Saturday 14 April 2012

Tontoro is no dolphin - Ajisen Ramen

This is another place that I visit very often, although their price is not cheap at all, but I just love their tontoro ramen. When I first saw the menu, I thought it's dolphin meat because the kanji was dolphin in Chinese. Sorry for my ignorance, it's actually pork. Why I love it so much? Because the ramen is not too soft and not too hard. They give a generous serving of pork, really generous. If you eat a piece of it with a spoonful ramen, you usually have a lot of leftover meat. The soup is nice too, just a bit too much of ajinomoto sometimes.

Their side dishes are quite good too, like prawn mayonnaise and soft shell crab. Their prawn is really quite big and fresh, and it will not go wrong with mayonnaise. The soft shell crab is crispy and not too fishy.

Tontoro ramen

Soft shell crab

Prawn mayonnaise

Visit them at their outlets listed on their website.

Pear tart, what? - Drips Bakery Cafe

That's our last stop of our "A Day As A Tourist In Singapore Part 2" (what is this? Visit my Exploration Blog.) and I'm surprised that I could still fit in another half a pear tart. Why? Because the tart was just nice. I seldom eat tarts, especially fruit tarts. And even if I did, they were usually apple tarts. But pear tart? This is like the first time I try it, and Drips' turns out to be quite nice! The pear was a little too sweet if eaten separately, but I love the crust. It's not too sweet and it's crusty, if you get what I mean. I supposed the pear is to be eaten together with the crust so that the crust's taste neutralizes the pear's taste, but I couldn't pick up both together with the small fork, so yeah, maybe you should just use your hand.

Pear tart

We also ordered iced apple infused, which we thought was apple juice, but it's actually apple tea. Sam didn't really like it but I thought it's quite refreshing, because I've never had apple tea before.

Iced apple infused

It's one of a few cafes around the vicinity, but it appears that they have the most businesses, I guess they have other desserts that are nice, so perhaps it's worth to give it a second try next time, with a less full stomach. =)

Visit them at 82 Tiong Poh Road #01-05, Singapore 160082 or their website.


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Homey beef stew - Group Therapy

It's such a funny name, but it's indeed therapeutic. Why? Because of their beef shank stew. I had no expectation about the quality of the food before I was there. It turns out that they just surprised me with their homey beef shank stew, which I miss a lot just hours after having it. Based on my experience, their sauce DOES NOT contain MSG, and they are very generous with the beef serving and rice. I shared it with Sam and I still can't really finish half of it, that is really quite a big portion. It just tastes homey, like you know, the taste you would get from home-cooked food.

Homey beef shank stew

Their caramel cappucino was unique too, at least according to Sam who is more experienced with coffee. I can't really tell how good it tastes, but it's worth trying.

Caramel cappucino and the $1.00 plain water

One thing about them is, they lay out bottles of plain water on the table, and having gone to 40hands which also does the same, we thought that it's free flow. Turns out that they actually charged us $1.00 for that. )= Well, good that we finished the bottle. Remember to refrain from taking the bottle if you don't want to pay extra $1.00.

The place is quite hidden, so use your food sense to find them. =)

Visit them at 40 Duxton Road #02-01, Singapore 089504 or their website.


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Wonderful muffin - Shots

I heard it's quite a popular place, and I know why now. I only managed to order a decadent chocolate chunk (muffin) and orange blossom smoothie, but these are enough to convince me why this place is popular.

I've never tried a muffin so soft before, and it's chocolate taste is not too overwhelming. Just nice. And I think it's considered affordable ($4.90) as compared to other desserts elsewhere.

Decadent chocolate chunk

About their orange blossom smoothie, it tastes like half-molten ice cream! Very refreshing especially on a hot afternoon.

A wonderful afternoon spent with great desserts.

Visit them at 8 Ann Siang Hill Singapore 069788 or their website.


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Truffle fries again - 40hands

Yes, this is how much I've loved truffle fries since Everything With Fries. I went to 40hands and ordered truffle fries, despite it being quite expensive, $8.00/bowl. But it's still worth it, because truffle fries are nice.

Truffle fries

Their coffee is quite unique too, and nice coffee art. We ordered latte and the coffee taste is quite different from the coffee we usually drink. I'm not sure if it's good or bad because I'm not experienced in coffees.

Carefully decorated latte

We also ordered a chocolate cake, which turns out to be nice too, it's chocolate, that beats everything. =p

Chocolate cake

Nothing much to recommend here because we only tried these, but they don't really have much to offer, just coffees and limited selection of sandwiches and cakes. I tried their Jamaican pork sandwich but I thought it's not that wonderful so I'm not sharing here.

Plus, the cafe is located at a quiet neighbourhood, such a good place to slack your afternoon away.

Visit them at 78 Yong Siak Street #01-12, Singapore 163078 or their website.


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Never forget truffle fries - Everything With Fries

No, don't be misled by their name, their main dishes are as good. We heard about it but didn't have the chance to try out, finally we did, and how I wish I had known this place earlier.

We have been there a few times by now, and we have tried some dishes which we think are nice and unique. First is the beef karubi, which as the name suggests, is oriental. At first we didn't think it would be cooked in oriental style, we even asked them for medium welldoness, turns out that it's not the kind of beef steak we thought it would be! So it's not tough at all, and the sauce matches just well with the meat. What's more? It comes with their unique truffle fries. Oh I wish I had known truffle fries earlier. I absolutely love its unique taste, it's a taste that I can't describe in words, it's just, well, tasty. Ever since I've tried truffle fries, I have been craving for it. ;)

Beef karubi with truffle fries

And the next super star, NZ wild king salmon. Seriously, after trying the salmon here, I don't feel like eating it anywhere else. It literally melts in your mouth, did you see that? IT MELTS IN YOUR MOUTH. It's so magical, we really have no idea why it would melt in your mouth, it just did. I can't describe how magical it is, you have got to try it yourself.

Wild king salmon with curry fries

Oh, sorry that I almost forget about the one egg soup. Although it's not exactly very unique, it's still nice because of the crispy egg (or flour) in the middle of the soup.

One egg soup, really one egg?

Last but not least, their legend... wait for it... ary nuttela tart. Well, although I love nuttela (who doesn't) and chocolate, this one is a bit too much for me. After having the soup and a main course, you really have little room left for the dessert. It is too sweet and chocolaty and 2 persons are definitely not enough to finish it without, well, pain. That's quite sad because we initially came here for the nuttela tart. Perhaps we should give it another try next time with our stomach empty.

Nuttela tart

That ends our recommendation for Everything With Fries. They have a few outlets, but I would recommend that you go to the Holland Village outlet, because apparently the other branches do not have the king salmon.

Enjoy your melt-in-your-mouth king salmon!

Visit them at 40 Lorong Mambong Singapore 277695 or their website.


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With A Pinch Of Salt - Updated

Yes, we keep going back to this place, because we love it so much. We wanted to have our favourite bacon and sausage baked rice, but it wasn't available, so instead we tried the pasta version, turns out, it is equally good! Then we also discovered their mixed grill is not too bad too, especially the fish and bacon and wedges.

Mixed grill

Bacon and sausage baked pasta

Besides choco lava, we also tried their chocolate truffle. It's just as sinful as choco lava. ;)

Chocolate truffle

We will forever love this place until they close down or their food quality starts going down. ^^

Visit them at 297 Tanjong Katong Road, Singapore 437080, or their website.


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Hot Tomato - Updated

Yes, we have tried some other dishes which taste equally good, so we have an added post on this!

This time we would recommend their mixed grill with aglio olio, consisting of pork chop, chicken chop and beef sausage. Well we have talked about how nice the pork chop was, and this dish is nicer because of the beef sausage! I don't know how I shall describe it, but it just tastes good. It's not too well done and not too oily and not too salty, just nice.

Mixed grill with aglio olio

Give it a try!

Visit them at 68 Orchard Road #B2-40, Plaza Singapura, Singapore 238839 or their webite.


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