Menya Musashi @ Raffles City

KopiKosongGirl, her sister-in-law and I decided one day we shall join the queue after resisting it. There seems to be always a queue at Menya Musashi and after sometime you do get curious and wonder how good it is!

This very popular ramen shop in Tokyo looks equally popular in Singapore!


The queue might be long, but it does not really take that long. Probably around 15-20 minutes of waiting that day. You can browse through the menu which they will give out. You can also eavesdrop on what others tell their dining partners about the ramen here.

Or you can also google about it and see what others say about this place while waiting. We were busy on instagram ;-)


After a while, someone walks over and ask us what we would like and takes our order and gives this order chit to us.

You can see what's in the menu in this chit. Basically, they have White Musashi, Black Musashi and Red Musashi. Then choose if you want Kanuni (Stewed Pork) or Cha Shu.

When they seat you, you don't have to wait long for your food to arrive.


The Crispy Gyoza. (5 for $5.90)
Sis loves gyozas and always orders them. They were crispy, quite tasty but we found it very tiny.


The Black Kanuni Ramen ($14.90)
Sis had this and found the ramen not 'q' enough for her liking. It's a bit 'soaked' she said. She likes the broth though, but thinks mine is better.

I tried some of the broth, it's like it has a bit of the 'flour' taste in it.

The Kanuni is nice, soft and well marinated and if you like stewed pork you will probably like it. It not all lean meat, but with some fatty layers which makes it nice to eat. 


The White Cha Shu Ramen ($12.90)
KopiKosongGirl had this she also said her noodles were a bit too soft and she would have preferred it more al-dante. She loved the broth though. I think it also has some 'flour' taste because of the noodles, but she found it nice for her.

The Cha Shu that she had and mine was really enjoyable. Round thin slices of meat that taste a bit like the salty bottom section on a good piece of roast pork. It smells like it and taste like it.



I had the dry version. The Tsukemen ($14.90)
I like the Cha Shu, really yummy! If you like your ramen more 'q', this version is good.
In fact, sis and KKG both preferred my noodles.


Oh yes, for your noodles, you can choose the serving size.
3x has 360g of noodles and it's very very filling. The next time I would probably only try 2x!

A friend who had recently went wanted to try the 5x and it's like 600g, madness trying to finish it!


You can choose the broth for the Tsukemen, either white, black or red.
I chose the red and I find it really tasty! Sis like I said earlier, preferred the red as well.
Quite salty I would say but addictive. It's thicker than the soup version, more concentrated.


I did not want to waste the noodles and since I took the challenge to order the 3x, I made sure I finished it all!

The eggs here as you can see seems more cooked and does not flow. I still liked it because I love eggs. There are places with nicer eggs.

We think the broth at Keisuke Tonkotsu King that we tried recently was nicer. The meats like stewed pork and cha shu here is much better thatn Keisuke though. It's really tasty and flavourful here.

We like that this place as is very comfortable and relaxing unlike most ramen shop which is cramp and very warm. We will be back for another visit.

Menya Musashi 252 North Bridge Road 01-16 Raffles City Shopping Centre Singapore 179103 Tel: 63356500 Hours: 11.30am to 10pm daily.

Spirit of Beijing @ Marriott Cafe, Singapore

A few months ago, KopiKosongGirl and I went to Beijing for a holiday which coincidentally was on Valentine's Day. We spent V Day feasting on Peking Ducks! We had 2 ducks that day, lunch at Quan Ju De and dinner at Da Dong.

So when Marriott Cafe sent an invitation to a hands-on session with Chef George Gong from JW Marriott Hotel Beijing that is visiting Marriott Singapore, I was tempted.

Chef Gong who has been with JW Marriott Beijing since 2008 will be in Singapore to take helm of the restaurant's newly created live cooking station with his menu available at Marriott Cafe till 17 June 2012. Beijing favourites like Beijing Noodles in Black Bean Sauce, Beijing Hot Pot, Fried Chinese Pot Sticker and of course Peking Duck will be available here.

Here's the hands-on session I had with the chefs from Marriott Cafe.


This is Chef George Gong from JW Marriott Beijing.
In front of him, the duck! Since it's a short session, we don't get to see the duck being roasted.


Hello Mr Ducky! Before my trip to Beijing I read quite a bit about the ducks because I knew I would be devouring them. They are to be of certain species and according to Chef Gong, he said the ducks are to be slaughtered around 48 days. The ducks are roasted between 45-50 minutes to achieve the crispy skin.

I tried to ask where they sourced the duck from, but was told it's sourced locally from suppliers that has farms that breeds the duck according to the Peking Duck specifications.


Chef cutting the duck up.

In Beijing which I had the ducks, both restaurants had the option to ask if you want skin only or skin with some meat on.  Chef Gong was cutting it up with some meat on for us.


I wrapped these myself after being taught by Chef to a group of bloggers and journalists there.
Put the meat this way. Duck meat, spring onions and cucumbers with the skin. The bottom flap upwards and the sides folded in. The top is to be 'open ended'.

It's Peking Duck, don't wrap it like you are eating popiah. Most of the time in Singapore, the service staff wraps it for us. In Beijing, it's mostly DIY.


Flip it over and that's it.

When I was in Beijing, I noticed we had around 8 - 12 different condiments to go with our duck. I thought it was interesting because when in Singapore we don't see 8 - 12 condiments to wrap the ducks!

I asked Chef and he replied that there are many styles of serving in Beijing. The ones served to us is the more traditional style. The hoisin sauce was their own special recipe, served with thinly julienned cucumbers and spring onions.


They tasted nice. But now that I have tasted the 8-12 condiments style, I am tempting to visit Beijing again for their ducks!

The other hands on was to make Fried Chinese Pot Stickers (Guo Tie).
Chef said the origin of this dish was that the Imperial kitchen pan fried left over Jiao Zi and the Empress had a whiff of the aroma and after tasting it became one of her favourite.


Dough made from scratched! Yes, I was more busy taking photos than making it.


Portioning it out to be rolled. When I was doing it, I had trouble getting nice round flattened dough with the rolling pin.

A chef from Marriott Singapore who was looking at how mine turned out, squirmed and decided to help me. He made it looks so effortless! Literally in seconds, he rolled out nice round dough skins!


Slap on some meat, for my version I slapped up quite an amount of it.


Pinch the top part only. Leave the ends exposed.


This plate was my creation. If you notice a thin slice of cucumber at the last piece, well that's my marking to say that was made by me. It was sent to the kitchen to be cooked.


Have a bite!


Other specialty I tried was the homemade Beijing Noodles in Black Bean Sauce. (Zha Jiang Mian).


This was spicy minced meat with vermicelli. Something very spicy and appetizing.


I quite like the Wok-Fried Lamb with Chinese Leek. True to Beijing cooking style, it was a little oily and salty. I liked it though and it did not had a strong gamey smell. The bowl of soup was something I could not appreciate though.  It was thin slices of dough and the few of us thought of it as mee hoon kueh.

If you are planning of what to eat the next few days, you can try out the lunch or dinner Spirit of Beijing buffet. Hurry, it's on till 17 June 2012.

Lunch buffet - 12.00 pm to 2.30 pm
Mondays to Fridays | SGD46++ per adult, SGD25++ per child
Saturdays | SGD50++ per adult, SGD30++ per child
Sundays | SGD55++ per adult, SGD30++ per child

Dinner buffet - 6.30 pm to 10.00 pm
Sundays to Thursdays | SGD62++ per adult, SGD30++ per child
Fridays and Saturdays | SGD70++ per adult, SGD32++ per child



Marriott Cafe
Marriott Hotel Singapore
320 Orchard Road
Singapore 238865

Tel: 6831 4605

Breakfast at Jones The Grocer @ Dempsey

I usually wake up rather late on Saturday mornings (or sometimes afternoon). It's the only day in the week that I can laze in bed. (I am fortunate that the wife still allows me to continue this even after marriage!) The 2 ladies at home will wake up early and do so many things, they will go to the gym, go for a hike at Bukit Timah (hill), etc...

Two Saturdays ago, they went out and ran some errands and when they were done, they decided to have breakfast. A "pretend we are overseas holidaying" breakfast. We have done a few trips together and we always missed them. They picked Jones, to feel like they are in Australia. The branch at Dempsey makes it feel like it's somewhere out there in another country.

They decided to call me, which I am glad they did. They called my phone, "Lazy bum bum, wake up, wake up, wake up! We are going for breakfast, we will be home in 10 minutes to pick you up. Bye!"

Huh? I was still half asleep, but I think I heard what they said. I woke up, showered and before I knew it, they were already home.

"Still not ready ah? Why do we always have to wait for you? Can't you wake up earlier on Saturdays... Always wasting time away, see how much we have already accomplished today...." The way to deal with it is say OK and it will be over!

They placed what they brought back immediately (they hate it when I always leave things on the table) into the 'proper' places at home and when they were done, I was too!


Eggs on toast ($8.50) + Jones sausages as sides ($3)
For this set you can choose to have your eggs poached, fried or scrambled. It comes with sourdough toast. The poached eggs delighted KopiKosongGirl. She loves runny egg yolks.

The eggs has a slight vinegar-ish taste, so we guess they used the vinegar boiling water to make this.
Is it only my eyes, do you see it's shaped in a heart shape?



The Spanish eggs 'en cocotte' ($19.50)

Baked baby spinach, jones tomato relish, bacon and sourdough toast. I liked it because it's tomato based. Buried below the bacon and tomato relish are two eggs which had runny yolks.

I know it's not that difficult to make at home, but we just want to be served sometimes. Slightly salty, but the spinach was slightly bitter, so overall it was OK for me.


This was how I ate it. You can't hear it, but you can imagine the crunchiness of the toast can you?
Just so lovely eating it.


Breakfast BLT ($13.50)
Grilled bacon, avocado, roasted tomato and watercress with aioli between toasted focaccia bread.
It's sis' kind of food. She loves toasted artisan bread and avocado!
She likes it with her white flat.



KopiKosongGirl and sis both had Flat Whites.


I had celery with green apple!
(See my magical straw!)

Nice place to spend an hour or so having a nice quiet breakfast.
Around noon, the place gets a bit warm and sticky if you sit outside like we did.

There's free wifi too for those who don't want to use their 'precious data' connection now in Singapore.

Jones The Grocer @ Dempsey Blk 9 Dempsey Road #01–12 Singapore 247697 Hours: Mon 9:30am - 6:00pm / Tue - Fri 9:30am - 11:00pm / Sat - Sun 9:00am - 11:00pm Tel: +65 6476 1512 URL: www.jonesthegrocer.com