Shokudo Japanese Food Bazaar at Raffles City

I finally got to try Shokudo Japanese Food Bazaar at Raffles City. I was so surprised that there were no long snaking line outside the place as was the scene when they first opened earlier this year. I had been looking forward to trying this place for a long time, I wanted to see what the hype was all about and I wasn't disappointed at all. Unfortunately I left my camera at home and was stuck to using my crummy camera phone, so I was a bit sad that I couldn't get any nice photos since most of them ended up being blurry. I guess it just means that I'll have to come back here again with a proper camera next time :) But check out this blog to see some nice photos and a review of the place.

What I liked about the place was the layout and the concept. If you've ever been to Marche then you'd be familiar with the 'charge card' system. When you first enter the restaurant, each patron (regardless of age) receives a card for which you use to charge your purchases into. Your party is also given a 'Reserved' tag to put on your table to reserve i while you go around 'shopping' for your food. I say shopping is because that's exactly what you do. Within the restaurant there are individual stalls selling a variety of different things. So you basically go to the one you want, give your order, they charge your card and you come back in a little while to get your food. The interesting thing here is the service was so good that we were even approached by one of the wait staff who saw I was holding a receipt at the table and asked if I wanted her to get my food for me. I was very surprised. I was a little taken aback tho when as soon as I sat down the staff came over to me and quickly took my tray and gave me serviettes and put the cutlery on top. She was like an eagle swooping down on her prey. A bit freaked out, so a little warning before hand like a polite 'let me help you with that' would've been nice. Oh well, with the usual lack of service standards in Singapore, it was nice to see this place employed good staff who smiled and were enthusiastic about their job (this included those that prepared the food).

Ok so apart fromm the concept, the food itself was great. You could tell the ingredients were fresh and of good quality. So after you are done, you bring your card to the cashier who will then total your purchases. I think this place is great for gatherings with friends because everyone can just choose to eat what they please and there's no need to fight over the bill because you simply pay for your purchases on your own card. Price wise everything was very reasonable. We had an Omu Rice thing which was Fried Rice with your choice of topping wrapped in an omelet topped with Japanese mayo for about $8 something (++) If you didn't want the omelet it was only $5 something. And we also had grilled squid tentacles for $3 a plate of adequate appetiser size portion - I was rather surprised at how cheap it was. I also saw grilled Salmon head for about $5, My Mum loves salmon head so I'm definitely going back to bring her to try.

Omu Rice


The restaurant is designed to look like an old style street.

There were different themed sitting areas, we chose to sit in one of these wooden booths. that was made to look like we were sitting in a little Japanese Hut (or home?)