Fat Cow | ThumbsForFood

Beef lovers have probably heard about Fat Cow, especially for their famed set lunches which include the popular Beef Donburi. Having heard much about it, we decided that we have to make our way down to try it out for ourselves! The plus point about the set lunches are that they are also available on weekends. 

For the full set lunch menu, please click here. Set lunch is priced at $38++.

Set lunches are served with Salad, Miso Soup and Chawanmushi, as you can see from the photos below. We felt the salad and miso soup was nothing out of the ordinary. The Chawanmushi was actually quite good. The egg was pretty smooth with ingredients such as prawn, crabmeat and scallop in it. Personally, I really like that the egg was rich and not diluted. Yet, it was able to remain it's smooth and silky texture. 

Salad

Chawanmushi

We tried 3 different items on their set lunch menu. The first is the famed Fat Cow Donburi. It consists of char-grilled wagyu beef with onsen egg and thinly grated japanese leek. Everyone agreed that it lives up to its name. The onset egg was really one of the best onsen egg I've tasted because it is so perfectly cooked. The wagyu was almost melt-in-the-mouth with a tinge of charcoal fragrance.

Flowy Onsen Egg

If you love foie gras, you've got to try the Fat foa-gura don. It is glazed foie gras with grilled wagyu beef. They added some pickle to it for a balance of flavours. The cubed foie gras was absolutely delicious and totally melts in the mouth. Although the grilled wagyu couldn't beat the char-grilled one, it is still good. The sauce kind of took away some of the original wagyu flavour.

Fat foa-gura don

For those non-beef lovers, there are also other choices such as Chirashi Don (Mixed sashimi don), Tonkatsu Don as well as Gindara Miso Yaki seen below. The Gindara Miso Yaki is miso marinated cod filet. It is quite fresh and done quite well, preserving the natural fish oils in it. Personally, I feel that the highlight is still their wagyu dons.

Gindara Miso Yaki

The only qualm we had was that the portion was quite small. I guess that's what you get for quality food. :) Overall, we felt that food was the Fat Cow Donburi was the winning point with service on the slow side as it was pretty crowded on a weekend. The ambience was not bad as tables were partitioned for some privacy. Do get your tables reserved beforehand to avoid disappointments on weekends!

Fat Cow
1 Orchard Blvd #01-01/02
Camden Medical Centre
Singapore 248649

Tel: 6735 0308

Cheers, 

Y

Rakuichi Japanese Restaurant (Far East Shopping Centre) | ThumbsForFood

It's quite difficult to find something different to eat in Orchard. We often struggle to think of a special place to dine in. We decided to try Rakuichi as a friend heard that the restaurant offers good Japanese food.

Rakuichi is situated in Far East Shopping Centre, which is just a stone's throw from Ion Orchard. The building is quite old and worn and the escalators were not working when we were there. Nevertheless, we managed to locate Rakuichi on the 3rd floor.

Even though it was a Friday night, we were quite surprised that the place was not crowded. In fact, we were one of the three tables there were occupied that night. We ordered the dinner set which came with Tempura, Teapot Soup, Assorted Sashimi of the day, Yakitori Sticks and some Shishamo and Edamame. We thought that the portion was on the small side considering the cost of the meal.

Appetizer

The Yakitori sticks as seen below look really appetizing. They are grilled really well with the insides of the meat juicy and flavorful. The only thing I wish was it was given in a bigger portion. The sweet potato at the side gave a nice balance to the dish.

Yakitori Sticks 

The bowl of assorted Sashimi that came caught us aback! It was presented in a large bowl of ice and out salmon and yellowtail fish sashimi was placed neatly on top. Presentation and effort is worth 10 points! Sadly, they did not have my favorite swordfish sashimi that I was craving for. All of us felt that the temperature of the sashimi could be cooler. It was strange because with the amount of ice, we thought that the sashimi would be much cooler. I could never have enough of Salmon Sahimi!

Assorted Sashimi

The Grilled Salmon was nothing special. It was fresh nevertheless, but, not memorable. I think we are rather big eaters, so the small grilled salmon was a bit sad for us.

Grilled Salmon

We have read about the delicious Wagyu Steak in Rakuichi and just had to order a slab to share! It was served with some fried sweet potato strips as a complement. The steak was done quite well which robbed it off some of the tenderness we were looking for. The marinade was good but we felt it wasn't thorough enough. Our verdict? Tasty but not that great to die for.

Wagyu SteaK

Another hot favorite: Aburi Sushi! Yes, everyone loves Aburi sushi, which is sushi that is torched lightly. It was our top dish of the day as well. The burst of flavor when you put a piece in your mouth is really too much to describe.

Assorted Aburi Sushi

We had some Assorted Sushi set as well which came with Teapot Soup, Tempura and Shishamo. Well, I am not a fan of Shishamo actually. The idea of eating a pregnant fish is just too overwhelming. The assorted sushi were alright. Similar to the Sashimi, we would prefer the temperature of the slices to be cooler. The tempura was fried to perfection but, we were a little disappointed that it was not served hot.

Assorted Sushi Set

I guess many patrons of Rakuichi are more familiar to the branches at Oasia Hotel and Dempsey. Of course, if you compare the sets to high end Japanese restaurants Tastsuya, the price that they offer is quite reasonable for sets ranging from $40-80. Well, I would recommend you visiting Rakuichi for lunch as I feel that their lunch sets are quite similar to dinner and more value-for-money. 

Exterior of Rakuichi

We hope to try Rakuichi at the other branches. Please share with us what you feel about Rakuichi by leaving a comment below. :) 

Overall Rating: 6.8/10

Rakuichi Japanese Restaurant

#03-11 Far East Shopping 

545 Orchard Road

6737 0757

Opened Daily 11am- 10pm

Cheers, Y

Tao's (The Central) | ThumbsForFood

Remember our previous post on Tao's at PoMo? Well, Tao's have shifted to a new location which is at The Central. Actually, the branch at The Central was called Zero Zero which had the same concept as Tao's but was more upscale and towards fine dining. However, after much considerations, they decided to shift Tao's to The Central to replace Zero Zero. 

The concept of Tao's is retained. It still holds the "One Price, One Menu, Many Selections" philosophy. 

The prices are retained as Lunch at $25.80++ (6 course) and Dinner (7 course) at $35.80++. Below is the menu. For more information of Tao's, you can visit their website.

The Tao's at The Central seems more well-furbished and more spacious compared to the one at PoMo. However, we were quite surprised to find out that the crowd was not as large as when it was at PoMo. Perhaps, not many people has found out of its location at The Central yet. Even though the ambience is much better now, the prices are retained. 

The difference between the set lunch and set menu is basically the addition of the side dish and refreshment. One of which is the one show below -  Iced Plum Vinegar. It is refreshing and I guess the taste of it did not differ much. 

Iced Plum Vinegar

Their starter is the Bacon and Mushroom Gratin served with white, heated bread. This is what I have been looking forward to when I first knew we were going to Tao's. The cheese and bacon goes so well with the bread that you it's difficult to hold back the urge to order more bread to go with it. Glad that the taste of it did not change!

Bacon and Mushroom Gratin

For salads, our favorites are Thai Style Topshell Cold Noodle and  Huai San and Tofu. You can compare the food photos with the one we posted when we were at PoMo.

The Thai Style Topshell with cold noodle came in a prettier bowl than before. We all felt that it was tasty. But, in terms of flavor, there was just something different than before. Perhaps the sauce was made differently? We couldn't really figure out. But, well, still one of our favorite salad there.

Thai Style Topshell Cold Noodle

Huai San and Tofu was about the same as before. I would have appreciated a bit more huai san sticks because it's really nice and thus sad to have just two sticks. The tofu and sauce placed in this cup was a bit difficult to reach. And the sauce was quite little. So, probably a change in bowl and more sauce would be easier for the huai san to be dipped into the sauce.

Huai San and Tofu

Iced Rose Apple Tea is our favorite. But, like we said in the earlier post no harm trying other flavored teas because they all taste nice. We felt that the apple flavor in our tea could be stronger. Other than that, not much to pick about the tea!

Iced Rose Apple Tea

Side Dish, Grilled Seasoned Mushroom was nothing much to rave about but we definitely welcome this addition to our meal!

Grilled Seasoned Mushroom

Strange huh? I realized the sequence of photos is the same as our previous post. Seriously, pure coincidence! 

Okay, next up Cream of Mushroom. Yes, we're biased towards this soup choice. Since, you've heard our rave in the previous post, I shall share with you the others. We've actually tasted the Japanese Consomme before it is la light-flavored soup that has a tinge of fish flavor to it. Kind of like the teapot soup you drink in Japanese restaurants. The Chicken Melon Herbal Soup was also not bad. I think those who like the traditional Chinese kind of herbal soup would like this. Nothing extraordinary but, not a bad choice either!

Cream of Mushroom

Main course -- Sirloin Steak with brown mushroom sauce. Not a surprising choice. We just love our steak. Well, the waiter there would recommend the pork ribs which we have tasted before. If placed side by side with the Sirloin, we would pick the Sirloin because we don't really favor pork ribs. 

Sirloin Steak

Okay, the two dishes below are NEW in the menu! It's not on the official menu but, the waiter there would introduce you to try them out.

Baked Salmon is one of the dishes. It comes served with mash sweet potato and taro chips together with sauce to go with the fish. I would say it was average standard, nothing extraordinary. The salmon was a little overcooked which caused it to lose some of it's juiciness and oil. If it is cooked to perfection, I would say this dish would be good.

Baked Salmon

Duck Confit was their other new dish. When we heard they had duck confit we were so thrilled to try it out. If you have recommendations of extraordinary duck confit, please do drop us a comment or mail to let us know. We will be pleased to try out great duck confit. The one we had that day was alright. The duck meat is not as tender as we would like. But well, the taste wise, was okay. I guess if they could drizzle some sauce over it to add more flavor, the dish would be better?

Duck Confit

For desserts, we ate creme brulee and tiramisu. The creme brulee looked and tasted quite the same as before. You can check out our previous post for it. As for the tiramisu, it was mediocre.

We would like to thank the waiter that day for sharing with us how Tao's came to The Central. Also, the service there is still quite awesome! We had quite a private time and all the attention to us that night as we were the only table that stayed the longest.

I would think for the ambience and choices you have, Tao's make a good  place for you to hold gatherings with friends and family. For the price, I would say the lunch would be a better deal. Also, note that they are having a promotion where you can buy a $350 nett voucher booklet and be entitled to 10 dinner sets. Note that you can only use a maximum of 5 vouchers per visit and it has a 6 months validity period. If you really like the food there, I would think it's quite a good deal!

Our Rating: 7.8/10

6 Eu Tong Sen Street

#04-86 The Central (Clarke Quay)

Singapore 059817

For reservations, please call 

6339 8858 / 622 44 139

Till next time,
Y 

Boss BarbQ (Clarke Quay) | ThumbsForFood

It seems that we have not reviewed any Korean restaurants yet. Well, that’s not because we don’t like Korean Food. Instead, we do enjoy Korean Cuisine. So, do look out for more Korean food reviews!

We bought a Groupon deal for $50 for food worth $100 of food at Boss BarbQ to try out the food there! Boss BarbQ is actually a contemporary K-Pop and K-Bar, featuring grilled Korean dishes. It is actually an established franchise store from Korea. 

Interior of the restaurant

Deejay sound system in the Restaurant

While you are waiting for your food to be served, K-pop MTVs featuring famous K-pop songs will be played on-screen to entertain you.

The menu features many dishes from grilled to fried chicken to many other Korean authentic dishes.

Menu

Take note that there is 15% off Citibank credit card promotions, that is not valid with other discounts or promotions.

15% Citibank Promotion on food

DO TAKE NOTE! Side dishes are priced at $3 a set. And they are only refillable one time. This is quite disappointing as we had previously visited other Korean restaurants that serve free flow side dishes that are not charged to the bill. Kimchi is like an essential to Korean food, thus, I feel that it should be given free flow for customers to consume. Well, I quite like the taste of the sides but just that portion is too small and lacking variety.

Side Dishes - $3/set

Drinks are also charged (except Iced Water)! But well, the barley tea is free-flow at a charge of $2 per pax. We notice that these charges were not told to us when they asked us whether we would like to have them. I think it would be better for the restaurant to be more explicit in their prices because we saw one table  of patrons who were really shocked when they saw their bill for they didn't expect these charges to be incurred. Rice is also charged at $2 a bowl.

We tasted the recommended Fried Chicken ( about $38 for 16 pieces). We took a mix of Spicy ones and Original-flavored ones. Majority of us preferred the Original Fried Chicken because it was juicy and the meat was tender as it used the thigh of the chicken. It was not too oily as well and the batter was just right. On the other hand, the Spicy Fried chicken was dipped in Chili and sesame sauce. Frankly speaking, the spiciness level was too weak. I am not really good at eating spicy food, but, the sauce was indeed more sweet than spicy!

I think for the price of the chicken it is considered steep as it does not really have the WOW factor that I had expected.  



Spicy Fried Chicken

Original Fried Chicken

Seafood Pancake ($28) was a recommendation by the waiter. It was quite a big portion and there was squid and some prawns. I guess the seafood pancake tasted quite normal. Really nothing very special from the ones I ate at other places. For $28, I think it is really overpriced and expensive. I think much can be improved since this is one of their signature dishes.

Lastly, we ordered Cheesy Spicy Chicken (about $38). The waiter warned us that it will be very spicy. However, I think it is really not too spicy. What was awesome was that the cheese was aplenty in the dish. Being cheese lovers, we enjoyed eating the cheese. Also, there is Dokbokki (Rice Cake) in the dish with the chicken. Quite yummy and big portion.

We concluded that the food served is nice and quite hearty in portion, but, the price is really steep for each dish! Without the Groupon voucher, I don't think I will return because we ate nicer Korean Food at other places priced at lower costs. 

I remember walking pass Boss BarBQ on another night and saw the performance by a Korean girl group. Really, when the music played, the lights of the restaurant will also flicker, creating a disco-like ambience in the restaurant. It felt like a club with the music blasting.

Al-fresco seats available outside

Overall, ambience is quite vibrant and noisy. Service wise, I wouldn't give too high a score because the waitress did not know much about the food when we asked her. 

Our Rating: 6.7/10

Must Tries: Original Fried Chicken

3C River Valley Road

#01-04 Clarke Quay

Tel: 6336 3393

Have a good day,

Y

The Tastings Room (Marina Square) : Restaurant Week 2012 | ThumbsForFood

The past week has been a sinful week, with the Restaurant week being in place. Other than The Tastings Room, we have also been to Absinthe. Even though both serves French food, The Tastings Room pale in comparison to Absinthe.

4 course dinner set at $35++

Starters: White Truffle Salted Fries. This tasted pretty normal, nothing much to rave about.

Soup: Seafood Roasted Tomato Puree Soup. I would very much prefer mushroom soup to Tomato soup but this tasted alright as well. However, it was served cold. It would be better if the soup was heated up a little more. There were prawns and squid too.

Main course: There were two choices for the main course

1. Confit of French Duck Leg. This was the better between the 2 choices. The skin was crispy and the duck meat was quite flavourful as well. However, for these standard, I believe that there will be a cheaper alternative. Await our post on Saveur for more affordable French food! 

2. Slow Braised Wagyu Beef Cheeks. This was a disappointment. It tasted more like a normal beef stew. The taste of the beef was so overpowering that I could not finish the meat. 

 Desserts: Similarly, there were 2 choices for the desserts as well.

1. Gâteaux au Fromage. This was the best amongst all the 4 courses. The cheesecake was really soft. I love the texture so much! The raspberry sauce by the side complimented the cheesecake well too.

 2. Tiramisu. This did not suit our tastebuds as the tiramisu was overly soaked in coffee liquor and was a little too bitter for our liking.

The setting of the restaurant is rather casual. The food is not the best you can find. But, look out for their drinks promotion! 

Our ratings of The Tastings Room: 5.5/10

Must tries: Gâteaux au fromage

The Tastings Room

6 Raffles Boulevard Marina Square

#01-08 Singapore 039594

To make reservations: (65) 6338 1829

Cheers,

Z

Irodori Japanese Restaurant (Riverview Hotel) | ThumbsForFood

Well, last minute cravings for sashimi led me to Irodori. Ikoi has always been the more popular choice between the 2 japanese restaurants located within close proximity to each other. But, I reckon that I will have to try it for myself to be truly convinced so here I am!

Prices:
Adult: $35++
Child: $22++

Starter: Green tea tofu 

Sashimi plate

Tempura

Tea Pot Soup

Ebi Mentai Mayo (Complimentary with buffet- 1 per pax)

Green tea rice

These were some of the food we ate. I was there on a Sunday, and there was not much of a crowd. 

The sashimi here is pretty good. I really like the swordfish and the salmon sashimi. For sashimi lovers, the price of the buffet is really worth it. Another highlight of the dinner was of course, the Ebi Mentai Mayo. Each person will receive one and it was definitely yummy.

The variety is not bad as well. I have not had the chance to try Ikoi yet, but I will put up the post as soon as I have tried it! Await more posts on Japanese buffets [: 

Our ratings of Irodori: 9/10
Must Tries: Ebi Mentai Mayo, Swordfish Sashimi, Salmon Sashimi

 I will definitely be back again as I am a hardcore lover of sashimi. Are you one too?

Irodori Japanese Restaurant
382 Havelock Road
Riverview Hotel #03-01
Singapore 169629

Tel: 6735 0301

Lunch : 1130- 1430
Dinner: 1800-2230

Cheers,
Z