Hello in 5.5 years

So in the space between today and the last post, I’ve had kids and life has changed completely. I’m wondering where my Blogger app went to, and only just managed to recover this account. 

But life has been interesting and I’ve discovered new places. What I can’t figure out is how to upload photos 😒

Ah Orh at Sin Ming and Bukit Merah

Having been out of the food scene for a while, it's been a pretty busy time trying to catch up on what I've missed, ranging from just basic hawker fare to more elaborate dishes. After that, there was also the dreariness of sorting out photos left in a mess from a long time ago.

While we were out of action, Ah Orh at Sin Ming closed down. We were thankful that we had the chance to eat there but were rather depressed at the loss of one of our favourite teochew places. We preferred it to the Tiong Bahru outlet- somehow the food had a finer edge to it despite the heartland setting.

Their cold crabs were probably the best in Singapore- full of milt and absolutely succulent.

A close up- check out the super creamy milt

Worth the cholesterol

Super fluffy oyster omelette

Amazingly fresh steamed promfret- every last drop licked up

Standard sambal kang kong

Hae Chor- crispy on the outside and moist on the inside

Compare that with Ah Orh at Tiong Bahru where the presentation is different. Crabs very decent but the Sin Ming one was just somehow more special. 

Their oyster omelette was a lot wetter

Braised duck and pork- decent but not mind boggling

Hae chor and ngoh Hiang- decent

Hokkien Mee- not sure why a teochew restaurant sells this

Yam basket- a pretty good one, in my opinion

Pork trotter with Thai sweet chilli

Fish maw soup

Orh nee

Roti Canai at Kompleks Niaga Limbongan

We took a trip to Melaka some months ago to visit a friend who was working there, and she brought us to this amazing super good value for money breakfast place (to a Singaporean at least) near Klebang. It was a roti canai (or prata to Singaporeans) place that was swarming with people on a Sunday morning, and we all know that crowds are always a good thing. It turned out to be RM60 for 7 people, including coffees and teas all round.

The production house inside the kitchen

We ordered enough roti for 7 people in various varieties - kosong, telur and bawang

I really liked the roti - it was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

My friend also ordered a variety of curries - fish gills, mutton, cuttlefish and stingray - to go with the roti.

I didn't touch the gills.

After breakfast we went to the Klebang coconut shake shack just a few minutes drive down the road. Really yummy on a very hot sunny day.

We also had some lekur to share.

Crowds even at 11am

Guess they use real coconut there

Imahan Sukiyaki

We were looking for a place to eat lunch at JR Hakata City in Fukuoka, when the sister spotted Ningyocho Imahan on the 9th floor of AMU Plaza, the shopping centre right above the JR Hakata station. She had been several times to the Imahan restaurants in Tokyo, and with her recommendations, we knew it would be an amazing meal. And we weren't disappointed. 

The name of the restaurant in Japanese script is on the napkins.

The lunch menu - we went for the lunch sukiyaki set at the bottom of the page

A little bit of beer helps the beef go down

Out came the beef slicest - check out the marbling

And the accompanying veggies

The entire visual feast on the table

First the waitress poured the sweet sauce on to the hot plate

Then added the beef slices one by one

A close-up...it smelt heavenly

Just bordering on well done, dipped in raw egg. Amazing texture and flavour.

Followed by negi

And the rest of the vegetables, following a certain sequence which we obviously had no idea about

There were pickles on the side which were obviously very unexciting compared to the beef

Another round of beef with leek

There was a piece of mochi that had an amazing texture - no idea how they got the rice cake so fine

After all the raw stuff was cooked and eaten, the waitress threw a few beaten eggs onto the pan

And made scrambled eggs with the leftover sauce absorbing all the juices

On top of plain rice. Awesome.

And finally, dessert - fruit and sorbet.

One of our best meals of the trip.

This website gives you the location of all the Imahan restaurants around Japan: http://www.imahan.com/index-e.html
 

Kani Doraku, Dotonbori, Osaka

All visitors to Osaka would have seen this super impressive moving crab mounted on the corner building facade along Dotonbori, the main pedestrian mall in Namba. Definitely designed to attract attention of greedy people like us.

The Kani Doraku restaurant at Dotonbori has 5 floors worth of seating, and yet queuing was still necessary on a Sunday at lunchtime. Fortunately it didn't take too long. 

The Dotonbori canal behind the shopping street, just next to the famous Glico running man sign which is nothing to look at during the day.

View down Dotonbori

Their autumn special which we managed to decipher was available from 12 noon until 4pm. My attitude towards a seasonal special is usually just to order it since it won't be around the next time we come back. 

 Super cute chopstick holder. Reminded me of the duck chopstick holders at Da Dong. 

However we had to check out the regular menu too, to see what the prices were like.

And to work out which was the best value for money menu. The autumn menu was our choice.

This arrived first - with hand signals from the waitress to say not to open the lid just yet. 

A crab sake which cost 735Yen for the heck of it. It came warm, with a piece of salted crab in it. It was okay, considering the novelty, but give me standard sake anytime. I probably wouldn't order it again.

The appetiser came, almost a visual feast for the eyes. 

There was chawanmushi with crab

A crab pincer with something around it - I can't quite recall - and a crab wonton

Crab sushi

And a few pieces of plain boiled crab

These came grilled, meant to be dipped in the kani miso (crab guts sauce)

The kani miso was so good we ordered another separate kani miso dish

Crab kamameshi that was cooking at the table - super sweet flavours. 

 Sides of pickles and soup and broth for the kamameshi

After the rice had cooked with a slightly crisp coating

With broth added. Yums.

Finally, crab tempura. By this time, I was so full but I pressed on because it was not right that the crab died in vain for this amazing meal. 

The kani miso dish (around 1000 Yen), which came to the table served in a crab shell (very eco friendly indeed)  to cook at the table

A close up

Ugly but very yummy

 Finally, fruit to end off the meal. Twas a brilliant meal.

The final cost per person was just over 5000Yen. Super reasonable since it included drinks and it was eat-until-impossible-to-move for us. And this is the view you get upon leaving the restaurant. It's nice feeling it wasn't just a greedy gastronomic indulgence but also an educational experience :) yeah right.

Website: http://douraku.co.jp.e.at.hp.transer.com/kansai/shop/honten/