Makan Places 4: Tonkichi

has been quite a while since i last talk about food...

since the last time...
we never go out anymore...

truth is along the way i have had some eating experiences here and there...
but none worth mentioning...
i contemplated with the idea of talking about these places so people can avoid...

but i will just stick with the positives...

had a friend that came back...
ok not really back...
she spent quite some time here but she is not local...
from Canada...
ok not really Canada...
since she stopped at Taiwan before coming...
complicated stuff...

in any case...
she is back and we met up for dinner with a few friends...

everything happened pretty quick...
one moment i was at my desk dazzling myself with endless stream of documents...
the next i am already waiting in line at Tonkichi...

Tonkichi is a Japanese restaurant located at level 7 of Orchard Central...
the one i went to is there anyway...

i would love to say that right from the start this is a popular place because i waited in line for a good 1/2 hour before i was even ask i need table for how many...
this is not a reflection of bad service...
but there were simply too many people...

then again its a Friday night...
and everywhere in Orchard area is packed...
so i don't know...
spotted a couple of Japanese ladies ahead in the queue...
probably a good sign about the food...

Tonkichi's specialty is their pork cutlet...
there have different types of pork cutlets...
different sauces...
different pork...
what they boost about is that they have the delicious Black Pork imported directly from Japan...

in case u are not really a pork person...
they do have other items on the menu...
while there are not as extensive as the pork cutlet items...
they are enough to for a good selection...

after flipping through pages of pork cutlets...
u will find 2 pages worth of sushi items...
and another 2 pages worth of sides...
some of the sides look very appetizing...

and perhaps completely overshadowed by the pork items...
the seafood here is actually imported directly from the wholesale fish market in Japan~!...

but i am going for the saying...
in pork place, eat pork...

i ordered the pork cutlet in special dark sauce...
while one of my friends had a 4 piece pork fillets...
another had the salmon sushi plate...
and one with the pork cutlet and saba combo...

now i must be frank here...
my first impression was this should be kind of a pricey place...
Orchard Central...
good decorations...
nice looking menu...

even their soft drink is expensive...
they charge u $3.50 for a glass of coke~!...

but this is probably the few places where i can honestly say that the food displayed in the menu...
look miniature compared to their actual size...
each of the pork items can in a set with fresh veggie at the side...
and a bowl of rice...
soup...
and pickles...

trust me...
the size of the cutlet took me by surprised...
i could not even finish it...
though i am not the biggest eater either...

i will safely assumed that this would be filling for most people...

a typical set is priced at around $18-22...
which i think is pretty reasonable...
u can choose to upgrade ur bowl of soup for an additional $4 i think...
and basically u will turn that one small bowl into a gigantic one which is probably enough for 2 to share...

each set does...
as i later found out include fruits served after ur meal as well...

now enough about the food...
how is the service...
i would say that the staff are attentive...
decent...
but do not give u a strong sense that u are being served...
maybe they are overworked by the crowd...

one thing i note though...
is that the table seems to be a little small...
it does not help that each set comes in a big tray that takes up about half the table...
and given the tight spacing...
sometimes u can see the waiters have a hard time putting ur food on the table...

for me that did not take away anything from the dining experience...
especially since the food is quite good...
i would not say they are top-notch...
but differently more than decent...

a point to note though...
they serve this misleading looking yellow wasabi thing with the pork chop...
i strongly advice u have a taste of it by itself...
just a small bit and u can feel the quench...
but funny thing is...
it feels ordinary with the meat and sauce...
somehow the combination defuse away the strong taste...

oh before i forget...
the side veggie is free flow...
but i doubt u would need a refill...

Tonkichi can be found at Ngee Ann City, Sun Tec, Isetan Scotts and Tampines Mall as well...
so if you happened to be around these areas and want to go for some pork chop...
this would be a good place to go...

Makan Places 3: Muthu's Curry

now despite all things said about spicy food...
i am actually quite a fan of it...

there is this little excitement and thrill when really spicy food travel down ur digestive tracts...

so when my friend asked us out to Muthu's Curry...
i was a little thrilled...
though not totally excited...
but he is paying...
so what can i complain about...

from what i gathered from my friend...
Muthu's Curry is quite a famous curry joint...
as far as i know...
there are two branches...
one at Little India...
and another at Suntec City which is the one we went...
which is quite funny because given it is a Thursday night...
there are very little people around Suntec even around dinner time...

signs of recession maybe...

first up...
if u are trying to locate Muthu's Curry at the complex directory...
u won't have any luck...
the shop is under the name "The Muthu's Favour" in the list...

anyway it is located at B1 where majority of the food places are...

the place offers a lot of authentic Indian food...
and of course lots of different types of curry...
but that is not all...
they have other Indian dishes...
and special Indian desserts which we did not get a chance to try in the end...

we ordered just a few of the items in the menu...
including fish head curry...
Tandoori chicken...
and naans...











































































































































naans are one of the specialties of the place...
they offer it in a few favours...
just to try it out...
we opted for the basket of it which offer a few of the more common naans...

and i must say the naans are really superb...
probably one of the best dishes we ordered....

the other that i would like to recommend is the Tandoori chicken...
now i am not a regular of Indian food so i do not know whether it normally taste so good...
but it is really good...

servings of the dishes are decent but not to the plentiful extent...
there were 6 of us hungry souls there...
and a combination of about 6 dishes were more than enough for us...
probably due to the fact that we ordered a large fish head curry...

the rice over here is free-flow...
and u can choose between normal white rice and Briyani rice (yellow rice)...

my only complains is that despite our numbers...
they served the rice in a bowl that is more suited for 2 persons...
we got 2 refills...
but i thought we would have eaten more if not for the fact that we need to keep asking the person to top it up for us...
especially since we have lots of gravy with the fish head curry...

the total bill comes to just slightly less than $20 per person...
which i think is quite worth it...

as a minor note...
maybe instead of getting the free-flow rice...
use the money to get more naans instead...
it is really that good...

so if u are craving for some curry...
and do not want to spend over-the-top prices for it...
Muthu's Curry would be a good place to go...

Makan Places 2: Chuan Garden Restaurant

its all about the element of fire...
the fiery of all things spicy...

but let's begin from the start...

i must say i was skeptical at first...
when my friend jio me out for a Si Chuan cuisine a la carte buffet...
and knowing that it is an authentic Chinese restaurant just add to my skepticism...

Chinese restaurant at Chinatown?...
hm...

for those who know...
i recently had a bad experience with Si Chuan steamboat...

so although i was pretty excited about trying something new...
i was worried about two things...
is the food really that good...
can i handle the heat...

coming off the escalator from Chinatown MRT...
the first indication of the place was its sign...
looks like a simple authentic Chinese restaurant...
























and before my prejudice about things Chinese can hit me...
i was smack in the face with the not-so-ugly truth...




















yes...
the place looks more than decent...
it would not have been out of place in any shopping malls or in town...

now for the food...
i know what most people would think about Si Chuan cuisine...
spicy and hot...
heavy favoured...
and most importantly...
so spicy u cannot even begin to enjoy the meal...

that was what my friends and i feared from the start...
if we cannot handle the heat...
can we enjoy the dinner...

and from the start...
perhaps they already give u a pretty good indications of things to come...



















even their peanuts feature deep fried chili pieces...
(which towards the end of the meal... when i gathered enough courage to try them... i realised that they are not hot at all... just gives u a little tingling sensation in the mouth...)

my friend's girlfriend is familiar with the dishes...
so she was in-charge of ordering...

the first few dishes looks alright enough...
nothing too spicy...
and they all taste pretty good...
a good start...


























































































and we slowly venture into the main dishes...
the spicy stuff...











































































































to my surprise...
although the dishes look pretty scary...
with seemingly more chili than meat or vegetable in each of them...
they are not outright spicy...
they are actually pretty tolerable...
spicyly nice...

but u do have to watch out for some of the spices they put in...
if u happened to bite into them...
the taste can be quite overwhelming...

and to all those who cannot handle any form of spicyness at all...
there are actually non-spicy dishes there...
but if u are going there just to eat that...
then u are missing all the fun...



























































(funny thing is... their kang kong is not spicy... hahaha...)

overall all the dishes taste good...
despite ordering about 15 different dishes...
we only touched the tip of the iceberg...

their a la carte buffet offers a very comprehensive menu...
and the buffet itself only offers selective items from the actual restaurant menu...
so u can imagine the magnitude of dishes on offer there...

and as i observed...
many tables actually order from the main menu and was not there for the buffet...

a few things to note though...
the buffet is only available if there are 3 of u dining or more...
and most importantly...
the dishes are of a standard size...
so if there are 3 of u...
or 7 of us...
the serving would be the same...
so i think if u are going for the buffet...
u should really look at a number of about 8-10...
so u can really sample the different dishes and eat ur money worth...

one final bad point...
even though my friend made a reservations for 7pm...
when we arrived at 6.55pm...
we were told to wait till someone leaves...
that says alot about the popularity of the place...
and also that making a reservation seems pretty much pointless...
i simply can't see any difference from walking in...

all in all...
if u are looking for authentic Si Chuan cuisine...
or want to try something tolerable spicy for a change...
Chuan Garden would be a good option to consider...

Makan Places 1: Ambush (Jurong Point)

i actually ate at this place some time back...
but because i was in a kind of a hurry that day...
plus the fact that it was a surprise found...
i didn't manage to catch the name of the place...

the name is Ambush...
located on the second level of Jurong Point 1 (the older side of the building)...

this restaurant specialised in Spanish Paella, German Sausages and Belgium Mussels Pot...

a quick glance through the menu and u would see the main dishes are in 3 major categories...
Spanish Paella... pasta... German Sausages...

i went for the seafood Paella while my friend went with the sausage with a potato based-side...

we also tried out the fried mini-calamari as a side...
and a raspberry Italian soda...

first...
what is a Paella?...
it is a rice dish mixed with different ingredients...
can be meat or vegetables...
cooked in a flat-based pan...
it is served in the pan as well...
although there are many types of Paella with different sauce and ingredients...
those offered at Ambush are mostly seafood with a tomato based sauce...

and it looks like this...
























this is how my friend's sausage dish looks like...
























and of course...
the fried mini-calamari...
























i have eaten my fair share of fried calamari before...
but this is the first time i ate mini ones...
and i must say they are really good...
slightly less chewy then the normal chucks of calamari...
but soft and tender...
different experience...
























even the Italian soda is good...
not too heavy on taste...
slight and refreshing which complimented well to the slightly stronger favour of the main dishes...


now i don't think i am a good enough critic to be telling u what is so great about the dishes and what not...
but the food offered at the Ambush is really good...
and it definitely is something different from the rest of the eateries available in Jurong Point...
which is pretty neat...

all in all...
i think it is a place i would visit again...
and maybe u can consider doing that too...