Kyushu Pancake Cafe

I have to confess. I have a slight obsession with Kyushu Pancake Cafe, to the extent that I have been there once every weekend for the last three weekends, partly also because I was using the Burpple Beyond deal.  

A Mujiesque interior with a cosy feel. Wooden furniture and minimalist, with lots of sunlight.

There is a documentary showing on the television, which is played on loop. It was part of a year long project where the videographer's team visited each farm where the grains were grown as they traced the activities from the sowing of seeds to harvesting. It is a bit of a brain washing because after visiting it a few times, we now can hum the jingle at home, and who can ignore lyrics about pancakes!



Made from seven grains grown in the Kyushu province, and 100% raw sugar from Okinawa and Kagoshima, these deceptively simple looking pancakes are on different level. We tried a couple of pancakes so far, and my favourite is the Berry-Licious Waffle ($16.90). It is on the pricey side and we would have settled for the cheaper Kyushu Good Ol' Classic ($7.90) if not for the Burpple deal (I think Burrple Beyond is less transparent than many food apps but that is a story for another day). Once you eat them, you don't feel like eating McDonald's hotcakes anymore. They are dense in texture, yet light enough not to taste like cake. The generous berries compote and ice cream give the pancakes the necessary moisture. When we ate the Kyushu Good Ol' Classic on one occasion, we felt that the pancakes were a little dry.

This cafe is kids friendly where they have a collection of books for children available near the entrance. If you wish to make pancakes at home, you can also buy the premix. Other random goods like wooden plates for children are also available for sale. Good pancakes, just on the pricey side.

Kyushu Pancake Cafe 
Novena Regency
275 Thomson Road
#01-08
Tel: 6352 6265 

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Rakuichi Japanese Restaurant (Oasia Hotel)

I was searching for a Japanese restaurant that was good enough for a treat yet not too expensive. I walked into Rakuichi with high expectations and was glad that their food met expectations. 

At lunchtime on a Saturday, the place was rather empty except for three tables. The lady next to me was having a leisurely lunch while reading a book. Strangely enough, they were playing what sounded like old cantopop songs.

I got myself a Set C ($38).

I was bowled over by the thick slabs of sashimi. Fresh and a light bounce to every bite.

I know this may seem like a portion for 2 to share, but I tend to have a good appetite so this was good!

I started off with the exceptional Aburi Sushi. Each piece of fish melted effortlessly in my mouth and the light smoky taste together with the different sauces made this a winner. The tempura was lightly deep fried and was not greasy.

To balance the otherwise heavy (but very delicious) meal, there were some edamame, corn, mini fish and prawns (anyone know what these are called?). This is the first time I am trying the deep fried prawns and fish and they were pretty addictive! Compared to the other dishes, the skewers were less impressive and pretty ordinary.

We ended the meal off with a scoop of sesame ice cream. I am not usually fascinated with sesame ice cream but this was light, not too sweet, and had a strong sesame flavour. 

Considering the amount and quality of food here, I definitely recommend this place if you are looking for value-for-money Japanese food for less than $50. 

Rakuichi Japanese Restaurant
Oasia Hotel
8 Sinaran Drive
#01-05
Tel No: 6 659 6683 

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The Vines Seafood & Steak Restaurant

I haven't gone to The Vines Seafood & Steak Restaurant for some time, primarily because it's rather out of the way. But after nearly a decade of not coming here, I came back again and the price of the set meals remain as ridiculous as ever- ridiculously cheap. Apparently they are going to move out soon because the developer is going to use that plot of land for other purposes. 

On a weekend, the lunch crowd was pretty decent although I heard that it can get really crowded on the weekdays. Lots of interesting posters on the wall.

Here's the daily menu if you are interested in their set meals. Starting from $8.80, you can get yourself a soup with garlic bread, a main course, coffee/tea and dessert.

The garlic bread was crispy but the soup tasted pretty much out of the can.

I ordered a Grilled chicken with mushroom sauce ($8.80 for set). Two big pieces of grilled chicken accompanied with some long beans and mashed potato.

I'm not going to be dishonest and say that the food here is worth raving about. But at least the food is edible and will fill you up well. If you are looking for somewhere with an interesting restaurant setting, good service, decent-enough food, music like 'Uptown Girl', cheap set meals and food that makes you full, here's the place. It's worth your every dollar.

The Vines Seafood & Steak Restaurant
Novena Ville
275 Thomson Road
#01-07
Tel No: 6 2552838 

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Lingzhi Vegetarian Restaurant 灵芝

One fine day, I may become vegetarian. But not yet. In fact, the arrival of that day is still very far away. As much as I enjoy eating vegetables, I can't let go of all that meat either. 

We decided to visit Lingzhi 灵芝 for some vegetarian fare today. 

We opted for the hotpot buffet ($22.80++) which is probably the least money savvy option you can ever go for. For your hotpot, you get to choose 2 out of 3 soup bases which includes tom yum, clear soup and herbal soup. 

I suppose they found that deep frying everything was the best way to make vegetarian food taste good. The labels were placed wrongly but all you needed was a little common sense to figure out what the food really was. In other trays (not in photograph), there were fried noodles, rojak and curry vegetables. In these trays, there are yam croquette, spring roll, curry puff, carrot cake, vegetarian pork pastry etc.

In my memory, the mock meat that I tasted at the Liat Towers branch tasted a lot like the real thing. Here, it tasted simply like... mock meat. Which isn't really a bad thing, just that people might be more attracted to eat vegetarian food if you could cook something that tasted like the real thing.

There was also an assortment of dimsum, including steamed siew mai, steamed char siew bun, steamed beancurd vegetable roll, steamed vegetable bun etc. You play a game of "Guess the Dim Sum". Winners get to eat their favourite dim sum and losers, well, don't get to eat their dim sum unless they open every single bamboo container! 

On a more serious note, i would have preferred if the dim sum were categorised instead of having to open every single cover. The dim sum was quite good on the whole, except that the beancurd vegetable roll tasted a little too oily. 

This is what we ate for the bulk of the meal- mushrooms, corns, noodles, vegetables, seaweed. I hope you're not expecting me to say anything about these ingredients because I'm sure you eat them on a daily basis as well anyway.

Desserts include almond longan, green bean soup, white fungus and some red bean/custard longish shape dessert (which tastes like mochi). The items were not too sweet.

For $22.80, I would say don't bother coming here. All the ingredients are really cheap and as my economist friend puts it, "You're simply paying a premium for the fact that it is vegetarian." Do yourself a favour, buy these ingredients from the market and throw it into boiling water or some other stock. If you're craving the deep fried items, feel free to join the rather long queue at the Lingzhi counter and buy some dim sum back.

Lingzhi Vegetarian Restaurant 

Velocity @ Novena Square
238 Thomson Road
#03-09
Tel: +65 6538 2992

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Peach Garden 桃苑

We went to Peach Garden at Novena for dinner yesterday. It's along the main road, so you probably won't miss it. 

We ordered the Roasted peking duck ($60). Tasted like your typical peking duck. Came with some prawn crackers.

I'm not a fan of wasabi because the word that pops in my mind when I think of wasabi is- pungent. People may think that wasabi is the greatest thing ever, but sorry, I don't share their sentiments. But anyway, we ordered Deep fried wasabi prawn salad ($22) which was actually pretty good. The big prawn was piping hot, crispy and chewy! Plus they managed to tone down the wasabi a lot, so the pungency didn't manage to make a round in my nose before coming out. Yes, it retains its pungent smell and taste, but it's not overpowering.

This was what the waiter recommended: Salted egg yolk scallop with prawn ($63). It's basically a thin layer of salted egg encasing two scallops which surround a prawn item. Again, not usually a fan of salted egg yolk but this wasn't that salty and I think there was some sugar in there to balance the saltiness. Eating beyond the salted egg yolk, you actually still can taste the freshness of the scallop.

This is the leftover duck meat from the peking duck, fried together with some mushrooms, and placed on a lettuce leaf. With some sauce (for the peking duck) laid at the bottom of the leaf.

I felt that this was the worst dish of the night. It wasn't just me who felt that the Ee Fu Noodle with Crab Meat ($36) tasted like maggi noodles. The gravy was also a little too salty. The crab meat was nearly non-existent.

The total bill came up to around $35 per person (including one more dish not mentioned above). As for the service, I have conflicting thoughts about it. Here, they refill your tea cups and change your dishes very frequently. But yet, I don't feel the enthusiasm that is evident in other places where there is excellent service. So, the refilling of cups and changing of dishes feels terribly like a chore. Overall, the food is decent but not fantastic.

Peach Garden
301 Upper Thomson Road
#01-88 Thomson Plaza
Tel No: 6 451 3233 

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Zhou's Kitchen (周庄)

It was dim sum day again. My verdict about Taste Paradise being one of the best dim sum places around remains. Dim sum may be everywhere, but it's not easy to make good dim sum.

When we entered Zhou's Kitchen, it was still pretty empty but the crowd started slowly trickling in.

The appetizer was unusual. They normally just serve nuts. Here it's beans plus ikan billis plus dou kan. It gets your gastric juices flowing because of the mild spiciness, the crunch of everything. However, just like how too many cooks spoil the broth, too many ikan bilis makes it too salty.

We ordered the usual suspects. The standard here is pretty erratic. Take for example, the siew mai and the har gow- don't order them. I know they are staples for dim sum, but wasting money over staples? The siew mai's stock was too salty, and the har gow skin was horrible. it was sticky and thick.

But thank goodness, they had their egg tarts to save them. I've a penchant for egg tarts and so I know the difference between good and bad egg tarts. The portion of porridge is incredibly huge so don't attempt to finish it on your own. The dumplings were cutely wrapped, with a fresh prawn wrapped in between. The char siew sou had a nice crispy crust to it.

Desserts wise, they were a little too sweet for my liking. We ordered a mango sago and a mango pudding.

Nothing fantastic but not too bad either. The service was good. The waiter changed our plates, even though it wasn't like particularly dirty or anything like that. And the waitresses were very nice about helping us dabao the food. The price range is something like $3 for a plate of 3 egg tarts, $4 for desserts and along those lines. Pretty standard I think!

Zhou's Kitchen (周庄)

Novena Square 2
10 Sinaran Drive

#01-73

Tel: +65 6893 1123

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