Itacho Sushi (板長壽司) @ Ion Orchard [Singapore]

Me: So where are you meeting Amanda? 

KM: Itacho Sushi!

Me: What's that?

KM: You don't know?!?!?!?!? 

The conversation summed it all; i was totally ignorant about this brand of sushi restaurant that has taken Singapore by storm with its pricing and was very much touted as an alternative for Sakae Sushi. 

Hence, when Joyce suggested meeting up for lunch one afternoon, i immediately thought of Itacho. For me, nothing is true until i have tried it personally. 

Before i start with food, could i rant for a few seconds?

Ordering using these colour forms was such a pain in the ass!!! Eventually, i resorted to order directly from the waitress. Given the long wait to enter the restaurant, i would not want to waste any more precious time pondering which form to fill up. 

Roasted Egg with Shrimp

Despite the addition of shrimps, these pieces of sweetened egg were plain normal. 

Eel Mini Rice

I love this! The whole package was an art of delicious saccharine perfection and confirmed the following proverb: "good things come in small packages".

My only complaint? The serving was way too little and barely sufficient to last beyond three mouthfuls!

Fuyu Sashimi Set

With yellow tail, salmon, swordfish, squid, scallop, salmon roes and super jumbo red shrimp, this has to be the most luxurious sashimi i ever have in my life (my usual sashimi orders rarely go beyond the fishes).

And they were worth every penny; their fresh sweetness remained fresh in my mouth (and mind) for the rest of the day and this is definitely something i would be back for! 

Salmon with Soy Sauce

Itacho is famous for their S$0.40 sushi. You heard it right - 40 cents for a piece of seafood sushi is unheard of in any Japanese restaurant in Singapore. 

This cheap offer is limited (while stock last) although you could have your pick of other discounted items like roasted scallop with spicy salmon.

How did they turn out?

Simply good.

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Location

2, Orchard Turn, 

#B2-18,Ion Orchard

Price

Roasted Egg with Shrimp - S$3.80

Eel Mini Rice - S$4.00

Fuyu Sashimi Set - S$35.70

Roasted Scallop with Spicy Salmon - S$0.40

Salmon with Soy Sauce - S$1.20

[Subject to GST and Service Charge]

Snorkeling in Marine Park @ Redang Island (Episode Two)

Part two of my snorkeling in Pulau Redang and this time, we shall be on our way to the protected Marine Park [this is kind of weird as i thought the marine park comprises of a much bigger area, including Redang and Perhentian islands].

While waiting for the boat to set off, we found schools of little fishes surrounding the boats' perimeter! There were literally thousands of them and you are only seeing a small percentage. 

Passing by an island en route to the marine park; it's easy to recognise this island due to a rock shaped like a head. It also happened to be one of our snorkeling destinations which i would cover in another post. 

Twenty minutes was all the boat took to reach the marine park; yet another island known as Pulau Pinang. However, we could not disembark as the jetty was used by another ferry.

Waiting for over ten minutes might seem short for many of you but for the bulk of us who could not wait to jump into the water, it was god damn frustrating!

Eventually, the boatmen turned to another disembarkation point a few hundred meters away. A floating jetty! I am not sure if there is any weight limit on these things as there were hundreds of us lining up to get into the island.

It was yet again another round of waiting. Impatience got to me (impatience is my middle name) and i jumped straight into the water after realising how slow the queue is moving!

Ah ha! No wonder the queue was moving like a tortoise; visitors had to get into the waist-height water and this certainly didn't sound good for people who brought along non-waterproof bags and cameras.

After knowing the truth (curiousity is my middle name as well), it's time to begin snorkeling! 

Due to the massive number of tourists descending on to this island, the underwater stretch nearing the main beach had terrible visibility. This area next to the floating terminal was in fact better although snorkeling in seemingly more polluted water is not exactly a good idea.

We swam away from the beach and frankly, were kind of disappointed after hearing from the presenter (at the briefing session) that there were a lot more fishes in the marine park. 

In a way, he was right. We caught sight of fish species as long as our arm but the view of the underwater world was dreary with dead and unexciting corals.

I came to the conclusion that fishes were attracted to this area for a one simple reason.

Food! 

Both of us got bored after half an hour and proceeded to the beach for an exploratory walk. 

Pinang Island is more than a place for snorkeling and has quite a number of landing sites for sea turtles. I would have loved to explore further except for one thing.

There were just too many people snorkeling around the permanent jetty - my interest was piqued.

The above was exactly what i saw when i jumped in. Many many fishy-fishy! 

Most of them were of a species that was also very common in Krabi. 

Depth of the water. Thank god for the invention of life jacket as anything deeper than three meters could be quite frightening for weak swimmers like myself. 

Now, could you guess why there were so many fishes around the jetty? It was truly amazing as they were not afraid of humans at all.

Once again, i confirmed the conclusion i mentioned earlier. 

Non-swimmers were throwing bread into the water from the jetty and it was essentially a fertile feeding ground for any lazy fish! 

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For the first episode, click here! 

Meals [Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner] in Sang Suria Restaurant @ Laguna Redang Island Resort [Pulau Redang, Malaysia]

Whenever i travel overseas, location of hotel/resort is of the topmost priority whereas the provision of complimentary in-house breakfast is the least of my concern; most of them tasted horrible anyway and i prefer eating out.

But when you are stuck in an island where standalone independent restaurants, food stalls etc are far from your accommodation, you better choose a resort that offers edible yet good meals. 

It was therefore stomach-comforting to read from www.redang.org [a comprehensive site on the island] that Laguna Redang has the best packaged buffet meals! How true is that? 

Let's find out! 

Situated on the second floor of the main reception building, Sang Suria restaurant is designated as the dining area for most of the guests who signed up for Laguna Redang's full board package. 

And it faces the beautiful sea! Since there were only the two of us, we were always given the tables overlooking the sea during mealtimes.

Hence, we totally enjoyed the two breakfasts, two lunches and two dinners while feeling the slight breeze from the sea, smelling the saltiness in the air and listening to the natural rhythm of waves crashing on shore.

That's truly the meaning of a relaxed holiday. 

Until the families came bulldozing in and everyone was scrambling to pile as much food as possible on their plates! Welcome to the reality of school holidays! 

Food was separated into three sections; the main one where you get your carbohydrates and desserts, the middle one for salads, soups, fruits and drinks and the last one by the side, which happens to be my favourite.

It's the freshly cooked section! Depending on mealtimes, i had the following: mee rebus, spaghetti, lamb chop, satay, BBQ fish, Otah, Penang laksa, omelettes, steaks and others that have slipped my mind. 

Oh yes, there's also the thin and crispy roti prata, which is known otherwise as roti canai in Malaysia. 

The variety of food was pretty extensive and although there were misses, i was generally happy to have second or even third helpings for some items! 

As a dessert person, i personally find the desserts to be really pathetic. The restaurant should seriously consider catering from Bengawan Solo if their intention is to showcase traditional kuehs. 

Of the six meals i had, the BBQ dinner was definitely the best! The bbq squids were fabulous, the lamb chop was delicious and the satays were grilled to perfection! 

The gain of two kilograms after the trip was totally worth it!!

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Entry to Sang Suria was possible only with this card (the counter staff would punch a hole in the card before allowing you to enter). So don't bloody lose it!

Classic Air Mata Kucing Drink (罗汉果龙眼冰糖炖冬瓜水) @ Petaling Street (Chinatown), Kuala Lumpur [Malaysia]

A trip to Chinatown in Kuala Lumpur is never completed if you don't patronise this drink stall located right in the busy intersection of Jalan Petaling and Jalan Hang Lekir. 

Only one item is for sale; Air Mata Kucing which is basically a refreshing drink made of luohanguo (a cooling fruit), rock sugar, dried longan and winter melon. You can choose either hot or cold although in the hot tropical weather, most of us would gladly choose the ice version. 

It was so natural, so thirst-quenching that one cup is barely sufficient. What i would usually do is to buy one cup first, walk a while and order a second one. If i am there for a longer period of time, it's possible to have more. 

Many of you might fondly remember the stainless steel bowls the drinks used to come with. Unfortunately, with its increased popularity, environmentally-unfriendly plastic cups were dispensed instead. 

Guess i am still a traditionalist at heart; i prefer drinking air mata kucing via the steel containers. 

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Location

The intersection of Jalan Petaling and Jalan Hang Lekir.

Map

As above.

Price

For cold, hot and packet, it would be RM1.50. 

For cold without ice, be prepared to fork out RM2.