It is my very first visit to Tampopo and I was awed by the many different offerings that they have on their menu. There is ramen, tonkatsu, sashimi, sushi and I was simply spoilt for choices. I ordered the Black Pig Loin Tonkatsu Set and since there are three of us, we also ordered a salmon sashimi to share. The Black Pig tonkatsu is really good. I would say it is one of the best tonkatsu that I have ever had. The tonkatsu is not too oily and the meat is juicy and tender. Normally for tonkatsu, it will be slightly on the dry side but not the ones at Tampopo. I guess the use of the loin from the black pig really is more tender than the loin from a normal pig.

The salmon sashimi is sliced very thickly and it is served on a bowl of ice to maintain its coldness and freshness. The salmon sashimi, while being thickly cut (as seen from the photo) and fresh, is rather expensive since it is $15 for 6. I would probably skip ordering this next time and save the $15 for desserts. Do try the black pig tonkatsu if you haven’t!

Over the weekend, I had my dinner at Kim Dae Mun. Even though I was there early, at 6pm, surprisingly, there is quite a lot of people already in the eatery. It is my first time trying it out and I ordered the kimchi soup with pork which costs $7. The soup comes with rice and a side dish. There is also brown rice available at an additional charge. The portion of the soup is huge. I was expecting the normal food court kind of pot, but the pot here is so much larger and full of ingredients. Granted, bulk of the ingredients are kimchi, but still, it is a lot. The soup is also tasty and not too overly salty or spicy. Some kimchi soups that I had at food courts are more towards the salty side such that it makes drinking the soup difficult, but not the soup at Kim Dae Mun. Besides kimchi, there is also tau kwa, egg and some glass noodle in the soup. The pork is lesser though but as I mentioned, it is more than compensated by the large servings of kimchi in the soup. I will strongly recommend this place for authentic and affordable Korean food!

Over the weekend, I had my dinner at Seoul Yummy at The Central. The restaurant is surprisingly small and I would recommend that you make a reservation if you are coming in larger groups to ensure that there are seats available. We walked in at around 7pm on a Saturday and the restaurant was half filled.
The menu is quite comprehensive and there are sets meals as well, which are quite reasonably priced. We ordered a side of kimchi pancakes to share, and our own main menu item. The main dish will come with 6 side dishes and I loved 4 out of 6 of the side dishes which is great since the sides do not go to waste and I could also have second servings.

I got the spicy dry Korean buckwheat noodles. The noodles come with spicy sauce, and half boiled egg, cucumbers, beef. The noodles are delish with the spicy sauce and I would definitely recommend it for spicy lovers. The noodles maintain their bite and is not clumpy as well. The ingredients to this dish are simple, but put together, it is a very comforting dish that I would not hesitate to order again. Besides, the kimchi pancake is also very yummy. It is not too oily and the pancake is slightly chewy and savory. The sour sauce accompanying the pancake adds more tang to the pancake. I will definitely recommend this place to my friends!

Over the weekend, I had brunch at Group Therapy Café. Being a weekend, there is quite a crowd and we had to wait around 20minutes for a table. As I had breakfast before going for brunch, I decided on something simple, the grilled chicken salad $16.
From the picture, it seems like it is not really a salad because the portion of meat to greens is almost like 3:1. I requested for my honey mustard dressing to be on the side so that I can easily control the amount of dressing over my salad. The chicken salad is made using chicken thigh – as such, the chicken meat is very tender. The seasoning used to marinate the chicken is slightly on the heavy side as I felt that the chicken is quite salty. Hence, it is fortunate that I had separated the dressing from the salad as I could control the amount. The salad also comes with cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and assorted greens. Overall, I think the dish would be better if they cut back on the seasoning used for the chicken.

I finally got a chance to try out this stall. It has been on my radar for a while but I didn’t get to try it in the past as there are always too many people queuing or I was too full from lunch/dinner. I ordered the banana chocolate cream crunch which costs $5. For the filling, I chose the red bean filling. The queue was short and I got my taiyaki within 5 minutes. The taiyaki is warm and crisp on the outside. The cream is rather light tasting so it is not too heavy on the palette. The red bean is rather sweet though, so it can be quite sweet overall. However, what I love about the taiyaki is that the taiyaki itself is chewy which is interesting as most waffle like snacks are usually spongy. There are many other toppings available besides this. It is definitely worth a try especially for people who love taiyaki.