Japanese Food

A very generous bowl of diced maguro, salmon and mekajiki with tsuke sashimi sauce, topped with ikura, caviar and shredded tamago. It came with a side of wakame and miso soup. Came here during lunch hour and the wait was really long, due to the outlet being short on staff - I applaud the aunty who was the only waitress taking orders, serving and clearing the tables.

A generous mix of salmon sashimi, aburi salmon belly, cubed spicy salmon, mentaiko seared salmon sashimi and ikura over Tanuki’s signature rice. Definitely a bit pricier due to dinner, but the service was amazing. I had bought cakes for a friend’s birthday and the staff prepared the cakes with candles right after we had finished our mains. Thanks for trying to sing a birthday song and for the mini cocktails on the house!

You might recall that this famed fire ramen was trending in the middle of this year. Word on the street is that it’s overhyped. It’s not overhyped if: you don’t queue 2 hours for it and use Burpple Beyond (you get one ramen of the set for free). It’s actually a very flavourful bowl of ramen, with a hint of smokiness from the fiery entertainment exhibited in front of you before you are led back to your table! The set comes with 2 ramen, 2 eggs and 2 drinks.

I was always sceptical about Genki because I thought it was gimmicky - why should I pay extra just so I can have my food served to me on a train?? That is until a friend got me hooked on it. Indeed, an inner-child part of me derives joy from being able to order whatever I want whenever I want and having it arrive at the table just like that. It’s great when you’re feeling snacky and not up for a large meal. My favourites are the Genki roll and the soba noodles!

We popped into this hole in the wall on Cross Street for a simple Japanese dinner on my birthday and we really loved this place! Calm and Muji-esque, Marukyu is a cosy place to enjoy authentic Japanese dishes with high quality ingredients from Japan. Their bento sets are generous and allow you to try a little bit of everything, definitely go for it if you are like me and struggle to decide what to eat most of the time.

We decided to try this place for an early lunch after it was featured by Ghib Ojisan in one of his videos! It is one of the better ramens out there (we came back again a few weeks later) - a hearty broth, al dente noodles and good cha shu. You are allowed to “customise” your ramen by choosing the strength of the broth, spice and the texture of the noodles. Definitely love mine a bit spicier!

Hitsumabushi means to eat in three ways. I ordered it out of curiosity, but I admit I wasn’t quite sure how to eat this at first! Like why is there soup in a teapot?? After some research I later found out that the eel and rice is supposed to be split into 4 quarters and eaten in three different ways - savoured on its own, mixed with condiments such as seaweed and wasabi, with soup poured over it. The broth was delightfully light and wasn’t too salty.

This was a very yummy sushi roll on their seasonal menu: Blossoms of Joy. Crispy fried squid on top of a sushi roll wrapped in lobster salad, crab meat and sakura ebi drizzled generously with tangy spicy mayonnaise. Really liked the red crispy sakura ebi bits fried from prawn shells!!

Very affordable dons with burpple beyond although there’s nothing to shout about. I don’t quite understand the “special” marinade situation - it was very salty and gelatinous - it didn’t compliment the rest of the dish.

The chirashi and the salmon were fresh and well-seasoned with huge chunks of tamago. The bowl was generous with salmon roe (my favourite!) and I liked the spicy kick from the mayo sauce. I must say that the star of the night were the oysters - $2 for each oyster with the condition that an alcoholic drink is purchased for every half a dozen during happy hour. As they say, go shuck yourself!

I loved the ambience of this place, it has huge glass windows overlooking Orchard Road and ION’s lights. This katsu set came with Japanese rice, a jellyfish side dish, radish and miso soup. The pork katsu was crispy and tender on the inside and I liked how the radish was a great palate cleanser. My favourite part of the dish was the salad - I love love love Japanese salad, especially when you get your own jar of sesame dressing to drizzle to your heart’s content.

This was a basic personal hotpot set with your choice of meat (beef/ pork), enoki mushrooms, Chinese cabbage, tofu and glass noodles. You can choose from three different types of soup - Sukiyaki (which comes with an egg), Dashi and Spicy Miso. The set comes with a bowl of rice, Japanese salad and a choice of drink.

The restaurant is having a promotion now where you get a free instant ramen packet on purchase with any of their hot pot sets. You can cook it on the spot in the hotpot should you still be hungry or choose to take it home!