Kazu, Cuppage Plaza, Singapore

Kazu Sumi-Yaki Restaurant has to be one of the best, if not THE best yakitori joint in town. This place is so popular that I once had to wait twenty minutes for my table on a Monday night despite making reservations.

I'm still more of a fan of Korean soju but I could not resist ordering a bottle of their "Premium Sweet Potato Shoju".

The Japanese chili pepper powder is kept in the nifty looking container which a wooden peg plug. Somehow this reminded of a gun powder barrel and I was inspired to form this trail.... BOOM!

Since the shoju was a rather large bottle, I thought it would be better to have it on the rocks with lemon instead of drinking it straight.

There's this game I play everytime when I'm at Kazu. It's called "Fill the Container". It's actually very similar to playing pick-up sticks except the sticks are pretty much the same color and you don't really take them out of the container after you've put them in and you don't really pick them up hmm.... come to think of it, this game is NOTHING like pick-up sticks hahaha!

Grilled beef tongue. A tasty and chewy morsel, this a great way to start off this feast. The ones at Kazu are actually a lot more tender than others I've had but it's still chewy enough to give you a bit of bite.

Grilled asparagus wrapped in pork belly. I love this dish because it's such a contradiction. What better way is there to eat healthy crunchy asparagus than to encase it in fatty pork belly?

More pork belly wraps. These are the enoki and shimeji mushroom variants. I love mushrooms, they taste like magic hehehe.

There aren't many things not impaled by a stick that I would order at Kazu but their croquettes are really one of the best I've tasted. These are their pumpkin and crab croquettes. Crispy (but yet not greasy) on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside, this is a low-carb dieter's nightmare but who really cares seriously. Hahaha!

Angler fish liver in ponzu sauce. I'm not a fan of this really but she always orders it when she's here. It's actually quite refreshing (in a tangy way) and rather smooth but definitely not something I would crave.

Grilled chicken skins in salt. You know chicken skin? The stuff some people peel off their KFC which creates such a tragedy every time I see it being done. It's a dish here and it tastes so good.

Half-time and D is still going strong. Will he survive the other half? Please stay tuned for more...

Foie gras.... this stuff literally melts in your mouth. Be careful not to hold the stick at an angle lest you drop a piece and risk spiralling into a bout of massive depression.

USDA Wagyu beef, this stuff is so marbled with fat that it was almost as tender as the foie gras. The amount of marbling in this cut is so abundant that it's really sinful but yet so tasty.

My personal favorite; grilled pork with apple. The sweetness of the apple permeates the juicy tenderness of the pork to create a match made in heaven. I've always wondered why pork is paired with apples. Maybe someone took that apple stuffed in that roasted pig's mouth (you know like the ones in cartoons?), took a bite and went, "Hey, these two go together pretty well!"

Grilled savory mochi. These little rice cakes puff up quite a bit when grilled and provide a nice chewy and sticky bite. Everytime I eat these, I'm reminded of the Marshmallow Man from Ghost Busters. Something about "stay puff" I reckon... my mind is weird haha.

Grilled chicken hearts, these are cleaned out a lot better (no coagulated blood) than the ones at the various churrascaria restaurants and hence taste a lot better too.

For er... purely "academic" reasons we ordered a serve of the Australian yakiniku Wagyu to see how it stood against their USDA counterparts. It's almost a walk-over here, USDA wins; hands down.

I was pretty full by the end of the meal (plus a few more rounds of some of the favorites) that I didn't really want any dessert. But I was so intrigued by the "Milk Sherbet" that I had to give it a shot. Intrigued because by definition sherbet is very much a sorbet i.e. there is not much dairy in it at all, so "Milk Sherbet" sounded oxymoronic enough to pique my curiosity haha.

There was nothing really mind-blowing about the milk sherbet. It was quite refreshing but I would still have preferred a citrus sorbet instead. This actually tasted like the Rabbit Milk Candy you get during Chinese New Year.

Close to forty sticks, not near my record but this will do for tonight.

The green tea here is roasted with some barley and rice which gives it a nice malty flavor. Great stuff to sober up with. By the way, I passed the keys for my ride to her (never drink and drive!), one of the perks of having dinner with someone else haha.

Just as I was about to leave, I saw this slogan on the back of my chopstick sheath that I never took notice of before. "Feel the heat" haha, I thought this was rather tacky but I was feeling warm, then again, it could have been that huge bottle of shoju at work.

This meal cost about 300SGD but if you don't drink just minus about 80SGD from that.

D

p.s: This will be last post... for a few days because I'm flying off for a short holiday tomorrow (another food haven no doubt). More to come when I return.

Happy Diwali! Little India, Singapore

In the spirit of multi-culturalism and today's festivities this post is going to be another compilation (rather large one) post. I love Little India, in fact I find Little India a lot more fun than Chinatown and it also helps that I'm a big fan of Indian foods.

The Deepavali Festival Village is pretty much a bazaar of food and decorational items for the occasion. Nestled between Tekka Mall and Tekka Market, this place has quite a lot of interesting things to offer.

Indian snacks are predominantly savory and fried. Some of them are baked as well. They have a unique spicy flavor and you can taste the use of spices instead of just plain straight forward salt. Great to munch with beer; especially the spicy fried noodle.

The great thing about having two festive occasions together is that you create combo-celebrations like this so-called "Deepa-Raya" event. This is a store selling traditional Malay snacks and cakes.

As most of the snacks are flour and spice based they're ideal for the vegetarian. But since most of them are also deep-fried you don't have to worry about losing those precious calories haha.

It actually got really warm walking through the bazaar so I retreated to the side-alley where I took this photograph. I call it "The Peer from the Rear" haha ("peer" is used as an intransitive verb here to imply looking narrowly, just thought to clarify things in case someone thinks I sell Indian snacks too).

The Indian goldsmiths enjoy an uptrend in sales during these occasions as well.

This is my favorite eating house in Little India. In fact if I would choose Sri Kamala Vilas Restaurant at Blk 662 Buffalo Rd #01-16 over Samy's anytime if the parking situation here was better. This place doesn't look fancy but they serve the most kickass South Indian cuisines.

Hey is that a beret? No, we have not gone French but these are pooris; it's basically a fried bread and although it looks huge, it's really only filled with air. Slightly crisp externally, chewy and soft within, this is a refreshing change from the typical prata.

Let me present my massive one and a half foot...

Plain paper thosai. This is the thinnest, crunchiest (and longest) thosai I've ever eaten. Please request for the "paper" variety because the conventional ones are pretty thick and won't have this crisp finish.

Which South Indian meal is complete without the quintessential chapati? These are made from chickpea flour and although the ingredients are very simple, making it fluffy and chewy at the same time like these ones require quite a bit of skill.

Masala chicken, tender and spicy, this chook goes extremely well with breads.

For those with inclinations towards a less spicy palate, the deep fried chicken is quite tasty too.

This is the mutton curry. The thing I like about the curries here is that each one has their own unique flavor. They didn't just use one base-curry and put in different types of meats, the special combination of spices for each curry is noticebly evident.

Curried squid, this has a slight assam flavor making it stand out from the rest of the meatier curries.

I like the fried fish cakes here more than the ones at Samy's because it's minced much coarser and chunkier. You can actually taste the fish in these cakes.

The great thing about eating nice Indian food is that not only does each particular dish tastes good by itself but they also complement each other really well. It's as though they create this collective wholesome-ness which is far greater than just a sum of its parts.

Sri Kamala Vilas also serves masala tea. This is not very common at most Indian drink stalls and it's basically tea with spices in it. It's a nice change from the usual teh halia (ginger tea) which I get.

A closer look reveals a layer of spices settling at the bottom of the cup.

Most of the patrons here eat in the traditional non-cutlery manner but as I was taking photographs, I had to keep my hand clean. They do have forks and spoons available so don't feel bad for asking.

What better way is there to end off an Indian feast than with Indian sweets? This place has a huge selection but I normally go for the milk based ones because I find the rest far too sweet.

This was my humble selection, most of them are milk based.

Being a food blogger gives you the excuse to "play" with your food. I present, "The Indian Sweet Pagoda" haha.

A quick stroll through Tekka Food Centre further reinforced the fact that this is indeed a lunch or dinner joint. It was a lot more bustling than when I came for breakfast the other day.

Deciding to bypass the bazaar on the way back, we walked through "Little India Alley" and chanced upon this store.

What a selection, this little joint kicks so much ass.

To my utter joy, they have a huge selection of barfis as well! These brought back the memories of the days when I used to make my own barfi.

They also have this dessert that I love but can never seem to recall its name. I just call it the "Floating Milk Island" which is really a misnomer because it's technically an island floating in milk and not an island made of milk per se. Of course, I had to buy some home for a second round of sweets haha.

This is some cake that we bought after we were given abit to sample at the store. It tasted pretty good and had dried fruit (dates?) in it. The slivers of almond also lent it a nice crunch. In some way this actually reminded me of a soft pecan pie.

Pistachio barfi, this fudge made from the nut (usually almond or cashew) meal and condensed milk has always been quite irresistable to me.

Floating Milk Island chilled from the fridge. This wasn't as sweet as the first two and tasted extremely clean and refreshing.

So that wraps up a rather massive compilation post.
I'm not sure if the readers prefer a compilation post because I feel that in this way I can relate to a common theme.
However, if you girls and guys prefer smaller posts, please let me know.
No biggie on my part.

Lastly, have an excellent Diwali! Go visit your Indian and or Chindian friends! If you're not in the mood to go out, go rent or buy (because you'll watch this more than once) a copy of "Karan and Arjun" the ultimate, and I reiterate "THE ULTIMATE" Bollywood movie.

I would watch this everytime SBS repeats it hahaha.

D