See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2016/01/24/good-popiah-nasi-lemak-qiji-star-vista-on-23jan2016/

daughter bought back popiah & nasi lemak from qiji star vista outlet on 23.1.2016.
apparently it’s very good for popiah & nasi lemak not bad too.
i tried the rice, chilli & ikan bilis.
rice was good, lemak, very “pang” – fragrant. chilli & ikan bilis were all great, not much different from adam’s nasi lemak (recently though my daughter ta pao for me also from adam’s nasi lemak but it was not good that day, especially the chicken wing!)..no chicken wing & ikan kuning to try so could not tell.
the popiah was good. i don’t have much to compare with, but skin was soft &did not tear, fillings/ingredients were tasty. so it’s good, competent. i was not particularly wowed by it.

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2016/01/03/simply-delicious-mee-pok-ta-ah-hoe-mee-pok-blk-710-outlet-on-2jan2016/
had the ah hoe japanese girl proprietor bakchormee ay blk 710 clementi west street 2 again today on 2.1.2016. ^^
a friend organised it. we first went to blk 713. it was closed & a sign said blk 710 was opened. we went over & there was a long queue…
our younger friend (3 of us) queued for 50mins from 10.45am & only got noodles 11.35am
this my second time here.
the first time i try ah hoe mee pok was on a weekday at 11am on 2.11.2015.
there were 9 of us & no queue, or like just 2pax ahead.
not sure today’s long queue was because blk 713 stall was closed or because of festive period or saturday..in any case it should be wise to come outside rush hours on weekdays.
this time friend ordered S$ bowl.
still very good, like it & will go again (provided not much queue like my first time).
it really was a good quality, yummy noodles, great texture totally qq & good tasty ingrdients!
mustn’t be trapped with concept of bakchormee, this was simply a very good delicious noodle dish, whether it is 100% bakchormee or 90% or not at all did not quite matter la…
when we finished our noodles nearer 12pm, the queue was even longer. at the slow rate they were serving, probably tale >1hrs.
after that guys came my house & we had kungfu cha 功夫茶till 1.30pm.
then one friend had to go for meeting, & i joined tea for a primary school ex-friends gathering.

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2016/01/01/the-best-value-lunch-omakase-hachi-on-29dec2015/

had another wonderful 4pax family lunch at hachi on 29.12.2015. ^^
i mostly come hachi for dinner & for me, hachi delivers the best kaiseki dinner for the price. wife usually not free for lunch. the last time i had lunch at hachi was almost 2 years ago on 17.1.2014.
every dish in hachi looks fabulous & tastes even better. the edamame was unusual but very good, and you could taste the edamame & the excellent sweet uni which was a pretty good size helping.
my wife took the cheaper S$78 hachi omakase. the rest of us took the S$88 ohmi wagyu 近江和牛omakase.
both were excellent but the wagyu omakase was worth many times more than the S$10 difference.
for the sashimi, we had chutoro, akami (lean toro) & 2 kampachi. for the hachi omakase, it was 2 akami, no chutoro.
the sashimi was very sweet & fresh, top quslity!
wife had the crab chawanmushi. :-) really sweet & tasty.
we had something better though – ohmi wagyu 近江和牛sukiyaki!
ohmi wagyu 近江和牛 is among the top 3, after matsuzaka & kobe, so it was just perfect melt-in-the-mouth experiecne.
hachi regularly serves the large oyster during dinner, in different preparations.
this lunch oyster was just as big & good.
basically a freshly shucked oysters with ponzu jelly toppings.
the scallop roll was quite an incredible dish. the hotate was sashimi or rare texture but the batter over seaweed was deepfried.
an excellent age (fried) dish.
we all had the grilled ohmi wagyu 近江和牛. for the wagyu omakase we had 1 more piece = 4 pieces vs 3 for the hachi omakase. ^^
really by comparison, i can only say the ginzawa’s wagyu & onion don at S$50 was truly pathetic!
even the recently upped S$38.80 (used to be just S$30.80) wagyu don set at sumiya was better!
the sushi was superb quality, better than the sashimi.
for the hachi omakase, it was uni, chutoro, kinmedai (golden eye snapper or alfonsino).
all excellent stuff! ^^ :-)
for the wagyu omakase, we had wagyu sushi in 3 different preps. could not remember but they were all superb, especially with the uni topping! :-)
there was the cold soba.quite ordinary, nothing special there.
japanese have many difference black beans sweet. i like them all mostly. this one was very good, not too sweet & very good balance to the tangy jelly.

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/12/20/4pax-family-lunch-sumiya-on-20dec2015/

son was back from london for holidays.
we decided to have a sunday family lunch. mikuni was fully booked so we went to sumiya on 20.12.2015. ^^
came to sumiya a few times, most recetly with a RI friend on 30.10.2015.
then the bara kaisen don set was still S$18.80 & the wagyu don set S$30.80. price had gone up since. the bara kaisen don set still ok at S$20.80, but the wagyu don set went up very steep, now at S$38.80!it was excellent though, the beef was so wonderful, very marbled & tasty! :-)
c/w the realtively poor S$50 wagyu & onion don at ginzawa that was much below expectations.
2 of us had the bara kaisen don set, wife had the anago don set (forgot to take photos) & youngest daughter had the ex S$38.80 wagyu don set.
the bara kaisen don just just as good. sashimi cuts were very fresh & tasty.
salad was usual.
there was chawanmushi. it was ok but btw item for the set.
we all agreed my own chawanmushi was better – smooth, tasty.
side today was sweet potatoes. nicely sweet with good bite texture.
& we all liked the mochi.
very nice cream inside, not so sweet la so quite edible!
had a great family lunch.

i came tim palace few weeks back with my sis & b-i-l on 24.11.2015.
some RI friends wanted to try after reading that post. happens that a close RI friend was visiting from cupertino USA (same friend so was at my house yesterday for a homecooked pasta + steak lunch & we had a cuppa at ducth colony pasarbella afterwards).
so he arranged a 10pax lunch at tim palace today on 16.12.2015. ^^
salmon sashimi was bad, wrong colour & almost “sweating”. cold flower crab looked a bit better maybe it was ok this time. didn't try.prawn & sotong salad & the pickledd scallops tips were still ok. poached prawn was good too.
roast station though was quite ridiculous –
we had 10pax. we got a plate good for 2pax!! yes 2pax!! you just have to look at my photos last visit to see what we got for 3pax! so being not so silent & compliant type singaporeans, we told the manager & was served another 2 plates (top photo).
sharks fin was ok.mainly because the stock was tasty & so the dish overall was pretty good.
drunken prawns was good.prawns were very fresh, bouncy, good. herbal soup was good too.
abalone & broccoli dish was very competent. there were 9 abalones for 10pax. we told the server & manager, & got 1 more abalone, no worries la!
they served us 2 deep-fried flower garoupa., pretty ok dish.
steamed seabass with sambal sauce was good, very nice sauce & dish done well. ^^
the sea cucumber with yam was ok.
there was a last order (i think 2pm). i ordered the prawns since the other 2 prawn dishes were good.the
xo scallop dish was competent.small scallops, quite nicely done.
& we ordered the lala.lala was fresh but it was overdone. this dish below par.
one friend said my manila clams was so much better.
the cereal crayfish this time was quite fresh so pretty ok
honey ribs non-descript.not badly done, just very ordinary zi char standard.
spicy steamed chicken feet was ok but not the good dimsum restaurant standard, both the sauce & the texture of the deep-fried chicken feet.
2-egg spinach was competent.not the standard of uncle leong though.
sambal kang kong was good if ordinary.
i had both the sea coconut & the lotus seed red beans, quite ok both.
we had a great time, lot of laughter & fun.
food was pretty good re the price = it was S$20.90pax after S$5 SC (senior citizen 55yrs) discounts. there is an additional S$2 for the tea+peanuts (you get charged anyway whethe you take or not).
here is what i meant by service being pleasant if untrained.
we asked for 2 pots of different tea. they said cannot & they will charge. we told them we had 10pax so 5pax take 1 tea & 5pax take another tea, why cannot leh?
after talking to manager we got 2 pots – pu er & jamine..of course they can actually refuse, but they let us have 2 pots. in my opinion the best trained service is one where you know something does not really matter, & the customers are not asking something unreasonable, and you can be flexible & give it to them to promote goodwill.