Wednesday 14 October 2009

Moriya Japanese Cuisine

Saw a food review on this Japanese Bento stall known as "Moriya" in this week "U Weekly(优1周) - 201". This stall is located in a coffee shop at Block 417, Yishun Ave 11. They offer a wide range of Japanese Cuisine from Bento set, Ramen to Omelette Rice which you will sure to find something that suits your taste-buds for the day. Since our family loves Japanese Cuisine, we decided to give this stall a try.

Moriya, occupied a corner at one end of the coffee shop. The stall is nicely decorated with a Japanese-style outlook and they even has a glass-panel that allow customers to have a clear view of what is going on in their kitchen. We reached the area around 7pm and upon looking at the stall from far, I am already attracted by it's layout and food menu. So without much delay, we decided to settle for these two items on their menu list.

We order a set of "Yakiniku Beef Set" which is worth for it's cost at S$5.70. It consists generous amount of Yakiniku Beef which is very soft and tender and it also gives a very fragrance aroma which I believed is sesame oil and spring onion. This Yakiniku Beef Set served with a good portion of seasoned Green Soy Bean(Edamame), Japanese short-grain rice, Chuka Wakame (seaweed salad) and a bowl of hearty Miso soup.

Other than bento set, we also order a bowl of "Mixed Seafood Ramen" which cost S$7.90 and you can have 3 Half-shell Scallop, 2 medium size Prawn, a decent piece of grill salmon and half a portion of Japanese-style soft-boiled egg. So far, this is can be consider as a decent bowl of good Ramen for a non Japanese restaurant standard. We love the soup base which is very light, fresh sweet in taste. Although the soup do taste sweet but I think it's not from the added MSG as we don't feel any thirsty after taking the food.

They about more than 10 different varieties of Ramen in the stall that you will sure to find something you prefer. As for the Ramen, they also provide a very special Chilli Paste which we love it. Their Chilli paste taste sort of like our "Belacan Chilli" but with extra ingredients that is great to add into the Ramen soup base.Posted by Picasa


Sunday 11 October 2009

Curry On @ Toh Yi Drive

There are so many different stalls and restaurants selling their own version of "Indian Curry" around Singapore range from Hawker Center, CoffeeShop, Food Mall to well-known Restaurants at "Little Indian" near Serangoon area. But no matter which place you like to patronize, there must be something interesting that caught your attention. Today, we are going to try this newly open stall called "CURRY ON!" which is located in a Coffee Shop at Toh Yi Drive. (about 5 - 8 minutes walks from Bukit Timah Community Club)

This is a very special food sampling outing that I have done so far. It starts about two weeks ago when I received an email from the stall owner, Mr Anil who personally invite me to go for a food sampling at his newly set up stall. I was overwhelming by his invitation and at the same time very excited in doing my very first food sampling through an invitation. Furthermore, I have being in love with Mutton Curry since young under my dad influences. So this invitation is indeed a "Bonus Treat" for me to eat my favourite food and do a write up to share our view on the food sampling.

"CURRY ON!" is located in one of the stall in 7th Miles Coffeeshop at Block 18, Toh Yi Drive. Kiren(Anil's sister) together with her mum(the chef of the stall) and her aunty will usually get all the dishes ready by 10.30 am. Anil starts this stall with the intention to feature his mum's SPECIAL RECIPES in making her very own 3 unique curry dishes which are prepared traditionally from scratch. So come, let me share with you what are the dishes that they have in their menu ..........

After having a short conversation with Kiren, she asked us to take a seat while she get ready the food for us. The first dish that is being serve on the table is their special "Briyani"that comes with a portion of their homemade salad and papadum. Kiren share with us that the Briyani are made using
host of spices, Pandan leaves, Rose water and Ghee . The moment I saw the Briyani, I knew that I would love it because of it's vibrant colour combination. The rice itself is very fragrant, my mum and I both agreed that it taste sort of like the Hainanese chicken rice due to the ingredients like Pandan Leave, Ginger and Garlic. This Briyani is very different from the usual type that we had from other stalls, which you usually will find some trace of nuts, raisin, cloves and etc. But the one here that serves at Curry On! is definitely something worth to try and you will be surprised by it. The small setback that my mum feels is that if the rice can be a bit less greasy it will be Great to go along with the curry sauce.........

After the rice, let's proceed to the STARS of the menu. First to be on the list will be their Chicken Curry, you might be shock or backoff by the colour of the gravy which is very "RED" at first sight. Upon seeing this I check with Kiren will the taste of the curry be "VERY SPICY" because I am afraid that we might not be able to take the SPICY level :) She explained to us that it all depend on individual, some of her customers feel that the spicy level is just to their liking while others might have range it as too hot. So we take our courage to try and to our surprised, even though the colour might look "fiery" the taste was great, the spicy level is just nice for us, overall the chicken and gravy are very fragrant due to the "Spring Onion Paste".

We were all so curious to learn more from Kiren on using Spring Onion paste to whip up this special Chicken Curry. As you can see from the photo, there is still traces of chopped Spring Onion in the curry sauce. So if you like chicken + spicy curry, then don't hesitate, come and try this Chicken Curry which goes well with the Briyani rice or some French Baguette.

Next is my favourite Mutton Chop Curry which is the "Signature Dish"of the stall. According to Kiren, the mutton chops are marinated with spices before cooking. The curry is infuse with great aroma that serves with generous pieces of Mutton Chops and potato chunks. I love the consistency of the gravy which is just nice to act as a dipping sauce for bread such as French Baguette or even Roti Prata. This dish is very well mask-up with the use of spices that even my mum who don't take Mutton because of it "smells" takes her courage to try and give thumb up for this dish.

Lastly comes the Mutton Rib Dalcha (Lamb in Lentil Sauce) which is more diluted for its' gravy. This curry is cooked using very little of coconut milk, assam and lentils. To me, this curry is taste sort of like spicy, tangy and you can even drink it like one of those "Tom Yam Soup". Although Mum and D comments that the ribs are rather a bit tough for their liking compare to the Mutton Chop and Chicken. I was not in line with them, I find that the ribs is great because of the chewing texture maybe it is due to my liking for ribs.

Afterall, this is really a very great experience of food sampling for curry lover like us. So if you are staying around Bukit Timah or Toh Yi Drive area, maybe you would like to pop by one of these day any try out their very own Homemade Curry Delights that will spice up your tastebuds. We really thanks and appreciate Anil for his compliment of the above dishes and Kiren for her warm serving and sharing with us on the preparation of kitchen tales.

Note:
~ The operating hours are:-
Monday to Sunday from 10.30am - 8.30pm
(Rest on Alternate Monday)

~ Recommending Dish:-
According to Anil, their Chicken Curry is very popular with customers who don't take mutton. And I must comment that their Chicken Curry gravy is very special with the refreshing aroma from the Spring Onion Paste.



ABC Brickworks Food Centre

ABC Brickworks Food Centre is located in Bukit Merah District. According to some google search that I have made, this placed used to be the site of a brewery in the 1930s. And the ABC food center got its' name from the Archipelago Brewery Company which was set up in Alexandra road in 1931.

I got to know this place from the food review introduction by "U-weekly - 优1周" magazine on their 196 issues in September 2009 on Penang Laksa - 槟城辣沙. I remember there used to be a Penang Laksa stall near our area many years back and I still can re-called the taste of it's sweet and spicy soup.

Today, based on the information given in the magazine, we managed to find Jason Penang Cuisine which is located at #01-113 in the ABC food center. The signboard and colour of the stall was kind of attractive in "Bright Yellow" colour as it easily caught our attention. After finding a good place to settle down, I went forward to take a look at their menu on what are their speciality.

Although from the photo, you might not find the dish as appetising as it look, but when you give it a try, you might like it according to your preference. To me, the soup is still not to the standard that I expected it to be. But overall, you still can give it try for the small size portion. Other than their famous Penang Laksa, I also saw some good reviews on their Penang Cha Kuey Tiao. Maybe we might give it a try next round when we visit this market again.....


Walking around the food center, we spot this Western cuisine stall known as "WOW WOW WEST" where they have this HUGE Cheese Sausage that caught our attention. The atmposher of the stall makes me feel like I am having western food in a foreign country...... Look at the texture of the cross section of the cross section of the sausage, isn't it look great!

Wow Wow West
Unit number: #01-133

Other than their signature Pork Cheese Sausage, they also have a good range of Western set dishes like, Chicken Chop, Chicken Cutlet, Pork chops, Steaks, Fish N Chips and etc. We saw that most of the table around the stall are having Chicken Chop, so without hesitate we also order a plate of it which is served with huge portion of chicken cutlets, crinkle-cut fries, beans and salad. The chicken cutlet is well cooked and it is drenched in a tasty black pepper sauce that left you to crave for more.

For those who stays or work around this area, I am sure you have tried most of their dishes and agreed that the portion is really huge to be handle by one person :)

Wednesday 7 October 2009

Hearty Sakae Dinner

Tonight Grandma is not preparing any dinner as she is caught up with some church activities. On the other hand, Rey was excited as he can look forward to grab some of his favourite snack outside rather than his usual meal. But we were rather too tired to think of where to go for dinner after a long day at work. So Rey suggest that he wanted to eat his favourite Sakae Sushi...........

As I still have some credit in my Sakae Card, we decided to head for Sushi Dinner as what Rey has suggested. We reached there about 8pm and Rey is already too hungry to wait for his favourite Tamago to be "appear" on the conveyor belt. So he starts off with 2 plates of his 2nd favourite on the list - "Kanikama"(which is sushi rice topped with cooked imitation crabmeat)

While waiting for our orders to be served, we kick off with this little treat before meal. Initially I thought of getting the Lychee flavour which we had previously, but it's not available today. So the waitress recommend us to try this Strawberry flavour instead. Overall it still taste great but I still prefer the Lychee Flavour maybe due to it's light and refreshing fragrant :)

Everyone of us loves the Gari(Ginger Pickle) that is available in Sakae. It is say that these ginger pickle is used to freshen the palate between sushi bites as well as aids the body in digestion. I love the sweet and sour taste that goes well especially with salmon and deep-fry stuffs. So next round when you are in Sakae or any Japanese Restaurant do look-up for this special little treat that you might fall in love with.

Tonight we are not having any sushi other than Rey's having his Kanikama. I order Tempura Udon because I feel like having something soupy rather than rice and Rey also can have one of his Tempura Prawn (天婦羅) to go with his sushi.

On and off I do see people ordering this Salmon Don which is a bowl of sushi rice top with generous amount of fresh Salmon slices, cucumber, lemon and a spoonful of Fish roes and some nori strips. This set cost S$7.99 comes with a bowl of Miso Soup which is great for it's value.


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