Food Review : Tenkaichi [Wagyu Beef Buffet]

I haven't touched this blog in awhile. But every once in awhile, I feel the need to EXPOSE certain things to the public so they can stop getting scammed. I'd have to say beforehand though that although I'm not a professional food blogger, I am human. I eat. I love good food. What do I love even more than good food? Cheap AND good food! Who doesn't like a cheap deal?

And so I learnt a lesson from this. On my birthday, my bf brought me to Gyu Kaku to have some of the finest beef I've ever tasted. We had both wagyu and normal beef that day and it was so very good. The feeling of the perfect combination of meat and fat melting away on your tongue. It was heavenly. So was the bill (lol). It's affordable but nonetheless still rather expensive, something that you wouldn't be able to eat all the time unless you're damn rich. If you are, good for you.

We both got "addicted" and craved for the beef... Naturally we searched for more wagyu beef restaurants that are hopefully just as good and more friendly on the wallet. That's when my bf stumbled upon Tenkaichi, previously known as Daidomon. It had a wagyu beef buffet promotion going on for $59.90++ per person for dinner. It SEEMED to have good reviews. So we went for it with a group of friends.

Allow me to show you the power of promotional pictures vs reality.

Please click HERE for photos from Tenkaichi. Take note of how they had to specify that pictures are for ILLUSTRATION PURPOSES only. (They didn't use to do that till our comments about the beef pictures.)

In case they edit their posts, here's an example of how they usually do it.

Here's the food that we were served.

A messy pile of dull looking meat. How appealing.

Gyu tan, or ox tongue. Just as dull.

The sushi was alright, but how wrong can you go with sashimi?! The butter fish is nothing special either. It's just tuna. It was neither significantly buttery or fragrant.

Last but not least, here is a comparison of the "wagyu beef" they serve vs the wagyu beef we ate at Gyu Kaku.

 

Above is from Tenkaichi and the pic below is from Gyu Kaku

I'm sure that even without my comments, the difference is obvious. Just look at the color!!! Both pictures are taken with the same camera okay. Tenkaichi's wagyu was just... The fats overwhelmed the meat and the meat had no taste anyway lol. It was just... Meat. There was no melting, no heavenly feeling nor any sense of satisfaction. 

We thought we were smart. We thought we found a good deal. But we were outsmarted. We paid more than $60 for something that isn't even worth half the amount. I'd rather eat steak at a coffeeshop or something. but you know, bad experiences happen in life. We simply left feeling disappointed. 

A while later, my bf commented on their facebook page about the photos taken by a regular consumer in comparison to the pictures they upload. (That's why they started adding those disclaimers lol)

I don't think a simple comment on how the meat looks different warrants such a sarcastic reply from their supposed boss? Or moderator or something. And very obviously, He realized his mistake after. The coward deleted his comments but not before we took some screenshots. Our comments are still there on the facebook page but his isn't. You can check there to verify.

In conclusion, this post is meant to express my displease towards Tenkaichi AND expose their attitude + poor quality beef. If you want to eat nice beef but you have a small budget, go to Gyu Kaku and try their normal beef. Their non-wagyu tastes even better than this shop's wagyu. Don't waste your money or your time travelling to this restaurant. You can score a better deal somewhere else.

Love,

Domo

Disclaimer : This review is based on my first hand experience with Tenkaichi and I am in no way related to them or Gyu Kaku. Should you feel displeased with my review or if you beg to differ, you can always close your browser :)

Food Review : Tsukada Nojo Bijin Nabe

Hello again! Blogged this in advance as I'll be having a busy month!

So, I don't know if you've heard, but apparently there's a beauty hotpot that's all the rage in SG. When I googled it, it was as though it's a pot of liquid gold that everyone loves. Even my bff told me she and her bf loves it. They've gone there on multiple occasions because they love the Bijin Nabe a lot.

After hearing and reading such positive reviews, I had to try it out!

Is it worth the hype..?

Here are the pictures.

You'll get a pot with some tofu looking thing in it. That's the collagen jelly that's supposed to slowly melt into a thick creamy broth.

After roughly 2 minutes or so, the jelly has fully melted into a milky broth, revealing chunks of chicken along the way. At this point of time the server will ladle a small amount of soup for you to taste the original flavor before adding any other ingredients.

These are the ingredients that come with the hotpot. I would say it's 80% vegetables. You'll get a short bamboo stick of meat. I don't know how else to describe that lol. You'll also get 4 prawns. The rest are... Veggies. And that's not a watermelon.

It's a radish! Cute! (But tastes bad to me :/)

You also get to choose from 3 different kind of noodles. I apologize but I've forgotten the choices except the one I chose, which is the thick mochi mochi noodles.

This is the final product. The server will add the ingredients into the pot for you so no worries about wondering which goes in the pot first. The prawns are left alone though. You only cook it when you want to eat it otherwise it'll go hard.

This seaweed paste is served while you're halfway through your meal, specially made for you. (Every table has it though so I don't see the special in this.)

What I think of this :

Well... You must know that if you're a #foreveralone, you probably would skip this as the minimum order serves two. Of course if you're a big eater then go ahead.

I'll talk about the food first. I love the broth. It's very creamy and savory but it's also slightly too salty for me. But it's still addictive as I'm the one who drank most of the soup. My bf hated this soup as he felt that not only was it salty, it tasted milky. He hates milk. I'm not sure if any milk was added into this though I highly doubt it. Maybe it was just really creamy.

The chicken in the soup is supposedly, no ordinary chicken. It's "Jitokko", chicken that's raised in an organic way. Rare chicken. Yup, it's really tender. But then again it's as chicken as the chicken you get in SG. I can't taste anything rare about it. Don't hate me, I'm just being blunt.

The veggies are just veggies, nothing special. The prawns however are really juicy, sweet and fresh! My favorite! But only 4 comes with the pot :(

That's about it for the food. Service was great, the staffs were all polite and friendly. The way they operate however, is just STUPID. Not to be rude or anything but the person who came up with the idea of NO RESERVATIONS must be "square brain". Now I don't visit the Chinatown branch as it's not as accessible as the PS one. The PS outlet is really small so it's really easy to achieve a full house. This Bijin Nabe is only served after 5pm. That's when most people are out to get dinner. You can't reserve seats. So at 5pm, you MUST be there to "chop" your seat. Imagine you're damn unlucky and people do actually start queuing as early as 4pm. You might just have to wait till 8 plus or 9 plus for your dinner. (I went there at 5 plus once and was told that they will be full till closing.)

If they're afraid of no shows, why can't they be flexible and allow reservations and cancel if the patron is 10 minutes late? I have absolutely no patience to be hungry and wait till night for a pot of soup filled with veggies. This concept pisses me off. And honestly, the meal for two without any other order adds up to roughly 30 per pax which is sooooo expensive! $30 for a soup filled with mostly veggies is just unacceptable for me. It's overrated and overpriced. I would rather take the money and go enjoy several plates of sashimi. And if you're eating it for the collagen, I'd advise you to spend your $30 on actual collagen drinks or powders instead. One pot isn't gonna do you any good.

In conclusion, I will not return unless someone's treating me to it. It's just not worth it and I can eat a cheap buffet with that amount of money. I have no patience and a hungry me is an angry me.

Also, here's what you're eating.

Heh. It's full of fats! With collagen of course. (It will look like this when it's cooled so if you don't wanna lose your appetite, keep the soup cooking.)

Love,
Domo

Disclaimer : This review was based on MY opinions. Don't hate me if you feel differently as we all have different tastes. I'm not a professional food blogger or critic. I'm just ranting/reviewing away based on my thoughts after consuming this.

Product Review : JustUme Fiber Plum

Annyeonggggg~~~ I'm so sleepy right now but I must finish this post!

So. For the first time. I'm reviewing a product that MIGHT somehow cause weight loss ;D How many of you have eaten too much over the holidays? AND, CNY is coming next month! We all love food right? We still wanna eat right?

Here's a solution! (I can't assure you that it'll work 100%)

Introducting the JustUme Fiber Plum!

JustUme Fiber Plum (comes in a fruit/plum form) is targeted for digestion and inner cleansing (promote bowel movement). Made of Japanese Umeboshi Plum, Probiotics and Plants extract, JustUme is a natural choice for those people for experience constipation, poor digestion, bloating, gas, bad breath, poor complexion, water retention and weak immunity. Result can be seen within 1-2 days and it is natural.

At this point I'd like to add, do NOT consume this if you are going out after your meal. Unless you are positive that there's always a toilet available for your comfortable usage.

Here's all the nutrition info but I'm not really a healthy living kinda person and I can't really comprehend this :/

The plum comes packaged individually so you can bring this out or overseas easily. If you're going home after a meal outside, take this with ease as it does not activate its magical powers so soon.

Yeap. That's it. It's a plum that's covered in some powder on the outside. I believe the powder makes it tastes bitter though. However when you finish eating the powder covered part it's just a sourish and slightly sweet plum. It's quite big though so chew through it slowly!

Now why did I say it MIGHT help in weight loss? It really really aids in digestion! It works somewhat like the slimming tea that causes you to run to the toilet a few minutes later but SLOWER. And all natural! Personally I've found that my own body takes 4 hours or so to feel the toilet urge. It comes on as a gradual tummyache before you realize that you MUST find the toilet or you'll explode. I recommend doing the business at home as you will let out quite an amount of gas.

I can't say for sure if it'll help you shed a lot of pounds but it kept my weight in check over the days I've consumed it while having hearty meals. If you're constipated, this will help you for sure.

Is this a must buy? If you're someone looking to lose weight, I'd still recommend the exercise + eat less but healthily kinda way instead of using this product. If you're someone who's comfortable with your weight but have big meals once in a while, you can take this to prevent your weight from rising I suppose. And if you're constipated, do try it :D

Please note that the above paragraph is based on my own assumptions luh. Except for the constipated part, this will definitely help you poo.

I can't really rate this product but it does what it claims to do thus it's a 5 star? Also I don't know the price of this item so you'll have to check it out yourself!

Love,
Domo

Disclaimer : This product was sent to me for trial purposes and did not have to be reviewed. I however choose to share what I've tried! This review is 100% honest :D

Bits of Chiharu : BEST Dim Sum ever!

So far that is.

I mean this stall SERIOUSLY has my favorite Dim Sum ever and I thank my lucky stars that these tasty dishes are nowhere near where I stay. Otherwise I'll definitely become severely overweight.

The pictures may not look as tasty because I didn't really have superb lighting as compared to the Yum Cha Buffet but trust me, it's a lot better!

First up, the classic!!!

These are my absolute absolute favorite, irresistible and IRREPLACEABLE Prawn Dumplings! Or otherwise known as Har Gao. Delicious juicy prawns covered with what the TV always describe as the chewy, QQ, toing toing, boing boing skin! It's not too thick, cooked to perfection and nicely translucent!!!

I will die for these~~~

Fried version of the Prawn Dumplings!!! Once again, a lot better than the Yum Cha one! They are not stingy with their prawns, it's wholesome juicy prawns you get and it's just an awesome burst of juices in your mouth!

SPINACH DUMPLINGS. Ya'all know I hate my greens but this is different. Okay my favorite Dim Sum stall is not for the veggie  lovers. There's only one teensy piece of spinach in this whole dumpling and it's filled with juicy soup??? I think it's soup but I'm not sure, there's a nice flavor to it though. And your eyes aren't playing tricks on you, they're filled with prawns too ~

These are Crystal Chives dumpling, just look at that glossy exterior. The skin for this dumpling is just HEAVENLY. I don't know how to describe this but even chives haters can give these a shot. It's not overpowering, very mild actually, to me.

MY CHILDHOOD FAVORITE!!! I know it looks oily but these are great Fresh Prawns Rice Roll okay!!! But the only problem with this is that it's performance fluctuates. It's still pretty acceptable though and hard to find nowadays in normal dim sum shops. Most shops are super stingy with their shrimps and you usually get like hard dried  up ones. This one's QQ too ;D

I don't know the exact name or location of this shop because I've only always head there and nom immediately like a hungry monster. It's somewhere in Geylang though! I think this stall sells Frog Leg Porridge too but I haven't tried it.

Also, apologies for our lack of posts. It's been not such a good week. Work is rather okay but tiring. My personal life is a little messed up. Seriously I can NEVER have good things happen simultaneously in my life. Something good happens only when tons of bad stuff happen. I try to be professional but sometimes mood really does affect my performance ya know? I wanted to review ChocoMarvel initially but it didn't work. So I shan't blog more about it. My cramps are still bad as hell and it's just unpleasant!

Either way, I'll get better. Maybelline event is on Saturday, see my lovelies there if you're attending!

Cheers,
Chiharu ❤

Product Review : AFC Japan CHAKARI Fruits and Vegetables

We ALL know by now that we're supposed to consume plenty of fruits and vegetables each day right? That fact has been drilled into our minds since primary / secondary school but... How many of us take 2 to 4 servings of fruits and 4 to 8 servings of vegetables everyday? By the way that is the recommended intake per day for an average adult.

I'm ashamed to say that firstly, I hate vegetables. Super hate them to the max. I'm very picky when it comes to vegetables and I only eat xiao bai cai and kang kong. Secondly, I am very lazy. I don't like to wash / peel fruits yet at the same time I only eat washed / peeled fruits. Lastly, I don't like the taste of a lot of fruits too, I get bored after eating them for awhile. So sum it all up and basically, I don't eat a lot of fruits nor vegetables.

However, I was sent these!

The AFC Japan CHAKARI Fruits and Vegetables! Let me clarify, when I first got these, I was super skeptical. Because I really hate vegetables and I dread eating some kinda vegetable powder. At the same time I was intrigued by the idea of these AFC Japan CHAKARI Fruits and Vegetables because...

To me, I'd much rather consume 1 sachet of CHAKARI fruits / vegetables than eat 20 cherries OR 3 FRIGGIN CUPS OF BROCCOLI. 20 cherries, still good. But 3 cups of broccoli, I'd rather die.

So great right? Super high in anti oxidants and very natural too, no artificial sweetener, coloring or flavoring. Okay but when I read that it has no artificial sweetener, coloring or flavoring, I was a little worried because I don't like vegetables, much less vegetable powder. But let us continue first before our imagination runs wild.

Descriptions and functions for the CHAKARI fruits.

Descriptions and functions for the CHAKARI vegetables.

Here's the ingredients lists for both the products! You can click to further enlarge. Can you see that they're super high in dietary fiber? Superb for heading toilet and detoxing =x

You'll get 20 sachets per box.

Take one out~

Aim for the dotted line~

CUT with your scissors!

Here's what you should see in your sachet!

Now you can eat this in various ways, depending on what you prefer.

This is the CHAKARI Fruits in powder form.

Alternatively you can dissolve it in water if you prefer. You can even add it to your food.

This is the CHAKARI Vegetables in powder form.

And here is when you mix it with water.

Here's what my taste buds have judged. The CHAKARI Fruits taste like Jack fruit and the CHAKARI Vegetables taste like tomato. They tasted A LOT better than I had imagined them to be and I'm glad to be eating these rather than vegetables. Of course, I'm sure these can't be permanent substitutes but they sure provide a great solution for those who are always busy or unhealthy like me! They're also great for stubborn children (like I was but I'm old now T_T) who don't enjoy their fruits or veges. Personally, the lazy and stubborn me will sneakily sub my supposed intake of fruits and vegetables with these!!!

I'm not a doctor, I can't prove what these have done exactly to my body or stuff like that BUT I've definitely been detoxing a lot more > o < But that I mean... Think along the lines of... Bowel movement... Toilet. I'm very very sure of that!!! And my digestion has definitely improved, just look at the main ingredient! Dietary fiber, how can I not have erm, better digestion and bowel movement..?

Once again, I can't really rate this because it would be really weird to assign ratings to stuff like... Digestion or anything right?! But I will recommend these for fussy eaters, busy people, stubborn children and people on diet who needs more nutrients!

These are available HERE at only $20.11 exclusive of GST! Convenient to eat and bring around for a healthy lifestyle~

At the same time, have you liked their FB page? They're currently having a mini giveaway!

For more information on how to win, please head over to AFC Japan's Facebook!

Many love,
Chiharu ❤

Disclaimer : Pictures that are not watermarked do not belong to me. They are extracted off Lifestream Group or AFC Japan's FB. These products were sent to me for reviewing purposes and does not affect the honesty of my reviews.

Bits of Chiharu : Yum Cha Tea Time Dim Sum Buffet

I'm super tired now, AS USUAL and I think that's because I've always been running around. I'm at the same time pretty bummed again for not making it through my SIA interview... I think I was too nervous and I'M TRYING AGAIN FOR THE NEXT ROUND! It's my dream job!

But keeping to the topic on hand, I'm tired which is why this is a food post, not beauty!

On Thursday, I had...

Yes, Yum Cha Tea Time Dim Sum Buffet! And honestly, I had very high expectations because... I'm not sure why actually, I must have heard good reviews about it before somewhere sometime ago. Please note that this isn't a real food review, I'm not professional enough to do food review, it's more of like... Just my opinion.

I know the pictures might make the food look tasty, but read on to find out if they really are.

Prawn dumplings are my favorite dim sum. I adore prawns and the kinda chewy skin that holds the prawn. However I'm sad to say that for this one, the skin was too thick and sticky. It's texture wasn't very nice. The prawns were also not as sweet and juicy as I expected them to be.

This is the fried version of prawn dumplings. Once again, I was kinda disappointed. They added the "smelly vegetable" in the prawns and there was too much flour. By "smelly vegetable", I don't mean that the vege's gone bad, it's just a vegetable that taste horrible to me and I never liked it or expected it to be in my fried prawn dumpling!!!

This one's pretty decent. Finally! Fried mango prawns I believe. The mango compliments the prawns really well and they're not stingy with the mangoes, it's really fragrant and adds a nice punch of flavor to the entire dish.

THIS WAS HORRIBLE! Thick skin, weird paste! These were supposed to be custard buns okay. But they taste nothing like custard buns. I'm sorry, these just taste like gooey flour with some weird thick paste in it. The paste isn't smooth either.

These are crystal chives dumplings if I'm not wrong. These were quite terrible too. Their skin is always too thick!!!

Er. These should be shark fin dumplings of some sort. I didn't order this. I didn't quite like this either. Tasted nothing like shark fin and I'm personally against eating shark fin. I don't like to slaughter a living thing just for it's fin!!!

These are scallop dumplings? I think so. Once again, the skin was a little too thick and it had the "smelly vegetables" that I don't like. Lots of it.

I don't know the name of this in English but this is commonly known as Siew Mai. This one has fish roe on top but the fish roe looks freaking weird. It's not translucent, it's opaque!!! And that makes it so wrong. This was nothing special. But not horrible tasting either.

Beef balls. They looked oily and disgusting enough that I didn't touch it.

Spring rolls, I didn't try this.

I don't really like normal egg tarts. I only like Portuguese egg tarts.

HORRIBLE. TERRIBLE!!! Firstly, DID THEY HAVE TO BE SO STINGY WITH THE PRAWNS?! I swear the skin is damn thick and long and for each one, they only had 2 prawns or even just 1 in it!!! It was like eating flour. I'm super disappointed with this dish.

Sweet and sour prawns. Only tasted prawns.

All in all, I would probably never return unless all the other dim sum shops died. Their outlets are nowhere near me and I will NEVER specially make a trip down for it. I'll stick to my previous favorite dim sum location!

Love,
Chiharu ❤