this was a crepe cake with fresh cream spread generously in between each layer. the cream (rather than the layers) is definitely the highlight of this—you can really taste how light and fresh it is! the top is coated with a sweet syrup which complemented the cake nicely. definitely not your lady m crepe cakes, but at $4.70 i’m not complaining 🤪

$4.70 | 7/10 🌟

this drink was quite creamy with slightly sweet notes (even though i got 0% sugar) and the light fragrance of tea. get this if you enjoy a slightly creamier taste, otherwise stick to the dong ding oolong with cream, a crowd favourite. i think i prefer the dong ding tea more, though this is a pretty good cup as well. pearls are big and chewy—fantastic as usual.

7.5/10 🌟

still remember the hype for lino’s cheese tea when it was first launched haha. sadly i don’t think the cheese tastes as good as it did back then, this is quite average with slight salty notes. tea is pretty decent, good strong tea.

6/10 🌟

quite a juicy and tender steak! heard flat iron is quite hard to execute well but this place does their flat iron steaks well. definitely not the juiciest or the most tender but reasonably so, especially at its price point. was slightly chewy as well (in a good way); quite an interesting texture compared to other steaks i’ve had.

ps. get the creamed spinach ($7)! it’s very cheesy, savoury and rich without being too jelat.

$21 + service charge | 8/10 🌟

super yummy flavour! they were plenty of lotus biscuit chunks embedded within the sweet ice cream, which had a slight hint of saltiness. only gripe is that i find udders’ ice cream rather icy nowadays and lacking a rich creaminess. flavour is delightful but texture — less so :-(

7/10 🌟

earl grey flavour was quite pronounced, making the tea quite fragrant which was nice. got 0% sugar which was average, not sweet but not bitter either. black pearls were average as well, quite tasteless and not very big. pretty average cup.

6/10 🌟 | $3.20

green milk tea was decent, with a discernible green tea taste (though i usually prefer my tea stronger). grape pearls were sweet and chewy, super similar to those grape-flavoured gummies you would eat as a child. the grape flavour was really pronounced, which was quite a pleasant surprise as i usually find that playmade’s pearls don’t really have a strong taste 😅 quite interesting and worth a try!

6.5/10 🌟

heard that this place serves really good, if not the best mala in singapore and i can see why! the mala was really fragrant and tasty, yet not oily, and the sauce coated all the ingredients evenly. we got xiao la which was (personally) not spicy at all, but nonetheless tasty and full of flavour. there was a wide variety of ingredients and all were fresh.

one con is that at $3/100g, it can get a little pricey if you’re a big eater (we spent about $34 for two 😢)

8.5/10 🌟

was quite excited to visit alter ego but unfortunately was also quite disappointed :-( they had a really limited menu on the day we visited, mainly comprising poke bowls and pasta, not sure why this was the case.

anyways got the wasabi yuzu dragon, but sadly neither the wasabi nor the yuzu taste was prominent. seemed like a generic creamy sauce. ingredients were of decent quality, though wish there were more poke. at $17++, this is rather steep. ambience of the place was quite nice though.

$17++ | 4/10

a simple don topped with a generous amount of salmon & scallops!

the star of the dish was no doubt the scallops, with a rich smoky flavour from the searing. the best part was definitely the small dollop of truffle on each piece, which added a fragrant aroma and a rich umami flavour to the pieces. honestly super duper yummy 😋

honestly the salmon was quite mediocre. it was slightly cooked on some sides but distinctly lacking the charred aburi flavour one would expect from the flame searing (though this was definitely present in the scallops!). i’m guessing they only torched the top of the bowl, such that mostly the scallops and very little salmon pieces were torched. what a shame :-(

would come back for the scallops 👍🏻

$17 (but 1 for 1 with burpple beyond!) | 7/10

finally visited keisuke !!! tried their winter ramen, which is your regular tonkotsu broth & had all the toppings. may not look like much but this is a deceptively big bowl, packed to the brim! this is the first time i’ve seen so much meat in my ramen HAHA since most ramen places only give you a thin slice. the stir fry pork was also a welcome addition — it was sweet and extremely tender, probably the best thing about this dish. 😋

that aside, having tried many tonkotsu ramens, would say that this is really average ramen. broth was creamy but not quite flavourful enough, toppings and noodles were average. pretty good value for money though, especially with the free flow boiled eggs and pickled bean sprouts.

$14.90 | 6/10 🌟

this was infused with a lovely peppery aroma, which added a dimension of complexity to your regular tonkotsu broth. unfortunately, the smoked flavour wasn’t as prominent as i had hoped. soup was quite light (which made it quite enjoyable!), contrary to the thick and creamy tonkotsu broths at other joints which can get a bit heavy.

always enjoy the thin, whole grain flour noodles at hototogisu—they’re very light and tasty.

ps. if you can, go to the outlet at chijmes! better ambience & better food imo with some special menu items.

8/10 🌟 | $13.90++