Nihon Mura Express (The Cathay)

Celebrated Marcus's birthday at Nihon Mura Express. But before that we baked him a Strawberry Shortcake.

It was really tiring but fun baking together and we were so glad that Marcus enjoyed the cake! It tasted good. The vanilla cake was somewhat moist with our melt-y cream and fresh strawberries.

Chawamushi- egg custard with crabmeat. It was slightly warm and quite tasty but I think Sushi Express one is slightly nicer than this.

White Clam Miso Soup. I regretted ordering it. It did not suit my taste buds but PY and Ger were okay with it. Clams were okay.

Mini California Maki- rice, cucumber, crabmeat, tamago and tobiko. I wish the maki was colder, then it would taste better. 

Ebi Fry Maki- rice, ebi, curry powder and sesame seeds. There was slight heat from the powder and bite from the ebi.

Snow Crab Gunkan- rice, seaweed, snow crab, cucumber, mayo. It was nice. A little creamy, chilled with things to chew on.

Hotate Mentai- Scallop with Cod Roe sauce. It was the best dish that I had and everyone agreed. The sauce was so yummy, creamy with tiny bits of roe and it smelled divine. 

Shishmo Karaage- Deep fried Smelt fish served with mayonnaise on the side. I love this fish, the texture is different from the kind of fish you usually eat. Instead of flesh you are eating the egg. Glad that there was mayo to help me finish the fish.

Lastly, desserts! Sorbet and gelato. I had the Matcha gelato. It was good. There was a strong Green tea taste and it was not too sweet. The Kyoho grape sorbet was sweeter than my Matcha gelato. The yuzu sorbet tasted like lemon peel. The chocolate one was good too. It was rich in chocolate but I still prefer my Matcha.

At Nihon Mura Express it's more about quantity then quality. But there are some items which are really worth $1.60.


Rate:
Chawamushi: 5.5/10 ☺
White Clam Miso Soup: 3/10 ☺
Mini California Maki: 5/10 ☺
Ebi Fry Maki: 5/10 ☺
Snow Crab Gunkan: 6/10 ☺
Hotate Mentai: 8/10 ☺
Shishmo Karaage: 6/10 ☺
Sorbet and gelato: 7/10 ☺

Ah Bong's Italian

Zq and I wanted to try Ah Bong's Italian for quite sometime and we finally managed to eat there. Ah Bong's Italian is not your usual cafe or restaurant. It's located in a coffee shop at 56 Eng Hoon street and is only opened from 10am till 2.30pm.

Mac & Cheese with Truffle oil($5 + additional $1 for Truffle oil)- pasta, bacon, mushroom and cheese sauce with truffle oil. It was not bad. At first I felt that more truffle oil could have been added but after eating a few times, I felt that the truffle oil was enough as it was not overpowering. The pasta was cooked al dente, bacon and mushroom was nice. However, I wished they had more of that yummy sauce for me to eat with my pasta. ZQ ordered some pasta(forgot the name) that had pork in it. It tasted something like chicken pork porridge in pasta form.

Earl Grey Creme Brulee($4). The egg custard texture was weird. A little like scrambled eggs. Other than that it was fine. You could taste some earl grey and the complex caramelized sugar.

While waiting for my food, I ordered Teh Ping(Ice Milk Tea-$1.30). Thinking back about my food experience at Ah Bong's Italian I might be back again but maybe to try the other stalls located there like the assam laksa.

Rate:
Mac & Cheese with Truffle oil: 7/10 ☺
Earl Grey Creme Brulee: 5/10 ☺
Ice Milk Tea: 6/10 ☺

Shinkei -CLOSED-

I wanted to eat Japanese buffet so I browse through some deals online. I actually wanted to eat at Gion but since they required booking 3 days in advance I decided to go to Shinkei. I invited Edmund and Hazel along for the buffet(my usual Japanese food cuisine buddies).

Ebi Shioyaki- Grilled Tiger Prawns. Only 1 per person. The prawn was coated with some salt. It was nicely barbecued and you could taste some grilled taste.

SHIN Sushi Set- Tuna, Salmon and Swordfish sushi. It was okay.

Sashimi Moriwase- Assorted sashimi platter consisting of salmon, tuna, octopus, yellowtail(?) and roasted salmon. Out of all the sashimi I like the octopus one the most!

Tempura Moriwase- Assorted tempura of prawn, pumpkin, carrot, fish and lady finger(?). Didn't like the fish tempura.

Ton Katsu- Fried Breaded Pork Cutlet. Hazel ordered it cause she wanted to eat tonkatsu. It was not bad. It was not tough or oily.

 

Uzura- Quail Egg. I love quail eggs! Anything quail egg is nice and you can never go wrong with ordering skewered quail eggs. Next to it was the chicken heart which Edmund ate. He felt that it was pretty tender and how some stretch but not chewy.

Shishamo Furai- Breaded Pregnant Capelin. Couldn't really taste the pregnant fish like the grilled one. Tasted more of the flour batter that covered the fish. Other than that, I think it was nicely deep fried.

Ginnan- Gingko Nuts. What can you expect from a ginko nut? Well it taste like the usual gingko nut you would normally get in your Chinese dessert. Slightly bland. it was sprinkled with salt and some bonito flakes.

Asuparagasu Be-Kon- Asparagus wrapped in Bacon. Hazel ordered it as she really wanted to try it. She kept on saying how nice it was that I decided to take a bite. From it I could taste some smoky flavour from the bacon but it was a little on the chewy side. Wish they cooked the bacon a little more. However Hazel liked it the way it was. She even ordered one more after our ice cream.

Spider Temaki- Fried Soft Shell Crab handroll. I love soft shell crab so I ordered this. It was good. Creaminess from the mayo, fishiness from the tobiko(in a good way), freshness from the cucumber and some crunch from the soft shell crab paired with sushi rice and seaweed. (Wished I had ordered more of it)

Spider Maki- Fried Soft Shell Crab matt sushi roll. 1 serving is 2 sushi roll. It was quite nice. Crunchy and quite flavourful. I ordered like 3 portions in total. 

Hiyashi Chuka Ramen- Cold Ramen. Wanted to try the cold ramen because that time I went with Edmund to Japanese Curry Express and their cold ramen which had a similar name tasted really refreshing and nice. However this was below my expectation. There was too much sauce which overpowered my tastebud so Edmund had to force it down his stomach. However the ramen was cooked al dente.

Ice Lemon Tea. The normal lemon tea you usually drink. The green tea was unsweetened so I got the ice lemon tea instead which had sugar. Can't stand cold unsweetened green tea.

Matcha Ice Cream- The buffet does not include any dessert. But if you post a picture on instagram and follow their account you can get a free ice cream. It was a nice way to end our meal.

I think Shinkei offers a buffet with food that taste slightly better than some Japanese buffet that I have went to at a reasonable price. I wouldn't mind going back again.

Rate:
Ebi Shioyaki: 7/10 ☺

SHIN Sushi Set: 5/10 ☺

Sashimi Moriwase: 6/10 ☺

Tempura Moriwase: 6/10 ☺

Ton Katsu: 6.5/10 ☺

Uzura: 7/10 ☺

Shishamo Furai: 5/10 ☺

Ginnan: 5.5/10 ☺

Asuparagasu Be-Kon: 5.5/10 ☺

Spider Temaki: 7.5/10 ☺

Spider Maki: 7/10 ☺

Hiyashi Chuka Ramen: 5/10 ☺

Ice Lemon Tea: 6/10 ☺

Matcha Ice Cream: 6.5/10 ☺

Working Title

Went with zq to working title at around 12pm+. It was kinda awkward maybe because there were only a few people. Anyway, you enter the shop, get a seat and then walk to the front to get the menu.(or whichever order you want)

 

The place has nice decor like the ice cream sandwich poster.

Both of us ordered the Big Papa Rosti Burger set ($11.90)- Rosti, sandiwch between two buns with greens, cheese and tomatoes plus a side of fries and drink. The rosti wasn't nice. Maybe because it's not handmade. The fries came in a cute small tin.

For drinks, I ordered Orange juice(included in the set). It's definitely fresh orange juice as you can taste even some of the orange skin taste. Zq had Apple juice. The orange tasted better in my opinion.

Rate:

Big Papa Rosti Burger set: 5/10 ☺