Kuriya Fine Dining @ Central

Happy Holidays! Greetings from the Chocolate Reindeers! We've had a great holiday, did you have a good one too?

When DH and I got back to SG, one of the first things we did was to go on a date. We really missed that when we were in Aussieland on our own. We didnt do the common thing - which was to hire a sitter to take care of the kids - so we never ever had dates.

And since there were so many new restaurants to try out in Singapore, we had a good reason to have date night!

Kuriya Fine Dining at Central was a great choice, it had both excellent food, drinks and a gorgeous sky view. Plus, they didnt allow children under 15. So it seemed to us that it would be an ideal date place. And it was!


I honestly cannot remember what this starter was. Is it foie gras? Chicken? Tofu? You take a guess.


Grilled Gingko nuts, lightly salted. They are chewy, and warm and salty and a little sweet. DH's first time trying it, and he loved it. I think this is very typical Japanese izakaya fare, perfect with that glass of sake.


Sashimi was delicious, and very beautifully presented.


This was beancurd skin with unagi and foie gras stuffed within. Very interesting and definitely very tasty.


This is Oden, a Japanese yong tau foo. Nice but not as nice as the foie gras. The sweetish gravy was rather similar though.


DH's main of wagyu steak came at an additional price.


My main of grilled fish, which was nicely done.


So our dining experience was very interesting because, when we arrived we were ushered to the bar area for our complimentary welcome drinks. Then we sat at the table in the dining hall where we were served our appetisers and mains.

Then we had our dessert, which was served buffet style on a trolley.


We picked the seasonal japanese fruit. Love Japanese grapes especially!


And they had different kinds of parfaits for you to pick from. DH and I liked the sesame best.


Our dessert was served in the outdoor lounge that was like a little private garden. Very romantic!


We also ordered umeshu on the rocks, my current favourite drink. A bit girly cos its sweet and doesnt have very high alcoholic content but it is sooo refreshing! And they serve it with this huge spherical ice, which was perfect for keeping the drink cold with minimal dilution. I will come back just for this drink alone.


Can you guess where this is?



Highlights from our Hong Kong trip coming up on the next post, stay tuned!

Megumi @ Upper East Coast Road

Decided to walk over to Megumi for a quick Jap dinner over the weekend. It was hot hot hot, and everyone was tired.


We ordered this UFO maki to share. It was a crispy seafood roll, according to the description on the menu. This was very well received indeed. The crispy seafood roll inside was clearly fried upon order, it was warm and crispy and it was delicious paired with the rice and ebiko. Thumbs up for this one. We ordered it recently when we went there again. It was very well received by all!


My favourite california roll was good, but overshadowed by the excellent UFO maki. We also devoured this in a jiffy, nevertheless.


Cutie ordered a california handroll, which he adorably calls a sushi cone. He couldnt wait for me to snap a pic... see, his fingers are reaching for his handroll already!


My order of sumi udon. I wanted cold noodles, given the sweltering weather. And I saw this interesting charcoal wheat noodles on the menu and gave it a try. It was smooth and nice, didnt taste like charcoal! I hear it has some cleansing properties, so give it try if you are game for some gut cleansing! See the little quail's egg in the corner? I wasnt sure whether I am supposed to add it to the dip, or crack it over the noodles or what.


The server recommended asahki sashimi, I believe it was called. It was a whole fish, sliced up. I found it a tad warm, I like it slightly colder and the pieces stuck together as though it was sliced with a blunt knife. Didn't really like this one. It cost $35.





Here is Cutie, all ready to eat. He usually eats his dinner earlier, but these days, he is going through a growth spurt, so having a 2nd dinner is usual for him.


Sweetie is doing some gymnastics before dinner. Haha.

School Carnival at Fort Canning

Cutie's pre-school held a carnival at fort canning for charity. So we bought tickets to support the charity and headed there on Saturday morning.


Driving Game, using a magnet to direct the metal car.


Ball Throwing game.


He looks cool with sunglasses, I think.


Drumming game...


Picking balls...


Riding the little car...


saying hi to a teacher from his school...

Cutie also brought home some balloons for himself and his sister. His is a balloon sword, and he liked it so much, he brought it with him to the bath.


He also requested a balloon flower for his sister, which I thought was very sweet.


Yes, Sweetie likes her balloon too.

All in all, a great weekend!

Marusui Japanese fish Market @ B2 Vivocity

had an inpromptu lunch with CT, since we were both working late, and by the time i stepped out of my little office, I could only see her around. Everyone else had already gone out for lunch.

Suggested that new fish market place at Vivocity basement, opposite Giant supermarket. Its a little place with only a few tables, so if you can't get a seat, you might need to tarpow back to the office.

The sashimi and sushi is displayed in front of you like at the japanese supermarkets.. You choose what you like, then pay at the cashier. The chefs will slice up the sashimi for you.


CT patiently queuing to pay while I chope the seats!


Our sashimi selection! All fresh and nice. Came on a friday, which was delivery day! How lucky!


I like california rolls... Like all the ingredients and the happy orange colour. Started liking since my pregnancy days when I couldnt eat raw foods, but still wanted sushi.


This was on offer, alaskan crab on rice for SGD5.80 instead of the usual SGD12.80, so we got one to share. Yes, the crab was sweet. Then we saw a gentleman eat the entire crab leg. Turns out, that only costs $8! We should have got one! It looked quite nice.

Kome Japanese Dining @ Keppel Club

DH and I wanted to have a quick sushi and sashimi lunch before our movie date - State of Play at Vivocity Gold Class!

So we headed to Kome Japanese Dining. I come here for lunch pretty frequently, because they have pretty good, value-for-money bento set lunches. think sashimi, chawanmushi, mentaiko cod, tempura, with a salad starter and a fruit dessert for only SGD22.90. Usually I add a scoop of sesame ice cream if I am not too stuffed.

Chef Lawrence Chia is the brother of Ronnie Chia (Tatsuya) so I think they both employ the same marketing tactics - good and fresh sashimi at reasonable, value-for-money prices.

So this is our current favourite restaurant..

We went for an omakase sashimi and sushi lunch. Although if you are on a budget, they have a very reasonable ala carte buffet lunch for SGD38pp.


Our sashimi platter - includes toro and botan ebi. All delicious. Melted in my mouth.


We loved all the sushi that we were served - toro, uni, ikura, aburi hotate with mentaiko, aburi salmon belly with savoury garlic sauce. I was too busy oohing and ahing over the delicious morsels to take any photos at first... but when this seared foie gras on white tuna sushi arrived, i had to take a photo. It was simply divine.


See, DH and I are totally happy!

We then made our way to the GV Gold Class cinema to catch our screening of State of Play. I thought the movie was so-so... but I loved the whole experience of Gold Class. The comfortable reclining arm chairs, the wide array of hot food available, the proper cutlery, silver ware and glassware, the proper service. I felt pampered. We ordered wines (1 red, 1 white), a cheese platter and nachos with dips. It was decadent.

So I really enjoyed our movie date and so did DH. It was very extravagant, but luxuriously so.


The kids are just too funny these days.. Look at Sweetie's expression! "Mom, who's that guy next to me?"


And check this one out.. it totally cracks me up - "Am I pretty, mom?"


Then, we brought the kids swimming over the weekend. It was too hot, and so I capitulated and went swimming with them.



It was Sweetie's first visit to the pool! And yes, she sure enjoyed it! It was great fun seeing how she just kicked and splashed and squealed in delight.


Cutie found some friends straightaway. He is a very sociable kid.


Borrowed their water gun and aimed it right at me.


I just love bonding with my kids - and swimming on hot and sunny days is one of the best ways of doing just that!

McDonalds @ Kallang, Sakuraya @ South Bouna Vista Shopping Centre

Birthday Party for Lea at McD's
Lea is 6! She is our neighbour's youngest daughter, and she has 2 sisters, Lyn (aged 10) and Liz (aged 7). They are all lovely polite and well-mannered girls, who are kind and generous. I really adore them.

Lea is, I think, Cutie's first ever girlfriend. He likes her a lot and always enjoys going to her house. When he was younger, he would stand at the window and call out to her: "Lea, Lea, are you at home?"

They kindly invited Cutie to Lea's birthday Party at Kallang McDonalds! And of course Cutie had a great time.


Birthday cake was lovely. He sure enjoyed the cake, the food and the games.


He of course had to take a photo with his first girlfriend.


Yep, if Cutie were a little bit taller, they would have made a great couple! Haha.


Him and the other girls at the party.


Sakuraya Japanese Fish Market
I have never even heard of this place, but decided to check it out after a colleague mentioned that this was a pretty good place for cheap sashimi. Then I realised it sort of a well-kept secret, because this place filled up quite quickly on a weekday afternoon. This is a rather deserted location, near pasir panjang village (towards the haw par villa end).


Our selection of sashimi (which you choose from a counter and then they slice up and serve to you). Wow, I think we really ate a whole week's quota of sashimi. The nicest was the swordfish. It was firm and fresh. The salmon was also good, sweet, fresh and oily in a good way. The scallop was huge huh.. very fresh also.. it was sweet and yums.


We ordered uni sushi for $8 for 2. It would have cost easily $7 each at other places. The toro was $14 for 2, but we didn't go for that.


This grilled spicy salmon belly was SGD6. It was recommended dish on a website, but i found it a little dry.


We all ordered our own staple, and I had this. It was quite nice, but the rice was a little under-par. Not sweet, not sticky, not really a good accompaniment to the fresh salmon roe.

Verdict: come here for fresh and cheap sashimi, but that's about it.

Mothers Day Pressies
MOTHERS' DAY!! First time Cutie is really celebrating it with me. Usually Cutie's dad would buy a gift or plan something on behalf of Cutie. Cutie would be oblivious. Not this year though, because Cutie's dad is busy with something until the end of this month. And because, Cutie now 3 years old! He is very adept at art and craft and therefore has made the following pressies for me. I am thrilled to bits!



Bookmarks that he made for me at Por Por's house. One says "Mummy I love you" and the other says "Happy Mothers' Day!". It has stickers of a bus and a car and he says that he wants to buy them for me when he grows up.


These paper flowers in a yakult bottle, he made at school for me. Aren't they lovely? Beats any flower you get at the florist, any day. Exclusively hand-made by Cutie, and one of a kind.


On the left, bookmark with hearts made with Chinese teacher in school. On the right, a red styrofoam heart that Cutie made at Sunday school.


Cutie also made konnyaku jelly with mango and kiwi. Mine was a heart-shaped one. He proudly presents it to me on Friday. I praised him and told him to teach me how to make jelly next time... he says: "cannot, because must cut fruits with a knife, and I am afraid you will cut your hand. Only I can cut fruits with a knife because I am very careful."

One thing I am very grateful to Por Por is, she really is a hands-on grandma who allows Cutie to explore and try things under her careful supervision. She allows Cutie to explore, and do things like cut, and bake, but under her watchful eye so that he doesnt get hurt. Cutie actually enjoys the freedom, and he learns so well through this hands-on experience.


Doing a taste-test before giving it to me. -_-"


Present from sweet DS, a Mommies' Calendar with inspiring tales and verses to keep me grounded and grateful for life's blessings. Thanks DS!


So, to sum up, I really really love being a mom. Especially to these 2 darlings - Cutie and Sweetie.

:)