[review] Ootoya @ Orchard Central, Singapore

Restaurant: Ootoya

Location: Level 8, Orchard Central, Orchard Road

Type: Japanese homecook dishes

Date of vist: 10 Nov 2009

Ooooo … Ootoya, a Japanese restaurant chain presenting frills free, unpretentious and homecook feel dishes.

I made this trip after watching 500 days of Summers (making use of $6 ticket during off peak hour at Cineleisure) and also due to the raving recommendations by quite a few local food blogs. The movie was delightful by the way.

We arrived the restaurant around 6pm, dinner crowd wasn’t in yet. Woo hoo! So, we chose a nice seat and ordered two set meals.

Table setting

On the menu, every dish indicates its calorie counts.

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Scallop Steamed Rice & Chicken Tofu Soup Set meal, $17, 753 kcal

In addition, the set also included a cold side dish (mushrooms, fried tofu, blanched greens and anchovies) which was flavourful yet very light, and a bowl of acidic pickled cucumber.

Scallop Steamed Rice

The rice was kept warm on a cast iron holder, the starch was seasoned with seaweed shredding and marinated scallops. Rice was soft and a little sticky, the way I like it. Though the scallop did not flavour the rice in anyway, the seaweed provided enough seafood taste to the rice.

Chicken & Tofu Simmered Soup

The whiff of dashi excited my nostrils upon arrival. The dashi taste shone through the slightly thick texture of the broth in the beginning, then the egg yolk caught on and dominated over the soup flavour.

I did not mind that, I like egg. The combination of tofu, tender chicken as well as mushrooms was simple and very comforting.

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Sweet & Sour Chicken set meal, $16, 1094 kcal.

The chicken was tender inside, whereas light coating on the outside absorbed the sauce evenly.

The amount of sauce given was perfect, not any lesser nor excessive. The sweet and sour sauce incorporated the tangy and fragrant black vinegar. Also, the marinated lotus root slices were crunchy.

Total damage was $38.61 for two set meals, free green tea, free flow of white rice as well as keen and polite service. I will be back again.

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The Christmas decoration (changes every year) is up on Orchard Road already. They would look so pretty when the night falls.

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Who owns this pair of long legs, or rather very tall legs?

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Those are hers, and her height is 20m.

Situated inside Orchard Central shopping centre.

 

Five Flower Tea (五花茶)

Unload the herbs & flowers into a big pot, soak it in cold water for 15 minutes, then drain.

I purchased a packet of Five Flower Tea (Wu Hua Cha) to expel internal heat and to aid digestion from a TCM shop.

Recently, weather in Singapore is highly changeable. For me, it’s physically hard to cope with the erratic temperatures, hence to safe guard myself against potential cold/flu, I wanted to try out alternatives. And herbs and flowers always sound more promising than Western medicine that is said to impose unnecessary side effects.

Five flower tea normally includes more than five types of flower.

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Place the soaked ingredients into the pot, fill it up with three litres of water and set to boil for 10 minutes, simmer through for another 35 minutes. Add rock sugar or honey to taste in the end.

As shown here, there are

chrysanthemum
pearl barley
licorice root
stir fried white bean
honeysuckle
pagoda tree flower
frangipani
cotton flower
peuraria flower

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This is how it looks like when the concoction is done, drink only the herbs infused water.

It could be served hot or cold.

 

Steamed Aubergine Salad

An ultimate healthy salad it is, be ready for this unusual purplish counterpart. It is of soft (near to mushy) texture instead of the usual crispy green ones.

And here is the idea that spurred me onto trying this dish.

Dressing

• 1 tbsp of light soya sauce
• 1 tsp of sesame oil
• 1 tsp of sugar
• 1 tsp of rice vinegar
• 1 – 2 small chillies, chopped or 1 tsp of chilli oil

Garnish

• 1 stalk of chopped spring onion

Preparation

1. Cut the aubergine into strips, rinse and soak for 10 minutes in cold water.
2. Meanwhile, bring the dressing ingredients together and blend in a bowl.
3. Steam the aubergine strips on high for 8 – 10 minutes or until all soft.
4. Take the softened aubergine out and absorb the excess moisture with kitchen towels.
5. Then, plate them and keep warm. Drizzle the dressing over just before serving and finish it off with chopped spring onions on top.

I thought it is easy to prepare and tastes very refreshing. If you find it a tad plain, drizzle a bit more soya sauce to taste.

 

[review] The Bark Cafe, Singapore

The Bark Cafe

Location: 1000 Upper Changi Road North

Type: Simple Western and Fusion cafe food

Date of visit: 4 Nov 2009

A relaxing cafe with soothing ambiance situated just right beside Changi Museum, serving unpretentious and delicious food in the midst of greens with garden lighting as well as wooden and rattan furniture.

There is a billiard table for after or before dinner entertainment. Kitchen is spread out in an open view, placed in the middle of the cafe which could be seen by the diners, nice idea.

Grilled Black Pepper Chicken Chop $14.90

The meat was tender where the blackpepper sauce and flavour was all absorbed in, plated atop of a small pile of mashed potatoes filled in with a small floret of broccoli and cauliflower each. Side dish was really small.

I had to order additional  finger food to feel complete.

Fish & Chips $13.90

This portion was just right, the salad was fresh and coleslaw was acidic enough to our liking. The batter was light and crunchy to compliment the moist dory fillets.

I would definitely return to this restaurant to try other dishes.