Uttapam and Thosai Because I Love Them Spices!

I really like the food at Nalan, but it doesn't make sense to have them deliver. I'd prefer to eat there. I mean, it's impossible to keep a thosai crisp in a box that takes an hour to get to me. That night, when S asked me what I would like for dinner, I answered in three seconds, "Uttapam."

Luckily for me, S likes Indian cuisine too. And to her, that doesn't just mean prata. Yayyy. So it's always a welcomed thing to have spices. Tonight's vegetarian options at Nalan gave my body a break. No allergy flares would happen. 

Tonight, we had a tomato and onion uttapam and a masala thosai. Those came along with the nice dal and three chutneys. It was S's first visit to Nalan. I can't believe she hasn't hopped by the outlet at Capitol Piazza yet. I also ordered a mushroom kadai for extra taste and gravy. And prudently only ordered one chaat of bhel puri. 

Dinner was perfect for us. Quite a bit of carbs, but I already planned for it, so I could easily stomach one uttapam. :) We didn't over order, and there wasn't anything to tapau home. Haha! Knowing us, that's quite a feat. 

Fish Protein at Lunch!

My birthday fell between tight deadlines and a dumb festive season. I only have that few evenings for dinner, and two of them are intentionally made clear for me-time, and another two are done to await delivery of the dog's frozen raw packs. It's also hard to meet friends for a leisurely lunch or coffee when I have gym classes and work calls.  

So it's extra precious that on a work day, V could trundle over to meet for lunch at Izakaya Niningashi for a light bowl of protein. At mid-day, the heat was still fierce, so it was very pleasant to be able to sit indoors in air-conditioning. Ooooof. 

I come often for lunch, sometimes I sit indoors, and often I'm seated outdoors with the dog. I'm used to the brutal mid-day heat, and will survive with a fan. But I don't expect the friends to join me outdoors in the heat. 

V had a mixed seafood rice bowl, and I had a bowl with sea bream and shirasu. We chose the smallest portion of rice — <100g. Yay; no wastage. I was hungry, so I added extra proteins of tamagoyaki with beef. I'm not hot about tamagoyaki, but this version at Niningashi Duxton is surprisingly not as sweet as what other restaurants do. Once I learnt that, I'm happy to order it here if I want eggs done in another style.

Jellyfish Sushi :: NO RICE

Took a chance on Jellyfish Sushi to check out their 'no-rice bread sushi'. Booked it at the last minute for a 6.30pm seating. I really didn't mind eating early so that I could have the rest of the night free and not finish up bedtime routines in a rush. 

It was a set menu for this quarter. It was a tad weird, but it does work. It's not a menu I can eat often, but I'm at least not against it. Starters were perfectly fine in a trio of Hiroshima oysters with chilled minestrone dashi, and salmon 'maki' with no rice, and grilled anago. The shimesaba and stracciatella in seaweed was quite delicious. The kanpachi and salted lettuce worked. The madai carpaccio and pistachio was good. At this point, I sort of missed rice a little. The chefs brined and cured the fish pretty decently. The little bits of grilled items lent different texture and bite too. 

We had a palate cleanser in the form of heirloom tomatoes. Then there was tuna, of which I accepted, but if I visit again, I'll request to skip all tuna items. For one, they use bluefin tuna (from Nagasaki), and they offered it as akami, chutoro and otoro. 

We ended with a bowl of cold wakame ramen from Awaji Island. There were two accompanying dips — a cold asari clam potage and the standard roasted saba tsuyu. I ditched the potage. It was just weird dipping noodles into it. 

Dessert was a matcha pudding with warabi jelly and Okinawan black sugar. I took two spoonfuls, blinked and left the rest. This type of dessert is really not my thing. I had the bottle of sake, and that would be a better choice of dessert for me. Yeah, we took a bottle along with the meal. But we didn't need to finish it. Nowadays, I'm not insistent on finishing a bottle of of wine or sake anymore. It's 720ml. If I leave a third behind, that's perfectly okay. I'd rather not wake up with a hangover.