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Look at that Beef!
How can anyone not want that Beef? Thinly sliced and freshly prepared, the beef is the real deal of the The Sliced Beef Udon at Shokudo.
I have been to Shokudo for a couple of times and they are always bogged down by an extremely extremely extremely............long queue. The restaurant boasts a "hawker style" concept where restaurateurs go in with a restaurant issued "debit" card of $100 to buy the food. Once inside, there are authentic and unique stalls to choose from ranging from traditional Japanese food to the more creative Western infusion of it.
The Sliced Beef Udon
One way to beat the queue is to order takeaway from the restaurant. That's how my mum did it and all the dishes you see in this article are takeaways. (So the bowls and plates are not part of the concept)
Still, The Sliced Beef Udon which my mum ordered remained as tasty as ever. The beef was nice and soft, not overly chewy, and each bite would leave you craving for more. The udon (Japanese noodles) itself were not over cooked and had the nice springy texture to it. Both meat and noodles complimented well with the broth which gave a memorable feeling, though the broth can be a tad too salty for some. But I like it that way=)
Price For The Sliced Beef Udon : $6.80
Rating For The Sliced Beef Udon : 4/5
Crispy Skin of the Grilled Saba (Pickled radish not included =)
The Grilled Saba with Salt is perhaps another highlight of the restaurant and perhaps any other Japanese food. To me, I think that this is one authentic dish simply served in all its natural glory. No added sauces or anything, its just the fish grilled with salt.
Since this is takeaway, the fish loses some points on its crispiness on the way home, but the meat remained tender as ever. If you eat it there, prepare to enjoy nature's best - Japanese style.
Price for The Grilled Saba with Salt : $5.80
Rating for The Grilled Saba with Salt : 4.5/5
The Kani Seafood Omelette Rice
A new addition for me is The Kani (Crabmeat) Seafood Omelette Rice. I have seen this style of serving fried rice is other restaurants, where the rice is wrapped in a nice bag made of Omelette.
Shokudo's variant of the dish had a good serving of mayonnaise on it with some herbs. The rice itself was nice and light, with that hint of curry powder in it if I am not wrong. While it's concept of the dish is nothing unusual, the excellent addition of some spices (I still insist its curry powder) into the rice mix itself, boosted the dish up to a 3.5/5
Price for The Kani (Crabmeat) Seafood Omu Rice : $8.80
Rating for The Kani Seafood Omu Rice : 3.5/5
Looking for Authentic Japanese Food and its fusion variants, perhaps you might want to try Shokudo. In its hawker like ambience, it brings an entirely new feel to the idea of restaurant dining.
Restaurant Name : Shokudo
Location : #B1-44E Raffles City. Take the train to City Hall MRT Station and enter Raffles City Shopping Centre. The restaurant is in the extended section of the basement in the shopping centre.
Syukou Rakuyu Saki Ika (Dried Cuttlefish Pieces) from Japan
I don't know what has come over my mum to buy these little bits of dried cuttlefish pieces (which has an overly pungent smell) from Jasons Marketplace. She told me she had been "eyeing" this for quite some time and finally gave in to temptation!
Not really a big fan of dried cuttlefish, I still took the dare to taste it and surprisingly it wasn't that bad after all. The pieces were slightly sweet and salty, albeit a bit chewy (but that's ok) and it really left me wanting more.
*I told myself to stop at a few pieces, but went on eating and eating, until my mum snatched the packet back from me. hmph.*
Quite a good snack, though for the price, it leaves one to faint.
Price for 1 packet (200g) : $14.15
Pomelo...The Pink
I've shown you all the pomelo in my earlier post (Click here to see the post) and this is the Pink variety. While the white one was slightly soury sweet, the pink breed of the pomelo presented us with a nice, sweet and juicy flesh. It tasted almost like honey, but if you want to buy only the pink pomelos, you would have to ask the fruit seller for its expertise. (It's just luck that the pink pomelo appeared=)
Price for 1 pomelo : $5.50
Available at : JASONS MARKET PLACE. Raffles City Shopping Centre Basement 1.
Lunch of white porridge, chawanmushi and pickled vegetables.
Today's lunch was relatively simple consisting of white porridge with silver fish, chawanmushi - Japanese for steamed egg and my grandma's traditional pickled cabbages.
This was actually my first time whipping up Chawanmushi even though I did have different variations of steamed egg in the past. Except this time round, the egg was found to be much smoother and delectable to the palate.
The Chawanmushi - mmmmm!
I must admit, its no sheer luck that I was able to conjure up this recipe automatically (I did refer...but yup I modified it accordingly).
Basic Chawanmushi Recipe
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup of chicken stock, cooled to room temperature
- 1 teaspoon of light soy sauce
Materials needed : Steamer
1. Prepare the steamer and ensure the water is boiling.
2. At the same time, crack the 2 eggs in a bowl. Beat the eggs gently while adding in the chicken stock.
3. Once well mixed, add in the teaspoon of light soy sauce.
4. Place mix into small bowls or teacups.
5. Steam the egg mixture over a low fire or heat for 15 minutes. Do not have high heat when cooking this dish! It will spoil the smoothness of the egg.
6. Once the time is up, garnish with some light sauce and serve.
Chef's tip : You can include sliced pieces of mushroom or crab meat into the tea cup before steaming the egg mixture to prepare a more savoury dish.
Pickled Cabbages - Grandma's way
This simple appetizer or accompaniment is easy to prepare and popular with those who love a certain tang in their dish. Grandma taught me this recipe a few years back and its only now ( or rather last night ) that I started to make this traditional dish of my family. It constitutes with the same origins as Achar (Traditional Peranakan Pickled Vegetables) but this one is without the heavy spices and sesame seeds.
Grandma's Pickled Cabbages
- 1 medium sized cabbage, sliced.
- 1 large yellow onion, sliced.
- Handful of green chillies
- 1 500ml bottle of Apple Cider Vinegar or Rice Vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sugar1. Pat dry the sliced vegetables and place them in a large bowl.
2. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of salt and the 1 tablespoon of sugar onto the vegetables and mix well.
3. Pour 3/4 of the bottle of the Apple Cider Vinegar onto the vegetables.
4. Store the bowl of vegetables inside the fridge and leave overnight to pickle.
5. Serve the next day or days later.Hey if you guys got any comments to these recipes, feel free to comment on them. Till then!
