Japanese 🇯🇵

Doctor said to have more colour in my diet so here we go.

These Japanese Dan Dan noodles ($19.80) are probably my new favourite thing. You get a lovely blend after mixing the Onsen egg with cubed char siu, pickles, fried onion, fresh chopped onions, minced pork and mizuna.

They offer three types of vinegar to go with it: kelp, orange, and spicy. But honestly, the noodles are so full of flavour, it doesn’t need anything additional. If you’re a fan of heat, they have three spice levels ranging from no spice to “very hot”.

My only regret was not ordering the upsize. But fret not, it comes with a free (but optional) mini gohan to uptake any remaining sauce. After I was done, there wasn’t a single morsel left.

Think I found my new favourite casual soba place!

Tenya’s soba had a great springy texture and could stand on its own flavour wise. The tempura cold soba dish included fried prawn, red fish, squid, pumpkin and French beans. They were wonderfully seasoned, light and non-oily.

The Ryo Sushi “all-time hits” bowl was definitely a big hit with me.

Mainly comprising of uni, ikura, chutoro and otoro, this bowl (S$58) is deliciously decadent and indulgent.

Nestled at the top of Funan mall is NOKA, a Japanese restaurant that prides itself in sustainable dining.

I opted for the beef omakase (S$120 + S$30 supplement) which was a reasonable price for an 8-course dinner consisting of appetisers, assorted sashimi, two robata dishes, nigiri sushi, rice bowl, soup and dessert. The supplement was for a snow-aged Wagyu steak from Niigata that’s mellow, rich and simply melts in your mouth. It was also a great showcase of fresh seafood coupled with pretty exotic but sustainable ingredients such and flowers and fungi that made this omakase experience new and interesting for me.

Besides the food, I was most impressed with the service. The staff were friendly, attentive and knowledgeable which makes this place ideal to celebrate occasions like birthdays or anniversaries.

I’ll definitely be back to try more dishes!

Delicious ramen at a decent price too!

Had the tsukemen dipping ramen with added spiciness ($14 + $2). I just slurped the entire bowl clean. The ingredients were fresh, the meat was tender, the broth was rich & tasty, and the noodles were pleasantly springy. The ajitama egg is a must add too.

Jinjo is one of my favourite meals of 2020.

Jinjo has been offering pretty value-for-money lunch sets. They have three options for lunch sets: the gyu (beef) at $35++, the tori (poultry) at $25++ and the unagi (eel) at $32++. All sets come with salad, pickles and soup. I opted for the gyu and I was blown away.

The Kagoshima beef was tremendously delicious - it had a good ratio of lean meat to fat, well seasoned and cooked to perfection (medium rare)! However, what really separated Jinjo from other sumiyakis was their care and attention to detail. Most restaurants understandably wouldn’t put too much consideration towards the sides but not at Jinjo. It seemed like every element that was served had a gastronomic purpose. The miso soup was wonderfully rich, the salad was crisp and tasty and even the pickles were beautifully sweet.