Japanese Cravings

Affordable Japanese food. They have a wide variety of teppanyaki, yakimono, agemini, udon, and rice. However, taste-wise do not expect so much. We liked the teriyaki salmon hotplate, garlic fried rice, and chawanmushi. The grilled chicken and udon was alright. But would not recommend the chicken katsu don and buta fried rice - the meats were tasteless and the rice came too soggy.

Saw this store featured in the tiktok of a Japanese lady living in Singapore, and fortunately I also discovered that it is one of Burpple's merchants as well!

They offer a wide range of sobas in both hot and cold varieties, as well as rice bowls, sides, and even drinks. Everything looked so good, especially the current monthly special (oyster soba!), and we finally settled on the Collagen Chicken Soba (Hot) and Yuzu-Miso Chicken Soba (Cold). The collagen chicken soup was light-tasting and yet still full of flavour, with generous slices of chicken breast. The minced ginger also gave the broth a certain 'spiciness', and I would liken the dish to be a soupy version of chicken rice. This was good, but we very much preferred the yuzu-miso chicken soba - the coldness of the broth brought out the citrusy-savoury flavours so much more, with the crisp doumiao lending some freshness and the perfectly grilled chicken thighs rounding up the dish. Just amazing, we couldn't stop slurping this up.

Overall, service was prompt and friendly, and general ambience was bright and cheery. Prices are also pretty affordable considering the quality you get, but of course having the Burpple deal makes it all the more worth (our two bowls only came up to $18!). Would definitely return!

Found this highly-regarded yakiniku place at Holland Village for a birthday celebration. Interior was dark and atmospheric, with a warm and intimate ambience. The Ohmi Experience Platter ($138) was certainly the star of the show, perfect for those who are unsure of what to get and want to try the signature cuts. The meat were definitely high quality, though we would have preferred if the staff guided us on the cooking process as I think we messed up one of the cuts and it became tough and chewy. We really loved the Rump ($42) and Garlic Fried Rice ($16), and make sure to get the Highball promo (3 for $28 before 6.45pm). Service was friendly, and they offered to give us an additional serving of desserts as we were celebrating a birthday. Overall, a good place for quality yakiniku if you don't mind the price.

Food - We got the Spicy Lobster Triple Chirashi ($24.80) and the Spicy Dashi Chirashi. Portion-wise, was more than decent for those with smaller appetites. Taste-wise, it was nice but slowly became very cloying mid-way through, plus the seafood wasn't the best in terms of quality and freshness.
Service - While the food was served quickly, it was hard to get the staffs' attention. It took me close to 2min just to signal someone to come over to refill the soy sauce.
Ambience - Space was pretty small and very echoey. You can pretty much expect an uncomfortable din throughout your meal.

Also, remember to make a reservation before heading down! I made mine while walking over from the MRT, and pretty much just strolled in. Those in the queue I think had to wait for about 30min+, so save yourself the trouble.

Came by on a Wednesday for their Roll promo. Had the Fire Maki ($9.45) and the Under The Sea ($9.95). Portion was great, sushi leaned towards the saucy side but enjoyable nonetheless, and definitely value for money. Their $3 sake deal also hit the spot, albeit the portion was so small i could practically finish it in a gulp. Added on a Zaru Soba ($13) which was nice, although a tad bit too expensive if you ask me. Overall, a good place to hit up if you're craving sushi and you like the items on their daily promo menu.

Came by as I had a Chope 1-for-1 voucher. I chose the Uni & Chashu Tsukemen ($22) while my partner had the Lobster Dry Ramen ($20).

The tsukemen came with a healthy amount of thick and chewy noodles, with a slab of chashu and two sticks of bamboo shoots. The noodles were cooked perfectly and went great with the thick and flavourful dipping sauce. Although, I could not taste the brineyness of uni in the sauce at all, this was still pretty enjoyable as it is. Just that the chashu was practically 1/2 fats.

As for the lobster dry ramen, while there was a strong whiff of shellfish from the dish when it arrived, the lack of any real lobster meat was to be expected to say the least. The noodles here were more of the thin and springy kind, which I thought was better suited for dry ramen as compared to the thicker ones. Taste-wise, this was average at best.

Overall, our experience here was average at best - from the flavours of the food to the responsiveness of the service staff (I stood at the counter for a good minute waiting for someone to attend to me). The only good point of the meal was that we could help ourselves to complimentary lettuce and hardboiled eggs. Otherwise, would not return.

Had the Pork Katsuni Teishoku ($11.50) and the Loin Katsu Teishoku ($7.90 for 80g). Quality was so-so, but I appreciated the full range of condiments provided that helped to elevate the flavour. Katsu sauce, apricot sauce, salad dressing, shichimi, and even mustard. Good for a value for money and casual meal.

More of a takeaway kiosk but with a small seating area. We were attracted by the set lunch deal which has an onigiri (from selected flavours) + side + drink for $10.90. The onigiri sandwiches were unassumingly filling, stacked with cucumber slices, luncheon meat, egg, as well as your protein of choice. We chose the otak and the chicken cutlet. While the chicken was really tasty, thought it could be more crisp, but was still very satisfying. We preferred the otak more though - it was so good I tried to ask the chef where they got it from! They declined to share, sadly. The tater tots and curly fries we got were also great, hot and crisp and addictive. The iced/hot lemon tea leaned more towards the homemade tart taste, and washed down the meal nicely. Overall, this was a value-for-money yet satisfying meal. Would definitely return to try the others.

Had the Chicken Katsu Kuro Kare ($17) and the Classic Rosu Cheesy Katsu ($18). Each set came with free flow white rice, cabbage, pickles, and miso soup. The charcoal black curry was surprisingly god, full of umami and flavour. Though it could use a little bit more spice, this was easily solved by the shichimi provided at each table which you could use to provide even more oomph! The chicken katsu came in three huge pieces, but I preferred the Rosu pork katsu instead. The pork loin was juicy and meaty, and paired perfectly with the crisp and light batter - not once did I taste any greasiness! However, I did not really take to the melted cheese and would have preferred the katsu without. Overall, a really delicious and (very) filling meal at just $42.

Oyako Don ($12.90) was pretty meh for a signature dish, tasteless chicken in the standard eggs and dashi stock. Leaned more towards the watery side which I did not enjoy. We also got their Karaage Set ($16.90), but for something that supposedly won a grand prize, it was lacking in flavour, juiciness, and crispiness. Overall, we were very much dissatisfied with this experience and would likely not return.

Returned again with my family. The Spicy Carbonara ($19) really impressed my father; I thought that the carbonara-ness was slightly lacking and the dish was more like stir-fried udon in cream sauce. However, the slab of black pork was what our chopsticks reached out for. Although it could have used a bit more char and glaze, it was still really delicious - meaty and fatty in the best ways. Simply wow!

The Yakiniku Sukiyaki ($17) was pretty decent with tons of beef strips in a really flavourful beef broth. Simple but executed well. Also ordered the Mini Saba Misoni Don ($8) and it was alright. The Saba was limp and cold but it was saved by the sweet-savoury miso glaze. Pros of ordering this would be the rice to mop up the carbonara sauce haha.

We also ordered the $10 cocktails - the Ginger Highball which was decently alcoholic but the Cloudy Apple Vodka was all syrup and barely any taste of vodka at all.

Seating area was pretty cramp with tables close to one another - not a place to chat the entire night away. We had the Spicy Prawn Hibachi ($19) which had thin udon in a rich crustacean broth with notes of umami-sweetness. Loved the broth, as well as the generous sprinkles of sakura-ebi and pork mince; they gave every spoonful a nice bite. However, the three 'prawns' they gave were definitely not Seared Tiger Prawns as stated in the menu - from the texture and taste they were more akin to the supermarket frozen shrimps. Disappointing!

Next was the Taru-Taru Chicken Nanban ($14) which had Sweet & Spicy Battered Chicken drizzled with Cream Tartar atop a mound of chewy Sanuki udon. I opted for the cold version, so this came with chilled Katsuo shoyu together with handfuls of bonito flakes, spring + raw onions, seaweed, tempura flakes, and fried shallots. Mixing everything together gives you a noodle base with a smorgasbord of flavours and textures. Thumbs up. But strangely enough, after some bites i started to think this tasted more and more like takoyaki. Moving on to the chicken, i wished it could have been fried crispier as it arrived with the exterior already soggy.