These plump oysters literally came a long way from Mie Prefecture of Japan, a place where oyster were in abundance.

As of the other items sold here, the oysters tasted fresh to me, and that was evident even after they were grilled a la order. Taken together with the garnish, the oysters were just so delicious with a mix of textures.

S$22.00 for 3 pieces of oysters might seem steep, but this would be when a one-for-one deal like Burpple Beyond would do the magic!

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From S$38.00, one could get some fresh raw fish platter served on the table. Again, I felt that the restaurant really prided on all the food they had prepared for their diners.

Before today, I might not have paid much attention to Hirame (flounder) sashimi, but I thought this one was really crunchy to every bite, which also possibly reinforced the belief that the fresh fish were handled very carefully before they entered the diners’ mouth. It was lovely to have this before indulging on the more densely-flavoured dishes.

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The Pork Shabu-shabu Oroshi Hotpot (S$22.00) was a nice alternative to all the grilled and fried items that were available in Teppan Kappou Kenji’s menu. What was amazing was the accompanying condiment, especially the paste that contained Yuzu which added so much zing to the warm soup and cooked pork slices.

The mini-pot allowed for quick heating of the soup, but they also provided some additional soup by the side just so that you could refill when appropriate.

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The Typhoon Bloom (S$15.90) was described as “hand-cut, fresh onion strings” in the menu, but it turned out that I was presented with a mountain of onion rings.

I was okay with the flavours of their special seasoning to the food, but fretted upon the portion of onion rings. Strangely, the portion could be easily conquered by two persons if they came in strings, but just seemed overwhelming when served chunky. Not cool, because I was still confused over my degree of liking (or disliking) towards it.

Bringing in some legit Taiwanese food to the AMK Hub F&B scene, Jiak served up some familiar comfort food from renowned Taiwanese brand 金峰魯肉飯 which was based in Taipei.

I had very high expectations of 魯肉飯 (Taiwanese Braised Pork Rice), so I thought I would just settle for their 焢肉饭 (S$5.90 for Medium size) which also looked quite delicious. But thinking that I would probably just get a portion of rice with one slab of braised meat, I decided to add on that Golden Chicken Chop which costed additional S$3.70.

Wow!

Although I had not tried 金峰魯肉飯 personally, and I felt that the braised meat could be a little more tender, I was surprised with how everything came together nicely like I was having a Railway Bento, complete with some pickled cucumber and half a braised egg. The Golden Chicken Chop did not pale in comparison as it was lightly coated with batter and was sufficiently juicy. In fact, with one whole piece of chicken thigh covering the surface of the food, I was actually having slight difficulty trying to organise my food for easy consumption.

To conclude, there was definitely some components done very well for this takeaway stall. And it gave me some confidence in trying their Lu Rou Rice the next round.

This one, I definitely would recommend.

The Blueberry Lemon Yogurt Parfait (S$8.90) turned out to be my star item for tonight’s Burpple Eatup. Presented like a breakfast parfait, it was actually a clever way of bringing in lemon curd to blueberries and honey oats and sunflower seeds. It was both tangy and delicious altogether, and I thought that those who enjoyed sour desserts should not give this a miss!

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To welcome more diners with varying palates, the boss of Good Bites decided to introduce some mainstream dishes to their menu.

One of them was the Beef Meatball Tomato Pasta (S$12.90) which came with five homemade meatballs together with their regular spaghetti and tomato sauce. It was quite average, I would say. Even though the meatballs were quite plump, I felt that there was still some coarseness in the mince, so some might not really fancy that. And while keeping the dish away from additional sodium and other unnecessary condiments, the resultant was that the pasta was also short of that tangy flavours that I would usually expect from a tomato sauce base. And perhaps a wholegrain spaghetti might be a healthier option to the regular one, although some might argue that there was little evidence in the superiority of wholegrain pasta over the regular ones too.

But what struck me was the principle of healthier eating that the owner was hoping to advocate, and I inferred that this dish was the go-between of absolute healthy and absolute tasty. It might not be a love at first bite, but we’ll never know.

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Good Bites started off at Bishan Sports Hall as the answer to healthy meals after a good workout at the ActiveSG facilities, and I first got acquainted with them through Deliveroo. What got me coming back for more was their freshness in ingredients and unadulterated preparation and cooking methods, which promised a healthy meal through their salad bowls. That was something that I did not get to see very much beyond the office districts in the city centre.

A Nom Nom bowl (from S$8.90), consisted of one base, one protein, two supplements, one topping and one dressing of choice. However, usually I would top up an extra S$2.00 to get their Baked Salmon as the protein, with their nicely-blanched broccoli and roasted almond flakes. On good days when I would crave for some sauce, I would fancy their Lime Balsamic vinaigrette, though they also prided on their Like Paprika Yogurt dressing too.

The best way to reward oneself after exercising the body, was to refuel with some quality stuff for that optimum nutrition and healthy living.

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On a weekday lunch hour whereby the restaurants and public food courts were filled with diners, I was surprised to see that there were lots of seats available at Terminal M, a gourmet foodcourt run by Ministry of Food.

Through the ordering kiosk, I got myself a Mixed Tendon (S$11.90) that basically comprised prawns, dory, long beans, a Shiitake mushroom, eggplant and a fried egg. Comprehensive as it might have seemed, I had an uneasy feeling when I saw that there was little trace of sauce. True enough, the Donburi was presented in a dry manner, and that while the meal was substantially filling, the satisfaction was far from my ideal Tendon with crispy Tempura and a fluffy bed of rice.

Maybe, their Korean fare or Western food might stand a better chance for more thumbs up? I don’t know.

On a weekday lunch hour whereby the restaurants and public food courts were filled with diners, I was surprised to see that there were lots of seats available at Terminal M, a gourmet foodcourt run by Ministry of Food.

Through the ordering kiosk, I got myself a Mixed Tendon (S$11.90) that basically comprised prawns, dory, long beans, a Shiitake mushroom, eggplant and a fried egg. Comprehensive as it might have seemed, I had an uneasy feeling when I saw that there was little trace of sauce. True enough, the Donburi was presented in a dry manner, and that while the meal was substantially filling, the satisfaction was far from my ideal Tendon with crispy Tempura and a fluffy bed of rice.

Maybe, their Korean fare or Western food might stand a better chance for more thumbs up? I don’t know.

Despite being located at the basement level of Paya Lebar Square, it was difficult not to find the restaurant when the queue lines were snaking and that I queued up for almost an hour before getting a counter seat.

My first impression of my Charcoal-grilled Dried Atka Mackerel Set (S$17.90) was that it was more suited for people who were good in handling fish bones, because no matter how I ate it, I could pick out a piece of fish bone each time I got some meat with my chopsticks. The next thing that struck me for this dish was that the fish was much on the salty side, probably due to the salt used in preserving the freshness of the fish. If you were able to manage these two aspects of the dish well enough, go ahead and choose this, because it was something not so commonly found in restaurants outside.

Regardless of what you would choose, you might have already realised that diners would stroll down the free-flow salad bar a couple of times, as they offered some fresh vegetables, Japanese salads and also simple desserts to complete the experience. Honestly, that could be a big reason why many would return after a really satisfying meal.

Yet another Keisuke group restaurant had landed in Paya Lebar Square, and this new restaurant was located right beside Ramen Keisuke Tonkotsu King, serving up pork cutlet set meals to the masses. Of course, they also offered chicken cutlet and fried seafood, and the Assorted Seafood Katsu Set (S$20.90) was something not to be missed.

The highlight of the dish was the quick frying of the tempura under intense heat to achieve a super crispy batter with lightly-cooked salmon fillet, coupled with two big pieces of Ebi Tempura and a halved Hotate Tempura. Like all other sets, it also came with a half-boiled fried egg, free-flow rice (white or brown rice options available), Miso soup and eat-all-you-want salad and sauce bar.

I enjoyed the salmon the most, with the crispy crust and an almost-melting meat. Spread some in-house Nanban sauce for a creamy touch to the seafood pieces, and enjoy the egg with the rice and some of the Furikake with the brown rice. This meal was so hearty, I would think that I would come back again to try the chicken and pork sets too.