Ippudo Raffles City

No traveling still so i'm making pretend with a bowl of IPPUDO ramen at their eighth dining outlet at Raffles City Shopping Centre which is just a couple of days old. The 80-seater serves not just their signature ramen, but is also the first sake bar concept with some dishes exclusive to it. 

Outfitted with an in-house sake cellar, diners can enjoy highlights such as Japanese-style Shochu Sour and around 20 types of sake. We had the refreshing sparkling sake CHIYOMUSUBI SORAH which helped to cut through the fat savory ramen. I'd also recommend the DASSAI Junmai Daiginjo 45 which is available by the glass!

The exclusive dishes range from salted egg and cheese fries ($6.80), to healthy pumpkin salad ($5.80), wings and also a Teppan Rice. 

The Teppan Rice is served with a medley of red and yellow peppers, corn, and crisp-fried IPPUDO ramen noodles. A homemade cheese lava sauce poured on to the sizzling hot plate to give the dish extra savoriness. You could add on grilled wagyu beef ($13.80) and pork ($12.80). I probably wouldn't come to Ippudo to eat this as a main but it's quite an interesting side to share. 

Fat Prince Mediterranean brunch

Are you tired of Avocado Toast and Eggs Benedict yet? Try a different brunch at Fat Prince, a modern Middle Eastern restaurant located on Peck Seah Street. Contemporary kebabs, mezzes and sharing mains are fired from a custom-made oven, accompanied by Fat Prince's unique "koktail" programme. 

Enjoy a Royal Brunch ($49), which comes with a choice of a dip, mezze/salad, main, and dessert, and also a welcome koktail. The permutations will keep you busy so here are my favorites. 

From the dips, I absolutely love the roasted cashew gremolata hummus ($12)with smoked paprika. I could feel myself filling up because i could not stop eating the toasted pita with this dip!

UbinEats by New Ubin Group

New Ubin has launched UbinEats for the solo diner craving for your local kopitiam fare but prefers to have it at home. The virtual restaurant dedicated to ‘Truly Singaporean’ ready-to-eat meals for one has launched with five sub brands—Ubin Nasi Lemak, Vijay Banana Leaf, Ah Koon Scissor Cut Curry Rice, Ah Ma Chicken Curry Noodles and Ah Boon Signatures, each representing the different ethnic groups in Singapore. 

The favorite of the lot goes to Vijay Banana Leaf devilish Chicken Masala ($12). Vijay is a long-serving New Ubin chef of South Indian descent who’s responsible for the many Indian dishes that have become signature mainstays on the tze char’s eatery menu. We loved how the heat from the chicken is balanced by the perfumed biryani basmati rice. The fluffiness of the rice was also what attracted us to the dish. The price tag is quite reasonable given the huge portion. 

Next favorite is the Ubin Nasi Lemak ($15). It's pricey but my mama was pretty satisfied with the fragrant coconut rice that has been cooked with pandan leaves. The sides are a bit different with a joo hee sambal, a sweetish sambal cuttlefish that wasn't too tough to eat, and a juicy and tendy piece of ayam bakar (charcoal grilled chicken). The thick slice of omelette was also very enjoyable, along with the spiced anchovies and sliced cucumbers.

The Spot

Finally introduced Jr to The Spot! The Spot was one of my highly recommended restaurants of 2018 and i'm so glad that Chef Lee Boon Seng is still dishing up his creative European dishes using SEA ingredients! Trust me, you wouldn't regret making your way to Marina One for a meal. Plus there's a good selection of drinks with bottles with 1855 (i spend all my wine money there) and specials from the Macallen boutique. 

We were there for restaurant week and dinner featured mostly items from their main menu. To start, the cheese bread (a Pao de Queijo) with unsalted butter & paprika sea salt ($8) is the perfect savory bite that packs a punch. Lovely crust with a dense center, perfect with butter. 

Market garden greens with a pan seared, panko-like crusted foie gras that cuts like butter. sweetened with a wild stingless bee honey, a little blue cheese was snuck into this one as well to go with the greens.

The Char-grilled Octopus with preserved green papaya slaw, mint, peanut aka miso emulsion showcases Chef Boon Seng's clever take on modern Asian-European cuisine. The peanut aka miso is all too familiar, like our local rojak sauce and the association with Thai and Vietnamese cuisine is also strong with the use of the pickled fruit and herbs. Of course, the star is the smoky octopus. I always associate grilled octopus with Spanish cuisine, do you?

I was wowed then and i'm still impressed with the Grilled Hamachi ($38), which comes with a spring onion chimichurri, Ratte potato, white clams, in a coconut clam broth. The broth is a pseudo Thai Green curry and the sweet clams really shine in this dish.