MoA-TSUBAKI 椿 at Riverside Point （Tel:6438-4280)

May 24, 2008 (Sat): It's Saturday- a day to lunch out. I chose MoA-Tsubaki after reading about it in a newsletter for Japanese expats in Singapore. All of its six chefs and two Japanese waiters are Japanese and thus I expected it to be truly authentic.

It was not easy to find it, but thanks to posters, I made my way to the fourth floor of this quaint looking shopping mall. I do like the mall for its height -the fourth floor being the highest- and it is located right across Meidi-Ya by the side of the Singapore River. The restaurant gives the feel of a modern Japanese restaurant- like a posh Japanese restaurant in America - but with friendly staff. It overlooks Indochine and the Ford Canning Hill with its wonderful greenery. An artificial trickle of water inside the restaurant divides the private rooms and its long corridor leading from the entrance before the spacious seating area. Hmmm...I do like the interior.

It has lot of dark-colored wood yet it makes use of natural sunlight. Its long purple sofas match the dark tables, black pepper and salt pots,chopsticks and napkins. How many restaurants in the commercial districts of this small island can offer such 'breadth'? - not even Kura no Naka and Sun & Moon - both nearby.

The waiter and the front manager are Japanese. A. found them 'dirty-looking'; one wears long hair and the other is spotted with a crew-cut, moustache and a beard.

The food is great and presentation is astoundingly artistic. Salt, mixed with green tea-powder, is served in a golden lacquer bowl with the tempura - for those with strong kidneys.

The music reminds me also of a Japanese restaurant in California... soft, slow jazz. The mood of the restaurant is right for a romantic date.

I enjoyed my lunch bentoo ; a SGD 32-course with three pieces of negiri-sushi. A. ordered a Himeyuri (SGD 23) with Japanese chicken rice instead of sushi,

but every other dish were the same as those in my bentoo. The lunch came with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream topped with strawberry.

Ambience: 4.5/5.0; Service: 4.5/5.0; Quality of food: 4.8/5.0

Healthy Beer/Sake Side-Dish for the Dummies: Tai no Arani 鯛のあら煮

I hope that no one is hurt by being called a 'dummy'. Actually I have by chance cooked a dish that even dummies can close their eyes and do it well. I was flipping through a gourmet magazine at the library of the Japanese Association. I hardly go there because it doesn't have many non-fictions that I like. Occasionally when I do, I'd read a popular cooking magazine or two. This dish appeared in the most recent
食彩浪漫. It's great for this very hot season when we're trying to cool our bodies with beers or chilled wines and remove some toxic gas, increase our fibre intake as usual...I've rewritten the recipe-here goes:

THE FISH HEADS:
If you go to the Japanese supermarkets (e.g. Meidi-Ya or Isetan), pick up a fish head or two-depending on how many you want to serve. For this season, tai is readily available. You can have salmon as well. These are normally well-cleaned at the Japanese supermarkets - and don't mind the fishes staring at you with their protruding eyes! Wipe away big residual scales stuck around the fins or give the heads another quick rinse under running water. Wipe dry with kitchen towel. Remember to buy a bag of burdock root *arai gobou produced in Aomori Prefecture at the same time. There are two in a bag and the soil has been removed for lazy cooks.

DASHI:

To prepare dashi (bonito stock), micro-wave a satchet of crushed bonito (like our crushed ikan bilis) in hot water in the microwave oven for 2 minutes. Don't use cold water to extract the essence out of the bonito in the microwave -you'll be disappointed. The powdered dashi in bottles or tubes do not produce the same flavor/quality. The sachet ones are more expensive - but you'll be able to convince your dinner guests that you've been trained in Japanese cooking ;).

BURDOCK ROOT:
Wash the gobou roots again-and if you like, peel off another thin layer of skin from it. Cut into bite sizes.

THE COOKING:
Cover the fish heads and the gobou half-way with the dashi, hot from the oven, flavor it with Japanese soy sauce -about 4 TBS (Kikkoman's natural brew自然酿製 is cheap and good), about 4 TBS sake and 1 tsp (teaspoon) of brown sugar or fructose (for your health's sake). Put the pot over medium fire and just forget about the fish for a while.

Wash some ginger and green onions. Shred them finely. Your TAI NO ARANI is ready to be savored with beer/chilled white wine! I had a cold Tyrell's Wine - Semillon 2006 with it.

Durian Desserts, Goodwood Park Hotel Coffee Lounge

By now the Goodwood Park Hotel, the second oldest hotel in Singapore, needs no introduction to its scrumptious durian treats. I'd the durian crepes - which 'rocketed' me into space (SGD 13)! Its real durian all the way! I win the hearts of my friends by treating them to the apple tart and ice-cream - less 'local' but very light and cool for this weather. The tart is flaky, warm and crunchy. Price: SGD 10 (excl. GST).

Minoru Restaurant (Tel: 6775 8879)

February 20,2008(Wed): It's mid-week and chilling out at some small cozy place seems the right way to 'recharge'. I found this place along the quiet West Coast Way. It's hidden and all covered-up so that passers-by will not be able to see its interior.

I used to take evening walks near Hong Leong Shopping Centre where Japanese kids and housewives hanged out in the 1980s-90s; but then, I did not even know this eat-out existed. The equally inconspicuous sliding door of the restaurant opens up to an authentic Japanese drinking ambience. Its low ceiling, warm latterns, small wooden chairs and tables, beer ads of sunbrowned belles on the beach, comics, and ornaments are all so provocative of the izakaya ambience prevalent in the back alleys of Japan. The three gaudy fu-lu-shou (Prosperity, Wealth and Longevity dieties) standing above the shelves of Japanese comics hint at its non-Japanese ownership, however. The chefs and the waitresses are also of Southeast Asian origins - though not necessarily Singaporeans - except for a tall waitress from Mainland China. The head waitress has the sweetest smile, and she immediately imparts an ii-kanji (good feelings) of the place. She told me that the restaurant has been there since the 1980s. I wonder what the place was like in those times when Singapore's Japanese population was four times greater?

Most customers now consist of families or couples, and most were locals living around there. There was a Japanese tanshin funin (expatriate without his family) who pecked at his bowl of rice and naberyori (hot claypot) while reading his daily. I guess doing that was better than just focusing at the steaming claypot right in front of him.

I ordered a Minoru bentoo (lunch-box) and A., a sashimi set. Although lunch time has long past, the waitress informed that bentoo orders were acceptable. That was the kind of flexibility I like.

After munching the rather chewy sanzai (wild mountain vegetable) appetizer, our food arrived.

My bentoo looked ordinary enough: a grilled saba, a deep-fried kushi consisting of bacon and asparagus,sashimi slices, a miso soup and a star-shaped mold of rice. I like the shredded daikon which was thicker and juicier than the very thin popular version. A. liked his fresh sashimi - but not the ambience.

The bill added to about SGD40, including GST. It's not bad, really. The friendly staff know their regulars; the restaurant offers decent wine /sake and does not charge any corkage fee so you can bring in your favorite drinks from home.

214 West Coast Way
Hong Leong Garden Shopping Centre

High Tea at the Equinox (Fairmont Hotel, formerly Raffles Plaza Hotel)

May 1, 2008 (Labor Day): It was a high tea many were looking forward to. Most remembered the Chinese New Year Lunch we had at the Equinox. The sashimi, the sushi, the happy waiters and the lau-hei (Chinese New Year fish salad tossed with vegetables and crisps), and the splendorous desserts...

This high tea offers the same atmosphere: Equinox is grand, bright and spacious. Located on the 72nd floor, it can't fail to impress with the panorama of the Singapore waterfront. I rate the high tea spread, though, as average, although the quality of ingredients scores well. But I don't take my high tea elsewhere, so I am probably not a fair evaluator. There are focaccia sandwiches, green salads, sushi (again, not as great as those served in the Chinese New Year lunch buffet), spaghetti, Chinese dessert soups, porridge, buffalo wings, taro-fingers, pizza...


My favorites are the taro and chicken wings. Most of my guests voted for the warm apple tart which they said was AWESOME! Alas, I was too filled up to relish it. The next time I go, I won't forget. But I will make sure I go for the lunch buffet. This is, after all, my second high tea, but nevertheless, remains a good experience.

Japanese Association Lounge

May 16, 2008 (Friday): I used to think that this place on the fourth floor is overly exclusive, being the place Japanese expats make friends, eat, dine, karaoke (next door to the lounge) and do things as a group. It WAS probably the only air-conditioned lounge that tolerated smoking, despite its non- smoking signs displayed on every table- as long as its customers wanted to puff in it. But recently, I have grown to like it, especially after one of its inconsiderate smoker clients has left. There's much peace and clean air, and as usual, rather good service.

I like to drink and snack here as there is hardly anywhere in Singapore where I can go without meeting a crowd and noise (including music). Two weeks ago, I ordered a Wolf Bass Bilyara (2006) Shiraz, the 'wine of the month'. The price was incredible at SGD 26!- and the texture and taste were great. In fact, I didn't expect such maturity to come from a young winery. I now think twice about this brand.

Hiyakko, tako yaki (Octopus balls), calamari rings and wafuu (Japanese style) salads prepared at Donguri (downstairs) went very well with it.

I could even keep the bottle there like whiskey or sake like at any Japanese waterholes.

Great. I'd go again and again.