CBD Lunch Ideas at The Basement

Hong Leong Building recently completed the revamp of their basement food hall, called The Basement. It is a floor with a wide selection of food where the CBD working crowds' tummies are assured to be well pampered. Having recently been working in the area myself, I've had the pleasure to frequent it so often I can write about my dining experience.

Pho Thai 

Pho Thai is a combination of 3 restaurants selling Thai, Japanese and Vietnamese cuisines. The Japanese food which many of my colleagues also tried doesn't exactly have positive votes. In fact, most complain that the rice is too hard. While my bowl didn't have such complaint, it was too watery. The chefs are not very skilled which frankly for their price point, can be quite a harsh assessment. However, given that there are 2 other restaurants there, the jap food relative to the other choices seem to fail badly.

On a separate occasion, I tried the Thai Basil Pork rice. It was satisfactory. I wasn't expecting much from a lunch crowd eatery and the least it can do is get the basics right. I'm pleased with the level of spiciness of the pork, flavour and the sunny side up that it comes with.

Baba Bento

Baba Bento was one of my favourite meals in The Basement. For a start, it's my first ever Bunga Telang rice. It comes with 4 choices beef rendang, ikan assam pedas, ayam kapitan and ayam pongteh. I settled for the Ikan Assam Pedas set which also comes with keropok and drink. The spicy assam fish packs a lot of flavour and the fish is cooked till tender, just the way I like it. I also enjoyed the sambal egg and chap chye that completes the meal. The entire lunch was fairly enjoyable and the biggest headache for me is the availability of seats at this highly popular lunch spot.

Ah Bamas

My colleagues later brought me to Ah Bamas and they rave about the awesome food as well as the extremely hospitable lady boss who can cook you any Indonesian cuisine you can dream up if you buay paiseh request for it. The Ayam Penyet we tried was pretty impressive! The chicken packs a very crispy exterior although I found the meat rather dry. What really makes the dish a winner is the chilli. The chilli has a wicked spiciness that all my colleagues couldn't get enough of. In fact, a couple of them went for 2 to 3 extra chilli servings because it goes so well with the rice and the chicken. Be warned though, the spiciness can be challenging for some to manage.

Turkish Cuisine

Then there're also the random days we couldn't get seats and have to settle for Turkish Cuisines. Turns out that the food is pretty good. The roast chicken with rice was very tender and it goes very well with the tartar and chilli sauce that the dish comes with. While Turkish food is simply not my kind of food, the meal was still a very competent effort.

Crave

Crave is known to serve pretty fantastic Nasi Lemak. There're a total of 6 sets you can choose from, mainly either fish or chicken. I settled for the chicken filet set which I was very happy with. The chicken is fried excellently with crispy skin and tender meat. I find that their chilli packs a punch that makes the entire meal a joy to eat. You can take my word for it coming from someone who doesn't really eat Nasi Lemak by choice.

As a whole, The Basement is a very interesting place to have lunch. Most of the food range from $7 to $15. Not exactly the cheapest place to dine at considering there's Lau Pa Sat next door. I guess their merits is really a centralised dining hall with a myriad selection. You definitely won't grow bored dining here everyday but you might go broke.

Sumo Bar Happy

This is actually a throwback post from last week. It's out of sheer laziness I took more than a week to write. I'm currently on diet hence the lack of food exploration. I want to look my best for Chinese New Year and my upcoming London trip in end April.

A belated birthday dinner from the brother. Sumo Bar Happy is a restaurant that is founded by the guys who are behind Tanuki Raw. It's a bar-like concept where people chill over bar food and alcohol. During my visit, I noticed the groups consisting of mainly couples, single men and one Japanese family. My brother and I stood out like sore thumbs because every other group consisted of at least one foreigner.

I wasn't too hungry so I settled for light bites. What you see here is the Lobster Taiyaki Sliders ($26). I didn't exactly read the menu and just glanced through instagram before ordering. This led me to mistook the Taiyaki pancakes as a crispy shell which unfortunately wasn't the case. Taste wise, I found the dish to be easy to eat. There's a sweetness to the fluffy pancakes which gave good balance to the sliders. I however still feel that a crispy shell would give the lobster sliders the added oomph. 

On top of the sliders, I also ordered the Spicy Mayo Char Siew HH Sushi ($5) and the Spicy Salmon HH Sushi ($5). It's on promotion if you reach there before 7pm. I would say that both sushi were done well but I'm still a greater fan of cold raw sushi.

The brother had his sights on the Sashimi Mazemen ($22) which is a combination of assorted sashimi and cold noodles. His assessment was that the raw fishes were really delicious with the slices very thick and generous. He also took notice that despite its thickness, the fishes were very easy to eat. The cold noodles and onsen egg that comes with the bowl play the role of the side dish to provide a complete meal experience.

Being at the bar, it'll be a waste not to try some of their sakes and my brother ordered the passion fruit sake ($10) to go with his meal.

I would say that Sumo Bar Happy is a pretty interesting concept which appeals more to foreigners used to bar top dining. I found the experience cramp. The menu selection has a number of unique dishes however there's an over emphasis on beef. As someone who doesn't eat beef, selecting a spread is rather challenging. If beef, alcohol and Japan agrees with you though, you might wish to check this place out.

Sumo Bar Happy
261 Waterloo Street #01-24 Waterloo Centre S180261

Tsukiji Sushi Takewaka

Finally! It's the long weekends!!! Saturyays are always my favourite day of the week. Especially after being bogged down with loads of work for the past two weeks... I felt like going on a play and eat rampage over this long break. So I dragged Vain Pot (who has been working crazy hours) out on a shopping spree in Orchard and we both felt much sated going home with our bags of shopping and a delicious dinner.

Dinner was spent at Tsukiji Sushi Takewaka, one of the many authentic Japanese cuisines in Japan Food Town. It serves a wide variety of freshly made sushi, tempura and cooked food. I've been having a Jap food craze the entire week, and this visit very much satisfied the craving. According to the website, Takewaka first opened its doors 28 years ago in Tsukiji, Japan. Known for fresh fish and seafood, Tsukiji Sushi Takewaka specialises in Endo-style sushi prepared by Chef Kawashima.

I'd be upfront and honest, I haven't been to sufficient authentic Japanese establishments to comment on the technical execution of the food. We kicked started our meal with the Anago Oshi-Sushi ($37) which is basically pressed conger eel sushi. It's without a doubt fresh and well seasoned. As someone who likes loads of wasabi on my food, I found it a little difficult to fully enjoy my meal due to the lack of 'wasabi flare up my nose effect'. Perhaps this is how real wasabi should taste like? I'm not sure. Did I enjoy the eels? I still did!

We also ordered a Takumi set ($45). This is made up of the chef's selection of assorted sushi with one medium fatty tuna included. The set also comes with dessert, chawamushi and a hot bowl of miso soup. When served, we were greeted with glittery and shiny surfaces of the assorted fishes. This is a good sign of freshness. We were asked whether we wanted the wasabi included in the sushi or at the side and I requested for the wasabi to be included in the sushi and an additional one at the side. I guess again, my gripe was that I couldn't really taste much wasabi even when adding additional wasabi on the fish. The sushi on its own is really fresh, the meat nice and cold with each fish distinctive flavour unique to the other.

On top of the sushi galore, we added a cooked meat to our meal. The Samon Harasuyaki ($12), grilled salmon belly was selected. As a dish, it was well grilled, I liked it that the salmon oil complemented the dish making it tastier. The meat was soft and falls off the skin easily. It's tender and retains the juiciness in the meat. However, I was a little disappointed that I had one salmon belly instead of the two shown in the menu's photo. In my view, I interpret it as a form of misrepresentation to the consumer. In the evaluation of whether to order the dish in the first place with the consideration of the price in mind, one slice versus two slice makes a difference.

To sum up my visit, I'm of the view that you either go high end if you wish to pamper yourself or just go mass market. I feel that many middle ground establishments give a half baked experience. While I give it to Tsukiji Sushi Takewaka that the food is indeed fresh and the cooked food tasting great, the nitty gritty frowned upon details really were a downer. There's definitely a market for their existence given that the place was quite occupied at 6pm. I would recommend Tsukiji Sushi Takewaka for readers who wish to pamper themselves with fresh, well prepared Japanese food without spending a bomb and aren't too fussy over the entire dining experience. Service wise, they are definitely better than a lot of mass market establishments.

Tsukiji Sushi Takewaka
435 Orchard Road, Wisma Atria, Level 4, S238877
(On a side note, if you download the Japan Food Town app and is a first time visitor, you can redeem a 10% discount off your bill)

Kohaku

I spent my weekend taking fun shots at the Alive Museum! It's closing end of May and prices are going at 50% discount now, so if you are looking for something different to do over weekends, this might be the thing for you.

Prior to our 1 hour of vanity, we spent 1 hour queuing for this Tendon Bowl at Kohaku. I quite like the occasional impromptu dinners because I try places I otherwise might not have tried. Tendon bowls in Singapore has been quite a rising hype with people willing to spend over an hour waiting for food. Even at 5plus on a Saturday evening, the waiting time was close to 60mins. According to Fat Fat, 6 plus on a weekday only requires 15mins queue time. So please go on a weekday...

We tried the Kohaku Tendon Non Spicy and Spicy versions ($15 each). I give it to them that the servings were more generous than the other Tendon bowl I tried at Tanjong Pagar called Tendon. The spicy version carries with it more oomph that makes the whole meal more enjoyable. I felt that the level of crispiness in the Tempura was decent but not fantastic. Tendon at Tanjong Pagar felt more authentic.

Will I come back again? Well, there's hits and misses. For a start, after queuing an hour to go in, we had to wait another 45mins for our food because apparently they missed our order. I felt that the waitress taking our orders didn't have any passion in her work because she was near our table twice over the course of our waiting and didn't find it odd that we weren't served our food despite acknowledging our presence. On the other hand, the waitress who served us after we feedback that our orders were forgotten was polite, made an effort to check and follow through, ensuring we got our food. Says a lot about some people's working attitude and lack of initiative.

Kohaku is located at Suntec City mall has the advantage of convenience in terms of transportation and activities. At $15, it's pretty inexpensive. Even though I wasn't wowed by the food, its accessbility more than makes up for it. I wouldn't mind dining here again after the queue dies down.

Kohaku
3 Temasek Boulevard #03-310/311 Suntec City, 038983

Fish Mart Sakuraya

This is the first weekend after the Chinese New Year break and everyone is adjusting to life back to work. To tell you the truth, I was pretty excited about my weekend because I was looking forward to my Foot Reflexology and Shoulder Massage. In a year where I'm pretty obsessed with Singapore's best, I found Feet Haven to be the winner of Harpers Bazaar's Best Quick Fix Massage. The massage which won was the one I tried, 30 mins Foot Reflexology and 30 mins Neck and Shoulder Massage for $55. I'm pleased to share that it's really awesome! Been getting shoulder and muscle cramps on my legs but the masseuse got all the right pressure points which was a first kind of experience so good job to them!

Prior to massage, I went to Fish Mart Sakuraya for lunch. This is a rather impromptu visit. Contrary to my usual practice where I usually don't let those I dine with choose the dining venue, I let Vain Pot pick whatever she wanted to eat at Parkway Parade. So Sakuraya it is. Fish Mart Sakuraya as the name suggest is a Japanese supermarket with a section specialising in fresh fishes. They also have a dine-in section serving Japanese food.

One of the key highlights of the fish mart, especially for dine-in customers is that you get to choose your own fresh fish for the chef to slice up. The fishes are so in-demand that when Vain Pot went to choose, there's only one slab of salmon left. Oh well, the salmon taste really fresh so there's nothing to complain about! Prices are by weight, and the one you saw cost us $15.50.

Aside from sashimi, we decided to share our food to get more variety. I picked the Kaiso Futo Maki ($10) which was made up of tuna, salmon, prawn roe, seafood salad and cucumber. I found the Maki to be well-prepared and definitely met my expectations. I need to stress I don't usually order makis so I don't carry unusually high expectations on this dish.

Vain Pot selected the Una Don ($15) which is basically an Unagi rice bowl. I found the Unagi to be prepared flavourfully and the bowl is pretty satisfying on its own. The slices of unagi are cut to avoid the tiny bones and the flesh thickness was just right.

We kinda over ordered when we greedily decided we wanted to try the Kani Creamy Croquette ($6). It was fried till crispy without it being excessively oily which is something I place strong emphasis on because I hate oily food. The creamy crab meat inside the croquette was also seasoned flavourfully and made the croquette very addictive. I'll strongly recommend you to try!

The discovery of Fish Mart Sakuraya is a hidden gem to me. The prices are decent and food is fresh. It offers a good fix to Japanese cravings and the crowd is just right. I'll definitely be back again! This place is perfect for Japanese food lovers who do not want to blow a big hole in your pocket.

Fish Mart Sakuraya
#B1-83D Parkway Parade, 80 Marine Parade Road  

Tendon

This week has been food filled and busy. I feel like a bee buzzing around catching up on work after disappearing for 10 days. Christmas is round the corner and all the festive gatherings are here knocking. I'm prepared to gain weight.

Tendon is a place which has gone un-noticed by greedy me. Interestingly, I noticed the streaky queue when I was in the area the last time I came to check out Kajiken Ramen but didn't bother to find out what the queue was about. It was only after my friend brought me to the place because she wanted to try that I finally found out what everyone was queuing for. Tendon is a very authentic Japanese dining joint. They only have 2 options on the menu making it easy to choose. You either pick the Special Tendon ($13.90) which consist of meats and vegetables or Vegetable Tendon ($12.90) which is pure vegetables.

We picked the Special Tendon which has a mix of vegetables, chicken and prawns tempura on rice. The portions are very generous. We sat at the bar tables which meant we could see the chef prepare our food in front of us. The tempura were lightly battered and tasty. I like it that there wasn't any hint of oil when I bite into the food. I also enjoyed the sauce that goes with the tempura and the variety in the special menu was just right. In fact, after the meal I felt very full.

The meal also consisted of chawanmushi and miso soup and a tea. The chawanmushi was especially good and I finished mine in double quick time.

In short, Tendon allows you to experience authentic Japanese tendons without the cost of the aeroplane. It's really a perfect place for Jap food lovers but please do this when you have time to queue. Lunch break is probably a bad idea to brave the long queues. Oh one more important note, we didn't have enough cash and had to to the nearest ATM in order to settle the bill. They only accept cash.

Tendon
101 Tanjong Pagar Road

Hakumai Sushi & Omakase

This week I pretty much didn't do much besides work and squeezing in brunches in between which feels really good on weekdays. I thought I'll do a double post this month because I have been quiet for too long.

Hakumai Sushi and Omakase is my first ever Omakase ($170/pax) meal in my life. Another milestone reached. Be warned that this post would be picture heavy because it's pretty much what it really is. This occasional extravagance is mainly a treat for Vain Pot's birthday. 

Due to the photo heavy nature, I won't be doing much food introduction. Photos are pretty much self explanatory. Instead, I'll give an overall summary of the experience after you see the food. 

Appetizers:

Cooked Food:

Sushi:

Basically the sushi doesn't end till you say you are full. Vain Pot and I were really stuffed till she had to escape outside for walks on multiple occasions. 

For dessert:

The overall experience at Hakumai is summarized as satisfying and value for money. No doubt the experience is on the pricier end but I'd gladly pay to do it again. The ingredients used were very fresh, I like it that the chef bothered to introduce each dish to us. I also like it that many of the dishes I wouldn't have ordered if it's on the ala carte menu because I am not adventurous enough. It's an eye-opening experience and I feel very grateful and fortunate to be able to have such meals from time to time. 

Hakumai Sushi and Omakase

#01-50A, 10 Anson Road, International Plaza

Ninja Bowl

This week is meet the friends week! Given that I work everyday but a couple of hours, my free time is spent catching with friends over lunch and dinners. One of the highlights is meeting Bak Bak to try the new fried milk rolls at Tim Ho Wan. It's good so it's worth trying! There's also my long awaited visit with another friend to Ninja Bowl which I'll be featuring today.

Ninja Bowl is the replacement to Department of Caffiene. They serve healthy Japanese bowls and is really suitable for those who eat salad as their staple meal. 

So anyway, my friend and I, starting to get lazy with name inventions because there's too many, we settled for Yasai and Genki ($16 each). Yasai is a salmon bowl with mixed sultanas, onsen egg and tomatoes. Both of us added quinoa ($3) to our dishes as our carbo. As someone who hasn't eaten any white rice replacement before, I found quinoa to be surprisingly tasty. It went exceedingly well with the bowl and salmon were really fresh! However, the amount of ingredients in Yasai is rather little and after a while the taste starts to get repetitive with salmon and quinoa running the show. It is still very healthy! 

My friend's choice of Genki was a combination of Yaki Unagi, roasted pumpkin, beansprouts, onsen egg and pickled beets. Apparently it's a refreshing mix of her favorite Japanese food without the unhealthy additions. The pumpkin and beet root added variety to the egg, Unagi and quinoa which she added and I felt it's a more complete bowl. 

As we were chatting, and the place was rather small, I discovered that Ninja Bowl is probably not the best place to chill out. The staff attempted to clear us out with little actions like clearing our bowls. When we made no attempt to leave they tried to upsell us with their cakes. Alright fair enough, we could try some cakes. Except there're only two cakes to choose from. Some berry cake which was out of the question because I hate fruits in my food and this Thai Milk Tea cake ($16) which we both settled for a slice each. 

The cake was generally light and the milk tea taste was distinct however the sponge cake was a little bit too dry to be a good cake. It's nonetheless edible and not difficult to finish. 

Ninja bowl is one of those places I'll be eager to return to. The trouble with this place is its location. It's smacked in the middle of nowhere and at the outskirts of the CBD area. The bowls which I can foresee myself eating for lunch isn't your typical cafe food but a good replacement to the healthy salads I eat. So because of its location, if I ever eat here again, it'll be because I specially made a trip down. It's still highly recommended if you are into healthy food and love jap! 

Ninja Bowl

15 Duxton Road 

Kajiken Ramen

The weather has been really difficult lately. I'm literally soaked in sweat every other day that I don't use carriage. So it'll probably come as little surprise that I am ill this week. The cure to illness is best done through good food (talk about greedy excuses) and thus I decided to seek remedy at the first Mazesoba Dry Ramen stall in Singapore.

Surprisingly there's no queue. Not that the place was empty, it's full house but there's only 1 or 2 people in the line and the turnover rate was fairly decent. Kajiken Ramen is the newest edition to the line of ramen restaurants at Tanjong Pagar. If you ask me, I feel that this space is getting crowded out and people are just moving from one craze to another. Keisuke Tonkotsu King which is walking distance away doesn't have a queue now. I recalled that I had to wait at least 45mins when they first opened. 

We tried the classic Mazesoba Nagoya Style ($12.80) which comes with ramen, spicy minced meat, vegetables and a soft boiled egg. It's really good! The dish isn't very oily for a dry ramen and the spicy minced meat provided a tangy taste that goes well with the rest of the ingredients. The meal comes with a small cup of soup broth which is really good on its own. Perhaps if they come up with a soup version with the broth I'll be keen to try it too. Vain Pot and I reached a consensus that ramen for all its worth are generally the same if we compared the popular ones. The key difference is really whether you like dry or soup, what kind of broth and the type of ingredients. 

I'll come back here for my dry ramen fix particularly because there's not much queue on weekends and the quality is really good for dry ramen. In my view it's an inexpensive way to treat yourself. 

Kajiken Ramen

#01-07 Orchid Hotel

1 Tras Link

(The parking at Orchid Hotel isn't wallet friendly so it'll be advisable to park elsewhere)

Tsukada Nojo

This week has been all about reunion dinners amidst the Chinese New Year fever. As always, I like to feature food I eat with Fussy Pot because I feel she shares my peculiar taste buds. My choice of reunion dinner has always been steamboat or dishes with rice because they give me a homely feeling. Wanting to soak in some festive atmosphere, we settled on Chinatown and Beauty Pot (what better way to get ready for Chinese New Year).

Documenting my Tsukada Nojo visits in numbers... This is my fourth visit, my first at Chinatown Point outlet, second visit with fussy pot and my first visit without having to queue for two hours. Tsukada Nojo is a Japanese beauty pot steamboat which is famous for their collagen soup and infamous for long queues especially at their Plaza Singapura outlet. One discovery I made was that the Chinatown outlet is more catered for bigger groups whilst the Plaza Singapura outlet is largely for two people. 

 The highlight of the place is their Nabe Bijin set ($50 for 2 pax) which offers golden collagen chicken soup accompanied with chicken, prawn, lettuce, red radish, sunflower sprout, enoki mushrooms, baby sweet potato leaves, baby corn, lady's finger, deep fried tofu, yellow zucchini, fresh black fungus and tori tsukune. Apart from this long list, you are also entitled to choose one type of noodles from a selection of three. We chose thin egg noodles. 

The soup broth has always been consistently good. Rich in chicken flavour, although very oily but take my word for it, it's good. Personally, I am not an outside steamboat person and all steamboat pretty much taste as expected after you cook the raw food inside the hot broth. That said, there's still the distinction between steamboats using frozen or processed ingredients and freshly produced ingredients. One reason I have been here four times is because they use fresh ingredients at affordable prices. A new addition is the heart shaped seaweed which they claim will change the taste of the soup after we add it in. I like it that their ingredient selection is tilted towards the healthier side and the tori tsukune particularly stood out for me. 

Another key highlight I really like is that the staff are all artistically talented. They all can draw numerous designs. Tsukada Nojo will provide jelly with a bit of chocolate sauce to sooth the tastebuds after each hearty meal. Their jelly is always delivered with an attractive art piece. I once have them write happy last day to one of my departing colleague and they so pleasantly obliged. 

Tsukada Nojo is definitely worth going to for a reasonably priced beauty pot experience. I've braved the two hour queues at Plaza Singapura to eat there three times attesting to my belief that their food is worth the wait. I also like the name card they gave me with a corporate rank attached to it as a way to reward returning customers. Currently I'm a manager with two chops on my card :)

Tsukada Nojo

#02-37 Chinatown Point, 133 New Bridge Road