Aburiya @ Robertson Quay

This was the surprise birthday dinner venue for Marky on his Birthday. I had to spend 1 whole day looking at online reviews before deciding on this place and it was difficult as the place must have a good variety of meat (Marky = Meat lover) and not too unhealthy at the same time (to fulfil my criteria).

After deciding on YAKINIKU as the theme for our dinner, I found 3 restaurants which had the most number of good reviews, namely, Gyu Kaku @ CHIJMES, Aburiya @ Robertson Quay & Yakiniku Daidomon @ KeyPoint. The sequence is in order of pricing =) So obviously, the most expensive and least expensive is out. Also, I thought that the ambience at Robertson Quay will be good too...(You can see from the pics below)

...
..
..
..
..

..
..
...
..
..
..
..
..
..
....
..
..
..
...
..
However, getting there was really quite troublesome as I haven't been there before and the cabbie uncle dropped us quite a distance from the restaurant. So we had to ask around and try to find our way there..zzz

But it was all worth the cab fare and trouble! Both of us felt that the food was really delicious and fresh! Just look at the compilation of food that was included in the set meal. Although the meats looked really pathetically little, it was quite enough to satisfy us. It was fun BBQing the meats too, although Marky ended up doing most of the work coz my jelly hands dropped 2 chunks of precious meats into the charcoal! So I gave up doing it.

..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..

My personal favourite was the mushrooms which were dribbled with some sweet sauce. They tasted FANTASTIC when barbequed. Juicy on the inside and a little crisp on the outside as we left it a little longer on the grill. The sweet tasting sauce totally complements the mushroom.

Something that I must comment on is that their Japanese white rice tasted much better than many restaurants.
Both of us finished up every grain despite our diet plans =)

Their meats were also very SHIOK! They are marinated with your choice of marinates and the ones recommended to us goes pretty well with the meats. The beef tenderloin and chicken were very tender and juicy while the prawns were big and succulent.

Another must try would be their Nikujyaga (Beef and potato stew). It is a sweet stew with generous servings of juicy, tender, tasty beef. Best accompanied with rice!

---------------------------------------------
All these 10 courses for just $70 ++. Their set meals are really value for money. If you are interested in other "high class" meats like Wagyu beef, you can order it ala-carte too.

I'm already looking forward to my next visit there...*yum yum*

Kitchen Mogu Mogu

Kitchen Mogu Mogu, located at where the old Burger King was @ Far East Plaza is most likely the 1st Japanese fast food in Singapore that uses a machine to replace the usual "service crew behind the counter" way of ordering fast food. Nat was the one who brought me to this place as her friend, Shawn, is one of the shareholders. (Don't worry, this won't be a biased review.)

What's Cool & not so Cool...
1) Once we stepped into the place, we were greeted by very colourful Japanese clothed benches and the cloths were also used to design the walls. The whole feel of the place was rather pleasant and spacious unlike many fast food outlets.

2) Another fascinating thing about this shop is their food ordering machines which were situated facing the main entrance. We were quite excited about using the machines for the 1st time and as there weren't much descriptions of the food in their menu (1 of the drawbacks), we didn't know what to press. Luckily, there was a friendly and quite "lame" waitress (Bottom left pic) there to help the blur sotongs click and feed the cash into the machines. We were very honoured to have Shawn treating us dinner that night and entertain us with some facts on the shop.

3) A special service that Mogu Mogu adopts is the choice to gift wrap your bentos in exquisite Japanese print cloths (Furoshiki) for an extra cost of $4. This i felt was a really attractive offer, especially for people who are suckers for pretty things. As you can see, I can't help but got my bento wrapped up even though I'm eating my bento there.

4) Now for some feedback on the food:

• Nat's bacon cutlet was quite an interesting and flavourful item. The smoky taste of the bacon is enhanced by the generous serving of the special mayonnaise-like sauce. ($8.90)
• My teriyaki chicken was a bit dry but the sauce was quite nice. ($6.90)
• One important thing that I mentioned to Shawn was that the rice was rather dry. To me, the quality of Japanese rice surpasses many things in Japanese food.
• The miso soup was alright.
• Lastly, the ice-pan burger was a steal! The azuki beans were imported from Japan and I just love the combination of the pancake, azuki beans and ice-cream! Priced at just $3.90, I would encourage you to try it as I don't think you can get an identical one outside that is cheaper than that.

5) Mogu Mogu really pays attention to details, thus all their beautiful disposable bowls and cups are all imported from Japan. These are definitely alot more expensive than the usual white foam bowls that we see at some food courts, but Mogu Mogu still insists on using these pretty little things to hold their food.

Overall, I think I will be back again soon to try the (ohh-so-cute) Kawaii Bentos (refer to 03. Kawaii Bento in the close-up pic of the menu) which we didn't try. Found a pic in an online review. Can't wait to dig into those cutesy bentos!

http://www.hungrygowhere.com/restaurant_gallery.php?recordid=5925&pid=3593&offset=&type=user

Kitchen MoguMogu
14 Scotts Road,
#01-07,
Singapore 228213