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Soak up the view of the spectacular Marina skyline while tucking into a delicious 3-course Italian meal. Spanning across the 43rd floor at Raffles Place prime estate area, Zafferano is a secret buzz that not just anyone knows about. By Friday, you would be lucky to secure a table in this beautiful restaurant for the weekend! Sunset dining are Zafferano's name for the game, available every weekday from 5.30 - 7.30pm. Punctuality is a must - the sun ain't gonna wait for just anyone. Enviable views at the forty-third floor.Pick the cocktails, wines, or any beverage of your choice from Zafferano's extensive bar. With a couple of friends, you can sip on it at their gorgeous outdoor terrace with cascading foliage. It is the perfect city getaway. Celebrate Italian Republic Day with June’s cocktail specials - Zafferano's bar team has concocted two specials to tickle your tastebuds. Choose between a refreshing Bellini or a mildly spicy Gingertini.trota – rapanelli – melograno – uova di quaglia – cavialearagostella – arancia – aneto

Choose between two premium seafood starters - the marinated trout or baby lobster bisque. The Norwegian trout cubes of delightfully succulent and fresh quality, alongside red radish, pomegranate, quail eggs, caviar, grilled asparagus. The lobster bisque was savoury, wonderfully thick and generous with lobster meat, with a citrus touch of orange. Dip it with the bread to offset some of the saltiness to enjoy the bisque at its best.

cavatelli – frutti di maremanzo – sedano rapa – carciofi

A tough call to make between the homemade ‘cavatelli’, fresh seafood in white wine sauce and tomatoes - pasta made in-house, with perfect al-dente and qq texture that is impossible not to love it! The beef ‘tagliata’ with celery root, sautéed artichokes, and drizzled over with veal jus, on the other hand, is a juicy platter of grilled and carved beef that won over the entire table. I'd say, take both.caramello – frutto della passione – lampone

gelati – sorbetti

Dessert is undoubtedly the one that everyone looks forward to, and Zafferano does not disappoint at all! With a lovely caramel and chocolate dome with an incredibly creamy texture, passionfruit jelly and raspberry coulis is not only a visual delight but also appeals to the tastebuds. If you prefer a less heavy dessert, the freshly-made ice-cream and gelato will certainly be your sweet ending to this wonderful dinner.As night falls, the entire restaurant dims into a romantic setting with mahogany hues, with little twinkling lights from the buildings far below you.

Sunset dinners only available on weekdays, 1730 - 1930.

Price: $55++ per person

Reservations are necessary. Book to avoid disappointment.

This post was first posted on the blog: www.amiehu.com

By a twist of fate, I landed at Yoshimaru Ramen Bar for dinner - which was not a bad idea because I love ramen anyway! This is the where the famous challenge is conducted - finish the ramen in 12 minutes and it's free... failing to do so you pay $35. The ramen bowl is really huge with 3 eggs. Challenge ends on 22 June 2014 - only three more days left if you are interested. Well, you can also opt to be a normal customer - there are many yummy selections too!Yoshimaru is one of the rarer ramen places that provide sesame seeds for grounding. Although it is not necessary, I like sesame seeds which give my ramen noodles more texture and layering as a whole.I opted for the Traditional Hakata Ramen which came as a pleasant surprise - it was better than most of the other ramen bars I have been to. Admittedly, I'm quite numb to the in-between standards, but when a good one comes along, I'll perk up immediately! This is one of them. I like how the soup base is savoury and not overpowering, soaked with the essence of pork bones for many hours. It is so thick with goodness, it's almost sinful. The ramen noodles are also springy and slurpilicious. I like how the portion is actually so big, I almost couldn't finish them even on my good appetite day. Of course, the egg was cooked to the gooey-yellow-gel perfection. Yummy!I was eyeing the Spicy Yuzu Ramen, but the word spicy and two chilli icons beside its name were quite intimidating! After asking one of the friendly service staff, he waved it off and convinced us that it wasn't all that spicy at all. Well, as it turned out - the soup base was an enticing blend of apparent citrus yuzu flavours and spices. The burning spiciness came as an after-aftertaste and would be pretty strong after say, five mouthfuls. But one mouthful of this soup base was very blissful even for a person who is afraid of spicy food. I love interesting ramen soup bases, it's like exploring a new place!Apparently Calpis is supposed to be a common drink but I haven't tried before in my whole life (hashtag, suaku) so... first try! Not bad... a bit like a hybrid between probiotic drinks and fruit juice. (hashtag, lesssuaku)And Asahi. Overall, Yoshimaru will rank pretty high on my ramen recommendation list alongside strong contenders such as Ramen Keisuke King and Suzuki Ramen Bar.

For full review: http://www.amiehu.com/2014/06/yoshimaru-ramen-bar-holland-village.html

Look out - Korea is making waves again on our shores with culinary imprints. Yoogane and Togi Korean Restaurant have been acquiring quite a lot of space on social media for the past week especially. While I am still not ready to brave the queues for Yoogane, I visited Togi Korean Restaurant for a friends gathering!
It turned out to be a good decision because there are so many dishes at Togi Korean Restaurant that you can't really finish on your own but you want to try a bit of everything!Togi provides starters generously with six choices - tuna with green peas, kimchi, potato salad, beansprouts, sweet fried anchovies, and spicy sliced sausage.We all loved the Spicy Stir Fried Chicken - I can finish two bowls of rice alone with this dish! Its piquant spiciness is not over-the-top and lightly fizzles on the tongue, and really yummy. It is very addictive - order this if you're coming!Togi's spicy stir fried rice cakes (dukbokki) were doused with a fiery spicy thick sauce but nonetheless still sweet and strong in its flavours. The cylindrical shaped sticky rice cakes were also very chewy! It would be perfect if there are more sesame seeds to go around.The Spicy Beef Soup with glass noodles did not seemed spicy for me, and I loved the soup a lot because it is so rich with flavours and ingredients! Different types of mushrooms were infused in it along with silky smooth glass noodles.This kimchi pancake with squid is pan-fried and really crispy, but a little burnt on the edges and on the flip side too. It isn't exactly as delicious as compared to the other meat dishes but a good try nonetheless. The sweet sauce was overpowered by the burnt taste of the pancake itself.The grilled saba fish is the most impressive dish in picture! It gets cold quite quickly, so dig in when it arrives immediately. It is not deboned, so be careful too! In terms of taste, I think it's not the freshest sort, just average and not too memorable.I enjoyed the atmosphere at Togi Korean Restaurant which has a high-ceiling concept with hanging vegetation... a modern place that incorporates greenery within indoor space. TripleOne Somerset is also quieter and very conducive for some getaway from the raging crowds on Orchard Road.

One of my favourite malls in town has got to be Orchard Central. I know - most people regard it as a ghost town, it's often empty of people and overshadowed by its neighbour, Somerset 313. But it definitely houses a lot of hidden finds and quirky restaurants, bars, boutiques and gift shops that deviates from the usual franchise brands. That's why I always find myself wandering around Orchard Central and I still haven't gotten bored of it. This time I tried one of the Japanese-inspired bar bistro, Tanuki Raw, also the sister restaurant of Standing Sushi Bar.For checking into Tanuki Raw on FourSquare, you can get a free appetizer of Fried Fish Skin. While it wasn't at its maximum crispiness, this semi-crunchy snack still satiated my tastebuds nicely with a dip of chilli sauce.The Salmon Mentaiko Set ($12) on the menu was the most striking, but choosing my set would only be difficult because there are many selections that are enticing even by the sound of it! A set consists of the don, a salad bowl with lotus root chips, and a miso soup. I enjoyed my salmon mentaiko don tremendously - the Japanese rice and salmon was adequately drizzled with delicious and tangy cod roe sauce. The torched and the slightly burnt flavour on salmon... nobody can resist it, really. The salad bowl was average and I tried bit of the vegetables but I decided that I really don't like green things. The miso soup deserves special mention too - it was not too salty and yet the miso flavour is quite strong too. First time that I could finish the miso soup!This is Tanuki Raw's Sunshine Don ($15), not mine, but I kinda wished I ordered this too when I saw it. Can you imagine black pepper smoked duck breast and bacon dripping with cream cheese in a bowl? I tried a bit of it and it tasted very yummy. Definitely a place I'll recommend if you're swinging by Orchard for a get-together either lunch or dinner. There are plenty of drinks here too since it is a bar! Tanuki Raw has a long balcony overlooking Orchard Road, with happy hour daily from 5 - 8pm with martinis at $10! Well, definitely a cool place to chill.For full review: http://www.amiehu.com/2014/06/tanuki-raw.html#more

It's the kind of place where you won't go if you aren't searching for it. Suzuki Ramen Bar is located at the street behind the riverside lane that connects Clarke Quay and Raffles Place. I liked how it feels like a hole in a back alley, almost like a time portal. One particular striking feature of this ramen bar is their special varieties of ramen soup bases offered. The first time I was here I tried their White Tonkotsu Ramen, but this time I spied their unique Amber & Sakura Pink soup bases which they only sold 10 bowls every night for the dinner crowd.
Choices for the lightness/ oiliness/ strength of the soup were also available on the menu to ensure your ramen is in its optimum form for your satisfaction.The Amber Tonkotsu Ramen bowl ($14.90++) was a hybrid between curry powder and the usual ramen tonkotsu soup base. While it could pass off as a really yummy curry powder instant noodles mix, the best part about this is that it actually isn't too spicy and the wholebodied curry flavour hits right on the spot.Sakura Pink Ramen bowl ($14.90++) was my pick of the night, well because it was seafood-base with shrimp paste and crab flavours. Okay not really, I picked it because it sounded fanciful and curiosity got the better of me.The soup base was flavourful and interesting with the interjection of shrimp and prawn essences, definitely thick enough to satisfy any ramen craving! Bonus points for the springy and thin ramen noodles too. The ramen noodles serving is larger than usual bowls and I had a little difficulty finishing it.There was an option to choose between fatty pork layer or the shoulder meat, and I chose the latter... it was easy to tear, not too tender but was really yummy too! Suzuki Ramen Bar is quite the understated ramen places in Singapore, with their wide variety of ramen soup base choices and quality servings, they should be more popular.

To follow me on my food adventures: www.amiehu.com