Tampopo

TGIF! (:

Today's post shall be short and sweet because I'm feeling a little tired. Anyhow, Jeffrey and I went to Tampopo last weekend for some yummy Japanese food! =) I've heard and read good reviews of this restaurant so I/ we went there with high expectations.
It's located at the corner of Liang Court shopping centre. I don't think you can miss it because its big name is plastered on the wall.

This is taken at the entrance of Tampopo. I actually quite like the name because it sounds unusual and catchy.

Most of the "essentials" like chopsticks, soya sauce, chilli powder etc. are placed at the corner of the table (ala Sushi Tei style). I like this kind of table setting because we can practise self-service and get what we need without bothering the waiters/ waitresses.

The waiters/ waitresses are very efficient. They promptly brought us two cups of (free) ocha even before we made our orders! I guess it's their attempt to provide good service to customers.

Shio Ramen ($13.80) with additional sweet corn ($1.50). Personally, I liked this dish because the ramen was springy and there were generous portions of seaweed and beansprouts. The soup was pretty tasty as well but I think the Char Siew Ramen soup base at Santouka is still the best that I've tried. The overall portion size for this dish is quite big so this is definitely something you can order if you're feeling famished.

Black Pig Katsu Don Set ($22.50). Tampopo is famous for their black pigs. If wagyu beef is a cut above the usual beef, I guess black pig is the equivalent of wagyu in pork terms. Jeffrey, the resident katsu don eater, usually orders chicken katsu don instead of pork katsu don because he says that pork has a particular smell and doesn't taste as nice as chicken. I managed to convince him to try Tampopo's famous black pig katsu don set and I'm glad that he enjoyed every morsel of his food (: He commented that his pork slices didn't have the usual smell and they tasted much softer and juicier than usual pork katsu slices. I guess black-pig pork really tastes better than normal pork! Do try it to taste the difference!

Like most Japanese restaurant these days, Tampopo also has a conveyor belt system but their conveyor belt system is not just any run-of-the-mill kind of system! Instead of having many small sushi plates on the conveyor belt, the conveyor belt is almost always empty! The funny thing is that the conveyor belt keeps running even though there's nothing on it most of the time. We decided to test the utility of this system by ordering a plate of california maki.

Each table is divided into two by a conveyor belt that runs through the middle section of the table.

Notice that there's an opening to allow dishes on the main checkered conveyor belt to be delivered onto the conveyor belt that's on the table.

That's our California Maki ($8.80)! Apparently this dish has been placed on the conveyor belt by the chef in the kitchen and it's rolling to us now! =)

The black push-bar on the left-hand side of the photo miraculously pops out in time to push our plate of sushi towards our conveyor belt! I wonder how they manage to accurately designate a particular dish to a particular table.. it's pretty ingenious, don't you think?

Ta-da! Our California Maki makes its arrival on our table top (: Amazing!

If you've never really been fond of pork, perhaps you should make a trip down to Tampopo to try their black pig! You may change your mind about pork after that (: Their ramen and sushi are also above average so Tampopo is generally a good place to dine at if you feel like having Japanese food.

Alright, that's all for tonight! Shall end off here (: Goodnight!