Kuishin-Bo

Suntec City Mall
#03-0023 Temasek Boulevard
Singapore 038983
Tel: 62387088

December 24, 2006

Christmas Eve is another day that all F&B restaurants look forward to. As majority of the people would be dining out, it is therefore the best time for them to introduce Xmas Dinner Set at scary high prices. For instance, this kuishin-bo, where we choose to celebrate our lovely xmas eve cost us $49.80+++ per pax, just to enjoy their xmas set priviledge of free flow of lobster, alaska snow crab, turkey & etc.

This is our first time visiting here though this place has been in suntec for ages. Our excited mood bar has been increasing since the time we step in, due to the wide arrays of food being served. Ooo...make us so hungry.

There are stations serving drinks, desserts & pastries, fried tempura items, mini noodle pot, paper steamboat, turkey and soup, teppanyaki, sushi, sashimi and the fresh seafood corner. And most of the food are delicious. We can't stop ourselves from visiting the sashimi counter, just to get hold of the swordfish. Even the alaska snow crab legs are very sweet.

But as our stomach aren't really that big, couldn't expand much, we feel very full just after eating not too many items. So we can't hit the bill amount of $116 worth of food, ha....so wasted.

But nevertheless, we really enjoy ourselves in this japanese feast buffet.

Rating: 8/10

Akashi Japanese Restaurant

1 HarbourFront Walk
Vivo City, B2
Singapore 098585

December 15, 2006

This is one japanese restaurant that is so famous for their good food. But due to their expensive pricing, we never have the chance to step in here to eat as it will burn holes in our wallet. But due to the oncoming lovely christmas, we thought of having a lovely hearty meal to pre-celebrate our christmas mood.

Service is really bad and disorganized at this Vivo branch. We waited for a long time at the door and no one bother to serve us. The waitresses are looking at us but still continue to count their money, clean the tables, walk around, serve the dishes, rather than giving us and the group in front of us seats. Finally after long wait, we requested to be seated at the counter and guess what, no menu are given to us.

We raise our hands to request for menu, and they thought that we want to place our orders, so angry. And when we finally placed our orders with a rude waitress, our food never seems to come. Other tables which came in later than us are already eating. Finally after 20 mins or more, our food came. And we are glad that another waitress who served the food apologize for the long wait.

Food here is really pricey. For instance, that small pc of lamb already cost $15, the normal plate of gyoza $8 and the Otsukuri (sashimi set) at $28 when the portions of sashimi are not a lot. And in terms of food quality, it is still acceptable, not overwhelming. And we thought of ordering the tuna belly sashimi but in the end drop that idea as it cost at $60 for such pathetic portions.

The gyoza taste exactly like those frozen packets type you could just buy from supermarket. The lamb chop is tender and nice but not to meow's liking as it is quite raw. The sashimi are not the very sweet, definitely not the best out of so many jap restaurants we have tried. The nabeyaki udon is acceptable and also pricer than other places too.

But luckily, Oink ordered the fresh peach juice as this is really yummy. At least it compensates for the poor quality of time we have spend in here. Perhaps, next time should try the one at paragon for better service & food, cross our fingers.

Rating: 6.5/10

>>Very nice peach juice, yummy :P

Raku Ninja

1 Raffles Link
CityLink Mall #B1-23
Singapore 039393
Tel : 62380862

December 14, 2006

After the Akashi Jap Restaurant at CityLink closed down, this Raku Ninja took over. With the 2 super adorable statue of black ninja, it is hard not to notice them. But perhaps due to poor fengshui, this restaurant always look so empty everytime we passby.

As we are rushing for time to catch the ballet dance "La Sylphide" at the Esplanade, we just wanted to grab some light japanese bites, so thought of giving this place a try since it's nearby.

And expected, business is so blend and the whole place looks so gloomy due to the dark uninviting colors. We actually spend 10 mins or so to decide on what to order as there are too few items in the menu, and nothing seems delicious. But yet, we don't have the time to change another restaurant, so trying hard to finalize. In the end, we ordered a tempura rice, a raku ninja soba and a sashimi swordfish.

The swordfish though is very sweet, the black pepper that surrounds it choke up the taste which makes it disappointing. The tempura set is even more disappointing. The tempuras are badly fried which makes it so hard to bite and the rice is tasteless. The raku ninja soba is only cold soba with crab sticks, boring and not delicious. And the worst thing is, per pax is about 15 to 25 and yet the portions served for all the dishes are so little that we feel like heading for supper after the dance.

And we are asking a waiter if this place is associated with the restaurant Raku @ Holland Village, and the waiter seems confused and ask us about the menu. Bullshit.

So we really hope that this is not a sister brand of Raku, if not, it is really disappointing on the standard of food served here. Not worth it. Definitely no second visit.

Rating: 3/10

>>Scratch head, boring limited choices!! Meow feel so lost...

Shimbashi Soba

290 Orchard Road
#B1-41 Paragon
Tel : 67359882

Shimbashi is one place known for superb soba. All soba are 100% handmade by their chef using buckwheat, which is known to have the ability in lowering blood pressure and also aid the liver in processing alcohol.

We have actually ordered a few types of soba from the menu but only managed to capture this pic, ha....so forgetful.

Their cold soba is really good, very "Q" and fresh. The salmon that came along with the hot soup soba is also very fresh. The soba in duck soup which Ash was having is also quite nice, but too little duck meat.

So the overall soba experience is not too bad so ought to give this place a try if you are a soba lover. Pricing not very cheap though.

Rating: 7/10

Sun Japanese Dining

30 Victoria Street
#02-01, Chijmes
Tel: 63363166

September 29, 2006

Sun Japanese Dining is one of the recommended restaurant if you are looking out for japanese cuisines. Though prices are not very cheap, but they serves unique & quality food. It is just situated on the second floor of the beautiful Chijmes linked up by a very beautiful staircase.

The interior design of this whole eatery makes you feel so good and comfy. Dim cozy lightings, dark wooden zen looking concept with high ceilings supported by chic looking pillars. They also have a very modern looking open concept kitchen. The staffs there were very friendly, treating everyone with respect. Unlike some expensive jap restaurants that gives you attitude, thinking that you can't afford.

There were lots of tantalizing dishes in the menu, so we had to make the right choices to make our money worth spending. Ha.

Sun is famous for their Kamameshi which is steam rice in metal bowl topped with meat / seafood. So we ordered one Teriyaki Chicken Kamameshi ($11.80). Then we ordered Fresh Sashimi, with 6 assortments. A bit expensive ($32.50). We also ordered one Teriyaki Foie Gras Canape ($18.50) as a starter and one Kani Hotplate ($14.80) to go along with our steam rice.

To begin with our meal, we quench our thirst with their in-house Peach Soda. Lots of fruits inside, very nice. Next served is the Fresh sashimi, meow says he can feel the ocean, haha. Then is the canape which oink totally adored, so crispy. Still have lingering after taste. Then comes the Kani Hotplate. Quite generous with the crab meat, but still it taste quite ordinary, meow don't like the taste, oink finds it acceptable. Lastly is the Steam Rice and Miso Soup. We find it so amusing as there is this sand timer thing which you have to wait for one min before digging in. The rice is filled with meat juices. Yummy.

This is definitely one place we would love to makan. Fantastic!!

Rating: 8.5/10


^The beautiful staircase leading to the restaurant. Apologies for the fat & thin "models" which ruin the pictures -_-"
>> Miso Soup with mushroom