Okinawan Diner Nirai-Kanai

22nd August, Saturday

A Japanese restaurant which is quite well known for their pork belly. They shifted to Liang Court, from Tanglin Shopping Centre. Had a class gathering here, so we had a really huge group of 20+ people.

Raw squid

I must say the presentation of this dish sucks. If I had to give their presentation a score, it would probably get 3/10 at most. Look at the picture. Doesn't it look icky?

It looked raw and unappetizing, and the squid had a greenish tinge to it as well. But I still gave it a try. A consolation was that it didn't taste as bad as it looks. They seasoned it with some wasabi, so it was still okay. But I wouldn't order this again.

V's verdict: 5.5/10


Jumbo pork belly noodles

The pork belly was quite good. It was tender and fell apart once I prodded it with my chopsticks. Normally I don't eat the fats, but this time I just ate everything up. Other than the pork, the egg was done very well too. The egg yolk was still semi liquid, and the egg white was tasty too.

But this aside, nothing else was special. The soup was arguably decent. But the noodles weren't good; a bit hard and my first impression was "did they use the wrong noodles for this dish?" $13.80

V's verdict: 6.5/10

Beng Thin Hoon Kee

21st August, Friday

My second trip to Beng Thin within a week, as one of our business partners insisted on treating our clients (different ones from Tuesday) to this place again. Once again, no pictures.

Fried oyster omelette

This was different from the usual oyster omelette we eat at hawker centres. For one thing, it had much more flour. I prefer more egg actually, but at least it was crispy and delicious. The oysters were also big, fresh and sweet. But quite filling because it's oily.

V's verdict: 8/10


Kong Ba Pau

Beng Thin is supposedly well known for this as well. I found it not bad but not as good as I expected. Their pork tasted a bit sweet, which didn't really agree with my taste buds. But when I brought some back to my colleagues, they LOVED it.

V's verdict: 7/10


Fried vegetables (豆苗)

Simple but delicious. It's just fried with garlic, I think.

V's verdict: 8/10