Ootoya @ Orchard Central (Part II)

Went to Ootoya for a weekday dinner. Made reservations over the phone and was informed that the latest time that can be reserved is till 7pm only.

Arrived at 7+pm, and the inner tables were already full. Only the outside tables were empty and the tatami communal dining area was half-full. We were seated at the tatami communal dining area. Looks like dinner starts early at Ootoya!

menu

wet towel (complimentary)

green tea @ $1++ per pax

 

 Our food orders; Tori Salad and Torikuzoru sets.

Tori Salad set (rice changed to Hijiki, add $1.25++)

Torikuzoru set

closer view of Torikuzoru

Ootoya does strong flavoured (means it could get really salty) wholesome meal. The Torikuzoru is essentially sweet and sour deep fried chicken. Liked that the chicken was tender, well fried and coated with shiny tasty sauce.

The bento sets include small side dish (usually pickles), miso soup and rice. One can opt to customize/change the rice by topping up the value. Amongst the options were brown rice (but was sold out that night by 720pm), white rice with hijiki (with seaweed), or with tororo (grated yam), or with baby sardines.

white rice with hijiki

The rice added with hijiki was yummy. Soft, slightly sticky rice well infused with seaweed shreds and plum. However, there are some concerns with regards to hijiki consumption, so you may want to read more about hijiki (info from wikipedia).

miso with beancurd skin, radish, carrots and chicken

blanched vege, mushroom and beancurd skin

pickles (?)

The two small side dishes were, well, not as per expectation. The pickled vege (small carrot sticks and chopped greens) tasted like they were just fished out of salt water. Hmm, not the usual style for tsukemono! The simmered dish (nimono) fared no better. That's an understatement. Vegetables like spinach, can't really be simmered, can they? Would've much prefered the traditional tsukemono of simple pickled cucumber, or the nimono of radish.

Luckily, the mains did not dissappoint.

beautiful succulent and charred chicken

heavily sauced (salt alert!)

huge amount of greens and julienned spring onions

hard boiled egg

The char grilled chicken was good. Tender, and nicely charred skin. Huge amount of vege and lots of sauce at the bottom pile. Salty but good.

There's a promotion for UOB cards: 15% discount off the meal. We paid about $40 (after discount) for two pax.

Here's the link to first post.

Greenwood Fish Market & Bistro @ Hillcrest Park, Bukit Timah

Visited on a weekend evening and it was crowded. Waited 15 minutes before we could get a table. Was seated outdoors and lighting was dim at best. The menu was kind of big in size so it was clumsy on a small table.

big menu

logo

We wanted the House Fish & Chips but was told that it was not available (sold out, perhaps). Probably too late at 820pm. The person who took our orders said, the closest thing to fish & chips (and still available), was the Trawler Catch of the Day (@$29.95++) of either John Dory or Gurnard. My friend chose the Gurnard fish.

Besides that, we also had the lobster bisque as well as the Marinara Linguini.

The soup came first, rather quickly as well. Haven't had much experience with lobster bisque, so can't really compare. The version here tasted flavourful, and warm.

lobster bisque (@$13.95++)

We were almost done with the soup when two small breads appeared. Hmm. Well, better late than never!

bread

soft insides

The bread had a hard outer crust but inside was surprisingly soft. Tasty with the olive oil and balsamic vinegar. We were still munching on the bread when the mains arrived. The pasta portion was generous.

Marinara Linguini (@$24.95++)

prawns, calamari, mussels and clams

Lots of seafood in this dish. Mussels and prawns were fairly large. The calamari was in abundance! Yum. Although the menu marked this dish as spicy, it was rather mild. In fact, it didn't taste spicy at all. Just tangy. But sadly, the small clams had sand in them. Yikes.

Didn't manage to take the picture of the original plating of the fish & chips. Too eager to dig in. Here's the half portion:

Fish & Chips (Gurnard)

firm flesh

This was my first time eating an unknown fish. Do you know what's a Gurnard or how it looks like? Nuh uh, do it without googling! Hahaa. Seen the pictures of a gurnard? Scary, aren't they?

Thankfully, it tasted pretty normal. Though not in particularly flavourful.  Its flesh was rather firm. Enjoyed the accompanying greens and the chips. The greens with vinaigrette was nice. The chips was fried just right too. 

The food costs about $81 in total, and fed 2 pax. Cold water is served in a bottle to the table, and diners are free to help themselves to it.

During peak period, waiting for the right personnel to attend to specific tasks, is unavoidable. Valet parking is available too.

Their online menu can be viewed from their website.

The Corner Place Korean BBQ @ Marina Square

Located at Level 4 of Marina Square, just right beside the food court. To tell you the truth, didn't really know that Marina Square has a food court! Seldom go up to there...

shop entrance

Been wanting to try bbq beef galbi, so it was just nice that makan kaki suggested having Korean BBQ for dinner one day.

The selection of meats included beef bulgogi, marinated galbi and unmarinated beef slices, marinated chicken (looked like breast meat slices), unmarinated pork collar and pork belly, sausages and squid.

raw galbi, beef slices and marinated beef and chicken at the back

getting started

The vegetables included kimchi cabbage, radish kimchi, cucumber and spring onions, fresh lettuces, coleslaw and tomatoes. There were fruits such as sliced watermelon and oranges.

from bottom to top: bean paste sauce, japchae, radish kimchi, cabbage kimchi

 
For carbs, diners can help themselves to the rice in the rice cooker. Right beside the rice, there's another pot for miso soup.

For drinks (included in buffet), they have cherry juice (something that looked reddish), barley, lemon tea and iced water. There are other drinks in the fridge (including beer and soju) that are charged separately.

after first round of cooking

Enjoyed the meat by wrapping it with lettuce with kimchi and bean paste sauce. Would've liked it more if there were chilies or garlic slices around for that extra oomph.

meat, kimchi and lettuce

The beef galbi is actually quite chewy. So, probably it's wiser to cut it into smaller slices using the meat scissors, otherwise risk getting it stuck in the throat.

Next up, samgyeopsal (pork belly).

from top: pork collar, pork belly

Liked the fatty belly sizzling on the hot plate. The plate is slanted so the oil drips down.

slanting plate

BBQ'ing the pork belly was quite fun.

almost finish

just need to char it a little

ready to eat!

Think we polished about three plates of lettuces along with the meats.

fresh crisp lettuce

dab some bean paste sauce

make a wrap and enjoy

The japchae, made from sweet potato noodles (known as dangmyeon, 당면) was very tasty. Enjoyable because of its chewy texture and it actually tasted like fried noodles. A tad salty but still favourable.

japchae

The restaurant also offers cooked items such as jeon and kimchi fried rice. They didn't serve out the cooked items to the buffet table, so went up to the chef at the cooking station and requested to sample the mini pancakes and fried rice.

jeon and fried rice (hidden beneath the crackers)

left to right: original jeon and kimchi jeon

kimchi fried rice

The mini pancakes and fried rice were nice alternatives to plain rice carbs. The service crew cleared the plates on a regular interval, and they'll help to change the gas or the aluminium foil upon request.

This meal costs about $24 per pax.