SG: Nosh for CBD office rats

The most umami pasta I ever tasted. Its sort of a soy and shallot oil dry style pasta with stir fried mushrooms, and a half boiled egg to bring it all together. I wish the portion was larger though. It costs $14+10% service at lunchtime and $16+10% service at dinner. It used to be $11 for lunch😢

This 4 month old franchise of Kim's hokkien mee is an air-conditioned bistro along circular road. Serves other tzechar dishes too. Soft Launch lunch set promo was still ongoing in Dec2022 ($9.90 nett for a small hokkien mee or fried rice, with a choice of drink). The hokkien mee is (unfortunately) exactly like the original Eunos Kim's - wet style, no prawn taste, no wok hei, bad chilli. The prawns are fairly large, but tasteless (frozen).

Shrinkflation has definitely happened over the years- I've been eating here since they first opened in cbd (at the old raffles exchange location).

The foie gras is half the size that it used to be and the beef slices are so thin (almost like yoshinoya thinness!!) but the TASTE is still great compared to other beef bowl offerings. Idk what's in their marinade /dressing but it's always amazingly tasty.
💡: Add foie gras for $6++

This CFR is soooo tasty, fried with a kickass spicy hay bee hiam (dried shrimp paste). There are several scallops inside that you can't see, plus the generous serving of crabmeat as pictured. I only wish that the rice was a bit less soggy, and that they have a 150g version (currently they only offer 100g and 250g). Totally suits my more intense taste buds.
.
💡: FYI they don't have lunch sets anymore.

Cos truffle rice - 'nuff said.
.
The foie gras in this rice bowl is very good for the price, but the Otoro pieces are too small and also too overcooked for my taste (they aburi it until it loses its luxurious fatty texture).
.
I've tried almost all the rice bowls and spaghetti here and I still think the nicest bowl here is the assorted fish ($14.90) because it has the widest variety. Try this place if you dislike white rice and prefer a more localized version of sashimi rice bowl.
.
💡: obviously, avoid this place if you don't like truffle (but what kind of monster are u...).

I don't normally go for pork belly (I like fats in my meat to be more evenly spread out), but this is an interesting take on it, with mee siam in the middle and mee siam gravy. Pork was fork tender and skin was perfect and crackling. You can easily scrape off the layer of fat if it gets too jelak. The accompanying kimchi was quite tasteless tho, would have preferred something more tangy, perhaps achar or pickles. You get 1-for-1 on this with #burpplebeyond, and you can even top up $3 for a drink and a small side.
.
💡 : babasan has taken over the old boat q Fu Lin YTF location

Ordered the wagyu Ribeye medium rare but it arrived medium-well as pictured. As with all steakhouses in Singapore they just can't get it right so I would recommend ordering rare if you want medium rare. At these prices I prefer Stirling Steak (in the East where I live), but since Bizen is near my office, I still visit for a fuss free steak. I am not convinced that it is really is wagyu but I think it's fair to say that it's some sort of Japanese beef, as the meat is fairly tender and umami compared to the usual hard and dry astons steak.
.
💡 : Be prepared for the typical Aston set up with the annoying and inefficient bottleneck at the entrance (order and pay first before getting seated) since NO ONE can decide on their order. This is one of those chains that would really benefit from a tablet order system so that indecisive customers can waste on their own time and not others.

Yea this rice bowl is as tiny as it looks! Wagyu was quite umami but the cut was very veiny (I couldn't chew to the end and had to spit out a little of every piece). Also no truffle smell or taste. This rice bowl is one for one with #burpplebeyond but I didn't feel full at all, had to split a sandwich with my friend at a nearby cafe after! Second time here but still not really loving it (had the dinner omakase the first time), and I only gave it a second chance because i love the food at Boruto where the chef used to work. Very puzzling... Recommend to skip.

The carrot cake here is steamed, giving it a different texture from the typical pan fried style, but still tasty due to the savoury cured meat and natural sweetness of the radish. The carrot cake is accompanied by a light soy sauce as well as xo sauce for dipping, but tastes good plain as well. I also like the 红油抄手 here, although it's also a healthier version with mostly vinegar and garlic instead of chilli oil.

Unlike the more commonly found Tsukemen where noodles are dipped into a hot, rich, pork based gravy, Afuri's tsukemen is accompanied by a kind of soy based, clear dipping sauce that is room temperature. So those who prefer their food piping hot should take note to avoid the dry version! I do like my food cold or at room temp, but I found the dipping sauce rather salty, with no taste of spice or yuzu. I much preferred the spicy yuzu soup ramen that I had last week with its thinner noodles and clear but tasty broth.
.
💡: you MUST like the tangy citrus taste of yuzu to appreciate their signature soup base. It's not the typical tonkotsu ramen shop you find in SG offering pork based soup with rich mouthfeel.
💡💡: chilli lovers should avoid this place. They do not have any chilli condiments (no oil, pepper or cut chilli) and the spicy versions of their ramen (both dry and soup) are not spicy at all.

This is a relatively new item on their menu. I ordered level 3 which is the max spiciness. It is legit spicy but similar to most mala in Singapore, lacks the authentic numbing pepper taste. This is despite the dramatic visual of all the peppers sprinkled on top, I can only say that they are either not the right kind or have lost their taste in storage/transit. I would recommend sticking to their normal spicy Mazesoba if you like spicy food (covered in my previous review), as it has a more balanced savoury/spicy taste. Noodles here are thick and have a chewy bite to them, and the chopped garlic gives the dressing a nice kick.

I have been coming here regularly for their original (truffle) mazesoba ($13.90++) but decided to try something new yesterday... I love mentaiko anything but this was wayyyy too jelak with the creamy mayo and gooey egg. This is my preferred restaurant for mazesoba as the noodle that they use is thinner than other mazesoba shops (I generally like thinner noodles though). I also love the fatty sio bak that accompanies their original and mentaiko mazesoba, but it may be too fatty for boring health conscious people.
.
💡: They do offer various rice bowls and soup ramen for people who dont like dry noodles.