Original review at http://www.nahmj.com/2016/04/28/ippin-cafe-bar/

Ippin Cafe Bar is nestled along the stretch of drink holes at Mohammad Sultan is also home to many Japanese Restaurant. They pride themselves not only serving authentic Japanese food but also of having a homely environment and homely meal. From the interior decoration to the food served at the cafe bar, the same theme resonate throughout.
What I find most attractive about Ippin Cafe Bar is that the uses the products that are sold in the outlet to cook their food served. Should one be interested to cook it at home, diner could approach the staff to enquiry and whip a storm at home.Ippin Cafe Bar has recently introduced an exciting new menu. The first three on the table were appetiser. There are Salmon Kelp Roll ($8 NETT); Sardine & Walnut ($5 NETT) and Ayu, Sweetfish ($5 NETT). All these are soy sauce based as such all of these dishes has a sweet hint.The good news is that you could bring them home in convenience pack if you like any of these appetisers.Next is the Rice Ball with Green Onion Miso ($5 NETT). This is a simple dish where one could make at home easily by purchasing the Green Onion Miso, mixed it with rice and seaweed. Lastly roll the rice into a ball and wrap it in a clear wrap. Then enjoy at your convenience. For the taste, once again, there is a sweet flavour note emitted from the green onion miso.Chawa mushi ($8 NETT) is the next dish newly introduced. It is cooked with the Dashi Sauce available at the outlet too. This Chawa mushi is creamy, smooth and silky and beneath it were treasures of ingredients such as crab stick, chicken meat and mushroom. Personally, I find the amount of egg too little in this cup of Chawa mushi.The only savoury dish that tasted briny is the Stir-fried potato & pork with garlic sauce ($8 nett). This dish goes very well with rice. Personally, I find it a little too oily. And most find that Ippin Cafe Bar is too generous with the amount of salt added.Beef with mushroom sauce and potato salad ($30 nett) is another new dish. The mushroom sauce was far too sweet for us. We thought it would be better if the beef could be with medium doneness instead of well done.Omu-rice with Karaage, fried chicken ($18 nett) is made different at Ippin Cafe Bar. Instead of having a tomato based rice, at Ippin, they provided a Soy Sauce based rice wrapped within the omelette. The Karaage seems to be using breast meat as such I find it a little dry and tasteless.Darjeeling Tea Jelly was served before our final dish, the dessert. This is such a wonderful dessert. It has a nice sweet tea scent. Everyone at the table enjoyed this to the max.Bread Pudding with Green Tea ($10 nett) was the last dish of the night. I was skeptical about this dish initially as it was a can food for emergency situation such as during the earthquake. I was wrong about it. The bread pudding was so fluffy and creamy and smooth. When it was eaten together with the ice cream, it was heavenly. The yuzu sauce that was drizzled over the dish provided a tangy and refreshing flavour.We tried the Houjicha too. The tea leaves were from India and roasted in Japan. This is a light version. It is available at the outlet at $7 per pack.

All the products sold at Ippin Cafe Bar are exclusively imported for them only. And these are mainly from the SME in Japan. They believe supporting these SME.Since it is a bar as well, how could alcohol be missing? For the Japanese, it will certainly be the well beloved Sake. Sake tasting set ($15 NETT/set of 3) is also available. Request it from their friendly in-house Sake Sommelier to help you select your choice sake.Ippin Cafe provides a wide variety of Sake ranging from the traditional Sake to the fruity and even the yogurt sake.

Some of the new selection available are the Yogurt Sake, Plain ($30 NETT), Yogurt Tochi Otome Strawberry ($31 NETT), Yutou Masamune ($51 NETT), Miracle Sake Junmai ($29 NETT), Mongai Sake ($19 NETT), Mongai Sake Cup ($16 NETT) and the Yoichi Densho Oensen Jinozo ($141 NETT).I like the homely feel of the place and the homely food. My favourite concept of all is the food is available in convenience pack to take home. And all items sold at Ippin Cafe Bar is at nett price.

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Original review on http://www.nahmj.com/2016/05/01/seorae-singapore-plaza-singapura

Seorae Singapore features popular Korean Charcoal BBQ and this restaurant is now found at Plaza Singapura. Seorae aims to serve the best quality of ingredients and meat. For the ambience, it is the typical look of the Korean restaurant and it is casual.lAt the table, one would quickly find the hot burning charcoal fire set ready for the bbq. It is interesting to see that at the charcoal fire, there is a ring with 3 sections. One for the egg, the second for the cheese and last was to keep the meat warm.Seorae Singapore features the "skirt meat" known as Galmaegisal. This part has the perfect combination of tenderness and juiciness, yet contain minimal amount of fat. A fully-grown pig or cow produces only 250 grams of skirt meat. It is so good and yet so rare.Since the pork-skirt meat is a draw at Seorae Singapore, there is no reason why we should missed it. There are two flavours of skirt meat offered. First is the original Galmaegisal, Pork Skirt ($21.90). And if one prefer a stronger flavour could go for the Garlic Soy-Sauce Galmaegisal, Garlic Soy-Sauce Pork Skirt ($21.90).Other pork meat available are the pork belly meat. If one prefer spicy can for the Spicy Samgyeobsal ($17.90). Otherwise, the non-spicy option is Hangari Samgyeobsal ($17.90)For beef, one could turn to Jinkkotsal, Prime Beef ($29.90). This is my favourite beef meat at Seorae. The meat is tender and not gamey at all.The La Galbi, US Prime Beef Short-ribs ($29.90) is a little firmer in texture.The meat in general are well marinated. I could savour the marinate not only on the surface of the meat but right into the centre too.
At Seorae Singapore, they have provided 3 dips, the centre onion dips is great for skirt meat and the reddish dish are great for the rest of the meat.

Cheese lover, you are in for a treat. There is a cheese dip. You can use it for the meat or for any food you ordered.Other than meat, more food options are available such as the Korean Pancake. If one prefer seafood, go for Haemul Pajeon ($17.90). Alternatively, the kimichi pancake, Kimichi Jeon ($17.90) is an equally great option.Sundubu Jjigae ($14.90) a hot spicy soup with tofu, golden mushroom and many more ingredients. It is great to go with white rice.Bingsoo is available whole day even when the rest of the food isn't served during 3 - 5 pm. Seorae Singapore offered 6 Pat Bingsoo (with red bean) and 4 Bingsoo which is without red bean. 2 out of the 4 Bingsoo was with liquor. We tried none of the 2.

First is the must try Apgujeong Bingsoo ($14.90). The finely shaved ice were covered with cheese cake and cheddar cheese and topped with a cheese wafer. Lastly it was drizzled with cheese sauce too. Oh my, it was a cheesy bowl.Sinsa PatBingsoo ($14.90) is a relatively simple compared to the rest of the creation. A bowl of shaved ice in a rock melon bowl is decorated with lots of melon balls. Right at the top was some red bean with a scoop of vanilla ice cream at the tip. Melon lovers rejoice!Lastly is the Bibim Patbingsoo ($12.90). Another shaved ice with red bean. Beside the key ingredients, the red bean, there are strawberry and kiwi surrounded the edge and in the centre was the "egg" that is made with vanilla ice cream as the egg white and a peach as the yolk. Strawberry jam was provided separately.

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Original Review on http://www.nahmj.com/2016/04/29/hua-yu-wee-seafood-restaurant-singapore

Hua Yu Wee Seafood Restaurant 华友园海鲜 is located within a colonial bungalow along Upper East Coast Road. It is standing strong at its original location since it started. And it is not an unfamilar icon to those who stay in the area. But for me who is far away from Hua Yu Wee, I was surprised to find out about this zi char place. In case, you do not understand "Zi Char", in means a place that dishes out Chinese food at a casual, relax environment.It has this old school looks and ambience. Don't expect anything classy or hipster, but the look of the 70s. It seems nothing has changed since they started at the location.

Since it is a Zi Char Place, one could expect all sort of Chinese cooked dishes; ranging from tofu and vegetables to seafood and meat to noodles. As I didn't order the food and I did not have the chance to lend my hands on the menu, as such, I don't know the price and the exact name of the dishes.We started with Spinach Tofu with Mushrooms. The tofu was almost drowned in the mushroom. I was amazed at how smooth and silky was the tofu.Next on the table was the Lala. The Lala was swimming in a spicy and strong ginger seafood flavoured broth. I was glad the Lala were fresh and there weren't sand in them.Hardly would anyone order 2 vegetable dishes. It is kind of strange though. We have a Broccoli and Huang Di Miao. Both were stir-fried with garlic. There isn't much to describe about greens. Maybe green and crunchy as they should.The Squid Paste You Tiao is popular dish at Zi Char places. We ordered a plate that night too. Squid paste was chewy. A pity the You Tiao wasn't as crispy as it should be but certainly not soggy though.The Feng Sha Chicken is a dish highly recommended by one of the diners who visited the restaurant. By the side were dishes of chopped garlic and ginger as dips for the chicken. I took a piece of breast meat (by accident), surprisingly, it wasn't dry and the meat was tender with a very crispy skin. But a little salty.Cereal Prawns were de-shelled before deep frying. This made it very convenient to consume and the best part, in my opinion is that the cereal were still on the surface of prawns. This dish was decent though one of the diner whose fave is cereal prawn felt the cereal wasn't tasty enough. Perhaps it was lacking of the herb such as the curry leaves that are usually fried with the cereal.We ordered both the Chilli Crab and the Black Pepper. None prefer the latter. The wok hei (the char fragrance) was far too strong and almost like the black pepper were burnt. All the 7 diners prefer the Chilli Crab. With the chilli crab, deep fried buns are always necessary to dip the crowd-pleaser sauce. Even though the Chilli Crab is a popular, highly raved dish at Hua Yu Wee, I felt there is room for improvement. Personally, I felt the tomato sauce flavour was a little too overwhelming.Before having our last dish, the dessert, we have the Seafood Hor Fun. It may not look appetising especially after all the sumptuous food earlier but the Rice Noodle beneath the sauce was excellent. The Wok Hei was strong. I wouldn't mind having only the rice noodle with no other ingredients.Yam Paste was the last dish to end the night, which I find it mediocre. The yam paste wasn't as flavourful as it should be. I think they did not use Lard to cook the dish. And the ginko nut wasn't soft but hard and chewy and it wasn't sweet. It wasn't cooked using the traditional Teochew method.

Beyond the old fashion look of Hua Yu Wee Seafood Restaurant, there were quite some delish food worth looking forward to. And I heard they have quite some off the menu dishes. If keen pop over to ask for them.

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Original review on http://www.nahmj.com/2016/04/26/ninja-bowl-duxton-road-tanjong-pagar


Ninja Bowl has taken over the defunct Department of Caffiene, DOC. It is literally taking over the entire cafe with minimal changes in the design, the furniture, fixture and so on. Except and of course the signage of the cafe are replaced.For those who have been to Department of Caffeine, DOC previously does not require any description. In case you have yet patronised them and they were closed, basically, very much industrial. Greens and flowers placed strategically to soften the feel.At Ninja Bowl, it has a 2 page menu. A page for food and a page of drink.For coffee, Ninja Bowls uses Smitten Coffee Bean with 50% Brazil Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza Natural and 50% Colombian La Joyerla Washed. I have a 6oz with milk ($4.50). It is a medium to low acidity cuppa with medium to full body and stone fruits and caramel and cocoa notes.For non-coffee drinker, one could turn to the Ginger Lemongrass ($7) light in both the ginger and lemongrass fragrance or Earl Grey ($7), Chamomile Citron ($7) or Citrus Mint ($7) for hot drinks. Cold drink option were cold-pressed fruit juice, iced chocolate and various concoction ranging from $6 to $8.It has the Ninja Bowls as its highlight. Each Ninja Bowl at either $14 or $16 has pre-determined ingredients and diners has 4 base option. Add $3 for Quinoa. Alternatively add $2 for Ninja Rice (mixed of brown and white jasmine rice), Orzo (pasta shaped in the form of rice) or Garden Greens.

I tried the Genki ($16) with Quinoa ($3). In it consists of yaki unagi, onsen egg, pickled beets, beansprouts (seems like with sesame oil), roasted pumpkin. One get multi-flavours in a bowl with sourish, savoury and sweet senses. The beansprouts reminded me of Korean food. It is interesting that it is a blend of Korean and Japanese bowl.On the next section are the Brunch items. At this section, I observed that it uses similar ingredients from the Ninja Bowls for most of its dishes here. For something and something I don't usually order, I went for the Yogurt and Granola ($9). It is a bowl of relatively sweet granola and lots of fruits, mainly watermelon cubes, a few melon pieces, handful of blueberries and a wedge of passionfruit. Honey was added into the yogurt resulting in a even sweeter bowl. Milk was provided by the side.
Ninja Bowl also offers 4 dishes of Bites, 3 Sandwiches option and Daily Cakes and Tarts.I was recommended by a service crew to try the Chocolate Tart. I went with the recommendation since I could decide. It has a nutella cream on a rich chocolate fudge sat on a thin tart base. This is certainly a must try for Chocolate lovers.Food served at Ninja Bowl is comforting and I do enjoyed. It has good variety and it provides free Wifi too. It seems the 2016 trend of cafe food is rice bowl. Though it is healthy and delish but I certainly hope not all new cafe will go into this direction.



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Original Review at http://www.nahmj.com/2016/04/25/south-union-park-kembangan-singapore

South Union Park is nestled among a landed private property estate in the East of Singapore with Kembangan MRT station some distance away. It is walkable distance though many would choice otherwise.As it is surrounded by private residence, the area is tranquil and serene. It makes a great get away from the usual bustling shopping mall or crowded area for a peaceful meal with friends or family.It is easy to spot South Union Park as its name is printed in black and it is against a white facade, a good contrast. Most importantly, it is huge enough to be spotted from a distance.

As we pushed opened the glass door, we were welcomed by a homely feel from the interior design of the cafe. The design seems to resemble Scandinavian theme.South Union Park offered a single paged menu with 1 soup - Chicken Noodle Soup ($8), 1 Snack - Pork Crackling ($5), 5 Starters, 2 Mains, 3 Homemade Pasta and 3 Plated Desserts.

Among the starter choice of Roasted Veg Salad ($10), Butter Lettuce Salad ($8/12), Fried Chicken ($9), Poutine ($12) and Crabcakes ($12), we chose the last item. I didn't imagine the crabcakes to be in a mini balls that is good bite size. It came as a pleasant surprise. The crabcakes has visible crab seen and it has a distinctive herb taste. Depending on whether do you like the herb flavour. We were neutral to this herb taste though. At least, the strong seafood fragrance was absent.3 pasta offered, Short Rib Ragu ($22), Duck Confit Pasta ($19) and Butternut ($17), we chose the 2nd option with no regret. It was amazing. We could savour the duck flavour laced on the surface on the tagliatelle. The hazelnut cream unique and it complemented all the ingredients well. And some sauteed spinach with abundant shredded duck confit were throughout the dish.Among the 2 Mains, Cheeseburger ($22) and Poached Salmon ($20), the former is more intriguing but we chose the latter as one diner doesn't consume beef.
Looking at the pale salmon steak with raisin abundantly in the couscous, I was skeptical about its taste. Since both isn't my preferred ingredient. I have a change of impression after trying it.3 Plated Desserts choices of Brownie ($9), Souffle of the day($13) and Apple Crumble ($10) which was our choice of dessert for the meal. On the plate was an entire baked granny smith, a scoop of vanilla ice cream with butterscotch sauce drizzled sat on butter crumble. Apple remains crunchy. As it has a core in it, making it difficult for consumption. It would be perfect if the core could be removed before baking or serving it.It is interesting that all of us ordered the same drink, the Cappuccino ($4.50). And among the drinks, one of which has a variegated look. It has a distinctive layer of milk, coffee and foam. Not sure what went wrong while brewing the coffee. The cuppa was low body, low acidity with nutty note. We find it decent.I thought well of South Union Park. All the food served were above average at a reasonable pricing. My friends and I enjoyed our meal at South Union Park.

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