Valentine's Date at Starker Zhongshan Park

Even though we live in Balestier, we only recently started exploring the restaurants at Zhongshang Park and thought it was a wonderful new place to hang out. It's like this big patch of greenery, with reflection pools all around and surrounded by restaurants and hotels. Most of the restaurants have glass facades overlooking the main park so you can either be inside the restaurant enjoying the scenery or actually sit outside and enjoy the outdoors. The first time we went there, it was for dinner at Kotobuki, after which we took a stroll in the park with the kids. There were kids chasing bubbles or kids chasing dogs. All very idyllic. There was this restaurant across the park with outdoor seating and all the outdoor tables were booked. It looked to me like this was the place with the best views of the park. We eventually strolled over and checked it out and promptly booked reservations there for Valentine's. That restaurant was Starker.  

Husband enjoying Starker housepour

Trio Mushroom Soup

Angus Beef Tenderloin, plated beautifully but portion seemed small for the price (upwards of SGD30), also a bit dry but likely because I asked for it well done, next time I'll probably order it medium well  

Husband ordered 12-inch Quattro Formaggio Pizza which tasted delicious, and since my beef tenderloin was surprisingly minuscule, I had room for 2 slices of these

Creme brulee for dessert - don't be fooled by the size though, the dish is very shallow so technically it's not really a large serving

Great interiors, maybe a bit too bright, I would have preferred a slightly dimmer, cozier look and feel  

Looks like we found another new favorite place. Definitely a hidden gem. Next time we'll probably bring the kids on a weekend and enjoy a slow Saturday at the park.

Turning Japanese

As part of my resolution to try out new restaurants, I started looking for family-style establishments where I could bring the brood and eat good food without busting the household budget. This weekend we tried out a Japanese restaurant at Cuppage Plaza in Orchard called Izakaya Nijumaru. 

I saw an old review from renowned Singapore food blogger ladyironchef:

'Izakaya Nijumaru is a great hidden gem with good Japanese food at very affordable prices.'

Well that's a good enough endorsement for me, so off we went to Cuppage Plaza.

We entered this rather old building and looked for the restaurant - you'll see this bright green can't miss it sign and you'll know you've arrived.

It's a bad menu. All words no visuals. But if you frequent Japanese restaurants you'll find most of the standards here. We went for the Oyakodon, Kastsudon, Hire Katsu Sets and Chawanmushi. 

It's fairly small and all the tables and seats are really close to each other. When you're inside you'll be immediately transported to Japan. 70% of the customers who were there at the time were all Japanese.

This is a shot of the Hire Katsu set. Quite affordable given that it was SGD11.50 in 2010 and only increased price to SGD13 in 2012. It wasn't as good as the one at Tonkichi but given that the one at Tonkichi is around SGD23, I'd say it's still pretty good value for money. The Oyakodon was pretty good too, and for SGD8, I'd say it was a steal.  

Feeding oranges to the baby. She loved it because it was quite sweet. She also loved the sticky rice, soft tofu and the chawanmushi.

We're definitely adding this restaurant to our list of favorites.

Izakaya Nijumaru

5 Koek Road #02-09 Cuppage Plaza Singapore

Peperoni Pizzeria

After Sunday mass, we usually have a couple of regular lunch places we go to already which saves us the trouble of racking our brains thinking of where to eat that's nearby, won't be horrendously crowded and would serve food quickly so the kids (and the adults) won't end up starving. 

There's Chili's at Tanglin Mall, Kenny Rogers at Great World City, Manhattan Fish Market at Plaza Singapura, this Japanese tonkatsu place at the basement food court of Ion and now we've also added Peperoni Pizzeria to the list. The one we go to is at Zion Road across Great World City.

Service is relatively quick, portions are good for sharing and the pizza and pasta are pretty good.

We've been there twice so far and never got to see the interior as the place 

is always full, luckily there's outdoor seating

Lexi playing with the cheese dispenser

Where's the pizza? 

Carbonara and deep fried beef balls