Rakuichi

Far East Shopping Center Rakuichi, has a wonderfully nice staff, Grill Chef - Gary and Sushi Chef - Henry are exceptionally nice. They'll recommend you which foods to eat and tell you how to eat them! Sit at the sushi bar, it's nicer cause you can chat with the chefs, and perhaps if you are lucky get free food!

They are a traditional Japanese restaurant, some of the things on their menu will be difficult to find elsewhere; by the way, this place isn't cheap at all! Less the Sake, the bill would have still came out to be about $130ish.

1 Sawa Gani Karaage - $10.00 - Little Fried Swamp Crabs (can be eaten alive as sashimi dish also)
1 Asupara - $3.00 - Grilled Asparagus
1 Gyutan - $8.00 - Grilled Cow's Tongue
2 Tebasaki - $6.00 - Grilled Chicken Wing
2 Buta Kakuni - $8.00 - Grilled Simmered Pork
2 Bishomen - Large - $32.00 - Sake with a tint of sweetness, leaveas a bit of a sour after taste.
1 Hamachi Belly Sashimi and Fresh Aji Sashimi - $80.00
1 Hiraki Nasau Dangaku - $8.00 - Grilled Eggplant Whole
1 Tofu Mentaiko Cheese - $13.00
Service Charge 10% - $16.80
GST 7% - $12.94
TOTAL ----> $197.70

I must say though, as Satellite also knows, I don't usually eat Aji, Japanese Horse Mackerel cause I don't like the taste of it; there's the particular smell to it and a particular texture that I don't like ... but low and behold, I have found the Aji that has blown away my typical attitude towards that fish. Such a small fish, so little meat .... but at least at Rakuichi, they deep fry the carcass for you so you can enjoy the rest of the fish, as well as they add a few extra sweet fresh water mini prawns around the dish for you as well.

Delicious and sumptuous a meal it was!

Another must try is the Buta Kakuni --> It's pork belly which is simmered in a sauce, then placed onto the grill again ... topped off with a bit of sweet like yakatori sauce. Yeah yeah I know, I'm not the biggest Yakatori fan either, but it was nice, and honestly, I've never had this before! I'm so naive to the world of food ... so much more things for me to try!

Another great hit I must say is the wonderful tofu mentaiko cheese, it's a tofu, that is baked on a hot plate with a codroe cheese sauce on top. This dish was nice, but I feel that the tofu could be a bit firmer, it's a bit too soft. And yes my picture does it disjustice.

Ah if you ever ordered the minced raw tuna (maguro no tataki) , it's usually with rice and a raw quail egg (maguro no tataki don), however they served us just a bowl of minced tuna with some warm seaweed to roll it in ourselves. I got to say, it was delightful!

Here's a recipe for Maguro No Tataki Don courteosy of http://www.deliciouscoma.com/archives/rice/ --> there's a lot of good recipes here check it out!

Maguro no tataki don (Minced Tuna and Herbs on Rice)
Serves 2
5 oz/150 g sashimi-quality raw tuna
1/2-inch piece of ginger, grated
1 1/2 Tbsp chopped green onion
1 myōga bud, thinly sliced
1 shiso leaf, thinly sliced(or substitute 2 Tbsp fresh herbs for myōga and shiso)
1/4 tsp soy sauce, or to taste
1 cup freshly-cooked Japanese rice
1 quail egg or 1 organic chicken egg yolk

Goma Ice Cream - they make their own ice cream, the milk they used actually tasted like Hokkaido milk, as their is a rich creamy sweetness to the milk, the black sesame, was a bit weak, as they should have added a bit more. All in all, although I rarely eat ice cream and deserts in general, I enjoyed it.

The Fried Swamp Crabs were ok, but I think I'd like to try the live one next time, as it's too crunchy to actually enjoy it ... seeing that it's $10 for a plate of 5, you're better off buying the Japanese snack, although that definitely has a whole lotta preservatives.

The only fall back for the evening was experiencing a slight black out period, however the staff rectified that within a minute of the blackout by placing little birthday candles on glasses for all the patrons. I must say, it was quite romantic.

Ikukan @ Club St

Twas de nite of awr anniversary. I wantd to eat Japanese. He brot me to Ikukan to eat high class contemporary Japanese food. FWAH! Nice lei! Dis food is de died-&-gone-to-heaven-&-came-back-down-&-went-back-up-to-heaven-again kinda. Jus lewk!!!

My starta of d $62+++ set. I ferget wot is calld... dunno wot prefix set la, but am FURRY sure dat Jian will rectify it fer me wen am nowt arownd. (Jian says: Ok, it's Prix Fixe. Meaning fixed price set. We got to select 1 dish each from 4 courses - 2 appetizers, main and dessert) Oysters wif a special (& dam yummi) sauce. I can't tell wot's inside, but Jian says dat dere is radish inside.
His sashimi salad starta. Nowt bad la. De sauce asso nice one. (Jian says: and bursting Salmon Roe too. In Japanese Sesame Dressing)

My panfried black peppa (and pink peppercorns) maguro slices wif mashd taters at da bottom. Is seard one, so inside is still raw. NYUM!

His baked hotate. Creamy sauce one (dam fattenin) wif brinjal & sum otha vege inside asso. Nice tho. (Delicious Scallops, Prawns and Eggplant covered in baked melty garlicky creamy cheese sauce) De brown rice dat I chose to haf wif my set. Jian chose white rice. Dun fink one nids a pikky of dat one. Dere are red beans in me rice. So Jian finishes his white rice & kips pickin on mine. I grumbled abit la, but I coon finish it anyways... LOL

My steak slices (Beef Sumiyaki)!!! Again, is jus seard on de outside. Dos lil dollops of sauce are mustard & a mystery (slightly spicy) sauce fing. I din ask wot it was la. De beef so nice! Cannot tek bites out of it one... Mus stuff de whole piece into de mouf... Of cos, I cooda cut it up 1st, rite? WRONG. We were oni provided wif chopsticks, so bo bian. AHAHAHAHA. Not say I purposefulli wantd to be barbaric & de lyks, ok.

His codfish. I noticed dat Jian's reacshun to fish is alwayhs... mediocore. De las tym, he described my salmon as... jus tasting lyk salmon. He said pretti much de same fing fer his cod. I suppose he wishd dat his cod cooda bin mo exciting. BUT DEN.... cod is meant to taste lyk cod.... Oh wellsk... (It was done to the right doneness and wasn't overcooked, hence retained it's delicious cod texture and flavour)

My green plum granite. Is actualli green plum sherbet la. Say until so cheem, I thot wot all. Supposed to be wif green plums, but dey ran out, so dey replaced it wif froots. Nice la. Afta a heavy meal, I thot twas ok.... unlyk.....

Jian de piglet, who HAD to haf sumfing chocolatey. Chocolate fondant fing. Was FURRY chocolatey! ("Piping Hot Chocolate Fondant" - Molten Oozing Chocolate Cake)

Wash it all down wif cold sake. NYUM. Dat signifys de end of my sake phobia circa 2 birfdays ago.

Siiiigh. So GEWD!!!!!!!!! (Yes, honestly everything was really delicious.)

Sapporo Ramen Miharu

Last night Sumdumful and I went to eat at Sapporo Ramen Miharu at Gallery Hotel. It is quite a small eatery and the seats were full inside, so we had to sit outside. It wasn't very pretty outside, quite ugly.

The menu consists of many types of Ramen (around 12 to 15 types), a couple of cold noodle dishes, a couple of rice dishes. We ordered 2 bowls of different miso ramen (can't remember their names) $12.50 each, and were disappointed that the ONLY appetizer on the menu was a plate of Chashu ($7)!! You can add additional or extra ingredients into your Ramen for $1, $2, $3 more depending on what you order, but we didn't bother.

The Chashu came first, in like 1 or 2 minutes. 4 slices of meat atop a bed of beansprouts, and there was some sauce on top. Not very memorable. And didn't seem worth its price.

Then our Ramen came. The ingredients in our ramen were the same. Both had 1 slice chashu, half egg, nori seaweed, corn, japanese leek, bamboo shoots, beansprouts. My miso soup was rich, thick and tasty, Sumdumful's miso soup was tastier, but even though I usually like my food stronger in taste and flavour, I found them both exceedingly salty! And the taste of the bamboo shoots was too strong.

Considering they're supposed to specialise in Ramen, it's quite disappointing actually.

So, I still think Netsuretsu Ichibantei at Robertson Quay is much nicer. In terms of taste (Ramen and other things too), variety (Much much better. So many things to eat you dunno what to order. Bento Sets, Curry, Gyoza, Ramen, etc...), and atmosphere (can dine cosily inside, go outside to drink sake and smoke by the riverside). Price is cheap too.

But don't tell too many people.

Our Fav Jap Haunt, En Dining.

the reasons why we keep on going back to En restaurant? great service, great (and pretty!) food, good variety of sakes, nice ambience and best of all, Pixie gets to come along whenever we go there. there is always something new and interesting surprises to be discovered in their menu. despite the dainty portions and not so dainty prices, En has never disappointed. we had always enjoyed the pleasant dining cum sake sessions there. thats why, draco and i were there again on wed night, doing wot we do best- eating and drinking.

we had the spicy kimchi porkskin/cucumbers and all-time fav seared tuna tataki for starters-


then we had tempura oysters wrapped in shiso leaves which were rather unremarkable, unagi (eel) maki and goya Ohitashi (marinated raw bittergourd in vinegar soya sauce) once again.

Nanbantei At Far East Plaza

last night was another binge night for eve and i. we dined at nanbantei japanese rstaurant at FEP. specialising in yakitori (japanese charcoal grill), this cosy little eatery provided a fun and novel dining experience for me. and you get to sit at the bar and watch the chef in action. we ordered a huge spread for juz the two of us - assorted sashimi platter, garlic rice, cucumber/wakame seaweed in vinegar sauce, grilled teriyaki codfish, cold tofu salad and various grilled yakitori sticks. we had -

• asparagus maki (asparagus wrapped with pork)
• tsukune (minced chicken balls)
• okura maki (ladyfingers wrapped with pork)
• gyu yaki (beef steak)
• mini tomato maki (mini tomatoes wrapped with bacon)
• shishito (grilled eggplant wrapped in shiso leaves)
• nikuzume shiitake (stuffed shiitake mushrooms)
• nasu ohba maki (i forgot wot this is, too many items!)
• yasai sticks (grilled japanese green peppers)

we took only a few shots, as there were simply too many items to take.

assorted sashimi platter

mini tomatoes wrapped with bacon

grilled eggplants wrapped with shiso leaves

and i finally got to try nigori sake for the first time. it's a coarse-filtered sake which looks cloudy and is unlike any other sakes i've had. creamy and sweet, i must say it took a bit of getting used to, but turned out yummy and lush once i got the hang of it.

Tuesday @ En

I got conned into writing this by the way ... but of course as usual they were all good reasons why I should start writing about En.

Well En is usually our impromptu type of place especially around 10plus but this Tuesday we all went much earlier. The place was packed .. but of course we had our wonderful server, Noriko and cute bartender Vincent!

We bought sake coupons, which cost about $138, allowing you to get 10 coupons that you can use, I don't think there's an expiry date on them.

We had Hakkaisan, Kouro, Ginjo Hakkaizan, and Momokawa sakes.

For starters we had Beef Carpacio, Goya Ohitashi (Bitter Gourd in some type of sauce) and Takowasabi:


Ok all I got to say for myself is that the bitter gourd wasn't bad at all. Thank you for forcing me to eat it! Bitter gourd is not my favorite dish at all.

Then the meal went on to consist of Tsukune (chicken and mushroom balls skewered), Kawebi (river shrimp), Sukugarasau Toufu (cold tofu with anchovy) and Eihire (Dried sting ray fins that are toasted). Sorry don't have pics of some of these items.

Of course the most spoilt dearest lil thing got her set of edamame beans for the night. She gets that when we go eat Jap food all the time if she's along with us.

Cost of entire dinner, plus a couple asahi beers = $241.40

Oh my goodness, look the cat became human!!!