LeNu at VivoCity

LeNu is part of the Paradise Group of companies, and specialized in beef noodles.  Their restaurant at VivoCity very much looks like a Japanese ramen shop, and the noodles they serve tend to have some semblance of Japanese ramen too.

To order, you just need to tick the item and write the quantity of it in the order slip.  It is pretty straight forward.  After that, go to the cashier and make a payment for your order.  Here is pay before you eat.

Braised Beef Combination Noodle, $16.50+

I ordered their braised beef combination noodle.  Well, the name is a bit strange in English, but that is what is listed in their menu.  Basically it is egg noodle in beef broth, with wagyu beef, tendon and the "muscle".  I don't know what is the proper English name for that "muscle".  In the menu, it is listed as "shank". 

The beef portion was quite tiny, if you don't look for it, you might not find it.  The tendon portion was reasonable, a piece or two.  The 'muscle' portion was the most generous, there were quite a number of pieces.  The taste was pretty good.  You could still 'feel' the toughness of the muscle, but then it would breakdown easily in your mouth.  You don't have to worry that you need to chew forever to make it swallow-able.

For every main, if you top-up $3.50, you could get a side dish and a can of soft drink.

Century Egg Tofu

I chose the century egg tofu as my side.  It was a cold dish.  The presentation was good, like a piece of art.  Taste-wise, it was a bit bland, as the tofu basically had no taste, while the century egg's taste came mainly from its yoke, which was kind of a bit heavy for me.

Overall I think LeNu serves reasonably good beef noodle at a competitive price, especially considering it is in a busy shopping center.

Hattendo Singapore

Hattendo (八天堂) Cafe is a new Japanese cafe that opened its first shop at the brand new Tanjong Pagar Center in Singapore.  It is hidden behind the Japan Rail Cafe, so you have to make some effort to find it.   The space is quite small, a small counter where you can order your buns and coffee, and then some 10 or so small tables for patrons to sit down and enjoy their coffee and buns.

I had never heard of Hattendo before, until one day their instagram "like" one of my posts, then I started to find out what Hattendo is.  They are said to start their business in Hiroshima, Japan, back in 1933.  Well, impressed, that means they survived the atomic bomb which was dropped in Hiroshima on 9 Aug 1945.

Back to topic, their signature dishes are the 5 types of cream buns: Custard, whipped cream, matcha, azuki beans, and chocolate.  Each bun costs $2.50.  We ordered their matcha and azuki beans.  Just in case you wonder what azuki beans are, they are red beans.  We also ordered a cafe latte and a caramel latte. 

Matcha Cream Bun

Dangdangdangdang, here is the matcha cream bun.  Well, the bun seemed to have been left on the shelf for quite a while, and appeared to be soggy.  Matcha is supposed to have some bitter taste, but in this case, it was all sweet, the bitter was almost undetectable.

Azuki Beans Bun

Next came the azuki beans bun.  There were some red bean paste litered among the creams.  As both the cream and red beans were sweet, so I think this is quite a perfect match with the coffee.  It neutralized coffee's bitter, leaving a pleasant sweet after taste in your mouth.

Overall, I think the cream buns can be a good companion to the coffee.  However, this cafe's environment is not very cozy for friends to sit down and enjoy a romantic or free spirited afternoon.  I kind of wonder what kind of market niche that they wanna craft out.

Tenten Ramen at Raffles City

Tenten is a small ramen restaurant among the many eateries on basement 1 of Raffles City shopping center.  The deco is simple and typical of a Japanese ramen restaurant, a small kitchen with a few small tables around.

Yuzu Chashu Ramen, $14.80

Yuzu Paste

I ordered their Yuzu Chashu ramen.  Yuzu basically means pomelo in Japanese, kind of curious how a Yuzu ramen would look like.

I was surprised when my ramen came.  Firstly, the soup base was a clear soup base.  Have you ever seen a clear ramen soup base before?  This was my first time.  Secondly, the Yuzu paste that came in a separate container was just tiny, but the pomelo smell was actually quite strong.  It was a bit sour, and a bit sweet.  It enhanced my appetite.

Let's get back to the ramen.  The clear soup base was like a fresh breeze in the stagnant forest of milky ramen soup bases.  Not salty as the milky version, very pleasant to drink.  The ramen was very much like our wanton noodle, tough yet easy to bite.

Eat the chashu with the Yuzu paste provided.  The fragrance of the fruit freshened the heavy meat flavour, giving the patron a sense of fresh air in the Spring.

Their green tea was not bad, thick and full of flavour, but it was not cheap, $2 a cup.

Overall the ramen was pretty good, and the clear soup base was unique.  If you don't like the normal milky ramen soup base, you should give this one a try.

iSteak at MyVillage Serangoon Garden

iSteak is a popular western food place at MyVillage at Serangoon Garden.  During lunch, you will see lots of people who either work nearby or live nearby come in for a quick lunch.  The prices here are quite reasonable, and the food is quite decent.  Well, how did I know it?  Somehow it is not too pleasant for me to come here, as someone likes to choose this place for farewell whenever we have someone leaving us for greener grass.  I have been here numerous times.  The dinning environment is pleasant, large glass windows let in plenty of natural light.  We want to support this place also because they support people who are intelligently challenged.

Honey Ginger Chicken, $10.00

For this occasion, I ordered the honey ginger chicken, for $10.00.  Every main comes with two free side dishes, which I chose spinach salad and olive rice.

The chicken was grilled together with the skin, which provided lots of natural chicken oil.  The meat was just nice, fully cooked but not dry.  Honey and ginger combination is a bit interesting.  Honey neutralized ginger's strong flavor and taste.

There is no GST, no service charge here. The price you see in the menu is what you pay.  By the way, if you do patronize this place, just help yourself with a menu from any table or display, choose what you like and then go to the cashier to make your order and payments.  Then you will be given a number plate indicating your order number.  The staff will bring the food to your table.  For cutlery, it is self-service, you can get them from the cutlery station, as well as whatever ketchup, chili sauce that you prefer.  For drinks, you have to order separately at the drinks counter.