I love Engrish 😜😝

A photo posted by melfann (@melfann) on Jul 30, 2015 at 6:34am PDT

Spotted this at a Japanese food fair in Suntec City last week and I was so tickled that I just HAD to post it up on Instagram and Facebook. Much to my amusement, some friends gave really funny comments like "What a ride" and "translation please". LOL. What this sign was meant to read was: There is a whole prawn in each cracker.

What was more amusing to me was that nobody from the organisers spotted this error! Didn't anyone proofread the signs? Apparently not. Makes for good Engrish humour anyways. I did end up buying 2 boxes of Dorayaki though.

I'm finally on Pinterest and if you'd like a more organised 'board' of my posts on my nail art plus my recipes, do follow me there at http://www.pinterest.com/themelissafann/.

Besides those 2 boards, do give me suggestions on what other boards I should put up as I'd love to hear from you guys. Big thanks in advance for the follow!

I had the pleasure of being treated to a delicious Japanese lunch by a vendor at Tatsu Teppanyaki, located at CHIJMES. After CHIJMES' recent facelift, Tatsu has downsized to a small restaurant which only has 1 main teppanyaki area further in and a small bar counter seating near the entrance.

All of us ordered the bento lunches (ranges from S$20++ to S$38++)because they're a lot more value-for-money compared to ala carte menu. The menu has definitely shrunk from their pre-facelift version.

I ordered the Sashimi Unajyu set (S$35++) and here's what made up the bento, starting from the top left corner in a clockwise manner:

• Salad with wafu dressing
• Hamachi head stew with radish and ginger (seasonal)
• Milk pudding 
• Sashimi
• Fish floss
• Unagi on rice

For the price, I was expecting everything to be super super delicious and here's where there were a few ups and downs. The salad was expected so nothing to fault.

The hamachi was ok but as it was from the head, there was quite a bit of bone and my boss (who ordered the same set) gave up eating it. Oddly enough, my bowl had radish while my boss' one doesn't. Same dish but they look completely different except for the colour and garnish.

The milk pudding was full of bubbles, resulting in a less-than-perfect smooth dessert, which would've been a delightful end to the meal.

The sashimi was very fresh! The fish floss was delicious but I didn't know whether to eat it alone or with the rice because it was rather sweet. The unagi and the sauce was one of the best that I've eaten in a very long time! The flesh was smooth and tender while the skin was not tough or chewy. The sauce was faultless. However, you'd think that for S$35++, we'd be served proper Japanese rice. Alas, the rice did not taste like it's 100% Japanese short grain. I could've gone 3 shops down to Onyasai Shabu-shabu to get Japanese rice and then my unajyu would've been perfect.

Was it delicious? Definitely. Was it worth S$35++? Mm...not quite. I sincerely hope that their Teppanyaki is better.

Tatsu Teppanyaki
30 Victoria Street
#01-08 CHIJMES
Singapore 187996

Tel: +65 6332 5868
Website: http://www.tatsu.com.sg/ 

With CHIJMES' recent facelift, new restaurants have moved in and one of them is Shirokiya. This is their second branch in Singapore, the first being in Cuppage. Shirokiya markets itself as a healthy Japanese dining and is a direct competitor of Bijin Nabe although the difference is that Shirokiya is mighty proud of their homemade tofu.

With the office crowd in mind, Shirokiya has intelligently created a lunch set menu that costs S$12 nett. That is very affordable and for the quality of food, is very very reasonable. They probably know it too...they call the lunch sets "Shirokiya's Smile Lunch".

The one that I feel is the most value-for-money would be the above: Chicken Katsu Toji. The set comes with a full chicken thigh cutlet that is placed in yummy egg that is cooked on a hot plate. As mentioned, their specialty is their homemade tofu and all the sets get a small piece of it that is topped with a bit of grated ginger and spring onions. I suggest pouring a little soy sauce on this before eating. The tofu is very smooth and slightly firmer than those you buy from the supermarket. The soy taste is also a lot thicker, which means that they use a very dense soy milk to produce their tofu.

As you can see, they have 12 types of lunch sets to choose from and all come with a drink as well. The only other set that I've tried is no. 6 - a spicy porridge and I must say that it was really good! Very comforting to eat, especially on rainy days.

A colleague tried the Roast Chicken Katsu-don and he said that it's quite good and I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of shredded cabbage served. I can't wait to try the other sets!

I've eaten their collagen hotpot at Cuppage before and unfortunately, I don't recall whether I had blogged about it. Nonetheless, I feel that Shirokiya's food is definitely worth trying, especially in the Japanese food-saturated dining scene in Singapore.

Shirokiya

Shirokiya Cuppage
43&43A Cuppage Road
Cuppage Terrace
Singapore 29463

Opening: 3:00 pm - 2:00 am (Monday to Sunday and Public Holiday)
Tel: +65 6732 8588
email: cuppage@shirokiya.com.sg

Shirokiya Chjimes
30 Victoria Street
#01-05/06 CHIJMES
Singapore 187996

Opening: 10am-11pm (Sun-Thu/Public Holidays)
                10am-1am (Fri/Sat/PH Eve)
Tel: +65 6337 5188
email: chijmes@shirokiya.com.sg

Website: http://www.shirokiya.com.sg/en/index.html 

What do you eat on a rainy day in Singapore? Something hot and soupy...like Ramen! So off we went to Shin-Sapporo Ramen and although it has 'Sapporo' in the name, they serve 3 types of ramen: Hokkaido, Hakata and Shoyu (mainly associated with Tokyo). With these 3 types of ramens, there are also 3 types of noodles served together with the different soup bases.

One thing that I did notice while waiting for my food is this jar of fried garlic chips! This is one of the few ramen stores that I know that provide this. Mind you...I had a lot of time to check out all their condiments because the food came about 15-20 minutes later and oddly enough, not all at the same time.

Dad ordered the Agedashi Tofu (S$6.80++) and it's everything that you'd expect from an Agedashi Tofu. The waitress had 'warned' us that it would come later than our noodles but it came at the same time as my dad's Chashu Ramen (S$14.80++).

I ordered the value set (S$16.80++) which comes with a choice of a mini-ramen and a mini-don. So, I chose the kara-miso ramen (as seen above), which is the spicy miso soup base with the thicker and harder noodles that originated from Hokkaido. The soup was really thick and rich. I also liked the thicker noodles that have more bite compared to other types of ramen. The restaurant recommends adding butter (S$1.50++) to make it taste even better but honestly, the price of the butter is a turn off and I think that the soup is thick enough to not want to add more fat in it. If you're really hungry, you can top up with S$5++ to change this half-sized ramen to the regular size one. Main gripe would be that the soup could've been served at a higher temperature. In terms of consistent quality, I still prefer Menya Musashi.

As for the choice of rice, I went for the Oyako-don. The egg was too undercooked and I had to send it back to the kitchen to cook it a little more. The onions weren't very cooked either. That said, the flavour of the egg mixture was pretty good and there was enough sauce to soak the rice with. The rice itself isn't very fragrant and it's obvious that it's not top quality Japanese rice but one cannot complain when the whole set is only S$16.80++ (comes with tea).

I have yet to try their Hakata Tonkotsu ramen so I can't comment on how it stacks up against Ippudo but for the price, I think that Shin-Sapporo is really not too bad!

My bro just came back from Japan and I got souvenirs....yay!

I love love love the dist bunnies and dust balls from the anime 'My Neighbour Totoro' so I asked my bro to get me one. Yay! I FINALLY have one...alalalalala.

Now...for the really ( -_-;) souvenir. My bro decided to buy me this novel which, ironically, is a Japanese novel translated from the original novel named "When Marnie was Here" by Joan G. Robinson. To add, this is Part 2. I don't even read Chinese novels but he wants me to read a Japanese one? Hmmm....anyway, this novel is suddenly popular in Japan mainly because this is the last anime to be produced by Studio Ghibli.

This is a cookie that reminds me of sugee biscuits but it's made with chestnuts. Really delicious and too bad that there was only 2 small pieces in this small packet.

Tada...everyone's favourite Tokyo Banana! Despite the number of times I've been to Japan, this is the first time I'm eating this. I know, I know. There always seemed to be tastier snacks being sold. That said, I do like the caramel-ish banana custard inside the banana-shaped cake.

My bro bought this box of snacks for me specially because of the picture of the pig on the box and I'm born in the year of the pig. It's actually a boar and it's a box of chocolate banana snacks.

Aren't these porkers adorable?? They're sooo cute and they're called Inoshishi in Japanese, native to Hakone, where these snacks are from.

When I opened the box, this piece of paper was in my face and the message was "Please consume these snacks within 3 days of opening".

Aren't these snacks cutely packaged? There are the snouts as well as the 3 distinctive stripes of the Inoshishi.

They open up to be these super duper adorable boar snacks and when you bite into them...

It's a banana-flavoured paste in the middle that's wrapped in a chocolate cake. It's quite delicious and the banana flavour is as strong as the Tokyo Banana cake. However, it's a paste that's quite thick...almost like a bean paste. The cake does not have a strong chocolate taste though but overall, the snack was quite delicious.

Out of the 3 main islands of Japan, Okinawa is the only island that I have not visited yet. So, if I can't visit it right now, I can try out their cuisine from the restaurant Nirai-Kanai, located at the basement of Liang Court.

I like the decor of the place but I was too focused on getting food that I forgot to take photos of the place. Nevertheless, let me attempt to describe it to you. It has a lot of wooden boards placed to divide the booths and there are a lot of license plates and bottle caps decorating the walls, giving you a rustic countryside feel. You are also greeted by the many bottles of shochu that regulars keep and it just made you feel really cosy and relaxed. The music played is also typical Okinawan and their distinct way of playing the shamisen.

My friend, Eddie, had worked part time in this restaurant when he was completing his final year in University. As such, I asked him for his recommendation and one of them was the Nishibi-nbushi (S$15.30++ for set), which is eggplant cooked with minced pork and tofu in a sweet miso gravy. The set came with soup, pickles and peanut tofu for dessert. Other recommendations are:

• pork belly soba
• goya champuru (don't order this if you don't like bittergourd)
• pork knuckle set

I have to describe each bowl/ plate of item in my set in order to give it justice as well as to explain how different Okinawan cuisine is from mainstream Japan. This is not your typical fare that you're used to from the various restaurants popping up all over Singapore.

Rice
They use actual Japanese rice from Japan. I can't remember the brand of the rice but it's from the Hiroshima Prefecture and the Japanese description labelled it as 'premium'. So, off the bat, you know that you're paying good money for good quality rice. Honestly, it's not the same quality as the pearl rice that I've eaten in Japan but that's another grade higher but this will do. It's already MUCH better than the Californian/ Australian short grain rice that most other restaurants in Singapore serve.

Soup
It's not miso although it has a slight flavour of it. It's heavier in bonito and the seaweed that they serve in this soup is not the smooth kelp but the more feathery type. I really don't know all the types of seaweed out there, so please bear with my description. What I like about the soup is that it's not salty and heavy (unlike miso soup), so it washes down the salt and sugar from the main dish.

Pickled Daikon
As you can see from the photo, the radish is not yellow and is sliced really thinly. It's vinegared but does not have a sharp taste to it. It's so light and refreshing that I could just eat it plain or as a side with alcohol.

Main
I love eggplant and cooking it with minced pork and tofu is just my kind of dish. The sauce is slightly sweet and you could tell that it's from the sweetness of the miso. I think I now know what the concierge in Osaka was saying - white miso is sweet, unlike red miso. Interestingly enough, I picked up a slight fermented wine taste in the sauce. This is simple but with the high quality ingredients, it just tastes great together.

Peanut tofu
This innocent looking tofu sitting in a small pool of black sugar syrup with a dollop of grated ginger did not scream 'eat me'. However, you must try it just for the sake of admiring the chef's ability to incorporate the distinct peanut taste into the tofu, without you munching on any peanut bits! Was the peanut ground into a fine powder first? Was it creamed? Peanut butter? The possibilities! The tofu was very smooth and the peanut taste was not overpowering but neither was it weak. I'm not a fan of ginger but surprisingly, the ginger went well with the whole peanut tofu with syrup. 

I'm so intrigued by each element in my set because everything seems so homemade and simple but you know that there's a lot of effort in making it effortless. To add, it's not your typical sushi/sashimi/udon/ramen and it is so much fun in exploring this other culture that is typical Okinawan! This is a MUST TRY!

Okinawa Nirai- Kanai
177 River Valley Road
#B1-01/02 Liang Court

Phone +65 63394811

Hours
Mon - Fri: 12:00 - 15:00 (last order 14:30)
Mon - Fri: 18:00 - 23:00
Sat & Sun: 12:00 - 15:30 (last order 15:00)
Sat & Sun: 18:00 - 23:00

As part of the World Gourmet Summit here in Singapore, Hashi Japanese restaurant in conjunction with 5th generation wagashi masterchef, Uchida Hiromori, held a Wagashi making class today followed by a bento lunch.

First, there were balls. We were actually given 2 large ones first. We then dipped some red food colouring onto 1 to make it pink before dividing it into 3 smaller balls. As for the white one, just divide it into 3. The red bean paste balls were pre-rolled for us.

There's mum concentrating on rolling the pink balls and she wanted them a dark pink. She accidentally dropped one and Chef Uchida had to give her one of his! Haha.

There's Uchida-san showing us a what we'd be making as well as demonstrating the steps.

Rolled them into a large ball with the red bean paste inside. Notice that I'm holding it on a thin damp cloth? Wondering why? It's so that with a bit of twisting, we'd get the effect as follows:

Above is mine while below is mum's. I think mum's looks better. 姜还是老的辣。Nonetheless, I'm quite proud of my creation.

This is then followed by carefully decorating the middle with a bit of bean paste that has gone through the sieve.

The next design was a bit difficult for me. You had to use the 'sharp' end of an egg to shape a hole but the egg that I was given was super round on both ends! Chef Takahashi laughed at me before going to the kitchen to get me a smaller and sharper egg. Thanks Chef.

Despite the egg change, my dent was still too large and the sides too thick because I gave up on the egg and simply used my fingers. My neighbour did a very good job while her friend gave up and made a money bag instead. Innovative and pretty too!

This is the base of the 3rd and hardest design of all. Looks like a mushroom/cupcake right?

Compare that with Chef Uchida's perfectly shaped one. Hah! Nearly there!! He said that mine was good. Don't know whether it's simply Japanese politeness or he really meant it. Haha.

We had to use a plastic knife to slowly make these petal indents. Not easy! Even the waiter was telling me that this was really difficult and I was 'complaining' to him that Chef Uchida's indents were so light whereas mine look like deep cuts but I wasn't using a lot of strength!

Anyway, the end result is such a pretty and kawaii creation, don't you think? Too pretty to eat. Below is mum's version:

When placed together, they're really very pretty. I had a lot of fun making them and I even managed to score the recipe from Chef Uchida ;) But he said that he'll be sending it in Japanese to me so it'll make me some time to translate for mum.

Us with our masterpieces! Now mum's all pumped up to create these for Mid-Autumn Festival as a replacement to mooncakes. Maybe we'll replace the red bean paste with lotus paste so that it's still pseudo moonie. Ahh...the possibilities.

After the workshop, it was time for lunch! Now, this is where Chef Takahashi takes over the helm. As the former head chef of Nobu Melbourne, he now brings Kaiseiki dining through the freshest seafood sourced from all over.

We started off lunch with a salad that had different types of seaweed and tossed with a mild wasabi soy dressing. It was mild enough that I could finish the plate but needless to say, it was not my favourite.

The taste of wasabi was then washed away with this delightful bowl of hot soba. I loved that the broth was a nice balance between bonito and soy.

Now...what does the box hold????

(From top left to right in clockwise manner) Fried Fish, egg custard with bamboo shoots, tofu and mushrooms tossed in soy with truffle oil; tempura prawns, brinjal, chilli and carrot; sashimi, rice sprinkled with shiso powder.

The sashimi was very fresh and as usual, it leaves me wanting more. The tempura was as expected although it had a bit of a hamching peng taste which meant that the oil has been overused for frying. What wowed me was the mushroom with the soy truffle oil. It was not oily, which made me wonder whether they used truffle oil or actual truffle to cook it together. When questioned, Chef Takahashi revealed that it's truffle oil but they just did a toss so that the mushrooms picked up on the flavour and aroma without leaving it oily.

I ate everything. Including the shiso leaf. Yes, I was THAT hungry and I was the first to finish. Sorry but as a office worker who used to eat lunch at her desk, one does not daintily and leisurely eat lunch. However, do note that I did savour every bite. Nothing really rocked my socks off but it's clean, simple and unpretentious. That, I like.

The meal ended with a serving of Sake Cake made by Chef Uchida. I could smell the sake but I couldn't taste it. Mum said that it's because I drink a lot so only the hard stuff will give me a kick. In my defense, Tapai (fermented tapioca) has more of an alcoholic kick than this. Oddly enough, this dessert tasted like tapai to mum and I. We then had a conversation with Chef Takahashi on this and interestingly enough, his Malaysian staff doesn't know what tapai is! Ok...looks like only the Malays and Peranakans know this dish. I think we've piqued Chef Takahashi's interest enough that he will go on a hunt for tapai. By the way, it's pronounced as tah-pay.

What impressed me about the restaurant itself (other than the decor) is the toilet. It is just so thoughtful and feels like entering a home where the host is so gracious and anticipates your needs even before you do.

In every cubicle of the female toilet is this small tray of feminine hygiene items.

The sinks not only has handwash, it has hand cream and mouthwash! At the sides are ear buds and cotton pads. Felt a bit pampered and the toilet does make you want to linger a bit longer.

Thank you Chefs Uchida and Takahashi! It was a very interesting and memorable experience. I don't regret signing up for it and am now looking forward to more events at the World Gourmet Summit!

For those in Singapore, Chef Uchida will be having a stall at the Japan Food Fair happening at the basement of Takashimaya from now till 11 May so do go down and check out his gorgeous wagashi.

If you want something that it distinctly Japanese without much fanfare, a good place for set meals would be Yayoiken. Visited their branch at 313 Somerset and ordered their Tekka don and On Udon set (S$17.90++) for lunch.

Firstly, I'm all for the use of new technology and I quite like ordering food via iPads and computers so that it's efficient. However, I really would appreciate it if these business folks realise that people do like to 'customise' their food a little. They completely wasted their wasabi and spring onions on me.

Secondly, if you're using new technology, the great thing about it is that you can give real-time updates on the items if something is sold out or unavailable by putting a label. What does Yayoiken do? It just removes it from the iPad menu. One would go "but...it's in your printed menu!"

That said, the service staff was fast and responsive. So kudos to them for that.

The Tekka don was quite good in that the rice was hot but the tuna was cold and the combi was just yum! But the rice was slightly disappointing because it wasn't vinegared. The udon was cooked perfectly and the soup was quite tasty.

You can't really fault the food but it does leave you a little wanting. For that price, I can't quite complain I guess.

Yayoiken
313 Orchard Road
313@somerset #B3-33/34 Singapore 238895

Tel：+65 6884 7550
Website: www.yayoiken.sg
Opening Hours :Sun to Thurs from 11:00～21:30 (Last Order)
                           Fri, Sat and eve of Public Holiday from 11:00～22:00 (Last Order)

Reservation: Mon～Fri only, not available on Sat, Sun, Eve of Public Holiday and Public Holiday

Despite the heat, throngs of people were making their way to The Promontory @ Marina Bay and I couldn't help but get excited when approaching the entrance and the waft of food smells greeted me. What were we all here for? Savour 2014 - a 4-day event which celebrates Michelin starred Chefs and panders to all gourmands' taste-buds. In other words, lots of good food and drinks.

Chowchow won tickets for all 4 of us and so we managed to save on the entrance fee. Nonetheless, we each forked out $25 for Savour dollars to be spent on the food inside.

Walking in, we were greeted by the sight of a roasting veal. Unfortunately for us, we were there during lunch and the veal was only ready for the dinner crowd. So that's probably what I was sniffing when walking to the entrance. We quickly made our way through the Jasons Gourmet Market and headed to where the 'restaurants' were.

Started off with Mikuni's Hokkaido Botan Ebi in Tenshin Sauce with Caviar (S$18). I really liked the detail of gold flakes and this was the only real cold dish that I had. Was served by none other than head chef Moon Kyung Soo! About this dish...can't really fault it but to sum it up, it tasted like prawns in lobster bisque.

This is a really fun dish by Chef Alvin Leung of Bo Innovation, Hong Kong. It's Lap Mei Fan (S$14) which is a molecular gastronomical version of foie gras, rose wine and topped with crispy rice. Creamy without being too rich, this is happy food!

Needing some staples, we ordered Cajun Garlic Fries by Spathes Public House (S$8) which is really quite nice as I tend to prefer chunky fries instead of shoe string fries. The sauce is creamy but not cloyingly so like how some aioli sauces tend to be. Apparently, this is cheaper (S$6) if you went to the actual Spathes Public House at Mohd Sultan. Hmm....

The above dish, I really wished that I ate on the spot when it was served hot. This is the 5 Cheese Tortellini with Saffron Cream Sauce, Slow Cooked Kurobuta Pork Cheeks, Beetroot Puree and Autumn Truffle (S$14) by Chef Kentaro Torri of Forlino. I saw Chef Torri in the kitchen so again, I'm impressed that the food's QC was done BY the executive chef! Ok...onto the taste. The walk from the stall to my table was 'long' enough to cool this dish down despite the hot afternoon sun. So, it wasn't as amazing as I thought it should be although everything on it was good. The pork cheek could've been more amazing, I think.

Speaking of amazing pork cheeks...

This is the half eaten Braised Pork Cheeks, Miso Daikon on Mousseline Potatoes by Chef Daniel Sia of The Disgruntled Chef. Just found out today that Chowchow is friends with Chef Sia. This dish was really good. It's a bit like comfort food but then again, it is served with miso daikon and potatoes that wake you up from home comfort and back to fine dining.

Above is a very interesting dish. It's called Eclair D'escargots. Yup...it's a savoury eclair filled with escargots, tomato, garlic and persil. This dish is the brainchild of Chef Christophe Paucod of Lugdunum Bouchon Lyonnais, Japan. I like how it changes your mindset of how escargots can only be eaten with garlic and butter. It's light, it's yummy and I want more.

Chef Daniel Chavez of OLA, Singapore has elevated the humble octopus in this Spanish Octopus "A La Plancha" with peas and tomatoes (S$16). The octopus was tender but had a crispy grilled taste. I was amazed.

We went back into the Gourmet Market where Chowchow ordered Pork Chops (S$16). Tender and grilled to perfection, this dish shows that sometimes, you do not need a Michelin-starred chef to cook you good food. Sometimes, it's the quality of your ingredient that matters more.

Note to Jasons: please do not put your cashier in the middle of the walkway that separates 2 sections of the Gourmet Market. Cue the bottleneck of human traffic there. 

I had a work hazard moment - I started guessing how much the event cost and what sort of returns the organiser and partners received from this event. *Shakes head* That's what you do when you organise too many events.

Overall, we had fun and we would've spent more if we were less conscious about it. There were a lot more food that we didn't try and there were Master Classes happening but we gave them all a miss. If I were feeling rich, I'd gone for the oysters which were going at S$18/half dozen or the Oyster Shooters (S$22 for 4 alcoholic flavours).

I'm looking forward to Savour 2015 but in the near future, there's the World Gourmet Summit!!