Fukuichi

This is going to be a short post and a supplement to my earlier Chiraishi (see link) entry.

I’ve loved Fukuichi since it was in PSA building and I’m happy to report that it has maintained its standards after moving to Triple One Somerset. I love love love the Kani Tofu (tofu with crab mayo inside drizzled with century egg sauce) and the almond crusted tempura prawns there!

B lives right near by so it’s now the “perfect neighbourhood Jap joint”. That night I ordered the Chiraishi don and B ordered the teriyaki (I think) beef set. I can’t speak for him but my chiraishi was simply lovely. It’s less hearty than Botan or Matsuo’s but the quality of the sashimi was fantastic. If I remember correctly it’s a bit pricier – but note: I am comparing the former two’s lunch set prices to Fukuichi’s dinner ala carte menu.

I imagine we will be making many more repeat visits here, woot!

Kumo

I’m flying to Tokyo with the new boss for work next week but we decided on Jap for my welcome lunch anyway. Kumo is a (year + old?) Japanese restaurant at Icon Village, Tanjong Pagar which looks interesting but unfortunately also intimidating (read: atas and expensive) from the outside.

But like I said, this was a welcome lunch and on corporate account so….

I had the $38++ set and it comprised a few courses:

First, we had a simple salad. Second up was the sashimi course. Hmm. Yes, fresh indeed. But serving was a bit small – such a tease, I was left wanting more.

Luckily, the bento set more than made up for the petite appetizer portions. From left upper corner clockwise, there was the goat cheese salad, the prawn and vege tempura, two pieces of grilled saba fish and a small hill of beef sukiyaki (dried stir-fried, not soup). These came with rice and soup too.

We were stuffed but the sorbet dessert was very refreshing so we polished that off anyway.

Overall, a good meal. I can’t complain, since this was a treat. But objectively, Kumo’s set lunch was Tatsuya/Aoki pricing and the experience just fell short. The restaurant was packed with similar “business lunch” types though so I’m guessing it’s good if you have an expense account.

I doubt this will be a regular lunch joint for me. If the Jap craving hits, I’d walk (and mind you it’s a long walk now that I’m at Chartis Building) all the way to Botan for my chiraishi fix.

Boulevard (Millenia Walk)

Located right smack in the middle of Millenia Walk is Boulevard Bar so surprise surprise, it is banker/yuppie central on weekdays. It’s not a big place (where Baker’s Inn used to be) and to be honest, I find it a tad too packed during corporate crowd happy hour sessions.

This was a Sunday and Szeto and I had just bought a ton of wines from the Carrefour fair (see earlier post). We wanted somewhere quiet to chill out at before heading home (for weekly breathe-it’s-Monday-again therapy) and Boulevard looked like a good place. Well, mainly because it was fairly empty, save for two or three patrons.

We didn’t feel like beer, so we had a bottle of wine (surprise surprise again) to share. I can’t remember the name of the bottle we had but it was the house red. Nothing mind-blowing but it was fairly pleasant though $70+ a pop (if memory serves me right) is a tad inflated in price.

Food! I really needed some after all that wine tasting (and swallowing) at the Carrefour fair. The menu had a mix of western and local favourites, so we picked one of each.

First up, the fried carrot cake. It’s the white version (versus the sweeter black type) and came in a good portion. Not too oily, well fried with generous amount of egg and large prawns – it was rather tasty, although more chai por might have been nice. In typical bar grub fashion, it was rather salty (and I have a high threshold for salt). Oh vell, I have long accepted this as a ploy by bars to make us thirsty and order more drinks.

I was still hungry (third surprise surprise?) so I added an order of prawn aglio olio. Again, the prawns were large and succulent, but the pasta was over-done. I don’t like soggy pasta. Could have been a bit spicier though. I suppose if you do order this you could leave special instructions to correct this.

Overall, Boulevard seems like a cool place to chill out at (on weekends) and to mingle and be “seen” (on weekdays after work). I would go back to try the other food offerings. But given the limited wine list, I’d order a beer, rather than wine
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Le Bistro Parisien

Posh french bistro this was not. In fact, it was rather strange - french food in a Haji Lane shophouse with framed posters of Malay movies and actors and playing Spanish music. It was almost as if Le Bistro Parisien had an identity crisis.

But strangely we enjoyed ourselves - the food was hearty and overall quite yummy!

For starters, we shared the escargots and the french onion soup. I wasn't too impressed with the former - the escargots were a tad over-cooked and tough. The puree they sat on was tasty though.

The french onion soup was excellent, one of the better ones I have had for a while. The soup was incredibly rich in flavor and the cheese crusted bread it came with was absolutely delish. We ordered an additional bread basket just to mop the bowl clean. Definitely a dish I'd order again.

For mains, B had the lamb and I had the salmon. These came highly recommended by the waitress. Both dishes came in huge portions which brought huge smiles to our faces. I thought the salmon, although nicely crusted, was a tad dry. The accompanying cream sauce and buttered rice helped some - overall I quite enjoyed it. B's lamb fared better, he seemed quite happy with it.

This is a halal restaurant so they don't serve wine. It would have been nice to have enjoyed the food with a nice bottle. But oh vell. I still think this is a gem of a find and the in-congruence of the food and setting was strangely refreshing and definitely made for good dinner conversation!