Tonkichi Restaurant- Orchard Central

Please please, do make a reservation before you head to this place, if not, well, you got to wait. Else, please go early before 7pm. Luckily we did both. Reached at 7pm to make a reservation for 7.30pm since the rest will be late - did not really want to occupy their tables while waiting for the rest. 

It was a belated Birthday Celebration for Random S. She had cravings for Ramen but she satisfied it the night before. But well, this did not stop us from eating Japanese food tonight! It is forever crowded in Orchard on a Friday Night and I am so glad that Orchard Central remains as a less-crowd and relatively quiet place in the busy town in Singapore. Nonetheless, this place is filled with restaurants which we can happily enjoy our meals. 

Been long since I visited Tonkichi and I ordered the Oroshi Rosu Katsu Set. It is a deep fried pork loin with oroshi pontzu sauce top with grated radish (with refreshing  citrus soy sauce). By looking at the description, it had already captured my saliva - with the many different levels of flavours. This set came with cabbage, miso soup, and a plate of fruits. 

For the cabbage, you can always ask them to top up, it is free-flow. Remember to add the salad dressing to the cabbage - it tasted great. 

For the Katsu, well, it is really a big portion - the pork loin is thick but tender. With the deep fried meat, the radish that came with it gave it a less oily and dry texture. Totally a very filling meal that is worth the money! Had a great night with the girls, chatting till the shop was about to close.

Oroshi Rosu Katsu

Fantastic service and value for money. Food served fresh with very big portion. Nice ambiance for gathering.

Tonkichi Restaurant
181 Orchard Road
#07-06 Orchard Central

"Staycation" at Blue Bali

Was supposed to be having a staycation with them. But everyone seemed busy and in the end, we settled for a chillax dinner for the first meet up in 2014. After much deliberation, we agreed to visit Blue Bali - just think of Bali and it's like we are out of Singapore (*self-illusion*). Well, Blue Bali at Cluny Road is located in quite an inaccessible location - within NUS Law School. We walked for about half an hour from Botanic Garden Mrt to the place - not a place that I would visit again unless there is a car. Luckily we made a reservation prior to the dinner - I cannot imagine having to deny dinner after the long walk.

Upon reaching Blue Bali, we were brought to the backyard which is al fresco dinning concept. The design of the Balinese garden gave us the feeling that we were in Bali. What a staycation concept! My fren mentioned that at Blue Bali itself has their very own brewery and they do help to pair up a glass of wine/beer with your food. But still, you have your freedom to choose whichever drink you want.

In the end, we ordered the Mongolian Chicken (S$20), Pumpkin Prawns (S$20), Ayam Bakar (S$20), Indonesian Nasi Goreng (S$16) and Paneer Tikka (S$16). All the food mentioned were under the Main dish menu. With the arrival of the dishes came our surprise - we thought that main dish normally comes with rice. But the dishes (exclude Nasi Goreng) were without rice. It was more towards the 'zhi char' concept. That was not a bad thing after all. We ordered rice and shared the food. If only we knew, we would have either ordered less or ordered more variety. 

As for the drink, I ordered the Pink Mamba (1/2 pint). It has a tint of sweetness and well, I am not sure it goes well with the food.

We managed to get a 20% discount off the total bill with a particular credit card (which I forget which was the one). Further to that, for the beer, the next pint only cost S$6 when you order the second glass and more! So for the beer lover, I think this is quite worth it.

So much for the walk, ciao till we meet again!

Our food....

Address:
One D Cluny Road, S259600
(behind NUS Bukit Timah Campus oposite Law Faculty Eu Tong Sen Building)

TCC - The Connoisseur Concerto @ Vivocity

We just want a place to drink, chillax and dinner. Roaming around Vivocity and decided to go to TCC as BFF J has 50% discount as August is her Birthday Month. 

There was a queue but there were still plenty of outdoor seats. We observed the service crews walking up and down but not intending to let lead us to the available tables. We waited for nearly 15 minutes before someone came up to us to lead us the way.

As we were still waiting for some others, we decided to order drinks first. There's quite a huge selection of drinks to select from. I wanted something cold and picked Yuzu Raspberry Blitz (Pic: second from left). It was quite refreshing

Our Drinks

I do not remember when was the last time I visited TCC @ Vivocity. Neither do I recall visiting TCC in recent months for a decent meal. Normally, I visited the place for snacks and drinks. We ordered the pasta and to my surprise, the portion of the pasta was really huge. Totally worth the price especially when we had the 50% off. 

I ordered the Tabiko Scallop Pasta. The Scallops were fresh, sweet and juicy. The Japanese soy dressing gave the dish flavour while the tobiko gave us the crunchy feeling when we bit on it. 

BFF S ordered the Algio Olio. The service crew asked if she wanted extra spicy. Seriously, I tried this pasta before and the normal spicy has already proven its spiciness. I wondered how spicy it will get if she had ordered EXTRA spicy.

Top: Seafood Aglio Olio
Bottom: Tabiko Scallop Pasta

For a table of 6, we spent a total of $98 due to the 50% discount. Really love this promotion for card member on their birthday month.  And guess what, you need to spend $80 in order to apply for a free membership and today, TCC welcomed another member to its family. 

Beauty Pot [美人锅, Bijin Nabe] @ Tsukada Nojo

Another gathering with a friend whom me and BFF M will always meet up with once a year to celebrate our birthdays. Yes, an annual event. I am not sure why this is so, but I'm still glad to keep in touch with A in such a manner. 

We decided to meet at Chinatown Point where it is sort of a midpoint from where we live. Not knowing what to eat, we then decided to settle it on the meeting day itself. M reached first and she decided on Tsukada Nojo as it was a rainy day and she wanted soup. How glad I was for her decision. I have always wanted to try the Bijin Nabe at Tuskada Nojo when it first opens at Plaza Singapura. However, it does not take reservation and the queue is forever long. Thus, I never have the chance to step into the shop for 'BEAUTY'.

Tsukada Nojo

We were all late though and thus, they decided fast after seeing the menu. We order 3 sets of Bijin Nabe ($25 for 1 pax) – a “Beauty Pot” of collagen-rich organic chicken broth with prawns, minced chicken, lettuce, spinach, cabbage, mushrooms, black and white fungus, winter melon, yellow zucchini, yuzu, tofu and noodles.

First came the Chicken broth. It looked totally like pudding. I was a bit stunned but slowly, as the 'pudding' melted, it became a pot of delicious soup. 

Looks like pudding

The waitress served the raw ingredients and went off.  Not knowing what to do, we decided to put everything into the pot. 

3 person share of ingredients

And our final product was this:

Bijin Nabe ready for consumption

As the noodle was not served, I signaled the waitress. To my 'horror', she mentioned that when the ingredients was served, the person should have asked when we want the noodle to be served and that someone should be helping us to put in the ingredients. Oh man, I wondered what we had missed out on by doing it all by ourselves. So People, please note that they will SERVE you and you do not have to be too anxious, trying to put everything into the boiling soup! Nonetheless, we asked her to serve the noodle. 

We also ordered the Nikumaki Onigiri each. It is actually rice ball wrapped in pork and baked with a special sauce. There are four flavours to choose from and we ordered three. Each costs around $3.50-$3.80. I think I had the spicy with yuzu sauce. It is like sushi but wrapped with bacon instead of seaweed. 

Nikumaki Onigiri

Finally, at the end of the dinner, we were served complimentary desserts. It tasted like chocolate caramel pudding. Just a bite size and my friends love it. We asked and they gave us a second helping. They are not selling this as part of their menu but just a gesture to thank the diners. Oh, this complimentary desserts change daily. So I guess it will be a surprise the next time I visit. 

Complimentary dessert

Oh by the way, they have this reward card system that is designed like a business card. The more you eat, the faster you will be 'promoted' by the shop and if I never heard wrongly, you will be given complimentary food items. 

Quite a nice place to dine in but I think the service crew are not very attentive. Or rather, they should have informed us that they will be helping us to cook. Overall, not a bad experience and I had a great time there!

Chinatown Point
133 New Bridge Road #02-37