D's been bugging me to come here again for the longest time, because the first time we came for dinner, we enjoyed our meal thoroughly but most unfortunately I fell sick (some kind of stomach flu coupled with headaches and nausea) that very night. and as irrational as it is, I'm someone who strongly associates the flavours of the last meal I have before falling sick to the noxious and unpleasant memories of the subsequent illness. logically I don't think it was the food that made me ill, but because the food was good with distinctive flavours, I couldn't forget the smell and tastes of it, and hence it took me awhile to get over my reluctance to return and possibly be reminded of that particularly bad episode of flu.
Anyway, I most definitely do not regret returning again to have more Okinawan fare from them!
D ordered this:
whilst I ordered this:
we sipped on (complimentary) hot Japanese tea, slowly taking in the rustic and retro interior decor whilst waiting for our food.
mine arrived first!! (apologies for this really ugly picture, it was kind of hard to take everything in one shot)
Looks like a carbohydrate fest huh? That's cause it was! The noodles-in-soup were balanced in flavour, noodles done slightly chewy, with some fatty pork cooked to melt-in-your-mouth quality, seaweed and pickled ginger toppings. the rice was mixed with some soy products, mushrooms and not sure what else. As per the set meal, they had pickled radish (which had bonito flakes thoughtfully added in, their dull fragrance and umami flavour nicely juxtaposing against the tangy sourness of the pickles), minced meat with miso paste (D's favourite), and what I believe is their home-made peanut tofu (a rather special little treat I haven't had anywhere else).
I really liked their noodle soup base; it tasted homey, reminding more of Chinese cuisine than Japanese. Though there were only 2 pieces of pork, D and I thought they were very well done and since I wasn't feeling particularly greedy that day, it was quite sufficient.
D's set arrived shortly after mine came
I had a bite of his minced pork and beef patties and quite liked it! He on the other hand said he would have preferred if the meat hadn't been minced (but honestly the description of the dish already stated MINCED, so this isn't a fair gripe at all haha!). I couldn't quite put my finger on what tasted so familiar and comforting in the patty seasoning--D attributed it to it being the same as the one they used to season the beef hamburger patty on our previous visit, but I'm not too sure still (maybe it just reminded me of my mum's own meat patties!! mmmmm~~)
We both left the home-made peanut tofu with ponzu shoyu and minced ginger garnishing, to the last, because though the dressing is savoury, the tofu itself is slightly sweet and kind of dessert-ish:
Now, I had thoroughly enjoyed this little wobbly piece of tofu on our first visit. UNFORTUNATELY!!! The unique combination of the ponzu shoyu's distinctive flavours coupled with the mild sweetness of the peanut tofu had stuck firmly in my mind and this time, once I had a bite of it, I was instantly reminded of the horrid feeling of falling sick shortly after I had eaten this the last time round :( Tragically, this sensory memory seems to be planted very strongly in me, and D had to help me finish off 3/4 of the dish as the very memory made me slightly nauseous. Rest assured though, that this has NOTHING to do with the tofu itself! D really liked it both times round. Unlucky me, oh well...
Once we were done with the food, we paid the bill ($18 per set meal after taxes) and proceeded to explore Meidi-Ya, which is chockful of japanese goodies.
Barring the fact that Liang Court is quite a walk from Clarke Quay MRT hence not as easily accessible via public transport, I would actually be quite keen to pick up some of their ready-made sushis and bento sets next time!
NIRAI KANAI
#B1-01/02, Liang Court Shopping Centre, 177 River Valley Road
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