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<\/a>I started with some junmai sake. The Kagatobi ‘Gokkan’<\/strong> (300ml, $32) delivers a delicate and slightly fruity profile but with a dry finish, great with light savoury dishes.<\/p>\n So we were presented some Chinese Homemade Pickles<\/strong> to munch on before the meal. They were good but remembered as water-downed kimchi with hardly any distinct flavours.<\/p>\n The first trio of appetizer courses hit the table looking very familiar. I felt like sitting at an old dinner years ago at Farmer’s Apprentice<\/a>. The\u00a0Marina’s Gold Oysters<\/strong>\u00a0was topped with pickled grape and fresh horseradish became the first highlight of the evening. The\u00a0Winter Greens Salad<\/strong> looked colourful with thinly sliced Asian Pear, pickled\u00a0radish, and bonito flakes, but it was not memorable. And I found way too much crunchy texture in the Spicy Marinated Burdock Salad<\/strong>, my mouth felt tired after chewing on a couple slices of the fibery burdock root.<\/p>\n The next dishes were very plain in colour so I was expecting big flavours, or some kind of contrasting wow factors. However, I wasn’t sure the purpose of the\u00a0Pork, Duck & Mushroom Pate with Persimmon Relish<\/strong>. Since there’s no bread or other starchy dishes to go with it, I supposed it was light enough to be eaten on its own. But isn’t pate supposed to give this rich and luscious texture? I could barely taste the soy bacon & sour cabbage in the\u00a0Steamed Radish Cake<\/strong> and it seemed extremely plain in flavour\u00a0and texture, even though it reminded me of the Radish Cake in dim sum a little bit. The Steamed Tofu and Shirako with XO Sauce<\/strong> and Ginger<\/strong> sounded more exciting than it looked, as shriako is the Japanese word for salmon sperm sac. But it was just okay and less memorable than expected.<\/p>\n The next dishes were much tastier!<\/p>\n The Daily House Dumplings\u00a0<\/strong>had a filling of pork, spicy cod roe, and cheese. But I could imagine the amount of cod roe and cheese was very little, but it was good enough to make the pork dumplings interesting and delicious.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Tamarind Glazed Whole Lemon Sole<\/strong>, Komatsuna is definitely one of my favourite dish of the evening. The sweet and sour sauce was\u00a0striking a home\u00a0run with such a great flavour\u00a0that’s not overpowering the sweetness of the fresh fish.<\/p>\n The other meat dish totally reminded me of my Cantonese home. The 3-Week Aged Whole Quail<\/strong> was garnished with turnip, ginger, and scallion.\u00a0 The aging process gives the meat a strong flavour that’s similar to prosciutto or “lap” product in Cantonese cooking. There was a lot of meat on those quails, and it was a satisfying dish if you enjoy eating meat.<\/p>\n The Housemade Tantan Ramen<\/strong>\u00a0concluded the savoury part of the menu, and it was quite pleasing on the palate. It has what it takes to make good tantan noodle, the creamy and nutty tantan sauce that gives the noodles a\u00a0 luscious finish. But I wish there were something more to make the tantan noodles stand out from all the tantan noodles I have tried.<\/p>\n Although I prefer my dessert not too sweet. But I was hoping the Steamed Black Sesame Cake<\/strong> much sweeter in this case. In my mind, the slightly bitter nuttiness in black sesame always goes well with the sweet taste.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>