Keisuke's Lobster King Ramen at Clarke Quay.

Keisuke Takeda is without a doubt the King of Singapore's Ramen scene. Within the last couple of years he's opened close to ten Ramen outlets around town - plus a couple of other experiments like Gyoza King and Ginza Tendon Itsuki. What we really like about his Ramen empire, though, is that each restaurant is a little different - Tonkotsu King concentrates on pork bone broth; Tori King dumps a whole broiled chicken drumstick/thigh on top of your noodles. Which brings us to Lobster King at Clarke Quay which, as you might expect, specializes in noodles in lobster broth.

At first glance, Lobster King's dining area seems uncharacteristically posh - to better fit in with the more upmarket Clarke Quay location, perhaps. One constant remains, though - the free flow of bean sprouts and (unflavoured) hard boiled eggs.


Lobster King presents a choice of four broths - Lobster (clear), Lobster (rich, pictured below), Miso Lobster and Spicy Miso Lobster. Prices vary slightly depending on which broth you choose, and vary quite a bit depending on how many accompaniments you order.


Speaking of accompaniments: Ordering the "special" gives you all toppings - ajitsuke tamago, seaweed, bamboo shoot, prawn wanton, deep fried prawn ball, and extra slices of pork and chicken chashu. It's a hearty bowl of food, and could be quite challenging if you've got a below average appetite. These toppings are generally pretty par for the course for Keisuke's standards, with the exception of the prawn wanton which we didn't quite like on account of there being way too much wanton skin.


Where Lobster King really stamps its mark, though, is with the broth. It's safe to say that this is an extremely unique bowl of noodles - the soup's flavour profile is pretty similar to angmoh lobster bisque. This isn't a delicate broth. It's salty, it's strong, and it tries to hit your tastebuds hard and fast. In Spicy Miso Lobster rendition, it's perhaps on the verge of being too tasty, and not to mention surprisingly spicy.


Lobster King prices its Ramen slightly higher than normal - $21.90 for the all toppings "special" version. We've no idea whether this is due to the ingredients used for the broth, or due to higher rentals at the Clarke Quay location, though. If you're a fan of Ramen or if you're a fan of crustaceans you should most definitely try a bowl!

Lobster King is at The Cannery block of Clarke Quay. First come first served (no reservations allowed); Non-halal.

Singapore's Best Cheap Sushi? Ryoshi Sushi Ikeikemaru, Liang Court.

Today, our quest to find the ordinary (wo)man's Holy Grail of Sushi - that perfect balance between cost and quality - brings us to Ryoshi Sushi Ikeikemaru in the basement of Liang Court. Much has been said of how this sushi restaurant serves quality sushi at reasonable prices, so we pay a visit to see if it can unseat our current favorite Tomi Sushi.


There isn't much of a queue on a Sunday night, so we're seated pretty quickly. Ikeikemaru is a kaitenzushi restaurant, but interestingly they've also added an iPad ordering system. Glancing at the sparsely populated belt it's perhaps safe to assume that the chefs have decided to make most of their sushi to order instead of filling up the conveyor.


One advantage of this, of course, is that you get freshly made sushi that hasn't been sitting on the conveyor belt for ages. We had some salmon, aburi salmon, aji (jack mackerel), tuna, shima aji (white trevally), kinmedai (splendid alfonsino) and madai (red sea bream). We thought that the fish was mostly generously portioned and fresh, and we liked the relatively small size of the hand-formed rice ball.


On the down side, our orders arrived in a plate-by-plate trickle. It's not exactly fun for a hungry person to need to wait 5-10 minutes in between bites. Also, while the rice was nicely vinegar'ed, we thought that it wasn't quite packed enough and fell apart too easily especially when handled with chopsticks.


Prices are reasonable, but not quite cheap. Granted, you could stuff yourself silly on SGD1.80 inari (beancurd skin) sushi, but if you order off the "today's recommended fish" menu, expect to pay SGD5.80 or SGD6.80 per plate.


We ended up with a SGD62.85 bill for two people, which is okay, but you'd pay roughly the same price at Tomi Sushi and get a lot more food thrown in.


So overall we can't quite wholeheartedly recommend Ryoshi Sushi Ikeikemaru. While the sushi is above average, we don't like the long wait times and prices are a little on the high side for a conveyor belt sushi place. Still, if you're in the area and feel like eating some nice sushi at prices that won't break the bank, you probably won't be disappointed. Non halal.

A night to remember (forever) at the French Kitchen by Jean-Charles Dubois

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In all my 30-odd years of life, I've never had a French meal. Probably because the price of a proper French place in Kay-El is prohibitively expensive. The relative strength of the SGD means that eating out (and eating fancy) is within grasp though, so that's how we find ourselves seated at The French Kitchen by Jean-Charles Dubois.

Prices are, in my opinion, very reasonable. Perhaps because there is no à la carte menu - you have a choice of three five-course dinner menus. The darling goes for the Degustation Menu (SGD88), and I go for the Traditional Dubois Degustation Menu (SGD78). Having taken our orders, the waiter skips off to the kitchen and brings a selection of bread with butter and salmon spread.


(For sake of brevity, I'll always put the course for the Traditional Dubois Degustation Menu first).

My first course is introduced by the waiter as the amuse bouche. But the waiter is mistaken; a dish that's on the menu doesn't qualify as an amuse bouche. Nevertheless, this pre-starter of an Organic hen's egg en cocotte with truffles and cauliflower coulis was delicious. Perfectly fluffy and light egg went remarkably well with the crispiness and saltiness of the cheese 'cracker.'


The darling's pre-starter was sort of like crab wrapped in a light pasta. You'll notice that this isn't the proper name of the dish - we sort of forgot to take down the name of the dish from the menu. Oops!


No such problems with the Traditional lobster bisque with tiger prawn beignet and leek custard, which is every bit as delicious as it sounds. Perfectly balanced frothy lobster bisque that went well with the fresh tiger prawn beignet (sort of like a tempura). The subtle flavors of the leek custard also provided an excellent riposte to the saltiness of the soup.

Did you understand the above paragraph? Cos I didn't. Was just attempting to put on an FPF (Fake Pretentious Foodie) mask, ha ha! In all seriousness though, the lobster bisque was awesome!


The Degustation menu normally has fresh oysters for its' starter, but seeing as neither of us eat oyster, we both had the bisque.

Moving on, to cleanse the palate, is the third course of Lychee granite, which is basically frozen grated lychees.


For the main course, I had a kurobuta pork rib with rocket salad, potatoes and eggplant caviar. I love kurobuta pork in general, and I love this pork rib even more! Juicy and delicious, with a finger-licking-good sauce. I cleared the entire plate, and would have even licked it clean if we were in a hawker centre instead of a classy restaurant :)


The darling's Pan seared Atlantic sea scallop with glazed organic spaghetti and summer truffle was equally delicious. Scallops were huge and fresh ... although they did taste like they might have been frozen instead of fresh. And needless to say, truffle goes well with anything!


And for the last course of the night - the desserts! I had the Traditional Dubois warm chocolate fondant with caramelized banana ice-cream ...


... and the darling had the Gratinated champagne sabayon with pear marmalade. Looks pretty delicious, doesn't it?


But WAIT, there's something in the dessert that looks out of place! Pushing aside the crackers reveals something hard and inedible and that most definitely doesn't belong in any food creation!


:)

She said Yes - Yay!!

The downside, however, was that the ice creams for both desserts had completely melted by the time we started on the desserts, so they were perhaps a little bit underwhelming. OH, and did I mention we were the only table in the entire restaurant - cos I booked the entire place! Romantic leh!


(OK I lied ... we were the only table there by co-incidence)

Overall, a perfect end to an almost-perfect dinner. Food was great, ambience was great. About the only sore point I had was that the waiters were ... untrained. They were friendly and certainly tried their best, but their lack of knowledge of the items on the menu and overall 'fine-dining' waitressing was pretty obvious. Having said that though, I'll gladly overlook imperfect service for reasonable prices.

The restaurant also does suffer somewhat from having a rather poor location. It's located in Central Mall, which is very near to but not to be confused with The Central, which is that big mall right above the Clarke Quay MRT station. I found that out the hard way, took half an hour to find the place.


The third dinner choice available is the Menu du Jour for $68. Do give Jean-Charles a call at +65 6438 1823 to make reservations and to check on the restaurant's opening and closing days!

Chili, Nachos and Mexican Wings - Muchos Mexican Bar & Restaurant!

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First Mexican Restaurant review! *celebratory drum roll* ... we're at Muchos Mexican Bar & Restaurant, one of the many eateries/watering holes along the Clarke Quay makan area. Most people sit outside beside the water, but we prefer the indoors where there's air-conditioning and no second hand smoke :)


We place our orders, and the moment the food comes we realize we've made a mistake - the appetizers are huge and can qualify for a full meal in themselves. Starting with the Beef Nachos (SGD17.90), a sinful concoction of corn chips slathered with beef, guacamole, cheese, salsa and sliced jalapeños. Heavenly.


The Mexican Fried Chicken Wings (SGD14.90) are perhaps a bit more ordinary. They're still pretty good, but don't really taste particularly Mexican.


Our only main course of the night was the Chilli Con Carne (SGD18.90) - served with a choice of nachos or rice, which turns out to be great! Tasty chunky marinated meat with just the right proportion of beans - miles better than the wannabe chilli that you'd get at Wendy's or Carl's Jr (yes that's not a very fair comparison).


After drinks and taxes, SGD73.80 for two people is pretty reasonable for the amount of food that we got. While we haven't tried other places around the area to know how Muchos stacks up against them, on this one meal we would certainly come back!

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 :)