Another what-to-eat-at-Vivo nights and we found ourselves wanting Jap food but the few we saw were the up-market types. Then hubby asked if we should try Ishiki as it looked like a no-nonsense makan place.

We popped in and true enough, the deco is sparse and functional. We ordered:

1) Fish Tempura - deep fried fish pieces but not great, Ajisen makes better ones.

2) Sake Ikura Don - hubby found this slightly blend. He qualified to say that the taste is more refined lah. He also had the impression that the salmon slices at Ichiban Boshi seemed thicker too.

3) Flamed Salmon Maki - this set of sushi were very well made. Tasty and pretty. Their fish eggs are the large orange ones that goes 'pop' in my mouth!!

4) Beef Sukiyaki Veg Hotpot - a tasty pot of goodness!! The beef slices are adequate and the other ingredients are also fresh so it's really a whole pot of goodness!!! Love it!!!

I'll probably return just for the sukiyaki but the other stuff are not so value for money.

We were a little apprehensive about dining at Chili' at Sentosa as the reviews have been very poor with regards to their service.

We ordered:
1) Southern Burger - mu hubby was very much in love with it. The mash that came with the burger was awesome too! I had to stop myself from finishing hubby's!

2) Grilled Chicken with Penne in cream sauce - I had originally ordered the Fajitas but the kitchen lost my order. At least the waiter was apologetic and very nice about it. He recommended I try this dish and promised it'll be delivered super fast (which he did so I'm happy he kept his word).

Many prior reviews mentioned their very poor service, which is contra to the service we enjoyed that. We were a large party of 11 and tucked away in a corner but that didn't prevent us from getting attentive service all night! Maybe they read the previous reviews and decided to buck up!! Keep it up, Chili's!!

Hunting for a place to let loose our energy-bound children and still have adult chit-chat time, couple of friends and us decided to check out Sol.

Lunch consisted of:

1) Kids meal Frankiza - J had this kids pizza which was ok. She finished the whole thing herself, no help needed.

2) Kids meal Nugs N Fries - S had no nuggets but attacked the fries. These days are classified as "eat whatever you want" so I didn't wanna force. Nuggets were somewhat like those at Mac.

3) Nachos with cheese dip - hubby shared this with J as he can't see nachos without ordering, muscle memory he claims... Taste-wise, it's just nachos with cheese dip, nothing out of ordinary.

4) Pasta chicken mushroom - I had the spicy sauce and there was enough chicken & mushroom slices. Taste is not bad.

5) Sol Burger - hubby ate all and left me none. Asked how good it was and he said "Average good"

6) Coffee & Jug of Ribena - we ordered drinks too as the kids wanted to play somemore Not a place to go for food per se but it's a good place to let both kids and adults have fun at their outdoor playground. Food is a tad ex but considering you have to pay for those indoor playground at $15/hour/child with no food, this is a good choice. If you're thinking "but there is no aircon" then rethink if you're breeding a bunch of "strawberry" kids.

20 July, 2011
Problem with going to Vivo so very often, we end up scratching our heads when deciding what to eat. So last night, we decided to be adventurous and eat at Secret Recipe despite the poor reviews on other websites.

We had:

1) Chicken Cordon Bleu - hubby had this and it's actually quite good. A generous slab of chicken, ham & cheese wrap, deep fried till nice & crispy.

2) Seafood Aglio Olio - I'm a pasta girl so its a no-brainer to order this. It turned out to be a pretty spicy version with big pink prawns and not overdone sotong rings. It also had crayfish but the crayfish was seriously a joke. I have never seen such a small crayfish and it was very fishy tasting. The only spoiler of the dish. Otherwise, it's really very Yumz. Oh! They could use less oil too.

3) Mushroom soup - for a $5 top-up, we could add a starter and a drink. So I chose mushroom soup with was decent. Possibly from can but at least they added chunks of mushrooms lah.

4) Caesar salad - hubby chose salad so we could share our starters. Someone was too generous with the lemon and the salad was way too tangy. A small bowl but ok if you like your Caesar tangy.

5) Ice lemon tea & Camomile - we ordered these as drinks. Normal, decent.

I might return if we are in Vivo and crave super spicy Aglio Olio.

We got the 50% off vouchers so all 11 of us trucked down to have our Sabb dinner here.

The conditions are that seafood is one serving for pax but meat and vegetables are free flow. That's fine with our mainly carnivorous bunch.

They have 3 meat choice: Curry Chicken, Beef and Pork. Only chicken comes pre-marinated with curry powder and it tastes quite nice when grilled over the hot 'dome'. But at times, the meat will roll into the 'moat' of soup around the 'dome' you see. If you have eaten steamboat-grill at Thai or Korean restaurants, you would know what I'm describing.

The beef and pork slices are nice when grilled or broiled in soup.

The seafood spread is not bad, they offer the usual fishball, fish cake, crabstick, etc. Buy they also give prawns and crabs! Not your Sri Lanka crabs but when popped into the soup to cook. It's surprising sweet and super yummy. The crab flesh is quite soft so you just suck it out! Awesome!!

All in all a nice spread and the free flow of meat kept the boys happy. Very good deal for the 50% discount we got. As for the smokeless effect, it's true there is no smoke as they placed their pot inside this hole in the table where it can suck out the smoke thru these clever holes. So they kept their 'smokeless' promise but we still smelled like BBQ meat ourselves at the end of dinner. I guess we can only hope for a 'smokeless smell-free' restaurant in the future.