All you can eat Yakiniku (焼肉) Brunch Buffet @ Tajimaya, Vivocity!

Yakiniku (焼肉) is one of our favorite comfort foods. There's something remarkably therapeutic about grilling (and wolfing down) slices of different meats and parts over red hot charcoal. Unfortunately, a great Yakiniku dinner (lots of super marbled, various different cuts from an A5 wagyu cow) is expensive, and sometimes we just want to burn some cow without breaking the bank.


Enter Tajimaya's all-you-can-eat Yakiniku Brunch Buffet! It's only available on weekends, and frankly the variety isn't all that great (only three cuts of beef available), but s$49.90/person is pretty reasonable for free flow meat.


First up though, some sashimi. Salmon was pretty good, fresh with a nice amount of fat, whereas the Tuna was par for the course for non-specialist Japanese restaurants (that is to say, a little rough in texture and not all that good tasting).


After appeasing our guilt with the "healthy" raw fish, it's on to the meats! We tried all three types of beef, the kurobuta pork belly, the lamb, an assortment of mushrooms and sweet corn. Oh, free flow of Pepsi and 7-Up is included in the buffet price.


Obviously the Wagyu (probably from Australia or some other non-Japanese country) short plate was the most marbled - nice fatty streaks - but short plate is really one of the cheaper cuts of the cow. It comes from the belly, outside the ribs, and tends to be a little tougher and chewier than other muscles that do less work. Nice beefy flavour though!


Of special note (to avoid) is the lamb - we don't know what cut it came from but it was tough, dry, and altogether forgettable. The pork belly, on the other hand: juicy, oily, fatty, and crispy in the corners thanks to the heat from the charcoal.


Speaking of charcoal, we're big believers of the charcoal BBQ. For starters, the radiant heat is higher than gas or electricity, allowing you to get a better sear / crust. But most importantly, there's a subtle smoke from grilling over charcoal that you don't get from the other two methods. Not from the charcoal itself, mind you, but from the fats and juices that drip off the meat, hit the coals, and combust in a flash of flames and smoke, flavouring the meat. Yummy.


Of course, while we would have preferred some additional variety - like beef tongue, or beef tripe - you can't have a buffet and have tons of variety and keep the price down. Also, there's a published time limit of 100 minutes, but we sat at our table for considerably longer and weren't chased away.


Tajimaya's Brunch Buffet is served from 11.30am-4.00pm on weekends and public holidays. We don't know how long the promotion will run for, so do head down there and take advantage of the offer while it lasts!

Tajimaya Yakiniku is at #01-102/103, Vivocity, Singapore. Non-Halal.

Shin Kushiya's Charcoal-Grilled Yakitori at Vivocity.

Yakitori (焼鳥), when it's done properly, is amazing comfort food. Just in case you're not sure what yakitori is: The word describes meat skewers, grilled and salted or lathered generously with sweet sauce. In our opinion, a good yakitori place needs to fulfill two conditions:

(i) There needs to be a good variety of meats and different cuts & parts; and
(ii) The skewers must be grilled over charcoal (preferably of the binchotan variety).

One place that seems to check both boxes is Shin Kushiya. This venerable Vivocity restaurant has been open since 2006, but for some shameful reason we'd never even heard about it til recently. Better late than never, though ... right?


Anyways we walked up and got a table, and then placed our orders! There are a number of different yakitori sets on the menu but we ala-carte'd it all the way:

Chicken: Yakitori (dark meat), Tsukune (meatballs), Bonjiri (tail), Kawa (chicken skin) and Uzara Tamago (quail eggs)
Pork: Chizu Maki (pork-wrapped mozarella), Enoki Maki (pork-wrapped enoki mushrooms) and Buta Bara (pork belly)
Beef: Gyu Karubi (short ribs)
Others: Toumorokoshi Shoyu yaki (corn on cob), Garlic Fried Rice


Overall, the yakitori was fairly good: Meats were cooked well, especially the skin & tail (our favorite yakitori parts); Certainly among the best skewers we've had in Singapore, and a big upgrade from 'stall'-type yakitori like Tori-Q. Still nowhere near the deliciousness of proper Yakitori places in Japan, though.

Oh, (dis)honourable mention needs to go to the karubi, which was so overcooked it was like eating beef jerky.


The restaurant also offers up other Japanese food types like sushi/sashimi and soba noodles, which we didn't bother trying.

At a price range of around s$20-s$25/person of average appetite, our opinion is that Shin Kushiya provides average value for money. The charcoal grilling, while not being particularly outstanding, is good enough to make the restaurant our default go-to place whenever we have yakitori hankerings in the future. Reservations not really needed. Non-halal.

Jamie's Italian now Open in Vivocity, Singapore!

Singapore is fast becoming the restaurant capital of Asia, with a staggering seven entries in the Top 20 of the latest Miele Guide, and restaurants opened by multiple Celebrity Chefs island-wide. The vast majority of these are fine dining (i.e. expensive as heck) though, so it's refreshing and exciting that our latest Celebrity Chef to set up shop, Jamie Oliver, has gone for a more accessible route with an outlet of his flagship Jamie's Italian restaurant chain over at Vivocity!


The best way to describe Jamie's Italian is perhaps "casual fine dining" - fine dining without the pretentiousness or the price. The restaurant has a decidedly casual and yet exciting vibe - you can feel the energy especially when seated right next to the impressive ~30 foot long open kitchen. The chef constantly paces up and down pushing his cooks - it's remarkably similar to watching an episode of Hell's Kitchen. Without all the swearing and banging of tables, of course.

"Communicate with each other!"
"How long?"
"Table 45 is up next"
"I need this urgently"
"Yes Chef!"

It's mesmerizing, and I think the darling gave up trying to get my attention after losing it more than once during the meal.


Moving on to the first of our starters, then, the Crispy Squid ($11.50). This squid is battered and deep fried perfectly and is nice and crispy. Some might find it a little lacking in seasoning; understandable given Jamie's focus on simplicity and healthier recipes. After all, the typical East Asian deep fried squid dish usually calls for a heavily seasoned batter (prime example being the Chinese/Taiwanese salt and pepper laden batter).


Our Baked Mushrooms ($12.50) are also relatively lightly seasoned; in my opinion the light seasoning approach works better here as it allows the mushrooms to take center stage. Would definitely order again.


Moving on to our main courses - Jools' Favorite Sicilian Tuna Fusilli ($21.00 for full-sized portion). The tomato-based sauce is slightly spicy and tangy and complements the tuna well. Fusili is a great pasta choice as the many 'ridges' hold the (relatively watery) sauce much better than a 'smooth' pasta would. I'm not entirely convinced about the breadcrumbs though - they add an interesting crunch to the first few mouthfuls but quickly soak up the sauce and so the crunch disappears. Definite must-order if you're a tuna fan.


Brixham Bay Crab Risotto is $19.00 for the small portion pictured below; $28.50 for full size. I thought that the rice was cooked very well - with firm, individually distinct grains held together by that starchy reduced stock without being hard. However I also thought this was a very one-dimensional dish - crab is after all a very delicate tasting meat, and with the very strong flavour from the risotto, it simply fades too far into the background. I would have preferred an accompaniment which either provides some textural contrast or can hold its' own in the flavours department.


At just about $75 for two people, it ends up to be a very reasonable and accessible celebrity chef restaurant, and we'll certainly be back again. Service is pretty good - their aim is to provide a fine dining experience after all (so expect little touches like everyone on the table is served at once, etc). One little snafu - our waitress forgot to send our main courses to the kitchen so we ended up waiting 45 minutes for our mains; but that's totally forgivable as we visited during the training soft launch.

Jamie's Italian is on the first floor of Vivocity - along that stretch of restaurants facing Sentosa Island. Non-halal.

All photos taken with iPhone as I didn't have my camera with me :(

Marché VivoCity - Swiss buffet-style goodness.

Offtopic: We are now on Twitter, so Follow Us on Twitter to get first-hand updates whenever we ... update!

Marché is a Swiss chain of restaurants that have outlets in a dozen countries spread over Europe and Asia. The concept is simple - it's set up like a buffet with multiple cooking stations and bread, dessert and drinks stands, but instead of paying a fixed price, you only need to pay for what you eat for.


The Marché outlet in the Curve in KL uses a card-and-stamp system, but the ones here in Singapore use an electronic card. Personally I prefer KL's system - it just feels more hygienic since I don't have to handle a card that's been passed between hundreds of hands.

That's just a minor quibble though, so let's go explore the food that's on offer!


Starting with the drinks, there's a selection of juices and fruity teas, and some 'western' soft drinks. The darling and I are delighted that there's our favorite soda - Bundaberg Ginger Beer (which is from Australia ... so ... not strictly 'Western').




Special mention to the grill station where you've got choices of sausages, rib-eye steaks and lamb chops - the meats here are grilled surprisingly well. We asked for our lamb chops medium and they arrived perfectly cooked, nice and tender, and delicious!





The cream pasta also needs a special mention - but only to warn you to stay away. It tasted as if the chef stirred cream into pasta and then forgot any other condiments.

Overall, we come away pretty satisfied. Marché does suffer a little from that problem common to most buffets - too many varieties resulting in food that is solid but not outstanding. Prices are quite reasonable, though, and it's a nice, lively and cheerful place (if a tad bit noisy). Come early if you want to avoid needing to queue behind a few dozen people, and also do note that they don't seat partial tables - everyone needs to turn up before they'll let you in.

Marché has two outlets in Singapore. To get to the VivoCity outlet take the city's MRT to the Harbourfront station.

Singapore Road Trip - Random Food Musings

Took a family trip down to Singapore last week - main purpose was really just Universal Studios and shopping, but Singapore also has lots of food that you can't get up North. Going to be picture spam!

Our first stop was Ion Orchard, where we came across 4 Fingers Bonchon Crispy Chicken - with a sign outside proudly proclaiming themselves as the best Chicken in Singapore. SGD9.95 for 6 wings, fries and a drink - we chose mixed flavors. Decently good, but not spectacular.


Gindako's Takoyaki was awesome, however. SGD 5.20 for 6 delicious balls of goodness.


We then try the Special Black Pig Katsudon (SGD 17.90) at Ginza Bairin. Wonderfully delicious. I must admit I don't know what a black pig is, and the pork cutlet wasn't particularly different, but the batter and the sauce it came in was heavenly.


Next day, we find ourselves in the Food Republic in VivoCity just before heading off to USS. You Char Guai and tau cheong sui is a uniquely Singaporean concept that I don't ... really ... appreciate much :)


Another weird combination: Spaghetti with Chicken Chop.


Beef Noodle - Dry! Delicious.


Food in Universal Studios was understandably forgettable, but we did find a superbly delicious Sleeping Beauty Cupcake (SGD 3.80). Loved the decoration - loved the taste even more.


Back to VivoCity for dinner - this is Tempura Shishamo (SGD 5.80 for 4). Great combination, all Japanese outlets should serve this.


Later at night we go to yumcha at the Coffee Connoisseur over at Clarke Quay.


There's a one-for-one pasta offer, so we go for Seafood Aglio Olio (SGD 18.80) and Penne Mama Mia. Both pastas were surprisingly good!


We also have Nachos (SGD 8.50). For drinks, mum has a Calming Spirit (Chamomile Tea blend, SGD 8.30).


Other drinks on order: Mint-Choc Frappe (SGD 7.90), Chocolate of Wealth (SGD 7.90), Caramello Twist (SGD 7.40), Hazelnutella Milkshake (SGD 7.90) and Oreo Mocha Frappe (SGD 7.90).


Was overall a supremely satisfying trip, especially for the stomach. Need to tighten belt for a bit until the wallet stops complaining though :)