Espresso is a single shot of coffee and it perks people up when you drink it. Skilful baristas are able to create 4 shots within 60 seconds for one of the drinks. Espresso is a concentrated beverage brewed by forcing a small amount of nearly boiling water under pressure through finely ground coffee beans. Espresso often has a thicker consistency than coffee brewed by other methods, a higher concentration of suspended and dissolved solids, and crema (foam). As a result of the pressurized brewing process the flavours and chemicals in a typical cup of coffee are very concentrated. Espresso is the base for other drinks, such as a latte, cappuccino, macchiato, mocha, or americano. Espresso has more caffeine per unit volume than most beverages, but the usual serving size is smaller—a 30 mL (1 US fluid ounce) shot of espresso has 40 to 75 mg of caffeine, which is less than half the caffeine of a standard 240 mL (8 US fluid ounces) cup of drip-brewed coffee. A professional operator of an espresso machine is a barista, the Italian word for bartender. I ordered my favourite espresso drink, Café Latte and the barista made a special leaf design for my drink. However the coffee is a little watery but the barista said this is milder compared to the usual espresso. The Espressoul outlet at EFG Bank Building has a soothing and casual setting. It is great for catching up with friends over a cuppa and some cakes, cookies or pastries that the café offers. Besides the espresso, the tea I ordered is very interesting too. It comes with a paper leaf at the end of the string, for you to dip the tea bag. The tea bag is pyramid in shape and it stands in the tea cup. It has an innovative design and is certainly more unique than most teas in the market. The tea flavour is definitely of standard.

Whenever I walk past the Nando’s restaurant, I always have an urge to go in. This time I did and I am glad I did! After poring through the menu, I finally decided to take the classic chicken but I was not so brave to take more spicy stuff, I chose mild chilli. We get to choose 2 sides too. The dish arrived after 15 minutes and it looks gorgeous! Yummily delicious! I saw the label… “Not so brave”… haha! It was cute! It varies according to level of spiciness. The meat of the chicken was tender and was roasted very well. I love the taste and the spice level. It was just nice for me. I chose fries and garden veges as my side dishes. The fries were sprinkled with chilli powder and were awesome to my taste buds. Overall I love the dishes here. Though service could be a little quicker. The Bugis outlet seems to be understaffed. I love the ambience as well. It was casual and good for chilling out with a couple of friends. It was not noisy despite the crowd. My friends ordered some other dishes and they turned out to be awesome too. Apparently this restaurant has quite a reputation overseas. I have heard of it long ago and am very glad they decided to set up outlets here in Singapore. I will visit more often. Hopefully they will increase their menu offerings too. I have yet to visit other outlets. Since then, I have visited the Bugis outlet twice and had the same dish twice. The experiences were awesome and I believe they will continue to excel. Not the forget the drinks. I think they are very nice too. Some sparkling soda I had, it was tasty and cooling. I give this restaurant a thumbs-up!

The Salmon Lobster Salad Roll was very appealing to the eyes and palate as well. Initially attracted by the low price of this offering and the mention of lobster, I decided to order for a trial. When the dish arrived, it doesn’t look as good. However it tasted fine and I proceeded to order one more set for my friend. The lure of this dish is the lobster and not to mention the salmon sashimi. I like the freshness of the salmon. Wrapped in a roll, the lobster salad with fish roe is placed neatly atop the salmon roll. Though the roll was not done very well, or craftily, the taste was not affected at all. Perhaps it could put off the perfectionist who wishes everything to be done, somehow perfectly; it was not an issue for me and my friends. We enjoyed nonetheless. The offerings at Itacho Sushi are a good range and the pricing is awesomely low for a restaurant of this status. I was quite surprised by the low pricings. The queue at the entrance tells another story. Having waited for more than half an hour before it was our turn to take a seat, it surely tells us that this is not a place for impatience people or those in a hurry. Perhaps it is because of the low pricings, that people do not mind queuing up to eat here. The service standard is not too bad either. The restaurant looks very authentically Japanese and it is clean and bright for us to appreciate the good food there. I really need to mention this. Though the food may look cheaper than most Japanese restaurants on an ala-carte basis, the final bill gave me a complete shock. Three of us spent $71.90, including GST and service charge. That is even more expensive than our usual Japanese meals. So that means, though the price may seem cheap, you might order more and it eventually translates to a bigger bill.

The experience at Sho Teppan was an extremely interesting one as I got to cook my own Kurobuta (layered pork) in a big pot. Teppanyaki is usually cooked by the chef. However at Sho Teppan, each person gets an individual stove and pot in front of the seat and we get to cook our own cuisine. Half-cooked, fully cooked or almost rare, it’s entirely up to you. The end result is a pot of fried Kurobuta pork teppanyaki which tasted very yummy. Though the food looks a little oily once cooked, it’s not queasy to taste at all. Served with a bowl of miso soup, Japanese rice and salad, the meal is completely satisfying. The restaurant also serves Yakimeshi, Udon, Shabu-Shabu, Nabe and some side dishes and drinks. Sho Teppan has a wide variety to cater to your taste buds. The service standard is fantastic because if you decide not to lift your hands to do the cooking, the chef is on standby to help, anytime. Just call out to him and he’ll be there. Overall, the dining experience is extremely pleasing and amazing. My friend had Salmon Yakimeshi, which is fried rice with salmon. She too enjoyed the wonderful experience of frying her own rice. The chef decided to help her out too. The taste of the salmon is wonderous and the freshness is impeccable. The restaurant’s environment looks very clean and all the things like seasonings are in order. The prices on the menu are reasonable and extremely affordable to the usual white collars staff like us. The staff are friendly and they are attentive to the needs of the patrons, helping us to cook and so forth. Paying them another visit is definitely on my to-do list. Located in the basement, it’s not hard to find the restaurant. But surprisingly, it’s not crowded. It could be due to low marketing awareness. I would certainly recommend to my friends.