Lioness in Japan

It’s been a while since I posted something Singaporean on my blog so today I’m going to talk about what is possibly Tokyo’s best Singaporean restaurant, Hainan Chifan at Ebisu Garden Place. I think Singapore Seafood Republic in Shinagawa is pretty good too so let’s put both of them at a tie — if you are homesick, just head over to either place, and they’ll fix you right up.

This dinner felt like a “food tour” for my non-Singaporean friends, because in true Singaporean style, we over-ordered due to greedy eyes and grumbling tummies. Brooklyn-based Singaporean food writer Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan says it like it is, “Ask any overseas Singaporean and they will tell you they miss the food more than the people.” How true – ha.

Of course we had Tiger beer and you’ll be surprised to know that it’s considered a premium lager loved by Japanese and other foreign folks. Tiger is kind of like super cheap beer in Singapore and it will give you a banging hangover — at least that was how I remembered it five years ago.

Satay – authentic.

Stir-fried garlic kangkong, or kushincai in Japanese, which was a universal take on any stir-fried Chinese veggie, so I would say it was good.

Tauhu goreng – very yummy but it didn’t really look like how I remembered it to be which is a more liquidy sauce. This looked like it had rendang sauce on it but it was a scrummy peanut sauce over a fried tofu and cucumber salad.

“Black” carrot cake (black sweet soy sauce fried with radish cakes) — delicious but not very authentic because of the bean sprouts and other veggies.

Lontong – hmmm, this was good but it tasted like laksa. I think they used the laksa pre-mix to cook this dish but it sure satisfied my laksa cravings…I wouldn’t hold this against them because they do look very similar and it’s a restaurant in Tokyo, not Singapore, so no Singaporeans injured themselves while eating this (no head bashing against the wall nor did we pass out from indignation).

Chicken rice — apparently the star of this restaurant. I did try it ages ago when I first arrived in Tokyo so I can say it’s pretty authentic and my other Singaporean friend in attendance can vouch for it too.

Prawn noodles — authentic. I didn’t have this but my friend said it was quite close to the real deal all things considered. But yeah, they slipped in a boiled egg to make it more Japanesey and labelled it as prawn “ramen” (because most ramen bowls have boiled eggs). I wonder where they got the prawn stock from or if they made it from scratch…

Fish head curry — this was more Chinese style than the super sour and spicy assam type fish curry. Again, I don’t eat fish so this was just what my friend said. And it was good.

Goreng pisang — you can’t go wrong with deep fried banana fritters and this was a winner with everyone around the table.

Durian ice-cream — it was my favourite though it didn’t have a pungent durian flavour. It was probably made with durian candy sticks and toned down for the delicate Japanese palate.

And a very sad looking mango pudding in the shape of a Merlion — this is like the default “Chinese” dessert in Japan which is kind of awful if you ask me.

Bur bur cha cha — brave but “not quite there”, which means it wasn’t very authentic. It was basically coconut soup with bits of beans and jelly strips or mochi things…I couldn’t tell.

Anyway, it was fun “educating” our foreign friends on what Singaporean cuisine is like. As an expat, you sometimes accidentally fall into the position of a haphazard ambassador for your country. This question always tickles me, “Why does carrot cake have no carrot in it?” and people are always amazed that the Little Red Dot is smaller than the JR Yamamote Line. The kangaroo thinks it’s pretty special he’s dating a Singaporean because there are only three million of us on the planet. Singapore is a quirky place if you think about it…

What strange things have you had to explain to foreign friends about Singapore?

Gosh, I know this is soooo late for a Chinese New Year post but this completely slipped my mind and I just stumbled upon these photos on my desktop. I don’t usually go back to Singapore for CNY because I tend to fly home at the end of the year in Dec and Jan on my way to Australia so to hang around a few more weeks or fly back so soon after my visit always seemed like an expensive exercise.

So I try to celebrate it with my friends in Tokyo. In the early days of being an expat newbie, I would just go to a Chinese restaurant, but it just didn’t feel like a special occasion at all.

Two years ago, I threw a CNY dinner party at my place which I blogged about over here and it was so much fun that I had to do another one this year. I didn’t celebrate last year because my granny passed away and according to tradition I wasn’t supposed to celebrate it at all. I think I just made some tempura (first attempt) at home and ate it with cold soba noodles while watching a movie on iTunes.

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Continuing in the vein of my first Brunch in Tokyo post, I’d like to offer another brunch suggestion that is quite different but has eggs in it if you roll that way on weekends — French crepes.

There’s the legendary Le Bretagne cafe-creperie in Omotesando but it is notorious for being packed to the gills and enormously difficult to get a same-day reservation (I mean, brunch is about being spontaneous too, right?). So my alternative go-to crepe place is actually in my ‘hood at Akasaka Biz Tower, called Breizh Cafe. I seriously think their crepes are just as good as those at Le Bretagne.

On the weekends, the Akasaka area is quiet and relaxing unlike its frenetic weekday salaryman atmosphere so I think it lends to the whole brunch atmosphere.

I ordered a savoury crepe with egg, mushrooms, cheese, and potato and it wasn’t an easy decision because there were so many to choose from. I think next time I’ll get the spinach one with egg and mushrooms. It hit the spot — extremely thin crepe, salty, cheesy, rich…

My friend had the ham, tomato, cheese, mushroom crepe and he vouched that his was delicious…

To be healthy, we ordered a green salad but I thought it was a pathetic excuse of a salad even though it tasted good. I mean, it must have had like six leaves in it? I feel like telling all restaurants not to skimp on their salads!

Our savoury crepes were rather light on the tummy so we got some dessert crepes….

Mine was a vanilla ice-cream one drizzled with salty caramel sauce — divine and I was definitely full after eating this.

My friend got a crepe with rhubarb jam which was sweet and tart all in perfect harmony.

That’s a picture on how to eat a crepe like a lady – haha…spread sauce, fold gently, and then slice.

Yet another great brunch place with a touch of Frenchness though those with healthy appetites might find the delicate servings a bit too light. Just order another another crepe, I say!

Tadaima (I’m home)!

I have been away for five weeks to Australia and Singapore – whoo. What a loooong holiday. I can’t quite hang up my travelling shoes just yet — I’ll be flying to Niseko, Hokkaido, in mid-Feb to finalize the details for my wedding in October this year, and at end of Feb, I’ll be heading to Melbourne for a friend’s wedding. But for now, it feels great to be back in my cozy Tokyo apartment where I can eat like a rabbit and work like a demon.

I think I’m fairly organized when I travel, but this time, I left behind a couple of things at my folks’ place in Sing Sing — a nut milk bag (I have extras in Tokes) and my digital camera cable. Aarrrrgh. I took a ton of photos just for blogging so now I am stuck. I reeeeally wanted to blog about my time in Oz because today is Australia Day (Happy Australia Day to all my friends Down Under!!! *Hugs and kisses*) and I have no backlog photos on hand for my blog over at Beauty Box…..so….I shall entertain you today with something from Tokyo….

If you are a long-time follower of this blog, you would know that my food posts tended to focus on dinner and cooking, but in the last year, I found myself enjoying brunch/lunch out in Tokyo much more than my evening meals if I did dine out. I’m not sure what the exact reasons are except that lunch deals in Tokyo are simply awesome and make expensive restaurants affordable during the day (prices are jacked up three times more for dinner) and perhaps my friends just like meeting up for a late morning or midday meal.

Weekend brunches are a Western concept that is all about waking up late, savouring a heavy meal (it is brekkie-and-lunch combined!), chatting for hours without other appointments in sight, and then heading home for a snooze or goro-goro (means “rolling on the floor” in Japanese; also has the nuance of just lazing around and doing nothing at home). I suppose “brunch” also means egg dishes like a big fry-up or eggs benedict or pancakes which are admittedly hard to find outside gaijin-town, Roppongi. So, I just make do and there are so many places with kick-ass lunch deals on the weekend.

In late autumn last year, my friends and I met up at Eco Farm (Japanese site here), a unique homey cafe nestled in the middle of Harajuku. It’s located in one of the small streets behind Condomania (found at the junction between Harajuku and Omotesando) and it’ll be on your right if you come from this landmark.

You can get a lunch set from 1,000JPY onwards which includes a salad and a drink, along with your main. I chose a pasta dish which they vegetarianized without a glitch. They replaced the octopus with spinach and I got a delicious plate of garlicky, salty veggie spaghetti…

The salad was tasty with bits of funky seaweed…..Weird, but yum…

The bread came with this set as well, and since everyone went with a set, the bread was put in a communal basket.

I just love it when restaurants don’t blink an eye at special requests. Sadly, this is not the case in many Japanese joints where changing the dish is not allowed or you can take out an ingredient but you can’t replace it with something else.

I got my friend to snap a photo of the sandwich set he got — everyone else couldn’t resist the pasta. Their menu was a standard soup, salad, pasta, sandwich one that many cafes have here so the trick is to stand out from the crowd. I would say their portions were large so that was a total winner with me. I hate feeling like I need more to eat after a meal out in town…

For a cafe, this was pretty large and could hold about 50 people from a glance. Since it was in the heart of Harajuku, it was no surprise there were quite a few gaijins (among which were probably tourists?) while we were there.

I would definitely recommend Eco Farm as a place for brunch or a fuel stop if you are shopping in the area. It’s in a central location but tucked away from the hustle and bustle.

I have a few more brunch places to review coming up so stay tuned for more food-related posts.

What is your fave brunch spot in Tokyo?

Hisashiburi (it’s been a long time)….since I wrote a proper food review, haven’t I?

I make it a habit to snap photos of my food when I visit restaurants that I haven’t been to before but none of them really quite captured my taste buds the way this one-star Michelin restaurant did just yesterday…

Cucina Hirata is tucked away in the labyrinth of cafes, shops, and restaurants in Azabu Juban, a neighbourhood a hop and a skip away from gaijin central, Roppongi.

The restaurant’s signage can be easily missed so keep your eyes peeled for a low stand that says Hirata and you’ll need to take the lift to the third floor.

I chose Set A (1,800JPY), which was a salad and pasta set, that also came with dessert and coffee/tea. I knew the restaurant had one Michelin star so I was very curious…

The salad looked vibrant with shaved red-tinged radish (I think?) and a bright, citrus dressing with olive oil. For a “set” salad, it was quite big. Me likey.

Like all good Italian restaurants, the bread was excellent. I loved the poppy seed flecked ones the best…soft and yummy with fragrant olive oil.

My friend recommended the vegetable lasagna and it was definitely a show-stopper. I was a little apprehensive when the dish was presented to me — it looked like a mess of gravy, cheese, and veggies. “Where’s the lasagna?!” I thought to myself. It was under all the gravy and it was moist, gooey, savoury, and very hearty for a veggie-only dish. I mopped up the extra gravy with bread and it was sooooooooo good.

Our meal was rounded off with a super-light no-bake cheesecake with ground pistachios sprinkled on top. The ice-cream was earl grey flavoured and lent an elegant touch to an otherwise pleasant but standard cheesecake.

I asked for herbal tea and they served the whole table fresh lemongrass and mint tea.

Gosh, I know I’m gushing but I’ve never felt so taken care of during a lunch. I have been to really lovely lunch places in Tokyo but I don’t think I had both culinary greatness and warm service at the same time.

Highly recommended and I would definitely come again.

Endo Bldg., 3F 2-13-10 Azabu-Juban
Tel: 03-3457-0094

I’ve to warn you that I have a ton of food pictures so expect quite a few food-related posts to be coming up.

Today’s post is not about going out to a restaurant but a record of getting together with friends on a Sunday night over a potluck dinner at home.

There’s something homey and warm about making a dish in your own kitchen and then sharing it with your pals. I don’t know about you but Sunday evenings back home were always about a leisurely home-cooked dinner with my folks so to have this type of dinner at home with friends feels similar.

Two Sundays ago, my friends and I tucked into this lovely feast…

I made veggie pad thai and rice paper rolls…

And we worked it all off on WII Fitness Resort…

We played archery, bowled, and went wakeboarding in my friend’s living room. It was a blast!

Do you have your own version of family dinners as an expat?

It’s been raining non-stop for two days in Tokyo and as I was flipping through my backlog of photos, I stumbled upon those that I took back in mid-summer of Royal Garden Cafe in Aoyama.

I love going out for brunch, especially in Australia where you get to choose from a dozen eggy brekkie dishes, but Tokyo doesn’t really have the same concept. There are awesome places to have lunch here though (like TY Brewery in Shinagawa) and you certainly can have a non-egg dish for brunch.

I nicked these two photos from their official website.

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If you are serious about your pizza, Da Isa in Nakameguro is just the place for you. The credentials of its chef will send a shiver of anticipation up your spine, too – apparently he got into the top echelons of the Pizza World Cup in Naples for three years in a row (Metropolis review here). He was also cooking over at famed Italian joint Napule where Italian expats dine at.

But I’ve to warn you that this is definitely not a fancy place nor a restaurant you would plan a romantic date. It’s got fluorescent lighting and an open-air eatery feel to it and a feverish never-ending bustle.

It suited my Singaporean gal pal and I just fine because many of the eateries back home have this same “kopitiam” (coffee shop) style and it’s really all about the food. Singaporeans don’t care if they are eating in the dreariest, dirtiest of surroundings, as long as the nosh is fantastic.

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What’s with all the food posts? Well, I’ve to say I’ve been going out quite a bit so it’s really been how my weekends have been like.

I must say that although I’ve been living in Tokyo for four years, there is so much that I have yet to discover. Take this for an example: TY Brewery in Shinagawa has been a long stay in the Tokyo food scene but I hadn’t heard of it till a friend suggested it for the kangaroo’s birthday brunch. By the way, it is under the same management as Cicada where we went for a cosy date for two.

It was a bit of a hike from our place — 22 minutes on the train according to Yahoo Japan but it involved changing trains twice and we took about 50 minutes in all. Okay, that’s nothing in Tokyo but we’ve been pampered by living in a very central location where everything is pretty much 20-30 minutes away by foot or train.

Here are some photos of the harbour front restaurant:

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We’ve been celebrating the kangaroo’s birthday since the weekend before last — he actually declared the whole month as his. He’s been training and dieting for our half-marathon that’s happening at the end of May but his birthday has been a solid excuse for indulging: “Let’s have a beer — it’s my birthday”, “Ooo, that chocolate is soooo good, let’s have another — it’s my birthday”. LOL!

So on the eve of his actual birthday (it was a Saturday), I took him out on a date to Cicada where their anchovy-marinated lamb chops are known to be excellent.

Located in Hiroo, this warm enclave of gaijins, good wine, and big portions is definitely the antithesis of Japanese restaurants. I wouldn’t coin this a very romantic place to dine because it had a bustling atmosphere but the food was most certainly top-notch.

Although the menu is geared towards the Mediterranean, you’d find familiar favourites like seared scallops, pasta, and risotto side by side with chicken tangine, babaganoush, and tabbouleh.

One piece of advice: don’t over order. Treat this like you would a Western restaurant outside of Japan. We ordered two appetizers each plus a main which was way too much, but alas, it was after all his birthday.

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