Shokudo Japanese Food Bazaar

I had my lunch at this seemingly new restaurant at Raffles City Shopping Centre yesterday (Saturday). Situated quite a distance away from the basement 1 escalators in a rather isolated corner, there is a possibility that regular shoppers may miss it, but its extra large store sign compensates for that. In a somewhat similar fashion to the swiss restaurant Marché located at VivoCity, a card would be issued to each patron upon entrace. When you order food at any of the several food kiosks inside the restaurant, you would have to present the said card and the cost of the food would be charged to the card. After dining, you need to return the card and pay the amount charged to it at the exit. For sure, that is a unique way of ordering and paying for food, but there's more to Shokudo. In fact, I would say that the variety of food offered there is wider as opposed to Marché's. The name of the restaurant is misleading, to say the least. Besides Japanese food, there are also other cuisines on offer, including Italian, Western and Chinese among others. That makes Shokudo the go-to place for birthday celebrations, family dinners and friend outings because there's just something for everyone.

However, the quality of food is not consistent. Some dishes are really fantastic, while some are mediocre. I had the infortune of trying out an item that falls into the later category: a Chicken Burger (picture) with a cold grilled chicken piece and egg slapped between melted cheese, lettuce and tomatos, redolent of the typical 'cooked-earlier-and-left-there-for-a-few-hours' dishes that you get from your ubiquitous mixed vegetable rice stall. Considering that the burger, which came together with fries, costs $6.80, the aforementioned is a sin. I also did try the mushroom soup, which tasted pretty decent, but no as good as I'd expect.

More noteworthy, however, is the flatbed version (think lasagna) of Tako Parco's tako-yaki (Japanese octopus balls) - you know, the ones where you can get for $2 for 3 balls at Pasar Malams. Now, that IS good. Its filling of chicken ham and cheese is a perfect combination - all these, served pipping hot unlike the Chicken Burger.

Also tried was a stirred-fried mushroom dish, but that tasted average. My friends ordered some other items like wanton and Japanese omelette rice, but I didn't try them out. To down all the food, I bought a Japanese Mocha. Surprisingly, it's green and before you say another word of 'Mocha', I would like to suggest that you forget that word - because this is not the Mocha you know. The drink tasted a tad salty and there is a distinct 'powdery' feel in it (much like undisolved milk solids or the topping of milo powder you get in your milo dinosaur). Overall, the tangy drink tasted considerably odd, but I kind of like it.

Of course, there are still a whole lot of other food items that I have not eaten, but I will make sure that I try them out on my next visit (yes, there will be a 2nd visit). Is it better than Marché? Yes, it is. It has wider food variety and the prices are generally more competitive than Marché's. This eatery is highly recommended. Thumbs up for it!