Tokyo Sundubu

While Sundubu is a Korean tofu stew cooked with vegetables and meat or seafood, I first ate it at a Japanese restaurant that has since closed. The dish supposedly gained popularity after a Korean opened a sundubu restaurant in Los Angeles. There are two branches of Tokyo Sundubu, Japan's largest sundubu restaurant chain, in Singapore – Raffles City Shopping Centre and Suntec City's Eat @ Seven. Though my dining companions and I visited the former on weekdays (once for lunch and once for dinner), waited very long for our orders to arrive if our food was even served. We had Mushroom Sundubu, Kuro-Buta Sundubu, Kuro-Buta Mushroom Sundubu, Seafood Sundubu and Cheese Sundubu. Among us, we also tried different combinations of all its soup bases and levels of spiciness. I liked the salt and ginger soup base at level 1 as its taste was not overwhelmed by the miso and/or spice. Found the portion too small though, and its price a tad high.

Kay Lee Roast Meat Joint

Started as a stall in a coffeeshop, Kay Lee Roast Meat Joint was put up for sale in 2012. Though the owners received about 70 offers, none met their asking price of $3.5 million. Until two and a half years later when publicly-listed conglomerate Aztech Group bought the roast meat institution in Upper Payer Lebar Road for $4 million. The company's group CE is a long-time customer who wants to preserve a heritage brand and expand the business. Now, it can also be found at Bedok Central, Singtel Comcentre, Tanjong Katong and Ubi. My dining companions and I visited the branch, located on the 2nd floor of Suntec City, for lunch on a weekend. We ordered Three Combination Meats and Canton-style Dumpling Noodles. Tender char siew was the best I have tried (am not a fan of char siew, by the way), though skin of roast duck was not crispy and its meat was a tad tough. Could neither rave about the succulent dumpling and springy noodles, nor fault the roast pork.

Guksu

Met up with two dining companions for dinner on a weekday and was asked to choose between Mad for Garlic and two Korean restaurants, all on the 2nd floor of Suntec City. As I am not a fan of garlic, we checked out the menu for Guksu and Kimchi Korean Restaurant by the same owners. Both had stews and while the former is the first homemade Korean noodle house in Singapore, the latter's offerings included ramyeon and barbequed meats. A dining companion was enticed by the Hankook style hotpots at Guksu, which features a fiercely protected handmade Korean noodles recipe that was passed down two generations since 1945 in its Executive Chef Kang family line, though we did not order that in the end. Were tempted by the Korean fried chicken with options of having them classic (honey mustard sauce), soya or spicy.

Cocoa Colony

I first saw Cocoa Colony at Shaw Centre but forgot to drop by for drinks and/or desserts after dinner. That is, until I saw it again at B1 of Great World City. Within That CD Shop, this is a chocolate (move over, coffee and tea) café inspired by the cocoa beans and chocolate cafés found in the Republic of Ecuador. Conceptualised by Singaporeans, the café chain started in Shanghai and opened its first local branch in December last year. It has since expanded its presence in Singapore from Shaw Centre to another 6 locations including 313@somerset, Suntec City and The Star Vista. According to the website, it offers avant-garde cocoa beverages, crafted chocolate bars and lava flowing hot chocolate sauce made from premium chocolate. Ordered one of the signature items from its menu – Cocoa Blanc Deluxe, a zesty white cocoa drink with a shot of espresso but found it too acidic and flat for my liking. Could neither smell and taste the espresso, nor enjoy the chocolate too.

Update: The branch at Great World City has closed.

Ramen Dining Keisuke Tokyo and Gyoza King

It was way past lunch time but my dining companion and I had not eaten. Since it was a weekend, we were surprised to find an almost empty Ramen Dining Keisuke Tokyo on the 2nd floor of Suntec City. This is by chef-owner Keisuke Takeda who, with 100% of sales generated at Ramen Keisuke Tonkotsu King last Friday, purchased and donated community notice boards to Tanjong Pagar housing estates as he found some of them too small or damaged. As part of its 3rd anniversary celebration, 350 bowls of ramen were sold at a thank you price of $5 each and bottles of water were distributed to customers queuing in the hot weather. Having tried the pork bone broth at Orchid Hotel's Tonkotsu King as well as the chicken-based soup at 100AM's Ramen Keisuke Tori King, I decided to order the crab stock ramen with egg at Keisuke Tokyo. Relocated from Millenia Walk, this 75-seater restaurant has a private dining room and is the largest in Singapore.

Sushi Goshin by Akashi

Sushi Goshin by Akashi opened its 1st branch on the 2nd floor of Suntec City last year. The 2nd, located at the basement of Robinsons Orchard where HMV used to be the anchor tenant at The Heeren, was almost empty when I visited on Monday evening. Replacing the physical menu (it would probably be useful to also provide a copy) is an iPad at every table to be shared between two, which I found a hassle to "flip" especially when comparing items across pages. Did not try any of its sushi but had a bowl of braised pork belly noodle soup instead while my dining companions ordered set dinners served with miso soup, rice and watermelon slices. We also shared a very small portion of sweet puffer fish, reminiscent of bak kwa and cuttlefish, sweet potato tempura I could not rave about or fault and a seasonal whole fish sashimi – thinly-sliced and a tad warmer than I liked with sweetness accentuated by its dipping sauce instead of the familiar lemon slice, wasabi and/or grated radish.

Muthu’s Curry

Muthu's Curry at Suntec City is my favourite Indian restaurant because it is not only conveniently located in a shopping mall, but also serves consistently good food at reasonable prices. However, renovations at Suntec City have made manoeuvring around the once familiar shopping mall confusing and I have not visited in a long while. Started as Muthu Makan shop on Klang Road in 1969, Muthu's Curry has a branch at Race Course Road in Little India and another in Dempsey Hill. When I finally dropped by the renovated restaurant after a more-than-one-year hiatus, it was almost empty. Possibly because I was there on a weekday for early dinner or that it faced stiff competition from other restaurants also located at basement around the Fountain of Wealth. Sitting at one of the bench seats, I ordered mostly the usual and tried its Lamb Chops for the first time. No Fish Head Curry but Tandoori Chicken, Masala Prawns and Biryani Rice served with vegetables.

Marutama Ramen

With an orange logo reminiscent of basketball and a name which sounded like "his/her mother" in Chinese, Marutama Ramen opened its 1st branch at Central in 2007. My dining companions and I tried it many years ago, not long after it opened. Recalled how we were not seated until all of us had reached the restaurant on the 3rd floor though the only one yet to be in the queue was already exiting Clarke Quay MRT Station when it was our turn. Marutama Ramen has a simple menu with limited choices and serves Hakata thin noodles in chicken broth. Vaguely remembered I liked its springy ramen though another dining companion prefers Santouka, located on the 2nd floor within the same shopping mall. More branches had since opened at Liang Court, Suntec City and Killiney Road (note that the one at United Square has closed). Chanced upon the latter, not listed on its website, on a weekday evening and there was no queue.

Weekend Happenings

While a week starts from Sunday to Saturday (or Monday to Sunday, if you prefer) and weekend starts on Friday, Thursday is the day when most new movies are launched. Hence, show times released on this day every week by the cinema operators are generally valid 'til the following Wednesday. Just like major supermarkets' weekly promotions which run concurrent with the 3 or 4-day weekend specials and the monthly ones. Watsons has its Thursday special and McDonald's on-going promotion releases a unique design of Hello Kitty plush toy every Thursday. But for gadget-lovers like me, Thursday is when our once-a-quarter hunt for bargains starts. Other than November's Sitex held at Singapore Expo, the rest – namely IT Show in March, PC Show in June and Comex in August/September, are usually at Suntec Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre.