Ajiya Okonomiyaki Restaurant

Ajiya Okonomiyaki is a Japanese Restaurant located a stone throw away from Beauty World's MRT that allows diner to have a good hands on session partially preparing the Japanese Pancake over the Teppanyaki Table.

Ajiya

We were there in the evening for dinner and was welcome by a big Rilakuma Plush in front of the shop. It was dressed in the Japanese Chef costume and looks gloomy sitting there.

Rilakuma

Interior bears a homely and welcoming feel with a "U" Shape Teppanyaki counter on the right and a few tables on the left. If you want to skip  sitting at the Teppanyaki counter, you can choose the sides table for a cozy place to dine. Unfortunately the space is rather limited and these 3 sides table were partitioned by a top hanging Japanese blinds only.

Entrance

Interior

Open Kitchen

Teppan Yaki Counter

Like most Japanese places, I thought beverages were pretty ordinary and have nothing much to talk about. They have this cold Houjicha infused with Wildberry, it tasted sweet and refreshing.

Ajiya's Iced Wildberry Houjicha - $4.50

Drink is made with fresh lemons and with soda, refreshing too.

Lemonade - $3.50

Starting off with the appetisers, it was quite mind blowing for someone who likes century egg. Served chilled with silken tofu and Japanese surimi crabmeat topped with bright orange tobiko was presentable. I like it best with them on the century egg sauce, addictive and delectable. That really whet my appetite for more!

Century Egg Kani Tofu - $7

It feels outcast not to order when everyone's is ordering. Fill your carbohydrates now! Sliced Potatoes were served on a hotplate topped with mozzarella cheese & mentai sauce generously.

Potato Cheese Mentai - $10

You can make it spicy or the non-spicy. The cold ramen dish was served beautifully with ham, egg strips, surimi crabmeat and vegetables covered. Together dressed in its tangy Japanese sauce, its just another item not to be missed in its menu.

Hiyashi Chuka - $11

What's Okonomiyaki? The word might not be familar but I believe that once you see it, you will definitely recall that you have seen it somewhere.  Aijiya is serving Okonomiyaki, a Japanese style Pizza filled with cabbage, tempura crisps, pickled ginger, scallions and egg. The best part of the dining session is that you can to topped it off with Okonomiyaki sayce, mayonnaise, aonori and bonito flakes, all at your desired servings!

Pouring Everything onto the Teppanyaki Plate

Making it in shape

Waiting for it to cook

Flip over

Cooking Okonomiyaki

Toppings at your desire

With Bonito Flakes

For Okonomiyaki you can choose to have seafoood, meat, veggie delight, choosing 3 items from the mentioned category. We had the Ajiya's combo which can choose 3 items from any category and we had Squid, ham and spinach. You can add on other toppings as well.

Ingredients were served in a bowl and if you request you can DIY (Do It Yourself) by mixing them then pass back to the server to cook it well over the Teppanyaki counter. The best that it was cooked freshly in front of our eyes, carefully placing the food in the proper round shape. Food was not too greasy and ingredients were indeed very generous.

Ajiya Combo - $15

As a whole, service is friendly and the concept of DIY-ing is pretty interesting. Do note that no reservations will be taken for seats at the Teppanyaki counter. Also, GST is absorbed for all prices but do take note that 10% of service charge will be required.

Rating: 3 / 5

Ajiya Okonomiyaki Restaurant
Location: 104 Jalan Jurong Kechil, Singapore 598603

Otto Berlin House (OBH)

Quite happy that we have German Food and Beer now in the neighbourhood estate without travelling too far. Otto Berlin Haus is located in Epic House among the estate in Toh Guan serving some German Cuisine like Pork Knuckles, Sausages and Beer from HB.

Otto Berlin Haus

We had a serving of mushroom soup while waiting for the rest of our food. Texture of the soup was uniform and taste was average.

Mushroom Soup - $2.50

It looked burnt here and was not too appealing initially but when it comes to the taste, you can actually feel the manual work done for grating the potato and cutting of red onions being seasoned with peppery taste. Eat them together with sour cream and enjoy! Though it may not be as good as Marche's, for its value and price paid, it is relatively good.

Rosti Plain - $3

Unsure what to eat? If you are going for German Cuisine, you can order their Family platter, otherwise there are some western food like pasta dishes to choose from.

Too bad there are no sauerkraut in the platter. The platter consist of a whole Pork knuckle, 2 cheese sausages, pickles and mashed potato.

Family Platter - $26.90

Enjoy the handsome amount of meat from this crackling Pork Knuckles. Sauce like Mustard, chilli or even tabasco sauce is available.

Pork Knuckles (Whole)

Pickled vegetables were replacement of the sauerkraut and a slice of sweetened pineapple is given. Tangy and goes well with the platter.

Sweetened Pineapple & Pickles

Though they are not really authentic, coming to price and value, it will be considered as average fare. Though food cannot be compared to the German Cuisine Chains Restaurant in Singapore, I would say their price are much more cheaper if you are looking for some pork knuckles or sausages here.

Rating: 3 / 5

Otto Berlin House
Location: Blk 267A Toh Guan Road #1-01 Singapore 601267

Nobiro Japanese Restaurant & Sake Bar [Closed]

Up in the quiet residential of Faber Hill, you will get to find a hidden gem Japanese Restaurant humbly located along the shophouses stretch. However if you are familar with Buck Tile St Cafe, they are just side by side and you definitely won't miss it.

Nobiro Japanese Restaurant & Sake Bar

The Izakaya Style Restaurant has an extensive menu serving Japanese dishes, including western dishes, sashimi as well as grill delights and its worth a visit especially you want to have some taste of Japanese Sake away from the crowd. You might be surprised they have as many as 50 types of Sake stored in their chiller. Impressive!

Interior is modernly furnished and there is even a game corner right after the entrance for guests to enjoy it while waiting for their food.

Interior

We ordered the recommended home made Honey Lemon drink.

Honey Lemon

Under the Mains in the menu, we found this special combination of Bacon, Prawn and Cabbage Omlette. Though it may be quite an average item for some but credits goes to the smooth runny egg omlette, wrapping up the shredded cabbages underneath. With it marrying the sweet sauce, mayonnaise and bonito flakes, everything was yummy!

Tonpei Yaki トンペイ焼き - $13

A recommended item on their menu. The texture of Grilled Squid was tender and packed with slight hint of smoky flavour. Squeeze some lemon juices on top on the Squid and dabbed them onto the Mayonnaise and enjoy!

Surume Ika Maruyaki スルメイカ丸焼き - $15

With a straight forward setup and presentation, the Hiyashi Soba is quite ordinary.

Hiyashi Soba / Udon 冷やしそば / うどん - $10

Texture of noodles is alright, dip these cold soba into the soba sauce.

Soba / Udon

Serving of Oyako don was done on a porcelain bowl, covered with a big wooden spoon placed by the side. Enjoy the aroma of Oyakodon rushes in as you open the bowl cover.

Serving of Oyakodon

Light flavours of rice with flavourful egg and yellow onion. What a comfortable homely meal we had in Nobiro. It is a tad too light in flavours as we preferred it to be saltier in taste but no worries in my opinion it is still as good.

Oyakodon 親子丼 - $15

Take a closer look here

We are very please to have Yakitori fresh from the charcoal grill and ordered Omakase Set B at $30.80 which consist of 10 Sticks of Yakitori base on Nobiro's Selection. However you can also go for their Omakase Set A at $15.80 for 5 sticks of Yakitori.

Servings were split into 3 parts and were served separately too. The first plate consist of Chilli red grilled tomato, leeks and mushrooms. Simply love these freshly prepared grill vegetables especially in its smoky flavours.

Tomato チェリートマト, Leek ねぎ, Shitake Mushrooms しいたけ

Covered with a layer of teriyaki sauce, these tender chicken thigh in its smokiness taste is awesome.

Chicken Thigh もも - $3

Not a fan of chicken liver but I would say this is very well executed with the terkiyaki sauce.

Liver レバー - $2.50

The last portion of the Yakitori were served in a plate of 5 with a lemon wedge by the side. For those who don't really like the innards taste, the lemon juice can be of a very good way to reduce it. Let's take a look at the items...

The Meat 

Chicken Wings on a stick? 

Chicken Wing 手羽先 - $4

Loving the bite down the bacon into the juicy enoki mushroom. The smoky flavours were great!

Bacon with Enoki Mushroom エノキベーコン - $3

Chicken Gizzard 砂肝, Chicken Heart はつ , Chicken Tail ぼんじリ

Nobiro Japanese is worth a visit and if you are nearby in the day, they have affordable lunch bento meals special for you guys.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Nobiro Japanese Restaurant & Sake Bar 
Location: 108 Faber Drive Singapore 129418

Honolulu Cafe

Taking over Mak's Noodle at Westgate will be Honolulu Cafe. Origin from Hong Kong, Honolulu is best known for its flaky egg tarts and of course Hong Kong Dishes.

Honolulu Cafe

Was kind of shocked to heard so many people lauded about their tarts. It was a far cry to what was expected. It lacked the butter fragrance no doubt that the tart was flaky. The egg fillings was not too please too!

Honolulu Egg Tart - $1.80

Chilled and cooling however the tart as an overall was quite tasteless and its crust was not up to expectation.

Beancurd Tart - $2

Both addictive and stomach filling. Egg Roll was sweet with luncheon meat fillings added with cheese. Totally enjoyed the yummy watery roll.

Cheese Luncheon Meat and Egg Roll - $5

Chu Qian Yi Ding Instant noodle is my favourite but this was prepared dry tossed. Topped with a few tea spoonfuls of XO Sauce with shredded scallion on the noodles. Nevermind for the bad taste in noodle but I would have thought that the Pork Chop would have completed my meal. However it failed too. Pork Chop looked dry and tasteless, there was quite some fatty meat too.

XO Tossed Noodles with Pork Chop - $7.80

Pineapple Bun is also known as "Polo Bao" in cantonese. This bun is quite common in Hong Kong. The buns have flaky exterior as its characteristics and many times with a sinful slice of melting butter tuck inbetween it.

Pineapple Bun - $4.20

More of lemon water as there was not much watercress taste in there.

Watercress & Lemon - $1.50

Comparing to other Cha Cheng Teng we had in Singapore, sad to say that Honolulu Cafe is of no fight to them. There are better room for improvement for them.

Rating: 3 / 5

Honolulu Cafe
Location: Westgate Mall, Westgate, 3 Gateway Dr #02-06 Singapore 608532

He Ji Wu Xiang Guan Chang 合记五香贯肠

Talking about Wu Xiang Guang Chang in Maxwell Food Centre, I bet you have already heard of the two popular ones. China Street and none other than He Ji Wu Xiang Guan Chang or better known as Hup Kee Wu Xiang Guan Chang.

The Stall

Besides stall being so prominent as they are located just right at the first row of the main road what amazed me was the senior stall man who had pleated his hair and leaving it at the back of his head. Looks cool!

Meals menu are preset base on sizes and you can order at them $6 / 8 /10 / 12 /15. The stall is run by a team of 2, one middle age man and one middle age lady. If you notice, they have won many awards over the years as many of the certificates were plastered at the stall.

We had a plate of Wu Xiang Guang Chang for 2 with Bee Hoon. What surprised me was its bowl of sweet translucent sauce that was served.

Set for 2 - $8.80 with Bee Hoon

We have Wu Xiang, Guan Chang, Century Egg, Fried Tofu, Fried Liver Wrap and egg.

Fried Wu Xiang & Guan Chang

Bee Hoon were cut and in shorter lengths. Springy and goes well with the plate of Wu Xiang and Guan Chang.

Bee Hoon

The food speaks for themselves why this stall had been well received by others. Do try it when you are there.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

He Ji Wu Xiang Guan Chang 合记五香贯肠
Location: Maxwell Food Centre, 1 Kadayanallur St #01-97, Singapore 069184

Tokyo (东京烧)

Tokyo is one of the stalls that you can see opening at night in Ayer Rajah Food Centre. Basically, they are a BBQ stall selling typical BBQ Seafood like fish, prawns, crabs, crayfish, cockles and vegetables.

Tokyo

Despite having ordered the medium portion, the amount of meat look rather little to 2 pax. The chilli was ordinary and lack the extra punch of fiery taste. However you can add the given sauce to enhance its taste.

Sting Ray - $10

 BBQ Sotong caught by my surprise as the amount of chilli paste was little. I took another glance at the menu again and then realize that the preparation is actually different from the rest as it was using salted pepper with a little chilli. Even if you are looking for Squid rings, there aren't any here as they come in slices. It was a pleasant surprise with their style of serving and squid was fresh.

Hot Plate Squid - $8

Better known as "La La" to the locals. This is one of my favourite seafood. The taste was not too fantastic as it only fried with chilli. It would be perfect, if it can be done with a little bit soury and spicy with gravy to pair along with the bowls of rice.

White Clams - $8

I was kind of disappointed as reviews mentioned that they were best BBQ in the West. No doubt I agree that their style of preparation may differs abit from the normal ones, I still find the taste rather ordinary and nothing to shout about.

Rating: 3 / 5

Tokyo (东京烧)
Location: Ayer Rajah Food Centre, Blk 503 West Coast Drive #01-07, Singapore 120503

Blanco Court Food Centre (3rd Storey) 多丽哥粿汁

With so many visits to Old Airport Road Food Centre, I have always pass by this stall and skip due to the snaky queue, if not it will be that I'm craving for Lor Mee. However this time round when I was back there, I remembered and insist that we should give the stall a try. Initially I was quite disappointed as I thought the stall had closed down due to the wrong unit number written online.

Blanco Court Food Centre (3rd Storey)

Many have noted Blanco Court Food Centre (3rd Storey) as one of the best tasting Kway Chap in Singapore and if you are a fan of Kway Chap, I bet their Kway Chap would not disappoint you either. The Kway is silky smooth soaked in the fragrant broth. Taste of the broth was old school, not too sweet and fragrant was empowered by fried onions in oil.

Kway

Why is there a long queue? Verdict? If you are a fan of braised intestines, the answers are all there! There is no existence of stench or bitterness in the big intestines. Blanco Court has prepared them well whereby every piece of it was cleanly done with refreshing taste in its braised sauce.

Innard

We have ordered a set for 2 pax. However, if you would like to order additional item, each part of the innards are priced at its menu.

Kway Chap Set for 2  - $8.80

Kway Chap for 2 

This left quite a good impression as this is the cleanest innards that I ever tasted.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Blanco Court Food Centre (3rd Storey)
Location: Old Airport Road Food Centre, 51 Old Airport Rd, #01-135, Singapore 390051