Makisan / M(- a -)ki san - Sushi and Salad with nice presentation and taste

• Operating Days: Daily
• Address: Multiple Location
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Fancy some healthier options after indulging all the junk food you see during your CNY visiting? 

We chance upon Makisan when we were walking past Ang Mo Kio central and decided to give this shop a try. Makisan is a halal certified Design-Your-Own Sushi / Salad restaurant situated alongside with many shop houses. 

The shopfront is neat and clean, and the staffs working in store were systematic - one to take order, one to place the ingredient the customer choose together and one to wrap and cut your sushi into pieces (via a machine), before packing them the into the sushi box. 

You can choose to design your own salad or design your own sushi by filling up the forms available at the entrance of the shop. The guided steps on the order sheet is clear and easy to fill. We’ve decided to try out the DIY sushi during our visit. Other than the Japanese white rice, they have the healthier brown rice option for you to choose on top of your usual nori (seaweed) base, or egg crepe base - for a change!

We waited about 5 minutes before our order is ready. While waiting, we noticed a lot of deliveroo and foodpanda deliverers collecting their orders as well. Our diy sushi came with a cute Tiffany blue box, and it totally looked like we have received an expensive gift ( well, it does look like a watch box to be honest) !

They have two sizes for sushi, one is Mega San and the other, which we ordered, is the “Little San”. The difference between the two as per how it is named, is of course the size of the sushi. 

Our creation as seen above. Everything in it has what we usually order off the sushi bar! Our wrap contains Chicken floss, tamago and crab stick. For the sauce, we have chosen yuzu sesame. We like the slight hint of yuzu in the sesame taste and we thought it went quite well with the overall ingredients we have chosen. It has a refreshing taste and yet it’s not overpowering, definitely a sauce you can try if you visit!

We ordered the tempura enoki mushroom to go along with our Little San. The tempura batter was very crispy, but a little too oily for our liking. It would be so much better if the chef can heat up cooking oil in the deep frying pan to the right temperature before frying the enoki mushroom.

Makisan is one of the no frill and healthy food store concept that is slowly gaining its popularity especially among the younger generations. About 90% of the ingredients are non deep fried, and what makes it greater is that you can choose the ingredients you like to put them into your sushi, based on your mood. If you have no idea what to put inside your sushi, Makisan has their own menu for you to choose as well. We will definitely return soon to try out their DIY salad. Do share with us your experience if you have tried them before! 

Smokin' Joe Western BBQ - 100% Charcoal grilled meat in Hawker Centre

• Operating Days: Daily
• Operating Time: 1 PM to 10 PM
• Address: Yishun Park Hawker Centre, 51 Yishun Ave, #01-37, S 768867
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Yishun Park Hawker Centre has a number of stalls selling food that I love, which of course, includes Ah Tan. Just today, I’ve found another stall that caught my attention in terms of the technique they used to prepare their food, and also the taste - Smokin’Joe Western BBQ!

At the stall, it stated charcoal grill which I am expecting to see a hot grill bar with rows and rows of sizzling chicken/beef on it. Never did I expect at Smokin’ Joe, Charcoal Oven - a combination of a grill and an oven in a single machine was used to prepare their food. This is so far the first hawker stall I’ve seen that uses a professional oven.

The most popular item on the list is BBQ Boneless Chicken Leg ($7).  There have also the Sashimi Grade Baked Salmon ($14.00) and BBQ Wagyu Ribeye Grade 5 ($32) on the menu as well.

Dishes are mainly prepared using a charcoal grilled oven. 

The smoky flavours arise from the cooking method by using 100% charcoal, the meats are cooked on a charcoal grill and oven.

So once ordered, you will get a pager as all order were made-to-order. The only cons of a charcoal grill are that you will need to wait for a while before the food is served. I waited for about 10 monies before my pager vibrates, which indicates that my order is ready for collection over at the counter.

The charcoal-grilled chicken thigh meat was served on top of a spread of mashed potato, together with a big piece of garlic bread and salad. Just with the first bite of the chicken, I could taste the distinct charred flavour with a subtle smokiness in it.

Succulent and smoky, the lingering flavour clings to your tongue even as you polish off the sizeable portion.

When you order barbequed chicken, you’ll expect it to have the charred taste of barbequing. And that’s exactly what Smokin’ Joe Western BBQ promises and delivers.

The first bite was mind-blowing. 

It was an enjoyable meal and I am interested to try the other dishes, very soon.

For all western food lovers — give them a try! Do share with us your experience after visiting them!

The Assumption Restaurant for Training (The Art) - Fine dining in School

• Operating Days: Mondays to Fridays
• Operating Time: 12 PM to 5 PM (Monday to Thursday), 12 PM to 9.30PM (Friday)
• Address: 30 Cashew Road, S 679697
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Assumption Pathway School (APS) is one of the specialized schools for students in Singapore who are slightly slower in learning as compared to the average students. It is an alternative school for secondary drop-out as well.

The Assumption Restaurant for Training, also known as The ART, is a semi-fine dining restaurant that serves Western and Asian cuisines. It is open for the public to visit and dine. The school provides a working environment for their students in the Hospitality Services, allowing them to put their skills and knowledge into practice. It also creates a platform for students to further enhance their training, especially important to those who are not yet ready to be employed outside due to lack of confidence or request by parents due to their young age. 

So you may wonder, is the food served here are of good quality?

Please be patient with their service as the place is operated by students who are still learning and gaining practical experience from what they have learnt in school.

After 5 mins of walking in the institution, we have arrived at The Art.

They change their menu here at the restaurant on a daily basis. The highly raved porridge buffet is available on the last Friday of the month, and we would love to try it out someday!

We were being served by the students almost immediately when we reached the restaurant. After we sat down, we’ve noticed a few of them were tagged to their mentors/teachers, to guide the students as and when they need. We were served by the students very promptly and they were all generally very courteous. Really thumbs up for their effort!

We waited for about 1-2 minutes before the bread with butter were served. 

The corn soup came almost immediately as well, right after serving our bread. The corn bits given in each bowl of cream soup was really generous, and there was no need to add any artificial ingredient to enhance the taste. It was smooth but slightly too sweet for us, we had to eat it together with the bread to balance the sweetness.

One thing worth mentioning is definitely the attention given by the students. Once we have finished each of our dishes, they will clear it for us within a minute.

We ordered one main each to try and the Roasted Herb Brined Chicken with Sweet & Sour Sauce came first. To be honest, we didn’t have high expectation of the taste when we first saw it as the chicken thigh looked very pale and dry. However, the first mouth really surprised us! The chicken was tender and very well marinated! Somehow, the taste was very similar to the chicken at Poulet and we really like it a lot!

Next came was the Fried Fish Fillet with Sambal Mayonnaise. Similar to the chicken, it looked very dry from the outside but once you cut it up and have the first bite, we could taste the freshness and tenderness of the fish, with an extremely crispy crust outside. It went very well with their sambal mayonnaise, which offset the overall oily feeling we felt towards the end. We love this dish!

The dessert came last with a slight disappointment as we were having high hopes of seeing many people buying their cakes and bread over the counter. We felt that the cake had too much cream on it and it tasted slightly below average.

Overall, we had a good dining experience at the ART, with good service rendered and good food prepared by the students, and it’s reasonably priced. Please give these students your greatest support to instil them with more confidence, indirectly creating a more inclusive society as a whole.