The sashimi here is good, and the fish is supposedly air flown from Shizuoka, but at these prices, I’d rather go to Fish Mart Sakuraya. What I come for are their non-traditional stuff, like the seared maguro maki rolls and the almond crusted prawn tempura.

Their baked prawn is very tasty, but even more memorable is their grilled black cod with miso paste.

On the less memorable side, their Japanese-style yong tau foo was plain boring. Chicken karaage and tori katsu were standard as well.

Their dinner set bentos are very good value, and I’m told the grilled eel is remarkable.

For dessert, ice cream mochi is on the house, although I did try their peach ice cream, which had a Ferroro Rocher filling. The dessert looked more special than it tasted, but worth trying once.

The prices are quite steep, usually at $60+ per person, excluding alcohol. If you stick to the dinner set bento, you can get away with under $50 a person. The ambiance is a little casual given these prices, but service is consistently attentive. A decent place to splurge on once in a while.

Rating:

1. Sanomaru Sapporo Ramen at TripleOne Somerset

With no reservation, we were forced to sit outside, although we were lucky that it was a relatively cool day in Singapore. Tucked away in the courtyard behind two buildings, we were suddenly transported away from present-day Singapore to colonial Singapore. The wicker chairs, the red-painted outer wall of the cafe, the white-paneled windows and doors… the place had its charms, no doubt. But would it live up to its potential?

Artichoke’s brunch menu is relatively simple, although I could see the ingredients were high quality and a lot of thought had been put into piecing together the items on the menu. The quality menu was lost on its servers though, who were clueless as to what the menu contained, what the ingredients were, and what they themselves were doing there. Needless to say, service was slow and confusing, but it was hard to be mad at the servers who were so utterly clueless. It would be like scolding newborns!

I started off with a sangria to put me in the mood for a slow day. Instead, I was jolted awake by how absolutely awful the sangria tasted. It seemed like their idea of sangria was citrus soda with white wine. A place like this couldn’t afford to cut up some real fruits for a sangria? Sangria is such a straight-forward drink, how could they screw that up? I wasn’t feeling the love. What they gave me was barely drinkable, so I let it sit and watched the condensation slide down the glass as we waited for our food.

I opted for the scrambled eggs and bacon chop, which turned out to be a good decision. The maple-glazed bacon chop was thick and meaty, with just enough fat to be tender and fragrant. The scrambled eggs were on the runny side, purposefully so.

I also tried my friend’s hash browns, which were crisp and delicious (and oily, as hash browns go). Originally, I asked for ketchup to go with the eggs and hash browns, but they said the kitchen didn’t have any. A brunch place that does not have any ketchup? Just as I was working myself into a huff, I asked if they had maple syrup and, lo and behold, they did! The tension was quickly diffused as I embraced my Canadianism and poured a generous portion of maple syrup over everything on my plate.

While the food turned out to be good, the service was in a constant state of hopeless confusion, and the sangria was an unmistakable failure. I would probably not return unless a friend of mine decided to host a meal here, and even then it would only be for the ambiance.

Rating:

Following reviewers’ recommendations, we had their Thai red tea, lemongrass drink, butter calamari, pad thai, pandan chicken and crispy fish.

I could understand why some reviewers wrote that the butter calamari was sin. The calamari was very crunchy and drenched in butter. I thought there was actually too much oil/butter, or perhaps this dish was just too sinful for me.

The pad thai noodles were al dente and cooked just right. They weren’t sticking together in clumps, they weren’t too oily, and they were still chewy. My only qualm is that they added a lot of dried shrimp to the dish, which made it very fishy. I think Asians must like that fragrance, but I don’t.

Pandan chicken was a little over-done. They deep-fried the chicken and leaves together, and some parts were charred. The taste was pretty good, but it would have been better if the chicken was still tender.

The sweet and sour crispy fish had a spicy kick. Reviews had said the fish was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Although the crispy outside was good, I thought this was over-fried as well, as the meat of the fish was not that tender.

The Thai red tea could have been quite nice but it was made too sweet. Service was decent by Singapore standards, although you had to be assertive to get what you wanted (and it is possibly easier to get what you want if you speak Mandarin). Patrons of this restaurant are often warned of the queue for tables and then the wait for the food. Although this place can certainly satisfy my Thai craving, I’m not entirely sure it is worth the wait.

Rating:

As soon as I made it through immigration, I headed straight to Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao for some xiao long bao. I hadn’t had pork in ages since I’d just been in Malaysia, and I had it on good authority that the Crystal Jade xiao long bao in Hong Kong was better than the ones in Singapore. I was not disappointed.

Second stop was Greenland Taiwanese Cuisine in Wan Chai. Hearty and filling Taiwanese food for very reasonable prices. Set meal for two included seaweed soup, mixed rice, choice of drinks (we chose lychee and bubble tea), and several delicious entrees.

At the last minute, I accepted an invitation for an alumni dinner at Yixin Restaurant, which has been around for quite some time in Hong Kong, its survival no doubt due to its consistently delicious Cantonese fare.

On my last day, I went for xiao long bao one more time, at Wu Kong Shanghai Restaurant. We also had some popular Shanghai-region dishes, such as Shanghai fried rice cake and yu xiang qie zi (eggplant with minced pork). The xiao long bao here were the best I’ve had outside of China.

Although the trip was short and sweet, I know I’ll be returning to Hong Kong for more. 香港真是一个美食宝地！

Adorned in soft pastel tones, comfy high-backed seats, crisp white tablecloths, and with a warm light descending from ornate chandeliers, this intimate restaurant is more akin to a king’s palatial tearoom. Source: Time Out

I couldn’t have described it better myself. Service is extremely attentive, among the best I’ve experienced in Singapore. They also happen to have delicious Thai food, the kind that will be featured in recurring dreams afterward (I should know).

Pandan chicken is well-seasoned and very tender. Fantastic with the sweet Thai sauce.

The menu called this “Shrimp with coconut strips” but it did not prepare us for what came out. It was more like shrimp cake, with coconut strands in the batter, but after frying, there was no fragrance from the coconut at all, which was a little disappointing. The shrimp cake was executed well but the batter itself was just average.

Traditional duck in red curry is the dish that I dreamed about after my first visit, and was the object of my return visit. The first time we had it, the duck was tender and succulent. There were also many ingredients in the curry that surprised and delighted us, like pineapples and grapes for a sweet taste. The second time we ordered this dish, the duck was tough to chew and the vegetables in the curry were under-cooked. The curry paste itself was good, but overall the dish was a bit disappointing.

Pad thai came with truly enormous prawns, that were less appetizing in real life than in photos. The pad thai itself was very well executed though, with a harmonious blend of sweet and sour.

Custard with roasted pumpkin and ice cream was a unique dessert that initially surprised my taste buds, but after I got used to the custard-pumpkin combination, I really liked it. The ice cream, on the other hand, was supposedly vanilla but had a very bizarre after taste that made me think there had been an herb of some sort mixed into the vanilla.

Thai iced tea here is the best I’ve ever had. It is vaguely like bubble tea in that it’s black tea with milk and sugar syrup, but it is so much better than that.

This is a rather pricey joint if you have frequent Thai cravings like me, but I would definitely want to come back to try more of their menu. In future, I might only come for dinners as I have reason to suspect their chef skills are better for dinner than for lunch.

Rating:

Service was attentive and the food arrived quickly.

The “mystery” white fish sashimi tasted like sea perch, luscious and soft. Presentation was average, the slices could have been thinner and cleaner. There was a hint of ammonia in the aftertaste, but Toronto isn’t exactly a fishing village.

The eggplant appetizer was drenched in a delicious house sauce, although the eggplants themselves were quite runny.

The BBQ tuna roll was delicious, although it seemed that they skipped a few steps in making the sushi rice. The sushi rice had not been cooled long enough, and the vinegar-to-rice-to-sesame-seeds ratio was off.

The giant roll really was giant. It was bursting with half a dozen ingredients, including salmon roe, avocado, tobiko, and egg. When I say bursting, I mean it literally: it was hard to eat since the ingredients kept falling out. While the roll ranked low on the authenticity scale, it ranked high on the value scale.

The katsudon arrived last. It was aromatic and mouthwatering: a huge bowl of rice topped with katsu strips, caramelized onions, scrambled eggs, and green onions. It made me wish I had ordered less so I would have more room for it.

I’ve lost the photos I took for this meal, but it is definitely a place worth returning to.

Rating:

I’m always a fan of crispy noodle bowls just because they’re fun to eat, but the vegetables were good too.

The chicken feet were cooked until they were very tender so it was easy to eat.

I’m still not sure what exactly this was, but it was quite savoury.

Crispy perfection. I didn’t find any meat in this pancake, just some dried shrimp and scallions.

This was the only disappointing dish. They could have picked better cuts of pork. The pork was also not cooked long enough. And there needed to be more black bean sauce.

This is actually a common dish in Singapore, although I’m not sure where it originated. This was a little too chunky and thick.

Har gow, tender and delicate, perfect as always.

The egg custard was good, but I thought the puff pastry could have used a bit more “puff.”

Like last time, most of the items were good, but some were so mediocre you wondered how it could have come from the same kitchen. Still, the good items seem to be consistently good, so if you know what you like, you can come back for the same thing and you won’t be disappointed.

The place was as popular as it was tiny – we weren’t the only ones who ventured out on a rainy New Years morning – but it was well worth the wait. We could tell the place had character the moment we stepped in, with exposed brick walls, broad wooden floor planks, and a faux vintage metallic ceiling.

The suckling eggs benedict (eggs benedict with pulled pork) was the best I ever had. And surprisingly, it wasn’t the eggs or the pork that made me think so, it was the biscuit.

The eggs were done perfectly so the yolk ran and was soaked up by a scrumptious biscuit, the likes of which I’ve never had before. It was surprising to find that a place that boasted meat could make such delicious carbs, and it really showed their meticulous attention to detail.

Who could say no to dessert for breakfast? But seriously, best waffles ever. The caramelized bananas were a nice touch, but the real treat was the dark chocolate in the waffles. The mixture of sweet and bitter made my taste buds beg for more.

All of it went down very well with some quality french press coffee and friendly service. Vegetarians, don’t be fooled by the meat-centric menu, a lot of it can be done without the meat². I can’t wait to return to Toronto and try something else on their menu.

Rating:

1. I am so glad Toronto Yelp finally has enough critical mass to be useful!
2. The waffles were originally supposed to come with bacon.

The wine selection was all-French, categorized by region, and I was very happy that we settled on the Gewurtzraminer.

To start, we had oysters and foie gras. It was my first time trying oyster, and I have to say, I did not like the experience. My companions told me that oysters were an acquired taste. I suspected it was a taste I would never acquire.

The foie gras was unexceptional, perhaps because I had had the best foie gras of my life at Stella. Their superiority remained unchallenged.

I asked for a traditional duck confit, although I had read rave reviews online about their alternative duck confit (shredded duck meat under a layer of mashed potato), which I had had before at Sen5es in Toronto and likened to lasagna. Not my style. The traditional duck confit here was among the best I have ever had. The meat was savoury and falling off the bones, the skin was fried to crisp perfection, and all of it swimming in the juices… oh the juices! The French really know their way around duck (and the rest of the world doesn’t eat nearly enough of it, in my opinion). The mashed potato was also exquisite, so smooth and creamy you could forget it was potato.

The rack of lamb and steak were also a hit with my companions.

For dessert, we had a delicious hazelnut mousse cake and a sweet dessert wine.

I confess, I want to go back immediately and try their other entrees, like the pork neck or beef cheeks. The only obstacle? The price. Oh, and the fact that the washroom is outside the restaurant and down the hall, which is shared by the McDonald’s next door. Classy.

Rating:

Lunch at a Chinese restaurant near work.

I didn’t get pictures of our first dinner, which was at Jumbo Seafood Restaurant and included such memorable dishes as the jumbo chili crab, deep-fried beancurd, steamed fish, liang ban jellyfish, prawns with cabbage, and seafood fried rice.

Dinner at Otto, an upscale Italian restaurant, the next night.

Dinner at an Italian pizza joint.

Dinner at Stella, a fine-dining establishment on the 62 floor of a building downtown. One floor up is the world’s highest al-fresco bar, with stunning views of downtown Singapore.

I’ve never enjoyed foie gras, but these were quite good, and the pastry was unbelievably light.

These were the best maki rolls I have ever had. The combination of flavours and textures was almost overwhelming.

The scallops unfortunately tasted a bit funny to me, probably because they’re not fresh enough. The prawns in the risotto was overcooked, while the risotto itself (the rice grains) were undercooked. The cream base was quite good though.

The desserts were to die for. The creme brulee was just perfect, with bits of macadamia on top. My favourite was the hazelnut mousse, although the toffee cake and pistachio tart were both surprisingly good – both were a little bit different than the norm. I was impressed by the creative use of ingredients.