Isetan Supermarket’s Hokkaido Fair

Isetan Supermarket has quite a few themed fairs and the Hokkaido Fair is a regular fixture there. I try to get there for it’s always dependable sushi sets. This time, there were snow crab boxed rices. DC’s was the bigger one. It had uni (sea urchin), my favourite ikura (salmon roe), sake (salmon), cooked salmon, and crab claw pieces.

Mine had mainly shredded crab, lots more ikura than DC’s box, and uni. It also had more pickles, which I liked loads. The crab was juicy and delicately oceanic, and the uni was creamy and had that characteristic almost-ammonia whiff. I guess I’m not the biggest fan of uni given that smell. But of course, it was the ikura that sends me to heaven. I cannot say too many times how much I love the bursty-salty fish egg goodness. Coupled with the perfectly cooked rice gone a touch beyond al dente and the lovely pale pink daikon pickle, this rice box was so good I didn’t even need the soy sauce to go with it.

Because we both skipped breakfast, we thought it perfectly reasonable to order Hokkaido ramen too. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite as wow as we thought. Fortunately, we only ordered one bowl, the special seafood ramen. Only 50 bowls of this flavour were made each day. It had a fair bit of seafood in it: crab claw, uni, shrimp, squid and a skirted scallop. It was all pretty agreeable, but not so exquisitely fresh or flavourful that I would devour the whole thing by myself. I liked the noodles a great deal though. They were done perfectly al dente, just the way I like it, and I guess just the way the Japanese like it.

I can’t wait for the next Hokkaido Fair!

Isetan Supermarket
50 Orchard Road Shaw House
Tel: 6733 1111

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A Night Where the Eating was Incidental

It was one of those nights that happens when too many winos and people possessing wine turn up and all alcoholic hell breaks loose. While the food was great, it was incidental, only serving as a foil for the wine. Here’s what we had:

First up was the rather pompously named Flonheimer Bingerberg Bacchus Kabinett (2007) from the Rheinhessen region in Germany. It was pale yellow with a nose of honeysuckle, peach and soft fruit. Mid-sweet and pleasing, it wasn’t very complex and made for easy drinking. Rating: 3/5

Next was the Wolf Blass Gold Label Shiraz (2005) from the Barossa Valley in Australia. It was red-purple with lots of mulberry nose, boasting big fruit and soft tannins. A straight forward and again not very complex wine, it’d do great for barbecues. A typical outdoor Aussie barbie comes to mind. To our surprise, it also went beautifully with dark chocolate cupcakes. Not a lot of wines can handle chocolate, so extra points for that. Rating: 4/5

There was another red in between but I narrowly missed out, watching in vain as the resident wino casually poured out the last of the bottle. Mental note: must act faster next time. No matter, the dessert wines that followed more than made up for it.

The Trentham Noble Taminga (2005) from New South Wales, Australia was a golden amber brew with a heady melon and honey nose. It was rather syrupy and sweet but also very refreshing because it isn’t sticky like most dessert wines. In a word, luscious. Strangely enough, having some kiwi fruit with it brought out the citrus notes.Rating: 3.5/5

Up next was a non-vintage Italian Vin Santo, Il Santo Giglio di Firenze from Tuscany. Such a deep amber it was almost brown, giving off nutty toffee and raisin notes. It was sweet, extremely syrupy and viscous, a great digestif. Rating: 4/5

Last of all was yuzu liquor from Japan. We should have drunk it as an aperitif because it was light and fresh. The slightly medicinal citrus whiff of yuzu went well on the rocks. It’s also sweet, making it a good ladies’ drink. Think umeshu and the like. Rating: 3.5/5

After all the eating and mainly drinking, there were red faces all round. It didn’t stop us from playing wii and that got us even more red-faced and merry.

Key to ratings:

0 Wouldn’t touch it with a 10 foot pole
1 I’d rather drink beer
2 If there’s nothing better
3 Just one glass is fine
4 More, please!
5 Where can I get a case?