For those who are celebrating early - Gu Ma Jia is offering 10% discount until 29 January when you dine in at the restaurant.

For those who are still deciding where to have your CNY reunion lunch/dinner on 30 January (Thursday) - Gu Ma Jia has CNY 2014 Set Menu Promotions with four timings to choose from: 12.00 pm – 2.00 pm, 2.15pm – 4.15pm, 6.00 pm – 7.45 pm, and 8.00pm – 9.45 pm.

The restaurant will be closed on 31 January (Friday) and 1 February (Saturday) but operations will resume on 2 February (Sunday) - a great day to makan before starting work on Monday, if you have to work on Monday.

Gu Ma Jia is famously known for its signature dish - Assam Fish Head ($28). Many bloggers have praised the delicacy and even celebrities have visited the restaurant to have a taste of this delicious dish. YES! I bet you can finish two bowls of rice with just the gravy. The gravy wins hands down by having the balance of 4S. It was sweet, spicy, savory and sour.

The sweetness of the gravy was very "fishy"... in a good way! I later found out that the natural sweetness of the gravy came from the fish! The fish was cooked in the gravy to perfection with its meat still moist and tender. (FYI: Many places steam the fish head and then pour the gravy over it.) *Apologies for the absence of photograph.

Some people travel all the way here just for its Assam Fish Head. But Gu Ma Jia offers many other good delicious dishes.

For full review with photos, please visit:
http://myfrozenreminiscence.blogspot.sg/2014/01/gu-ma-jia.html

For full review with photos, please visit:
http://myfrozenreminiscence.blogspot.sg/2014/01/imperial-treasure-super-peking-duck.html

Chinese New Year is around the corner. An occasion for family to get together and feast! Have you decided what to have for reunion dinner? For those who have a budget of more than $80 per pax, you get to enjoy a feast of 山珍海味 at Imperial Treasure Super Peking Duck Restaurant (Paragon). View the CNY 2014 menu here!

Alternatively, if you want to keep your budget within the wallet-friendly category, visit the restaurant for its Peking Duck and dim sum on days that do not fall within the CNY dining days.

If you wish to enjoy the renowned Peking Duck that placed Imperial Treasure Super Peking Duck Restaurant at 49th in Asia's 50 Best Restaurants in 2013, it is highly recommended to call and reserve a table and the Peking Duck about 3 days in advance.

For full review with photos, please visit:
http://myfrozenreminiscence.blogspot.sg/2013/12/fish-mart-sakuraya-west-coast-plaza.html

As I visit Japan often, my friends would always seek to find the tidbits I bought for them. I managed to find some of them here at Sakuraya! For those who cook Japanese cuisine, Sakuraya not only sells tidbits, it also sells vegetables (from Japan), Japanese rice, coffee, sake, shochu, sauces, seasonings, ice-cream, beverages and more.

It's a very fishy business. . . in a good way! Because not only you get to choose what you want to eat from the menu, you also get to choose what sashimi you want! Remember the times where you comment that the table beside you got a better plate of maguro? Well, no problems here, cos' you can just select what you think it's best from the neatly displayed seafood.

Step 1: Please be seated at a table first.
Step 2: Order the food and drinks from the menu.
Step 3: Take note of your table number. Go to the sashimi area to select the sashimi you want!
Step 4: Pass it to the staff at that area.
Step 5: You'll be asked if you want to takeaway or dine-in. If you're dining in, simply tell the staff your table number.Pumpkin Croquette is a MUST-TRY! I love how compact and solid it was! The pumpkin was also sweet and smooth. The exterior was so crispy that it was crunching every time I poked my chopsticks into it. Very good!Prawn Tempura Maki and Soft-shell Crab Maki have both hits and misses. Prawn Tempura Maki has big prawns but it lacks flavour. It was kinda bland. On the other hand, Soft-shell Crab Maki was tastier but it was slightly oilier than I expected. Sakura Sushi Set comprises of Maguro (tuna), Kanpachi (amberjack), Sake (salmon), Hotate (scallop), Tako (octopus), Ika (squid), Botan Ebi (sweet prawn), Tamago (egg), and Negi Toro Maki (fatty tuna and green onions). Well, I'll give a passable mark of 5/10 for this set. Everything was lacking of something. Maguro lacks freshness, salmon seems to have been left outside too long, tamago was not firm and toro was mediocre. The reason it passed was because this whole set is only $28 and it is enough to fill a lady's stomach. I would be visiting Sakuraya sometime soon! Not only the locations are easily accessible, the affordability of the food they serve is a good enough point to put Sakuraya on my to-visit-again list. Also, I need to stock up my Japanese tidbits and food ingredients, most importantly, to satisfy my endless craving of sashimi and other Japanese food.

For full review, please visit: http://myfrozenreminiscence.blogspot.sg/2013/11/ramen-kagetsu-arashi-cathay.html

Before I comment on the ramen, I have to admit that I am an amateur gourmet when it comes to ramen. But fortunately, I was tasting Ramen Kagetsu Arashi with two food gourmets and one of them is a ramen fanatic.

Miss P ordered Arashi Genkotsu Ramen - Kagetsu's best-selling ramen. It features Kagetsu's house-made pork broth, simmered with pork marrow bones, fat and collagen. The natural sweetness stems from adding lots of garlic, onions, vegetables and various spices to the broth.

On the other hand, Miss H (ramen fanatic) ordered Arashi Genkotsu Miso Ramen which features Kagetsu's original miso soup. Kagetsu says that they use the finest miso paste from the prefectures across Japan. Each provincial flavor is infused to recreate an aromatic yet flavorful soup.

I ordered Arashi Genkotsu Shio Ramen. The soup was cooked with unrefined and natural sea salt which accentuates the flavors of the milky white broth.
It was said that natural sea salt has a richer, and more complex taste than processed salt. Kagetsu says that this gives their soup base "a distinctively refreshing taste".

Both Miss P and Miss H felt that the broth was indeed very thick. Compared to many other ramen, Kagetsu's broth has a very distinctively strong garlic taste and smell. While it is very subjective to comment whether it is aromatic or not, I must say that Kagetsu's broth did made itself different from many chain ramen restaurants. Even though the strong garlic-ness did hit a punch on everyone's face, I could still taste the sweetness of the rich broth.

Noodles per se failed big time. Miss H, the ramen fanatic, only finished half of what was served. Not because she was full, but she just could not continue eating the soggy overcooked noodles. As for me, I thought the noodles was comparable to the instant noodles I cook. Hahaha.. I don't have high expectations lah. So I could say that Kagetsu does better than certain chain ramen restaurants like Ajis*n. But for the similar price, I would head for Keisuke's Ramen.

Miss P, the slender girl with a huge appetite, was the first to bottoms up! I thought she cleaned it up because it was so delicious but hell no! She shook her head and said that it was not nice; she was just hungry. -_-

It is an open secret that we can hardly find a good side dish at a ramen restaurant (besides Keisuke!). The pork cutlet (tonkatsu) was so floury and the batter coating was just too thick. Just imagine the ratio between the pork and batter is 1:1. The gyoza was much better, at least. The filling was pretty decent but the skin could be crispier. Also, either they should stuff it with more filling or they should use a smaller gyoza skin. The interior of the gyoza was so empty. Disappointing.

In conclusion, Kagetsu's ramen fared 5.5/10 and the sides were about 4/10. The serving is quite big so it does fill your stomach but it would not satisfy the you who is looking for a good ramen.

It's getting harder and harder to find a place that offers Japanese food of fine quality at an affordable price. I was hesitant to share the pocket-friendly lunch menu that Tomi Sushi offers. Because besides the good food, I enjoy the "less rowdy" environment.

Tomi Sushi serves high quality Japanese rice from Niigata and I quote, Niigata is the prefecture "renowned for its tasty premium-grade rice in fields irrigated by the melting snow in spring".

The menu is pretty similar to many Japanese restaurants in Singapore. They have several different menus, such as lunch menu and dinner menu, for different branches. Do check them out before visiting! To view them, please visit Tomi Sushi's website.

The restaurant is rather spacious, which is not a common sight in Japanese restaurants. The service is good! I like that they constantly refill my green tea. That's nice. The most important factor of putting a "good" to a restaurant's service is that - the staff are always around and walking around.

Q: Why I'd recommend such a common Japanese set lunch?!
A: The price and the quality served!!!

1. Yes, you can find similar Japanese lunch sets of this price range... BUT Tomi Sushi wins with its freshness of the sashimi.

2. Yes, you can find sashimi that is as fresh or even fresher... BUT it won't be as affordable as what you can find at Tomi Sushi.

I ordered Nigiri Sakura ($28).. The set was placed neatly on a tray. It comes with an assortment of sushi served on a plank, tori karaage (fried chicken), chawamushi (steamed egg), salad, miso soup and fruits. I practically loved everything that was on that tray! I can use words such as fresh, juicy, crispy, tasty, yummy, and etc.. But the best way to convince you how worthy my $28 was, is to go and try it yourself at Tomi Sushi!!