Chiso Zanmai - Clarke Quay

I went to Chiso Zanmai on a Monday afternoon with some of my friends. 

6 Eu Tong Sen St, 059817 (The Central #02-17)

Located at Soho 1, at the end of a corner. It can be a little hard to find but it is pretty close to Goods of Desire on the second level.

Adults: $14.99++

Free flow drinks $1.99++ 

We spent $20 nett per person for a lunch buffet from 12-3pm. I would recommend a weekday lunch because it is cheaper than the dinner buffet and there isn't much of a crowd.

The place is huge. The food counters serves a variety of cooked and raw food. 

The drinks bar serves free flow instant coffee, tea and soft drinks.

There aren't exactly a lot of variety of sushi but nonetheless delicious.

Got some chicken and eggs for the hot pot.

There are also free flow pork and beef shabu shabu available.

Okonomiyaki, Potato Croquettes and Vegetable Tempura. I would recommend the potato croquettes. Very creamy potatoes and crisp batter!

The cooked food available are pretty ordinary so I would recommend you guys to eat more from the hot pot!

Ramen and Udon noodles are available.

If you love spicy broth, go for the Tom Yum soup base. It just makes all the ingredients 10 times more delicious. Tom Yum ramen is great!

Each person is entitled to a $5 portion worth of sashimi (Around 6 slices with kelp  so remember to collect it near the cotton candy area.

Time for some dessert. Soft serve ice cream is available with toppings like raisins, marsh mallows, cornflakes and syrups like chocolate and caramel. 

*I tried putting soft serve in root beer and it was awesome! 

You can also find mochi, chocolate brownies, cheese cakes, fruits and other sweet treats.

Make your own cotton candy time.

Check out this cool cotton candy machine!

I read a lot of reviews that the variety of the food is limited but for me it is a great deal considering that it is $20 for so much food! I definitely think I ate more than $20 worth of food and I will be back for a second visit.

Gifts from Tokyo

My friend bought me some gifts from Japan so I thought I would share with you guys.

These Tokyo Bananas have been popular on social media sites for a while now and I finally got to try them.  I googled them up and it turns out a box of banana is pretty expensive, around $28.

Tokyo Banana (東京ばな奈)

Opening the Package. Really elegant and minimalistic wrapping. I love the design and layout.

The box looks amazing as well.

12 banana cakes neatly arranged in a box.

Best consumed within 7 days of purchase.

The tokyo banana has a fluffy sponge cake with banana custard in the middle. 

(*Sorry about the lighting.)

Banana puree was used to make the custard and you can expect them to be super smooth. I actually don't really like banana but this is pretty good. Great quality with natural ingredients. 

Here are 2 other flavours I tried: Tokyo Banana Caramel キャラメル味(Left) and Tokyo Chocolate Banana チョコバナナ味 (Right)

Cool print on sponge cake.

This chocolate banana version. It is chocolatey but the chocolate does not overpower the taste of the banana.

If you don't really like the banana taste, I would recommend the caramel flavoured banana. The custard tasted more like toffee than banana. 

After trying out the different kind of Tokyo bananas, I think I know why they cost so much. This sweet treat requires much work to make. It is exquisite - from packaging to taste. A great gift for your loved ones.

Next up more sweet stuff.

Hokkaido Creamy Milk Cake. Another beautiful packaging.

Initially, I thought there is a difference between the baby blue and yellow pack but they tasted the same.

Tasted like steamed cakes. Buttery and milky with a soft, fluffy cake.

It gets a little too sweet and cloying on the second cake. I need a cup of hot Matcha.

Another Hokkaido treat: Shiroi Koibito - Chocolat Blanc Langue de Chat

This one has got white chocolate. 

The biscuit is soft and crumbles easily. Smooth white chocolate sandwiched between 2 milky and buttery biscuit with some coarse sugar. 

The thing I like about Japanese food is the details and thoughtfulness they put in to make the products. Many thanks my friend! :)

Just Acia @ Dhoby Ghaut Exchange

Dining at Just Acia with friends today.

Set meal - Basically you get to choose a main dish and then have an option to add $5.90 for free flow drinks and ice cream. 

Aglio Teriyaki Chicken Spaghetti - $9.20

This is a pretty weird combination. The aglio olio is buttery and salted while the teriyaki chicken with sauce is sweet. Personally I don't think they go well together so I ate them separately. I think the chef added way too much garlic. After eating all the spaghetti, there is still half a tablespoon of garlic on the side. Pretty decent aglio olio but not the best I've tasted.

Teriyaki chicken was a little overcooked.

Chawanmushi - additional $1.20 (with any set meal)

The egg was really smooth. There is nothing much in here, only the slice of fish cake on top as you can see with another cube of chicken to be found in the egg. However, for $1.20, there is nothing to complain about as the price is really low to begin with.

Free flow soft serve ice cream (from dispenser)

Tasted like Mcdonald's vanilla ice cream.

Free flow ice cream (scoop it yourself) - Jackfruit, Taro, Lime Shermet, Blueberry vanilla (Clockwise, starting from the left)

The jackfruit and blueberry vanilla were a little sweet. I really like the Taro flavour - yam fragrance when it melts. Lime sorbet was very refreshing and not too sour. There are more flavours there but I didn't try it all.


All in all, I think Just Acia offers a wide variety of meal such as Western, Japanese, Korean, Thai and weird fusion to choose from. There are a lot of seats available so it is pretty good when you are meeting up with a large group of friends.

Ramen Play @ JEM (Jurong East)

Another shopping mall opens in Jurong East.

I'm really glad that I don't have to travel to Orchard to shop now since the brands I love are now in JEM. I visited Ramen Play with a couple of my friends.

Crispy Dango $3.60 for 3

It is served piping hot and I feel like I'm eating a chicken meatball takoyaki. The chicken is juicy and the takoyaki sauce, mayonnaise and nori made it taste even better.

Cha Shu Uobushi Tonkotsu Ramen - $12.80

Ramen is cooked really well and I love the sweet Tonkotsu (pork) soup base. The Cha Shu has got thick rings of fat. Semi liquid tamago (egg) is heavely. Everything is good except the bamboo shoot. There was an awful bamboo smell. I can't really describe it but it stinks. The bowl is perfect without them.

Sushi @ Fairprice Xtra (Jurong Point)

Some sushi for dinner. - $9 It was around 7 pm or so on a Saturday night and the sushi sets were on discount.

It was the first time I spotted scallops in the sushi section in Fairprice. I told myself I must get this. The best scallops I had in Japan were gigantic.

I think the salmon and scallop are alright. It was a little too soft and lacks the springy raw seafood texture. Not that great but not too bad either. The sushi had been there for quite a number of hours I presumed. For a cheaper price, you can expect a lower quality.

Still delicious on an empty stomach.

Itacho Sushi & Jika Udon @ Jcube

Itacho Sushi & Jika Udon is located on level 2 of Jcube. My friend and I queued for around 45mins before we entered the restaurant. While waiting, we came up with reasons why the queue was so long:

1) The food is really delicious
2) The food is really cheap
3) The shopfront is small
4) Service is slow

Moving on to the food.

Roasted salmon roll $3.80 (Itacho Sushi menu)

I think that it tasted ordinary and it is way overpriced. 4 large fish roes with a slice of torched salmon, some rice with asparagus in the middle of it.

Steam egg with crab $4.20 (Itacho Sushi menu)

I really love this one. Soft steamed egg with a layer of crab on top of it. It feels like I am eating shark fin soup and Chawanmushi at the same time. In the middle of the steam egg was a crab stick. It is a little pricey but it is pretty worth it.

Passionfruit green tea $2.50 (Jika Udon menu)

Moving on to the Jika Udon Menu.  The passionfruit green tea is good. Not too sour so you can taste the passionfruit and green tea as well. The pearls are super soft and chewy.

Udon with cod fish roes (Cold) - $10.50  (Jika Udon menu)

I was feeling adventuorous so I decided to try something different on the menu. To my horror, it is the complete opposite to how it looks. The worst udon I have ever eaten in my life. The noodles were half cooked and it is so tough. The cod fish roe were mixed with so much mayonnaise and it is cloying. I feel that it was too much for me to take after 2 mouthful. Times like this made me feel like I should stick to my comfort zone.

To sum it up, I think there are certainly nice food from the menu. I suggest you do a little bit of research before going there to eat so that you will not be as disappointed as I did.

Regarding the reasons why I think the queue was long, it has to be 2 and 4. The cashier was moving at a snail pace. There were only 2 person in front of us but we waited for 5 minutes to pay up.