Stuttgart Blackforest Boutique S-Café

Stuttgart Blackforest Boutique S-Café is located in the busy Orchard Road, but it is also hidden in one corner of Rendezvous Hotel Gallery, with a very low profile. 

The interior of the restaurant is styled in western style with some German elements, such as the iconic German wooden dolls, life-sized ones.  And to my surprise, they even have some live music. 

Single Portion Pork Knuckle, $22.80++

Coming to a German restaurant, of course I must order their famous German pork knuckle.  I have tried German pork knuckle in Frankfurt, German, Singapore's Brotzeit, and Brisbane, Australia,  and I like the pork knuckle here.  Why? 

First, their portion is 1-person portion, it is perfect for one to enjoy the pork knuckle without worrying about the waistline. They have options for 3-4 persons and more.  Second, their pork knuckle is not as salty as all the others that I have tasted before.  I think they have customized the salt level to suit the Singaporean taste.  Well, maybe it is not authentic, but it is a good modification, a healthier evolution.  Third, their pork knuckle is really good.  The skin is not only crispy, but it manages to have some fragrance too.  When the skin is crushed in your mouth, you can hear that crunching sound, and the fragrance lingers in your mouth.  The meat itself is tender, but not greasy.  Thumbs up for their pork knuckle.

Specialty Sausages, $19.80++

Another signature dish on their menu is their Specialty Sausages.  You can choose two out of three types of meat, beef, pork or chicken.  We opted for beef and pork. 

The pork sausage comes curled up nicely with a bamboo stick.  I am not really a sausage person, so I find the sausages are, just like sausages. 

The restaurant has 'Blackforest' in its name, and said to be famous for their blackforest cake.  We were just a bit too full on that day to try the cake.  Maybe next time? 

The food is good, the atmosphere is nice, I will definitely come back when I have a craving for German food next time.

When we paid for our meal, there was a mix-up though.  The waitress presented us with someone else' bill who was a bigger amount.  Lucky I did check my bill, and got it sorted out quickly. 

Tsuta at Funan

Tsuta opened a new branch at the newly opened Funan life-style mall.  In case you don't know, Tsuta is a Michelin 1-star Japanese ramen restaurant, it is very rare.  And this ramen restaurant is also mentioned in the 2019 Japanese drama Ramen Loving Girls special edition, so don't play play, this is a seriously famous ramen restaurant.

The Funan branch is not very big, probably with a seating capacity of 20-30 persons only.  It is small open concept kitchen is manned by a grand total of two chefs, both are local Singaporean/Malaysian Chinese.  I think they have a central kitchen somewhere where they prepare all the soup base, as I saw the chef scooping out the soup base from a stainless steel container, and I don't see any facilities for cooking the soup base.

Once you are seated, you can place your order with a sheet provided.  You can customize your ramen to your own liking.  The best part for me is I can choose the level of salt in the soup base.  Authentic Japanese ramen tends to have a very salty flavor, too much for me, so I am glad that here I can get a less salty option.

I ordered the teriyaki chicken soba.  The soup base is thick in flavor, but not as salty as the authentic Japanese soup base, I like it.  The ramen in this case is actually soba.  Compared with conventional ramen, it is more smooth, offers a clean sensation, and easy to bite.  To me, this soba probably is the crown jewel of this place.  The teriyaki chicken is not bad, tender and juicy.

I also tried their steamed gyoza (dumplings).  The gyoza skin is paper thin, and you can see the fillings inside.   It is not bad, but the fillings are a bit salty.  Too bad they don't give you an option to choose a less salty version.

In total, spent $26 for this simple meal.  The soba is good, enjoy the pleasant sensation very much.