Tonkatsu by Ma Maison @ Mandarin Gallery, Singapore.

Was introduced to this joint by a good friend of mine, and I occasionally come back. Love the unlimited refill of the salad/shredded cabbage and rice.

A complimentary radish(correct me if i'm wrong) with a dazzle of ponzu sauce. I'm not sure why, but after eating this, it builds up my appetite. Maybe that's why it's complimentary :)

This visit I opted for an Aji set, if I'm not mistaken horse mackerel fish. Beautifully done, crispy on the crumbs and tender in the inside. Salty, but not too salty the flesh, pair it with the rice, nice. The set comes with a starter and a soup on the side.

Stole a piece of ebi/prawn from my friend, good stuff. I strongly suggest go for the mix set, as you'll have a mixture of flavors.

Comfy place, good food, will definitely come back again.

Tonkatsu by Ma Maison,
Mandarin Gallery,
#02-35/36,
333A Orchard Road,
Singapore.

Restoran Yong Mui Beef Noodles @ Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

During my previous visit for the asam pedas at Jalan Lumba Kuda (asam pedas botak), after the lunch as we were walking back to the car, my grandaunt was like hey look at the signboard of this restaurant, a cow. Thanks to www.johorkaki.blogspot.sg, I was like hmmm I've seen this picture before, and truth behold it's the same shop/stall that was reviewed before on the blogspot. I had to run some errands in JB and as the place opened at 730am, was just nice for me to try it for breakfast.

Ordered a medium bowl of mixed beef (spare parts galore!), with white noodle, think it's called lai fun.  See the gravy, lovely.

Make sure you add the chilli. It's a bit different but same same with the Singapore style of beef noodles. The soup on the side was robust, chilli was excellent, and the cuts, loved the tendon. The ground nuts add an extra dimension, balancing the taste, ie chewy beefy suddenly crunchy. This dude is not shy on his portions, generous beef cuts, tender and lovely. Now I have two favourite places at this corner in JB, one being this and the latter the asam pedas.

Ah Yong Beef Noodles,
Restoran Yong Mui,
Jalan Lumba Kuda (as u turn in left into the road, look at your right, 1st corner coffee shop),
Johor Bahru,
Malaysia.

Opening hours, 730am till 230 pm closed on wed.

Lao You Ji Fish Head Steamboat @ Tiong Bahru, Singapore.

Lazy sunday and a bunch of us headed to Tiong Bahru for some steamboat. And boy was I surprised they served an awesome steamboat. Oh and the ambience reminds me back to the good old days having a meal by the roadside.

 We opted for the clear soup broth. Yes one of the better clear soup ones I've tasted, very good.

Ordered some dumplings and beef slices.

Add home made fishballs, yes very good, the fish balls were bouncy. The beef was equally good.

Crispy tofu skins and deep fried tofu.Very nice, all tasted good when put inside the the steamboat.

Some greens for the picture, as you know I'm not a vege person but I could use the balance.

The star dish, fried bee hoon with cockles. They are very generous with the portions, this is how I like my bee hoon for dinner, not too dry, wet and juicy cockles. The steamboat is equally good, I was surprised the clear broth actually make me salivate and wanna go again for a second round. Good hangout place for supper, or dinner.

Lao You Ji Fish Head Steamboat,
245 Outram Road,
Singapore 169046.

Opened 5pm to 5am daily.

Cut @ Marina Bay Sands, Singapore.

Steak, yum yum, now this is one of my favourite joints as they really serve good steak. Pricey but hey one of those special celebrations kinda of place. Ordered a Merlot to start, sorry totally forgot to take the pics, was fully engrossed chit chatting with my mates. The breadsticks was good, same goes for the small cheese puffs. Something to start the ball rolling.

You'll have an option of 4 breads to start as well, I normally go for the onion one as the pic above. Word of advice try not to stuff too much on the breads, it's good but save your stomach for the mains and sides.

A tomato salad for starters, something healthy before we start our carnivorous journey. Tomatoes was excellent, coupled with some anchovies and blue cheese.

Onions rings, can't stop munching on this.

There were three of us, we ordered one portion of dry new york and another rib chop for two (990gm) to share between us. Nicely cut and served.

Dry aged new york steak was actually better than I expected, I think next time I shall go for that cut again. Rib chop was good, tender and moist, but I think I was just overloaded by all the meat, there was minimum 1.2 kilos of meat on the table between the three of us. Had another bottle of Shiraz to top it up. And there was no room for dessert after that. This place serve decent steaks, and the service, I love it. Very courteous and a friendly bunch. By the way we actually came to check out the Hokkaido Snow beef, but it was sold out! bummer. There's only a few limited cuts of that particular beef, so please call and check before hand if you wanna try the Hokkaido snow beef.

Cut,

Marina Bay Sands,
10 Bayfront Avenue,

Singapore.

Tel +65 6688 8517

Wen Dao Shi (126) Dim Sum @ Sims Avenue, Singapore.

Dim sum galore, this place is opened 24 hours. Went over for brunch.

Loh ma kai, chicken with glutinous rice.

Prawn crispy roll, heaven on earth, light and crispy.

The usual dim sum must order, chee cheong fun, siu mai, ok not sure what's the others are called. Basically was a prawn prawn and prawns. Top left is the chicken feet, now that's a bit exotic, I can't eat it.

Seafood noodle, surprisingly this was good. Really nice to end our brunch. This place is packed during lunch time, do try avoid the peak hours. Food is good, and friendly on the wallet too.

Wen Dao Shi
126 Sims Avenue,
Geylang, Singapore.

Opened 24 hours.

Izakaya Nijumaru @ Cuppage Plaza, Singapore.

Been having some cravings for japanese food, affordable ones that is. Decided to check out Izakaya Nijumaru at Cuppage Plaza.

Some warm sake to lighten up the palate (just an excuse to cure my hangover).

Moriawase sashimi for starters, honestly one of those comfort foods after a late nights out.

And for the main ordered a gindara set, grilled cod fish with teriyaki sauce, some greens for the colouring, a bowl of rice and miso soup. Food is decent, price wise very reasonable for the sets.


Izakaya Nijumaru,
5 Koek Road,
#02-10/12 Cuppage Plaza,
Singapore, 228796.

Tel +65 6235 6693

ChaiWalla & Co @ Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

Saturday night on Jalan Tan Hiok Nee, there's a night bazaar. Not bad, place was packed will all walks of people and window shopping through the numerous of stalls.

We saw this coffee joint and decided to check it out.

Quirky concept, they using two recycled shipping containers for their makeshift coffee stand.  Prices are decent(giving a run to those big coffee chains). I ordered a chai latte.

Not bad at all, I like it. Simple table and plastic stools, basking under lamp post lights with a group of friends chit chatting. I miss this kinda lepak (chilling out) atmosphere chit chatting with friends over teh tarik, but in this case, went up market a bit with a chai latte.

If your ever in this part of town, do stop by here, relax, have a coffee and just enjoy the view.

ChaiWalla @ Co,
Lot 2810, Jalan Tan Hiok Nee,
80000 Johor Bahru,
Malaysia.

Restoran Sup Tulang ZZ @ Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

Tulang sup (bone marrow soup) on its own is simply one of my favourite dish. Now add mee rebus coupled with the tulang, absolutely heaven on earth. This restaurant has perfected the recipe, I don't think so I've tasted something like this concoction anywhere else.

Black sambal (soya sauce chilli), totally awesome spicy as hell! Add this fiery sambal to add an extra kick to the mee rebus.

This is the laksa johor, quintessential dish you must have at least once if your in Johor. The Johor version is totally different from the other laksas, from the gravy/soup to the noodles. You can wiki for types of laksa, and I can honestly say, all the laksa version from Malaysia and Singapore I love. Each has their own styles, taste and merits. I have yet to try from other countries, soon on my bucket list:)

Mee rebus tulang, their star dish. It's good, ample amount of meat, soft, noodles is normal, gravy is excellent. Just add the black sambal for an extra fiery kick.

The straw is there for you to suck the bone marrow from the bones, yummy. Nice.

Ordered some fried beancurd to share, a bit oily but dipped it with the sambal belacan, good stuff. The restaurant ambience has a nice malay kampung style to it. Nice laid back setting while enjoying good food.

Restoran Sup Tulang ZZ,
Jalan Petri 5/1,
Johor Bahru,
Malaysia.

Opened daily.

Restoran Todak @ Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

Seafood dinner with a bunch of people, whats not to love. This place have a rustic feeling, on the stilts by the seaside facing Singapore's Sembawang shipyard.

Yups, they open for lunch as well, will check it out next time!

All the fresh seafood with price labels.

Check that out, mussels! I actually called for reservation for dinner (seriously pls call, because our table was just next to the sea view, the place is huge, and if you got a table smack in the centre, too noisy!), so when I did the reservation I ordered my dishes in advance, I totally forgot ordering mussels.

Crabs, it's one of those seafood dish you just have to order. A mate of mine actually said you can find better chilli crabs in Singapore, and he recommended the other styles to order. So we opted for 2 types of crabs, salted egg yolk (pic above and below) and black pepper crab.

And boy was he right, both styles was equally good. This place knows how to do their crabs.

One of the member in our party that night was allergic to shellfish. Luckily there was a guy on the side selling satay. Not bad to line up our palate.

Some vegetables to balance our dinner. Was good.

Prawns cooked in Indonesian curry claypot style. I had my doubts when I did the reservation and the lady on the other end recommended this. But she knows best, one of the best dishes for the night, prawns was fresh, and coupled with the man tous (steamed bun) to soak up the gravy, just excellent.

Siakap fish cooked in thai style, receipt stated its a seabass, I'm not good with fishes name, hence I normally tell them to bring out/recommend a fish. Another killer dish. Good stuff.

Some kerang/see hams/cockles. Huge, and when I meant huge, it's HUGE for one piece.

Some lalas.

The sotong (squids) was another star dish for the night.

They stock up lobsters and oysters as well.

The view from our table facing the Sembawang shipyard. Personally, I find all the food pretty good. I would expect a bit hit and misses, but I was surprised they did a good job. For a big restaurant with so many tables, I was pretty impressed they can manage to maintain a good standard for the seafood they serve, or was it maybe the products are fresh? Next time I'm in town, this place will definitely be on my radar.


Restoran Todak (Orang Asli),
No 1 Kampung Orang Asli,
Telok Jawa, Masai,
81750 Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

Tel +607 386 3696.

Asam Pedas @ Kedai Makan Jadi Baru Botak, Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

My my my, asam pedas (sweet sour spicy fish) I only came to enjoyed it when I first started in the workforce. I'm glad I had good old ex colleagues that make me an addict to this dish. Was in Johor Bahru for an overnighter and this restaurant came up tops on the food blogs. And boy were they correct.

I was very happy this round as there was a big bunch of us, more food to order and sample. We ordered ikan merah(not sure what's the english name for the fish) asam pedas two claypots one spicy and one normal.

An otak-otak,  I find it so so. Worth to fix your otak2 cravings though.

Yups, the star of the lunch, asam pedas, I can literally slurp the gravy, it's so good!

Egg omelette, it goes well with the rice and asam pedas.

 Now this is the sotong dish, which I forgot which styled they cooked, But this sotong dish was one of the favourites with my family.

And this fried fish, I think it was a fried senangin fish. Fresh and tasted good on its own. Highly recommended.

Taugeh (bean sprouts) with salted fish. Simple and healthy for my vege daily dosage intake.

Another greens just to make my lunch balanced. Not bad heh.

And as you can see from the pic above, now you know why I need some greens in my diet. I can, sorry rather eat a simple meal of rice, asam pedas fillet fish with gravy, egg omelette and dark soya sauce. It's just one of those simple comfort food. Absolutely lovely, and I can't wait to visit this restaurant again.

Kedai Makan Jadi Baru Botak,
No 145, Jalan Lumba Kuda,
80300 Johor Bahru, Johor,
Malaysia.

Tel +607 2249225
Closed Sundays.