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Ippin Cafe Bar ('Ippin') is a one stop shop, where people can enjoy classic Japanese home-style dishes with Japanese beverages and even purchase directly imported Japanese products. Ippin Cafe Bar was set up in October 2014 by Miss Ayumi Fujishiro, with the mission to help out her father in setting up the Singapore outpost. If you have a chat with this lady, you will not notice she is from Japan as she speaks perfect Singlish.As mentioned, Ippin is very focus on their 'classic Japanese home-style dishes'. Therefore don't expect your normal sushi, sashimi, katsu, and other restaurant fare. However, look forward to enjoy Oysters from Hiroshima Prefecture, Rice with Barley, Red Miso Udon and Oyakodon. What I like about Japanese meal is that it always in a well balance set. For Grilled Oyster & Veggies in Ponzu Butter Sauce Set ($20 nett) and Deep Fried Oyster Set ($24 nett), it come with similar sides such as Hatcho Miso Soup; Nikujaga pork and potato stew; salad; rice with barley and dessert. The Nikujaga pork and potato stew was simply delicious and definitely a good comfort dish during the winter months. The sliced pork is tender, while the combination of potatoes and carrots provide a more earthy flavour and starchy texture to the dish. The Japanese glass noodle inside soak up the gravy from the stew that the taste is well-balanced. While on the set menu, the stew is a side dish, I personally feel this dish can be sold on its own. Salad for the night is a combination of cabbage, carrot, cucumber and cherry tomatoes. You actually need to add your own dressings. My personal pick is the one with wasabi flavour. It has the right balance of sweetness and tanginess, while the wasabi kick at the end was just addictive. This is coming from someone that does not dip his sashimi with wasabi. Of course the rice with barley is a notable mention. Although you notice the different in colour, I personally can't taste the difference between the rice and barley in this bowl. Well I just feel healthier after this meal. Now to the main dish, the Grilled Oyster & Veggies in Ponzu Butter Sauce has nice tangy taste to it. Not overly creamy and rich, but I find the oysters shrink too much as might be over grilled. Instead of being the main star of the dish, the oysters become a garnish, making the dish not value for money. Deep Fried Oyster, this is just delicious. The oyster look huge, plum, creamy and velvety is just a feast to the eyes and palate. The light batter helps to maintain the juiciness in the oyster. There is a mayo dip to accompany the fried oyster, but on its own the oyster is tasty enough. Although the oyster come frozen, you will not notice the frozen taste in this dish. Miso Udon Noodle with Oyster Set ($15 nett). Using the red miso, the udon come in at thick broth. The texture of the udon is slightly overcooked, making it soggy instead of springy. The red miso was too overpowering for my liking. This dish come with the salad and dessert. Oyakodon Set ($15 nett). My inaugural trip to Tokyo with LD landed us in Ueno, where we had the best Oyakodon in our life to date. So I was curious how does it taste in classic Japanese home-style dish and ask the host if we can have a try. The Oyakodon is tasty, the meat is tender and I noticed the use of robust dashi. The eggs were cooked to medium and still gooey. It is an 'Oishi' Oyakodon by Singapore standard. We also sample their Yakisoba (Fried Noodle) Set ($12 nett). Served with side dish and dessert. It looks like Indian Mee Goreng without the chilli. Tasty but a little too mushy for my liking. For desserts, we have yuzu jelly. It was quite refreshing with a hint of citrus tanginess. The Rattsu ($8 per cup), is a flavoured coated peanuts. Comes in strawberry, green tea and coffee. It is crunchy, not overly sweet and addictive. For my taste buds the strawberry is sweet, green tea is neutral while coffee is bitter. It is good with your drinks or even on its own. While others enjoying their beer and sake, I have to content with my non-alcoholic drink. My meal are accompanied with refreshing yuzu drink (non-alcoholic) and a very good Hojicha ( roasted green tea). The décor of Ippin Cafe Bar is very friendly and casual. Once you enter the shop, you can see their display for Japanese Products from beer, sake, tea, condiments, rice, snacks, accessories, clothing and lots of either items from Japan. The dining area are in the middle, with a few seating facing the windows and outdoor. It is very casual, homely and you'll be comfortable spending your leisure time here. Overall, my favourite dishes at Ippin is the Deep Fried Oyster, Oyakodon followed by their Rattsu. It is a good place to meet up with your friends for drinks and enjoy the Japanese home-style food. Kanpai!! Cheers!!!

Thank you very much to Ippin Cafe Bar team for the tasting invitation and your hospitality.

For the complete review, click the following link:
http://www.chubbybotakkoala.com/2015/05/ippin-cafe-bar.html

Guiga at Tanjong Pagar Road is our must go to place if we are looking for a good Korean BBQ that hit the spot in our stomach. Little Devil and I visited this place frequently, even the service staff recognise our faces.From the outside, the décor is very simple. Each table has a cubicle seating, which normally can cater up to 4 person. If you have more than 4 in a group, they will let you have the private room (no minimum charges required). Lighting can be quite dim, so don't expect anything fancy in this department. We will normally order their BBQ set. Guiga A ($89 – Prime beef short ribs, marinated prime beef short ribs, prime beef ribs and thin sliced beef brisket) will provide you with their Beefgasm experience, while Guiga B ($49 – 5mm Sliced pork belly, marinated pork ribs, sliced pork jowls, and 2mm sliced pork belly) will cater to your porkgasm experience. In case you are you are in the small group and want to have both, go with Guiga C ($69 – Prime beef ribs, marinated prime beef short ribs, 5mm sliced pork belly, and marinated pork ribs). The prime beef shorts ribs & marinated prime beef short ribs are excellent. Cooked over charcoal and grilled by the service staff, we normally have it cooked to medium rare. It basically just melts in your mouth. For a non-chilli lover, I just add a little bit of salt to the meat. The prime beef ribs will normally come with the bone and the meat are thinly sliced, and score diagonally creating a diamond shape, to allow for the marinate to absorb into the meat. It is tender, but has a more springy texture compare to prime beef short ribs. Thin sliced beef brisket will has more of the stir fry texture, which needs to be dip chilli or salt & sesame oil before you eat it with rice or vegetables. Don't expect the pork belly here to melts in your mouth. The 5mm cut version, provide a more springy texture but filled with pork flavours. While the 2mm cut, has a more crispy texture, but less flavour. The one that we like the most here is the marinated pork ribs. The meat is just tender and succulent and the slightly sweet marinate really accentuate the flavour of the pork. The sliced pork jowl (pig cheek) has a high contain in fats. The BBQ gave it a more crispy texture, while draining the fats from the meat.One BBQ items that become a favourite for LD recently is DweiJiMacchang ($25) – Pork Abomasum / pork intestines. Cut to about to 2cm size, it is grilled over low fire. The result, crispy texture on the outer part, and chewy inside. I personally find it all right, but for those lovers of chewy stuff such as dried cuttlefish, you can include this in the die die must try list. Another LD's and gang's favourite is Tokpoki ($20 – stir fried rice cake in a spicy sauce). According to them, the rice cake was cooked to perfect with the right chewyness and the spicyness in the sauce was just right that you feel like eating on the street in Korea. For the soup, don't miss the Galbitang ($16 – Beef Rib Soup). The broth is robust and pack of beef flavour. LD recently find another soup that is more unique, SunDaeGukBab ($18 – Korean Sausage Soup with Rice). This is a pork based soup, with ingredients such as pork belly, pig intestines and Korean blood sausage. Definitely for the acquired taste but I let you be the judge of that. If you are a Chicken Ginseng Soup person, the version here is so so only. The best thing about Guiga is that you just need to sit back and enjoy your food. The service staff will do the grilling for you. All the Male service staff here are Korean so they speak Korean and English, while the female service staff mostly from China speak Mandarin and a little bit of English. The side dishes are free of charge and changes every time, depending on ingredients available. The lettuce for wrapping might not be sufficient, but if you run out of it just ask and they will refill it for you. Overall, Guiga deliver in all aspects such as good quality of the food, great service and reasonable price that is just to difficult not to like. The best part, they open from dinner until wee hours in the morning. So if you feel like having some food after your pub crawl, this is also the place to go. So for your next Korean BBQ cravings, we recommend Guiga. Gun Bae!! Cheers !!

For the complete review, click / copy the link below:
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Mark you calendar food lovers, from 27 April to 16 May 2015, Oscar's will bring you gastronomic journey to around Italy. Be prepared to be bring your palate to travel around Italy with flavours by Executive Chef Michele Mingozzi. This born and bred Italian who discovered his passion for cooking from the kitchen of his beloved grandmother and mother in Ferrara, Northern Italy.From watching the food and travel channels and visiting lots of Italian restaurants during my study time down under, I can conclude the following sequences of Italian dinner procession. Start with Appetizers / Antipasti, followed by pasta dishes, then proteins (meat or fish) and desserts. Of course the wine with the meal and afterwards is a must.We started our dinner with antipasto (appetizers) which include assorted salami and parma hams with Pinzini (from Ferrara region) and Mozzarella / Burrata Bar (from Campania region). Pinzini is a pillow shaped fried pizza dough. It is light and fluffy, which goes well with the fresh and creamy burrata and parma ham. For the firmer cheese such as mozzarella and cheery mozzarella, I had mine with the fresh cherry tomatoes and deep fried stuffed olives also known as Olives all'Ascolana (Marche region). I am not an olive person as I find it too salty, however I can accept this fried stuffed olive. It seems the stuffing reduce the saltiness of the olive. But I still can't have too much of it. While Ciabatta and Foccacia are served with Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar, I learned a new lesson today. In Italy, they do not eat the bread for appetizer, instead use it to polish off the left over of the sauce from the pasta dish or main meal. However, since we are in Singapore, you just do what the Roman do (in this case, it will be the Uniquely Singaporean way). Dip it in balsamic vinegar and olive oil and eat it whenever you like. In the typical Italian culture, we continue with the pasta. The three selections of pasta that I tried on that night is Home Made Truffle Tagliatelle with Quails Ragout (Emilia Romagna region), Ravioli of Prawns with Cherry Tomato sauce (Emilia Romagna region) and Fried stuffed rice ball (Aracini di Riso – Sicilia region). If you like truffle, the tagliatelle with black truffle here is a must try. For me, it is the case of too much truffle, but some people might like it.This is the first time that I tried the rice ball. Using Arborio rice and pre cooked in the same style as risotto, the rice absorbs the robust stock well. The rice is al dente and packs of flavour. My pick of the night is Prawns ravioli. The prawns fillings between the pasta sheets are fresh and springy. It is well complemented by the cherry tomato sauce. While the dish is Italian, I can't help to fantasize that this dish is of equivalent to our local prawn dumplings. Now for the proteins. From the four legged, we had Braised Venison Mountain Style with Polenta and Sautéed Mushrooms (Trentino region); and Braised Veal Tongue (Ferrara region). For the venison, it was well braised, however as the meat of venison lacks of fats, I find the meat slightly tough. For those who never tried polenta before, it actually look and feel like mashed potatoes, creamy but with more grit and earthy flavours to it. The braised veal tongue are to die for. One of Chef Michele's comfort food where it looks like it was simply boiled for long hours with simple seasoning, however it just melts on your mouth. Best of all, no gamey smell in it. For beef tongue lovers, you will like this even more. This dish is serve with Italian version of chimichurri sauce, which was refreshing and good to balance out this heavy dish. I had 3 big slices and I have to stopped myself in anticipation for next dishes to come. Kudos to the Chef. From the sea, we have Baked Sea Bass Fillet (Campania region) and Fritto Misto (Emilia Romagna region). The seabass baked in mediteranean style had simple seasoning. It has a slighly firm texture, yet buttery feels to it. Meanwhile Fritto Misto (deep fried mixed fish and seafood) is just a winner. Lightly battered and seasoned, it gives the mixed fish and seafood a crispy and light texture. It is a good side dish and suitable for all ages. Come to desserts, we are treated to Chiacchiere (Emilia Romagna region), Balsamic Ice Cream (Lombardia region) and Italian Meringue with Chocolate (Lombardia region). According to Chef Michele, Chiacchiere is one of the most common food eaten during carnival in Italy. Also known as Angel Wings, it made from dough, deep fried and sprinkled with powdered sugar. It is crispy outer part, yet moist and slightly chewy inside. With powdered sugar, it is just hard to resist. It reminds me of our Chinese twisted pretzel called ma hua (麻花). Meanwhile the Balsamic Ice Cream is definitely something unique and a must try. Served with fresh strawberries in syrup, it has a good balance between sweet and sour. Yum Yum. For the Meringue with chocolate sauce, it is sweet with crispy crumbling texture. However, it can be better if they use darker chocolate, so the bitterness can balance the sweetness of the meringue. Overall, A Taste of Italy edition in Oscar's definitely worth to try. From what I tasted, some of the dishes are unique and not commonly found in Singapore. Combining this with the renowned buffet spread in Oscar's, it is definitely worth your trip here. A taste of Italy will run from 27 April to 16 May 2015 for lunch and dinner in Oscar's. Please note A Taste of Italy dishes available on top of the Oscar's ever popular seafood, cooked food and desserts offerings. Salute and Buon Appetito!!

Thank you to Chef Michele Mingozzi, Oscar's F&B Team and Conrad Centennial Singapore for the wonderful evening.

For the complete review, pricing and details, click here: http://www.chubbybotakkoala.com/2015/04/oscars-taste-of-italy.html

Saveur - a French restaurant set up by Mr. Dylan Ong, Mr. Joshua Khoo and another business partner with the aim to offer quality yet affordable French cuisine to the masses. After the successful outlet of Savour in Purvis Street and Far East Plaza, these two young entrepreneurs just can't keep still and decided to set up a Italian sibbling for Saveur, thus Concetto was born.Little Devil ('LD') and I have tried Saveur, for the price we actually find it quite good. So when the opportunity arises, we decided to tried Concetto. Unlike Saveur that always packed with crowd, we manage to get a seat in Concetto on a Saturday afternoon without any problem.

We started our lunch with Buffalo Mozzarella ($8.90). The Mozzarella, fresh tomatoes, parmesan cheese are served on top of toasted rye bread. Drizzle with good balsamic vinegar, it was a good appetizer, light and refreshing. We wished that there were more of the mozzarella. Grilled Octopus Caesar Salad ($11.90). This salad is colourful and beautifully presented. Fresh salad, crispy bacon, shaved parmesan cheese binds well with the anchovies base dressing. The octopus are tender, although slightly limited. However the almost powdered eggs really captured our attention and palate. Yum Yum. For mains, we have Crab Risotto ($13.90) and Wagyu Tender ($26.90). The risotto is al-dente and creamy. You can feel the robust broth absorbs into the arborio rice. To add to the texture, they also use crispy rice, capsicums, cucumbers and brussel sprouts. The crab meat tartare tasted fresh, but it seems that the flavour of the crab in the risotto seems to be missing. Using the Wagyu shoulder, the meat is quite lean similar to filet mingon. Low in fat but tender and juicy. Cooked to medium rare and accompany with foie gras with shallots and portobello mushrooms. The beef jus that accompany the dish was just perfect. Delicious. Service is good and efficient. The décor of the restaurant is very minimal, however it is bright, spacious and cosy. Rather than charge you for decoration, they decided to pass the savings to the customers by keeping the price low. Overall, we really enjoy our meal here. Concetto interpertation of Italian food is more towards simple, modern, nice presentation and pack of punch. Kudos to them for bringing the food people. Cheers!!

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For the complete review, follow this link: http://www.chubbybotakkoala.com/2015/02/onya-sayang-paya-lebar-square.htmlOnya Sayang at Paya Lebar Square is the second sister restaurant from the Dulukala Peranakan Restaurant that made its name in Beauty World Centre Bukit Timah. While Dulukala Peranakan Restaurant is a family business that cooked all its food in its property, O'nya Sayang provide a more modern bistro casual dining atmosphere. This outlet, in the newly open Paya Lebar square is the second branch after the Tampines Mall outlet. O'nya Sayang is founded and helmed by Executive Chef Zhan Ho, a third generation Peranakan Chef. He basically grew up in the kitchen and learned how to cooked authentic Peranakan cuisine from his mother. Due to certain constrains in operation, O'nya Sayang incorporate modern F&B method such as central kitchen to control the quality and the consistency of its dishes. In line with the current trend, he also created new dishes using traditional ingredients.We started our tasting with Ayam Keluak Fried Rice Set ($14.90). The set come with fried rice, ayam buah keluak dish, achar, sambal and prawn crackers. This is an creative play on from the traditional Peranakan Dish of Ayam Buah Keluak. The rice is al-dente, tasty yet not overpowered by the cut fresh chilli in it. It has a good Wok Hei (breath of the wok) and the ayam buah keluak is tender and succulent. Bakwan Kepiting Soup ($12.90) and Lor Bak Noodles set ($12.90) follow soon. The bakwan kepiting balls are springy and flavourful. The broth is robust, however you can't really taste the crab meat. More like a pork ball instead. The Lor Bak Noodles provide a different option to the normal rice dishes in a Peranakan restaurant. Noodle is thin and springy, goes nicely with the lor bak sauce. The braising sauce was light and not overly sweet. The set also come with Otah, where it has a nice texture and you actually have a good bite of the fish in the otah. Babi Pongteh ($13.90), Chap Chye ($10.90), Assam Fish ($16.90) and Seafood Chilli Garam ($15.90) are typical Peranakan traditional dishes. Pork Belly are used in the Babi Ponteh Dish. Bean paste here is very subtle and not overpowering, while the fats from the pork belly is just lovely. The chap chye is all right, the vegetables complements each other and absorbed the braising liquid. Like most Peranakan dishes, it tasted better with fully white rice. Check out mine, decorated in Goat outlook by Little Miss Bento, who recently published her bento book. Seafood Chilli Garam looks like a Peranakan Seafood Combo Hot plate. The Chilli Garam is secret family recipe from Chef Zhan Ho. Looks slightly oily and it packs of spicy punch. You can find ingredients such as prawns, octopus and batang fish. One bite and I quickly reach for my water to put down the fire in my mouth. For Assam fish, red snapper was used. The assam is combination of sweetness and tanginess from the tamarind sauce. Similar taste to Gulai Ikan for Indonesian dish. Its good. Beef Rendang Bread Bowl set ($12.90), another new idea using traditional ingredients. The beef rendang stuffed into bread bowl produced by a traditional bakery. It is then baked to crisp, with a unique rough texture. The rendang is sweet and tender. It will be better if the chuck of beef contain more fats, so the meat does not look dry. There is a additional curry on the side if you want to dip your bread into it. I like the presentation. Of course the meal won't be completed without the peranakan desserts such as Chendol ($4.90), Chendol Ice Cream ($5.90), Sago Gula Melaka Ice Cream ($5.90) and Ondeh Ondeh 5 pcs ($5.90). The ice cream in the desserts are actually coconut ice cream, sourced by Chef Zhan Ho, which use Thai coconut. The ice cream is creamy like coconut cream but with a well balance sweetness. Meanwhile the Gula Melaka used is the Indonesia version that give more intense flavour but reduced in sweetness. It is nicely complement Chendol and Sago Gula Melaka. Kudos to the Chef that willing to look outside of the box to keep improving its dishes. We actually made a mistake in tasting the ice cream version of the Chendol first. When we get to the traditional version of the chendol, it was just blown away by the ice cream version. For the onde, a warning must be given here. Don't cut it, just pop the whole onde in your mouth. Make sure you close your mouth before you bite it, as it just explode in your mouth. The skin is slightly dry, probably it was displayed all day. Overall, I really enjoyed our meal here. The traditional and modern Peranakan Cuisine is good, and the ice cream desserts are a must try dish. There is not much different in quality between the dishes we ate here with those cooked in the kitchen premises. I hope Chef Zhan Ho keep pushing the boundaries of Peranakan Cuisine and come out with more modern Peranakan dishes. So if you are in Paya Lebar Square, give this place a try. Cheers!!

Thank you very much to Hannah Chia Food Trail and O'nya Sayang team for the invitation.