A Day In The Life Of Chiyo

this place is managed by real koreans!!! when we asked for a table for 4, the lady couldn't even manage to tell us to wait outside for a while, she just left when words and gestures failed her :p

you'll be struck by the decor when you step in. old-fashioned wooden tables and chairs, with paper lamp covers (they look home-made) and photo frames and little ornaments and face carvings all over the walls. some of the more interesting photos were of the restaurant owners with a korean actor (i can't remember his name).

the menu is rather extensive, with individual portions and family sized bbq items. we all ordered individual stone bowl rice and hot pots, including bi bim bap, bulgogi, bbq chicken and seafood hot pot. first came the free appetisers, 6 in all, including kimchi, marinated cucumber, spinach, ikan bilis etc. we ordered citron tea and rice juice, both their specialty (we were informed by the waiter that they only had 1 citron tea left, could we share? :p haha) the rice juice was a little sweet, similar to barley, and the citron tea was a little like lemon tea, except with alot of orange rind :) of course, there was also free flow of cool barley tea.

all our dishes came burning hot in their stone bowls. yum!!! the seafood soup was very tasty, we could taste the shrimp and seafood used to make the broth, it's 货真价实! my chicken bbq was spicy and tender. the portion was generous, plus there was an accompanying bowl of soup :) hehehe... i even found a few pieces of korean 年糕 in my bowl, they were chewy and elastic, very interesting :) the bulgogi rice was very nicely done too, tender beef, plus quite alot of dried mushrooms. i didn't try the bi bim bap, so i can't comment, but it looks very good too!

we saw some people at other tables with the family-sized chicken and beef bbq. the waitresses would place a large gas-heated hotplate on the table and help you cook the meat. cool! it smelt really good. next time i'll try that for sure :)

the service was very friendly, the atmosphere busy but cosy. the food was good and affordable, each individual rice bowl less than or around $10. give it a try! :)

operation hours:
lunch: 1130am-2:30pm
dinner: 6pm-10pm
closed on sunday

address:
11 mosque street, chinatown
phone number:
62210830

This place makes Japanese curry from scratch, by stewing potatoes, carrots and onions and spices together for hours to make the thick curry gravy, instead of just dissolving the instant curry powder mixes like so many other places do. There are the stewed curries, fried item curries and also dons. You can choose the spiciness of your curry too.

I have tried the stewed beef tenderloin curry and mushroom curry. The beef curry was normal, some of the beef chunks were rather tough. But the overall stew was great, lots of potatoes and carrots in it. The portion of curry was ok, but I couldn't finish the huge portion of rice. You can either choose soup or salad, and both times I chose salad, which was quite nice too. The mushroom curry was more special :) 3 different kinds of mushroom, which blended surprisingly well with the curry. They did give quite alot of mushrooms, which justified the price.

I have also tried the appetiser 'Age Chikuwa with Cheese', which is fried squid cake roll wrapped around cheese. Pretty good too :)

The price range is 12.90 to 23.90 (!!! for the seafood curry). I feel it is not cheap, but the food quality is good. The place is usually quite fully booked for dinner, though I have not tried it for lunch. It seems like the lunch sets are more value-for-money, but I don't know how big the portions are.

Next door to this curry restaurant is a jazz cafe. Not live jazz, but they share desserts and drinks orders with the curry restaurant.

*** Photo is from their website

i've been to this place 3 times, and everytime is just as good as the last. :) Au Petit Salut serves only set meals for lunch, and set meals as well as ala carte for dinner. There are 2 set lunches: $22+++ and $38+++

Set lunches include an appetiser, main course, dessert and coffee/tea.

So far, for the appetisers, I've tried the burgundy snails (excellent rich taste packed into tiny balls), mixed greens salad with walnut dressing (normal, a little too salty for me, and the walnuts were soggy), and pan-seared foie gras (very good, although i could only eat half of it. i'm not used to the richness)

for main courses, I've tried the seared lamb shank on polenta (taste explosion again, lamb medallions were seared perfectly and medium on the inside. sauce was great, and polenta was buttery and fragrant. i thought it was a better match for the lamb than mashed potato), stewed lamb shank on the bone (very tender, yum) and also stewed beef cheeks (very tender also. although it wasn't as special as the seared lamb, it was still good on its own)

i think what differentiates a good restaurant from an excellent one is the attention it pays to dessert. so far the food had been great, but the dessert was even better! :) this makes me so happy to say it. haha. i've tried chocolate mousse cake with red currant jam (rich and dense, very very nice presenation, although the portion was rather small. this was good, but wait till you hear the rest), choux buns with vanilla ice cream and sliced almonds (perfect with the dark chocolate sauce lavishly drizzled on top. very very nice), creme brulee (you can see the vanilla bean seeds inside, very authentic. the cream was very rich, richer than those i have tasted before, and the caramelised sugar on top was crispy and a very good contrast to the creaminess), and manjari melted chocolate cake with raspberry coulis (the best. warm, melted chocolate cake with chocolate granita. mmmmmm... but i did not like the raspberry coulis)

the service here is polite but aloof. staff are attentive and polished. atmosphere is nice too, incandescent lighting with french music. it's advisable to make a reservation because this place is usually packed for lunch, unless you come before 12.

i will defintely come back here again :)

This is a dessert cafe cum american restaurant. The main highlights are the rows of cakes in the glass display case. The food are mostly pies, and the items like lamb shank are reheated, because there is no kitchen to cook in.

I have tried the Shepherd's Pie and the lamb shank before. The shepherd's pie looked cute in the display with the potato piled high in a cone, but it came to us tilting dangerously to one side after being microwaved. The lamb shank was slightly better, with tender off-the-bone meat, but it wasn't worth the $19.

The cheesecake here is supposed to be the best in Singapore (or so they claim), but I still prefer CoffeeBean's American Cheesecake to theirs. It's too dense for my taste. But I do like the Chocolate Banana cake, a high tower of chocolate and fresh banana layers with chocolate cream.

I went there for an outing with some of the STLC members. It had been raining so the ground was wet, but we were told that we can only dine al fresco, and that dogs were only allowed on the floor. After much coaxing did they allow us to have our dogs in our laps while we ate.

The waiters did not know their food. I asked them if the chicken was thigh or breast meat, they didn't know. I asked if they had diet coke, they didn't know. I asked if I could change the pasta that came with the chicken to fries, they didn't know. I asked if I could have a skim milk mocha, they didn't know.

The food didn't make up for the poor service. My chicken chop still came with pasta on the side instead of the fries I requested. The chicken was tough, and the entire time I was trying not to let chiyo onto the wet ground, and trying not to touch the tablecloth that was still wet. My friend's pork chop wasn't great either.

I would not go there again. I would much rather go to Happy Daze, even though the selection there is smaller. At least at Happy Daze, the food, service and atmosphere is better. This is exactly a case of trying to juggle too many balls at one go and not catching a single one of them.

This little corner in the basement of Raffles City Shopping Center is open for lunch and dinner (with a break in between). They serve American-style soups, sandwiches and salads.

The soup is hearty enough to be a meal in itself, together with a small bread roll that comes with ech soup order. There are a few basic soups that are served everyday and kept warm in the big pots behind the counter, but there are also weekly specials that change on Wednesday (but not every wednesday). My favorite soups are the Tokyo Chicken Stew (regular menu item) and the Irish Beef Stew (weekly special). Most of the soups are cream-based, except for the Tokyo Chicken Stew which is a clear broth. They also have soups served up in pot pie style, but i've not tried that. After ordering, your soup will be ladled into the bowl for you and you can squeeze into one of the little seats in the store, or take it out with you.

The soups are not cheap, around $5 for a regular bowl. But the ingredients are plenty, and the smell will win you over :)

The website is
http://thesoupspoon.com/

Exquisite presentation for delicious cakes. Love the Sweet Pleasure the most (that's the picture in there). it's hazelnut cream sandwiched between thin slices of milk chocolate and caramel. i've never seen a presentation or taste like this before. Bagus!! i also like the Chocolate Amer, which is dark chocolate mouse. another one i would go for is the Strawberry Tart. i've never tried their cooked food though.

One thing: this place will rip a hole in your pocket. these small slices of cakes will cost between $5-8. The service is generally standoffish, although there are one or two who are excellent and friendly.

this song made me like A-mei again. forgot how good she was.