Kogoro Katsu - Premium Pork Loin Set @ EmSphere in Bangkok [Thailand]

When one can't eat seafood in the land of the smiles, one could only deviate to the next favorite; pork! And that fully explained my reason for stepping into Kogoro Katsu! 

Kidding; my eyes were drawn to the above promotional deal; 279 Thai baht for the premium pork loin set that came with unlimited oven baked rice, miso soup, and cabbage! Not that I can eat a lot now that I am middle aged.

5.30pm with an almost empty restaurant. Unbeknownst to some, my family and I usually don't eat during the peak dinner time, preferring off peak hours to beat the crowd, and typically before dinnertime so that we have sufficient time to digest before sleep.

Dilemma; should I add a chawanmushi for 79 baht?

Actually quite expensive; so I guess not. 

Four types of sauces / dressings for you to consider; signature katsu pear sauce, original katsu sauce, Japanese yuzu dressing and Japanese sesame dressing. You know to use "which" for "what"?

Loving you when katsu restaurants gave us sesame seeds and the tool to grind them into finer bits! Those not accustomed to real Japanese katsu meal might be confused; this is important and you need them for the katsu sauce! 

Whatever the case, let me focused on the edamame first. While seemingly not included in the menu, their appearance excited me as my tummy was growling with hunger! Eating them with the katsu sauce for better flavour. 

Iced yuzu shot -  refreshing in the hot and humid Bangkok weather but the air-conditioning in the restaurant was freezing and I thought I would never say this; but I honestly preferred a hot cup of Japanese green tea then! 

Delivery of the meal; sans the pork cutlet! 

The rice pot cover was so cute with its pear holder. 

Waitress came over to loosen the rice. Hm.... I am able enough to do the same job so I wondered if this action was necessary to ensure we do not keep the rice covered for too long in case they burn. 

Now the miso soup was here to warm my tummy and cold body; let's immediately take a sip! Incredibly stomach warming and delicious for my taste buds, there were even tiny pieces of meat in the soup to cater to the hungry carnivore within me. 

Our katsu moisturized with a squeezed lemon wedge! 

Having the shredded cabbage with the traditional Japanese sesame dressing. Nothing much to complain about but my mind was so gunning for the meat. In other katsu restaurants, they would usually send in the shredded cabbage first.

Let's go for the meat! Batter was just the right thickness with a light crispiness that easily tore apart, revealing the premium loin that was thick, yet juicy and tender! You know the exhilarated feeling when you chew and it was just perfect for you? That's what I felt that day.

And to enhance the flavour of the katsu, you would definitely need the ground sesame seed with katsu sauce dip! Both katsu sauces were good but I have a stronger affection for the pear one, which was more unique and zesty! Yummy, yummy, yummy.

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Cleaned up in no time! What's there to complain about in my opinion? Air-conditioning was too cold for sure and another thing was the rice; the grains were too wet and I prefer them drier, and fluffier. 

Address

628 Sukhumvit Road, GM Floor, EmSphere,

Khlong Tan, Khlong Toei, Bangkok 10110, Thailand

Map

As above.

Website

https://www.openlink.co/kogorokatsu

Pricing

Premium Pork Loin Set - 279 Baht

(Subject to Service Charge and Taxes)

Claypot Charcoal Curry Fish Tail from Restaurant Bukit Ho Swee 1961 @ Yishun 664 [Singapore]

I am a rice lover who decides for the longest time ever that I should reduce rice intake as much as possible so that I wouldn't gain too much weight. Problem was there are some food you would die die need plain, white rice, like curry fish! 

So, with the pre-informed decision that we would be having curry fish for dinner, our family arrived happily at Restaurant Bukit Ho Swee 1961, which was more a tze char stall housed in a Yishun's coffee shop. 

Opened about a year ago, it drew crowds for its claypot curry fish, cooked traditionally over charcoals which didn't emit much smoke yet displaying ferocious tongues of scorching hot flames! 

Time was before 6.00pm and we were lucky to secure a seat almost immediately! The thing with anchor tze char stalls in coffee shops; they often have a few large tables reserved solely for their customers and this made it easier for our group of eight.

Menus as above for your reference. My sister had patronized this stall on a few occasions and we shall leave the ordering in her good hands. Let's proceed immediately with my review. 

Superior Shark's Fins - thick and gooey, not much of taste even with pepper and vinegar, and strangely, the consistency turned watery after a while. Nevertheless, I would be better off with fish maw soup.

 

Curry Fish Tail - star of the show, which was prepared only upon your order, and was literally boiling hot to our table, and leaving us wondering if we should let its "anger"simmer down before we start to eat it! p.s. honestly too many pieces of the deep fried beancurd skin!

Video for reference! 

Aside from the beancurd skin and the fish, there were many other ingredients including ladyfingers, french beans, cabbage which would be essential as it soaked in the curry so well, while retaining a good level of crunchiness! 

Eating the curry with plain white rice would be a must! The meat was thick, and the gravy was thick, albeit not coconut-milky and was flavourful with a touch of addictive sourness! Needless to say, I devoured my entire plate of white rice! 

Dried Shrimp French Bean - been a while since I last had French beans and I almost forgot how good they taste! Crunchy with a slightly raw freshness that made them all the more enticing for my taste buds. 

Cereal Sotong - strongly recommended to order this; satisfyingly large pieces of battered sotong that didn't weren't rubbery and the cereals were fried so well; I was literally scooping and mixing them to my rice and fish curry! 

Garlic Fried Pork - very hot when served so eat with caution! Crispy, juicy and sinfully oily, with a layer of very obvious pork fat! Do order if you enjoy pork fats as I do. 

Ginger Kampung Chicken - I like my chicken to be deep-fried or roast. This steamed kind with yellow chicken skin is not exactly my cup of tea. Removing the skin would help and it was not bad. Key thing is to have the meat together with the minced ginger, latter of which was pretty much a flavour enhancer, although a tad too salty on its own.  

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Would I be back? Sure yeah for the curry fish, garlic fried pork and cereal sotong! And maybe the dried shrimp french bean if I am feeling guilty for having an all-meat meal.

Address

664 Yishun Avenue 4, 

#01-283, Singapore 760664

Map

As above.

Pricing

Superior Shark's Fins - S$8.80

Curry Fish Tail - S$35.00

Dried Shrimp French Bean - S$12.00

Cereal Sotong - S$16.00

Garlic Fried Pork - S$14.00

Ginger Kampung Chicken - S$18.00

Plain Rice - S$1.00 

(NETT)

Signature Crab Roe Rice from Su Xiao Xie (苏小蟹) @ Hangzhou in China

Like my mom, I love crabs! Therefore, when I heard that crab roe rice / noodle is a specialty dish in Hangzhou, I couldn't wait to check it out when I was in the area in April this year! 

Searching for an eatery near the famous West Lake district via the Dianping app, I chanced upon Su Xiao Xie (苏小蟹), which was known to be a chain restaurant with numerous branches, and the review score was like 4.4 from over 2,500 reviewers on the app.

Maybe to the time, the place wasn't crowded at all and I used the same Dianping app to purchase the signature one-person crab roe rice set for only 85 RMB; a discount of 41 RMB (about S$8)! Super worth right?! 

Complimentary ginger tea! It should have been nice given the nice, cool weather but the temperature of the tea was just lukewarm; would be much better and soothing at a higher temperature. Oh well, free one shouldn't complain.

My signature one-person crab roe rice set; beautifully displayed on the nine-compartment tray! Just the visual was impressive even though those who know my well will be aware I place much, much higher priority on taste! 

The two bowls of crabs; one crab meat, another was crab roe. Rubbing my hands gleefully as I was totally expecting my taste buds to be swarmed with the nice, deliciously natural seafood flavours! 

Sampling them separately; the white one, which was filled with tiny strings of crab meat tasted like peppery shark's fins soup whereas the red one reminded me of salted egg yolk. Both were too salty for my liking too, and that when the rice came to play.

Plain white rice was essential to taper the saltiness! While the experience was better, it's not comparable to the chilli crab gravy (from Ban Leong Wah Hoe etc) that was used to mix into a plate of plain white rice in Singapore! Latter was obviously the preferred option! 

On the rest of the side dishes, they were alright tasting, and even though we can refill, I chose not to since I am sharing the meal with my dad and Alex, and it just didn't seem right. 

What would you think was my verdict for the meal? Although I did clean up everything, I was sorely disappointed as I had expected too much; for a meal that could match our crab dishes on our little red dot.

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Click HERE for our 8 Days Huangshan, Tunxi, Yixian, Wuyuan, Mount Qiyun, Thousand-Island Lake, Hangzhou Tour Package to China via CTC Travel Agency

Barney’s Burger Joint @ Sukhumvit 23 (Near Soi Cowboy) in Bangkok [Thailand]

Singaporeans are pampered when it comes to food, since we are literally a melting-pot country, with cuisines from all over the world. Hence, even though I was in Thailand, I would occasionally crave for non-Thai cuisine, like burgers! 

Searching around Montraj Continent Sukhumvit Bangkok on Google Maps, I found this Barney’s Burger Joint that's less than 400 meters away with a high review score of 4.7 from over 600 reviewers, and I finally got to check it out on day six of my visit! 

Co-located with a restaurant, the seating area was non-air-conditioned unfortunately but thankfully, the temperature at night wasn't as harsh as daytime, and there were many standing fans all over the place. 

Not that wide of a range for the menu and even then; I was in a dilemma as Alex didn't want to eat burgers and I had to choose from one out of the four options! 

Our order! My decision was based on a simple logic; the first burger on the top left, trucker, would likely be the signature, and for fries; dirty fries had a largest font size, so it should be not bad. 

Dirty Fries - looking as promising as it should be from the menu; these were literally deep fried crunchy fries drenched with a canopy of generous amount of minced beef, bacon and cheesy sauce (called Barney's sauce) with onions! Orgasmically good and I hardly even noticed the fries! 

Trucker Double Patty - indicated as "smashed patties, melted double cheese and smoked bacon", the first bite brought many layers of dimensionsional satisfaction; crisp edges for the beefy patties, juicy, oily, and sinful! 

There's an addictive creamy sauce with a tad of sweetness (maybe it came from the onions) that totally appealed to me. Bun was soft and I am glad to have ordered a double as it literally doubled the shiokness! 

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Would love to be back again! 

Address

14 Soi Sukhumvit 23, Khlong Toei Nuea, 

Khlong Toei, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon 10110, Thailand

(About 100 meters from Soi Cowboy)

Map

As above.

Menu

As above.

Pricing

Trucker Double Patty - 250 Baht

Dirty Fries - 195 Baht

(Payment in Cash / QR Only)