又是三号咯~

Day 397

The third of every month is always a special day for us. Decided to rent a car to pamper ourselves for the day. No trams, no walking, no more city food. 

First stop - Sashimi @ Tsukiji

Went there after reading all the rave reviews but was a little disappointed with what we had today. The best thing about Tsukiji is that trays of ready cut fish and other seafood such as octopus, sea urchins and scallops are neatly placed in the display cases for one to select. After you've made your selection, you can request for the fish and seafood to be sliced and have them in Tsukiji or takeaway. They are so much cheaper than what you usually pay in a Jap restaurant.

We went there primarily for its sashimi and sad to say, its sashimi didn't wow us. Mr Tan had the sashimi set which has risen in price (it's $14 now) and I had the tempura udon. The udon was EXPENSIVE. 3 small pieces of veg + 1 tempura prawn + udon cost me $10. I would love a slice of fish cake, a shitake mushroom or even some seaweed. Luckily the broth was flavourful and the tempura batter was light. The sashimi set didn't fill Mr Tan, he actually asked for some udon as he was still hungry. We chose a slab of salmon and requested for it to be sliced. It was sliced into approx 8 to 10 thick slices and we only paid $5 for it! It wasn't the best, but for the price we're paying, it was definitely value for money. 

Second stop - Shopping!

Nothing caught my eye and we ended up at Coles. Every time we've a car, it's a must to do grocery shopping! Mr Tan can buy a whole trolley of stuff when he goes grocery shopping. His trolley is usually filled with soft drinks and more soft drinks. Heard from Jiaqi that the Asian Grocer in Richmond sells 猪油 and Mr Tan wanted to buy some. He loves loves loves loves them. We didn't see it but ended up buying frozen dim sum to have our own yum cha tomorrow.

Third stop - Redbean Kitchen

Was brainstorming about what to have for dinner when Mr Tan suggested fish head curry. We used to go to Red Hot Wok for its fish head curry but the last 2 times we went, it didn't satisfy us anymore. After searching the net for almost an hour, we decided to try Redbean Kitchen. It seems like Old Town Kopitiam, Jalan Alor, Chef Lagenda and Laska King has it on their menu too but I decided to go to the one furthest from us because we've a car today!

Imagine my disappointment when I saw on their menu that they've replaced fish head curry with fish fillets curry! Apparently, they couldn't find a supplier who could supply them with quality fish heads and thus decided to replace it with fish fillets. They agreed that the fish fillets curry isn't as flavourful as compared to fish head curry and they do hope they can bring fish head curry back soon. 

Chunks of deep fried fish fillets coupled with tau pok, eggplant and okra soaked in curry, yum! They were very generous with the ingredients and there must be at least 10 chunks of fish in it. The curry tasted a little sour and was a little lacking in flavour and spiciness. I miss the Fish Head Curry from Muthu's Curry!

According to the description on the menu, the soft shell crab is tossed with curry leaves, dried shrimps and chillies and finished with a butter egg yolk sauce but there was no sight of any curry leaves, dried shrimps of chillies in the dish. I assumed that the dish would be salty because of the butter egg yolk sauce and I couldn't be more wrong. The dish was actually sweet. Definitely won't be ordering this again.

The sambal kangkung was good but I think the one I cook is better. Haha. Even Mr Tan agreed. 

The food isn't great but the portion is big and they are generous with the ingredients but the main reason why we would come back is because of its service. This is the FIRST Chinese eatery we've been to where we actually feel welcomed. Everyone working there smiles, the servers walk around constantly to check on every table, they clear the dishes, change your plates, refill your water and tea WITHOUT you having to ask for it and they would even help to scoop your rice. After we finished our meal, a lady came over to our table and asked us how our meal was and chatted with us. That was how we found out about the curry fish head and what we need to do if we want to eat crabs there. Superb service. We were so pleased that we left tips for them. I can't wait to go back to try their chilli crabs!