Sunday, April 27, 2008

Ma Maison: For the Salt Lovers

Originally at Nagoya Japan, this restaurant has travelled all its way here to our very homeland Singapore - with its first branch opened at Bugis Junction, and its second at The Central ©, Clarke Quay.

Ma Maison
What immediately sent us both in awe was its old English cottage charm, complete with parquetry flooring, wooden tables and chairs.

Ma Maison
The windows are fringed with curtains, and window sills are filled with wine bottles and interesting ornaments like old clocks and some tin boxes. There's even a wooden rack with displays of wine bottles, dainty plates and crockery.

With candles and vintage table lamps, the entire restaurant was set in dim lighting, creating a very homely and romantic feel.

Boat Quay
From our (reserved) window seat, we had an excellent view overlooking the Singapore River, which further enhanced our dining experience.

Western dishes with a Japanese twist are served here. To speak of, what is unique about Ma Maison is that they have authentic Japanese servers to wait on you, but of course it takes time for you to really understand their English.

Cha Soba Salad

Cha Soba Salad,   S$7.00++,   

A splendid fusion of Japanese and Italian, where the tangy Cha Soba was well mingled among the ham strips, shredded eggs, tomato wedges, cucumber slices, lettuce, kizami nori (shredded seaweed), and a few blobs of Japanese mayonnaise. The thoughtfulness of keeping the salad cold extended to even the plate, to doubly make sure you enjoy the dish chilled.

Tonkatsu Set

Tonkatsu Set,   S$19.50++,   

The Tonkatsu Set consisted of a deep fried pork cutlet served on a wire mesh, a bowl of miso soup and rice, Japanese salad, mashed potatoes, pickles, and a single scoop of black sesame ice cream as dessert. The restaurant provided two seasoning to go along with the pork cutlet - high mineral rock salt, and Ma Maison's homemade Tonkatsu sauce. (Both salty!)

This dish had been highly recommended by peers who had tried it, and personally, we find it too fatty and salty for our liking. Portion was big, and with every bite, juice and fats came oozing out from underneath the crispy cutlet skin. Miso soup came with a surprising chockful of bonus ingredients like carrots, onions, chicken cubes, plus some other vegetables (too many to remember!)

Doteni Hamburger

Doteni Hamburger,   S$19.80++,   

The Japanese really take pride in their food presentation, and just by the look of it, you can't wait you to get your fork and knife working. Topped with a sunny side up and scattered with small soft pieces of beef tendons, the minced beef hamburger patty made a good attempt. The whole dish was soaked in heavy Doteni (red miso bean) sauce, which turned out to be so salty that the taste stayed stinging on our taste buds.

Doteni Hamburger
The delicious but salty mix of everything.

Payment Key
A big brass key would be placed on every customer's table for them to make payment after they're done with their meal.

VERDICT
Notice that we kept emphasizing how salty the food was. Yes. In fact, that was really what we could recall of the food served in Ma Maison. Great ambience, great service, and definitely a great place for salty taste buds.

Ma Maison - The Central
Ma Maison - The Central
#03-96, The Central ©
6 Eu Tong Sen Street, S(059817)
(+65) 6327 8122
Mon - Sun: 11.30 a.m. - 11 p.m.

http://www.ma-maison.co.jp

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1 comment(s):

Anonymous said...
Why do you like to over-saturate the colors of your photos? It's really quite an eyesore!