For full review and photos, please visit http://thumbsforfood.blogspot.sg/2012/12/tonkatsu-by-ma-maison.html

Tonkatsu, pork cutlet in Japanese has been an uprising trend in Singapore. One of the famous ones include Tonkatsu by Ma Maison at Mandarin Gallery.

For starters, with each set you order, it comes with grinded radish. It's something like an appetizer where you mix their shoyu sauce with the radish and eat it. It is quite refreshing and serves as a good opening to the meal.

The highlight would of course be it's Tonkatsu. Having tried Tonkichi's Tonkatsu and really love it, I was really curious how the one at Ma Maison would be like. Prices here are pretty much the same as other Tonkatsu restaurants, ranging from $23-$35, depending on the type of pork you choose. Each set comes with free flow rice and cabbage.

I prefer the pork cutlet meat to be juicy and that comes with the price of fats in the meat. My choice would be pork loin meat or Rosu Katsu Set. The one here is cooked nicely, rendering the meat not too tough to chew. However, I find that it lacks the juiciness that I was looking for.For those who like a mixture of pork loin and pork cutlet (which is less fatty), you can go for the mixed set. The pork cutlet is similarly cooked well, the batter is not too thick. Like I mention earlier, I still prefer pork loin. And yes, the cabbage with the Japanese salad dressing is awesome. It sort of balances the fried Tonkatsu, leaving you feeling that you have not sinned as much after eating a slab of heaty pork.Overall, I think Tonkatsu for Ma Maison did not really surprise and amaze me with it's Tonkatsu. I was really looking for the juiciness in the meat which was lacking. All in all, I feel that it was still a good meal and for those who love to eat Tonkatsu, you should have a meal here. One thing to note is the queue! After 7pm, the queue is quite long. So, make your way there early to avoid having to wait for a long time.

For more photos and review, please visit http://thumbsforfood.blogspot.sg/2012/12/rocku-yakiniku-bugis.html

We chanced upon ROCKU one day when we were looking for a dinner place in the newly revamped, Bugis+ mall. The food ROCKU serves is Japanese Barbeque ala carte for dinner. It does also have weekends lunch buffet from 11.30am-4pm at $29.90++.The exterior and interior design of the shop is like an underground punk and rock brick-walled hideout. The bricks wallpaper really brought out that vibe. The restaurant plays loud music, projecting the Music Videos of various songs, especially Japanese-pop and Korean-pop. Once in a while, you'll hear popular English pop songs.

We ordered a Beef Combo Set ($45.90) which consists of 5 different parts of the beef from the more fatty areas to the leaner meats. I really don't know how to differentiate the different parts of beef the meat were from. But, one thing to be sure, the beef was fresh and well-marinated. The set even came with chicken, some vegetables, rice and even mushrooms.The combo sets come with 2 rice and 2 miso soups. Since there were 3 of us, we ordered an extra bowl of egg fried rice ($1.50). Since you can choose egg fried rice instead of the normal plain rice, it is recommended to try it! It really is different from the normal fried rice you can find else where because it uses japanese rice. Portion of rice was however small. For those people with bigger appetities, you would probably want to get another bowl. We also ordered a serving of salmon ($8.90). The portion was rather small for the price, but, the salmon was really fresh and good.Overall, the food was good and fresh. We felt that it was one of the more affordable barbeque ala carte restaurants you can find that serves quality meat. We would definitely be back.

Also, it has many beer promotions in-house. Happy hour is from 12pm-7.30pm and prices starts from as low as $6 for half pint and towers are at $55 during happy hour. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, Ladies enjoy two free alcohol beverage with purchase of food in-house, If you are dressed in ROCKU's colors, you get another 2 free drinks (for ladies only).

For full review and photos, please visit http://thumbsforfood.blogspot.sg/2012/12/baja-fresh-mexican-grill.html

I love the depth of flavours in this cuisine and the fresh seafood blended in with all the spices. But, it is kind of sad because in Singapore, Mexican food is not exactly affordable. For a review on Mexican food, please visit our post on Viva Mexico! But before you head over to read, continue on our review on Baja Fresh!

Steak Fajitas $14.95. Honestly, I was pretty disappointed that it came in a plate. I was kind of expecting the hot sizzling Fajitas that give off the alluring smoke of fragrance from afar. Well, and then I came back to reality that I am in a fastfood Mexican chain and not some restaurant.

The steak was tasteless and there was nothing amazing about the rice. Even for this price, I wouldn't want to have this again. Chicken, Shrimp, Steak Fajitas $14.95. Well, it was pretty much the same as the steak fajitas, just that this had more variety in it.

In case you were wondering, they offer 2 choices of tortillas: corn and the flour tortillas. The corn tortilla is just the soft version of the nachos. Personally, I prefer the flour tortilla.All in all, I feel that this was really not worth going to based on the mere two dishes that I tried. But, please drop down to have a try if you are around that vicinity and craving for some savoury Mexican food. You can try the other dishes like the Burritos and share with us your views on them!

For full review and photos, please visit http://thumbsforfood.blogspot.sg/2013/02/136-hong-kong-street-fish-head.html

It's Monday! Hopefully your weekend was great [: Blue Monday, go away!

Well, I have always loved eating fish head steamboat but it is not easy to find an affordable and nice one out there. A friend of mine recommended me to this shop and I was not disappointed with its standard!

Red Grouper Steamboat. Okay, the main thing you definitely have to order here is the fish head steamboat. The soup is really good and rich, filled with all my favourite ingredients such as fried yam, cabbage, etc. Of course, they have other kinds of fish too if you do not like red grouper fish!

Sweet and sour century egg $6. Well well! Recently, I got into a Century-Egg-Craze which means I have this weird compulsion to order any century egg dishes. This is something different from what you see outside! The century egg is fried so that it has this crispy exterior. Eaten together with the appetizing sweet and sour sauce, it can really tickle your appetite open!

Mongolian Tofu $18. This is their recommended dish. I must say that it is pretty unique. It resembles the Yam Ring that we see normally, with the yam ring replaced by tofu to form tofu ring instead.

Overall, I feel that this is a good and affordable place for big group of family or friends. The standard of the food is definitely above those you see in the average coffee shops. However, take note that the shop is not that big so if you can, try to make reservations before that!

For full review and photos, please visit http://thumbsforfood.blogspot.sg/2013/04/folks-collectives-soft-launch-china.html

When you walk pass the restaurant, you will definitely be attracted by the restaurant's decor. It's interior is inspired from a vintage market in Bangkok. Hence, the mismatched furniture, vintage posters and reminiscent displays around the restaurant. Do note that I was there for the soft launch and there are actually more dishes in the actual menu!

The food they serve are Thai food and some dishes are fusion of Thai and other cuisines. Let me introduce you the various dishes we tried! Prices of the dishes vary from $5 to about $13. I feel that the price is reasonable for the quality of food. I would update the individual dish prices once I get them from Akira!

The Green Curry Chicken ($8.90) can be seen below. For those who like green curry, I would say this is a must try. You can see that the bowl is overflowing with ingredients like brinjal, chicken and spices. This dish is not spicy, so, for those who can't take spicy food, try this. The coconut milk taste is not too overpowering so it suits my palate. This dish goes really well with rice! We were given free flow lemongrass drink that day as their opening special. But, we couldn't help it but order our own cup of Thai Milk Iced Tea! It's about $2 for a cup if I'm not mistaken. The cup is specially purchased to go with the restaurant's theme. The Thai Milk Iced tea is really refreshing. As I am not a lemongrass fan, I would choose the milk tea over the lemongrass drink.The mini bucket of chicken drumsticks were free flow that day. On the actual menu, it would be sold at $6.90 per mini bucket. We liked the marinade and the sauce drizzled over the drums. A great appetizer to whet your appetites.The mango salad with soft shell crab is about $10 and was recommended by Akira. I got to say the mango salad is really nice! The mango salad is not overly unripe and thus, not too sour. The soft shell crab was fried well and tasty.The Ice cream Kati ($4.90) is coconut icecream topped with some nuts. The base has sticky glutinous rice which suprisingly goes extremely well with the icecream. Even though I'm not a coconut fan, I love the dessert! Do try it if you're there.If you're looking for a new Thai restaurant, do try out Folks Collective for their classic Thai dishes and innovative Thai fusion dishes! And you'll definitely enjoy the ambience and the decor that is carefully thought through by the owner of the shop! If you're curious as to why it's called Folks Collective, do ask the people there!

For those who are interested in cocktails, they do serve alcohol and unique cocktails priced below $20!