Japanese

A very much needed pick-me-up came in the form of this satisfying mazesoba. Springy ramen noodles beneath the layers of spring onions, shredded seaweed, spicy minced meat and onsen egg. Free flow garlic chips for added crunch and flavour!

💰$15 (free upsize available)
📍7 North Canal Road 048820

I've been wanting to check out Birders after seeing photos of the pretty restaurant and reading reviews about their food. The two of us ordered 10 sticks, 3 sharing plates and 2 draft beers. The bill came up to a total of $106 which we felt was really affordable. Coupled with the free flow sake that I was enjoying, I definitely had a very good dining experience there.

For the ladies who like sake, Birders offers free flow house pour sake from 630pm - 830pm on Wednesdays!

Left: Wings with Birders shichimi ($3.50), Tsukune with onsen egg and tare ($4.50).
The wings were quite alright, I felt that they could be seasoned better. The tsukune was pretty good though, and went really well with the onsen egg and tare dip. We kept the dip for several other sticks during the dinner.

Top right: The Oden ($16).
This was our favourite dish of the night. The broth was warm, slightly sweet and very comforting. The combination of foie gras and daikon was also a first for me, and I quite liked the different texture. The daikon definitely helped to make the foie gras less "jelak" for me.

Bottom left: Egg Tempura ($8)
This was pretty alright, didn't taste oily. Although I doubt that I'll order this next time.

Would definitely recommend the tsukune, oden and birders wings (not pictured here). The birders wings are a sharing plate, seasoned with black vinegar and sake. Super addictive!

This special set came with prawn tempura, crab cream croquette, bite-sized hire katsu and half-sized loin katsu. It was so, so good. The kurobuta was really tender and didn't feel as oily/fatty. The crispy shredded cabbage was very refreshing and went very well with the fried items.

Saboten has always been one of my favourite tonkatsu places, because both the food and service standards have always been consistent.

The chicken katsu was indeed pretty crunchy, but it was also a bit too dry for my liking. The taste of the white curry was also rather forgettable. Maybe because I'm used to the taste of the typical Japanese curry and wasn't sure what to expect of the white curry. As for the katsu, perhaps the pork katsu would have been less dry, but I'm not sure if I'll be back to give it another shot.

It was a very satisfying bowl of tendon, and I especially enjoyed the sauce on the bed of sticky, fluffy rice. I opted for spicy level 1 and there was only a very slight hint of spice.

As for the tempura items, I felt that they were pretty decent and especially enjoyed the shiitake and prawn. The chicken was also pretty juicy, my dining partner said it reminded him of Long John Silver's chicken fillet (we both love LJS so it's a compliment). Personally, I still preferred Tendon Kohaku at Suntec City because I felt that the batter was lighter and crispier; and I also preferred the selection of the tempura items there.

It's still a very decent tendon place if you're in the area and are craving for some tempura. We were there on a Sunday around 3pm and didn't have to queue to get in.

Charcoal-grilled wagyu beef with onsen egg and shredded leeks over rice.

There was a hint of truffle and while I'm not a huge fan of truffle, this was done perfectly so that it wasn't overpowering and actually complemented the dish really well.

You can choose the how you want the wagyu slices to be done, and I opted for medium rare. The wagyu slices were really tender and even more flavourful when I dipped them into the runny yolk of the onsen egg.

It's been a few years since I went back to Fat Cow, and I'm really glad that it was as good as I'd remember. Will definitely be back.

Take some cream cheese blocks, top it off with mentaiko and wrap them with a sheet of seaweed. They go so well together! Really good with beer too.

Ootoro, uni and ikura.. these are a few of my favourite things.

This overflowing bowl of tempura goodness gave me a food coma before I could even finish it.

One of the better unagi dons that I've tried so far, and really value for money too, if you don't mind the queue...

Very pretty bowl of relatively thick sashimi slices. We felt that the sashimi were fresh, and were pleasantly surprised to taste a hint of truffle on the salmon belly. Quite a decent chirashi don, would recommend it if you are in the area and need a sashimi fix.

Too much rice.. The sashimi slices were thick and nice, but I still prefer The Sushi Bar for overall dining experience.