Japan Rail Cafe @ Tanjong Pagar Centre - Unique Place For Japanese food

I've always been interested in Japan, both as an investment choice and also their culture and food. Me and my girlfriend went down to this new cafe called Japan rail café. We have always been a fan of Japanese food from sushi to sashimi and ramen. There are so many Japanese food to choose from in Singapore but I would say Japan Rail Café is the most unique of them all.

Japan Rail café has an interesting concept. It is not your normal neighbourhood Japanese restaurant. Firstly, they don't have sushi. Secondly, they don't have ramen. You might be thinking what kind of Japanese Café is this without all the mainstream Japanese dishes?

Here is a sneak peak of their menu:

As you can see, the menu consist of mostly Japan western style of food such as burgers. They also have rice bowls which is eaten quite uniquely. I've never eaten a Jap rice bowl like this before. I will elaborate on this in awhile.

Before I go into the details of the food, let me give you some details of Japan Rail Cafe. This cafe is actually opened by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). The new travel themed café is located on the level 1 of Tanjong Pagar Centre, the tallest building connected to Tanjong Pagar MRT Station.

Aiming to promote travel to Japan, JAPAN RAIL CAFE will provide Japan lovers with a one stop Japan-like experience including the latest Japanese products such as trendy items and convenient rail ticketing service for Japan rail passes. It will also serve as a platform to communicate unique information to Singaporeans on the less known travel destinations in Japan.

The cafe is quite cosy and not too big. It is really ideal for couples on a date as well as family and friends hanging out. I manage to talk to the owner of this cafe and found out the concept behind it. The unique point of the cafe is the menu changes every month with different theme for each month. For the month of December, they featured the place in Japan called Tohoku. Never heard it before? That was the purpose for Japan Rail Cafe to introduce less known places in Japan to promote travelling to these places.

The menu is designed in newspaper format. In it are interesting facts of the featured place in Japan such as the popular foods, the scenery and sights which can be seen there. I looked through the newspaper menu and found quite a lot of scenic places in Tohoku to visit. You can find the place on Google and see how beautiful the place is. Tohoku is actually between Tokyo and Sapporo (Hokkaido).

Now, for the food, I ordered their recommended "The Ultimate ABC burger" while my girlfriend got the Twin Flavoured Crispy Chicken Don. A.B.C in the burger stands for Avocado, Bacon and cheddar cheese.

The Ultimate ABC burger

The Ultimate ABC burger

The burger's patty is actually 160g of juicy Wagyu beef. To me, the burger paid attention to details and was cooked near to perfection. Wagyu beef is known to be very soft and it is different from normal beef. I've tried other Wagyu beef before and sadly this was not the best Wagyu beef I've tried but overall, it tasted really good with the cheese, avocado and bacon.

The bread was very special and one of the best bread I've every eaten before. See how soft the bun is in the picture. I was wondering why the bread tasted so good and I realised they used Asanoya's original soft buns. This is a 80+ year old Japanese bakery which is known to make one of the finest bread in the world.

The portion was really big and I couldn't finish the wedges which were the sides for the dish. They probably had about 15 pieces of wedges on the plate which was too filling after eating the burger. The sides can be customised and you can choose from other sides such as fries, or soup. If wedges is too filling for you, maybe the soup will go along well with the huge burger.

Twin Flavoured Crispy Chicken Don

For my girlfriend. she had this Crispy chicken dish which was also very huge! She is a fan of fried chicken especially KFC popcorn chicken so this dish appealed to her. The whole chicken on the plate covered all the rice below. I manage to try some and the chicken was fried nicely and not dry at all. The rice was of very good quality Japanese rice too.

The dish is no ordinary fried chicken dish. If you see in my picture, there is a tea pot behind the bowl. This tea port is not for drinking tea but to go along with the rice bowl. In it is some rich soup which was quite tasty when poured into the rice. The right way to eat is to only pour the soup into the rice after eating halfway so we get to try the rice with and without soup.

Soup in the tea pot

My girlfriend was impressed with the elegance of the dish with the presentation and special way to eat it. They also had a small plate of sesame seeds, seaweed and fish roe to go with the rice. Delicious!!

Pouring the soup into the rice bowl

Mixing the small plate in

Our dishes for the night

For drinks, my girlfriend had the Kuromitsu Kinako Latte and I had the Uji-Maccha Latte. The Kuromitsu Kinako Latte as described in the menu is a transformation of Japanese sweets into latte using Kuromitsu (black honey) and Kinako (soybean powder). For the Uji-Maccha latte, it is basically maccha tea or green tea which we more commonly know it as. I tried the tea and it had a very rich flavour which I really like a lot.

Uji-Maccha Latte

Kuromitsu Kinako Latte

After having a nice meal, me and girlfriend headed to the front section of the cafe to see the retail stuff on sale and I also noticed they do sell various Japan travel tickets there such as the Japan rail pass (JR pass) and even Disneyland Tokyo tickets are sold there.

Japan Rail models

Japan Food and drinks for sale

Some unique bags for sale. Don't be deceived by the traditional looks of it. As what I heard, some Japanese woman have to wait a few months just to get the bag

Interesting cloths which can be framed up in a photo frame. You can buy different cloths to change the it in the frame

Japan railway line in the cafe

Here's where you can buy your Japan rail pass

Some clothes for sale. Look ordinary but costs hundreds of dollars per piece

Cloths in photo frame again

Some gifts for sale

Tourist brochures for Japan

Explaining which pass to get if you're travelling in Japan

Tokyo Disneyland tickets are sold here as well

Application forms for JR pass

Overall, it was a good experience with friendly staff and good environment in the cafe. I felt they paid close attention to details and make sure guests have an enjoyable time in the cafe with good food and ambience. Thanks to Japan Rail Café for inviting us to try out their food.

If you love Japan too, why not drop by this place to experience it yourself. The menu and theme changes every month so do check out their Facebook page here to see what new things they have in store.

Opening Hours:
Mon – Sat: 11am to 9pm
Sun & PH: 11am to 8pm

Japan Rail Pass Counter: 11am-8pm daily

Address:
Tanjong Pagar Centre, Level 1
5 Wallich Street, #01-20 Tanjong Pagar Centre,
Singapore 078883

Directions: Alight at Tanjong Pagar MRT Station (Green Line EW15) and enter Tanjong Pagar Centre B2 directly in front of the fare gate. Take the escalator up to level 1 and the cafe is located just outside the building on your left.

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A night of experience with Japanese food

I have written on the Japanese economy and invested in Japanese properties. Today, I had the experience with Japanese food and find out why they are so popular even in Singapore.

My first stop was at Ramen play which sells amazing Japanese ramen with one of the best soup I've ever had. This concept was brought from Japan to Singapore by the well known BreadTalk group. BreadTalk is a very successful business with its restaurants and bakeries positioned almost everywhere in Singapore. I've ate at its the popular Din Tai Fung, bought bread from its BreadTalk bakeries and also had breakfast at toastbox before. Ramen play is a first time experience for me.

I ordered a double soup cha su ramen for $12.80. The presentation of the ramen was fantastic. With the lighting in the restaurant positioned in the right place, the noodles seems to be shining directly at me.

Can you see the bowl shining out?

The restaurant was quite packed at dinner time. Business is fairly good. There is no doubt about the quality of the food but of course the price is a bit pricey. But if you compare to other restaurants such as Ajisen, this is actually quite competively priced. So far, I've been impressed with all of Breadtalks' business concepts. They indeed focus a lot on quality which has gained them many loyal customers and a good brand name. No wonder their share price have been constantly rising. Those who've invested in the company in the early days probably are laughing away till now. 

The next stop was an experience in a place called the ministry of food. Similarly,  they also had a Japanese theme concept restaurant. I only had deserts there and these are the food I ordered to be shared with a friend:

A green tea shake and a red bean shake. Apparently, Japan is famous for their green tea and red bean. 

Red bean paste with Japanese dumplings and green tea ice cream

Ice cream with assorted fruits and Japanese Kanten Jelly

Ministry of food is a Singapore based company which started in 2006. The restaurant is fully packed even at 9pm. Their business is really good. They have a good environment for you to relax and chill in. Their menu really have a lot of deserts to choose from. I think I counted over at least 20 different deserts. However, price is not cheap. For that few deserts, it was already $34. 

That's all for my once in awhile indulgence. June is a month of bonus and pay increment for me. I also just got a small promotion on my job. Another good news is I'm already half way towards my 100k target by the age of 28. Even after all these indulgence, my financial state is still healthy and I'm still on track. 

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Related Posts:

1. First time lunch experience at Tim Ho Wan

First time lunch experience at Tim Ho Wan

I've long heard of Tim Ho Wan for its famous dim sum when its first opened the first outlet at Plaza Singapura around last year. Tim Ho Wan is a popular Michelin starred Dim Sum restaurant in Hong Kong. Singapore is its first overseas outlet. I heard people queued for as long as 3 hours just to get seated in the Plaza Sing outlet when it first opened. I was quite put off by the long wait so i thought now would be a good time to go there since it already has 4 outlets in Singapore and probably the queue will not be that long after 1 year.

Credits: www.timhowan.com

I went to the Bedok mall outlet with my family at around 1:45pm just now. I thought there won't be many people there by this time but i was absolutely wrong. The restaurant was fully packed and there were about 20 people queuing outside. We actually walked off thinking the wait would take at least an hour. Luckily as i was walking off, i saw about 10 people being brought inside the restaurant and the queue shortened quickly. Decided to queue now since not too many people. Within 10 mins even before we decided on what to order, we were already brought into the restaurant. They had a very good system of organising seats for its customers. Every thing was in proper order.

You may be thinking why am i blogging about food and more so expensive restaurant food in my finance blog? Well, i don't usually eat at restaurants except when i give my parents a treat like this time. This is one of those occasions when i'm less concerned on money. Its good to splurge on food especially when it comes to good food with your own family. Good things are meant to be shared with your loved ones aren't they?

Tim Ho Wan is dubbed the cheapest Michelin starred restaurant in the world. I would say it is affordable for an average income earner. Michelin starred restaurants food are quite expensive elsewhere. You may wonder what's so special about Michelin star? I did some research and here are the findings:

"The term "Michelin Star" is a hallmark of fine dining quality. Michelin awards 0-3 stars on the basis of anonymous inspections by reviewers. The reviewers are supposed to concentrate on the quality, mastery of technique, personality and consistency of the food, not on interior décor, table setting, or service quality." 

 "The reason Michelin stars are so coveted is that most restaurants receive no stars at all. For example, in the Michelin Guide to France 2009, 3,531 restaurants are included, but just 548 received a star. Most of these restaurants -- 449 -- received one-star, 73 received two stars, and 26 received three."

It seems like not many restaurants have been awarded even one star. Having just one star is already an achievement. So did this Dim Sum restaurant lived up to its standard?

Here are some of the food i ordered:

This was the famous BBQ pork Bun. It's so nice and round that it would capture the attention of anybody who walked past. The bun was really soft with juicy BBQ pork inside. 3 buns for $4.50. It was special and unique in its own way. Don't think i've tasted any other bun as good as this in Singapore before. A must try if you're there.

The inside of the bun. Juicy BBQ char siew pork. (Pardon my dirty plate)

This chicken feet was a chef recommendation in the bedok outlet. Cost was $5/plate. To me this was nothing special. I've tasted better chicken feet elsewhere.

Glutinous rice with lotus leaf. $5 for this one. This was quite good. The rice is seasoned perfectly and the texture was smooth. Recommended to try when you're there. 

Prawn dumplings for $5.50. The filling was really full of fresh prawns. Quite worth the money. However to me, the taste was only average. Could be seasoned a little bit better. 

This was a famous egg cake which i've seen other bloggers recommend. $3.80 for this one. I'm not a fan of cakes or bread stuff but i have to say this is really fluffy and soft. Taste was perfect with just the right amount of sweetness. However, i would think the cake is a little on the dry side. Not sure if its suppose to be like this? 

In total, i ordered a total of 11 items with one chinese tea drink each. Some items i did not take pictures of it. Total cost was $68.62 including GST and service charge. Not too expensive considering the good service and the quality of the food. 

Other items i ordered include wasabi fried prawn dumpling, fried hong kong style noodles, beef vermicelli, carrot cake and pork congee. 

Another food i would strongly recommend is the pork congee or some may call it porridge. It's $4.20 for a small bowl but i would say its worth every bit of the price. The taste was just fantastic and the congee just melts in your mouth. I saw almost every table ordered this.

Overall, the experience was good. The restaurant was not understaffed and food came in fast even though the place was fully packed. The staff were polite and didn't rush us at all. Can see that they are trained professionally. Thank you for reading my first attempt on food review. Hope you liked this little twist in my blog. 

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