Love Oishi: December 2010

Friday, December 31, 2010

Himawari Japanese Restaurant ala-carte Buffet

Time flies again after X'mas and very soon we will have to say goodbye to 2010! Just before that, we are going to have a heartening feast on the very last day of 2010 hehe. Himawari is a renowned Japanese a-la carte buffet with over 80 different dishes including Shabu Shabu, so we headed to their Changi branch to give it a try.

The staffs were actually pretty friendly and polite, however sometime they seemed to miss out tending to you despite some reminders even if there weren't many other customers.

Food varieties wise are pretty good, from appetizers, deep fried dishes, hot soup, Udon/Don, Sashimi, Tempura, Grilled stuff to Shabu Shabu hotpot at the price of around $48 per pax.

Chawanmushi

Mixed Starter - Wakami (seaweed), Hotate (Scallop) and Kurage (Jellyfish)

Mixed Sashimi - Salmon, Yellow tail, Swordfish, Octopus and Tuna

Soft Shell Crab

Shishamo - my fav!

Unagi - not as tender as I thought

Fried Tofu (Agedashi Tofu)

Tara Tofu Nabe (Cod fish) - fresh cod fish

Tempura - alot of varieties but we only chose Ebi (Prawns) and Shiitake Mushroom, Enoki (Golden mushroom) and Lady's fingers.

Deep Fried Edamame Renkon Age and Ikageso Age (Cuttlefish)

Deep Fried Oysters - Juicy!

and Cornflake Ebi (Prawn) - Too bland, no taste of cornflake

Sushi handroll

Salmon Toji - Hotplate salmon with eggs

Shabu Shabu steamboat

Beef

Pork

Chicken

Mozuku - mixture of seaweed with strong taste of vinegar.

Himawari Japanese Restaurant

1 Changi Biz Park Crescent
#02-19/19A, Plaza 8
Tel: 6834 3313

Sunday, December 26, 2010

MEN-ICHI Japanese Ramen @ Nex Mall

We are here at Nex again for the movie - Gulliver's Travels. Just before that we need to take care of our tummy first. We came across a Japanese theme place where they consolidate different kind of Japanese cuisine eatery like a haven for people like me. We stopped by Men-Ichi to try out their ramen.

The interior is mixture of modern and authentic Japanese design. The staffs greet you in Japanese like most other restaurant do. Nice and prompt service.

Sashimi Salad - fresh!

Kyoto Tonkotsu Shoyu Ramen - $11.90

Their soup base is light and refreshing, not oily nor over salty. Their Chasu's tenderness is also satisfactory.

Wafu Kyoto Shoyu Ramen Sushi Set - $16.90

The sushi wasn't really amazing, the rice given was very thick, quite hard not springy and wasn't tasty. So we ended up finishing the toppings only.

MEN-ICHI Japanese Ramen

23 Serangoon Central #B1-79

Nex Mall

Tel: +65 6634 4638

Website: http://www.men-ichi.com.sg/

Friday, December 24, 2010

X'mas Eve Buffet Dinner @ Spices Cafe

It's my favourite festive season again! X'mas eve is here and we are going to pamper ourselves with buffet at Spices Cafe! They had this X'mas buffet theme at $60 nett each.

The place and ambience is classy and cozy, staffs were friendly and seating area were comfortable. They even placed party hats and some goodies on our table.

Food variety were normal, you get to see sashimi, oysters, ostrich meat, lamb chop, hams, bacon, turkey, cod fish, prawns, Unagi etc. the only attractive part was their baked lobster(1 serving per pax only). The rest were not exactly fantastic but satisfactory. The only problem is the tenderloin beef steak with foie gras were actually just mixture of a small pcs of beef baked with foie gras and outer layer of bread crust. However, I totally didn't discover any foie gras at all and the beefs were not very tender. *Sad*

Their pastries were based on festive theme and you could see log cakes, Christmas cookies, and lots of X'mas deco stuffs.

They had some nice performances such as jingles singing duet, lady playing beautiful music using her harp, and Santa Claus going table to table greeting you and taking group pics.

Overall the festive spirit is great and fun. At least we did enjoy ourselves.