we live to eat: Central

Showing posts with label Central. Show all posts

If you recall, we had an earlier post on Kim Dae Mun at Concorde Hotel. It has since been relocated, to the front of the hotel, which is much more visible. Hope it doesn't get too crowded :x Prices seemed to have gone up a notch -- Bibimbap now costs $0.50 more and the Steamed Saba went up by almost a dollar!

Even more spacious than before. Regulars will find the furniture familiar. Now there's even a queue ticket system (can't remember if this was already there haha).

There's another counter for drinks (incl. soju) & ice cream.

This time round S had to go for the Steamed Saba ($9) while Sher settled for the Bean Paste & Vegetables Soup ($7.50). Both dishes came with a bowl of white rice and a side of your choice (cabbage kimchi, cucumber kimchi or ikan bilis).

Lets talk about the Steamed Saba first! This dish is so unique that Kim Dae Mun is the only place we know of that serves it in Singapore. It's a huge & tender hunk of saba (mackeral) that's stewed with a rich, midly spicy tomato-ish sauce. Good enough for 2! This is a homely dish that goes perfectly with the rice. Also comes with a whole boiled potato. Sher likens it to Ayam brand canned tuna :')

Next up is the Bean Paste and Vege Stew which Sher opted for the non-spicy version. As you can see, the bowl was filled to the brim with plenty of assorted vegetables and seafood. The best part is the tasty (miso) broth which you'll definitely slurp every last drop.

We will definitely revisit Kim Dae Mun if we are around the vicinity! Maybe the Pan-Fried Sliced Fish next?

Kim Dae Mun Korean Cuisine
Address: #01-04, Concorde Hotel, 100 Orchard Road, 238840
Opening Hours: Tue-Sun, 11:00-20:30; Closed Mon
Website: https://www.facebook.com/KimDaeMun/
Contact: +65 9112 5910
Damage: $8/pax

Sher won us a pair of tickets for a cooking class ($118 each) at CulinaryOn. We only had a few classes to choose from as we were reluctant to top-up, so we went for the Sea Club: Warm Octopus Salad (above), Squid Ink Risotto and Pumpkin Pie.

The class was more appropriate for corporate team bonding events rather than an actual class as most of the ingredients were already prepared for you. But it was fun because there's lots of food and drinks! All the best things in life are free (:

Before the class starts, you get to snack on some lovely cheese & fruits and mingle with the class. There was also freshly baked mini pizzas and a juice bar.

Rather than cooking your own portions, the whole class worked together to put together this octopus salad. Some were chopping veges, some were searing the octopuses, others were plating up. The octopus wasn't chewy and it tasted more of chicken. Definitely this over squid any day! Unfortunately, this was the best dish of the night.

The main course, squid ink risotto! Actually this was so-so only and a tad salty.

By the time we came to the pumpkin pie, we were pretty stuffed. So we had to dabao about half the pie. The pie was decent -- sweet & salty with a touch of cinnamon. But the crust was a letdown, felt airy and not buttery enough.

All the equipment were top of the range and almost brand new. It's a home cook's dream come true to work in such a well-equipped kitchen.

Cool bar seats where we sat and ate dinner. Can even watch the chef cook -- if only it was just him cooking and us eating ;)

Octopus was already cooked and we just had to slice.

Making the pie was probably the most hands on. Although it was group work and each one of us only had to do one thing. Like cracking eggs or blending pumpkin.

Another shot of the open kitchen. Imagine having one of these in your house ^_^

A lot of angmohs attended the class and they were a lively bunch! There was even music for us to dance along while we cook (:

Pumpkin pie (with a smiley face) in the oven!

Using the leftover pie dough to make cookies. Spot Sher's huge star of the day. Who's Ben btw?

Don't be sad, you are just as delicious.

3-in-1 stand mixer, food processor and blender from Kenwood!

Using tablets to display the recipes. We hardly used them though as the chef made us do a lot of shortcuts to get the food out quicker. Eg. not blind baking the pie crust, pouring all of the stock into the risotto, liquid nitrogen to cool the pies. Not that we mind though, if not by the time we finished, it would be midnight already.

Our group mates hard at work. While we sipped on white wine (not free have to pay hor).

Looking good! But as expected the calamari turned out mostly rubber.

Well-stocked bar. Can't believe the angmohs' opened a bottle of wine. That was easily 100+ bucks...

At the end of the day (11pm) we finally received our certs! Sher is a certified cook now and she'll be cooking our meals next time(:

Gyoza no Ohsho is a nondescript eatery tucked away in one of the less traversed corners of town. Popular among the working crowd looking for an affordable meal, Gyoza no Ohsho serves an excellent gyoza.

We went for a serving of pan fried gyoza ($5) and deep fried gyoza ($5). Was contemplating between this or the gyoza + ramen set ($17), but seeing that it was meant for tea break (we had a curry puff earlier), we decided to settle for a lighter meal.

Look at how perfect these deep fried gyozas are. Eating these golden brown treats can be quite an addictive affair. Unlike other gyoza places where there's black vinegar or some kind of special dipping sauce, over here you have to concoct your own sauce because the 'pre-mix' is kind of bland. We went for everything -- white vinegar, soy sauce, chilli paste and chili oil!

Pan fried gyozas (: Crisp on the bottom and soft on top. They also sell 'raw' gyozas, which probably means it's just boiled. No thanks, we'll stick with our fried ones please!

The minced pork filling was very juicy and flavorful. Could have given us more filling though. The Tenshinhan (Crab meat and egg with thickened sauce on rice) looks quite good though, we need to try that next time!

By the way, the Selera mutton curry puffs are mediocre. Are the famous chicken ones that good? Let us know in the comments below!

Gyoza no Ohsho
Address: 5 Koek Road, Cuppage Plaza, #01-10, Singapore 228796
Opening Hours: Mon-Sat, 11:30-02:00; Sun, 12:00-00:00
Damage: $5

We are back from our month long haitus! Last month we were too busy eating (BKK reviews are due soon) we didn't have time to review. Today's review will be on none other than Tendon Ginza Itsuki! Tendon is highly raved for its generous portions of tempura rice bowls.

Even so long after opening, popularity hasn't waned. We arrived 15mins before opening and the queue was already insane. Couldn't make it for the first seating ):

Tendon only has two items on their menu. We went for the special ($13.90) which comes which 2 prawns, 2 chickens, 2 long beans, 1 mushroom, 1 corn and 1 pumpkin tempura. It's so much more worth it than the all vegetable set!

On the house are some pickled vegetables which were kind of bland, like kimchi without the chili.

Served with the tendon is a bowl of miso soup and chawanmushi. This was silky smooth and had a lot of ingredients.

Not too long later, our tendon was served. The perfectly crisp tempura was stacked on top of the rice and nestled somewhere in between was the runny egg (which was also lightly coated in tempura batter). Even though the tempura already had some 'tendon' sauce on it, it wasn't enough for us so we had to drizzle more on! The portion was so huge, Sher couldn't even touch her rice.

At first bite, everything was perfect. However by the time we reached our 2nd piece of chicken, we were growing tired of the taste.. Tendon is a heavy, one dimensional meal that doesn't leave you craving for more. So I guess we won't be back for seconds. After the meal, we all reeked of tendon :'(

The bill came down to a hefty $40.20 :o We paid $3.80 for Ayataka green tea?! It's as ridiculous as Tsubohachi Izakaya Hokkaido at Changi Aiport, where they also charge $4 for non-refillable hot green tea.

Tendon Ginza Itsuki
Address: 101 Tanjong Pagar Rd, 088522
Opening Hours: Mon-Sun, 11:30-14:30 (lunch), 17:30-22:00 (dinner)
Damage: $17/pax

House of Gimbap is a small, hole-in-the-wall shop located along Millenia Walk. It's rare to find specialty gimbap shops in Singapore; the only other one we've seen is at Scape. This one has a more upscale look to it though. There was a Groupon deal going on so we hurriedly made the purchase. We then got to select from one gimbap and one noodle dish.

The eponymous gimbap looks pretty on the plate. Taste-wise, it was quite authentic: the beef bulgogi was tender and the pickles were fragrant. S isn't a huge fan of this though -- he claims it tastes 'plasticky'.

Next up was the Doenjangmari soup noodles. Basically, the stock was made from fermented beanpaste and was quite spicy. Besides the noodles (which were very similar to ban mian), there were just a couple of mushrooms and zucchini. Not particularly satisfying.

To go, we had a buckwheat tea, the safest of the tea options on the menu. If you are feeling adventurous, you can go for the more exotic names: omija, esel, doraji etc.

House of Gimbap
9 Raffles Boulevard, Millenia Walk, #01-103
Opening Hours: Mon - Sat, 11:00-20:00; Closed Sun
Damage: from $7 per pax

Spizza Mercato is located at the newly opened Capitol Piazza. With weekday lunch and dinner sets offering good value, its no surprise that Spizza is almost always packed. We dropped by for the dinner set for 2, whereby at $29.90 (Mon-Thu only), we had a choice of 2 drinks, 2 appetizers, and 1 pizza (should be the 12 inch one). S was dying to try the parma ham, which left us with limited choice - we went for the Isabella -- tomato, mozzarella, parama ham, rucola salad and parmesan cheese.

Drinks! There's not much to choose from, either you go for the standard soft drinks, or some atas fruit juice.

We decided to go for 1 soup and 1 salad. Our soup was a tasty and rustic cream of wild mushroom soup. This picture doesn't do it justice, but the portion was actually quite huge (enough for 2). On the side was some lightly toasted bread.

Our salad was the classic cesare salad -- chicken breast, crispy croutons, crisp lettuce and shaved parmesan cheese! It was very filling and by the time we were done, there was hardly any space left for the pizza.

Last but not least, the pizza came with tons of rocket veges! We were shocked by the size of it as this meal could probably feed 3 (We initially wanted to dabao half the pizza back). Sher didnt really like the rocket salad. Other than that, the saltiness of the paper-thin parma ham contrasted well with the freshly baked pizza.

While Spizza is a great place to chill out on a weekday night, they also offer lunch sets ($12 for pasta or pizza) that might appeal to the office crowd looking for a special treat. We might be back to try the pasta!

Spizza Mercato

Address: Capitol Piazza, 13 Stamford Road, #B2-52

Opening Hours:11:30-14:30, 17:30-22:00, Mon-Thu; 11:00-22:00, Fri-Sun

Damage: from $18 per pax