Watami Japanese Casual Restaurant @ The Central

This is an invited food tasting post.


Last Saturday, Momo and I were invited by Ms Kit Lim from Watami Japanese Casual Restaurant for a tasting session. It's part of the pre-opening activities and they invited some of their regular customers and food bloggers to taste their food.

Watami's a Japanese food and beverage company from Japan. I found out that they have over 600 branches in Japan alone. They also have several outlets in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Shenzhen. They have recently opened a branch in ION and this branch that we ate opens today at The Central.



Just like most Japanese restaurants, they shout out loud welcomes in Japanese whenever someone comes in. Something that I initially felt uncomfortable was the service staff goes down on their knees when they talk to you. I really did not feel at ease but Momo said it's normal like that in Japan for the places she went to. OK. You get used to it after a while.

We asked Kit if it's what they do, she says yes. (Yes, Kit was partially on her knees to while talking to us.) Their Japanese branches do that and so their overseas branches.

When we arrive and got seated, we browsed through their menu and found this part of the menu quite interesting. Torched sushi. But this was not what we tried. Kit has planned a meal for us.



We had the Yaki Udon. ($6.80) Initially we thought it was quite normal. It does look normal, but somehow the more we tried it, the more we wanted to finish it.



Next was the Watami Salad. ($7.80) Both Momo and I like this. I think it's because we like vegetables. What you see in the middle is Tuna with Mayonnaise. It comes with a cup of dressing too. The crisp and cold vegetables with the tuna and dressing really makes it so nice.



Next was the Hiroshimafu Okonomiyaki ($8.80).
I am not a great fan of any kind of Okonomiyaki but Momo liked it.



Although I am not a fan of the previous dish, but I like this next dish.
Kimchi Nabe. ($11.80) After all the ingredients are pressed down and cooked in the soup, it was so so delicious. I am a fan of hotpots. :-)


(guess what, I had some of the yaki udon mixed into some of this soup and it taste even better!)



Can you guess what this is? It's potato mochi. ($3.80).
It deep fried chewy mashed potato. Now, I like this stuff and Momo doesn't. I like the chewy texture of it. :-)



For dessert, we tried the Strawberry Parfait. ($5.80)
Now, both of us can't resist ice cream, any kind of ice cream. It has cornflakes at the bottom, so the crunchy bits and ice cream goes very well.



For drinks, we had green tea plus these two drinks.
This is unique. Mango Yakult! ($5.80) I tried some and find it quite ok.



This is Cassis Orange Splash and I kind of like it too. You stir it and everything becomes red.



They have several very different sections in the restaurant. They have private rooms if you are going there for a celebration and might be making loud noises, they can host you there.

There's also a section for bigger 5-6 persons tables.We liked the view too, certain parts of the restaurant faces the Singapore River.

The prices seems reasonable and portions are quite good too.You can take a look at their website (www.watami.com.sg) for the full menu and prices too. There's an opening special too. Go visit their website for more details.


Watami Japanese Casual Restaurant @ The Central

6 Eu Tong Sen Street, The Central,
#03-82/83/85/102/108/109
Singapore 059817

Tel: (65) 6323 3398
Fax: (65) 6323 3378
Hours: 11.30am to 11pm

Watami Japanese Casual Restaurant @ ION Orchard
ION Orchard #B3-23
2 Orchard Turn
Singapore 238801
Tel: (65) 6509 9366
Fax: (65) 6509 9368
Hours: 10 am to 10 pm