Nishikane (Kappo Omakase Restaurant) - Beautiful Cuisine that Speaks of Flavours and Sceneries of Summer

Nishikane, a Kappo Omakase restaurant, got my attention through the beautiful, vibrant displays of dishes incorporated into each miniature scenery in Japan. But it is the food that totally wins me over with the harmonious incorporation of new interpretation of flavours into six generations and 150 years history of traditional taste imparted to Chef Nobuhiro Nishi.

One of the highlights of Chef Nobu's creations is how the various vegetables and herbs add the refreshing juiciness and vegetal freshness to accentuate the sweetness of the core ingredients. They are like the magical touches to elevate the familiar tastes. Each dish features a different taste profile and different preparation method, making the dining experience a varied and exciting one. And Chef Nobu also seeks to inject colour and vibrancy into his creations, making the dishes both beautiful in taste and looks.

The place is an impressive space with both modern and zen influences. Impressive open kitchen counter hand crafted with wood imported from Japan, walls covered with wooden panels, backdrop of beautiful Japanese wooden lattice framing over translucent panel illuminated by yellow light spanning across the dining room behind the kitchen counter, floral arrangements and Japanese paper lights hanging above, I'm definitely impressed. And the soft traditional Japanese music played in the background gives me the impression that I'm in Japan.

The chefs here and the staff are very friendly and professional, introducing the dishes in detail, heightening my enjoyment of my meal here.

The experience here is definitely a glorious feast for all the senses. I look forward to enjoy such experience again.

The five appetisers are presented onto a beautiful scenic miniature display that speaks of summer with the fireworks, Japanese paper fan, summer blooms, lantern, Japanese ornaments and Japanese mini  architecture fixtures. Watching Chef Nobu carefully preparing the display is an experience in itself. This display feels a harmonised merging of culinary, art and ikebana.

First appetiser of Botan Ebi is so creamy and briny sweet with bouncy texture, made even better with the sparks of excitement from the crunchiness and vegetal freshness of vegetables added at the bottom. Yes, the vegetables make such a huge difference in the overall taste.

Fig is mildly refreshing and sweet, juicy, complemented by the savoury creamy tofu paste to add complexity to the taste.

Medai is clean and sweet in taste, tender in texture, which contrasts perfectly with the crunchy zesty pickled vegetable wrapped in the centre.

Bluefin tuna tastes super sweet, further highlighted by the goma sauce and herbal freshness of the herb decked on top.

Squid with seaweed sauce features milky briny sweetness punctuated by the fresh pungency of the ginger flowers for a warm and refreshing taste. 

Each vegetable (eggplant, tomato, asparagus and corn) on the huge scallop brings a different freshness and juiciness to highlight the briny sweetness of the scallop, made even better with the intense flavours of the buttery umami of miso sauce. It is amazing how the vegetables in this dish elevates the taste of the scallop.

The Sashimi is also presented in glorious presentation set that makes me go, "wow! Beautiful!" This looks like a summer garden by a water feature in Japan. Yes, the star of this course is uni. In fact, it is uni feast! I love it!

Murasaki uni is full of sweet creamy umami while otoro is full of buttery melty goodness, made exciting with the freshly grated wasabi.

When paired with special sauce, the uni tastes sweet, creamy, savoury and warm, surprisingly and amazingly different from the prior uni dish.

From Kyushu, the fish adds a layer of briny sweetness to make the uni taste refreshing. The zest in the sauce also lifts up the flavours of the uni.

The vegetables, namely zucchini and tomato, do wonders to introduce the juiciness and freshness to the warm meaty sweetness of the beef cutlet and crispiness of its deep fried breadcrumb exterior. the meat is cooked to perfection where its tenderness and juiciness are retained. 

Pure buckwheat somen from Fukui is super refreshing, and served in carved ice to maintain constant cold temperature, making the noodles so smooth and cooling. Perfect for summer. The slightly flat shape of the noodles make for a lovely different mouth feel. The tempura crab goes so well with thecold somen due to the juxtaposition between warm and cold.

The Donabe here, with fluffy, starchy grains, tastes unbelievably fresh due to the variety of crisp Japanese vegetables added. The tempura fish adds briny sweetness to the donabe, and the corn adds buttery, floral, crunchy sweetness. So good and so satisfying.

I love the Dessert Plate here too, so beautiful and delicious. And yes, it is free flow!

Sea Salt ice-cream contrasts so well with the sweet Monaka due to the contrast in taste and texture. I'm so pleasantly surprised by how simple yet so good this dessert is.

It is so easy to finish up the light, super smooth custard with hint of coffee aroma.

Amazingly sweet, juicy, refreshing grape unexpectedly contrasts so wonderfully with the crunchy walnut and thin stretchy mochi skin.

Pillowy soft cheesecake with soft nutty pungency of cheese is an enjoyment to savour too.

The frothy Sabonya sauce makes such an amazing difference to the taste of two types of floral sweet melons.

Thoughts: Beautiful Cuisine in all Aspects

78 Tras Street #01-01

Happy Groceries Shopping at Don Don Donki

Despite only shopping for natto for my breakfast at Don Don Donki, I always manage to find haul bags of other stuff home. And they are such good finds!

New Jaga Pokkuru product comes with corn flavour. And it is so so good! The Hokkaido potato is full of the earthy sweetness of potato, gets even wonderfully sweeter with the floral butty sweetness of corn powder sprinkled on top of each crispy crunchy potato piece.

Packed Japanese cooked vegetables are so convenient to enjoy during breakfast. And they are so tasty.

Yoghurt with chucks of fruits added is a joy to enjoy.

Cold Tofu Noodles is so smooth in texture and so tasty when paired with the enclosed light bonito sauce. One of my top choices for breakfast.

Orange Patisserie's Swiss Roll is packed with a huge core of cream at its centre, and this makes such a huge difference in the mouthfeel and texture of the cake. The core feels like ice-cream when freshly taken out of the fridge, and I love it.

Country of Origin: Japan

Where to get this: Don Don Donki

Garibaldi - Fantastic, Glorious, Authentic Italian Brunch

A newsletter from Angra Wine got me to take a look at Garibaldi's Ferragisto Weekend Brunch, and I like what I see on the menu, and so here I am!

The brunch spread here is so glorious, full of lots of authentic Italian classics, with hints of twists to keep things exciting. Yes, the dishes are all delicious. I love it that there is huge variety of appetisers, pastas, mains and desserts all served à la carte to the table and all comes in small portions so I can enjoy all the dishes while ordering more if I want to savour more of the free flow dishes.

The place has this classy fine dining interior, with an Italian lightness to it. Think white linen, modern dark wooden furniture, table mats with golden bronze tint, soft yellow lights, modern paintings and full-panel windows with translucent curtains. Thus the space feels impressive with hints of idyllic feel, perfect for enjoying my brunch.

The service here is impressive: being professional, friendly and responsive.

I'm so looking forward to enjoying a lovely, idyllic, satisfying, sumptuous brunch at here again.

Poached Japanese Toretama Egg, Smoked Salmon & Hollandaise Sauce is creamy and Savour with buttery umami. Love this.

Fresh Oysters has this fresh saline sweetness, and tastes refreshing with the lemon and exciting with the tabasco.

Fluffy Bread with Crispy Crust goes so well with the Olive Oil has the tint of herbal aroma.

Crispy Breadsticks that is good on their own and goes well with the olive oil too.

Australian Wagyu Beef Carpaccio, Rucola & Parmesan Cheese has light meaty sweetness of wagyu, going very well with the nutty savoury taste of the Parmesan.

Fresh Burrata Cheese from Puglia is such a luxurious treat, being creamy, milky, juicy and refreshing.

Cold Cut Platter of Speck, Parma, Spicy Salami and Mortadella are savoury with hints of meaty sweetness, featuring different taste profiles. A real treat.

Crispy Deep-Fried Crab Cake is briny sweet, and its taste is lifted up by the creamy zest in the aloli.

Aperol Spritz is refreshing, sweet, with a lace of bitterness for the smooth mouth feel.

Spaghetti "Vongole" in a White Wine & Parsley Sauce is light on palates while rich in taste because of all the different kinds of briny sweet flavours packed within. My favourite among the pasta.

Fettuccine with Minced Italian Pork Sausage in Spicy 'Nduja Sauce' tastes exciting, due to the tomatoes, and meaty because of the sausage. Fettuccine has good texture for good mouth feel and catches the meaty sauce within its curls for good enjoyment of the pasta together with zesty meaty sauce.

Ricotta Cheese Tortellini in Truffle Porcini Cream is pure creamy, earthy goodness.

Seared Salmon & Passion Fruit Yogurt Sauce features salmon that is juicy and tender. The zest in the sauce cut through the distinctive taste of salmon for balanced taste.

Grilled Black Angus Beef 'Tagliata' & Fried Polenta Cake is so meaty sweet, tender and succulent, layered with the beautiful taste of char. So good that I get a second order of this.

Dark chocolate lava cake is so decadently good and intense.

Almond tart is surprisingly super good, with a smooth sweetness that comes out when biting into this dessert. The almonds add lovely earthy aroma of nuts to highlight the sweetness.

Light, airy and divine in taste.

Thoughts: Fantastic Brunch that I totally Enjoy.

36 Purvis Street #01-02