Sho Teppan - ION Orchard

Chanced upon Sho Teppan while we were looking for a casual lunch at ION Orchard.  Sho Teppan is a no-frills casual dinning with an interesting no-chef concept. They only need waiters and waiteresses to seat you at the bar counter, take your orders, pass you a non-stick pan and some pre-prepared food ingredients to cook-it-yourself over induction heaters. 

Bar Counters - Cooking & Dinning Area

To get the best of both world, we ordered a Stir-fried Wagyu Beef and Black Pig Steamboat (Kurobuta pork ShabuShabu).  The stir-fried Wagyu beef is simply yummy. The beef was thinly sliced, topped up with mushroom, carrots, onions and some sauce and you decide how u want your beef to be - medium rare or well done. Wagyu beef is juicy, tender and is a perfect match with the white rice.  One set of Stir-fry Wagyu Beef is around $20+.

Stir-fry Wagyu Beef
Rating : 4.5/5

The black pig steamboat is so-so only, totally over-shadowed by the stir-fry wagyu beef.  We started off with the stir-fry first as it get cooked much faster, maybe we could have requested the waiter to switch on the power for the stir-fry only after we are done with the steamboat.
We also find the soup a bit too sweet.

Black Pig Steamboat
Rating : 3/5

Will definitely go back for the stir-fry wagyu beef again :)

2 Orchard Turn
#B3-19 ION Orchard
Tel: +65 6509 9969
http://www.shoteppan.com.sg/

Tampopo Deli

Tampopo Deli is a Japanese pastry shop at the basement of Liang court.

Cream Puff
The signature pastry is the cream puff. They are very popular and are usually snaped up quickly. Once they are sold out,  the deli will display the next bake time to inform customers the expected wait time.

The top layer of the puff is cripsy but yet the puff is still soft. The vanilla custard cream is smooth, rich and has a tint of vanilla scent.  The silky cream oozes out with each bite. I usually eat it cold as i loved the cool creamy taste of the filling.
Rating : 4/5

Cream Puff

Vanilla Cream

Tea Time
Light cottony soft cake, you can feel the lightness of the cake. There is fresh cream at in the center of the cake to give it an extra refreshing taste. 
Rating : 3/5

Tea Time, Scoop Cake, Cream Puff

Scoop Cake

Another signature of Tampopo Deli is its scoop cake. Its a fresh cream chiffon cake topped with strawberries, apricot and orange. The cream is rich and fragrant.

Scoop Cake
Rating : 3.5/5

Tampopo Deli
177 River Valley road
#B1-16 Liang Court
Tel: 6338 7386

Barcook Bakery (吧台料理）

Heard that Barcook bakery had open a branch at The central. Went there to buy the unforgettable rasin cream cheese bread.

The Central Branch

Did not find the raisin cream bread, so we bought the cheezy Cube ($1.30) and a Bar'nana Choz ($1.40).  Were expecting the cheese to be soft as the raisin cream instead of in the form of cubes (even though the name is cheezy cube).  Its the salty version of the raisin cream with large cubes of cheese  and I like those small little bits of baked cheese on top of the bread.  From the Barcook website, the cheezy cube is exclusively @ The Central branch.  As for the Bar'nana Choz, the chocolate is smooth and plentiful, however, the taste of the bun, chocolate and banana just doesn't blend well together as what we expect them to be.

Bar'nana Choz
Raing: 2.5/5

Had decided to go to the main branch at Hong Lim Complex the next day to get the raisin cream cheese. Quite lucky that the queue is short and they have 2 trays of freshly baked raisin cream cheese hot from oven when its my turn.

Hong Lim Complex

It's not difficult to see why these flat bread are so prized. The raisin cream cheese bread is definitely worth the trip here. Bread is soft, sweet and the filling is smooth, creamy and cheesy. Simply yummy! Best to eat it hot when the cream cheese is still soft and silkly.

Raisin Cream Cheese Flat Bread
Rating: 4/5

Creamy Cheesy filling

Barcook Bakery (吧台料理）

The Central
6 Eu Tong Sen Street
#01-09/10
Singapore 059817
Tel: +65 6222 6588
Mon-Fri : 8am - 9pm
Sat : 9am - 9pm
Sun/PH : 10am - 9pm

Hong Lim Complex
Block 531, #01-54
Upper Cross Street
Singapore 050531
Tel: +65 6533 6588
Mon-Fri : 8am - 7pm
Sat/Sun/PH : 8am - 4pm
Website: http://barcookbakery.com/bread_gallery

Santouka - Hokkaido Ramen

Santouka is at one little corner of The central. There is usually long queue outside Santouka. We happened to be early today and managed to get a seat immediately.

Salt flavour (Shio) Ramen is the signature soup noodle of santouka.  The tonkotsu soup is rich and strong in flavour. Besides the pork taste, you can actually taste the salt after slurping in the soup. We ordered the signature pork cheeks salt flavour ramen. They serve the pork cheeks in slices, its tender, smooth and the fats on the cheeks are yummy.  Only realised those fats when we flipped over the meat slice.

Pork Cheeks

Shio Ramen with Pork Cheeks
Rating : 4/5

They have come out with mixed soup ramen (Awase-Aji) for those who can't decide on the soup flavor, its a combination of salt, soy sauce and soybean.  We find it flavourful at the first spoonful of soup, however, it gets a bit heavy and too salty as you consume more. Avoid this if you prefer your food to be light.
The rice is for you to mix with the soup after you've finished the noodles, suitable for guys who have a bigger appetite.

Awase Aji Ramen
Rating : 3/5

Santouka

6, Eu Tong Sen Street
#02-76 The Central
Singapore 059817
Tel: 6224 0668
http://www.santouka.co.jp/
11:00am - 9:45pm (last order)

Gayang Seafood Restaurant (佳扬海鲜餐厅) - Sabah

Seafood is something not to be missed in Sabah. They are quite a variety of seafood and are cheap and fresh.

The seafood served at the city area are usually more expensives, the locals will opt for seafood restaurants further away. Previously, Salut Restaurant at a "kelong" and prawn ponds setting was the most popular, now it seems that Gayang had overtake it.

Gayang is about 15~20 minutes drive from the city center. It can get crowded on weekends especially when there are big groups of tourists.

At the entrance, you will be greeted by tanks and buckets of live seafoods. There are big fishes, clams, crabs, lobster, mantis prawn etc.  Price usually go by weight, you can choose from the cooking styles offered by the restaurant. They also have a variety of vegetables including some wild plants that are not so common, displayed on a table for customers to choose.

Dinning Area

Steam Prawns
Rating : 4/5

Other than eating it raw, the best way to savour live prawns is steam. They offer a dipping sauce with some garlic and chilli which helps to bring out the freshness of the prawns.

Salt-Pepper Mantis Prawn
Rating : 4/5

The salt-pepper mantis prawns was great!  Cripsy coating on the outside and juicy flesh inside. It was so good that we order for another 2 more.

Dried Chilli Eel
Rating : 3/5

Food         : 3.5/5
Ambience : 4/5
Service      : 3.5/5

佳扬海鲜餐厅
Gayang Seafood Restaurant
Kampung Baharu, Jalan Sulaman,
Tuaran, Sabah, Malaysia
tel: +6088 229 066
Operation Hours: 11 am to 10 pm (Daily)
website: http://gayangseafood.showroom.sabahexpress.com/

You may want to reference the following Sabah food recommendations
- Sang Nyuk Mian (生肉麵)
- Bah Ku Teh

Sin Kee Bah Kut Teh (新記肉骨茶) - Sabah

The soup base of this bah kut teh is herbal, not the peppery type.  You can choose to have only pork ribs or pork ribs with a variety of items - meat balls, pork belly, pork organs, beancurb ..etc.
Its quite popular among the locals even though the price is considered steep in sabah.

The must try is the Pork Liver/Kidney in Yellow Wine (黄酒). It's a kind of rice wine which most Sabahans (older generation) know how to make in their homes. The yellow wine goes well with the liver/kidney, the whole dish is fragrant and soothing.

Signboard

Sin Kee Stall

Sin Kee is a stall in the Kwong Tung Chai Kolombong coffee shop. Its only open at night.

Mixed Bah Ku Teh & Yellow Wine Pork Liver

We will usually add lots of chilli and raw chopped garlic to the thick soy sauce as a dip.

Food : 4/5
Cleanliness : 3/5
Service : 3/5

Sin Kee Bah Kut Teh (新記肉骨茶)
Kota Kinabalu City Center
Business hours: 4:30pm - 11pm (closed on Monday)

Reference Sabah Tourism for other recommendations on Bah Kut Teh.


You may want to reference the following Sabah food recommendations
- Sang Nyuk Mian (生肉麵)
- Gayang Seafood

Kedai Kopi Kim Hing Lee (金興利茶室) - Sabah

Kim Hing Lee (金興利茶室)

The best Sang Nyuk Mian (生肉麵) in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Seldom see restaurants with newspaper cuttings in sabah, this coffe shop even blow up the newspaper article to a banner and hang in the shop. You can even find a japanese posting on this noodles on the internet.

Kim Hing Lee Coffee Shop

Simple coffee shop settings. All customers are here for the Sang Nyuk Mian (生肉麵)

soup version (RM5.50)

Dry version (RM5.50)

The soup here is not the thick/creamy type, but clear with a light fragrance, its simply great! The meat is thinly sliced and is very tender. You can choose to order meat slice only or meat slice with meat balls and liver/intestines/kidneys.
The dry version of sang nyuk mian is with the nice black sauce which is very common in Malaysia. I usually prefer my noodles to be dry, however, in order not to let the black sauce overshadow the soup, I will usually go for the soup version. Well, you will still have a decent bowl of soup for the dry version.

Newspaper article banner

Food           : 4.5/5
Cleanliness : 3.5/5
Service       : 3.5/5

Kedai Kopi Kim Hing Lee (金興利茶室)
Blk F, Lot 7, Sinsuran Complex,
Sinsuran 新苏兰街
Kota Kinabalu, Sabah
(Its somewhere opposite of Le Meridian Hotel)
Business hours :
Mon - Sat : 6:30am - 3:00pm
Sun           : 6:30am - 2:30pm

Map :

View Larger Map

You may want to reference the following Sabah food recommendations
- Sang Nyuk Mian (生肉麵)
- Gayang Seafood