This is a restaurant of minimalist design. We had passed by several times but had always skipped it. Not today, though. We felt impressed by the enthusiastic staff who was zealously finding us a seat while we were browsing through their menu at the door. Sometimes, a small gesture made a big difference.

Olive veg sweet potato leaves $8.9

Olive veg is pretty salty. Usually, we couldn't stand salty dishes but when it comes to having porridge, salty dishes suddenly became appealing, and in fact, favorable. What a double judgement we have, right?

Claypot dried chilli frog leg $16.9

Don't you like the smooth and tender frog leg? Drizzle the spicy and sweet gravy over the porridge and instantly transform your plain white porridge to the dark one, not to mention double in flavor too.

Hong Kong style porridge $7.9

The porridge was bubbling hot when served. The smooth porridge paired with  fried fritters, best combination ever. We love to coat the fritters with porridge to slightly soften the harsh edges of the fritters. Yum yum... Was it just me or does food always look more appetizing when served in a clay pot?

Jurong Point 

#03-09

Catching up with friends over a dinner and running out of idea where to go? I have a suggestion for you. 

Kai Krata is a newly opened stall at Blk 134 Bukit Batok Ave 6. Currently, they are having a 50% off (for the first set) promotion. A standard set of BBQ steamboat cost only $13.95. What are you waiting for? The promotion is only valid until 28 Feb 2014.

This was our standard set ($13.95), suitable for two. The prawns were big and fresh, tasted superb be it barbecued or threw into the soup. For the add-on, we chose black pepper beef and tom yum chicken. We barbecued most of the ingredients on this plate.

Vegetables and tang hoon, suitable to be cooked in the soup.

We were provided with butter (for BBQ) and chilli (as dipping sauce).

It was fun brushing the butter on the BBQ plate with lemongrass stalk. It reminded me of putting on make-up, brushing on foundation ... Look at the BBQ plate, it was so smooth after applying the butter, haha.

Tada! Our first round. To prevent the BBQ plate from charring, we often poured soup on the plate. The tom yum taste lah, black pepper taste lah, all washed down to make the delicious broth.

After a few rounds, the BBQ plate only charred slightly, and the soup doubled in its flavour with the many ingredients inside.

I had all these with my favorite milo godzilla, with an extra scoop of vanilla ice-cream. The dome of milo powder on top was pleasing to the eyes and really brighten up my night!

Bye bye Surabaya and here we come Singapore! It was an early flight, we arrived just in time for brunch at Changi Airport. We were really exhausted, so we decided to give ourselves an energy boost at Saboten, which is located at Terminal one.

Saboten rolled up breakfast menu which they serve until 11am. When we arrived at the restaurant, it was almost 11am so we hurriedly place order for this chicken katsu sandwhich (part of the breakfast menu).

We were provided with this wooden stick and sesame seeds. Some pounding exercise before meal.

   

This Irodori combo meal ($28) was interesting, you get to choose which katsu goes into your plate. My choice was: main dish - mentai tenderloin, sub-side dish - asparagus cheese roll, side-dishes - ratatouille katsu and mini cheese katsu. Among these, my personal favorite was the ratatouille one. Yum yum.

This was Irodori curry ($23). The breadcrumbs outside the katsu was fried to perfect crisp while the meat remained tender juicy in the inside. The curry gravy was fine. After all the spicy food in Indonesia, this sweet curry barely tickled our tongues.



Together with the tonkatsu they served shredded cabbage. It can be enjoyed with yuzu dressing or sesame dressing. The best part is, the cabbage is refillable. We love shredded cabbage, and it is not surprising if you see any one of us alone finishing off this gigantic bowl of cabbage. It was so refreshing, especially after eating the katsu, it kind of cleansed our tongue from the oiliness.



We love the katsu here; service-wise, we thought there are still rooms for improvement.

This was our last meal in this Surabaya trip. To make it memorable, we had our sumptuous dinner at Malioboro. This place is famous for their pressure cooked style food and don't be surprise that even bones can be eaten! I love every single dish at the table, you can imagine how gluttonous I was. 

Bandeng Presto Dalam Sarang (Rp 35,000)

The bandeng fish was first cooked under high pressure, and then deep fried while fully encapsulated in this cocoon shaped fritters.

It was sooo good. We once packed it back to Singapore but it didn't taste as good after being reheated. Fresh is always better. The meat was not the soft and tender type, but it was not too dried up either. It crumbled easily in the mouth and it was a flavour burst in every single bite.

Cah Tauge Ikan Asin (Rp 19,500)

Sambal Goreng Teri Pete (Rp 19,500)
I don't really mind the petai smell, in fact, I love it!

Sup Gurami (Rp 45,000)
For the sake of 4 little ones at the table, we ordered this fish soup. It was a simple, decent dish, and of course, non-spicy.

Ayam Presto Cabe Merah (Rp 20,000)
The high pressure cooked chicken was tossed in red chilli, it was a super spicy dish. I only took a bite and passed it on.

Ayam Presto Rica-Rica (Rp 20,000)
Rica-rica is a kind of sambal too, although the sauce looked rather red, it was actually not as spicy as the ayam presto cabe merah

Ayam Presto Telur Asin (Rp 20,000)
This was no doubt my favorite high pressure cooked chicken in salted egg sauce. It was such a sinful yet irresistible dish. The salted egg sauce was creamy with the light sandy texture from the egg yolks. I wonder how many egg yolks had went into this rich-in-flavor and finger-licking good sauce.

Tahu Telor (Rp 22,000)
The tahu was mashed and stir fried with egg, paired with sweet dark gravy.

Cah Kangkung Polos (Rp 18,000)
Some greens after all the protein feed.

After returning to Singapore, I learn't that there is a branch of Malioboro opened in Jurong Point. Now that my favorite food aren't that far anymore, I can satisfy my cravings for Malioboro chicken anytime I like!

Location

Jl RA Kartini 

No 47 Surabaya

Which one more powerful, prata or nasi lemak? We were here to find out! Phil told us that this place sells super spicy nasi lemak. Our curiosity, together with the power of the prata, drew us like a magnet to their restaurant!

Located along Jalan Jurong Kechil, this place is not easily missed with its eye-catching burning flame image as the background of their signage board.

The interior was pretty much kampung style, non-pretentious and easily make you feel home. Although the place wasn't crowded, we waited quite a while for our menu and food to be served.



Just as we were wondering if we should nudge them to get our food out faster, my prata was served. There were two huge pieces of prata, one with egg and another one plain. I usually prefer plain one as I find it more crispy. However, the prata here were just like its name suggests, powerful, even the egg prata was crunchy!



My prata was served with chicken rendang ($6.5). We love the fragrant from the galangal and lemongrass. The gravy just isn't enough for the 2 huge prata.



This is jumbo set ($7.5), with the nasi lemak sitting on the omelette. Other than that, nothing really special about this dish.

We find this sambal squid set ($6) worth every single cents, the nasi lemak was served with chicken wing, fish, squid, egg, peanuts and cucumber. I think this set is clearly more sumptuous than the jumbo set.

Curry fish head was on promotion ($9.9) so we ordered one too. I was digging through the gravy but couldn't find my favorite lady's finger, disappointed... The curry gravy was infused with many herbs and spices, rendering a taste similar to Indian style curry.



The food here wasn't as spicy as we thought of. We heard that they might have toned down the spiciness level to suit the taste buds of general public. Hmm... I wonder if we could place special order to have a glimpse of their super spicy nasi lemak again!

102C Jalan Jurong Kechil

Indonesia is really the best place for spicy food lovers. In most of the restaurants, you get to choose the spiciness level of the food. They even have sambal that is rated non-spicy!

We had so much spicy food during our Surabaya trip and our stomachs finally started to complain. To sooth our over-stimulated stomachs, we ordered this sup buntut a.k.a. oxtail soup. Who knews, even this innocent looking soup can be real spicy too.

Cah kangkong, stir-fried with chilli. Just avoid biting the chilli and you should do just fine.

Finally something not spicy - sate iga hotplate. I thought I should limit myself to one piece but I just couldn't stop my hand to grab more. The iga was grilled with sweet soya that glazed into caramelized crust under the heat. The meat was juicy tender and finger`licking good.

Just be careful don't bite your finger k?

Location
Jl. HR Muhammad
Ruko Surya Inti B-2
 

If you want to try a variety of East Java food but you only have an afternoon to spare, this is one of the places you can go. You get to try many famous food under this single roof.

I didn't really know what is nice here, so just let the local decide while I sit back and waiting for the food to be served.

This is soto ayam biasa ($2.1) from Soto Ayam Ambengan (Pak Sadi Asli). The brownish flakes floating on the soup is a kind of shredded keropok. You can ask for more to add an extra crunch to your soup. This soup is better than any soto ayam that I had ever tried.

It was a love at first sip. The broth was so rich and flavorful, and it left a pleasant after-taste in your mouth. If you are a soto fan like me, you would wish that you have a spare stomach with you. The bowl was almost wiped clean, we made sure nothing left wasted.

Semanggi Suroboyo ($1.1) - some vegetables served with sweet peanut sauce. Not so fancy about this dish.

Although looked similar, this satay ayam is different with those we have in Singapore. The marination is sweet, the choice of meat is lean, and the sauce tasted different too.

The last to come was nasi gudeg, it was served with taupok and chicken. Gudeg is a sweet stew made of nangka (jack fruit), sugar, coconut milk and some other spices. Although it looked boring, it was actually quite tasty.

In Surabaya, we almost eating non-stop. I wonder how much weight I have gained already...

Location

Jl. Jenderal Basuki Rahmat No. 8-12
Tunjungan Plaza III, Lt.5

What kind of shop come to your mind when someone mentioned Kayu?

When WG told us he was bringing us to Kayu, the first few images popped up in my mind was wooden furniture shop, wood craft shop... Turned out? Comtemporary Japanese dining place. OK, I admit that I had my prejudice, because I have not came across any Japanese restaurant without a Japanese name.

Quietly tucked at the 5th floor of Srijaya Building, this is a place easily missed if not guided by local. The restaurant was opened around 2 years ago. Over the years, it has earned its reputation even among the native Japanese.

Under the recommendation of WG, we ordered this salmon marine ($7.2) - sliced marinated salmon served with salad and orange, completed with yuzu dressing. Usually, we love to eat salmon sashimi just as it is, but at Kayu, we simply couldn't resist dipping 'em into this refreshing yuzu dressing. It was almost like an automatic reflex!

This platter of sushi, carefully arranged in a curvy shape, is called Dragon ($9.5). Grilled eels crowning the california roll which filled with avocado, Tobiko Roe and vegetable. We love it that there were extra sauces on the plate which we could easily wipe 'em up with the sushi.

This was another standout dish, and it was not listed on the menu, only the regular patrons who knows it order this. The yakiniku beef was medium well done and served with salad as the side. The meat was rendered tender and impressively fragrant. It invoked fond memories of us tucking into a bowl of piping hot and impeccable yakiniku rice at a busy fish market in Japan.

While we enjoying our edamame ($1.8), the little ones at the table were busy digging out the beans from the pods, and diligently peel off the semi-transparent skin.

The tip of the pod was conscientiously cut off for our sheer convenience. I thought this was a heart-warming service for the customers. 

Gyu Suki Nabe ($12), a pot of sliced beef and vegetables cooked in Sukiyaki sauce. Beneath the vegetables and beef was the perfectly done udon noodles, chewy and tasty. The portion was so big that it can feed 3 persons easily. This was a fair dish slightly on the saltier side.

Seafood lovers will love this Aburi Sushi ($10) - assorted lightly grilled seafood sushi. In Japan we learnt that authentic Japanese sushi already has a hint of wasabi in the sushi, hence there is no need to add much more wasabi . These sushi were made authentically, which really impressed me.

Ended our meals with desserts. We wanted to see how cream brûlée ($3.8) was interpreted in this Japanese restaurant. It was served with fruits and a scoop of our choice of ice-cream. We had one with orange flavoured ice-cream and another with green tea flavoured ice-cream. The grapes and strawberry was frozen and served icy cold, which added a refreshing twist to this creamy dessert.

So why Kayu? You may ask. Well, we noticed that the settings in the restaurant was adorned mainly with wood furnishing, perhaps that explains why. Dimly lit up with yellow lightings, It invoke a homey and comfy ambience, perfect for a relaxing meal. It is not easy to come across an authentic Japanese restaurant in Indonesia, this one had certainly made it to my 'must go' list during my next visit!




Srijaya Building, 5th Floor
Jalan Mayjend Sungkono No. 212 – 214
Surabaya, Indonesia
Tel +6231 5622503