The Baker goes BKK: Fuji Japanese Restaurant

Anyone who has been to Bangkok will probably know of this place. One of the Japanese sushi chains where you can get quality food at Bangkok prices.

We had a Maguro Tataki. Raw slices of tuna dressed in a Thai dressing which was rather spicy.

Ordered a deluxe sashimi boat; there were maguro, salmon, mackerel, octopus, crabstick and scallop. All thickly sliced and fresh. Even their wasabi was freshly grated, and was rather spicy. All these for only SGD30+. I think this would cost at least SGD50 back in Singapore.

California Roll.

We ordered a bento set, which came with grilled prawns and some asparagus as well.

Salmon rolls.

Fried chicken which was part of the bento set. This was quite aromatic and crispy.

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The Baker goes BKK: Ban Khun Mae

Last came here 3 years back when I was in Bangkok, and visited this place twice because I liked the food here. Located opposite the Novotel hotel at Siam Square, I'm back again this time.

Inside the setting is rather traditional; some of the tables are made of old-fashioned sewing machines.

Well, we were so hungry, we dug in without taking a shot first, so here's a half eaten Tom Yum Goong. Full of seafood; and the spiciness was just right.

Green curry with chicken. The curry was creamy, and you can taste the sinful aroma of coconut milk. The chicken pieces were tender enough. I always love green curry with rice; makes you eat the rice non-stop.

Otah fishcake. These were pretty good. It was soft on the inside and pretty tasty.

Prawns steamed in coconut milk.

Fried mixed vegetables. Pretty normal stuff here.

Pad Thai. I think this was good. You don't get the queasy feeling like that from the Thai Express version, which can be a little too sweet sometimes. The noodles were thin and soft, but not overcooked.

Pineapple rice. The rice was a little dry in my opinion, but as usual, the nuts gave it additional flavours.

Desserts are a must here, as they are pretty authentic, and way better than what you get in Singapore. The red ruby here are practically large pieces of chestnuts covered thinly with the chewy exterior.

Thai Tapioca. Slightly too sweet, but the whole piece was very soft. Sinfully good.

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Wah Lok Cantonese Restaurant (2nd visit)

Back to Wah Lok for a quick lunch on one afternoon.

One of the perennial orders - Har Gao.

And Siew Mai...

My favorite steamed carrot cake and prawn rice rolls.

It was close to the dumpling festival, and we were recommended this limited edition dumpling which was probably twice the size of the usual ones. It contains pork, duck, mung beans and chestnuts. It came served with sugar and soy sauce, and you choose which you prefer to dip in. In fact, the dumpling itself was quite bland. I personally preferred dipping it the soy sauce. This was quite filling, hence we only ordered so few dishes this time.

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Fremantle Seafood Market

Had supper at Fremantle Seafood Market over at Clarke Quay. We chose the indoor seats, although there were outdoor seats where you can indulge in alcohol. Do note that indoor area may not open till late; we were told it closes at 10pm, but we still saw people streaming indoors around 10pm.

We ordered our drinks - I had the Mai Tai which was basically a rum cocktail, while SparklingOrStill had his ginger beer.

We ordered the Frolic platter for 2. This was huge and took up almost all the space on our little table. It consisted of shrimps, mussels, jellyfish, oysters, sashimi, squid, smoked salmon, smoked trout, olives, mozarella-stuffed tomatoes. All the seafood were very fresh, although SparklingOrStill thinks the oysters weren't that good. I seldom eat oysters, so am no expert here.

We ordered the grilled fish to share. Herein lies the problem - we have no idea if this fish is barramundi or white hamachi. We had a pretty blur waiter who recommended barramundi, but we chose hamachi in the end. But when the bill came, it stated barramundi instead. Nonetheless, we loved this dish. The fish was succulent, tender and sweet. It came on a bed of mashed potatoes and sauteed lotus roots and carrots. The lotus roots were crunchy and a unique side you seldom see.

I love escargots, so we ordered one. I would prefer it to be served in its shell, but here, they served it on toast with butter, herbs and pine nuts. It was still good and very buttery. The escargot did feel a little small, though.

We heard the fish and chips were good too, so we ordered to share. Indeed, the fish was also very fresh and flaky. The batter did not have any 'oily' smell to it. The chips were good; they were not over-fried and you can taste the potato within each chip.

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记得吃

Popped by Ji De Chi at Liang Seah Street. I think they have an outlet along Upper Cross Street too.

The first time I came here I had their shaved ice which I think was great. This time I took the hot milk pudding. The pudding a fairly strong taste of milk and was not too sweet. I think it was pretty good here, although still not enough to beat what I had in Hong Kong.

When I was in Hong Kong, I had a dessert which consisted of black glutinous rice and a piece of fresh mango fruit dunked in it. While the combination seemed weird, the sweetness of the black glutinous rice and the slight tang of the mango went well together.

Upon seeing this being served here albeit wrapped in green tea mochi, I decided to try it. The mochi was not overly chewy and the whole combination complemented itself well. I do wish they served what I had in Hong Kong though.

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Lai Lai Casual Dining

After a failed attempt to have lunch at Nando's, we popped over to Lai Lai at Liang Seah Street. This place has been around for more than 5 years, and should be testament to its food.

We both ordered similar set meals, which came with a side dish of your choice per set. We took the tofu with century egg and pork floss. The sauce was quite thick, making the whole dish pretty savoury.

We also took the salted fried chicken. I thought this was a little dry. I think the one at one of the stalls over at Bugis Village fared better.

Our main which was Taiwan Beef Noodles. The soup was a little salty but it had the strong taste of spices and herbs. The beef was tender enough and the noodles were just right. Lai Lai still keeps its standard after so long.

The meal comes also with bubble tea.

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Contemporary Melting-Pot Bar

Although I had read about this place, it was my first time coming here since it's pretty inaccessible without a car.

What better way to live the life of my boss than having alcohol in the middle of the day? So I ordered myself a Mojito. Usual price was $14, but lunch time was happy hour so it costs only $10.

I ordered the CM-PB Burger which was wagyu beef patty, with bacon, caramelized onions, lettuce and onions. The beef patty was juicy and aromatic. Fries was not over-fried and just right. The seasoning on the fries also made it pretty tasty.

They were stacked so high the fries were covered when photographed from the side.

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RamenPlay

RamenPlay is part of the BreadTalk group; I have never quite fancied any of the restaurants under this group, but I'll give this a go..

Tried the Tonkatsu Karaage Ramen. You don't get to choose the soup base, so am not sure what the soup base is, but I think should be shoyu. The pork was a little dry and thin. Noodles might have been a little overcooked as they are not springy enough; in fact, they remind me of cook-yourself ramen packs found in supermarkets.

They serve pork cheek here too, so I decided to try one and see how it stacks up to Santouka's. Well, they were comparable in terms of tenderness but seemed to have a stronger pork taste. Compared to Santouka's, these were a little more moist; more like they were braised. These were good, but personally, I prefer Santouka's.

These eggs while not totally cooked, still fails for being not being gooey enough.

Chicken balls in takoyaki sauce, which were soft and moist inside, but overall nothing special here.

やっぱりBreadTalkが関係の店が全然好きではなっかたね。。。

Since the ramen failed to satisfy, we ended off with a tea break at Fruits Paradise, where I took the Mixed Berries Chocolate Tart. $9.80++ with choice of coffee, tea or soft drink.

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Santouka Ramen

Santouka Ramen hails from Hokkaido and has many outlets spread across Japan. I remembered reading about this place, but have never came here until today, but this is probably the best place thus far for tonkotsu ramen.

I took the Tokusen Toroniku Ramen, which supposedly had limited orders available per day. I have no idea why the ingredients are all served separately here, but who cares so long as the food is great, right? The egg was an extra side order and not included in the default set.

I love these eggs, and would always order one when I can. This one passes my taste test. It was well marinated, and the yolk is certainly still gooey-liciously good!

For soup base, you can choose the usual Shio, Shoyu or Miso. I took the miso which was great and the pork taste was not too overbearing. My partner took the Shio and while he liked his, the porky taste was too much for my personal preference. The texture of the ramen was close to that of Marutama's - al dente and springy - and I liked it.

This is why I consider this place to have the best tonkotsu ramen (Marutama's in a different league as I always order the seven nuts soup base there.). I usually avoid Char Siu because I dislike the layers of fat. But these are apparently made from the cheeks of a pig, which is why there are limited orders a day. A connoisseur who knows his fish would probably go for the meat around a fish's cheek because it is the most tender. I guess the same goes for a pig.

These innocent looking pieces of meat have only a thin layer of fat, are extremely tender and pull apart easily as you bite into them. They are well marinated although might be a little too salty for some palates.

All taken into account, this place joins Marutama in my list of places worth returning to.

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