Wednesday 30 July 2014

Kessel & March

Whole Roasted Sardines and Radish and Herb Salad 3/5 - largest sardines I've ever seen.  Probably my first time eating a whole sardine but there were lots of bones.  Too much work for me to have my other 1/2.  1.5 gigantic sardine per person.

Piri Piri Cornish Game Hen, Roasted Potatoes, corn, green beans 2.5/5 - Chicken was okay juicy but was not super juicy.  The sides were also okay but nothing too special.  You get 1/2 a hen each, with 2 corns.

Pastis de Nata (Portuguese egg custard tart) 2/5 - totally different from the ones you get from T&T.  The crust was more like a biscuit.  It was thick and hard.  They were sprinkled with cinnamon and icing sugar.  Luckily, they weren't too sweet but the custard was only 1/2 full in the shells.  You get 2 tarts per person.

I thought Kessel and March are known for their Wednesday family suppers.  So we decided to try the Portuguese night on Wednesday.  Dinner was scheduled for 7pm but we had to wait until 7:30pm because a couple was late.  They ended up sitting at the bar then why did we have to wait in the first place.  Food was okay but the portions were a little bigger than expected.  The chef came out and checked on us a few times.  He also told us where he got the ingredients from.  I would suggest this place if you want a good deal but not a place for foodies.

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Thursday 24 July 2014

Smart n Save Cafe


Egg Sandwich 4/5 $3 4/5 - Soft sliced white bread but they were not toasted (at least they didn't ask me if I want them toasted.)  Can I also have the option to add cheese please?  The egg wasn't as thick as what was shown on their Facebook.  I would say they used 1.5 eggs instead.  I thought it says $5 with a hot milk tea but they charged me the original price.  (Still haven't learned the check the bill!)  Not sure if it was a take out.
Hot Milk Tea $2.5 3.5/5 - the tea is a little bitter and less evaporated milk than what I like.


Mozzarella Deep Fried Shrimp Ball $4.5 4.5/5 - I really liked this.  Melting cheese in a shrimp ball.  It's also a little pricy for 1 piece at $4.5.  Can you get them frozen so that I can make them at home?
Fake Shark's Fin Soup $3 3/5 - too thick/gluey with too much cornstarch.  It didn't come with any vinegar, pepper, or sesame oil.  I thought they are must haves for the soup.  Luckily I could find some, otherwise it was bland.  I could Chinese mushrooms and shredded pork in it.  It was only 1/2 filled too.
Iced Lemon Tea $3 4/5 - It didn't come with any sliced lemon but you could definitely taste the lemon in the tea.  This is good because the sliced lemon will make the drink taste bitter.


pretty good for a new small business but some advice:
-food is definitely good but in a bad location.  I'm sure they will have more business if it is located in the Aberdeen food court of something.  I hope they can stay in business.
-they posted their daily lunch menu on their fb page without saying what time it's being served.  Is it an all-day lunch?  They just have one lunch special per day which is smart but adding some more choices would be better if they have enough business.
-They also need to post a copy of the menu on Facebook.
-He told my food will be ready in 10 minutes.  It wasn't ready and I had to wait for another 10 minutes.  So I had a little chat with one of the people working there.  He said it's pretty quiet after lunch time so they might need to do something to attract business.
-Afternoon tea hours is 2:30-5pm.  Maybe extending it to 5:30pm may help.  It closes at 6pm.
-Since they are the same owner with the Smart N Save Grocery Store in Landsdowne.  They can provide some discount if you come after shopping or something.  I'm sure some people will drop by if you promote that at the Grocery store.
-There are more seats than enough so far.  Part of the area could be used as a mini grocery store.  People working in the area can drop by to grab some biscuits, candies, chips, instant noodles, and etc.  There is nothing like this in the area yet (with T&T coming soon).

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Friday 18 July 2014

Yakinikuya Japanese BBQ Restaurant

Salmon Tataki (Thinly sliced Salmon sashimi lightly seared and served with mixed vegetables) $8 4.5/5 - salmon were okay fresh but what I liked was that it came with dressing already.  No soya sauce was needed.

Rainbow Roll (Salmon, tuna, ebi, and avocado on california roll with unagi sauce) $12 3/5 - It was okay but nothing special.  The rice was a little softer than what I wanted.

Lettuce Set $3 - comes with sliced garlic, sliced green chilli pepper and korean chill sauce.  The chili sauce was quite salty so remember not to put too much.  We could have ordered another set.

Sakura Combo $44 (Korean Style Kalbi 180g; Special Kalbi 120g; NegiTan 120g; Pork Belly 120g; Pork Jowl 120g; 4 Side Dishes; 2 Miso Soups; and 2 Steamed Rice) 4.5/5 - There are about 6 pieces each except the pork belly came with 4.  The pork were too fat for us.  I wish we could ask for leaner ones.  More than 50% were fat.  It looks like every table ordered this combo.


Pretty good value for the quantity and quality of the food.  They forgot about our soup and rice.  The first bowl of rice they brought was much bigger than the second one they brought.  So I would say the combo rice was about 60% of the regular priced one.  The quality of meet is much better than Gyukaku.  Gyukaku has dropped much when you compare it when they first started.  I only go there during happy hour now.  You also don't get to pick the sauce of your meat.  It didn't bother me because they tasted very similar.

I've made a reservation for 8:30pm and there was a walk-in couple waiting.  When they had a table available, we thought that the table should be ours.  The owner explained because the other party was there first.  Then what is the purpose of making a reservation?? Service was okay but they kept forgetting some of our order.  We ordered another BBQ dish which never came.

Finally, special thanks to pinkmashmellows for her 10% off on Japanese BBQ.  The owner decided to give us 10% off everything.  However, I only found out after that they did charge me $2 for two bowls of rice which should be included in the Sakura Combo.  This special is still valid for another week.  They also have a 50% off happy hour Sun-Thu after 9pm.

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