random trending restaurants in Singapore

finally tried Man Man Unagi. surprisingly not many people on a Friday afternoon. maybe cause their basic unagi set (this) cost $34.70 after tax. soft unagi meat mixed with the crispiness of its skin after being grilled. still not as good as the unagi place in Fuji. and probably wouldn't pay $34.70 for this. 4/5

There are hidden gems, and there are REAL hidden gems. Misato is a Japanese restaurant tucked away in some new food wing of Centrepoint (beside Chicken Up) that prides itself on serving quality Japanese food at very affordable prices. Think Saizeriya serving top grade pastas and pizzas.......... yeah sounds too good to be true right?

So they are famous for a few dishes: the A5 Ohmi Wagyu being one of them. at $43.80 for 100g of this amazing piece of meat, this is hands down the most value for money steak you'll ever find anywhere. It is also a big part of why I will DEFINITELY be back here again. perfectly marbled with a weird but tasty yellow bean sauce and mushrooms and tofu that taste more like mochi in texture.. if you love steak you HAVE to order this. 5/5

another popular dish is the okonomiyaki. you can smell this instantly from the kitchen when it is getting prepared. there was enough egg, cabbage, sauce and lightly charred crispy edges to make it a very tasty side. 5/5

popular dish #3 is their matcha soba. yes.. green tea flavoured soba. the green tea taste was cool i guess but i wasnt very impressed otherwise. maybe I'm not really a cold soba kinda guy. or maybe i was thinking the $15 i paid for the soba could have been better spent on a kurobuta pork katsu don which cost the same (yes, it is REALLY cheap there. $15 for a premium black pig katsu don is unreal) so i can only give 3/5 for this matcha soba which essentially came as soba and nothing else haha

ah. the matcha jelly. if you haven't already watched me try to shake The Most Jiggly Dessert Ever you should check it out on my profile. this was so full of matcha flavour i felt i was back in Japan. no joke. best green tea flavoured pudding/jelly in Singapore. 5/5

total damage for an A5 wagyu, huge okonomiyaki, matcha soba, matcha pudding and a pot of hot matcha was around $100. half of it was due to the steak so imagine how cheap everything is!

the only bad point about this place is the waiting time. because every dish to made to order and the chefs start preparing on the spot, this restaurant is famous for long waiting times. i went on an afternoon when the restaurant was half full and still had to wait 30mins before my first dish (the okonomiyaki) was served. be warned. if you are in a hurry DO NOT come here. otherwise this has officially become one of my favourite restaurants in Singapore. i hope this post doesn't cause even longer queues hahahahaha. 5/5

Atlas Singapore replaced the Divine Wine Bar Society (with it's gimmicky-but-still-pretty-cool wine fairies) 6 months ago and in that short amount of time has become number 15 on the World's Top 50 Bars 2017. they boast to have hundreds of different types of gin as well as a wide variety of whiskies and champagnes. they also have a huge collection of interesting cocktails, and their bartenders come from established bars like Jigger&Pony, Cufflink Club and Ah Sam's Cold Drink Stall. the drinks are not cheap and range from $20-28++ (full menu available on their website), but they taste great and it's just an overall classy ambience. definitely worth a visit. p.s. be sure to make reservations, it was full at 8.30pm on a Thursday night..

p.p.s. this photo was taken on my Samsung Galaxy Note 8. oh you damn right. ditch that iPhone now...

Escape Restaurant & Lounge is running a DAILY promo (yes, including Saturdays and Sundays) where you pay $45++ for a 300g steak + 1 side + free flow of 8 types of wines. The default side is grilled potatoes but you can change to truffle fries at no extra charge (and you should). There was an option of another side but I forgot which cause truffle fries. hahaha

I ordered my steak medium rare and was a bit sceptical cause it usually turns out more rare that expected at most mid range steakhouses. So I was pleasantly surprised when it did come relatively medium rare. Relatively cause some parts were still a but tok rare and tasted like rubber. Overall the steak was succulent with little to no marbling. The only other place offering steak with free flow wine, Opus Bar & Grill, definitely has better quality steak but you'd be spending closer to $70+ each there. For $45++ ($53 nett) this was a steal.

The wines here were of pretty good quality too, although i was disappointed that they only had Merlot and 2 types of Pinot Noirs for their reds (they ran out of Shiraz..) WSET Level 1 Wine Appreciator Keefe knows (and you should too!) that you need to pair steak with a strong bodied red wine so the richly flavoured steak does not make your wine taste like water. Fortunately the Merlot was rather medium bodied so it was still not too bad.

Overall you can't get a better deal than $53 for steak and free flow wine lah. You just can't. Unlike Opus Bar & Grill they don't have a time limit of 2hrs for your free flow (albeit they are quite lenient with the time limit), so you can pretty much stay here and sip 4 types of red, 3 types of white and 1x rose wine the whole damn night. Promotion is only valid till end of the month so what are you waiting for? Damn it they should pay me for this post....

the burger joint (intentionally in small letters) is apparently a famous US burger restaurant which has now been brought into Singapore. i guess you could call this a speakeasy restaurant, cause the only thing that leads you to this place is a single lighted up burger sign with an arrow. and it's in some random alley near Telok Ayer street. which led me to walk one big round and eventually find it after asking a nice guy from Bitters and Love (which is another place i will check out soon!)

anyway long story short, the burgers here are nice but grossly expensive. a single patty jalapeño bacon and cheese is $20.80++, while the BBQ cheese is $17.80++. the double patties are $37-$40++. $40++ for a burger!? you kidding me? luckily this restaurant is on the Entertainer App, but its 1-for-1 only applies to single patty burgers, so they will end up costing about $10++ each.

you get to choose how well you want the beef to be done, which is always a sign that the burger place you are at is of a decent standard. taste wise the beef was good, but i'd say probably similar in standard to Omakase burger. value wise? no way. The Handburger (is it even still around) still has my pick for overall best value for money (and tasty AND huge) burgers in Singapore. 4/5

the sides were nice, i liked how crispy their shoestring fries were and the onion rings were good too. the cheese fries were out of stock when i was there but i'd be sure to try them if i ever go back.

true to its American roots, the burger joint also has a craft beer section with 18 different craft beers on tap. i got the a Triple Mango Creme Brûlée sour ale, which was AMAZING, 5/5, and the Coconut Imperial Stout, which was rather sweet and thick and had little to no semblance of any stout, 2/5.

the beers go for $15++ per half pint, which is also PRETTY DAMN EXPENSIVE considering the number of cheaper alternatives all around the Telok Ayer / Club Street area.

nevertheless, the ambience is nice though. graffiti filled walls, nice American 80s music and old school sofa seats make this place rather cosy and a good chill out place. i'd recommend this place only if you have an Entertainer App though. or just come here to try their Triple Mango Creme Brûlée sour ale. otherwise, this place is expensive as hell and probably not worth going back on a frequent basis.

so i went back to Ramen Atelier today for their 1-for-1 Ramen Noir ($14 nett for 2 bowls). the squid ink broth looks pretty cool i guess, but i felt that it otherwise tasted like a very ordinary bowl of miso based ramen. can't complain about their 3 slices of char siew as well as ramen egg though, which are both prepared sous-vide to perfection - the char siew is also blowtorch grilled to add to the flavour. perhaps the owners can consider adding truffle oil to the broth to give it more character; otherwise after a while it would probably taste just like any regular miso based ramen with a black coloured broth. still an insane value for $14 nett a bowl though. 4/5

Teppanyaki Hamburg Nihonbashi Keisuke is Chef Keisuke Takeda's 12th restaurant in Singapore. friends of mine would know that i highly rate many of his ramen restaurants in Singapore; in fact his Summer Ramen from Keisuke Four Seasons is still my #1 ramen in Singapore.

this new hamburg restaurant has a simple menu with only 2 choices: the Triple Cheese Prime Beef Hamburg Set ($20.80++) and Keisuke Prime Beef Hamburg Set ($18.80++). Both come with the free flow salad bar which has LOTS of goodies including ramen salad, potato salad, a free flow egg station (the omelette is GOOD and reminded me of the wonderful omelettes i had in japan), fruits and even a dessert. The main course, though, was rather disappointing. I felt that the hamburg did not contain enough cheese (even though i paid $2++ more for a "triple cheese"). the hamburg meat itself was also nothing much to shout about, being rather too soft and lacking consistency. Overall it is an excellent deal paying $20.80++ for so much food, but sadly it's not somewhere i would be really eager to go back to. Still worth a try at least once i guess.