonkatsu by Wa Kitchen in KL whereas the red pot consists of spicy tonkatsu sauce. There is also a sesame seed dispenser.
     

Sesame seeds

     
As only a sesame seed dispenser is provided, the sesame seeds were not as fragrant as those in Tonkatsu by Wa Kitchen which were grinded to release its flavour.

    

Sesame seeds + Sweet tonkatsu sauce

        

Mameton Set (SGD 25.80)

       
The full works of the Mameton Set - the assorted katsu and shredded cabbage in the middle and (clockwise from top left) tonjiru aka pork miso soup, somen in dashi broth, oroshi aka grated radish, tartare sauce, rice and pickled cabbage. The rice and shredded cabbage are both refillable.

     

Ebi Furai, Rosu Katsu, Hire Katsu

     
See the golden panko coating? There is even a dollop of Thousand Island sauce on the side and a wedge of lemon.
    
Both the hire katsu (pork fillet cutlet) and the rosu katsu (pork loin cutlet) were juicy and the deep-fried panko coating extremely crispy. You can even see each tiny piece of golden breadcrumb clearly. It's like in shows where you take a bite and it goes CRACKLE! The ebi furai was also very fresh, crispy coating and bouncy meat. They were so good they can be eaten on their own without any sauce. It certainly beats Tonkatsu by Wa Kitchen's tonkatsu anytime with its much juicier meat and much crispier skin =D But don't fret, Tonkatsu by Wa Kitchen is not too far behind and is certainly at this point in time, the best tonkatsu outlet in Malaysia =)
    
The spicy tonkatsu sauce was a surprise winner with a pleasant kick. The flavours were also more dimensional compared to the sweet tonkatsu sauce, and unlike any other sauce found in KL. JS was super addicted to the tonkatsu sauce =P However he did note that Tonkatsu by Wa Kitchen's tonkatsu sauce and sesame seed dip was much more fragrant due to the grinded sesame seeds. I, on the other hand, favoured the tartare sauce over the tonkatsu sauce. Somehow deep-fried stuff goes well with tartare sauce =P
    
The sesame dressing was good against the mound of otherwise bland, raw cabbage strips.
   
The oroshi (grated radish) provided some cooling relief against the heatiness of the katsu. Too bad it was not refillable =( The pickled cabbage was average.

    

Somen in Dashi

      
This was a nice surprise in the bento set =) Fine somen noodles in a warm dashi broth sprinkled with finely sliced leeks. Somehow Japanese leeks don't taste the same as Chinese leeks so that's good for me =P The light, slurp-inducing somen noodles were a nice refreshing change from the usual ramen, udon and soba and the broth was very warm and comforting.
    

Tonjiru

     
As usual, the tonjiru was laden with many ingredients such as lots of daikon pieces, pork and spring onions. It was good but similar to the raves I wrote for Tonkatsu by Wa Kitchen (hehe sorry I'm lazy ^_^).

    

Dessert

     
Another surprise for us! They also served a complimentary dessert in the form of a lightly scented konnyaku jelly. I can't quite place the scent but it was very pleasant.
   
Do make a trip to Tonkatsu by Ma Maison if you're in Singapore. It does not disappoint! =)

   

PawPoints: 5 Paws

   
Tonkatsu by Ma Maison
Somerset MRT
#02-35/36, Mandarin Gallery
333 Orchard Road
Singapore
Tel: +65 6733 4541
Daily: 11am - 3pm, 5pm - 10pm