Time really flies. It has been 5 years since hubby and I were legally married. We registered our marriage in June 2004 and had our customary ceremony in March the following year. So yesterday marks our 5th ROM anniversary. Since school has started, hubby and I decided to have a nice quiet dinner - without Yee Sinn and my mother -in-law.

Hubby has been wanting to bring me to Matsuo at Goldhill Plaza for the longest time.... but unfortunately, when we called in for a reservation, we were told that the place would be closed because the chef had to cook for a private dinner. Instead, we decided to visit this Japanese resturant at Hong Leong Garden at West Coast called Chako. There were positive press reviews on their homecooked styled japanese food so we decided to give it a try. We also had to place our order 1 day earlier so that the proprietress (who is also the only cook in the kitchen) can prepare the ingrediants in advance as she had to make everything fron scratch (Yes, no pre-mix sauces etc).

We ordered a beef set, saba fish set and a portion of Oden. I forgot to take a picture of the Oden and by the time I remembered, what was left on the dish was the soup base. Hubby and I were impressed with the way the tofu was prepared. It was nice and fragrant in a way. The above picture is the Saba fish set. I usually do not order saba fish because it has lots of bone. The proprietress was very considerate in her cooking - she actually deboned the fish before grilling them.

Hubby enjoyed the beef set. The beef was tender & juicy and it has the right amount of chopped onions. It also came with a bowl of soup which was different from the usual miso soup. Yes, he loved the soup so much that he drank my portion.

We had to wait quite a while for the food to be served. The proprietress only started cooking the food when her guests arrives... even though we pre-ordered them the day before. Overall, the food was good. We could tell that there were a lot of sincerity put into the food preparation and the price was reasonable.

It has been a good 5 years.... hubby and I hope that we'll have many more happy years together to come.