We have been to JEM, a shopping mall at the western side of Singapore several times. Each time we past a Japanese restaurant on the ground flooor but never got to try it. 

Last weekend, we were at JEM again, and finally decided to check out En Sakaba.  It is actually more of a casual bistro offering a variety of Japanese influenced tapas that are best paired with sake & beer.  With indoor and outdoor settings, it is really a great evening chill out place for sake beer and tapas.

On this occasion we were there for lunch to try their good value quality rice bowls.  Their rice bowls range from around $14-$20 on average. Our 2 boys are big eaters and really hungry that day, so they each went for 2 rice bowls, while DH, DD and I had one each.

We started our meal with 2 appetizers to share.  We decided on the Hitoshima oyster fritters.  Each serving came with 3 oysters.  So we ordered 2.  The oysters tasted good but were not big.  The oysters I had in Hiroshi were definitely much bigger and juicer.

Our second appetizer was the Beef Truffle Carpaccio.  The beef was thinly sliced and lightly seared.  The meat were well marbled and tender.  The Truffle flavour with the lightly sour sauce went very well.  A dish which all in the family said was good.

Our boys both went for the Kaisen Chirashi Don and Yakiniku Onsen Tamago Don.  The Kaisen Chirashi Don came with generous slices of fresh seafood.  

DD also had the Yakiniku Onsen Tamago Don.  The beef was well marbled and lightly. served.  The Onsen Tamago was of the right consistency.   All three enjoyed this dish.

DH was another hungry person.  He went for the Tonkitsu Karamiso Ramen and Cha Siu Fon set.  The ramen was a spicy ramen that he liked.  The rice bowl came with simple Japanese style pork slices. 

I went for the Negitoro Don.  It came with an Onsen Tamago too.  I have grown to like this minced tuna dish and recently have been ordering it wherever I go.  The dish here is well done and the rice was a nice vinegared rice.  Incidentally, the Kaisen Chirashi Don which the kids had and with vinegared rice too.  The Onsen Tamago here added an additional nice rich flavour to this rice bowl.  At $15 per bowl, I find it cheap especially with the generous mince tuna that they gave.

Overall, it was an enjoyable and reasonably priced meal.   But I must say that while the rice bowl was reasonably priced, the drinks were expensive.  A glass of coke, for e.g. was $5!  Most casual restaurants would have charged only about $3.  Our whole meal came up to about $150, bearing in mind that our 2 boys had 2 rice bowls each.  So for regular eaters, at this price, you can feed 7 people here.

The post Eating in Singapore – Reasonably priced quality Japanese rice bowls @ En Sakaba appeared first on Mums Travels.

It is a small restaurant with several tables and a counter and a private room which can accommodate 6-8pax.  Min spending in order to book a private room is $1,200 for lunch and $1,600 for dinner if I recall correctly.

For lunch, they have an executive set menu consisting of rice bowls and sukiyaki.

I decided to go for the Premium Wagyu Don which included Japanese beef, foie gras, uni, truffle and onsen egg.  I chose the $85++ Joshu A3 beef and could not bring myself to pay $108 for the Kagoshima A5.  I had a choice of fried rice or white rice and chose fried rice.

The rice was really flavorful.  The beef was extremely tender and grilled just right at medium rare.  The truffle and foie gras really brings out the flavour of the rice bowl.  Really yummy!  I loved it.  But I must say that for $85, portion was small and I was not satisfied after my meal.  Felt that one corner of my stomach was still empty.

My friend decided to have the Signature Truffle Don which cost $45++ and add on uni for another $15.  After this add-on,  her rice bowl had all that mine had except foie gras which she did not like.   This rice bowl came with plain rice only.  No option for fried rice.  But the rice bowl comes with a sauce.

The Signature Truffle Don is of a slightly more substantial portion compared to my Premium Wagyu Don. Since it was served in a round based bowl compared to mine which was served in a cone shaped bowl.  Portion was about right for my friend.  She liked her rice bowl.

Each set lunch came with salad and choice of ice-cream.  They had the usual Japanese Ice-cream flavour, namely matcha, black sesame and yuzu.  I choice my favourite yuzu.

Overall a delicious lunch but was not satisfying due to the small serving.  It was extremely expensive but I must admit that quality was good.  Will I come back again?  I’m not sure.  The rice bowl was delicious and I liked it, but I’m not sure if I’ll be crazy enough to pay so much for a bowl of rice again.

We went to Lady M nearby for cake and coffee after lunch to fill the remaining corner of my stomach.

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