Nanbantei @ Far East Plaza

The only Japanese restaurant I used to frequent at Far East Plaza was Wasabi Tei, but we would always pass by this little Japanese eatery once you come up the escalator. You can't see the interior 'cos it's mostly covered up, and the entrance covered by the Japanese cloth. I always thought it looked rather mysterious. 

The sis and I were planning to go to Wasabi Tei, but we didn't know (or maybe we forgot) it was closed on sundays, we were too hungry and tired to hunt for another restaurant, and coincidentally this place had 2 seats left, so we decided on this.

We are always craving for sashimi, so we ordered salmon sashimi. We do know that it's not always very wise to order sashimi in a restaurant that's not known for fresh sashimi or specialises in other types of food, but we still went ahead anyway. Let's just say the taste was only as good as the picture suggests - pale oily lines, not succulent, leaves much to be desired.

 Nanbantei Yakitori Bento - This was quite value-for-money, it cost $14 if I'm not wrong. 5 skewers which included quail's eggs, chicken meatballs, some pork etc, with really delicious mushrooms and minced meat over the rice.

Mushroom with minced meat - Can't remember the price, but probably along the lines of $2 - $3 per mushroom! 0.0 But it was good.

Grilled Beef Tongue 牛タン($15) - Some parts were more tender and juicy than the rest, but in general I did enjoy this (or at least the more tender pieces). Although it got a bit "je lad" towards the end 'cos the sister didn't take to the taste and only took 2-3 pieces and I had to finish them off 0.0

Chawanmushi - Taste of the parsley was too strong, I still prefer Chikuwa Tei's version which had prawns, mushrooms and clear noodles in it. The ingredients in this one was meagre.

 

 Unagi Kabayaki - The sister loves this and would always want to order this in Japanese restaurants. This was an additional order and by this time I was very, very, fully already. A bit too salty and a bit over-charred, but all in all still a good choice to order. If we did away with the sashimi and the chawanmushi, I wouldn't have felt like I was going to burst any moment...

If you like yakitori, this place serves very decent fare. The food was good, easy to catch service staff's attention, and you could look at the chef at work too! 

How much was spent per pax: Not cheap, at least $30 per pax
Would I come back again? Once in a long while, not because it's not nice, but because I don't particularly fancy yakitori and as a poor student I can only afford a $30+ once in a while! :)


Address: 14 Scotts Road #05-132 Far East Plaza Singapore

Tel: +65 6733 5666

Opening Hours

Lunch 12 pm – 2.30 pm
Dinner 6 pm – 10.30 pm

Hatched @ Evans Lodge

A bunch of us went to Hatched a few Saturdays ago to celebrate the twins' belated birthday. I love going for brunch, and brunches seem to be all the rage for a long time now! Besides Wild Honey, most of the other brunch places are at ulu places if you're taking public transport. 

Tucked away at a small street next to the NUS Bukit Timah Campus is Evans Lodge which houses Hatched. We didn't make a reservation, were scheduled to meet at 11.30am but everyone ended up reaching at 12.30am, but we didn't have to wait long for a table of 8. 

I was surprised at this location, it was right outside the gate to a student hostel, and we looked like we were breakfast at a void deck, no joke. Atmosphere = 0.

The menu however was quite cute. I visited their website before going there, and it was refreshingly interactive and cute, with different kinds of eggs having different names to them. Takes a while to load though.

 I can't really remember which photograph is which egg, but here goes anyway -

Philly $14.00 - Omelette with minced beef inside and a piece of toast. When I saw the prices on the menu I thought they were rather decent, considering one set in Wild Honey costs around $18-$24. But when the dishes came the portions were really small! I knew from one look I could not possibly satisfy my hunger pangs (from getting lost in the hot sun before finally finding my way to this place) no matter how delectable my dish might be. I was sorely disappointed at the size of the serving. The presentation looks very mediocre as well, as you can tell.

Burly Benedict $11.00 - I do like the names though, and the concept that it's all about eggs, because I simply love eggs, regardless how they're done. Hard or soft-boiled, scrambled or omelette, benedict or sunny-side up, braised or not. We lamented to one another, sigh why didn't we think of this! We could've made millions.

Anyway, this is basically eggs benedict with steak underneath.

Smoked Royale (Single Egg) $11.00 - Consists of Eggs Benedict with smoke salmon, mashed potato and salad. This was mine, so I have a bit more to say about this. The egg was nicely done as well as the sauce, and usually I don't really fancy smoked salmon (sashimi anytime please) but I was craving for anything that resembled raw salmon the slightest bit, so I chose this. The smoked salmon wasn't fishy at all, and I did like this combination. Still, the portions left much to be desired, and I polished off the plate and eagerly waited for my companions to finish theirs so we can proceed on to another place for a second round.

One thing that was really good at this place is their mocha  ($5.50).

 This is Cowboy ($16.00) I think? A steak burger.

Papillote ($14.00) -  Same as Smoked Royale, only that instead of eggs benedict, the smoked salmon comes with scrambled eggs this time.

Le Rossini ($20) - The priciest of the lot, because of that blob of brown stuff you see on top of the scrambled eggs. Foie gras!

 You can choose whether you want one or two eggs for some items. This is Smoked Royale with twin eggs.

Overall I would say the taste was quite decent (I mean how wrong can you go with eggs right), but the portions were really meagre. Worth a try though. Service is good as well, which does contribute to the overall dining experience.


How much was spent per pax: Around $18 per pax
Would I come back again? Hm maybe once in a long while...

Address: 26 Evans Road #01-06 Evans Lodge Singapore

Tel: +65 6735 0012

Opening Hours:

Sun–Thu: 8am – 10pm
Fri–Sat: 8am – 12am
(Closed on Mon)