Movie: The story of a professional craftsman 'Jiro Dreams of Sushi'

This isn't the normal type of movie that has a story. It's more of a documentary. The movie revolve around a 85 years old sushi craftsman, 'Jiro, Ono'. He's also the owner of the Sushi restaurant 'Sukiyabashi Jiro'. Through the movie, you can basically have a better idea of the life 'Jiro, Ono' is leading, the lifestyle of a Japanese craftsman, the making of a good Sushi... etc.

Poster of the Movie 'Jiro Dreams of Sushi'

Note:

• As the movie shows a large collection of indulging Sushi images, therefore I wouldn't recommend you to watch the movie with an empty stomach.(In fact, I was drooling towards the end of the movie... And after spending an hour plus watching the movie, I suddenly have the urge of eating Sushi... =="")

* Click here to find out more about the movie 'Jiro Dreams of Sushi'.
^ Click here to find out more about the restaurant 'Sukiyabashi Jiro'.

From JB to SG....

Since I haven't been to that particular part of JB, therefore I'm not really sure how the noodles over there really taste like. But...

'Wanton Noodles' As for this particular bowl of 'Wanton Noodles', it isn't served in a plate. The reason why I don't like 'Wanton Noodles' that are served using a plate was mainly because the Noodles tend to be either to dry or too wet... Therefore I still prefer 'Wanton Noodles' that are served in a bowl. Taste wise, I loved the way they are preparing the Noodles. It isn't too dry or too wet and it still have the springy touch. On top of that, the amount of good and fresh ingredients that are given and the great balance between the use of vegetables and meat are one of the good reasons why I would be going back for more. O.OV 'Wanton' wise, I think that is rather small, but since they have given the fried 'Wanton' and the normal 'Wanton' and looking at the price that I'm paying, I don't think I should be lodging a complaint. :P

So where to get this bowl of 'Wanton Noodles'?

The name of the stall would be 'Pontian Wanton Noodles'(笨珍云吞面).
It seems that they have several branches island-wide, but the
stall that I have shown here is located inside 'Redhill Market'.
(By the way, 'Pontian'(笨珍) is the name of a district in JB.)

Notes:

• Operating Hours: 8am - 9pm Daily

* Click here for the location of 'Redhill Market' on Google Maps.
^ Click here for some other delicacies that can be found in 'Redhill Market'.

Not really a pot of Porridge...

Okay, basically I'm still an average person after all. I neither a robot nor an alien, eventually I still can get sick. Therefore, rather than keeping a lookout for sinful fried stuff, I decided to go for some simple stuff. :D

'Chicken Porridge' and 'Yam Cake' This would be part of my dinner. A simple bowl of 'Chicken Porridge' and a cube of 'Yam Cake'. Let's talk about the 'Chicken Porridge' first. I love the way they are separating the 'Porridge' and the 'You Tiao', which is a long deep fried strip of dough. Though the 'You Tiao' that was given isn't very crispy but at least it doesn't ended up to be too soft. Besides for the 'You Tiao', the 'ikan bilis' are very tasty and it sort of reminds me of the good old days where I can finish a few bowls of plain porridge with 'ikan bilis' only. :P Though the taste of the porridge is pretty normal but with the 'ikan bilis' that comes with it, it has definitely boost the taste of the porridge to a whole new level. Next comes the 'Yam Cake'... Although this 'Yam Cake' isn't something fantastically delicious, but it's still pretty good. The owners have go the extra mile cutting the 'Yam Cake' into 8 pieces. With the spring onions and the sweet sauce and chilli sauce that can really blend together, I think that one should really give this a try. :D

So where can you try this?

The name of the stall would be 'Porridge Pot'(一品粥)
and it's located inside 'Redhill Market'.

Notes:

• Operating Hours: 7am - 1.30pm, 6pm - 10.30pm Daily
• Closed on Mondays

* Click here for the location of 'Redhill Market' on Google Maps.
^ Click here for some other delicacies that can be found in 'Redhill Market'.

A slightly a bit more watery alternative...

When one started to talk about 'Old Airport Road Food Centre' and 'Beancurd' the first thing that might pop in your mind would most likely be the infamous 'Lao Ban Beancurd'(老伴豆花). But...

'Ice cold Beancurd'
there's a similar product a few doors away. But, this alternative
is slightly a bit more watery. But I think the taste of the Beancurd
is far more stronger than those from 'Lao Ban Beancurd'. On top of
that, this stall has a variety of favoured Beancurd and they have an
ongoing promotion which allows you to get 2 original Beancurd for the
price of one. Therefore, if you really have a lot of time and you
really don't mind queueing up for 'Lao Ban Beancurd', go ahead.
But, if you really don't have the time for it, give this Beancurd
a try. But, if you are very hungry, you can get the Beancurd from
this stall, before walking over to 'Lao Ban Beancurd' and eat the
Beancurd from this stall while you queue up at 'Lao Ban Beancurd'.

So what is the name of this stall?

The name of this stall would be 'Happy Boy Soya Bean' and
it's located inside 'Old Airport Road Food Centre'.

Notes:

• Operating Hours: 9am - 9pm daily

* Click here to find out more about 'Happy Boy Soya Bean'.
^ Click here for the list of delicacies that you can get in 'Old Airport Road Food Centre'.
~ Click here for the location of "Old Airport Road Food Centre" on Google Maps.

Freshly Made Chee Cheong Fun....

So how fresh can a 'Chee Cheong Fun' be? It just so so happen that I was popping by a place the other day and I saw this amazingly long queue of people queueing up for this, so what's so special about it?

'Prawn Chee Cheong Fun and Chicken Chee Cheong Fun'
Initially, I thought that the queue was pretty short, therefore I
decided to queue up for it. Somehow it ended up with the people
queueing in front of me started to place an order for at least 2
rolls of 'Chee Cheong Fun' each. Hence a queue of not more than
10 people ended up to be more than 10~15 minutes of waiting time...

So what's so special about the 'Chee Cheong Fun'?
It comes in 4 different types of ingredients. There's
'Char Siew', also known as barbecued meat, Prawns, Mushrooms and
Chicken. The skin of the 'Chee Cheong Fun' is pretty soft and the
moment you put it in your mouth, the skin of the 'Chee Cheong Fun'
will dissolve into your mouth and 'Ka-Boom'. The taste of the
ingredient will expose completely. And If you happen to place
an order for a roll of Prawns 'Chee Cheong Fun', there's a prawn
inside each of the segments. Woo hoo~~~~~ By the way, although
this doesn't really look like rolls of 'Chee Cheong Fun', but
the taste is amazingly good and the chilli can really blend with
the 'Chee Cheong Fun' pretty well. :D

So where you get this?

The name of the stall will be 'Freshly Made Chee Cheong Fun'
this stall is located inside 'Old Airport Road Food Centre'.

Notes:

• Operating Hours: 8am - 10pm daily

* Click here for the list of delicacies that you can get in 'Old Airport Road Food Centre'.
^ Click here for the location of "Old Airport Road Food Centre" on Google Maps.

Come In to Hokkaido?

Few weeks ago, I'm suppose to meet my friends at 'Clarke Quay', but due to the hot weather, I decided to grab some ice cream before I meet them. Therefore, I decided to pay a visit to 'Liang Court'...

'Melon and Vanilla Ice Cream'
The taste for the vanilla ice cream is pretty much the same
else where, but the taste for the Melon ice cream is pretty strong.
On top of that, the texture of the ice cream is pretty much
similar to the Japanese style 'shaved ice'. (≧∇≦)b
(Note: Speaking of Melon, do you know that a Melon in Japan
or from Japan can cost as much as S$50?)

The name of the shop will be 'Come In Hokkaido'. You can find
all sorts of infamous sweets and biscuits from Hokkaido over there.
By the way, this shop is located inside the compound of 'Meidiya'
Singapore, which is located in 'Liang Court'.

* Click here for the website of 'Meidiya' Singapore.
^ Click here to find out more about 'Liang Court'.

Hong Kong Egg Balls...?

I wanted to take a look at one of the Japanese stall over there and I just so so happen to pass by this snack? stall selling egg balls... So what exactly is Hong Kong Egg balls?

'Hong Kong Chicken Floss Egglets'
This is in fact a waffle that was prepared in a funny, bubble filled pans.
Although the taste is pretty much the same as a normal waffle, but what
makes it interesting will be the crispy texture of these egglets. I'm
pretty lucky to say that the packet of egglets that I managed to get are
pretty crispy. I was popping ball after ball, crunching it like a cookie
monster. Though the owners are trying to be innovative but the taste of the
'Chicken Floss' and the egglets just doesn't blend property. Probably the
original egglets will taste even much better than it. :D

Notes:

• Try to finish the whole packet asap. Because as time goes by, the egglets will become softer and softer, which makes it pretty much similar to a normal waffle.

* Click here to find out more about 'Hong Kong Egglets'.

Post 200: 8 Treasures

Post 200... Woohoo it has been a pretty long journey to reach this far? Since, this is post 200, out of all the other contents that I have on hand, I decided to blog about this place since 2 '0' will make up the shape of '8'. Or perherps this is far too much to be a coincidences? :P Either ways, let's begin our journey for post 200...

So here comes our soup of the day.

'Hot & Sour Soup'(四川酸辣汤) Not sure is it me, but it seems that most of the Chinese style 'Hot & Sour Soup' tends to come with lots and lots of ingredients. Probably this is something that we, Chinese tend to do. :P The taste of the soup is pretty strong and seriously I didn't expected it to be so good. The soup also have the taste of the 'Szechuan vegetables'(四川菜), since they are using it as one of the main ingredient in making the soup. By the way a small bowl of soup can be shared by a group of 8. (Since we were a group of 4, therefore each of us had 2 bowls of the tasty soup. :D Good job.)

'Curry Mutton'(咖哩羊肉)
Usually when I ended up in a Chinese restaurant, I tend to
order a dish that comes with a bit of gravy. Since curry
is one of the most common food in Singapore, I decided to
go with this dish. All the mutton meat that were given are
bite sized. And the look and the shape of it reminds me of
the dish 'Ngo Hiang', sausage roll consist of minced pork
and prawn seasoned with five-spice powder. The taste is
pretty much similar and since I'm a big fan of curry, I
also ended up finishing all the vegetables of this dish
too. (By the way, the curry that was served here isn't
spicy at all and the gravy is pretty thick.)

'Sambal Potatoes Leaves'(叁巴番薯叶)
Probably I'm too used to have this dish prepared in very
exciting chilli, therefore for this dish, something seems
to be amiss. Though the taste of the vegetables still
remain in this dish, but it's just isn't spicy enough. :P

'Fragrant Cereal Beancurd'(麦片豆腐)
This is pretty good. Not sure how did the chef managed to
do it but although the main ingredients of this dish is
beancurd, but the texture of the beancurd is pretty much
similar to a fish cake or fried sotong ball. I'm not
exaggerating but the it's pretty chewy and this dish isn't
too oily. I would highly recommend this dish to anyone
who comes here for a meal or two.

'Marmite Pork Ribs'(妈密排骨)
Most of the places out there are preparing 'Coffee Pork Ribs'
and it's kinda of boring going for the same old dish over and
over again. My friend had placed an order for this dish and it
turn out to be pretty tasty. Pretty much similar to 'Coffee
Pork Ribs', you can taste the strong taste of the 'Pork Ribs',
but at the same time, it doesn't comes with the 'Coffee' effect.
(Keeping you too awake. :|) But I personally still find the
beancurd much more tastier than this dish.

So where can you try all these dishes?

The name of the restaurant would be '8 Treasures'(八宝) and it's
located next to the 'Buddha Tooth Relic Temple' in Chinatown.

... Oh, by the way... Did I forget to mention the fact that this is a vegetarian restaurant? The actual name of this restaurant will be '8 Treasures Vegetarian Restaurant'. Since the name of the restaurant contains the word '8 Treasures', some of their dishes also comes with the word '8 Treasures' too. For example: 'Treasures Beancurd'(八宝豆腐), 'Eight Treasures Hor Fun '(八宝河粉), 'Eight Treasures Herbal Soup'(八宝养生汤)... etc. We have tried the 'Eight Treasures Tea'(八宝茶), and the taste is pretty strong and a little sweet. Even up till the 3rd brew, the taste of the Tea still remains to the pretty much the same as the 1st brew.

Notes:

• The place is pretty small and crowded, therefore please secure a reservation to avoid disappointment.

* Click here to find out more about '8 Treasures Restaurant'.
^ Click here for their menu.
~ Click here for the location of '8 Treasures Restaurant' on Google Maps.

My favourite 'Fast' Food....

'Fast Food', a type of food that plays an important role in our busy life. Regardless whether you are a student of a working adult, there ought to be numerous situations where limited time was given and you have to grab some 'fast food'. Therefore, I'm going to share my favourite 'fast food' in Singapore today. :P

And here comes...

'Bacon Swiss Crispy Hand-Breaded Chicken Tenders Sandwich Combo'
Probably by taking a look at all the packaging, you probably can
guessed it correctly and yes, you can get this combo set is from
"Carl's Jr.".

But why do I love "Carl's Jr."?

'Drinks - Ice Lemon Tea'
Upon making a purchase for a cold drink, you will be given an
empty cup and you can help yourself to the unlimited beverages
servings. On top of that, if you are a 'Ice Lemon Tea' lover,
you can also add a few slices of fresh lemons into the cup too.
(Well, this reminds me of the good old days that I tend to buy a
drink and find a seat in "Carl's Jr." reading for more that half
of the day.)

Probably they are trying to maximise the output and reduce the
amount of time required in cutting the potatoes into fries,
therefore you can easily spot the skin of the potatoes on the
tip of the fries. Though the taste is pretty much the same
everywhere but they are giving away tubes of tartar sauce for
free and I love to dip my fries into tartar sauce before
I eat it. :) To some extent, I wonder am I eating tartar sauce
or am I eating fries... :P

Here comes the best part. :D The burgers of "Carl's Jr.". Firstly, I love the way they are making it. They will only start making and preparing the burger upon placing an order for it. On top of that, you can also request for extra toppings with additional charges. (I used to go with Carl's Catch™ Fish Sandwich with extra fish patties. :P) Secondly, the size of the burgers are pretty satisfying. I have to open my mouth widely in order to bite the whole burger. That's nice. :D Last but not least, the fresh ingredients that they are using. I'm not sure about the hamburgers, but as for the fish and chicken burgers, they are using good quality meat and I'm loving it. :D Taste wise, I guess this is one of the better 'fast food' chain in Singapore, especially when all the burgers that they are offering has maintain a pretty good balance between the meat and vegetables.

* Click here to find out more about "Carl's Jr." Singapore.
^ Click here for the Facebook page of "Carl's Jr." Singapore.

Handmade Noodles ... and I love it :D

Almost every single day, I will ended up to have a hunger for Noodles. It can either be Ramen, fish ball noodles, or any other types of noodles. As long as it's noodles, my stomach will always have some room for it. :D

Here comes the menu for the day:

Shanghai 'Xiao Long Bao'(小笼包) Every single bite off this 'Xiao Long Bao', you can easily identify the fact that they are making the skins of the 'Xiao Long Bao' themselves. The skins are pretty thick and unbalance, which makes it pretty hard for the soup and the ingredients to drop... :| (Which kinda defeats the purpose of eating 'Xiao Long Bao'.) 'Spicy Ramen With Meat'(水煮肉片拉面) They are making the noodles themselves too. One of the helpers at the stall was demonstrating the arts of noodles making. I was looking at him making lump after lump of noodles and that's pretty amazing for me. :) Either ways, the noodles ended up to be pretty fine and delicious. Though the thickness of the noodles wasn't evenly spread and some of them were slightly fatter, but nonetheless, it still pretty delicious. As for the soup itself, it isn't just chilli oil only. Seems that they have added a large variety of ingredients and spices in order to achieve this spicy bowl of ramen soup. The soup was full of small fine particles and it's pretty nice. I ended up finishing the whole bowl of soup eventually. As for the slices of pork that was added to this bowl of ramen, the taste is pretty normal, but I think that fish slices can blend with the soup and the noodles better.

So where to get this simple bowl of chinese ramen?

The name of this stall would be 'Rong Xing La Mian Xiao Long Bao'
(荣兴拉面小笼包). It's located inside 'Redhill Market'.

Notes:

• Operating Hours: 12pm - 2:30pm
                              5pm - 9pm
• Stall is closed every Tuesday.

* Click here for the location of 'Redhill Market' on Google Maps.
^ Click here for some other delicacies that can be found in 'Redhill Market'.

The evil side of me... ?

Imagine this, the time now is pretty close to 9pm at night and more than 75% of the shops in a market were closed. You were taking a stroll through the market and you suddenly saw a lot of people queueing outside a stall. So what makes this stall so special that it can attracts so many customer at night?

Queue of people outside the stall after 9pm...
The queue still remains to be pretty long even after I
have finish eating my dinner that was bought from this store...
Usually, I will have a sense of satisfaction if I have queued up
and gain something. Then I will start laughing at the people behind
me. (Of course, I'm not laughing in front of them but in my mind.
Whahahahaha~~~~~~~ Eventually, I'm not a perfect person after all.:P)

Well, probably this might be one of the good reason
for the super long queue of customer. The price for the
food over here is pretty affordable. (A plate of 'Bee Hoon'
or 'Fried Kuey Teow' + another 1 or 2 ingredients still
ended up to be far more cheaper than a bowl of noodles, or
a plate of economy rice.)

...Time to dig in... :P a very big + for the service that I'm getting from this stall. They will automatically cut all the ingredients into smaller and friendlier sizes. (This includes the Z-shaped chicken wing.) Taste wise, the fragrance and the taste of the 'Fried Bee Hoon' is pretty good and to some extent, the 'Fried Kuay Teow' looks pretty dull and boring to me. Ingredient wise, the fish cake is pretty normal and its something that you can get everywhere, but I love the Chicken Wing. The skin/texture of it is pretty crispy and it isn't too oily. On top of that, the skin isn't too burnt. :D (No wonder, trays of chicken wings were vanishing at a rapid speed, even though there's another helper preparing and cooking chicken wings only and it just doesn't seems to be sufficient. [Economics = Demand > Supply?])

So where to get this?

The name of the stall will be 'Yan'(焱). This stall is located
inside 'Redhill Market'.

Notes:

• Store is closed on Monday.
• Try to start queueing for the food as soon as possible, especially when I have seen numerous customer queueing up for more than 5 packets of 'Fried Bee Hoon' and a large packet of 'Chicken Wing'.

* Click here for the location of 'Redhill Market' on Google Maps.
^ Click here for some other delicacies that can be found in 'Redhill Market'.

Beyond the ordinary... plate of economy rice

How good can a plate of economy rice be? That will be the main subject today. :D As for everyone out there, there ought to be a day or two that you will have some trouble choosing what to have during lunch or dinner time. Same goes for myself. I have such a problem too. Therefore in order to overcome difficult situations like this...

'Economy Rice'
Usually, I don't find a point blogging about Economy Rice, especially
when most of them tasted the same. As for this place, I guess the main
focus will be on the 'Pork Chop'. Though it wasn't a very big slice
of 'Pork Chop', but the meat itself is pretty crunchy and the moment
you put a slice of it into your mouth, both the nice fragrance and
taste of the 'Pork Chop' will blow you away. :P

As for the 'Sotong', also known as 'Squid', tastes pretty good too.
Dipping the chewing 'Sotong' into the Chinese curry had never felt
so goo. Although this is merely Chinese curry, but it's slightly a
bit watery and it can blends in with all the ingredients nicely. :D

So where to get this?

The name of the store will be 'Redhill Curry Rice' and it's located
in 'Redhill Market'. By the way, this store is facing the main road.

Note:

• Operating Hours: Mon - Sat (10am - 9:30pm)
• Take note, the price that you are paying for a normal plate of economy rice over here can be slightly more higher than the other places.

* Click here for the location of 'Redhill Market' on Google Maps.
^ Click here for a better alternative during lunch hour.

New Ramen Competitor - 'Menya Aoyama'

There's a new competitor at the 'Ramen Champion' at Bugis+(Previously known as Illuma). The new competitor would be...

'Menya Aoyama'.

'Special Tonkotsu Ramen' This would be the infamous ramen of 'Menya Aoyama'. According to the relevant resources, the chef has used ingredients like pig bones, pig feet, chicken bones, etc... in preparing the ramen soup. The process seems to be pretty tedious especially when 13 hours is needed in preparing the ramen soup. This ramen soup is very different from the other ramen soup out there. This soup isn't very salty and it's pretty delicious and I love it pretty much. :D The 'Char Siew' is pretty tasty and thick too. :D Besides for the above, the noodles are pretty easy to digest and pretty tasty too. Besides for that, ...

The standards for the 'Ajitsuke Tamago' is pretty high too.
It's pretty hard outside and pretty soft inside. :P
If you have the time, you should try making a trip down to
that place and give it a try. :D

* Click here to find out more about 'Aoyama'. (In Japanese)
^ Click here to find out more about the 'Ramen Champion' located at Bugis+.
~ Click here to find out more about 'Bugis+'.

This is not Cooking Mama......

Though I'm not a very big fan of Korean food, but once in a while, I think that a change of taste can make things pretty interesting and therefore, I decided to pay a nearby Korean restaurant a visit. :D

As for myself, what interest me most of the time, would be the
side dishes. Probably after I went for an overseas trip or two,
it seems that my interest for side dishes has increased rapidly.
To some extent, sometimes I think I was busy focusing and
savouring the side dishes more than the main dish. =.=""
What I love best about the Korean side dishes would be the variety
that they will be giving you. It can be a mixture of various kind
of tastes. Though one might not ended up finishing all the side
dishes, but there ought to be one that will suit your taste bud.
(Too bad, the side dishes of this place isn't refillable.)

'Suyuk' / Boiled Pork
Just by taking a look at this dish, it reminds me of the
infamous Chinese dish 'Beijing Duck'(北京烤鸭). You can
choose to either have a slice of boiled pork with or without
the cucumber slices or bean sprouts in spicy sauce.
This is my first attempt at this dish and it's pretty
good. Although only slices of Pork Belly are given,
but it's prepared in a healthier manner and the original
taste of the pork belly still remains in it. Perhaps
this can be part of a healthy diet? :P
(To some extent, the taste of this dish is pretty much
similar to the roast meat that you are getting at a
'Char Siew' rice stall. :D)

So where can you get this?

The name of this restaurant would be 'Big Mama'.
It's located along Kim Tian Road.

Notes:

• For some reason, this restaurant seems to be pretty crowded most of the time and I would highly encourage you to make a reservation before making a trip to that place.

* Click here to find out more about 'Big Mama'.
^ Click here for the location of 'Big Mama' on Google Maps.

Dazzling Meal

In another 3 weeks will be 'Doyo no Ushi no Hi'. In Japan, they believe that by eating nutritious eel on that particular day will help you to increase your stamina and beat the summer heat. So, have you made a reservation at your favourite eel restaurant?

Have you eaten Nagoya's, Japan, delicacy 'Hitsumabshi' before?
I have eaten it once during my trip to Japan 2 years ago.
The way of eating it is pretty interesting, and the taste is
delicious and I kinda miss it. :|

'Hitsumabushi'
Speaking of Japanese food, one could easily find Japanese food
items like Sushi, Ramen, Kaiseki, etc... in Singapore.
However, when it comes to 'Hitsumabushi', it ain't so
easy to find it. Since I haven't been eating eel for like
half a year, I suddenly have the urge of having it for dinner. (By the way, 'Mabushii' in Japanese means dazzling.)

According to the Internet, it seems that this place has
a large variety of Japanese eel set meals, therefore I
decided to have my dinner at that place.

I personally find the food there to be very delicious.
The taste of the eel is pretty much the same as those
that I have tasted in Japan. Besides for the delicious
food that they are serving you, they have also provided
a jar of soy sauce, so that you can add as much soy sauce
as you want onto the pot of eel + rice. :D
Another good point, would be the waitress in Kimono
looks pretty impressive. :P

The following shows way of savouring the 'Hitsumabushi':
(Taken from the Wikipedia)
Using the wooden spoon, divide the eel + rice into 4 portions.

1. Scoop out one of the portions and put it into the tea bowl and savour it.
2. Scoop out another portion and put it into the tea bowl and add ingredients like 'Wasabi', 'Seaweed', 'spring onion', etc... on top of it and savour it.
3. Scoop out the third portion and put it into the tea bowl and add the same ingredients that you have added in step 2 and pour in the soup that was given.
4. As for the last portion, you can just go with any one of the above steps will do.

Well then, where can we have this('Hitsumabushi')?

The name of this restaurant would be 'Chikuyotei' and
it is located on level 1 of 'Intercontinental Hotel'

Operating Hours (Daily):

• 12pm - 2:30pm
• 6:30pm - 10:30pm

* Click here to find out more about 'Chikuyotei'. (In Japanese)
^ Click here to find out more about 'Intercontinental Hotel'.