This is the only Seafood Paradise outlet that is open throughout the day including the mid afternoon from 3-6pm which is usually the rest time for staff of Chinese restaurants.Probably because Changi Airport requires its tenants to operate throughout the day including public holidays like the first two days of Chinese New Year. Good for people who wake up late or have morning activities that end late, so they dont do lunch till 3pm or later.

Fish head curry served in a claypot is one of Seafood Paradise's signature dishes, available during lunch hours only. At the Airport's T2 branch this means the dish can be ordered anytime up to 5pm. Assam curry fish head has been taken off the menu, leaving only the regular lemak curry fish head. Price has gone up to $28++ per casserole, which is now served without the table top stove that was used in the past to keep our curry simmering away and kept it steaming hot throughout our meal.The curry contains half of a market fresh 'ikan merah' fish head which is cooked to the restaurant's secret 'nonya style' in-house recipe. The curry gravy is rich, spicy, hearty - perfect with piping hot plain rice or with their mantou ($2.80++ per basket of four pieces). This is a perfect one dish meal as the curry contains eggplant, okra and dried beancurd puffs or 'taupok'. This time around the quantity of veggies has shrunk and a new ingredient added to the curry - deep fried dried beancurd sticks or 'tau kee'. IMO they should have stuck to the original recipe. The deepfried tau kee added lots of oil to the curry gravy making it ultra sinful and way too greasy - look at the copious layer of red oil floating on top of the casserole.

While we were at the restaurant during the off peak hour of 3-4pm with few customers and no shortage of foreign born staff, service was inattentive. Soiled plates were not replaced and empty glasses were not topped up even though there were a few waitresses hovering around our table discreetly chatting among themselves.

Price for the fish head has gone up, service levels dropped, quality of the curry down...we'll pass the curry at the T2 branch next time. Prefer to patronize the Defu Lane flagship restaurant where the staff are attentive, friendly and helpful.

Iced Cafe Latte is being offered at the promotional price of $1.95 this month. Similar drink at the Coffee Bean outlet just next door costs at least $6. At BK, the iced latte is great value as they use ground coffee beans from Seattle's Best Coffee and Farm House brand fresh milk imported from Australia. A 600ml cup delivered the caffeine fix to keep me alert all day into the wee hours, along with the day's calcium quotient. Thumbs up!

Ichiban Sushi is part of a chain of family restaurants serving not just sushi and sashimi but many types of Japanese staple dishes adapted to local tastes. The chawanmushi $3.90 is pricey for a small cup but the smooth silky texture makes it a popular side order. Adults and kids alike cant resist the slimy egg custard gliding down their throats. Each cup contains a piece of diced chicken, a gingko nut, half a crabstick and a stalk of honshimeji mushroom.

The kurobuta pork with rice served in a hot stone pot is part of a great value $5++ set available only on weekday afternoons. It is a generous portion with delicious slices of kurobuta pork, sliced onions, bunashi mushrooms and the weird additionof a piece of silken tofu. Last item does not go with the rice but no complaints anyway. The set comes with free flow of green tea and a cup of their house miso soup.

Ramen Kagetsu Arashi is a three week old casual dining outlet occupying the space vacated by EspresSoup which closed end March 2013. The restaurant resembles a fast food outlet painted in black and bright orange with low white tables and stools. Be prepared to queue if you visit during lunch hours but service is fast. The cheerful, chatty and helpful crew make lunching here a pleasure.

Ramen is priced from $12.90++ but for weekday lunch, you get a beverage and choice of side dish by topping up $2.00 to your ramen for a set meal. Dining here is fun because you get to customize your ramen to your preferences. There is an assortment of condiments set out at every table, together with a huge jug of iced water for those who dp not wish to order any drinks. Besides the usual shoyu type sauces and Japanese chilli powder, this restaurant provides black pepper (from Fauchon, no less), yukitari (very finely shredded seaweed seasoned with table salt and red pepper) and their special pickled chives which is made in house daily by marinating freshly cut green chives in salt and a spicy chilli paste.



The specialty here is chashu ramen with a choice of tonkatsu (referred to here as 'genkotsu') broth, shoyu broth or salted tonkatsu broth. There is only one type of ramen resembling spaghetti in appearance. I ordered the Arashi Genkotsu Ramen $12.90++ ~ a big bowl of ramen in a rich soup full of residue from many hours of boiling pork bones, tendons and their secret blend of ingredients. Each bowl has a piece of seaweed, two slices of their yummy melt-in-the-mouth chashu and half a hard boiled egg. The server also brought us a saucer of peeled, fresh garlic cloves together with a garlic crusher. I added the black pepper, chilli powder, yukari, their house special of pickled chives and freshly crushed garlic to my soup.



Voila, here was my spicy tonkatsu ramen with lots of chives for fibre to make a balanced meal. However I regretted adding too much condiments and pickled chives to my soup which made it too salty for me to slurp it up after I had finished the noodles. What a waste of the collagen-rich hearty broth. So my advice is to add the condiments selectively and sparingly to avoid ending up with an oversalted soup. Would also suggest that diners opt for their signature 'genkotsu' broth ~ this is just a tad salty without adding any shoyu. I think the miso-based or shoyu-based broth would be too salty even without adding any of the condiments provided at the table. However the server did mention that native Japanese diners have a higher saltiness threshold compated to local diners who prefer a lighter taste; the restaurant is tweaking the original recipe based on customer feedback to adapt the salt level of their broth to local tastes.

Osaka Ohsho serves the cheapest and tastiest gyoza locally with a dozen of the panfried, ultra thin skinned dumplings costing just $7.80. We spied many diners dropping in after lunch hour just for gyoza and beer. Today we opted for the set meals all of which come with a side dish of gyoza and a small bowl of egg drop soup. The Tenshin ($9.90 ala carte or $12.90 for set meal) is like omu rice except that instead of fried rice, the omelette envelopes plain Japanese rice which is served with a savoury brown gravy. Tasty but a little overrated. This is a big portion but no point ordering the ala carte dish as there is no meat or vegs inside the omu wrap. The set meal ensures one has gyoza to accompany the rice.