I love it. Don't really know why. Maybe it's the asian palate. We have more inclination to less meaty foods, prefering rice, fish and greens. I do like my meats but not where an entire meal consist solely of red meats. I am a nut for salads though. Sometimes, judging the difference between a good and a bad japanese restaurant rest solely on your selection of salads. Not a very impartial criteria considering salads are not what japanese are known for, but well I like my salads and it's all that matters. Heheh.
My girlfriend and I have been trying out several restaurants recently. Here is a sample of those we have tried:
1) Tampopo
Located in the basement of Liang Court Shopping Centre, this is our favourite restaurant at the moment. We have been to this restaurant maybe 4-5 times in the last few months. This is a regular japanese restaurants with your usual staple of sashimi, bentos, udon, ramen, sushi, maki etc. We usually come here for the Black Pork Ramen, which is the house speciality. It has a nice cozy atmosphere which always sits well with guests. Salads here are pretty non-existant but the ramen more than makes up for it. Prices for a meal are pretty reasonable, our meals usually costing about 40-50 dollars. Special note: The green tea might taste like fish tank water on some occasions. =P
2) Shinkushiya
We discovered this restaurant in the past month and already ate there twice. This comes a very close second (think paper thin) to Tampopo in my opinion, losing out only because they do not have one of my favourite dish, Ramen. However, this place specialises in grilled foods served in bite size sticks. There is an ample selection of chicken, pork, beef, seafood and vegetable variants, enough to have you taking 20-30 minutes to decide which ones you want. We've only been to the outlet at Far East Square, but we have been impressed enough to give it our vote even though we have not tried the one at Vivocity. It has a very nice, cozy ambience, with the most booth seats we've seen compared to other restaurants. There is also a decent salad menu, though we've only had the chance to try one. Pretty good I would say. Meals cost an average 40-50 as well, though we did spent about 80 last night because we ordered a sashimi platel for 2. Special note: Service here is pretty good. Staffs are friendly, attentive and refill your tea cups constantly.
3) Sushi Teh
I fell in love with this restaurant because of one dish, the Sashimi salad. Priced only at $8, it comes in a good portion enough for 2. It is littered with enough sashimi slices that you could almost taste a piece every bite. Well worth the money. If I was working anywhere near a Sushi Teh, I might just go there everyday and order the salad for lunch. We always go to the outlet at Far East Square. It's tucked away in the CBD area, so you don't get the crowds like you would in a normal shopping district. Meals cost between 30-40 here. Special Note: S-a-s-h-i-m-i S-a-l-a-d. Enough said.
4) Akashi
This is the outlet at Orchard. Touted to be a traditional japanese restaurant with reasonable price by our Japanese sensei. So we went and tried it. My honey ordered a prime cut sashimi bento set and I had a mixed cut sashimi and seafood bento set. My baby was pretty happy with her sashimi as it was very fresh. However overall I felt our meals weren't anything terrific. Plus the cost of the meal came up to 75, which was atrocious considering we only ordered 2 set meals. I have kinda mentally banned the place, due to the normal food to price ratio, poor service, crowds . . . it's in Orchard . . . can't expect much. Then again we have only been there once. There might have been a house special that we didn't get to try, but we'll never know. Special Note: They will charge 4 dollars for the little plate of beans, even if you didn't even touch them.
5) Sun and Moon
Outlet at Wheelock Place. Their speciality is the 'claypot' rice if I'm not mistaken. Well that's what we tried, ordering a chicken and a pork variant. They were pretty good and tasty. The meats were tender and succulant. However our meal was spoiled by a plate of foul weeds they tried to pass off as an edible salad . . . pure nastiness. I have banned this place as well hahahahah. Special Note: A cow or horse might like the vegetables they serve here. Are you a cow or a horse?
6) Waraku
We have been to the outlet at Marina Square a few times. Nice big booths enough to seat 6. I would say their hot pots are pretty tasty. Sadly they don't have ramen, only soba and udon . . . both of which does not appeal to me at all. Prices here are pretty reasonable though. I remember ordering a salad, tuna sashimi, prawn in cheese, sushi set and a udon set and it only came up to 40. I don't mind coming here again though I would try to avoid the weekends due to the crowds. Special Note: Waraku outlets have become very popular dining spots for couples and families, thus expect a long queue especially on the weekends.
Well that's as many as I could remember trying, or should I say . . . remember the name of the restaurant. There are other noteworthy places that are not restaurants, like the sushi bar at the Liang Court basement supermarket. But well, I'll leave that for another post.
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