Recently I am into a playfish game called Restuarant City. There is a term introduced called "island layouts" where the tables are arranged, with the waiter in the middle, in a squarish or rectangular layout. The waiter is trapped inside so that he needs not move around and is able to serve customers faster.

 

I thought, I just saw a restuarant which looks like it has the "island layouts" :P

 

The menu in Sho Teppan is quite simple, there are 2 kinds of stone pots served, 1 is the soup kind (i think the menu mentioned sabu sabu / some sauce) and the other is dry (where you mix the rice, chicken and other vegetables in a little bit of sauce) which i think is very a popular menu item in many japanese restuarants. I have been intrigued by stone pots as i like the food served warm. However there is 1 thing to note when you eat in this restuarant, as the cooking is DIY. I am puzzled and wanted to ask the waiter why he offered to cook for the 2 guys next to me but he does not offer help to me.. haha

 

The drinks offered in menu is a disappointment, if i am not wrong, all of them are canned drinks and they are offered of course at more than twice the price you can get in supermarkets. Unless you are the kind who likes a drink with your meals or you are really thirsty, you can skip the drink order. What is interesting is, we did return the Allswell plum drink (bottle is still unsealed) and we were returned $3 :)

 

We ordered the executive set for dinner on a Friday. There was 10% off for credit card promotion and i lamented that we should have come on Thurs as the discount would be 15%. :D

 

Nevertheless, there were 4 of us and there are 7 dishes included:

rice - nothing special to mention but it is listed in the menu so here i list it down ;p

duck - which should be their signature dish and i find it quite tasty (with ginseng taste), some people may find it as salty.

sharks fin soup - the quantity of the sharks fin is about a spoonful (not overloaded in spoon) but the soup did not give me deep impression.

broccoli with scallops - i find the quantity to be very little, as it is meant to serve 4 portions.

prawns - the prawns are just average tasty, and there are only 6 prawns served, which i find it puzzling as the set is meant for 4 persons. I think the restuarant should give equal portions :)

fried cod fish - as usual, cod fish has its own standard to me and i find this tasty, the sauce is salty though, good to go with rice.

hashimi - it has a very strong bitter taste of ginseng (i am not sure which kind, should be the 'bao shen'), the dessert is fine but we thought we might have preferred the warm version instead of chilled ones.

 

Another thing to note is they will not charge you for the wet towels / tissues if you do not use them. Mineral water and chinese tea costs (as usual) - if you like neither, it might be more worthwhile to go for warm water, which is served at no additional charges.

 

 

I was there because of a 1 for 1 promotion for the ala-carte Hong Kong Dim Sum Buffet.

First of all, I am a bit surprised that they did not call to remind / confirm about my reservation a day before (which I thought most restuarant would do so).

Anyway when we reached, the manager told us we can pick any seats we want, and it seems like a reservation is not really required (as they did not ask if we have reserved a table).

 

The waitress asked if we wanted the 1 for 1 promotion which costs $44++ and gave us 4 small pieces of order form (each has at least 8 items). Luckily the promotion poster board at the entrance reminded me that the $44++ buffet is for dim sum buffet cum high tea (duration is from 11.30am to 4pm). I told her we wanted the other one, WITHOUT high tea (duration is from 11.30am to 2pm). Then she said we can help ourselves to the buffet reception and the order form is not applicable. (I happened to have a glance at the first order form and it contains dim sum items)

 

Glancing through the buffet reception, I must say the variety is odd - with fishballs, pasta, pizza, hai nan chicken, sushi (avocado prawn roll, salmon sashimi, california maki), laksa, vinegar pork, fried rice on the list. My favourite is the vinegar pork which is not too sour, and the meat is tender. There is also samosa, spring rolls, xiao long bao, prawn dumplings, siew mai, vegetable bun, chived meat dumpling, century egg porridge, and the standard varies from normal to lousy (cos the food turns cold fast and they are not tasty). If not for my ulcer, I think the samosa should be the nicest (as curry flavour is strong). Besides that, there are some desserts, which consists of beancurd, grass jelly, nonya kuey, muffins, fried yam pancakes (which I find as too sweet and the pastry is hardened) and miserable list of fruits - green apples and oranges.

 

The lunch is indeed not very worthwhile even with the 1 for 1 promotion.

 

 

On the bill, it addressed itself as "BachMann Japanese Restaurant". On the exterior design, I remember the name as Manpuku.

Nevertheless, I will share about my recent 2 trips to the restuarant, which has similar concept as Marche (you get a card upon entry and you can use the card to store all the purchases, which is being used for billing).

 

In short, the prices are pretty steep and not every dish is a "WOW" to me.

 

My favourite should be the salmon sashimi (5 pieces @ $8++) & wasabi. The salmon sashimi is fresh, the "ginger" is fresh (and "spicy" if i can use that term) and the wasabi is also freshly made! I am not a sashimi fan at all, since my trip to Fish Market @ Sydney, I begin to try sashimi whenever my friends ordered. I do not like those restuarants where the wasabi seems to have lost the taste (because they are not so fresh anymore). Anyway I also tried the inari sushi ($2++), tamago sushi ($3++) and a sushi set (avocado) ($9.80++) - they tasted average to me.

 

The next dish I tried is something which I think is overrated. I have tried Moonlight Special and Kodanyaki Seafood ($12.80++ each). I prefer the latter as it has more cabbage and noodles which made the dish less "boring" and has variety. Otherwise I can only feel taste of mayo and soya sauce when I bite into the egg / seafood. I am not sure of the exact ingredients but this is what I tasted :p I suggest that you share this with your friends as half the serving is more than enough to make me "sick of it".

 

I have also tried another stall - scallops ($2.80++), Kushi shishamo ($2++), Pork asparagus roll ($2.80++), and chicken leg ($2++). They are tasty but also average. 

I am not a ramen fan but I tried a set where the soup base is not miso and I find it tasty.

I remember the dessert (tarts) were advertised on TV and I thought the tarts were full of whipped cream. Well, they look for pretty on the surface and I thought I will try to confirm. There is whipped cream but still acceptable in my opinion - btw I ordered mango tart and I find it as too expensive ($7.80++).

 

Last but not least, the hot green tea is refillable (and the cheapest drink option at $1.90++). While the counter staff says, feel free to come ask me for refill, the tone does sound a bit funny (or sour ;p). But I don't care, they already said it is refillable. BTW there is no poster / notes pasted on walls to indicate the hot green tea is refillable so you may want to enquire before assuming the refill is still valid.

 

  

 

 

 

If I were not given a free ticket (in Mar 09), I believe chances of me watching this show is very low. But after watching, I must admit, it is an enjoyable movie.

 

Looking at the poster and movie description, it does not thrill me to spend the money and buy the ticket. I thought, the movie would contain many gruesome scenes of dead bodies and boring plot of explaining the job description. But I watched, all because I had a treat. And I told myself, if the show is boring, I should just leave the cinema. There is no need to feel embarrassed for saving my time for something more worthwhile. With a rush dinner, low expectations and a lousy seat, surprisingly I remained seated throughout the movie.

 

The movie actually has a simple plot. Do not look down on any jobs. Each job is indeed a profession and there is something special about it. No matter what interests and skills you have, you can always take up any job and perform your best in it. You can call it natural talents to do something well, ability to learn something fast, or passion for a job. The male lead is actually very biased towards the job, but he took it on as the pay is surprisingly high (he needs money urgently) and the employer is desperate to train up someone (this is my feel though he keep claiming this male lead has a gift for this job). However there are several doses of humour which tickled me and there is a story behind each dead body, how the family is facing it, how the person has lived his life. Those who have soft spots for such scenes will need to prepare some tissue papers on hand.