Hello, lovely readers! I realised that it's been eons since I've last done a non-sponsored food review post, which was actually the main push-factor that made me set up this blog back then.
So now, let's do it again!
Located at level 1 of Great World City, it took us a few (wrong) turns before finding the restaurant, mostly because the mall is also undergoing some overhaul of their stores and trying to find your sense of direction when nearly every corner is hoarded up can be quite a challenge.
Anyhow, we managed to find the restaurant without much fuss, and realised that they're full house on a Sunday night (around 7 plus, nearly 8pm). But table turnover also seems pretty quick, as we were seated after 15 minutes' wait, and the restaurant turned pretty empty while we were dining (around 830 ish pm). Haha, so if you want to skip the queue, you know what time to drop by.
If you're curious, Nirai-Kanai refers to the God's world in the distance of the sea. And apparently, Okinawan cuisine is said to be healthy and good for beauty.... But I wanted to drop by and try them out only because I watched Senda Aisa's travel programme on Okinawa (her hometown). HAHAHA!
Anyhow, here's what we've tried out for the night.
Okinawa Soup Noodle Set Meal - $16.50
The HB chose this set that comes with soup noodle with simmered pork belly, fried rice (not sure if it's mustard leaf or just garlic fried rice) and a cold tofu lookalike jelly dessert.
I merely took a tiny taste test bite out of the soup noodles and fried rice, both of which were rather mildy flavoured, but still quite tasty if you're okay with mild flavours, in my opinion. Not a fan of the thick noodles though. The alkaline taste of the noodles, albeit not as full on as my much hated yellow noodles, was still too strong for me. It didn't help that the broth's flavour was on the mild side, hence it didn't do anything to cover the noodles' alkaline taste. HB is a fan of yellow noodles (don't ask me why anybody will like yellow noodles), so this dish was right up his alley.
Stir fried Noodles with Kimuchi - $14.80
Yes, you got me. Whenever I see "kimchi" on the menu, I order.
So simple.
The noodles are wheat noodles, but extremely thin. So much so that it kind of resembles the mouthfeel of eating rice vermicelli (beehoon). Other than kimchi, there's also a generous portion of sliced cabbage and pork belly. I quite like the thin noodles, although the overall flavour of the dish was quite mild (not kimchi enough). There's a heaping amount of sliced cabbage too, but unfortunately they were left undercooked and crunchy instead of how I would love my cabbage, fully cooked down and soft. The amount of kimchi I found in the noodles were also quite little, hence the subtle kimchi taste. The pork belly slices were also very, very tough and with the porky smell, which the lack of kimchi taste has failed to mask over.
So, it may sound a little weird. But I will be happier with the dish if there's no pork belly or crunchy cabbage added. I just need the noodles with kimchi! HEH!
Umi Budou (Green Caviar Seaweed) - $14
I was REALLY excited when I saw this on the menu. Well, because Senda Aisa introduced it on her show.
But I was stumped when this tiny dish of "sea grapes" got served to our table. This friggin tiny dish of seaweed cost us $14++. The size of the dish is just slightly larger than the usual dipping sauce saucers.
Taste wise, it's so underwhelming. It's really just the usual slight fishy-saltiness of seaweed, plus the slight popping sensation that is similar to eating tobikko (flying fish roe).
I'll say, skip this please. Just try some out if you ever visit Okinawa.
Chinpin (Brown Sugar Pancakes) - $9.80
A traditional Okinawan sweet snack, most people call this a pancake, but actually I would think it's more like a crepe instead. I was deciding between Sata Andagi (Okinawan Doughnuts) and this for dessert, and in the end chose this because I've never tried (nor heard of this) before.
And I'm glad I did! Although Sata Andagi is also super yummy (not sure how Nirai-Kanai does theirs though), these are so.... moreish?
The addictive chewiness of the crepe, paired with the delicious, rich sweetness of brown sugar and the "fun" of being able to unroll the pancake while eating it just made this the best after meal dessert, ever. It was served alongside a big heap of whipped cream, but you really don't need any of that. The taste of the pancake on its own should suffice to fix any sweet tooth cravings!
Okinawan Diner Nirai-Kanai is located at Great World City, #01-107/108
For more information, visit their website HERE
Till then,
Mia Foo
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