Ichiban Sushi @ Plaza Singapura

Ichiban Sushi has a about 8 branches around different parts of Singapore. They provide fresh sashimi, sushi from Nigiri, Temaki handroll to the unusual Kaminabe paper steamboat, hot-pots and other palatable varieties that sure to capture the tastebubs of you and your family members/friends.

Since it is during lunch hour, I ordered one of their lunch special called "Nikotofu Gozen" at S$16.90 per set. This set consists of Beet & Tofu in Hotpot, Teriyaki (Honey Sesame) Chicken Don, Assorted Seafood Tempura, a bowl of Miso soup and slice fruits.

Their Teriyaki Chicken Don that comes with the above set taste great and the chicken is not overcooked and too dry when consumed. The teriyaki sauce is goes well with the rice and it's not too sweet/salty.

The Beef & Tofu hotpot is being cooking in flavourful broth with tender beef slices, tofu and egg. The mixture is being cooked over a small flame below the hotpot and the dish is kept hot to maintain it's flavour. Em... but personally, I find the broth a bit too salty if it is to eat alone without the rice.

Lastly we choose this for our dessert...... I remember clearly during my late teens to early twenties, Fiesta is one of the early pioneer Japanese restaurants established in 1991 that introducing sushi on conveyor belt. As most of my classmate and I are a big fan of their Fiesta cheesecake we will always get together to patronise their restaurant to eat their cheesecake. And today, Rey and I are so happy to see the new version of this "Mini Fiesta" Cheesecake which is fluffy and light to it's taste and it is available on Ichiban Sushi conveyor belt @ S$2.10 each.

The Pasta Shop By Sakae

The Pasta Shop at Wheelock Place branch is one of the sister company own by the popular sushi chain restaurant - Sakae Sushi. Since we are at Orchard area doing our last minutes Christmas Gifts shopping, we decided to pop-in and to try some of their chef recommended items.

As readers of my blogs, you will know that I simply love all kinds of soup. So whenever I visit any restaurant, I will sure order one of their soup. For today, I ordered their Clam Chowder soup which cost around S$7.90 per bowl. The texture of the soup was great and i not over powder by the taste of the clam chowder. And the bread sticks goes just well with the soup so I guess this is worth trying :)

We ordered two plates of pasta dish, one is the TPS Carbonara served in Wafu cream sauce with crispy bacon and sunny-side up egg. The taste of the sauce was great, it was slightly infused with the fragrance of the bacon and left it with a kind of smokey taste. The sunny-side up egg is so nicely done that it adds extra points to the dish as well as the overall appearance.

Rey choose this "Japanese Style - Braised Five Flower Pork Burger" from the menu list because he was aiming at the fries and bread......... While I was eying on the "Braised Pork Belly". When the manager placed the burger on the table, we will so shock. The burger was "HUGE", it was about 1.5 times or slightly bigger than the usual fast food burger that we use to have. The homemade bread was soft and nice, but we still find that the braised pork can be more soften as in and full of that special favour that melt in the mouth.

There are really too many selection to choose from the menu, so after much thinking and selecting, we settle for this chef recommendation of the Japanese Style Tsuyu Cream Sauce with Sea Urchin, Salmon Roe and Squid topped with extra shredded nori sheet. The waitress was very kind and thoughtful that she actually let us know before confirming our order that the 3 main ingredients are all RAW. Personally, this is our very first time trying out Sea Urchin(also known as Uni), and the most challenging part is we have to eat this raw........ But at least, we took the courage to try it out and it has a very strong aroma and taste which might not be acceptable by most people.

As for refreshing, we ordered a cup of coffee and this Yuzu Ice Blended. Yuzu (柚子) has an aromatic zest that is used for garnishing some dishes or bakes while its juice is commonly used as a seasoning, somewhat like the way the lemon is used in other cuisines. This Yuzu Ice Blended has a very refreshing and fragrance taste that can "washed" away the grease of those creamy pasta and pork belly that we consumed :p And they also topped this drink with some fresh cut Aloe Vera to enhance the texture.

If love western pasta, you might wish to give this Japanese-style pasta shop a visit and try out their way of preparing these mouth-watering pasta dishes.

Swenses Ice Cream & Dessert Buffet

Recently at our visit to ION Orchard, we will given a leaflet each from some of the Swensens staffs. But at a glance we didn't notice anything unusual on it maybe because we have just finished our lunch. The leaflet is something about Ice-cream.... and it says ALL YOU CAN EAT!!!!!

Until today I was caught up with this cute advertisement on TODAY newspaper then I realised about this EAT ALL YOU CAN ICE-CREAM & DESSERT Buffer exclusively only at Swensens, ION Orchard. So all the Ice-Cream lover, don't miss out this Special Offer @ ION where you can sample around 50 flavor of ice-cream at the price of S$19++

Other than the above advertisement from the Newspaper, I also saw this On-line promotion from the Great Deals Singapore website. You can take a look at the site if you are interested for their 1-for-1 Ice Cream & Dessert Buffet which valid till 30 September 2009.

Takoyaki @ Tsukiji Gindaco

Takoyaki is a popular Japanese dumpling made of batter, diced or whole baby octopus, tempura scraps, pickled ginger and green onion. It is then topped with okonomiyaki sauce, mayonnaise and katsuobushi flakes.

Takoyaki Gindaco has come all the way from Japan to Singapore. They has more than 300 stalls all across Japan that served takoyaki ball, yakisoba and macha drinks. So be prepared to wait, as there is always a indefinite queue at the new outlet located in Basement 4, ION Orchard. But lucky today, we managed to get our food in less than 15 minutes despite of the long queue.

Tsukiji Gindaco has many choices of menu in Japan, you can take a look at the link provided (here). We have only one and only favour in Singapore and the Takoyaki are fried till outer crust is golden brown like shown in the picture above.

We ordered the Takoyaki & Macha Drink set which cost S$6.00 rather than the Takoyaki itself which is S$4.80(for 6 dumplings). The cold Japanese Macha drink is great, it's really thick and full of flavour. It is pure green tea without even a hint of sugar. I find that this Macha drink taste best when chill and it's really a great drink to go with these Takoyaki. Do grab a set of this when you drop by ION basement 4.... it's worth queuing if you love Takoyaki.

Modern Peking Duck

Peking Duck is always one of the most popular dish to be ordered in most of the Chinese Restaurant in Singapore. The dish is famous for it's thin, crispy skin, with authentic versions of the dish serving mostly the skin and little meat, sliced in front of the diners. It is often wrapped with egg crepes, spring onions, and hoisin sauce. But now instead of spending $60+ and above to have 10 over pieces of these Peking Duck parcels served in the restaurants. You can simply get a box of 5 pieces Peking Duck Parcels @ S$6.00 at the ION Basement 4, Food Mall.

Other than the Peking Duck, they also has another Hot item call "The Big Pig" which is the roasted pig cost S$6.00 for 200g and it is served in a box with sweet dark sauce and chilli sauce. Although this is different from the Suckling Pig which taste much better, but it is still worth trying if you love those crispy and crunchy skin........

The store here at ION is owned by the "Toh Family", under the Yan Chuan Roaster brand name whom has been in the roast meats business for more than 30 years. From then news report, the branch can sell up to a maximum of 3 roasted pig a day since opening. Since we are early that day, we managed to capture a photo of the Whole Roasted Pig before being chopped into serving pieces........

And since, it near to lunch hours, the kitchen stuffs are busying slices the Peking Duck skin and wrapped it with the egg crepes and brushed with hoisin sauce.