Akashabu

MOF (Marina Square Branch)

MOF is a home grown Japanese cuisine restaurant incorporated on May 5th, 2006. It has since gone on to open multiple outlets within Singapore and has begun branching out to Chinese cuisine and European cuisine in recent times.

Location: 6 Raffles Boulevard #02-138E Marina Square Singapore 039594

Contact: 63342202

Website: http://www.ministryoffood.com.sg

Price Range: $20-35 per head

To be honest, i've ate at MOF more times then i can count so this is more or less a catch up post to bring things up to speed.

Chawanmushi ($3.20)

MOF's chawanmushi is decently smooth and milky with a moderated eggish taste. Ingredients are generous but it never surpasses the chawanmushi quality to be had in Wasabi Tei. (Wasabi Tei has since changed owners and quality of food there is undetermined at this point.)

Complimentary Coffee

For what its worth, i take my coffee black without sugar, so i like them thick with just a hint of sour. MOF's cup hits the spot for me in this regard.

Unagi Bento ($9.80)

The Unagi itself seems to skew towards the leaner end and this has been verified since this has been ordered upwards of 4 times by myself and my gf and it has always remained around the same thickness. The sauce is the best part about the dish and i would have liked more of the sauce in the rice to keep my palate satisfied.

Chicken Char Siew Bento ($7.80)

Has a small taste and found the chicken nicely tender with the good but wierd taste of char siew on it. Worth a try.

Soft Shell Crab Handroll ($3.80)

Shabu Shabu Set ($17.50)

This is my order for the day and suffice to say, i enjoyed it to a certain extent. I enjoyed the freshness of the salad and the delectable apple sauce but didn't take to the beef in particular. Essentially, the broth for cooking and swiping the beef turned out to be plain water which i find a lacklustre, the beef, in turn was tasteless until it was paired with the apple sauce. It didn't help that there were only 6 thin slices of beef on offer as well.

Katsu Toji Set ($18.80)

Didn't try this much but it sure looks more worth it as opposed to my shabu shabu set.

Unagi Rice Top Up ($5)

I enjoyed this very much indeed. This is pretty much how the Unagi bento set should have been with a bigger slice of Unagi. Little bits of yam and plenty of sauce helped enhance the experience.

Shishamo ($4.80)

Thats right, for the price, you get 3 measly little guys you see here. Taste wise, it was not too oily and the eggs were springy but honestly, 3? I'll pass.

Seafood Toji Set With Unagi Rice ($19.80 +$5)

Another set that seems worth the dough to order. I like how generous the portion size looks here.

Cookies and Cream Shake ($6.80)

Mango Kakigori ($3.30)

Macha Kakigori ($3.30)

Dessert time came with our favorite Kakigoris. The hokkaido bean version is much better and has a more balanced taste compared to the horribly sourish mango. Then again, i prefer sweet stuff so if you like sour food, you might like the mango version. Vanilla ice cream tops of the package and i love vanilla so either way, this dessert works for me. I'm easily satisfied when it comes to desserts.

Bill

The final bill turned up at $180.28 for 7 people which works out about $25 per head.

Final Score: 6.5/10

Last word:

I'm giving this outlet 6.5 because of the service and the terrible seats they had. The marina outlet simply did not have good seats for 7 people. Its cramped and had minimal space to move around unlike its cousins in Bugis and Suntec. Food wise, its pretty close in quality. Service wise, it needs improvement the last time i checked but there were a few good staff in the outlet as well. Overall, still worth a visit.

Bishamon Sapporo Ramen

Japanese food is an addiction i just can't seem to shake off. And this outlet was kind enough to allow me to have some photos taken after the initial negative response. Business is tough nowadays i reckon.

Location: Raffles City Shopping Centre B1-17 Singapore 179103

Contact: 62352890

Price range: $15-20 per head

Located in the usual basement area of the Raffles City Shopping centre, the outlet is a humble one which allows seating of up to about 25 patrons. Chairs and tables are of the wooden variety which makes for a small but reasonable comfort. Don't expect anything fancy though. This is as manufactured a place as it comes.

Salmon Sashimi ($2.90)

The sashimi here managed to surprise me. For a cool $2.90, you get soft tender fish meat with a tinge of sweetness. Much better then the $5.99 variety in red plates i've come to dislike.

The salad appetiser comes with a generous smattering of thousand island sauce and was otherwise cold and fresh enough to be nice.

Unagi Bento ($13.90)

The Unagi is in itself a reasonable portion albeit not as generous as my favorite haunt, Wasabi Tei (the boss of Wasabi Tei has since moved on so the portion and food there might be different.) I found the thickness lacking in this version with the meat soft and well marinated. The rice is a tad dry and would benefit with more sauce. The surprise was the egg which was perfectly cooked outside with the yolk half cooked. I liked it.

Katsu Curry Rice ($12.50)

The katsu curry had less to write home about. The chicken was dry and overfried to me while the sauce turned out to be indistinguishable ( to me at least) from the normal supermarket variety. Otherwise, it was still edible but not worth the money.

Bill

The total bill turned out to be $38.02 for 2 people for a simple meal.

Overall Score: 6/10

Last word:

The food in and off itself is not bad really. The sashimi i found was pretty decent, so was the egg. However, the overall cost/taste balance didn't quite add up in its favor in the end. To me, i'd try it once and probably not return again. You guys might wanna give it a go to see if its your kind of restaurant.

Just Acia (Downtown East)

Just Acia or rather "Just Asia" is a new set up featuring Asia's staples of noodles and rice as its main menu items. With a tag line that says "free flow of drinks and ice cream" at a starting price as low as $2.80, this is a place that is light on the wallet at first glance. There are currently 3 outlets for this franchise, Downtown East, Dhouby Ghaut MRT station and Suntec City fountain terrace. It was on a day of celebration that we visited Just Acia and i can't deny that the price was what drew me in at first. The following is what we had and my thoughts on the food.

Location: 1 Pasir Ris Close #01-40 Downtown East Singapore 519599

Contact: 65818379

Website: http://www.justacia.com

Price Range: $15-25 per head

The pamphlet that seduced me

The interior of the restaurant is simple and sat about 20-30 patrons. There was a payment counter right smack in the centre and your bill is presented to you upon completing your orders. The free flow of drinks and ice cream are also located right behind the payment counter so thats where the majority of the action will happen. Overall, the interior is serviceable and nothing impressive.

Herbal Chicken Soup Set ($11.90)

Herbal Chicken

After some contemplation on the menu, we decided to have something more mid range as compared to the usual $5.90 meals. My order was the herbal chicken soup and it looked pretty substantial actually. There was half a chicken in the soup and it came with rice and some beans. The thing about herbal chicken is that the soup it comes in must be good, otherwise the whole dish amounts to naught. And unfortunately, the soup is salty and lacking much herbal taste in their version. My verdict, don't order this.

Stir Fried Greens ($4.80)

This wasn't too bad actually. At the least, it tasted crunchy and tasty enough to praise but nothing more to recommend.

Tom Yum Seafood Set ($10.90)

Tom Yum Soup

My gf ordered this and it was definitely much better then my herbal chicken set. The soup is still salty as though made of seawater but there's enough spice inside to give it a tinge of hope. Add to that generous ingredients and you have something tolerable but still too salty.

Spinach Tofu ($2.80)

On the menu, this was touted as the must order dish and chef's specialty. I'm sad to report its nothing special. In fact, it was rather bad because there's a very obvious layer of thick oil over it. The interesting thing is the texture which is similar to steamed eggs except that in this, the "eggs" are rubbery. Not recommended as well.

Free Ice Cream

The ice cream ain't half bad. I'm betting on Wall's or some simple NTUC brand but it works for me. The chocolate is thick and rich and so was the vanilla. I could have this for a long time. The free flow drinks were also a surprise for me since they weren't diluted by too much. Impressive.

Bill

The total bill for this rather disappointing dinner amounted to $32.53. Is it too expensive? Not really. Is it worth the money? Difficult to say yes to that too...

Overall Score: 5.5/10 (6.5 for drinks and ice cream)

Last word:
It wasn't all bad. There's decent stuff here i'm sure. In fact, i saw it packed in the Dhouby Ghaut outlet but i can't say the same from my visit to this outlet. As it stands, i do not think i will return for another try here but might consider trying the other outlet.

Niwa Sushi (East Point outlet)

Niwa Sushi is a little franchise serving reasonably priced Japanese food in the heartland's. In fact, the Eunos outlet has been featured on "The Savings King" (省钱王) and has been blogged about quite some time ago by other bloggers. The Simei outlet has been around for about half a year by now and has garnered a reasonable stream of patrons. I work near the place so i frequent it pretty often for convenience, here's what i think about it.

Location: Eastpoint Mall Level 1

Price Range: $5-8 per head

Mixed Sushi Set

The mixed sushi set is rather decent but its the price that will make you smile. $2.50 for a box containing tamago, unagi, ebi sushi and crab maki. Its only slightly more expensive then NTUC's Edo sushi offering and offers taste equal to or better then Edo's.

Chicken Katsu

The chicken katsu was rather dry but came in a generous portion. It was served with rice, potato salad and mixed greens with soy sauce sprinkled over the rice. It was alright and cost less then $5. Better then hawker centre japanese food for sure.

Unagi Bento

Their unagi has been shrinking as far as i can tell, i remember my very first visit to this place and the Unagi took up and overflowed the tray, gradually, it became smaller and smaller as you see now. Still, this cost about $5 and is definitely filling enough for a quick lunch. The unagi, though small, is well marinated and well baked to be soft and tasty.

Yakiniku set ($4.80) - Now this is a set i heartily recommend to be ordered. Reason being, the beef is generous, tasty and soft and this has remained constant for the number of times i've been here. I was introduced to the Yakiniku set by a fellow colleague who also used to frequent Niwa Sushi. She told me the best item to order would be the yakiniku because "its pretty close to restaurant quality". I wouldn't go as far to call it restaurant quality but its indeed pretty darn good. I return to have this whenever i need a quick and cheap beef fix nowadays.

Overall Score: 7/10

Last Word:
Please don't expect much service. The interior is also as basic as can be. There's nothing to make you want to stay too long in the outlet but thats not the point here. The point is simply to have reasonably good and cheap japanese food. So if thats what you want and you're as sick of bad japanese food in foodcourts as me, this is the next place to go.

Wahiro

Wahiro is a boutique japanese restaurant spanning 2 different outlets, one in Katong and the other in Novena. Helmed by Chef Hozumi, the restaurant attempts to bring the light flavors of Kansai to Singapore's Japanese cuisine scene. In fact, he has garnered several accolades and nods from the media for his offerings, a few which can be found here. It was with moderate expectations that we visited this humble outlet at Katong. Does it deserve its credit?

Location:

112 East Coast Road 01-27/28/29 Katong Mall

Contact: 63422252

Website: http://www.wahiro.com

Price range: $40-60 per head

Note: This post was also done with the Nikon D60 camera. Do let me know your thoughts on the pictures.

Exterior

Menu

Table Setting

The exterior and the mall itself is nothing to shout about. In fact, its so quiet i was surprised to find the restaurant still having a decent clientele. Is that a testament to its food? I'll find out soon.
The interior is modest with wooden furniture and a sushi counter. The tables are placed rather close together and the restaurant probably seats about 30 to 40 patrons. My first gripe is that the table is a little too small for all the food thats about to be lavished upon it. Its a small gripe but worth mentioning nonetheless.

Japanese Tidbits (Nonbei Course Meal) $40

The first item to grace our table is the japanese tidbits from the nonbei course. 4 brilliantly presented items comprising of a very well made omelette, japanese sweet seaweed-like thingy and 2 others which i have conveniently forgotten. I do remember my opinion of this dish though. I liked it and so did my gf. Its very appetising and definitely raised expectations of what to expect next.

Wahiro Salmon Satsuma Age ($8.80)

This was not part of the 2 courses we had and honestly, we rather regretted ordering it. The salmon fish cake interesting because i've never seen it anywhere else, but it had an incredibly strong ginger taste and came across as rather dry and spicy. An equivalent in the taste department would be close to a fish-made ngor hiang.

Sashimi

Sashimi

Regardless of which set you chose, it came with a sashimi platter of tasting proportions. This means the portions were rather small but reasonable in the grand scheme of things. The sashimi is generally of a decent quality and fresh. The texture of the fish ranges from melt-in-your-mouth to those were slightly tough depending on the type of fish but were generally good and pleasing.

Tempura (Yuuge Unagi Yanagawa Course) $30

Their rendition of tempura had a very light and thin batter which was easy to stomach. It helps that the batter did not cover the taste of the prawn as well. Albeit the prawns being of a smaller size then usual.

Kushiyaki (Nonbei course)

Japan is famous for their grilled sticks and this is supposed to be a faithful representation of their much loved art. Despite the small serving, i found the chicken wing and bacon with asparagus nicely done with a smokey taste to it. It also retains its original juices and is still tender despite the grilling. A bigger portion would have helped loads.

Grilled Eel and Burdock Omelette (Yuuge Unagi Yanagawa Course)

Unagi omelette in hotpan. I actually liked this pretty much. It had thin yet generous slices of unagi and a thin later of onions and burdock. The unagi is literally melts in your mouth and is slightly sweet. The omelette did not come across as oily at all. Burdock was added to it which has medicinal and dietery properties which is a plus.

Oden (Nonbei Course)

Naruto with braised raddish. Naruto is essentially japanese fish-paste cake. This version is rather big but scored fairly low in the taste department as it was basically tasteless. The braised raddish, however, ended up being the one thing that wowed me that night. I'm not someone who likes raddish but this has to be tasted to be believed. It must have been braised for a ridiculously long time to have absorbed the tasty broth it now resembled. Texture was soft and surprisingly tender with it remaining hot throughout the meal. In fact, its perfect for a cold day to warm your body. Very nicely done indeed.

Ochazuke (Nonbei Course)

The perfect way to end a full course japanese meal. Ochazuke is basically rice submerged in either tea or hot water with certain condiments comprising of tsukemono and umeboshi (both pickles). Truth be told, i was not used to having rice as an ending dish but this proved to actually be appetising due to the pickles used. In fact, the pickles were rather overwhelming in huge quantities and gave the rice a sourish taste throughout. This is an example of the traditional methods used by Wahiro which may or may not be agreed upon in Singapore. I found this quite interesting though.

Bill

The final bill came up to $90.40 for 2 people for an interesting meal.

Final score: 7/10

Last Word:

The food here really isn't too bad. Its very traditional and honestly, i think the Nonbei course would be perfect as a winter meal for the amount of warmth the meal brings. The quality of food is above average but the portions were indeed small. Still, we left stuffed to the brim in the end and rather satisfied. I actually found my gf's meal more worth the money as opposed to the Nonbei course though. Will i return? Maybe for lunch one of these days for a more budget experience.