Yakiniku @ Dotonbori, Osaka

The brightly-lit loud and vibrant street of Dotonbori in Osaka. This is the tourist stretch and basically you can get anything along the same street, from food to drinks, entertainment, Pachinko slots arena, souveniers shops, high street fashion stores and even gals...yes gals...u can get any gals u like on this same street too.

But we were much more busier stuffing our faces with pipping hot Takoyaki. Or busy buying all the limited edition Kit Kats, junk foods, chips in all flavours, biscuits but most of all fries LOL!!!

Every shop here screams for attention. This one is a cute one from Meiji, the selections that they have in Japan is amazing~~~~ the land of fun and cute food.

giant Gyoza on the billboard....
one could easy get entranced along Dotonbori with all these humourous billboard and signages.

We even have Giant Octopus here, reminded me of Dr. Octavius Brine from Penguins of Madagascar hahahahaha....u know the evil Octo that turned all cute pengis into mutated ones?

Giant Fugu fish....so it's obvious that this place serves the potent marine life hahaha. Yep we have eaten fugu before and it was OK.

Kudairo Taro playing drum. He's one of the main attraction here and the symbol of Osaka.
I can't remember how many times have we been to Dotonbori and still be mesmerised by all the energy exuded here. 

the running Glico Man....:))) they have so many flavours here in Japan.


Beautiful scallops being grilled on its shell. The aroma of seafood being grilled along this street was pretty intoxicating. Giant crabs, oysters, prawns and scallops...AaaAAAAaaaaa The aroma just attracted everyone to queue up for these mollusc.

small lil shop tucked in between all the "screamers"
We decided to be a lil bit touristy to dine along Dotonbori. Just for a change. Sometimes during our vacation, we'll make space, a night or two with no reservations anywhere just to eat what we think we feel like on that particular day/time.

Sowwyyyy...both of us are so meticulous, every travels come with itinerary, confirmation and reservation. It's always so well-planned so maybe for certain days it should be free and easy. I guess this was a practice at work...every itinerary has to be well planned, coordinated and efficient. 

So on a casual evening, we just tapped onto our phones to get some recommendations for grilled beef and found ourselves in this lil unassuming yakiniku place. So here we go CHEERS~~~~~

Sweet juicy tomatoes~~~

crunchy fresh cabbage...somehow the cabbage here are alwiz sweet with no tannin.

Nope it's not chicken guys....it's the pork cheeks!!! so yummy :))

homemade pork sausage...that nite we were so pigged out hahahaha

what's a yakiniku without some awesome beef with marblings??
hehehehhe

JS: "Monkey u ready?"
Monkey nodded...u are the chef...u cook!!! I'll just enjoy my Asahi...hahaha I feel like a man...alwiz :P

la la la la la
and JS grilled each piece to perfection, having learnt it from Chef Takashi Kimura during our trip last year to Sapporo.

more beef~~~ gimme gimme gimme

and it sizzles~~~~

It was a rustic and simple meal but extremely satisfying....and we ordered plates after plates of beef :))))

ended our meal with vanilla ice cream in frozen strawberries :))) What a delight

after our scrumptious meal, we walked around hunting for more bites among the huge neon billboard of Dotonbori. :)) If u find yourself with no plans, no reservations and have no idea what to eat, just head down to Dotonbori. Rest assured, u'll find something to nom nom nom but most of all to buy...hehehehe

Burnt Ends, Singapore

Burnt Ends opened in April 2013 to a lot of ravings, reviews and the talk in town. Helmed by chef David Pynt who hails from Perth, Australia....rest be assured u'll be well taken care of by his young and exciting team of staffs.

In case u didn't know, Burnt Ends is also co-own by Chef Andre Chiang of Andre
*read about our experience with Andre here*


The design here is rather Raw and minimalist
simple and yet it made some statement





esp with a huge stone oven sat right in the middle of the restaurant
but the funny thing is....u can't really feel the heat. How did they achieve this?


The menu was simple and focused only on their specialities
but u know us....when dining with a certain Si Fu, you don't really need the menu. Just let him handle and arrange our meals :))))

first dish of Cracklings and Mustard
really yummy that we had to order extra portions. The above portion was for the ladies.

The gents side......was destroyed b4 JS could snap a proper pic
yeah they were so hungry and left nothing to chance.


Burnt End Sangers of Pulled Pork Shoulder, coleslaw and chipotle
it was so simple and yet so so so good!!!!

a really pretty pic taken off their Facebook :))))))

next we had BBQ fresh squid served with BBQ sweetcorn, leeks and paprika.


Lamb Anchovy and Swiss Chard
look at the burnt crispy bits at the end :)))))))))


Quail was so juicy :))))))))))))
it's bones were almost carbonized...the furnace must be like an inferno


it's DUCK HEARTS!!!!!


Suckling pig and cider


homemade pancetta with grilled nutmeg
some of the items we had were off the menu.
Chef was still experimenting with a lot of ingredients and flavours.


wow...that's a huge piece of meat there!!!!


We need it to feed the hungry boys
they whacked most of the meat anyway
the yellow colored toppings were grilled bone marrow!!!!



Done to perfection
and they used Laguoile knives :)))))))))

Since there weren't greens and this tray of beautiful leeks and fennels were lying there, Monkey had to order them :))))))))

Different colored chopping board for different items

Chef David Pynt at work with his dedicated team

a peek out from the restaurant, u can see the famous "tze char"

as we speak, this building has been sold last weekend and that evening was their last business day. It's such a beautiful historical corner here.


Si Fu: "Monkey u have enuff food over there?"
Monkey: "errrr I think so?"
:))))))))))))))

More food but I was really super stuffed
Si Fu: "WATTTT u mean u are STARVED???"

stuffed isn't the same as starved ok?
-_-"

Ciggie break outside and an AGM meeting :P
of wat to eat after this :P
hahahahaha yes I was really STARVED

dessert of char grilled pineapples, rum and vanilla
superb :))))))))))

The men said women alwiz discussed about Diamonds, Jewelries, Shoes and bags
That's not true!!!!
we were discussed about vacations :))))) so when are we heading to Tuscany for more cooking drinking and food?

J&J Jelina, Bagaholic Tracie and Monkey

Burnt Bananas and caramel was my favourite dessert of the evening :))))))))

Apple Cinnamon and Lemon
lurve the presentation and taste :)))))

We were so lucky and honored to be shown personally by Chef Pynt
his Mean Machine
the 4 tonne twin stone oven

don't play-play, his inferno comes with digital computerised temperature control!!!!

he uses only good quality wood to produce the desired fire, heat and quality.
Charcoal delivers too much of smoke and changed the taste of the meat.

He then explained that the amber woodfire were transfered to these grill that comes with special handling gears, to adjust the height of your grill.
It's all about control he said
To me it's all about passion.

Chef Pynt is so passionate about wat he does
I guess that's the key point of delivering great food from your heart.

Thank you for all the yummy creation and food you've created. It certainly left a really good memory in us and we will definitely return - but it's so difficult to get a reservation here!!!!

Chef David Pynt was actually very tall, he was so sweet and stood lower to be on the same height as Monkey....hehehehehe :)))))

oh wait, there's still food!!!
hahahah...really burnt caramelized financiers
I didn't know his stove is so versatile. :))))))))

If you are in Singapore, make no excuse...try it soon :))

Burnt Ends
20 Teck Lim Road,
Singapore.
Tel: +65 6224 3933

www.facebook.com/BurntEndsSG