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.

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/12/01/good-dinner-chat-moi-lum-on-26nov2015/
an RI friend organised november G20 dinner at moi lum 梅林 at maxwell road on 26.11.2015. ^^ we had 11pax.
the last one we had here was almost 3 years ago on 16.1.2013.
restaurant has several couplets on the wall, a bit of chinese tradition.
restaurant was less than 1/2 full.
the 8 treasures duck 八宝鸭 is their signature dish.
i saw the leg was quite disproportionate, size like a goose leg. later i realized probably the stuffing caused it to look huge.
must say this dish was really excellent!
duck was tender & so very flavourful. this is for me a fine chinese dish. though it was not served as an individual dish, the preparation must be so fine & skillful & the flavour was exquisite. ^^
the next dish, yam basket, was rather poor though.
the yam has now fragrance 芋香.
this is such a common almost ancient chinese restaurant & now zi char dish. quite surprising.
made me recall what a good yam basket i had at ah orh according to my previous post, though i cannot really remember the taste now.
my friend seems to be ordering all the birds here – duck & chicken.
but this chicken was again excellent, probably their signature also.
it came with sticky rice & other tasty stuffing, forgot to take photo.
chicken was deboned. the server confirmed that. we were wondering how that was done. didn’t have the answer. :-)
this was so different from the usual roast chicken, and also the very processed roast chicken with roast skin & minced meat made into a pancake (some restaurants called it 金龙鸡) which i don’t like.
salted egg prawns were competent, ordinary.actually not that great, in my opinion.hk steamed flower garoupa came with a load of fried garlic.
fish was very good, quite expected of a good chinese restaurant. the garlic gave it some differentiation.
not a wow dish for me, unlike the 8 treasures duck 八宝鸭 & the chicken.
the chives dish i guess was new for us, don’t recall having it previously, but not my favourite at all.
a 3-egg spinach or a good fragrant garlic fried vegetable dish would do better for me.
we had a fruit platter to share.
& some red beans pancake also.
dinner came to S$31pax nett for 7dishes include dessert. quite doable. the duck & chicken were beyond my expectations. fish was very good & the other dishes so-so. so overall i supposed quite good but a bit incomplete, not in terms of food quantity (we all had a wonderful meal) but in knowing what good dishes the restaurant serve.
another way to look at it-having 2 outstanding dishes is better than having mostly above average dishes.
we all had good chats & a wonderful time together.

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/11/27/great-value-alacarte-semi-buffet-beyond-expectations-tim-palace-safra-toa-payoh-on-24nov2015/

went with my sis & b-i-l to tim palace @ SAFRA toa payoh to try out their ala carte semi-buffet on 24.11.2015.
buffet is S$25.80pax. the added attraction is S$5 discounts for SC aka senior citizens! ^^
there’s a S$2pax for water, tea & peanuts (S$2.50pax or more if other drinks). so it was S$22.80pax for 3 of us, S$27nett each.
roast duck was really, really good! very flavourful.
so was the char siu!. i think this one of the best char siu i had. as good as the excellent chargrilled pork neck at imperial treasure nanbei or (better in fact than) any other good char siu places.
had a second helping of roast duck. ^^
nothing much to say about the cold station. prawns was large, plump, fresh & sweet.
scallops & mussels all the frozen type, nothing worth taking.
the scallop tips (front) were quite nice. the prawn & squid salad were ok. sos so la!
the flower crabs were soft, mushy “nua nua”, the frozen type, not worth taking also. all these i took very little just to try.
salmon sashimi was ok. quite sweet. colour didn’t look that great.
i skipped the sushi.
i ordered most of the dishes that they allowed only one order.
small abalone with broccoli was good restaurant standard. no complaints.
sharksfin soup was better than most cheaper sharksfin soup, not very gluey & stock quite tasty.
sea cucumber with yam was decent competent dish.
the scallops & celery in xo sauce was pretty good.
crayfish was poor! meat has no taste. this dish (thumbs down)!
anyway no big deal, so we took it. the char siu pao were good!
i read that the deep-fried flower garoupa not so good, so we ordered the steamed seabass with sambal sauce.
seabass not such a great fish. but this preparation quite ok…so again a competent dish. maybe i will try the garoupa next time. don’t mind coming back again. the honey ribs were ordinary. as good as any zi char stall i suppose. not my favourite.cannot really criticise thsi dish, but the char siu was many times better than this.
surprisingly also the drunken prawns was very good. must be a very good quality shaoxing wine绍兴酒.
the braised lamb pot was competent dish, but no more.
lamb still retain the gamey taste, and not specially flavourful.
i would say it’s a robust dish like a beef stew, so unless the herbs & preparation is special (like say at majestic), it’s not a dish i am particularly fond of.
dessert station the usual fare, with fruits, custard puffs & red bean pan cake etc.i took the sea coconut…quite refreshing.
and a bit of the lotus seed red beans dessert. pretty ok.
the food quality & cooking were pretty ok, not that much different from (i would say better actually) say peach garden miramar’s ala carte buffet, and certainly better than the ala carte buffet at ban heng orchard central.
the outstanding dishes for me here were the roast duck, char siu(tops), drunken prawns, abalone.
the sea cucumber & scallops were pretty good.