Tuesday, September 15, 2009

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.

Watami Singapore

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.

Sushi Menu

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.

Yaki Udon

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.

Watami Salad

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

Hiroshimafu Okonomiyaki

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!)

Kimchi Nabe

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. :-)

Potato Mochi

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.

Strawberry Parfait

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.

Mango Yakult

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

Cassis Orange Splash

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



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13 comments:

Miss Tam Chiak said...

The Kimchi in the Nabe looks good. Hai too bad I wasn't able to make it last sat, miss the good food! :(

Unknown said...

Jaime-La-Nourriture

It was quite tasty too. Another time maybe.

It's been a long time since I saw you!

Camemberu said...

Looks great! Haha, I think my tastebuds run along the same lines as Momo's!

Hmmm I must go and try their aburi stuff! Yum!

Las montaƱas said...

Nice blog! was the kimchi nabe substantial and valued for money?

Unknown said...

Camemberu,
Ya, you all even have the same phone!

The food so far so good.


Las montanas,
Thanks. If you have it with rice it would be just nice. The price of it is about similar to other places.

myfoodsirens said...

I like the salad too! Just eating a full serving makes me full ha.

Kenny Mah said...

The last one looks like the Sugar Plum Lime Soda I have at Lavender... The fun part is in stirring it altogether, ya? :D

backStreetGluttons said...

Momo and you will surely make a good eating team , with the ups and the downs slipping in smoothly

Anonymous said...

It's almost certain that I won't be traveling to Singapore anytime soon to try this delicious looking restaurant. However, you have inspired me to attempt homemade potato mochi. What could be tastier? I'm sure google will have some recipes for me.

Anyway, I found you through FoodGawker and am writing to say that if you have any photos that aren’t accepted there, I’d love to publish them. Visit my new site (below), it’s a lot of fun! I hope you will consider it.

Best,
Casey
Editor
www.tastestopping.wordpress.com

Jessica said...

The potato mochi looks delish! I've only had sweet mochi, but savory sounds good too!

Sheryl0202 said...

I like Watami a lot. How come you guys didn't try the sushi?

The sushi is very good, especially the grandeur!

I been to the one at Ion once and wanted to go again but it was long Q on Tues night.

Unknown said...

myfoodsirens,
Yes, the salad's nice ya. I love vegs and I can eat everything veg! :-)


LFB,
yes, you stir it a bit and it gets the water slowly changes colour. haha.. we sound like kids! :-p


BSG,
haha... we eat things that the other person don't like. ie we wont snatch each other's food. :-p


Casey,
oh, you should come visit Singapore one day!

will visit your blog :-)

gaga said...

I used to eat at the watami in HK all the time. Man, I miss it! Looks tasty!

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