see my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2014/09/19/enjoy-this-wanton-noodles-kok-kee-国记-on-17sep2014/
wanted to have kok kee wanton noodles again before lavendar food square make way for 16-storey freehold development called ARC 380. according to a straits times report on 7.9.2014,
“Lavender Food Square’s last day of operations is on Sept 30, a week longer than the original Sept 23 date. The extension was made because of customer demand” – See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/food-wine/story/some-stalls-lavender-food-square-move-elsewhere-others-remain-undecided-20#sthash.OhqURHeN.dpuf
the other stalls to try are the whitley road fishball noodles, kin turtle soup etc…
we managed to park at the tiny carpark. there was no queue at kok kee at 4.15pm.
the last time i was here was 22.3.2014. we ordered S$4 wanton mee each. this must be the only wet version in singapore i had tried. the noodles were al dente & not soggy yet not stringy.
S$4 kind of expensive for that tiny amount of noodles. but good tasting was what counted, & this was like the best wanton noodles i had, better than red ring & first centre.
this the second time i tried & my views had not changed. may go back before 30sep to try the whitley road fishball noodles etc.

I was somewhat hasty when i bought 2 groupons S$28 for S$60 for miz japanese restaurant. i got a bit apprehensive after reading the largely negative reviews on hungrygowhere. the reviews on openrice & trip advisor though were pretty ok.
i recce on miz the day we went to prelim wine bistro at duxton hill on 1.8.2014. the place did not look so impressive.
anyhow my 2 groupons expire on 12.8.2014 so no option but to go today, on 11.8.2014.
sashimi moriawase
S$30 sashimi moriawase
as it turned out the food was really quite good. 
the S$30 sashimi moriawase included 5 cuts of hotate (scallops), shake (salmon), maguro (tuna), hamachi (yellow tail) & kajiki(sword fish). all including hotatet were very fresh, certainly if you c/w say the quite poor kajiki & sashimi i had at olive restaurant on 15.1.2014. S$30 for a lot of quantity may not quite match sun with moon’s superb sashimi moriawase at S$29.80, but at <s$15, there’s nothing to be said. it’s like cheaper than buying from taka or meidi-ya at liang court.
we wanted to change our S$14 kaki furai order to the S$16 salmon belly after seeing our neighbour ordering the very fresh & tempting sashimi, but the proprietress mariko-san asked the kitchen & they had already started preparation, so we forgo that as we already hit the S$120 voucher value.
the S$18 ebi tempura had 6 prawns & the batter was good, crispy & light, a very competent to good tempura. 
we ordered the unagi kebayaki – i think it was 1 of their signature dish. it was ok edible but to me not an unagi kebayaki dish at all, so i would not recommend this dish at all. when i saw the bill, i realised that they took the wrong order & it was shira yaki, so it was my fault. when in doubt, query!
another signature dish was oyster dynamite – 3 oysters for S$18. sounded expensive to me & not sure how the dynamite sauce & cheese turned out. so i opted for the usual kaki furai – 5 oysters fritters for S$14. this was good ok, not the standard of zen japanese cuisine ones we had recently on 21.7.2014, but ok.
we had ika teriyaki whole squid grilled (forgot to take photo). wouldn’t say it’s poor. jut so-so & not worth ordering as you could order other items like salmon belly etc.
the S$20 beef sukiyaki was ok, competent. S$20 would be expensive but <$10 after discount was pretty much ok. 
our bill came to S$129.25 include 10% service & no GST. so since i paid S$56 for 2xS$60 groupons, i topped up S$9.25 & the meal for 3pax was S$65.25. that would be like S$18++pax & i think more than fair.
i chatted with mariko-san the proprietress. she was a busy, somewhat harried, competent lady, and in no way rude or unfriendly. i asked her which days were best to come for sashimi. she said tuesday & friday at first but then added that they had fresh sashimi every day as everything was sold. i quite believe her.
not sure if i would come this joint for ala carte if fully priced w/o groupon discounts, but they also have sets, bentos & lunch promotions etc, so i may explore a little more.

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2014/08/11/ok-japanese-food-miz-japanese-restaurant-on-11aug2014/

I went to friend’s house in the east again to watch wimbledon finals between djokovic & federer on 6.7.2014.
we decided to go another place for dinner. we had been going to east coast lagoon food village the last few times. 1 friend suggested momoya at jalan pari burong.
must say they have very good & inexpensive sets here. momoya also serves ala carte buffet, S$31++pax for lunch & S$35++pax for dinner (same buffet menu).
1 friend ordered the tempura & udon set. the tempura moriawase included 3 prawns, i guessing 1 fish & 2 vegetables. i tried 1 prawn, it was ok, the batter just average not so great.
another friend & i ordered the sushi & sashimi set. there were 12 pieces of sashimi - 4 slices each of salmon, maguro (tuna) & hamachi (yellow tail). salmon was very good, comparable with sun with moon at wheelock & might be better than or about same as chikuwatei. hamachi & maguro were quite standard, probably about same as chikuwatei not as good as sun with moon wheelock. the 6 pieces of sushi were pretty good quality – salmon, maguro, kajiki, eel, amaebi & ebiko. the set included soup & chawamushi (very average not great). at S$17++ for 12 pieces of sashimi & 6 pieces of sushi of above average to good quality, it was really good value for money.
we added 2 upsized portions of sashimi. this was same as the sashimi in the set except that there were 3 slices each so total 9 pieces sashimi for just S$5.
i would say the sashimi was about comparable with chikuwatei so S$17 set for 18 pieces was a much better deal than the S$25++ chirashi don at chikuwatei, and adding the upsize 9 pieces sashimi, it was just S$22++. the sashimi were good enough that greedy me enjoyed the overdose of 27 pieces for just S$22++. the S$20++ chirashi don set at ginza kuroson offered better quality sashimi but portion wise would be 1/2 this mount.
i would do this again when visiting my friends in the east.

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2014/07/07/3pax-bento-dinner-momoya-on-6-7-2014/

Our dinner group decided to have get-together at peach garden miramar on 30.6.2014. food was ala carte buffet at S$30.80++ and 3 paying 1 free, quite good deal really. :-)
the food was generally good, better than our last group dinner at ban heng orchard central on 25.4.2014. the service was very good too, friendly & jovial, and we all decided to give a substantial tip afterwards. it was also 1/2 the price & better quality than the one i had recently at restaurant home on 25.6.2014.
#1 char siew (a charcoaled grilled pork neck) was good as usual.
#2 roast pork was good this evening, crispy & tasty, with the mustard dip.
#3 pork floss egg plant was good here. the egg plant batter was very light & the texture & taste combination was excellent.
#4 drunken chicken looked processed in appearance. taste was ok with wine infused flavour.
#5 yuzu prawns was very good, crispy, prawns were fresh & the slight citric yuzu flavour was great.
#6 likewise the wasabi mayo prawns.
#7 fish fritters was average. fish was so so, the crispy batter was quite well done.
there was a limit of 1 order of soup per person.
#8 the sharks bone soup was ok. i had it the last time. i thought the lie tongs (例汤), soup of the day, at tunglok & imperial treasure were better.
#9 i tried the crab meat/roe sharkskin this time, it was quite ok.
#10 the deep-fried soon hock was good, better than when i had it last time. meat was fresh, moist & tasty. we had 2 orders.

#11 kurobuta pork was ok.
#12 the sautéed beef was overly sweet & artificially tender, edible but not much in demand by the diners.
#13 the braised beef briskets & tendon was quite good. we had 2 orders.
#14 pan-fried venison. this not really a favourite for me, no different from any coffershop zichar stalls.
#15 pating fish was a favourite for me. this time it was quite well done, very fresh & tasty. i suggested to the manager that for a live fish, it would be better presentation to serve a fish head portion or 1/2 a fish rather than in cut pieces. he said the fish might be too big so they had it served in cut portions. hmm..actually most pating served here in singapore were 1kg or 700g fish.
we had 3 different vege. they were all good.
$16 cauliflower & brocoli was simple & tasty & great colour combination.
#17 string beans were good too, though the thinnest of sliced scallops didn’t contribute anything to the dish.
#18 spinach with 3 eggs was quite standard, mediocre actually & a very large portion.
most of us ordered 2 or 3 dessert each.
#19 i did not try the 杨支甘露. it should be quite standard.
#20 the bubur hitam with ice cream was a crowd favourite.
#21 the ice jelly was kind of plain.
another joyous dinner with good food, company, fellowship & memories.

See my full review & photos at =http://chefquak.com/2014/07/06/13pax-dinner-peach-garden-miramar-on-30jun2014/

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2014/06/12/great-kurobuta-kimchi-nabe-dinner-shirokiya-on-11jun2014/

bought a groupon voucher for a japanese hotpot at shirokiya cuppage terrace branch (S$22.80 voucher for a S$38.80++ nabe) & went with my sis for a 2pax dinner on 11.6.2014. 
there were 3 choices of nabe for the S$38.80 price option, 2 were chicken. we picked the kurobuta kimchi nabe.
there were about 10 large slices of kurobuta belly pork (the restaurant said 160g for 2 servings), and you could add another serving (80g) for S$9++.
kurobuta was quite excellent. nabe also came with 4 mussels (ok la..), tofu, lots of vegetables & kimchi. it was a good tasty & satisfying nabe.
the other menu items though did not attract me. sashimi salad at S$20.80++, sushi & sashimi were quite ex, assorted sushi maki was S$25.80++. i would rather take these at mikuni or sun with moon at wheelock.
there was a (limited order) S$17.80 grilled salmon belly that looked great but was too large for 2 of us. we considered a S$13.80++ ishiyaki kurobuta don but decided we didn’t need the carb & selected the S$10.80 broiled kurobuta. this was really good! :-) a very tasty, flavourful, generous helping.
both items were very good. dinner came to S$35.50 nett (S$22.80+S$12.70). i bought 2 more shirokiya vouchers when i got home. :-)
not sure i would do this at the usual price of S$38.80++, but at 1/2 price S$22.80, it was very good value. the very good kimchi chigae at aburiya cost S$13.80 for <1/2 portion & <20% pork (& not kurobuta) by comparison. azmaya used to offer 50% discount for pork shabu shabu ala carte buffer at S$12++. currently there is only a S$17.50 pork shabu shabu set, which comes to S$35 for 2pax c/w S$22.80. so shirokiya’s groupon offer great value.