Sushi Airways

Went to Sushi Airways with Zq for lunch. At the entrance it was quite awkward. We arrive around 5 minutes after their opening time and did know if they were opened. We walked up the stairs and opened the curtain to see an aircraft and a busy waitress on the phone.

What's special about this place is their theme. I like the whole aircraft feel you get when you enter the place. Even the waitress is dressed as an air stewardess. The only thing missing is the aircraft engine noise which I like absent.

Their menu. Inside it there are also pictures of different section of the plane in accordance to your meal category like for starters they will show the front of the plane. Zq and I ordered the lunch set which is available even on weekends.On the lunch menu are items such as Salmon Teriyaki, Cold Goma Soba, Kurobuta Katsu and Bara Chirashi set.

Salad. All set lunch comes with a salad, miso soup and dessert of the day. The salad surprised me as it was not stated in their menu but they did showed a picture of it. The salad was dressed with (my favourite) sesame dressing.

Miso soup which tasted tasty like what you usually get.

Airways Bara Chirashi Sushi Set ($17). A combination of chopped sashimi with shoyu wasabi over sushi rice. There were tuna, salmon, some white flesh fish, cucumber, shredded eggs and lime in the bowl. I like the sushi rice but I wished the sashimi was marinated cause it's already chopped up into small pieces so Zq and I kind of pour shoyu on top of it so that it tasted better. Sashimi standard was okay for the price I paid.

Dessert of the day was soya milk pudding, I think from what I tasted. Zq said it tasted like the premix one which was not bad, it tasted good.

Sawagani ($17)- Fresh water crabs found in Japan. This was on their special menu and we decided to order it. They were really alive before they were sent to the deep fryer. Zq saw them in a bowl moving before they met their demise. The crab was yummy. Crunchy and tasted like crab (duh! hahaha). My favourite.

Rate:
Airways Bara Chirashi Sushi Set: 6/10 ☺
Sawagani: 8.5/10 ☺

Sushi Jin

Went to Sushi Jin with Gf and Dj for lunch. All set lunch are served with salad & dessert.

Top view

Side view

Salad. Mixed salad with roasted sesame dressing and sliced cherry tomatoes.

Bara Chirashi Don ($32)- assorted sashimi cube over sushi rice. The sashimi was tasty and fresh. There was tuna, salmon, some white fish, tamago, cucumber, tobiko and ikura on top of a bed of well seasoned rice. Overall I really enjoyed it cause I LOVE ikura! Th tuna was really good as well.

Wagyu to Foie Gras Don ($39)- glazed foie gras & wagyu beef over rice. The foie gras was really good- soft and melts in your mouth. The beef on the other hand was very average. Such a big contrast. They should just have a foie gras don on its own.

Unagi Don ($29)- grilled freshwater eel over sushi rice. In case you're wondering what's the yellow strips, they're shredded tamago (eggs). There was nothing special about the eel. This dish overall was very average.

Dessert. We had watermelons, grapes and a jelly. The jelly tasted like corn jelly with waterchesnut bits.

Ebi no Mentaiko Tempura ($18)- deep fried prawn with cod roe mayo. Sounds so good- mentaiko! However it was super dissapointing. Somehow the ebi wasn't as crisp as expected maybe the mentaiko made it soggy? Mentaiko taste was not to my liking as well. Wasn't as creamy as what I wanted and was more towards the spicy side. Felt like I was eating stale crispy spikey tempura with a slightly spicy sauce and a touch of lemon. Not a nice way to end our meal.

Rate:
Bara Chirashi Don : 7.5/10 ☺
Wagyu to Foie Gras Don: 7/10 ☺
Unagi Don: 5.5/10 ☺
Ebi no Mentaiko Tempura: 5/10 ☺

Pepper Lunch (Hougang Mall)

Went to PepperLunch for the Student Meal available from 10am - 6pm on weekdays that's inclusive of a drink. There's also the normal Weekday Lunch Special from 10am to 2pm that's inclusive of a side dish and drink.

Cheese Hamburg Steak w/ Brown Sauce ($9.90)- A Japanese Classic featuring tender Australian Steaks smothered with the selection of brown sauce , and complete with a sunny side up egg. I love hearing the sizzle of the hot plate plus the fragrant aroma of the beef. Hamburg and cheese are a good combination. Mashed potatoes was smooth and buttery. Tasted a little like the one at 7-Eleven. Brown sauce was okay. For drinks I had mineral water since they didn't have Iced Lemon Tea.

Rate:
Cheese Hamburg Steak w/ Brown Sauce: 7/10 ☺

Fish & Co. (Tampines)

Went to Fish & Co. for their Student Catch at $10 nett which comprise of a main and a drink. But hey, if you're not a student there's still the normal set lunch available. I went with zq. We got a table for 2 and was given an iPad to place our orders. Wow suddenly Fish & Co. also uses iPad for ordering.

Soup of the Day (+$3.50). The soup of the day was Fish Chowder. Soup was thick and a little gooey. something like the one I had at The Mind Cafe. Tasted good, portion size was good to.

Bombay Fish & Chips- Our all-time favourite Fish & Chips with an Indian herbs-and-spicy twist. Even King Shah Ruk Khan cannot resist! Not my cup of tea. Tasted a little like some Indian fried snack that I've tried before. The fish batter was super crispy and it went well with the lime. Fries were slightly crisp on the outside yet you can taste the potato-y-ness of the fries because of the thickness.

Seafood Lunch Platter- Grilled prawns, white fish, grilled calamari and blue mussels in garlic lemon butter sauce served with mashed potato. Crispy calamari, delicious mashed potato with taste of prawn that made it OH-SO-DELICIOUS. I prefer this more than the Bombay Fish & Chips.

Rate:
Soup of the Day: 5/10 ☺
Bombay Fish & Chips: 5.5/10 ☺
Seafood Lunch Platter: 7/10 ☺

La Taperia

Went to La Taperia with gf and dj for their set lunch which is $35++ per person- Appetizer, Main and a Dessert.

Appetizers

Fried eggs with braised snails in Pedro Ximénez wine and chorizo sausage. The snails was quite similar to a mushroom in terms of taste and texture. Eggs were normal. Feels a little like breakfast.

Octopus and mussels in tomato vinaigrette with green olive and garden salad. Seen in the top left hand of the picture. I like the salad with the acidic balsamic dressing. The octopus and mussels were well cooked. There were times where I ate a flake of sea salt which made it freally salty but I still like the salad.

Red leg prawn cooked with garlic, cayenne dried chilli in Arbequina extra virgin olive oil (additional $6). It was still bubbling when they served it us. The oil had the taste of the garlic which was nice. The prawn were flavorful, sweet and juicy.

Main

Squid ink noodles paella, caramelised apple, prawn and crispy baby squid (additional $10). Angel hair noodles that had the texture similar to bee hoon. The caramelised apple were sweet and added a different feel to the savoury dish. The baby squid was really crispy, however the actual squid was like smaller then half the size of the batter. Prawn was the same. Overall it was quite nice, I like the taste of squid ink but the portion was quite small.

Grilled black angus striploin (200G) with garden salad and patatas bravas (additional $10). Steak was medium rare and well season. Salad was normal. Patatas bravas is something simliar to wedges. Served drizzled with chili sauce and something else.

Dessert

Churros with cinnamon sugar and chocolate sauce. The churros were good, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Chocolate was dark and bitter.

Crispy apple pie with almond dragée and caramel coulis (additional $2). It is super worth the additiaonal $2. Apple pie was crispy with thin crust.  The almond dragee provided a nice extra sweet crunch and the caramel coulis was good too. It all complemented each other well.

Side Order

We also ordered some extra orders. Croquetas de Jamón($15- 4 pieces)-  Croquette of suckling pig bechamel and jamón ibérico. Jamón refers to ham in spanish. The croquette was crispy on the outside and smooth on the inside like mashed potatoes. The croquette had a strong smoked taste due to the ham.

Croquetas de Pescado($15- 4 pieces)- Croquette of seafood bechamel with shrimp and scallop. Exactly the same as the previous croquette except that instead of a smooth paste inside it had chunks of seafood. Taste very similar to a sweet potato croquette.

Rollito de Jamón Relleno de Calamar ($16)- Squid wrapped with jamón ibérico a la plancha, served with fresh lime. It had a strong smoky taste with a mild chared flavor. It was a little to salty and strong for my liking. However gf liked it.

Rate:
Fried eggs with braised snails : 6/10 ☺
Octopus and mussels and garden salad: 7.5/10 ☺
Red leg prawn: 7/10 ☺
Squid ink noodles paella: 7/10 ☺
Grilled black angus striploin: 7/10 ☺
Churros with cinnamon sugar and chocolate sauce: 6/10 ☺
Crispy apple pie with almond dragée and caramel coulis: 9/10 ☺
Croquetas de Jamón: 5.5/10 ☺
Croquetas de Pescado: 6/10 ☺
Rollito de Jamón Relleno de Calamar: 5/10 ☺

Monochrome Fusion Bistro

Came to Monochrome Bistro with Zq for Monobistro's weekly lunch set ($15.90++) from 11am to 3pm.

Here in this restaurant everything is decorated in black and white. 

Taken from their facebook page

Soup of the Day was Onion Soup. The hearty onion soup was flavourful. The onions inside were tenderly soft. A nice start to our meal. The server was also friendly, asking us how our meal was after each course (but we both think that he kind of overdid it).

Main Course Chef's Selection there were 3 options but I forgot what they were. For me I chose the Prawn Linguine Pasta in Pesto Tomato Sauce. In the tomato sauce there were hints of pesto flavors. The pasta could be cooked a little bit more. Prawns were most likely frozen ones. Shimeji mushrooms was well cooked. 

Dessert is either Vanilla Oreo or Black Sesame Ice Cream. I had the Vanilla Oreo which is always the safest options. It tasted like cookies & cream. For the Black Sesame, it tasted a little like eating Mua Chee. Lucky I chose the Vanilla Oreo. Dessert was the only item that hit their theme of black and white.

Taken from their fb page

We also ordered their Signature Thai Sauce Coated House Wings which are going for $0.50 per piece. We ordered 2 pieces each (regretted not ordering 4 each instead). They were really good. Juicy chicken wings with a crispy crunchy coating and topped off with a sweet Thai sauce that makes you go back for more.

Rate:
Onion Soup: 7/10 ☺
Prawn Linguine Pasta in Pesto Tomato Sauce: 5/10 ☺
Vanilla Oreo Ice Cream: 6/10 ☺
Black Sesame Ice Cream: 5/10 ☺
Signature Thai Sauce Coated House Wings: 9/10 ☺

GastroSmiths

GastroSmiths started out with a simple menu selling sandwiches and cakes which were all made fresh. But with its rising success they decided to rebrand themseves and started to offer a full dining menu that is influenced by mostly French, Japanese and Italian.

Zq and I came here for their weekday set lunch promotion. 3 courses at $18.90++

Taken from their Facebook page

Each week they offer 1 item from seafood and 1 item from meat which you can choose. The day we came, they had smoked salmon sandwich and steak frites. We obviously chose the steak.

Soup of the Day was Tomato Soup. It was good. Thin consistency, tomatoe-y flavor with a bread on the side. But I'm not fan of tomato soup so I didn't finish it.

Steak Frites. We had ours medium rare. It was well seasoned, juicy and quite easy to chew. Shoestring fries were crispy and sprinkled with salt and pepper. It was a little too salty. Zq love the steak.

Pastry of the Day was Olive Cake with Pistachio and Vanilla Ice Cream. Cake was slightly dense, the pistachio added crunch and the ice cream provided coolness and sweetness. My ice cream fell but nonetheless it still taste good.

We also ordered Caramelized French Brie ($9.50). 3 slices of Brie on a soft, fluffy bread, topped off with brown sugar and torched till caramelized. The Brie had a very mild blue cheese taste which went well with the caramelized sugar.

The server there was really knowlegdeable, friendly and even joked around.

Rate:
Tomato Soup: 6/10 ☺
Steak Frites: 7/10 ☺
Olive Cake with Pistachio and Vanilla Ice Cream: 6.5/10 ☺
Caramelized French Brie: 6.5/10 ☺

Shin-Sapporo Ramen (Tampines)

Went with Nia to Shin-Sapporo Ramen for lunch because Nia was craving for ramen.

Both Nia and I ordered the lunch set. Eugenia order Set 1- Menchi Ramen with Shin-Sapporo Gyoza ($11.80+$3) while I ordered Set 4- Karaage Curry Rice with Shin-Sapporo Gyoza ($13.80+$3). Both of us upsized (+$3) to regular size as the waitress told us that the serving were actually mini size.

I got the Hot Tea. Your usual unsweetened green tea. Nia had Cold Tea which was the same tea except served cold. Somehow I felt that the cold tea tasted more bitter.

Salad- shredded cabbage, cherry tomato with sesame dressing. All vegetable with this sesame dressing always taste good.

Karaage Curry Rice. Plain rice served with sweet curry and topped with garlic flavored chicken. Curry was similar to those store bought kind. There were potatoes and carrots inside which were well cooked. Fried chicken was not overcooked and was juicy with garlic taste.

Shin-Sapporo Gyoza. It was not bad. Minced meat and chive for the filling which were seasoned.

Menchi Ramen. Soup tasted a little like instant noodle kind to me. Nia said the dish was so so. Menchi was nice. Menchi is like minced meat except finer.

Ice Cream. We got free ice cream by liking their facebook page which the service staff informed us. It was vanilla flavored ice cream with chocolate sauce. A sweet way to end my meal.

Rate:
Nia: 6/10 ☺ (overall)

Hot Tea: 6/10 ☺
Karaage Curry Rice: 7/10 ☺
Shin-Sapporo Gyoza: 6/10 ☺
Ice Cream: 6/10 ☺

Swensens (Bedok)

Swensens can be seen in a lot of shopping malls. It started out selling only ice cream and over the years it began selling hearty foods, ice cream cake and beverages which is the Swensens that we now know.

Came to Swensens with Mandeep, ZQ and Eugenia cause of their Weekday Lunch Treats where you get a free side, sundae or drink for any main dish.

Mozzarella Cheese Sticks. Chunks of rich golden fried Mozzarella cheese sticks. I would have never even bother looking at it if it weren't for Mandeep. She convinced me that the mozzarella stick was good. So I decided to try it and boy was I glad I did, cause it was so yummy.

Perfectly deep fried, crunchy on the outside with the long string of cheese just oozing out. 

Curry Chicken Baked Rice ($13.90). Spicy chunks of curry chicken baked with savory rice. Not as herb-y as Pizza Hut's version. Curry was mildly spicy with bitter crackers, tender potatoes and chunks of chicken.

The Rock Sundae. This delightful treat brings you 3 signature ice cream flavors - Hazelnut, Cookies 'N' Cream and Rocky Road garnished with marshmallow sauce, hot caramel, cocoa pops and wafers from Italy. For me, I changed the flavors of the ice cream to Salted Gula Melaka, Butterscotch and Dark Chocolate. Butterscotch was so good. Could taste vanilla, caramel and goodness. Dark chocolate was quite bitter but tolerable. Salted Gula melaka tasted more like pandan and couldn't really taste the salt. Presentation wise, I like how they add dry ice to the plate so that it has the steam effect when it arrives.

Rate:
Mozzarella Cheese Sticks: 8/10 ☺

Curry Chicken Baked Rice: 6.5/10 ☺
The Rock Sundae: 7/10 ☺