It took me awhile to convince myself to order this $33 braised beef short rib off the menu because I thought it was too expensive. But I'm so glad I did!!!!! The beef was so tender (and fatty) you won't need a knife to eat it. The meltingly succulent beef cut was braised in the rich and sweet sauce leaving the flesh so flavourful even at the thickest end of the cut. This brought my expectations of beef short ribs to another level!! Loved it!
Tendon 8: 8 pieces of tempura over a bowl of Hokkaido rice. Super worth it with 2 huges pieces of prawns, japanese vegetables such as Lady's finger and eggplant and a huge chunk of fried mildly sweet pumpkin. They also included a fried gyoza tempura which was something quite unique served in a rice bowl. Tamoya's tendon may not match up to Ginza Itsuki's mainly because the tempuras are not fried upon order and were selected off their pre-fried tempura rack. If you are lucky, you may get freshly fried tempuras straight off the fryer! Then again, to avoid the super long waiting time at Ginza Itsuki, I will definitely return here for my tendon fix!
$8.50++ weekday set lunch which includes the main course, 3 spring rolls and a drink. Great for a fuss-free weekday lunch as the service was quick and efficient. Pad Thai was towards the sweeter side but the fried spring rolls were crunchy, and juicy on the inside. Not the greatest Pad Thai but was nonetheless an enjoyable wallet-friendly meal.
The food here always screams Comfort to me! Trying out the Nachos cheese and Steak Pie that comes with a side of mash potato and fresh salad greens ($11.90). I was half expecting the steak filling to be rather dry and limp. However, when I cut open the delicate pie crust, the meat chunks appeared tender and juicy. The marinate was delicious and I fully enjoyed biting into each tender beef chunk that will not get stuck between your teeth, nothing of that sort. But! The Nachos cheese spread over the pie was underwhelming. When eaten together, the fragrant buttery pie crust seemed to overpower the taste of that layer of cheese. Maybe the cheese would have had a louder voice if it was drizzled over the beef inside the pie. 😍
We reached early in the morning but there was already a queue! After about an hour or so wait, we finally entered the cosy restaurant but with great ambience! We were seated beside groups of japanese patrons who were raving about how tasty their tendons were! My vegetable tendon ($12.80) came with a cup of silky chawanmushi, free flow pickled vegetables and miso soup!! So worth it!! The vegetables were fresh, juicy and sweet, perfectly fried into aromatic crispy tempura goodness. Ginza Tendon Itsuki uses Japan imported rice to serve only the highest quality tendons! 😍😍 I never thought I will be addicted to deep-fried tempura dons!
A healthy breakfast before boarding! 🎉🎉🎉
The dishes here don't suffer the one-dimensional fate like some thai food we have here in Singapore. The flavours of the Pad Thai were complex, not overly oily, salty or spicy. The famous Watermelon Fried Rice was superb! Again, the dish was well-balanced and refreshing as we bite into the large watermelon chunks, so addictive we just wanted more after each mouthful. Quality ingredients were used so the meal was really value for money!!
New Year menu features the Japanese chewy mochi at $2.50. Loved the soft marshmallow-y texture of the glutinous rice cake soaked in rich dashi sauce. The atsu atsu tan tan (spicy) udon is cooked al dente with an onsen egg and spicy minced meat. It was the perfect comfort food on this rainy day. The soboro don (minced meat rice bowl) didn't look much but it was actually really well marinated and moist! 😊
Maybe not this particular one 😖 I felt that this limited time only Kyoho Grape cream filling was way too sweet and artificial tasting. Tasted a little like grape Hi-chews stuffed in a puff.
What to do when you can't decide between meat sauce and cream pasta? Try this bolognese pasta with a heap-full of thick and creamy ricotta cheese! The end result when you mix in that scoop of ricotta is a flavourful meat sauce with an intensely rich and creamy consistency!
