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.  

Unagiya Ichinoji at Suntec

Unagiya Ichinoji is said to be a 125-year old restaurant started in Tokyo, with a specialty in grilled eel.  Singaporeans are so lucky that this century-old restaurant started two branches here in Singapore, one in Robertson Quay, while the other at Suntec.

We arrived at the Suntec branch on a Sunday at 11.50am, with our reservation at 12.00pm.  We were repeatedly asked whether we had a reservation and what name the reservation was under, and we were asked thrice for the same question.  Anyway, let's go straight to the food first.

Hitsumabushi (Medium), $32.80++

This restaurant is famous for Hitsumabushi, or eat grilled eel in three ways.  Of course, we ordered the medium Hitsumabushi each.  They let you choose what kind of rice you would like, white rice or mixed-grain rice.  And for the month of October, they have the 2nd Hitsumabushi set at 50% discount promotion.  Somehow, I found out from the internet that this discount seems to be always there.

Their eel was quite meaty, and tender.  As you can see here, it was only slightly charred at the outside.  As this restaurant originated from Tokyo, their eel is more on the tender side, while the Nagoya style of grilled eel is more on the crispy side, with a coated layer of caramel.  Personally I like the Tokyo style more, so the eel here suited me.  However, I found an unpleasant fish taste lingering in my mouth hours after my meal, but I didn't have that experience with the eels from Man Man Unagi or Uya Unagi.  Anyway, the food was quite ok.

Service-wise, I think it definitely is not up to the Japanese standard.  After we arrived, first we were greeted by a female staff, then she asked a skin-head male staff to lead us to our table.  As it was pretty early and many tables were empty, I asked whether we could sit by the window.  The answer was firm no, reason being those tables were reserved for 4-person parties.  I am fine with this if it is true.  As it turned out, it was not.  Many of those tables were later on occupied by 2 persons, not even 3,let alone 4!

After we sat down at our table, we were given an iPad to place our orders, and so I did without any suspicion.  When I wanted to view my bill, an error message popped up.  Surprised, I asked a female staff for help.  What she told me really pissed me off.  She told me that there was a mix-up of table numbers.  Our table and another table shared the same table number, and the other table already placed an order, and our order were added to theirs!  And they knew this mix-up all the time, but they didn't fix it before we placed our order!

When our food was served, the skin-head male staff didn't even bother to ask which order belongs to who, just left the tray and the food on our table, lucky my friend and I were not picky about food, and fine with either white rice or mixed-grain rice.  Then throughout the whole dining experience, only one staff came to refill the tea once.  Nothing else.

Overall, I think the food is ok, but compare with Man Man Unagi and Uya, this restaurant ranks the lowest.

You can see my reviews of Man Man and Uya at the links below:

1. Man Man Unagi
2. Uya Unagi

Uya Unagi (四代目菊川) at Wheelock Place

Uya unagi is another famous Japanese restaurant specialized in unagi (eel).  It is conveniently located on the 2nd floor of Wheelock Place, right in the center of the busy Orchard Road.  We arrived at the restaurant at 6pm, the moment the restaurant opened for dinner, without a reservation, on a Monday.  The place was quite empty, my friend and I were the only two customers at the time.  When we left the place at around 7.40pm, the place was still half empty.

There are some small private rooms available for business people to discuss their work while dinning, or for people who would like to have more privacy.  This is a very good point.

Sashimi Mori (Standard), $35.00++

We ordered a sashimi mori as appetitzer.  There are two options, standard and premium, we chose the standard version.  It consisted of swordfish, tuna, salmon, and I think mackerel, and then one unknown.  The crown jewel of this plate was definitely the swordfish.  I must admit I never had any high expectations of swordfish, as it is usually served cooked in western cuisine, and its flesh tends to be quite tough.  Served as sashimi, the swordfish was actually quite thick, firm and meaty, with an abundance of fish oil.  And it was really fresh, not a hint of stinky fishy smell.

Hitsumabushi  (Large), $48.00++

I ordered the large Hitsumabushi for my main.  The portion was huge, for both the unagi and the rice.

Both Man Man Unagi and Uya are famous for their unagi, so I naturally will compare the two.  The grilled unagi at Man Man is thinner, and soft, with some charred portions.  The unagi at Uya is thick and firm.  There is no hint of any charred portion.  The outer section is crispy, the inside is tasty solid.  I think Uya's unagi is like a muscular athlete, while Man Man's is more like a shy young lady.
I like Uya's unagi more than Man Man's.

The soup that came with the Hitsumabushi was good too.  It was clear and fragrant.  Together with the unagi, it was like mom's tender hand gently massaging.  A good complement to the unagi.  And if you run out of soup, you can actually re-fill.

Service-wise it was good.  We ordered a number of dishes, including dessert, and they asked us whether we would like everything come together or one by one.  We chose one by one.  When we finished one item, they would clear the table first, before serving the next dish.

Overall, the dining experience was good.  The food was excellent, and environment was conducive.  It is more like a proper restaurant where you can talk business, or leisurely enjoy your meal, while Man Man is more like a fast-food outlet.  In addition, they accept reservations, you can give them a call if you worry about long queues.

Yuba Hut at North Point City

Yuba Hut is located on level B1 of North Point City at Yishun.  The place is quite small, a couple of bar-counter type of sitting, plus a few tables for groups of 4.

Everything is self-serviced here.  First, you look for a place to sit, then make your order at the cashier and make payment.  You will be given a buzzer to alert you to collect your dishes.  Disposable cutlery is at a small counter behind the food collection point.  You need to pick up your own cutlery after you collect your food.

Beef Steak Don, $16.90

I ordered the beef steak don, as the portion looks big in the menu.  It is grilled beef, served with a generous portion of black and white sesame seeds, with a soft-boiled egg on top of plain rice.  The beef was grilled till fragrant, and the meat was still tender.  Most of them were bouncy and juicy and nice to eat, but some had very tough tendons that demanded quite a bit of teeth power.

The rice they use is some kind of Japanese short-grain rice, but probably normal grade, not the premium type of Japanese rice.

In terms of portion, the portion was quite small.  The portion of rice should be no more than a small scoop.  This is perfect for people who don't eat rice, or on a low carbo diet.  After finishing everything that was in that bowl, my stomach was about 30% full.

Gyoza-ya at North Point City

Gyoza-Ya is located on level B1 of the new wing of North Point City, among a cluster of eateries.  The setting is casual and comfortable.  Small but cosy tables, just nice for friendly gathering over some good food and drink.  They also serve beer and sake, perfect.

This place is specialized in Gyoza, which is the Japanese style dumpling.  The difference between Japanese dumpling and Chinese dumpling, according to my own observation, is as follows:

1. Japanese dumpling mostly are pan fried.  Chinese dumpling mostly are boiled till cooked, though some are pan fried too.

2. Japanese dumpling has a very thin skin while the Chinese version has a much thicker skin.

Truffle Gyoza, $9.80++

We ordered their truffle gyoza, a premium item on their menu.  There were 3 pieces in a plate.  The exterior of the gyoza was covered in a thin layer of truffle (jam?).  The fragrance of the truffle was dominating.  Well, the smell of the truffle, some say it is fragrant, some say it smells like gas leak, it is kind of very subjective.  You may like it, or hate it.  The filling was pork and mushroom, the taste was quite plain, not to compete with the strong flavor of the truffle, I guess.

Yaki Gyoza Pork, $5.80++

We also ordered their yaki gyoza with pork fillings, a more common item, and less burdensome on the wallet.  Quite a typical Japanese dish.  The skin was thin and a bit crispy on the side that it was fried.  On the side that was not fried, it still retained some bounciness of the flour.  Inside was the juicy minced pork.

Yasai Itame, $4.80++

The surprise was the yasai itame, stir-fried mixed vegetables.  We expected a tiny plate of vegetables, but it came with quite a portion.  Cabbage, bean sprout, carrot, mushroom, there were quite a variety of vegetables.  And it was cooked upon order, some it was hot and fresh.

Overall, the food is quite decent and reasonably priced.