Tetsu Japanese Restaurant

This post is based on an invited tasting session. Initially, I was hesitant to accept the invitation, as I’d have preferred to go uninvited and unannounced. But in the end, I’m glad I did. If I’d have gone on my own, I would just order my familiar favorites and missed out on the unique offerings on Tetsu’s new menu.

Morokoshi (corn) tofu, S$10.00

Opened since early 2008, Tetsu specializes in tempura and tonkatsu, but lately, they’ve expanded their menu to include more items, as well as a new appetizer selection. The appetizers are an ideal accompaniment to sake or shochu. Some appetizers are available from a special price of $4.80 (Mondays – Thursdays, 6pm – 10pm).

inSing.com Tried & Tested feature: Curry puff

Everyone loves a good puff! No, not the nicotine kind. We’re talking about curry puff! The latest Tried & Tested compares some of the most popular curry puffs to see who’s the hot favorite. Click here to read the article.

Y.E.S. 93.3FM foodie segment: House of Seafood @ 180

Y.E.S. 93.3FM DJs Xie Jiafa 谢家发 & Lin Peifen 林佩芬.

If you tune in to MediaCorp’s Y.E.S. 93.3FM on Wed, September 30, 2009 from 6pm to 7pm, you’ll get to hear me and Hungry Cow speaking in mangled Mandarin on radio! On Sunday night, we joined DJs Jiafa and Peifen for dinner at House of Seafood @ 180. Together with the other guests, we made up the tasting panel for the foodie segment called 美食鉴定团.

Carl’s Jr.

It's gonna get messy...

This is priceless! Rick and I had a hoot taking this pic while waiting for our food to ermm, come.

Sweet Spring 糖水春 @ AMK Hub

Durian puffs, S$4.20.

This was a random pit stop in the midst of aimless wandering at AMK Hub. I wasn’t hungry, and planned only to have mango sago pomelo, but the cute waiter convinced me to order a dimsum item to go with it.

Mooncakes from Kia Hiang Restaurant 嘉香大酒樓

Traditional Cantonese-style baked mooncakes

I knew that Kia Hiang has a long history, but never knew that they were the first to introduce durian mooncake. Or so they claim. They also claim to be the innovator of bak-kwa 肉干 (barbequed pork jerky) mooncake, which I’ve reviewed for inSing.com as one of 5 innovative mooncakes of 2009. This post will explore the rest of the Kia Hiang’s mooncake offerings for 2009.

inSing.com Tried & Tested feature: Innovative mooncakes

Hi everyone! Sorry if this blog has been neglected for the past week. I’ll be back with updates soon!

This year, the Mid-Autumn Festival falls on October 3, which is just 10 days away from today. Have you bought your mooncakes yet? Tired of the usual flavors? How about trying out something different? The latest Tried & Tested article on inSing.com highlights 5 exciting mooncake flavors. Click here to read the full story.

Penang Hawkers’ Fare buffet @ York Hotel

One weekday, Camemberu and I played tai-tais for an afternoon. We went for buffet lunch at a hotel, then shopping at ION Orchard – the newest upscale mall in town!

Save the airfare to Penang and come here instead!

Sounds luxurious? The reality: Buffet was hawker fare, and the shopping was just wistful browsing. “Ooh, look! So gorgeous! Wah, so ex!”

We are, after all, merely HDB tai-tais. Still, it was fun!

Back to the food, which is the main reason for the outing. Ever since my Penang trip, I’d been unable to forget the delicious street food. Besides, I’d been wanting to try York Hotel’s legendary Penang hawkers’ buffet. Ongoing since 1986, the hotel flies in hawkers from Penang 3 times a year (in March, September, and December) for this theme buffet.

Teriyaki chicken from Holy Grill

Teriyaki chicken, S$5.50.

This was Rick’s choice when we were lunching at Old Airport Road Food Centre. He was browsing the stalls when one of the signboards caught his attention: Holy Grill.

Holy smokes, what a witty name! Amused, he ordered the teriyaki chicken.

Morale of story: Use a catchy and memorable name for your business to stand out from the crowd!

Takoyaki from Tsukiji Gindaco

Takoyaki (fried octopus balls), 6 for S$4.80

On the same night we had dinner at Tonkatsu Ginza Bairin, I joined the queue for the much-hyped takoyaki from Tsukiji Gindaco at ION Orchard’s B4 food hall.

Verdict: Miles better than Takopachi over at Takashimaya! There’s a nice-sized chunk of octopus in each ball, and the beni shoga (red pickled ginger), tenkasu (crunchy flour bits), leeks, and katsuobushi (fish shavings) are of much better quality.

The best part was the crispy, browned exterior. They achieved this by pouring a final round of oil onto the hot iron pans to further brown and crisp up the cooked flour balls. Sweet…!