[CLOSED] Yama-Ya (Fortune Centre)

They serve different menu for their lunch and dinner service. During lunch, they serve authentic hearty Japanese set lunches at an affordable price (mostly under $20) while for dinner, they adopt an izakaya style.

As we went during lunch time, we got to try set lunches.
Featuring:

1) Ochazuke set ($7.80) - 7.5/10
-Rice porridge (with added salmon/picked plum/mentaiko), 3 kinds of oden (fishcake, tofu and daikon radish) and pickles
-The clear dashi broth that soaked the pearly short-grain Japanese rice was light, umami and savoury but not overly salty. Mixing in the wasabi brought an extra spicy kick. The fishcake remains me of my exchange days in Korea as the texture is very similar to korean odeng/eomuk - firm yet having a nice soft slight chewy bite. My favourite item in the oden would definitely be the tofu! I love how the interior is slightly firm and silky while the exterior has this chewy tau kwa skin texture. I really love this dish as it tasted really light, refreshing and hearty. It would definitely be my go-to-meal after a long and tiring day as it certainly rejuvenates the body and mind. Though the portion looks light and small, it is actually pretty filling.

2) Unagi bento ($12.80) - 7/10
- Pearly japanese rice topped with unagi, oden, chicken karaage, mini-salad and pickles.
- The portion of the unagi was decent given its price. Not doubt the unagi quality isn’t as good as unagi specialty stores like Man-man unagi/Unagiya ichiinoji, it certainly tasted better than those frozen unagi). Though most of the ingredients in this bowl tasted pretty average, we would recommend this too given the overall combination and price affordability.

Would be back to try other set lunches like the shabu-shabu beef/pork don set ($9.80).
I really love their set lunches that tasted really thoughtful, heart and comforting akin to home-cooked style food.

Taste: 3.5/5
Worth it: 4.5/5 (It is possibly one of the most value-for-money Japanese cuisine places in town; wallet-friendly and with quality)
Overall: 8/10

No go
Can go
Must go😊

#burpple

Most lunch sets under $20. Food is fresh and great quality.

Most of the lunch options here cost less than $10 which is unheard of at raffles place restaurants, so it's well worth exploring this outermost edge of the CBD to get your Japanese fix when the boss is away. The Kaisendon is the most expensive lunch option but exceedingly good value, and served with a side salad and soup.
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Teetotalers will be glad to know that lunchtimes are exempt from the strict drinking rules that apply at nobu-ya, although I still feel a pavlovian need to gulp down sakes whenever the owner has his steely gaze on me.
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🚗 : fortune ctr has multi storey parking but you will need to go quite a few levels up to find availability on weekdays.

Expected Yama-ya’s chazuke to be of the same standard as the one we had at Nobu-ya, but this wasn’t as memorable. Broth tasted much lighter even after mixing in the mentaiko and fresh wasabi. ☹️ Probably needed a lot more metaiko to bring out the flavour. Skip this here and try Nobu-ya’s!

Easily my favourite izakaya appetiser of all time. I just love how intense the fermented flavour is!

Fail-proof appetiser - fresh chunks of tako mixed in with wasabi!