Coconut Club, Singapore

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brunch, coconut club, dinner, lunch, nasi lemak, nostalgic, restaurant review, singapore, singapore restaurants

Hands down, the best nasi lemak in Singapore. It’s comparable if not better than the famed Village Park nasi lemak in KL, by virtue of its superior fried chicken and convenient location, nestled within Ann Siang hill. I would, however, give Village Park the edge for its sambal.

The coconut club adopts a no straw policy. A minor inconvenience that’s for sure but I believe it’s a good notion, whether or not they’re trying to skimp on the cost of plastic straws.

You’re given a basic nasi lemak option and the option of jazzing it up with additional items like more egg, extra chicken and the such. I can’t quite remember the drinks unfortunately, although I most likely went for the Milo. Nasi Lemak and Milo, what a winning combination!

I greedily opted for an extra fried egg and almost regretted it when the food arrived. Portions are generous when it comes to their exceptional nasi lemak, not that I’m complaining at all as I love my food.

The fried eggs are nicely browned just around the edges and yolks ooze a perfect molten gold. Fried chicken is seasoned well and manages to be a tantalizing crisp golden brown on the outside and all tender juiciness on the inside. Even the ikan bilis is crisp and crackling perfect, nudging away every memory of stale, chewy ikan bilis in lesser eateries. And what is nasi lemak without the full monty ? There’s a generous helping of peanuts and the usual side of cucumbers to help combat the spice of some very delightful sambal. It can get a tad spicy, so fair warning.

We ended the meal with a bowl of chendol each. The shaved ice is so fine it tastes like it belongs in the acclaimed powder snows of Niseko. However, I tend to mix my chendol up and stir it into a soup before I eat it, so the texture was unfortunately lost on me. I would have preferred more gula melaka and other toppings but this was a decent go.

One of my favourite haunts these days, should I decide to let loose and go on a binge!

4.5/5 for the nasi lemak!

Address: 6 Ann Siang Hill, Singapore 069787

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Tatsuya at Goodwood Hotel, Singapore revisited – More expensive and less (?) food

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aburi, ebi, fusion, fusion sushi, goodwood hotel, hotate, japanese, japanese restaurants, omakase, restaurant review, sanma, singapore, singapore omakase, singapore restaurants, tatsuya, uni

Tatsuya has always been one of my favourite Japanese restaurants in Singapore. So naturally it was one of my top choices when I dropped by for a visit in Singapore and thankfully got a counter seat as the place was packed. I opted again for the omakase as per my usual routine but I was quietly disappointed when the food came. The food quality is more or less the same, still delicious but the sushi was served in a platter instead of done up and served with care one by one. And there were more cooked courses than raw, we had a whole grilled sanma fish to share between us. While it was nice, I’ve always considered sanma to be an inexpensive fish. In previous visits, we were given a little uni/otoro/ikura rice bowl which was infinitely more divine. So I was doubly shocked when the bill came… up to SGD 847 for the both of us!

Previously the omakase sets come at SGD 280++ , but the bill would mean that the new cost of the omakase set is now SGD 400++ where it adds no additional value to the dining experience and where the food is not as appealing as it was when it was at SGD 280. What happened Tatsuya?!!! The least you could do if you charge more is to give us better food and a better dining experience! Don’t get me wrong, Tatsuya still serves quality food, service is still good and chef is very friendly. It’s just that we no longer get the traditional counter experience where the chef serves up his tantalizing morsels one by one reverently and works up a surprise for our palates here and there. Now it just feels like a normal restaurant…. at a more expensive price. I complained to my makan kaki who did the initial Tatsuya visit with me and she came back with a barrage of complaints. She’s probably not going back.

Not sure if I want to go back again either if this is what is to be expected. For SGD 400+ I could just go to Shinji. I think Aoki may be the better choice now compared to Tatsuya, I’ve visited it twice after the last review and will post up another review on it soon.

Photos from the last disappointing Tatsuya visit:-

Did not take photos of the sanma and the other cooked courses as I was so disappointed. At least we had some uni with the tai sashimi though! Some saving grace there.

In comparison, here’s a collage of some of the dishes from the initial trip and my previous review on Tatsuya.