Japanese Restaurant Suju

I took my folks to Suju today, a Japanese restaurant I recently discovered on the fourth floor of the Mandarin Gallery mall down Orchard Road. It's not your typical run of the mill Japanese restaurant, if the prices on the menu are anything to go by. Their seafood was flown in direct from Tsukiji market in Tokyo, so I had high hopes for this place. It left a very favorable impression on my first visit a couple of months ago for dinner (food was exquisite, service was top notch), so much so that I decided my folks had to try it since they both love Japanese cuisine.

I ordered the chirashi don and the local daily special, which was raw squid with roe and okra. The raw squid was very fresh and tender, and my mom, who's not a fan of squid, actually liked it too. The chirashi don was excellent, and the fish was very fresh. My dad claimed his kurobuta pork tonkatsu was the best he's ever had. So I was glad to hear that they both enjoyed their meal as much as I did.

Anyway, this is not your typical Japanese restaurant. The meal was easily twice the price at any other Japanese restaurant in town. But you get what you pay for, and in this case, this is as close as you'll get to Tsukiji for fresh fish.

Japanese Restaurant Suju is at
333A Orchard Road, #04-05/07 Mandarin Gallery, Singapore
Tel: +65 6737-7764

Where to lunch on a rainy day

It was another one of those rainy days in Shanghai, and I was still nursing a cold from the day before. I wasn't in the mood to take a taxi to the other side of the river for lunch, so only alternative was the 100 Century Avenue restaurant on the 91st floor. I arrived early, just before noon, and was able to get a table near the window in a quieter section of the restaurant. The dining concept reminded me of Mezzanine at the Grand Hyatt Singapore, where several open kitchens specializing in regional cuisines served the diners in the restaurant. The menu was divided into Western, Chinese and Japanese sections, but there was also a set lunch for RMB180. I wasn't too hungry, so the set lunch seemed like a sensible choice.

I picked the cream of mushroom soup for my starter, and the roasted free range chicken for my main. The soup was quite nice, full of mushroom flavors, but nothing special. The free range chicken was juicy and tender, the way free range should be. Plus the skin was very crispy and nicely seasoned. The main course was accompanied by creamed spinach and roasted potatoes on the side, and a nice creamy dip for the chicken as well.

I felt oddly unsatisfied after polishing off my main course, and decided to order their tart of the day for dessert. It turned out to be a raspberry tart, with raspberry marshmallows and vanilla ice cream on the side. The tart was so-so, the marshmallow was a little on the tough side, but the ice cream was perfect. Overall, I think it was a bit of a letdown, although the view from the 91st floor did compensate for the less than spectacular dining experience.

100 Century Avenue is in the Park Hyatt Shanghai,
100 Century Avenue, Pudong, Shanghai, People's Republic of China

Making a run for the border

Remember the old Taco Bell ad in Southern Cali about running for the border? Well, we literally ran to the car today while carrying our taco lunch amidst a very heavy downpour at Phoenix Park. Well, it wasn't much of a dash, since the car was just 2 parking lots away from the Spruce Taqueria where we stood in line to buy our lunch. Our lunch was packed in plastic boxes and wrapped in plastic bag, so everything was still intact by the time we got into the car.

We had heard about Spruce opening a little taqueria in our neck of the woods and getting some rave reviews from early birds, so we had to swing by to check it out. Plus it was a bit of a nostalgic trip, having lived in California and eaten out of many taquerias over lunch time. And thanks to the weather today, we're eating our tacos in our car. It certainly brought back memories of college days gone by.

Menu selection was very limited, there were only five varieties of soft tacos, one quesadilla, cilantro rice, salsa, chips, Aboylito's mexican rice bowl. But the success of a restaurant doesn't always depend on the variety but the quality of the few standout dishes that keep customers coming back for more (something we discovered at Freemantle Seafood Market recently). And we were very pleased with the Spruce tacos, these were some of the most authentic tasting tacos we've eaten in Singapore in a long time. Ingredients were fresh and of good quality, the snapper was well marinated, pork carnitas was super tasty and watermelon fresca was a nice refreshning end to the fast food meal. The chips and salsa were pretty good, except that the salsa wasn't spicy enough for me.

There was a sign on the order counter with a telephone number for ordering food for pick-up. So if business continues to grow for this taqueria, I think I'll be doing a lot of driving across the border for my lunch.

Spruce Taqueria is at:
Phoenix Park, on top of the circular driveway, 320 Tanglin Road, Singapore
Opening hours are lunch time 12-3pm only Mon-Fri.
The owners are planning to expand the operating hours if business picks up.
Tel: +65-6836-5526

Akanoya Robatayaki

This restaurant was a last minute decision to pre-empt an otherwise boring weekend stuck in town. We decided to splurge a little on some good Japanese food and Akanoya came to mind. Located in the Orchard Parade Hotel downtown Singapore, the restaurant was a noisy, bustling joint that seemed to have created an authentic dining experience right out of Tokyo. Even the waiters appeared to be mostly Japanese.

Food was served robatayaki style, prepared, cooked and handed to you via a long wooden paddle as you sat in front of the counter and watched the chefs at work. We ordered an array of dishes, from grilled tatami fish, vegetables to seafood, beef, pork and gingko nuts. Highlights of the meal were the jumbo prawns, wagyu beef and Hokkaido crab legs.

Only top quality ingredients could transform a simple grilled vegetable or fish into a mouthwatering feast. All this can sometimes make robatayaki a pricey indulgence that some would be unwillingly to pay for simply grilled food items.

Akanoya is located at 1 Tanglin Road, #01-01, Orchard Parade Hotel, Singapore. Tel: +65-6732-1866.

Mr&Mrs Bund for lunch

Ok, I have to admit, I can't seem to get enough of this restaurant along the Bund. Food is excellent and always innovative and not too experimental, service is very good by Shanghai standards, and to top it all off, the location is perfect for a meal out on the Bund.

Few restaurants draw me back to this part of town as often as Mr&Mrs Bund, save for M on the Bund and Jean Georges. Typically, out of habit, I would head to M on the Bund for my last supper (heheh) on my last day in town, but today I felt like trying the the lunch at Mr&Mrs Bund. I was pleased to discover that they had a reasonably priced lunch set menu, with a number of my favorite dishes on it too.

But today, I opted to try only new dishes, so I picked the grilled cold chicken breast starter, the black rod steamed in a bag and their signature dessert, Lemon and Lemon tart. The chicken starter was an unusually large serving, but tasted fantastic even when cold.

The black cod was excellent as usual, and was always my favorite comfort food here. The dessert was quite interesting, consisting of a large lemon served on a plate with a biscuit. As I broke the skin of the lemon, I found lemon cream, orange slices and sorbet inside, quite the visual treat. The waiter informed me that the candied lemon rind was edible too.

Overall, I was pleased with my lunch experience, and this will definitely be on my list of top lunch venues if I can find the time while in Shanghai.

That top-of-the-world feeling

Who would have thought that a restaurant called simply the Dining Room would be able to provide such a wonderful, sublime eating experience for me tonight? The fact that it was the second highest restaurant in the world didn't even cross my mind until I was seated by the window. Looking down 85 floors below, I could see the whole city beneath my feet. But I digress; the restaurant built it's reputation on serving one of the most exquisite meals in Shanghai and my expectations were high tonight.

A meal at the Dining Room is no trivial affair, and by Shanghai standards, prices are high in the stratosphere. But I also wanted to try as many of their signature dishes as possible, so it seemed the seasonal degustation menu was the obvious choice for the night.

The dinner started with the restaurant's signature flower crab salad with tri-color cherry tomatoes, rocket leaves and fava beans. Everything about the dish was outstanding, every ingredient was fresh and delicious. The first course whetted my appetite, and so I had high expectations for the next dish. 

Out came the foie gras done two ways, one piece seared and topped with apricot and lavender glaze, the other served as a terrine with lavender jelly and vanilla apricot topping. This second course surpassed the first by a long stretch, and I was in foie gras heaven! The use of lavender was something refreshing, fragrant with a hint of bitterness, contrasting very well with the citrus flavor of the apricot. 

The third dish consisted of another one of my favorite ingredients - roasted black cod, and this dish was served with diced octopus and basil mashed potato. The cod was perfectly cooked, I loved the tenderness of the octopus pieces but the basil flavor of the mashed potato won me over.

The next dish was pan seared beef tenderloin served with sour cream and chives over potato dauphine. The beef was definitely of a much higher grade than those served in the local restaurants. I was curious and enquired with the waiter, who informed me that the hotel had a special arrangement with a private Japanese-run boutique ranch in Australia's Ranger Valley to supply their meats. What a brilliant move. 

By the end of this course, I was hoping dessert would be something light, but I was shocked when the waiter brought a football sized chocolate ball to my table. Seeing the look of utter disbelief written on my face, he assured me that the dessert was not as big as it looked. As the hot chocolate sauce was poured over the chocolate ball, it crumbled and melted before my eyes to reveal a tiny chocolate cake at the center of the plate. The hot chocolate sauce blended well with the melted chocolate ball, creating a two-toned medley of chocolate sauces around the cake. The cake alone would have been a delight - chocolate mousse on top, chocolate ice cream at the bottom, but paired with the sauce, absolutely brilliant!

Tonight's dinner at the Dining Room certainly was out of this world, and with a glass of Malbec, it set me back about 950RMB. Sky high prices for a sky high restaurant, but it was worth every penny for the experience.

The Dining Room is located inside the Park Hyatt Shanghai Hotel, in Pudong Shanghai.

Sunday brunch at Issimo

It was a rainy Sunday morning as I headed out to town for brunch at Issimo, the Italian restaurant located inside the JIA boutique hotel in the Jing'An district of Shanghai. The entrance was at the corner of the building, with a flight of stairs leading upstairs to the dining room vi a a mirrored staircase of diamond shaped glass. Issimo was stylishly modern, and bright, with a lot of natural lighting and a nice vibe that made me feel very comfortable. I got a table by the window, and ordered a juice while waiting for my friend to show up.

The menu selection for brunch was short, but I spotted a few items that I immediately liked. They had a 4 course set menu with my favorite choices, so that was an easy decision for me to make.

For starters, I had the grilled octopus salad with long beans and grilled peppers. The octupus was a little chewy, but otherwise had a nice smokey flavor and tasted fresh. Then came the squid ink ravioli with manila clams, cherry tomatoes and a poached egg. It was an odd combination of ingredients, but nonetheless tasted quite nice. 

For my main, I had the proscuitto wrapped salmon served with a cream sauce that was well done. I was impressed by the first three courses, but the dessert was a bit of a let down, consisting of a chcoolate gelato, a cheese cake and a chocolate mousse. They were all good, but not outstanding, and gave me the impression that there was a lack of effort on the part of the kitchen team.

Overall, a very enjoyable brunch, food was delicious, service was excellent and prompt, and I loved the decor. The lounge and bar in front of the dining room were also good reasons to return for dinner someday to check out the scene.