Shokudo food bazaar.. The good and the bad..

Vday lunch at Shokudo food bazaar!

Unagi fried rice

Ramen

Pork belly and scallop yakitori

Gyoza

Finally... the reviews..

When I first heard abou Shokudo food bazaar, I was really excited. A Japanese marche-style restaurant? A place where I can try many types of japanese food? I was so looking forward to trying it out~

Mark and I went about 12pm in the afternoon just before the lunch crowd started so we got our choice of seats and we didn't even have to queue. We put our stuff down and wandered about, in awe of the different seating areas as well as the decor of the place. There were many types of food that you could try! Pasta, burgers, omu rice, tempura, dons, yakitori, teppanyaki, dessert, nabes, ramen, rosti, sashimi and sushi, etc... There was even a neoprint machine in the place! (It was out of order the day we went though.. ) Even when we bought our food, this lady (We think she was one of the few bosses or management) offered us serviettes as we had forgotten to get any for ourselves.

Now for the food...

1. Unagi fried rice: $5.80 for a small bowl of rice... granted the rice was quite garlicky and fragant.. the amount of unagi (about 2 small strips) for definitely not value for money..
2. Ramen: $8.80 for a huge bowl of ramen.. Fatty soft char siew, not bad.. BUT.. according to Mark, their ramen was like instant noodles, the type that is one piece waxy type.. The broth was also not flavourful enough.
3. Yakitori: Pork belly and scallop. You order the sticks you want then return to collect it later but there's one problem with this. When the sticks are done cooking, they are removed from heat so the meat will not be charred but if you return too late? Your freshly grilled yakitori sticks are now cool and they no longer taste as good. Even the aircon of the place cools your yakitori sticks quite fast so order this only if you're going to eat them immediately.
4. Gyoza: $5.00 was so-so.. They kind of look like the frozen type you can buy from the supermarkets.

Sushi and sashimi counters were packed with people.. Didn't bother with those..

I was still excited even tho the food was not that fantastic. Probably thought that it was difficult to get good Japanese food all together in one place so I looked forward to going again, hoping that the food that wasn't too good would just be a one-off occurence. So I went with Molie and Lily again on Saturday.

This time,

Molie - Salmon fried rice and a prawn and bacon yakitori

Lily - Katsu with egg don

Me - Sausage Omu rice

Apparently, the salmon fried rice wasn't as good as the unagi fried rice I had a few days ago. The garlicky taste was strong but it wasn't fragant enough. Yakitori was ok. The katsu was expected to be fried fresh on the spot but according to Lily who stood in front waiting for it, the katsu was already pre-fried and all the person had to do was to add an egg and drizzle the sauce above the rice. The omu rice was the stunner. It was basically scrambled egg over rice with ketchup, chopped lettuce on the side with a grilled sausage. The presentation was terrible! The egg was like so messy over the rice and if it was going to be so ugly, the least he could do was to drizzle some ketchup or draw a pattern on the egg to disguise it. The tomato fried rice was a bit too mushy too. YIKES! That was the last straw for me.

According to Molie, I'm too fussy about Japanese food. But key is, Japanese food is based on freshness and presentation is also very important. Least to say, Shokudo has disappointed me dreadfully. I wouldn't want to visit the place again unless they have improved their standards. The concept and decor is cool. The food... You're better off paying a few dollars more at Sushi Tei at Raffles city or Waraku at Marina Square.