Ichiban Boshi at JEM Jurong East

Ichiban Boshi has introduced their new festive menu from Dec'19 till Feb'20 where it comprises of 4 different creatively created sets worth a try. We were at their JEM branch for dinner this evening to give one of these sets a try. 

We opted for their salted egg chicken roll gozen ($25.90). It comprises of chicken roll with ham and cheese and topped with salted egg sauce, mini spicy beef don, assorted sashimi with special made sauce, fruity salad, chawanmushi and soup with mushrooms, seafood and chicken. The chicken roll is tender on the inside and crispy on the outside and goes extremely well with a dash of mayo. We both love their mini spicy beef don whereby the meat was tender and tasty. The portion is huge and can be shared among 2 pax with additional side orders.

We ordered their tamago mentai sushi ($4.20) which was also delicious and mushroom ebi mentai mayo ($8.90). Minced prawn on top of big Chinese mushrooms deep fried in tempura style and topped with mentaiko mayo. So delicious!

With Citibank credit card, Ichiban Boshi is offering a $10 return voucher with every festive season menu ordered. So do come enjoy this wonderful meal while stocks last.

A summary of what we had:

Salted egg chicken roll gozen

Tamago mentai sushi

Mushroom ebi mentai mayo

My overall ratings:

Food: 4/5

Price: 3.8/5

Service: 3.8/5

Ambience: 3.8/5

You can locate them here:

Ichiban Boshi

JEM, 50 Jurong Gateway Rd, #B1 - 01, Singapore 608549

Restaurant - Japanese

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Carpenter 29 at Carpenter Street Clarke Quay

Carpenter 29, under QianXi group, is a Chinese restaurant located behind Dynasty Travel along Carpenter Street. It is a 3 story restaurant, catering mainly for tour groups and banquets. Via Eatigo, Carpenter 29 is offering 50% off all menu, including dim sum at 7pm on a Saturday night. 

We decided to give it a try since both of us were craving for some local tze char dishes. We ordered 2 mains and 3 dim sum dishes to satisfy our craving.

1. Green dragon vegetable with salted fish ($16.80) - it's hard to find 青龙菜, and was so happy that they offered here and fried with my favourite bean sprouts and salted fish. It was fragrantly fried with garlic and tasted refreshing and crunchy. Rating: 4/5

2. Sweet and sour pork with lychee ($16.80) - pale in comparison to other tze char stalls as it was bland in taste. Rating: 3/5

3. Steamed salted egg custard bun ($7.30) - 3 cute piggy buns containing salted egg custard filling. The bao was soft and fluffy but the filling was lacking in taste. Rating: 3/5

4. Steamed wonton in spicy sauce ($6.80) - the wonton is succulent but the spicy sauce is also lacking the salty punch. Rating: 3/5

5. Steamed siew mai with fish roe ($7.30) - 3 fat succulent siew mai with minced prawns. I love this dish as it was juicy and delicious. Rating: 3.9/5

Overall we find that the food lack in saltiness and it is rather pricey given the amount and quality. However with Eatigo, it is still acceptable. One thing deserving the 2 thumbs up was their chilli. Awesome for dipping.

We did not get to try their signature dim sums as they were sold out so do come in the afternoon if wanting to try their signature dim sum dishes.

A summary of what we had:

Green dragon vegetable with salted fish

Sweet and sour pork with lychee

Steamed salted egg custard bun

Steamed wonton in spicy sauce

Steamed siew mai with fish roe

My overall ratings:

Food: 3.3/5

Price: 3/5

Service: 3.8/5

Ambience: 3.5/5

You can locate them here:

金喜樓 Carpenter 29

29 Carpenter street, Singapore 059923

Restaurant - Chinese

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Red Holic at Tanjong Pagar

With the rising K-Pop culture in Singapore, besides the all-time popular Korean BBQ, Red Holic serves the street food that all Koreans love, tteokbokki and fried mandu. There are 4 different flavours of tteokbokki mandu hotpot to choose from: original, jjajang, rose and carbonara, with original being the most popular. There are 4 different spicy level to choose from for original, 1 to 3 and then 5. 2 is the original spicy and this was what we opted for. 

We chose the crispy chicken hotpot ($28.80). In the hotpot, it was full of chewy and springy rice cakes, dong fen, maggi noodles, mandu, leek, fish cake and cabbage. On top are some crispy chicken. We love the taste of the hotpot and it’s definitely a great dish to share on a cold evening. The portion is big enough to feed 3 persons but would need to add on more sides. The crispy chicken was very well marinated and tasted delicious with the tteokbokki sauce. Deliciously good! Rating: 4.2/5

We added on more sides like chicken nuggets and calamari at $3.80 each. They were very crispily fried and well done. Love it!! Rating: 4/5

To quench the spiciness, we had Hoegaarden Rose beer ($7). Very light beer suitable for the ladies and has no bitter after taste.

Overall, we were very pleased with the food, drink and service. For those missing the authentic tteokbokki taste, Red Holic is the place to choose. All prices are subjected to 10% service charge and 7% gst.

My overall rating:

Food: 4.1/5

Price: 4/5

Service: 4/5

Ambience: 3.8/5

You can locate them here:

Red Holic

88 Tanjong Pagar Road, Singapore 088509

Tel: 62241064

Restaurant - Korean

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Scrambled at Tanjong Pagar

Scrambled, located at Icon Village Tanjong Pagar, offers different variety of scrambled eggs focused brioche buns. Choices include the minimal scrambled egg brioche with a wide range of ingredients like spam, cheese, hashbrown and smoked salmon that could be added to the basics brioche. The brioche are ordered from the Michelin starred Burnt Ends and are toasted with butter to perfection upon ordering. 

We were there for early lunch and was fortunate enough to beat the lunch crowd. Ordering is to be done at the counter and a food buzzer will be provided for triggering when food is ready. We ordered their signature scrambled stack ($14.90) and topped up additional $4.50 for signature fries and drink. The scrambled stack includes spam, cheese, avacado, scrambled eggs and hashbrown. It was a huge bun and very delicious with their special made sauce. However, it's a little messy to handle as it's too big to put into the mouth at one time. Rating: 4/5

Their signature fries are tossed with chilli powder and parsley, which gave it a very good taste and flavour. We enjoyed the fries a lot as well. Rating: 4/5

Smoked salmon was the other choice that we opted for ($11.90). Its smoked salmon with scrambled eggs and cheese with mentaiko mayo. A little disappointed with this bun as it was a little too fishy for the salmon. Did not really like it. Rating: 3.5/5.

We tried their new creation of honey chicken wing ($2.50) as well. This was very nicely marinated and fried. Cannot be compared to those Korean fried chix but very nicely done. Rating: 3.8/5

Overall, for a quick protein rich bready brunch/lunch, Scrambled can definitely be considered.

A summary of what we had:

Honey Chicken Wing

Smoked salmon bun

Scrambled stack bun

Signature fries

My overall rating:

Food: 3.8/5

Price: 3.8/5

Service: NA

Ambience: 3.5/5

You can locate them here:

Scrambled

12 Gopeng Street, 01-33/34, Icon Village, Singapore 078877 (Tanjong Pagar MRT)

Tel: +65 6221 0289

Opening Hours: 11:30am – 8pm (Mon – Fri), Closed Sat, Sun

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Qi Lin Xuan Kitchen at Vision Exchange Jurong East

Qi Lin Xuan Kitchen first opened at Bt Batok Central has drawn many favourable feedback on their delicious tze char dishes. With its stable crowd of customers, it has opened its 2nd branch at Vision Exchange Jurong East which offers tze char in a more comfortable air conditioning environment. There is also very affordable ala-carte lunch/dinner buffet at very reasonable price. 

The JE branch is located at the ground floor of the building at a corner. The restaurant isn't too big, housing about 3 large tables of 10 persons and 8 small tables of 4 to 6 persons. The servers are all Chinese and very friendly and prompt in their services. We opted for their $98 set for 4 persons where we can choose any 5 ala-carte dishes from the menu. We opted for the below:

1. Curry fish head - 1/2 steamed red grouper fish head simmered in thick curry gravy with lots of brinjal, ladysfinger and taupok. The fish is very fresh and it goes very well with a bowl of white rice. Rating: 3.9/5

2. Marmite pork ribs - doesn't have a very strong marmite flavour but the rib was very tender. Rating: 3.5/5

3. Salted egg sotong - deep fried sotong pcs fried with salted egg gravy. Deliciously sinful. Rating: 3.7/5

4. Yam ring - very fresh homemade yam ring that is very well done and filled with lots of ingredients. We love the crispness of the yam. Rating: 4/5

5. Fried you tiao with pork floss - sotong you tiao topped with mayo and floss. Though it's a very simple dish, but it tasted very good. Rating: 3.8/5

6. Fried kailan with oyster sauce - we ordered this as an extra dish. Simple garlic and oyster sauce sauteed with baby kailan. Rating: 3.8/5

For the $98 set, the strategy would be to choose the more expensive dishes from the menu, else its cheaper going for the ala-carte. Qi Lin Xuan Kitchen definitely offers delicious and affordable tze char in a very comfortable environment. For large eaters, going for the ala-carte buffet would be a good choice.

A summary of what we had:

Curry fish head

Marmite pork ribs

Salted egg sotong

Yam ring

Fried you tiao with pork floss

Fried kailan with oyster sauce

My overall ratings:

Food: 3.9/5

Price: 4/5

Service: 3.8/5

Ambience: 3.8/5

You can locate them here:

Qi Lin Xuan Kitchen

2 Venture Dr, #01-18/21/22 Vision Exchange, Singapore 608526

Restaurant - Chinese

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Sushi-Go at &JOY Dining Hall Jurong Point

&JOY Dining Hall is a multi-brand concept that houses several Japanese F&B brands under one roof, in the basement of Jurong Point where its Japanese food street currently resides. There are altogether 7 different Japanese variety food under this one roof: &JOY Eats and Drinks, Wadori, My Gohan, Roman-Tei, Ramen KIOU, Pittarino and Sushi-Go. 

We opted Sushi-Go, which was a casual sushi eatery that takes sushi-train concept to a whole new level. The restaurant was spacious, even for seats at the counter. Upon scanning the QR code, ordering can be done via the phone. Mentaiko sushi are their recommended items. Prices range from $1.80 to $7.80. Food is served very promptly upon ordering and all is fulfilled using the train delivery concept. We ordered as follow:

1. Mentaiko salmon and swordfish sushi

2. Chicken karaage

3. Seasoned seaweed

4. Hot soba with tempura prawn

5. Chawamushi

6. Nigiri with eel

7. Teriyaki chicken don

8. Chicken gyoza

9. Agedashi tofu

I would highly recommend their mentaiko sushi series and teriyaki chicken don. The sushi is fresh and tasted very good. The concept of the restaurant is very much like Genki Sushi but we love their food a little more due to its choice range and taste. Hopefully the standard stays as time goes by. We would be back to try the rest of the other concept restaurants thus do stay tuned!

My overall rating:

Food: 3.9/5

Price: 4/5

Service: 3.6/5

Ambience: 3.8/5

You can locate them here:

Sushi-Go at &JOY Dining Hall

Jurong Point, B1-49 , 1 Jurong West Central 2, Singapore 648886

Restaurant - Japanese

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Menya Kokoro at 100AM Mall Tanjong Pagar

Menya Kokoro is Japan's most popular and largest MazeSoba chain which has opened its first outlet at Suntec City Singapore. With its popularity arising, Menya Kokoro has opened its 2nd outlet in the heart of working CBD area, Tanjong Pagar. The restaurant is popular among lunch crowds and offer good dinner options for those staying back or needed some place for good noodle and hangout. 

There are different types of Mazesoba on Singapore’s menu which range from the original Tokyo Maze-Soba, Cheese Maze-Soba to Spicy MazeSoba. We were at their 100AM mall outlet and we shown to our table by very young and chirpy server. Food is to be ordered on the paper and confirmed by the server. The MazeSoba comes in 2 sizes, regular or large. For ladies, regular will be more than sufficient. Here's what we tried this evening:

1. Spicy MazeSoba ($11.80) - the noodles were cooked to perfection. Very springy and absorbing every taste of the gravy. There is an onsen egg on top of the noodle which needs to be mixed well in the dish, making the noodles even more smooth. I love the generous portion of spring onions, shredded seaweed and minced meat. So yummy with the mala gravy. For those who is still hungry after eating the noodles, you can get a free portion of rice to add on with the gravy. Rating: 4.2/5

2. Zenbu MazeSoba ($14.80) - similar noodles but topped with char siew slices, bamboo shoots, onsen egg, soft boiled eggs and lots of spring onions and seaweed. The gravy is a little plainer but still very much flavorful. We topped up $2.60 to make a set meal and had chicken karaage as side. 2 large pcs of chicken fried to perfection Rating: 4/5

3. Mentai tamagoyaki ($4.80) - didn't expect to be a huge portion but it came to us as 4 big tempura style fried egg roll with mentaiko sauce and bonito flakes. A must order side dish. Rating: 4.2/5

4. Homemade gyoza ($4.80) - 5pcs of juicy meat gyoza with spicy vinegar as dipping sauce. Delicious but a tad oily. Rating: 4/5

All prices stated are GST inclusive already and the total is subjected to 10% service charge. We love it and will definitely be back if we missed their springy noodles.

A summary of what we had:

Spicy MazeSoba

Zenbu MazeSoba

Mentai tamagoyaki

Homemade gyoza

My overall ratings:

Food: 4.1/5

Price: 4/5

Service: 4/5

Ambience: 4/5

You can locate them here:

Menya Kokoro

100 Tras Street, 100AM Mall Tanjong Pagar, Singapore 079027

Restaurant - Japanese

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Spicy Rock at Capitol Piazza

Spicy Rock at Capitol Piazza specialises in Japanese fusion food and provides an extensive menu where spice lovers can get their fix of numbing heat. One can choose the different spicy level for dishes like ramen and curry rice. With offers on Eatigo, we were entitled 30% discount on all food items except drinks. 

The restaurant was decorated in spicy red, with retro music playing in the background. The ambience was very comfortable, with ample space around and served by friendly staff. With the 3 of us, we decided to go for 4 dishes:

1. Chicken and cheese nabe (hotpot) ($29.80) - this dish features hearty ingredients in spicy broth and topped with shredded mozzarella cheese. There are chicken pieces, enoki mushrooms, onions, beansprouts, vegetables, tau poks and spring onions. The broth was spicy and the ingredients fully absorbed the soup broth to the max. Fortunately we had the cheese to neutralise the spiciness a little. Rating: 4/5

2. Chicken katsu beef curry rice ($16.90) - we opted for the mild version. The beef curry was thick and delicious and with the crispy chicken katsu, the combination was heavenly. The rice was good grain Japanese rice mixed with other healthy grains like quinoa, carrots etc. So sweet and delicious. Rating: 4.1/5

3. Chicken karaage (fried with salted egg chilli sauce) ($9.80) - 5 large juicy chicken pcs drizzled with homemade salted egg chilli sauce. We love the dish lots and lots and it's so appetizing. Rating: 4.2/5

4. Salmon and mentaiko roll ($9.80) - The roll consists of sweet tamago, silky salmon sashimi, greens, crabmeat, cream cheese and a generous helping of creamy Mentaiko sauce. We love the cream cheese combination with the rice. Rating: 4/5

We were very pleased with the food quality and portion overall and will definitely return to try the rest of the dishes when opportunity comes. So do stay tuned to more reviews from paulin munchies.

A summary of what we had:

Chicken and cheese nabe

Chicken katsu beef curry rice

Chicken karaage

Salmon and mentaiko roll

My overall ratings:

Food: 4.1/5

Price: 4/5

Service: 4/5

Ambience: 4/5

You can locate them here:

Spicy Rock

13 Stamford Road B2, Capitol Piazza, 51, Singapore 178905

Restaurant - Japanese

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Essen at The Pinnacle at Cantonment Road

Essen @ The Pinnacle is an atas foodcourt which comprises of 6 different food stalls and 1 drink stall. It serves restaurant quality food at very much affordable prices and without the GST and service charge as all food gotta be self-ordered and collected. 

The food court comprises of both indoor and outdoor seating. There used to be the popular 2 Wings stall but unfortunately it had closed down. With just the 2 of us, we could only try 2 of the stalls, Burger Buddies and Quan Vietnamese cuisine. We ordered their highly recommended mushroom beef burger with fries ($15) and grilled pork with dry vermicelli and spring rolls ($12.90) respectively.

The mushroom beef burger was awesome! Tenderly grilled beef patty (medium well done) topped with creamy mushroom sauce and sandwiched with buttered fluffy sesame buns. The overall combination was heavenly and we loved it! The home cut fries that came along with it was delicious as well. Overall would rate it a 4.2/5 for burger. As for the grilled pork dry vermicelli, it was an average bowl of Vietnamese noodle with nothing to wow upon. Rating: 3.2/5

Besides delicious western food, Essen @ The Pinnacle offers a good gathering place for friends who can enjoy drinks at very affordable prices. We should be back to try the other stalls like The Grill Lab or at least be back for more burgers so do stay tuned for more review!

A summary of what we had:

Mushroom beef burger with fries

Grilled pork with dry vermicelli and spring rolls

My overall ratings:

Food: 4/5

Price: 3.8/5

Service: NA

Ambience: 4/5

You can locate them here:

Essen

1 Cantonment Rd, The Pinnacle, #01-01, Singapore 080001

FoodCourt - Western

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Meng Meng Roasted Duck at City Square Mall JB

Meng Meng Roasted Duck started since 2003, with owner Ah Meng opening his first stall in Johor Jaya. As of current, he has several other stalls all over Johor, including one of the latest one in City Square Mall. 

Ah Meng's duck are marinated with with herbs such as dang gui but never uses artificial colouring or flavourings. Besides the duck, Meng Meng is also known for other roasted meat dishes like char siew and shao rou. 

We were welcomed by friendly staff into the restaurant during dinner time. The ambience of the restaurant is very comfortable and clean. We ordered 4 of their highly recommended dishes:

1. Dumpling noodle with roasted honey pork (RM14.80) - noodles cooked to the right texture tossed in dark sauce. Love the springiness. The roasted honey pork was tender and very well roasted. Love the juicy shrimp dumpling as well. Rating: 4.2/5

2. Roast duck (RM28.80) - tender meat with a thin layer of fat underneath the roasted skin. The fat melts into your mouth and it tasted awesomely delicious!! We ordered at 1/4 portion and its huge. Seriously it is the best roast duck eaten! Rating: 4.5/5

3. Sambal mixed vegetables (RM18.80) - fragrantly fried 4 different kinds of vegetables with homemade sambal. Brinjal, ladies finger, petai and long beans. Thumbs up! Rating: 4.2/5

4. Braised chicken feet with mushroom (RM18.80) - 6 huge nicely braised chicken feet with mushrooms and broccoli. One of the nicest braised chicken feet eaten! Rating: 4.5/5

We definitely love all the dishes we had above and we definitely will be back for more. Meng Meng is definitely highly recommended for roast meat lovers.

A summary of what we had:

Dumpling noodle with roasted honey pork

Roast duck

Sambal mixed vegetables

Braised chicken feet with mushroom

My overall ratings:

Food: 4.3/5

Price: 4/5

Service: 3.8/5

Ambience: 3.9/5

You can locate them here:

Meng Meng Roasted Duck

106, 108, Johor Bahru City Square, Jalan Wong Ah Fook, Bandar Johor Bahru, 80000 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia

Restaurant - Chinese

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