Cheongdam Lee Sang in Seoul, South Korea

When I told the local team that the last place was like a local version of an izakaya, they somehow got the idea of going for "round two" of dinner at an actual Japanese izakaya. So we walked over to an outlet of Cheongdam Lee Sang, which it seems is well-known. I was curious to see how much they would localize it: there were a few oddities like chili paste on the side as well as natto that came garnished with red onions. But the prawns above were good at least, with headfat that was sweet and rich enough to be worth sucking on.

Sakkeya in Samseong-dong, Seoul

I'm not sure if I got the name of this place right (60 Teheran-ro 81-gil, 2-554-3645); Google Maps isn't very good in Korea, and this might be the place next door. Nonetheless, I think it was a few doors down from this soup place, and the team suggested we go to this jeonjip, or a local pancake shop that really seemed more like a Korean version of an izakaya: a loud and casual drinking place that serves a variety of food too. To be honest, I didn't like the dishes; the onion pancake was the best of them all and even then, it was soggy. But it's a fun place to go after work with the team.

An Outlet of Damso Sagol Sundae in Korea

The local team brought me to an outlet of this sundae sausage chain while we were in transit between meetings. They offered this sundaeguk soup version, which was awesome, not just because of the intestine-stuffed cuts of wiener, but also the cloudy seolleongtang-like broth that they arrived in, bubbling away. There were black pepper shakers on the table to give it all an extra edge, and I liked it so much that they were able to bring me a refill of soup too. That was very satisfying!

Saebyeogjib in Seoul's Cheongdam-dong, Korea

When they brought this out to my table, my face clenched. Crap! Did I just make the same mistake again, ordering bulgogi stew instead of bulgogi on a grill?? The staff tried to explain it to me; I think she was trying to say that I was dining solo, and hence they put it in one of those pots rather than on a grill.

Fair enough; it didn't seem like a stew in the end, but this is the first time that I've seen bulgogi served this way. Is this common? It was impressively tender and tasty either way, all without being excessively sweet. It reminded me a bit of sukiyaki, in fact.

Anyway, this was from a 24 hour shop in Gangnam-gu (6 Dosan-daero 101-gil, 02-546-5739) that is apparently quite famous for post-drinking (yet expensive) food. Either way, I'm kinda interested in coming here for breakfast one day. A lot of the reviews that I read suggested that the bibimbap is the thing to get.

Epilogue: the local team just told me that this was called ddukbul, which is what you end up getting if you only order one portion of bulgogi. They seemed more amused by the bottle of soju in the photo, as it is considered odd to drink by yourself. Ironically, I was just thinking about how awesome those bottles are, as they are just the right amount to give you a bit of a buzz without being excessive, and all for the bargain price of just 6000 Won (US$5.25).

Bai Nian Niang Dou Fu at Albert Centre, Singapore

I stopped at Albert Centre tonight in search of a quick bite, and decided on this yong tau foo stall (270 Queen Street #01-106). They give you pre-configured bowls, and each item inside was done with care and of respectable quality, completely unlike the usual fish paste-stuffed ones that you'd usually get at a food court. The fried bitter gourd was impressive, as was the chili sauce, which packed a surprising amount of heat. The chicken wings were interesting in that the batter was extremely crisp, even if it was a bit sweet. I still prefer Xiu Ji in Chinatown, but I'd be happy to come back here again.

kokonoE Kitchen Stage at Isetan Scotts, Singapore

A free-range egg vendor from Oita, Japan has set up a stall within the basement grocery section of Isetan (1 Scotts Road). In addition to eggs, they had a few pre-cooked items available, which they sadly said that they could heat up in a microwave. Naturally, I passed, but there was one simple thing that they could do on the spot: this tamago kake gohan, which I inhaled in seconds, even if I admittedly couldn't really tell the difference between this egg and any other ones.

Bar Cicheti Pasta and Wine in Singapore

I knew once I stepped foot in here that I had made a mistake (10 Jiak Chuan Road, 6789-9801). No, not about the food. If anything, the food was wonderful; there was an impressive amount of care that went into things like panzanella salad above, not to mention the amaretto-soaked tiramisu that closed this meal.

My mistake was not realizing how upscale this place was. See, when I read about this place, it mentioned an impressively low price tag of just S$14 (US$10) for a plate of pasta, so I figured this might be yet another affordable pasta place that I could frequent. But it turned out that that price was only for a half-portion.

Lunches came in three-course sets starting at S$30 (US$22). That is still a good value for the quality of food (I loved how they used some perky Sarawak pepper in my cacio e pepe). But I could easily see myself approaching triple digits per person going a la carte with a few drinks. That's beyond my pay grade.

Seng Kee Black Chicken Herbal Soup, Singapore

I'm really surprised that I haven't heard more about this place (475 Changi Road, 6746-4089)...it's fantastic! Maybe it's because the name is a bit misleading, as they serve a lot more than just black chicken herbal soup. Witness that "Johor" bee hoon above: admittedly, I haven't been to JB Ah Meng enough to make a confident comparison, but this savory thing totally hit the spot, and it wasn't as hard to get a table here either. We had a seafood chow fun that had a nice smoky aroma, and the herbal soup noodle that most people were ordering was nicely balanced without overdoing the Chinese herbs.

Japan's Shimada Seimen Shokudo at 73@Hillcrest, Singapore

73@Hillcrest off Greenwood Avenue is a cramped but modern open-air kopitiam (73 Hillcrest Road, 6904-8373) that rents out a couple of stalls in the back. One of them is from Osaka-based Shimadaseimen, which is somehow related to a Kobe-based Michelin Bib Gourmand called Enishi. They do a fish-based broth.

Each ingredient in the bowl had things that I liked but also didn't like. The chashu, for instance, had an impressively tasty char on it, but it was a bit sweet. The egg was deeply infused with a good-tasting soy sauce and mirin, but was also sweeter than I thought it would be.

The broth was *not* sweet and in fact was respectably savory, but didn't have much depth and got boring after a while. And the noodles, while nicely shaped, were soft and didn't really have much taste. Ultimately, it just didn't come together the way that I had hoped. As such, I won't bother fighting those crowds to eat here again.

The Benisyouga-Ten at Yomoda/Tokyo Soba in Singapore

If the image above looks very similar to this one, then that's because it's effectively the same thing, except that I swapped the shungiku-ten leafy greens with that red pickled ginger on the right (yep, the stuff you get with a Yoshinoya beef bowl). I'd never thought that one would deep fry it into a patty, but they did it here, and the salty pickle was a great contrast to the clean buckwheat noodles.

Moss: Fresh Californian Dining at habitat by honestbee, Singapore

Local delivery service honestbee opened its mobile app-driven cashierless grocery and dining hall called habitat at 34 Boon Leat Terrace today (yes, they seem to have a thing for lowercase words). It's kinda like a local version of Eataly: a gigantic warehouse filled with fresh produce and places to eat.

Most of the food stalls in the center of the venue are casual with free seating, including an outlet of Chinese roast meat stall Char. But there are some places on the edges with full table service, like this one called Moss. The food was good: those squid ink discs were topped with not just baby squid but also sea urchin cream, making it disappear in seconds. They also had a starter of chicken chicharron and pork ear fries that we were happy with.

But the portions were tiny and not worth the price. Moreover, the entire mobile app-thing was causing mayhem: the main entrance was blocked with people trying to install the app and sign up (i.e., you have to scan a QR code to enter), and this restaurant didn't get our payments settled for at least 20 minutes, which meant that the kitchen couldn't start our food. I'll wait at least six months before coming back.

Tokyo Soba at Icon Village in Tanjong Pagar

The sign at this little shop (12 Gopeng Street #01-16, 6410-9353) says that it's known as Yomoda Soba in Japan, so I had assumed that they moved here after leaving Japan Food Town at Wisma Atria. And yet, the menu doesn't quite look the same, so I'm not sure if it really is the same shop or not. Nonetheless, the food did the job, reminding me of what I might get at a train station up there. Sure, I'd be happy to come back, although I might also gravitate toward the many soba options available at nearby Hokkaido Izakaya too.

Dumpling Darlings on Amoy Street in Singapore

This place opened recently, serving dumplings and noodle dishes in a slightly upscale shophouse (44 Amoy Street, 8223-9249). Lunch was done in sets like this, and yes, I was happy with my potstickers, which were done to just the right amount of crispness while keeping the insides moist. I wasn't, on the other hand, that excited about the noodles, which were both too soft and too sweet. That means that I won't be coming back for lunch again, but I wouldn't mind coming here in the evenings for a la carte dumplings (including some interesting-looking momos and pierogis) along with some craft beer and cocktails at the counter.

T's Tantan Vegan Ramen from Japan

The Japan Rail Cafe folks were running some kind of fair at Tanjong Pagar Centre this weekend, and one of the stalls was selling ramen from some small vegan chain in Japan, it seems. They offered both a faux-tonkotsu and this tantanmen above, but I didn't like it. The soymilk-based broth was a tad sweet, and the texture of the minced "meat" didn't do it for me either. Nice try though, and it was still a neat event to have, especially in such cool weather.

LA's Fatburger Has Opened in Singapore

The last time I ate at Fatburger was literally around twenty years ago. Even when I was living in LA, I probably only ate it no more than a few times; I tended to go to In-N-Out instead. Anyway, I was kinda curious to try it again now that they've opened a shop at Velocity @ Novena Square (238 Thompson Road #01-08).

And now I realize why I never went there that much: it's very dry. Despite the name, the patty was very, very lean. Sure, it had the beefy taste that I wanted, and all of the standard fixings moistened it up a little (the black pepper is nice). But I'll be more eager to hit up Shake Shack when it finally opens up at Changi Airport.

China's Zuimala at Orchard Central, Singapore

I love how we've been getting so many restaurants from China lately. This one (181 Orchard Road #04-22, 6509-0295) chose an odd English name: Enjoy Mala (in my opinion, they should've just done a literal translation into Drunken Mala instead). See, they do this thing called zhanguo, which is kinda like maocai or malatang in that you select the ingredients that get served to you in a spicy red broth. But it's skewered, and unfortunately, the quality of the meat here isn't very good. The broth - while spicy - also had a touch of sweetness, which means that I won't likely be coming back here again.

Japan's Menya Kokoro Has Opened In Singapore

Eat At Seven at Suntec City Mall has gone through some changes again. Enbu outside has become an outlet of Unagiya Ichinoji. Burg Kitchen has become a dubious-looking hot pot called Ding Xian. And Takeichi is now over at Changi Airport; in its place is this mazesoba shop (3 Temasek Boulevard #03-313, 6235-3386).

It's better than Kajiken. I didn't even get the spicy version, but it was both spicy and earthy. Now, the raw garlic and green onions mean that I'm going to have to sleep on the couch tonight, but they nonetheless gave this bowl a fun edge, especially with a good hit of tabletop vinegar. Thumbs up.

Tanjong Pagar Fried Kway Teow (Since 1980)

I stopped at this lady's stall in part because she is only open four days a week until 3 PM each day, and I figured that I might as well try it while I happened to be here (6 Tanjong Pagar Plaza #02-09). Like Katong (Peter) Fried Kway Teow Mee just a few stalls down, she similarly offers both a dark and white version. My white one was deceptively spicy and ultimately went down in a flash. I can't really remember Peter's enough to be able to make a good comparison, but it seems that he has an 11 year head start on them, seeing how his sign boasted of being around since 1969.

Keisuke's Rich Soup Spicy Duck Ramen with Nissin Red

Keisuke is running this spicy duck ramen special through the end of the month. And for some reason, the bowl that I got today was covered in chili oil (rather than being just a few drops like they showed in the picture). I'm not sure if that was a mistake or not, but I was quite happy that they did so, as it made this thing very fun to eat, all while still being able to taste the thick broth underneath as well as the firmly cooked noodles. Indeed, I liked it enough that I got an extra kaedama portion of noodles, lest the remaining spicy broth go to waste. He also seems to have a special featuring his bak kut teh ramen and a black oil, but I'm not as interested in that one, to be honest.

Nasi Goreng Kampung at Subang Airport

This was just a random plate of fried rice that I got at Subang Airport. What was particularly interesting though was that in addition to the little ikan bilis anchovies on top, there was also some kind of salted bacalhau in here, making it like Cantonese salted fish fried rice. I'm not sure if that's typical of a nasi goreng kampung, but it was delicious, especially when assisted by some of those delightfully spicy green chili peppers.

Eight Bowls of The Original Boat Noodle in Malaysia

I'm back at The Original Boat Noodle. This time, I needed more of a meal than a snack, so I went for eight bowls instead of four. One drawback of all of these little portions is that they cool off fast, so you've gotta wolf them down pretty quickly, which I did. Twelve bowls would've been possible too, but exercising some restraint was probably a good thing.

An Ostrich Ramly Burger from Malaysia...I think

I needed a spicy greasy batch of carbs before heading upstairs to my room for the evening, and fortunately there was a burger truck called AZ Burger right across the street from my hotel. There were a number of different types of proteins listed on their menu, including venison and ostrich. I went for the latter, but I have no idea if he pulled a fast one and just gave me beef, as I could hardly taste the meat when it was covered in all of that sauce and such (which, to be honest, was actually what I was looking for to soak up all of the beer in my belly). Either way, he used Ramly wrappers and it hit the spot just like a Ramly Burger would've.

Pantai Seafood Restaurant in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

This Chinese seafood place was the location for our big team dinner tonight (13575 Jalan Cempaka, 03-7725-5099). I liked it, particularly a sliced geoduck that you could either eat raw or blanched (I preferred the latter, as it took the briny edge off and brought out a bit of natural sweetness). Those prawns above were covered in some kind of shredded butter thing, while some greens were done up like they do at New Ubin Seafood: with the leafy portions shredded and deep fried into an airy savory crisp. I just wish that they didn't overload their steamed fish with so much garlic, especially since most of their seafood was from those live holding tanks outside and probably would've tasted fine on their own.

The Original Boat Noodle in Malaysia

This boat noodle chain from Malaysia has had an outlet in Singapore for a while now, but I never made it over there. Yet tonight, I'm up in Malaysia with a shop nearby, so I stopped on by for a snack. And I really mean a snack, as these are the tiny-sized portions that you'd get in Thailand rather than the ones that I'm used to at Sim Lim Square. The good thing is that it let you try a number of different bowls, all of which did the job. But admittedly I'd still prefer a larger bowl.

Japoli Kitchen at Changi Airport Terminal 2

When the ANA folks opened up their Japan Gourmet Hall SORA last year, I got my hopes up too high. It turned out that pretty much every stall in there was the same as what one can get from their Eat at Seven area at Suntec. The only one that seemed to be new was a Japanese-Italian place called Japoli, but the menu didn't look very exciting.

Still, I was at the airport this morning for a flight and figured that I'd give it a try. There were very few Japanese items on the menu aside from this Pork Shabu Sesame Creamy Pasta, and unfortunately, I didn't like it, as it was drenched in a slightly sweet sauce reminiscent of bottled sesame salad dressing. I'd much rather go to Yomenya Goemon instead.

China's Da Long Yi Hot Pot at Orchard Central, Singapore

Yet another hot pot chain from China has opened in Singapore (181 Orchard Road #08-06, 6509-0002). Not to be confused with the similarly named Da Long Yan in Geylang, this shop at Orchard Central is now my favorite hot pot shop on the island, as you could actually taste the ingredients despite all of the salt, spices, and oil (or more specifically, butter, in the case of the spicy broth above).

I liked their mushroom broth in particular, as it was savory and refreshing, not to mention filled with tons of mushrooms (basically, don't bother ordering more mushrooms as there are plenty in there already). They had those requisite little red pull-tab cans of oil, but also little packets of a dry chili and salt mixture that you could use for dipping too. Yes, I liked it better than Haidilao and the rest of that Clarke Quay hotpot collection.

Italy's Caffè Morettino in Singapore

A coffee brand from Italy has set up a small cafe at 100 AM in Tanjong Pagar (100 Tras Street #01-04, 6244-0424). They have a small food menu, including panini, pizza, and pasta. I've been trying many of their dishes over the course of this past week, and none of them blew me away, but at least the prices were pleasantly low. One day I'd like to come back to try their cheese and meat platters, but it'll have to be after 3 PM after they shift to their dinner menu.

Tippling Club in Tanjong Pagar, Singapore

This is one of those high-end places that I could never afford to dine at (38 Tanjong Pagar Road, 6475-2217). But I was fortunate enough to have been invited to a business lunch here today, and it was indeed a delight, starting with small playful snacks like the prawn cracker above. Of everything that was served, my favorite was a risotto that they accentuated with the wonderful fragrance of fresh dill. I was also very fond of a very small cut of wagyu short rib that was impressively tender and tasty, and came with the bonus of some thinly sliced and naturally sweet lobster. Sigh, I would love to eat here more if it just weren't so darned expensive.

Beef Sukiyaki Don Keisuke in Tanjong Pagar, Singapore

Keisuke has opened a small sukiyaki don restaurant at the oddly-named Onze @ Tanjong Pagar condo (11 Kee Seng Street #01-01, 6535-1129). The decor is strikingly beautiful and elegant; it looks oddly upscale for a place whose meals start at just S$13.90 (US$10.15).

But sukiyaki has never really been my kind of thing. And perhaps not surprisingly, I didn't really like what I ordered either, as I could hardly taste the beef. Granted, I went for the cheap bowl, but I wasn't in any mood to pay for the pricier wagyu version.

Well, maybe one day I'll come back to try it, but it won't be anytime soon, especially since one leaves this place smelling like grease. As pretty as the venue was, he really needs to do something about the ventilation in his non-ramen places.