Saboten @ Parco Marina Bay

Bar none, the best service of the 3 restaurants reviewed so far sitting on top of Parco Marina Bay. And might I add that I don't think any of the stores will survive at this location but this 3 restaurants but I digress.

Saboten serves Tonkatsu. That's breaded fried pork goodness.

The lettuce, rice, miso soup and bows are all free flowing. Really. The tonkatsu is breaded juiciness of pork wrapped in love and you have to smother the in house sauce with the crushed (hulk smash!) black and white sesame seeds to taste the extent and wonder of the pork.

Jelly likes this place but I didn't. I can't put a finger on it but for that service, I wouldn't mind going back and I do love my tonkatsu because of my dad.

Keisuke Tokyo @ Parco Marina Bay

Finally, I am at the right restaurant. Jelly and I decided to go there during a weekday as we figured that all the other dummies were like me, thinking the other ramen restaurant was this. A word of advice to all potential restaurant owners or already are owners, location, location, location. The other restaurant has a hot Japanese man. Don't hide your young pseudo Japanese ladies!

True enough, the restaurant wasn't filled when we got there but was brimming on the edge when we left. The service was spectacularly uncomfortable as one can tell that the staff is still very new at this but you know this can change when the staff gets more experienced.

How does Keisuke Tokyo see their own food? "Often selected as No. 1 ramen in the most popular contest lists or selections in Japan, Keisuke has a sterling reputation for its noodles. In the annals of Japanese ramen, their broth is a sensation. Without a pork bone base, the revolutionary and new broth is made with mainly fried shrimp, giving it a very rich flavour. Their choice of soy sauce is also carefully selected; only white soy sauce is used."

What did I think? I'm glad they served coke. I was also very happy that the ramen I tasted was very different from what I have had previously. But was it better? I can't say it is. Not because of what you might think but its comparing pears and bananas. This ramen experience is different. This is prawn consumme. The chef was inspired while working in France and came up with a new idea for ramen. The "char siew," used is chicken, and the dumplings and gyozas are all still prawn based. I really hate to say this but as a local, the closest thing to this ramen is prawn noodles. The base of the local prawn noodle ramen is usually a mixture of pork bones and prawns, but this is pure prawns.

I ordered the super prawn ramen and Jelly ordered the regular one and she didn't like hers because she preferred the Ippudo ramen, but I thought this was good but tasted different, if you can catch my drift. The broth for this ramen is rich and gently forgiving, the pork ramen broth is robust and creamy when done right.

I hope people would come to Keisuke to open their minds to a new kind of ramen and not expect the typical fare.

I shall return, when I am in the mood for it.

Nantsuttei @ Parco Marina Bay

I really wanted to go to Keisuke Tokyo to eat the ramen and me being the idiot that I am, thought this was that restaurant because it was nearest to the escalator and it had a long line. I didn't really figure out that I made the mistake until I saw Man-goh's facebook entry saying " food-critic is an idiot," at least that's what I thought I saw.

Back to the review:

Located on the wonderful 3rd level of the new Parco Marina Bay, Nantsuttei " offers tonkotsu soup (pork-based creamy-typed soup) ramen, which is derived from Kyushu area (west part of Japan). Their special and unique ingredient is “Ma oil”, which is a blend of seven types of deep-fried garlic with sesame oil. The harmony of tonkotsu soup and “Ma oil” is Nantsuttei’s most distinctive feature. Their noodle is mid-size in thickness and springy in texture, well-suited to the mix of tonkotsu soup and “Ma oil”. " (Excerpt taken from their website)

So what did I think about the restaurant? Jelly thinks that the Japanese men there are really good looking and the couple next to us ordered just 1 bowl of noodles to try (how rude!)

The food? I walk into every restaurant wanting to like it, but for some reason, I didn't really think this Ramen was any different from the rest that I have tried. Or what Simon Cowell sometime says to the American Idol contestants, there isn't enough personality to make people want to remember you.

So there, I said it. I said personality. Funny thing is that I actually would go back there and eat the Ramen again.

Trattoria Lafiandara al Museo

We just finished our typical pre weekend activity as Jelly and I just finished watching a movie @ our favorite cinema, The Cathay. I was hungry for Italian and I didn't want to go to Al Forno's.

I then remember that there was a restaurant at the Singapore Art Museum that I have always wanted to try and I knew it served Italian food.

There we entered from a brief 5 minute walk, a dimly lit restaurant with many dating couples seated together, a family of 5 with a super cute 3 year old and what I still think till today was a lady's night out, or maybe they were celebrating a divorce? I don't know. But there it happened.

We anticipated good things. The restaurant had a great aroma, as if kept in a bottle, the wonderful smell of pizza. Someone should make this into a cologne by the way, I would drink it.

The service was alright. Water had to be either bottled or bottled, Jelly asked for tap and we got still bottled water, its like they read our minds. The pasta was AVERAGE and the pizza was AVERAGE. Service was getting better actually as the night got along. That was the weird part.

I don't think I'll go back again. Who goes to the Singapore Art Museum? Really. (Sorry Pamapadam Pam)

Ramen Investigation - Tampopo @ Liang Court

I have been told that the proof is in the pudding during my 7 driving exams that I have experienced and since I am doing a power of deduction kind of a ramen sampling, I had to re-try this classic.

Man-goh and I reached the restaurant around 1130 and it was empty. We ordered their pork ramen and enjoyed their soupy broth and in the end, the conclusion was obvious.

Ordinary.

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