Japanese food GEMS

The 𝐁𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐭 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐨 𝐈𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐨 𝐓𝐨𝐧𝐤𝐨𝐭𝐬𝐮 𝐑𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧 ($15.90) was a simple dish executed brilliantly! The tonkotsu broth was no doubt the star of the dish for me. I usually find ramen broths to be too cloying or salty, but this was very smooth and palatable, and pleasantly rich.

However, pork wasn’t as tender as I hoped, but the flavour was good, slightly fatty and had a good balance of char and sweetness. Also, I picked the ‘firm’ noodles, but they tasted a bit floury 😕.

But seriously, the deep, deliciously flavourful broth really sets itself apart from other places.

The 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐚 𝐑𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧 ($21.90) is exactly what it claims to be. If you like mala, you will LOVE this.
The mala spice immediately hits you at first sip, with the numbing effect kicking in after a few spoonfuls.
But what is really commendable about this dish is the freshness of the seafood. Nice and firm prawns, sizeable mussels, and delicious plump scallops 😋.

A must try dish, if it’s on the menu when you go, would definitely be the 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗺𝘀. The fresh clams are stewed in a sake broth and it’s absolutely divine 😭

10/10, really.

Plus for their skewers they use good quality ingredients and meats, and don’t even need to rely on sauces because the meat itself is so perfectly done 😫

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No joke, Yakitori Yatagarasu is probably the best Japanese restaurant in SG that I’ve been to. An unassuming restaurant from the outside, but the food, experience and ambience were nothing short of incredible.

We all got a the 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐞𝐭 ($𝟐𝟗) each!
[𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 6 𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘧’𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦, 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘤𝘰𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘬]
The skewer possibilities can get a little wild, including 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁, 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿 and 𝗴𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗶𝗰 𝘄𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗹𝘆. You can opt to not get any innards, but even the ‘weird’ ones were still pretty enjoyable! The 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗱 was strangely a highlight for me HAHA it was surprisingly so delicious, the mystery sauce added really went a long way.

You could also get ala carte skewers instead, and we chose to order some on top of the set! The 𝗱𝘂𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗸𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗿 was so good, and I LOVED the 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗿𝘆 𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝗻𝗼𝗼𝗱𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝗸𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗿𝘀, both as interesting and delicious as they sound, wrapped in a thin pork layer.

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Their noodles are springy and chewy, almost as thick as udon noodles. As you mix the ingredients in, the sous vide egg combines into the creamy sauce coating the noodles and the ingredients, and it’s heavenly

Their popular flavour, 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐮 𝐓𝐨𝐤𝐲𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐳𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐛𝐚($𝟏𝟐.𝟖𝟎), along with the 𝐁𝐞𝐞𝐟 𝐌𝐚𝐳𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐛𝐚 ($𝟏𝟒.𝟖𝟎), come with spring onions, chives, nori and a sous vide egg. The meat is decent, but I much preferred the chashu!

Btw I took their “less soba more vegetables” option which is actually still rly substantial and they give different vegetables, not just more!

They also recommend mixing in vinegar sauce to your noodles, which I think really works and balances out the creaminess, but if you don’t like vinegar give that a pass. At the end, it gets EVEN BETTER 😭 as you can call for a complimentary tiny bowl of rice to soak up all that extra sauce 😩😩

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The newest addition to their menu is the 𝐔𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐢 𝐌𝐚𝐳𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐛𝐚 ($𝟏𝟔.𝟖𝟎), which I ordered! The noodles in this were much thinner than their other bowls, that I think worked really well with the umami of the dish. The addition of sweet tamago was interesting, but felt a bit out of place as the sharp sweetness didn’t really suit the dish.

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𝐄𝐮𝐥𝐣𝐢𝐫𝐨 𝐁𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬𝐨𝐨 ($𝟏𝟑.𝟗𝟎)
It came topped with a measly 5 pieces of two different cheesecakes (that we didn’t even realise were different LOL), but a decent amount of strawberries. A liberal amount of strawberry sauce was drizzled atop, and within the layers of ice, but it likened an artificial strawberry syrup that added a sickly sweet element to the bingsoo. On the other hand, the other lighter strawberry condensed milk that we poured was delicious and much more enjoyable!

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𝐈𝐧𝐣𝐞𝐨𝐥𝐦𝐢 𝐁𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬𝐮 (𝐋𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞 - $𝟏𝟑.𝟗𝟎)
I think Nunsaram does their shaved ice well, it’s milkier and has more substance than other places, which would explain the satiating feeling as you dug into it. However, it wasn’t compensated with enough toppings, as seen by the naked spots of the sparse soybean powder. They did serve a generous portion of delicious tiny bits of mochi, and there was somewhat of a second layer of power, but I found myself digging spoonfuls of plain ice shavings pretty often.

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This inconspicuous Japanese restaurant tucked away in the less frequented King Albert Park mall proved to be a hidden gem!

If you were to just get one thing from here, the 𝐘𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐤𝐮 𝐃𝐨𝐧 ($𝟏𝟒) is a must-try. The thin slices of Angus beef were perfectly tender and juicy as they absorbed the delicious yakiniku sauce 🤤. The meat was accompanied by caramelised onions that brought a touch of sweetness, suitably finished off with a gooey onsen egg 😩. I also really love the rice they used, it was plump and soft, good quality Japanese rice. Every grain was substantially coated in the sauce, ensuring that you won’t end up with plain ol’ white rice at the end of your meal.

The 𝐊𝐚𝐭𝐬𝐮 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐃𝐨𝐧 ($𝟏𝟓) came with a generous portion of plump slices of meat. I loved that the katsu wasn’t greasy, it had a light feel and was not dry in the slightest! With the addition of butter in their curry, it weighed heavily on the sweet and creamy side, absent of any spicy kick. The egg was a nice touch, but I think that the curry still lacked a depth in flavour 😔. However, the quality of the meat does help save the dish from the bog-standard.

Fried with less oil, the batter of their tempura is light and still super crispy, removing itself from the oily and greasy feeling you’d usually associate with tempura. The 𝐄𝐛𝐢 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐃𝐨𝐧 ($𝟏𝟒) did just that, with the delicious vegetable and ebi prawn encased in the light crispy batter.

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