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Visit http://freshffm.blogspot.sg/2015/10/tonkotsu-king-jewel-in-king-keisukes.html for our detailed review with photos!Like a true traditional ramen shop, Tonkotsu King does not have many options. Essentially, what a customer has control over is the saltiness and oiliness of the pork-based soup, with an additional option of choosing various sauces (black or red) to add spice. The newly-initiated should go for "normal" levels of saltiness and oiliness in a plain Tonkotsu soup base, which might be too strong compared to other eateries. This is how ramen's supposed to taste though. For subsequent visits, the "strong" levels are worth venturing into.Upon receiving the order, the amount of fats floating within the soup might be shocking for the faint-hearted. Don't fret though, the fats add richness to the soup. Forget momentarily about cholesterol and sodium content; this is one of the best bowls of ramen you're gonna get in Singapore, so enjoy yourself and eat up. While we're on the topic, the soup is exceptionally thick, and for lack of a better word, "creamy". It tastes as though a live pig was thrown squealing into a pot of boiling water, and kept there until its flavour has thoroughly infused every water molecule. The broth is definitely a hard-hitter and takes no prisoners. When compared to some of the ramen we had in Japan however, Tonkotsu King's broth is more reliant on oil to bring about its heaviness and taste, whereas ramen in Japan was less oily but still more substantial and flavourful -perhaps due to the differences in pork quality, the duration of boiling or the amount of pork actually used. With that caveat aside, Tonkotsu King's broth is definitely one of the best you can get locally...Visit http://freshffm.blogspot.sg/2015/10/tonkotsu-king-jewel-in-king-keisukes.html for our detailed review with photos!…查看更多

Wing Stop serves fresh, made to order (you guessed it) chicken wings that come in both boned and boneless variations. There is quite a wide variety of marinates to choose from and as far as I've experienced, most are quite good.The chicken served were extremely tender and chock full of natural juiciness. There isn't too much oil used which but rest assured, the wings are indeed properly fried for drool inducing purposes.For our full review with photos, please visit http://freshffm.blogspot.sg/2014/06/wing-stop-bedok-mall-worthy-stop-in.html…查看更多

What’s most striking about this bowl of noodles is its deceivingly simplistic exterior. It really doesn’t look like much. The cloudy soup (a hallmark of a well-done bowl of ban mian) however is the first indicator that beneath its unassuming façade lies a dish of truly potent proportions. The ikan billis is flavourful, strong and crispy, and remains crunchy for a surprisingly long time while submerged in the soup (do try to eat it as soon as possible though –nobody wants soggy ikan bilis). I particularly enjoy digging for the egg yolk, and with its similar colour, find it akin to digging for gold. Indeed, it’s one of the highlights of my meal, with its tendency to explode in mouths of hungry customers, filling them enjoyably with warm eggy goodness infused with a fair serving of tasty broth.For our full review with photos, please visit http://freshffm.blogspot.sg/2014/06/qiu-rong-ban-mian-great-noodles-great.html…查看更多

For the full review with photos, please visit http://freshffm.blogspot.sg/2014/06/matsuri-ramen-tasty-diet-ramen.htmlRich Soup with Tamago ($13.90)Unlike the hard-hitting heaviness of pork-based broths, the chicken broth used here relied more on subtlety, with its herb-like undertones and spring onions creating a sweet fragrance. The flavour of chicken was unsurprisingly apparent too, though I did feel that even when taking chicken’s naturally lighter flavour into account, it remained just a bit too light for my liking.The noodles were unusually curly, almost maggimee-esque, which I suppose is for the purpose of having more soup cling on to it, given the broth’s lighter nature. However, I felt like they were a little overcooked as they didn’t really provide much resistance to the bite.For the full review with photos, please visit http://freshffm.blogspot.sg/2014/06/matsuri-ramen-tasty-diet-ramen.html…查看更多

Fatty Tuna with Spring Onion Roll ($6.50)First off, there is a lack of balance in its flavor, in that the tuna used was inconsistent and some of the rolls had an overwhelming taste of seaweed. The rice was cold, again disrupting the delicate balance of the dish. Lastly, there was a clear lack of physical strength put into rolling the sushi, resulting in a brittle structure that easily falls apart. The tiny air pockets trapped between rice grains also affect the overall taste slightly.With that said, the Sushi does score on many other factors, all of which remained consistent with the other dishes I ordered. The rice used was of good quality (which is precisely why it shouldn't be served cold to demean its taste). It had just the right amount of stickiness, chewiness and fragrance. it was also seasoned well by the chef(s) to have just the right mix of vinegar, salt and sugar, resulting in the subtle but sophisticated style of smooth, ever-so-slightly sour-sweetness that any properly done sushi rice should have. The Tuna was also of good quality, with a robust, fatty taste that melts in your mouth and leaves a delicate lingering aftertaste in your mouth.For full review with photos, please visit http://freshffm.blogspot.sg/2014/05/itacho-sushi-bugis-junction-two-and.html…查看更多

My first choice was their signature, La Crosta Pizza which came garnished with very fresh and sticky mozzarella, crunchy and juicy tomato slices, fluffy ricotta cheese and deliciously slimy and smoky fried eggplants.In case I'm being too subtle, the ingredients used are top notch. They are fresh and very tasteful. These are brought together by a mild tomato based sauce and a wonderfully light crust. Here, a good amount of effort is clearly put into kneading the dough as the thickness of the pizza remains relatively even throughout and its texture is both resilient yet also softly crunchy to the bite. An unmistakable smoky aroma also imposes itself with each bite and taking a slight whiff of the pizza quickly testifies its origins as Authentically Wood Fire baked.For full review with photos, please visit http://freshffm.blogspot.sg/2014/05/crosta-pizza-great-alternative-to.html…查看更多

Visit http://freshffm.blogspot.sg/2014/05/the-corner-place-korean-bbq-seoooul-good.html for the full review with photos!When it comes to something like Korean Barbecue, the quality and taste of the restaurant boils down to the freshness of the ingredients they use and the quality of their marinates since the actual cooking is done by customers themselves. In both these aspects, The Corner Place does fairly well.The place offers a decent spread of raw meats and Vegetables coupled with a few cooked selections like Korean glass noodles, seaweed soup and fried wings.In terms of the meat however, the Restaurant offers a more than decent selection of very fresh cuts. All the non-marinated meats were sliced finely but not too thin, making it both easy to control when cooking and easy to bite into for a flavorful burst when eating them...Visit http://freshffm.blogspot.sg/2014/05/the-corner-place-korean-bbq-seoooul-good.html for the full review with photos!…查看更多

Visit http://freshffm.blogspot.sg/2014/01/triple-os-orchard-towers-mckiller.html for full review with photos!Lets talk burgers. Many of us, myself included, probably identify this food with the image of a McSpicy, BigMac or even the Whopper . No doubt, these are yummy-licious in their own way, but there's just something rather unromantic and unrefined about eating these "fresh" off-the-production-line, chemical filled and re-heated upon order burgers. Sure, there are many restaurants out there that serve different burgers, but nothing in singapore quite captured the essence of an actual, unique burger joint for me. That is until we tried Triple Os, and for anyone who wants to skip the details, let me just sum it up for you right now: IT'S REALLY GOOD.The burger, like all the other burgers here, were a little bit on the expensive side but you do get your money's worth in it's incredible taste. The burger is centered with a tender and crispy fried chicken which bursts with great fragrance and flavour on every bite. On top of it was a slice of cheese which looked scrumptious and two slices of bacon; and below was a serving of crisp, fresh lettuce.Visit http://freshffm.blogspot.sg/2014/01/triple-os-orchard-towers-mckiller.html for full review with photos!…查看更多

Visit http://freshffm.blogspot.sg/2013/12/nantsuttei-ramens-black-gold.html for our full review with photos!Fortunately, Nantsuttei's ramen is not as bad as its gyoza and its service, which are in dire need of serious improvement. Its broth, which is its most noticeable feature with its oil-like colour and texture, is one of the best I've had the privilege of trying in Singapore. The way it strikes an almost perfect balance between the pork undertones and the mayu signifies tremendous amounts of effort poured into creating the perfect broth. On one memorable occasion, a reverent hush descended on my group the moment we took a sip of the broth, and continued for a good 5 minutes or so, well into our eating time. Eating a dish becomes a shared religious experience when a group of 6 otherwise-noisy hot-blooded males are so moved by it that they fall silent. Nantsuttei's broth is simply incredible, and there's really no other way to describe it.The noodles are similarly well done, in the Hakata style that we're so accustomed to seeing accompany tonkotsu broths. They have a very satisfying bite to them, and despite the heaviness of the broth, retain their individual taste, indicating that they weren't over or under-cooked and are adequately fresh. They're mixed with juicy, succulent bean sprouts, which provide a pleasantly refreshing sensation against the broth's heaviness.Visit http://freshffm.blogspot.sg/2013/12/nantsuttei-ramens-black-gold.html for our full review with photos!…查看更多

During the tasting session, we were provided with a free flow of the ramen stalls’ various side dishes and ramen (which of course, allowed us to eat to our very spacious stomachs’ content). The side dishes included gyozas with various toppings, chicken karaage and spicy chicken wings, which were in general, very well done. Arthur and I felt though that the central focus of Ramen Champion should be placed on the ramen dishes themselves, which is why we are not including photos or detailed reviews of the sides. Make no mistake though, they are very worthy appetizers, and I’d definitely recommend them to any seriously starving customers, to whom a bowl of ramen by itself wouldn’t be enough. Also, this section will only include our initial impressions of the ramen, with reviews being put up soon.The rendition of miso ramen by Bishamon Zero tasted as perfect as miso ramen gets. Considering the frankly mediocre standards of Bishamon outlets outside, this is surprising, albeit in a welcome way. The broth was well-balanced, with no individual flavours overwhelming the others. It also had a tinge of spiciness to it, which, like the other flavours, wasn’t overwhelming at all. These factors, combined with the other ingredients, made the components of the ramen perfectly complementary, making us tremendously impressed...For our full review with photos, please visit http://freshffm.blogspot.sg/2013/12/ramen-champion-great-world-city-brave.html …查看更多

Visit http://freshffm.blogspot.sg/2013/11/grasso-coffee-simeis-hidden-gem.html for a full review with photos!Grasso serves typical cafe fare, with an assortment of drinks, sandwiches and pastries. My favourite drink here is the iced latté, which has a blend that is noticeably milder and less strong than other cafes. This isn’t to say that it’s flat however, because it’s very well-complemented with the milk used, creating a very smooth, clean taste, akin to a classic men’s dress watch. I feel that it’s a drink that fits into our coffee landscape very aptly, as most locals aren’t used to the strong-tasting brews of traditional espresso. In my book, I’d prefer a latté that’s a bit stronger while still retaining the same smooth quality, but this sits just fine with me.Grasso also serves some very interesting ice blends, with beverages like English toffeenut and banana choccoffee amongst them, which cannot be found anywhere else. Generally speaking, I avoid ice blended coffees as I personally believe that their very nature –just a shot or two of espresso, masked by heavy flavourings –detract from the main gist of coffee. However, on the few occasions I’ve tried the ice blends, they taste pretty good. Whenever possible, they use fresh ingredients instead of simply using syrups as substitutes, which makes for natural-tasting ice blends (however natural a flavoured ice blended drink can taste). Grasso clearly takes a leaf out of the book of popular coffee chains by having these clearly youth-targeted menu options. I don’t like the idea of ice blended drinks masquerading as coffee sources (they are, but they aren’t true to the roots of coffee, which I take issue with), I won’t criticize them for it because here, they’re simply catering for the youth market segment. Furthermore, the ice blended drink options are creative and original, and add a nice dash of colour to the menu. I suppose as long as young people are introduced to coffee, it doesn’t matter what form it comes in, but they just shouldn’t mistakenly think that syrup-flavoured ice-blended drinks with a smidgen of coffee is coffee at all, and should gradually progress to more mature forms of coffee.…查看更多

Visit http://freshffm.blogspot.sg/2013/11/quality-cafe-quality-hotel-marlow.html for full review with photos!Quality Cafe serves a large variety of Asian dishes in a buffet format with a certain emphasis on their authentic Taiwanese porridge.I started the buffet with a bowl of porridge and some side dishes. The porridge was not what I expected it to be. It did not carry that subtle sweetness that truly makes a bowl of porridge Taiwanese. It's texture was done right though, with a good ratio of rice and water that made it light easy to swallow. There was a huge selection of condiments which included traditional favorites like the salted egg and pickled vegetables to very Singaporean choices like Ikan Bilis, these complemented the lightly flavored porridge well...…查看更多

Visit http://freshffm.blogspot.sg/2013/10/tonkotsu-itto-undeserving-heir-to.html for full review with photos!Upon receiving my bowl of ramen, I took a deep breath and immediately liked the heavy pork smell wafting from it –a harbinger of a thick, flavoursome broth. Never mind the shallow, concave bowl with its paltrier than usual serving size, I thought, it wouldn’t matter if the broth was as good as I hoped it’d be.As per my ramen-eating routine, the egg was the first to go. To call it mediocre would be an insult to stalls with really mediocre eggs –this was worse than that. Just take a look at the yolk, which was almost venturing into Ajisen’s territory in providing hard-boiled egg yolks. While its somewhat adequate seasoning made it still some way from matching Ajisen’s eggs, I was still deeply disappointed in the clear lack of effort. The other stalls here may be degrading themselves and offering almost hard-boiled eggs, but the successor to the best stall to emerge from Ramen Champion shouldn’t follow suit! In any case, Tonkotsu Itto’s eggs are worse than the rest.Although calling the noodles beehoon-thin would have been an exaggeration (albeit not a major one), I was tempted to label it as such. Its near strawlike width provided the broth with too little surface area to cling to, causing the unsurprising end result to be noodles that didn’t retain the broth’s taste. In addition, I felt that the noodles had too little bite to them and were slightly overcooked...…查看更多

Go to http://freshffm.blogspot.sg/2013/09/buta-god-female-of-ramen-species-by-mark.html for our full review with photos of our trip!Having written that about Buta God's uniqueness, what really gives it this attribute are its broth, egg and chashu. Starting with the former, the soup has a sweet taste to it, despite being Tonkotsu-based. This isn't in the diabetic sense of the word, but is more of a sweetness that hovers on top of the essential pork base of the soup, making it extremely refreshing, especially for someone as accustomed to thick, heavy broths as me. While it's sweet, don't mistake this broth for one that's light or weak -it holds its own as well as the heavyweights of the ramen world (ie Bario and Tonkotsu King), despite not being as overpowering. There're fatty bits floating in the soup, but not in Bario's heart-attack-inducing abundance. Personally, I feel that they didn't add much to the taste of the soup (the Collagen used is generally better for strong, salty bases), and especially with their rather meagre amount, didn't have much business being there at all. Either way, I don't think they played much of a role in affecting the soup. Towards the end, I felt that the soup's sweetness may have drowned out its porkiness, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that this makes the pork base irrelevant. Despite this minor shortcoming, Buta God's soup is less oily than other stalls, and this coupled with its sweetish taste definitely makes it a welcome addition to the local ramen scene...…查看更多

Go to http://freshffm.blogspot.sg/2013/09/muso-ramen-burdensome-expectations.html for full review with photos of our trip!Muso's broth is soy-based and made from pork bones, which is essentially the same genre as Buta God's. I admit to having felt rather skeptical at Ramen Champion's decision to bring in two stalls that bear so many similarities to each other (at least superficially). Having two shops that're so identical, thereby not adding much to the variation of Ramen Champion, this basically defeats the purpose of its main selling points -exposing Singaporeans to vastly differing styles of ramen (or so I felt).Upon sampling the broth though, I was relieved that it didn't taste much like Buta God's. Their similar genres notwithstanding, Buta God's was predominantly sweet, while Muso's had a much clearer and heavier pork taste. It did have a hint of sweetness too, courtesy of the onions, but this had a sharp tinge to it, adding another dimension to the broth and resulting in one that had a nice mix of flavours. This coupled with the thinner broth bears another similarity to Buta God, as it doesn't try to overpower its eaters with one intense flavour alone, but instead coerces them into indulging with its subtler, lighter-tasting flavours. Unfortunately though, the broth lost some steam towards the end of the meal as it started tasting increasingly of its individual ingredients, and less a unified product of them. Consistency is an issue that many eateries struggle with, and a truly great bowl of ramen would be thoroughly enjoyable from the first sip right down to the last, instead of growing more subdued as it's consumed...…查看更多