November Chomping Session

Register for this session here!

Some pics of what we are expecting..

Tantalising naans - both plain & garlic!



Curries, Chutney, parpadums (did i get the spelling correct?)

Here's a close up of the naan! YUM...

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See you there!

Botan Japanese Restaurant

Address: 36 Pekin Street #01-01 Far East Square.

Tel No: +65 6536 4404

Email: -

Opening Hours: Mon–Sat: 11.30am–3pm, 6pm–10pm

Type of Place: Restaurant

Recommended Attire: No restrictions

Type of Cuisine: Japanese

Average price spent per pax: Dinner Set - $25-$30 per pax.

Who went with me: Jeff Lim, Doris Yew, Jeff Chong, Claudia Chong.

Rating (out of 5) –

Food quality: 4

Service quality: 4 

Ambience: 4 - Cosy in the midst of pubs and rowdy (sometimes) yuppies.

1  = Poor
2 = Below Average
3 = Average
4 = Good
5 = Excellent

Here's what you'll find outside the restaurant, at the side. Barely noticeable, really, coz you'll be people-watching more than anything else. If I do not remember wrongly, there is a drinking place right beside the restaurant and yuppies were toasting drinks everywhere! Some good lookers too :)

Here's the signboard. Duh.

Here's the counter. Neat, compact, cosy.

PJ looking at the menu. He takes minimal carbo btw.

Here's our table number, alongwith some cuties.

My green tea. No tea bag. It's in powder form (I peered down at the bottom of my cup).

PJ and Jeff ordered Botan Set, and here are their side dishes. I wondered if there was space for the main course. The tables were not very big.

ah ha, here's my sashimi set. I'm posting the set pics first, will zero in later.

Overall, it looks swell. Japanese food always looks good, don't you think?

Doris's Teriyaki Chicken Set.

Clausia's Yakiniku (Beef) Set.

Claudia's beef. Verdict - Too dry and tough. The salad - can't go wrong if you use fresh veggies.

My sashimi - THUMBS UP. Those fatty looking pieces of fish lived up to how they looked - FATTY. Sweet & soft. No fishy smell detected. One word - F R E S H.

Claudia's maki roll. Verdict - Fantastic tasty dish! I personally did not try this, but from the Mmmms  coming from everyone, it was as though the taste far surpassed the normal appearance.

Side salad - I got this in replacement of rice. Appetizing cos it was with vinegarette dressing. I loved those small  pickes and tomatoes too.

This is another side dish that appeared in almost all the dinner sets. They are actually 2 nice pieces of deep fried fish with some gooey sauce. Tasty :) This is the first time I see restaurants serving such a side dish! Very special and value-for-money!

Doris's chicken - Normal, not impressive. Both Claudia's beef and Doris's chicken weren't very OOMPH. Perhaps their strength is raw food?

Ah, here's Jeff's Botan set. They look like toys! Whatever it is, it was really very pleasing to the eye, especially when you are hungry :)

PJ's Botan set. Same, except the rice was replaced with a salad (like the one I had).

Close ups of the sides. Eeks I realised I forgot to take a pic of the chawanmushi side dish. It was great! It has this very eggy taste and the ingredients were very impressive, with minced meat!

Before we started!

Got the server to help us take. :)

After dinner, Doris got a surprise bday 'mochi' haha. It's actually ice cream mochi! Cool huh!

And here's the birthday girl :)

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After the buffet at Zhou's Kitchen, I had this afterthought, that perhaps gorging myself to death isn't exactly the best kind of meal. A swell dinner set would actually leave you nicely full and you leave the place thinking of when you should visit again!

In summary - This is a great place for a nice cosy Japanese experience. The chefs were Japanese (they conversed in Japanese with the servers) and there's every reason for you to imagine yourself in Japan! The servers were nice and quick. They make recommendations too. However we were early and they could attend to us very nicely. I don't know if it will stay the same when it gets crowded.

The food's pretty respectable and very fresh. Nearly nothing to complain about!



Zhou's Kitchen (Square 2)

Address: Square 2 #01-73, 10 Sinaran Drive, Singapore 307506

Tel No: +65 6893 1123

Email: -

Opening Hours:

Weekdays
Lunch: 11:30 - 3:00PM
Hi-Tea: 3:00 - 5:30PM
Dinner: 6:00 - 10:30PM

Sat, Sun & PH
Lunch: 11:00 - 2:30PM
Hi-Tea: 3:00 - 5:30PM
Dinner: 6:00 - 10:30PM

Last Order
Lunch: 2:00PM
Hi-Tea: 5:15PM
Dinner: 10:00PM

Type of Place: Restaurant

Recommended Attire: Casual

Type of Cuisine: Chinese

Average price spent per pax: Weekday Hi-Tea Buffet - $13.80++

Who went with me: Adrian Lim

Rating (out of 5) –

Food quality: 3

Service quality: 3.5

Ambience: Average

Note:

1 = Poor

2 = Below Average

3 = Average

4 = Good

5 = Excellent

The menu we had (Weekday High Tea Buffet) can be found on their website - http://www.zhouskitchen.com/menu-buffet-hitea.php
This establishment is under Tung Lok Group.

Business was not bad for a Monday afternoon. More then half-filled.

The usual, which cost us $2.

Chrysanthemum tea, another $2.

Smoked Duck Breast Meat with Jellyfish. The jellyfish was spicy and refreshing. The duck was tender and fatty.

Sliced Pork with Garlic Sauce. This item is actually a cold appetizer and honestly, it spoilt my appetite. The garlicky taste doesnt go well with the cold.

Century Egg with Young Cucumber Cubes. The egg can't go wrong. The cubes were extremely salty.

Deep fried mushrooms with wasabi-mayo sauce. Ok this is another item that can't go wrong. Not bad.

Deep fried chicken marinated with prawn paste sauce. Deep fried items - can't go very wrong either. The prawn paste taste is just right. However i find it a bit bland personally (My taste buds are on the extreme side).

Steamed shrimp dumplings. Disappointing. Tasted like frozen ones. :(

Siew Mai. Another frozen item, seemingly.

This did not disappoint me. Fatty and sinful, ha.

Wu Xiang. It looked a bit dry, but no, it was actually pretty juicy.

Stewed pork shank and peanuts with preserved beancurd sauce. This tasted EXACTLY like the canned one.

Drunken chicken. No drunken taste, barely any chicken taste either. Very dry and cold.

Steamed turnip cake with chinese sausage. Unable to locate any sausages. Quite tasteless too.

Pan-fried dumpling with chives. ok, the truth is, it's LOADED with chives.

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A lesson learnt - Do not try EVERYTHING that sounds weird and foreign. I was so full trying to finish up all the weird stuff and I had so little of the nice stuff e.g. chicken claws. :S

In summary - More disappointing than impressive. I was looking forward to chomping on fresh juicy siew mais and har gaus (which are the standard favourities), but both were dry and puny. :( For me, I will probably not be visiting again.