We were celebrating a family occasion on 26.10.2015, not sure why we ended up at chotto matte.
they have uob 15% discount & dbs 1 for 1 main course for dinner & lunch (limited to only 1 free main course for each table).
we were there at blair road about 7pm, but i could not find any parking, & ended up parking at the hdb carpark next to everton park. my daughter & her friend came later but managed to park along the blair road itself near chotto matte.
restuarant was tiny. most of the recent reviews on hungrygowhere were poor, but mostly about the service. we had a chat with the male server & his attitude was actually quite good & helpful enough, but i think limited training & knowledge about the menu & the discount practice. ok la i guess.
wife liked the sake after trying 1 carafe from a new bottle they opened. we told them we would take the whole bottle if we liked it, so we did.
we ordered the grilled wagyu, grilled kurobuta, onsen egg wagyu don, mentaiko pasta, chirashi don & a salmon maki.
we were expecting to try out some decent food first, and then order more.
but was disappointed enough to tapao 2 packets of char kuay teow from adam road food centre afterwards. no kidding…lol… sigh!
the grilled wagyu. can’t exactly say it was bad, but it’s mediocre and thus not value for money - it was priced at $38.

c/w my own tagliata, I think anyday my steak is infinitely better!
of course that’s just my opinion. haha!

the grilled kurobuta. I think it was a disaster, it was dry and hard. I reckon any normal pork would be a lot better than this in taste and texture, much less this kurobuta.

The iberico pork was another disappointment, especially as compared to the same dish at other restaurants.

The onsen egg wagyu don. ok lah, I guess it was more of the same as the grilled wagyu main. So same ok standard, just ex.

The sushi rice though was quite poor here.

Mentaiko pasta. my wife & daughter quite ok with this, though it was a tiny portion for S$18. For me, i think my own mentaiko pasta was a lot better.
& the chirashi don? this is not a S$45 chirashi don. this is a S$25 chirashi don

I must say though that the sashimi were all fresh, sweet & good. The sushi rice was not! there was 1 piece of chutoro, 2 good hotate, maguro, kampachi, kajiki etc.

The salmon maki was pretty ok. Anyhow, after the few signature dishes that failed badly, we did not want to add any order.

The bill came to S$290 (including a S$95 bottle sake). Without the sake, it would be close to S$180nett for 5pax. We did not order that much food & the standard was really poor for the price.

Never come back again for me!

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/10/27/very-poor-food-for-the-price-chotto-matte-on-26oct2015/

see my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/10/23/doable-lunch-itacho-ion-orchard-on-23oct2015/
had lunch with a friend at itacho ion orchard today on 23.10.2015. ^^
we were there at 1.15pm, hardly any queue & friend already seated at a table when i arrived.
this friend is quite active in charity work. she is receiving some award from the msf minister this evening.
i ordered the chirashi don for myself, S$14.90.
there were 2 amaebi, 2 tamago, 2 salmon,, 2 hotate, 1 hamachi, 1 tai, 1 kajiki, 1 ika & 1 saba. total 13 pieces.
quite decent really at S$14.90. hotate was very good. so was the amaebi. tamago & salmon were pretty good. only the tai was tough. sushi rice was not good. i made better tasting sushi rice.
there were promotion items like the salmon sushi for S$0.40, but 1 person could only order 1 piece.
so i ordered the salmon sushi with mentaiko for $0.60.
my friend had the unajyu oyakodon. it looked ok.
she said it was good.
& she ordered some fatty salmon.
it looked good, but for S$5.10 it was not great.
lunch was S$41.65 for 2pax.
quite doable but nothing great.

see my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/10/20/good-song-fish-head-hong-man-ji-delights-mei-chin-road-food-centre-on-20oct2015/
was with my sis & b-i-l this morning & originally we drove to alexandra village to take the song fish head. but even at 11am the carparks were completely full & many cars were waiting.
we turned back out at bukit merah & queensway to go to hong kong street chun kee 香港街珍记 at commonwelath crescent, but decided to drop in at mei chin road market to try out the stalls on 20.10.2015.
since we wanted song fish head, we picked the zi char stall at the hawker centre, hong man ji delights 鴻满记小吃.
the song fish head hk steamed 港蒸松鱼头 was S$13. they also served the black bean sauce fish head but sis decided to take hong kong steamed. it would be S$18 at alexandra village & at hong kong street chun kee 香港街珍记 at commonwealth crescent.
the song fish head hk steamed 港蒸松鱼头 was good, as good as the established places, not sure if the fish head was smaller?
sitr-fry kailan was also very good, anyway better than i expected.
good wok hae, tasty! S$6 for a small portion.
this stall actually quite good food for the price. becos we wanted to try the pig trotters etc from another stall we did not order other dishes.
not sure i will come specially for the zi char. but if i do, i don’t mind to try their other dishes.

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/10/15/ri-g20-11pax-dinner-whampoa-keng-fishhead-steamboat-on-14oct2015-good-food-fair-price/
organiser of this month’s RI G20 dinner selected whampoa keng fishhead steamboat. ^^
3 of us decided to go early for a cuppa at the wheeler’s yard. i took flat white. strong coffee with very smooth frothed milk. i liked it.
great ambience & lovely coffee (apparently food not so good & the cakes looked unappealing)
after coffee, i parked at ah hood gardens (HDB, lots of parking) & got to the restaurant before 7pm.
restaurant was plastered with photos of the owner, his wives & staff & the more famous patrons. our friend the organiser ordered a S$288set for 10, and changed some dishes.
the signature braised pig trotters replaced the salted egg sotong.
excellent call! this pig trotters lagi shiok! the best of texture not overly soft & mushy & tender meat falling of the bones. my friend liked the star anise flavours. for me that was just slightly over.
the best undeniably was the fish head steamboat. my friend ordered the red garoupa.
this really a supremely good tasting fishhead steamboat! ^^
the murky soup was such intense goodness.
& the refills were also not just water or light tasting soup, but almost the same intense stock. i guess the same stock minus the additional taste from the steamboat content.
not sure if it was just the head or a whole fish but it came with lots of meat too.
i think i must go round trying out fishhead steamboat liao!
the stir-fried brocoli with scallops in XO sauce was a pretty nice dish. there was a good serving of scallops.
& there was also something that tasted like the cheaper canned shellfish. a friend thought it was gluten but i felt that the texture was shellfish. not sure.
my friend changed the prawns in the set to their signature salted egg prawns.
it was a good competent dish, looked nice & tasted good too.
i guess it was nothing special just a standard dish in any zi char or restaurant.
we had a tofu dish. didn’t leave an impression with me.
i think the tofu dish at kok sen & also at muliangzai liang kee were a lot tastier.
the pork ribs with deep-fried cod strips was another signature dish.
it was competent but like any 排骨王, it’s a passable dish not my favourite.
the crispy boneless chicken 金龙鸡 was another signature dish.
crispy skin was there, but the sweet, moist, falvourful taste of a roast chicken was gone!
alas! i like my roast chicken at 6th avenue coffeeshop better leh!
we did not try 2 other signature dishes – the prawn paste chicken & the hae chor
we also had a tofu dish plus a shanghai green for a vegetarian friend.
the dinner was S$33pax, a little more expensive than the usual zi char stalls like-
keng eng keetwo chefskok sen
but quite fair price for the food (i would say better food, maybe except for kok sen), especially the alluring fishhead steamboat!^^

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/10/14/lovely-6-course-set-menu-lunch-min-jiang-goodwood-park-on-13oct2015/
had a lovely 6-course set menu at min jiang on 13.10.2015.^^
price was ok, as the food turned out pretty good. we had 5pax.
there were fe customers at lunch.
we skipped tea (normal chinese tea S$3pax no harm to have if need), just had complimentary water.
the edamame was nice.
they charged S$1pax so that was ok.
we selected 醉鸡，咸蛋虾，蒜泥白肉 from the choice of appetizers.
actually it was a friend’s belated birthday, but since she was w/o her reading glasses (haha!), i read out for her veto…
drunken chicken very good standard.
i think 1 friend said the prawn was very good. this a common item in chinese restaurants, i did not find it particularly special.
the 蒜泥白肉 minced garlic pork was good i guess, but i didn’t find it special too.
better look but not better tasting c/w my own 蒜泥白肉 though slightly different style.
the crabmeat fishmaw soup 蟹肉花胶羹 was excellent! really tasty soup.
it was a good serving, though the 花胶was not a whole piece but chopped up.
the key to a good soup is the stock base, and this one was par excellence!
the tea camphor duck was also very flavourful.
excellent duck, though the wrap was so-so.
skin was so crispy & flavourful. and the duck was very tender & moist. one of the best!
may not be better than the equally wonderful tasting tea infused roast duck at xin cuisine i had recently on 1.10.2015.the sea perch was also excellent! ^^
texture & taste almost like cod.
we wanted to order some 锅巴dish. the server recommended this popular dried scallop seafood stonepot rice so we had that instead.
it was good! very flavourful & chokeful of ingredients.
the mango sago杨支甘露 was refreshing, good dessert to have though it was just average.
our birthday girl makes a better one actually. haha!
overall, a very good set. the ingredients may not be a good as some of the special promotion set at majestic or tunglok or at xin cuisine, but the cooking was very fine & delivered great tasting dishes.
^best 6-course lobster set at tunglok signature

^chinese fine dining set at xin cuisine

the only horrendous thig was that i paid S$22.50 for parking & my friend S$20, no carpark redemption. never ever going to park at goodwood park!