Kanda Wadatsumi
50 Tras Street near Tanjong Pagar MRT
Not exactly new, but lined along the hipsterish Tras Street, this relatively new Japanese restaurant is one good addition to the food scene in Singapore. Not too sure about the dinner standards over here, but if you are searching for an affordable yet very quality lunch, I believe Kanda Wadatsumi would not disappoint. Starting from $32 for their set lunch, we got the Chirashi set each while I topped up an $8 for an additional appetiser and dessert, which I reckon is worthy of!
My additional appetiser – the fluffy steamed tamago doused in a lightly sweetened savoury nori sauce.
What a beautiful bowl of neatly diced chirashi over here. Unlike the rendition served by Teppei and some other restaurants, this is not doused with the flavour lifting mirin based sauce that would unfortunately leave some of us a little thirsty later on. Instead, its taste is lifted by the naturally sweet fish cubes and not forgetting that creamy slab of uni on top.
What makes it even more exciting is the chef’s creativity in his Chirashi creation, as he has invented three different intriguing ways to savour this bowl of chirashi don.
The second way of eating this – drenching it with the sesame sauce to give it an extra fragrant nutty body that would suit the heavier palates.
The third way of eating this – soaking the whole bowl in the lukewarm, clear and subtly fragranted dashi broth. This was clearly my favourite as I finished the rest with this pot. Just lightly savoury, it befits totally the lighter tasting chirashi theme and I was further impressed with how the nori and condiments by the side, especially the wasabi, are able to greatly lift the overall taste of this chirashi ochazuke! Yummy!
The dessert – Matcha Tiramisu! Fluffy moist intensely flavoured matcha sponge that is smothered with the beautiful, creamy mascarpone cheese, this was legit.
I am pretty impressed with the creativity behind the set lunches served over here, at least for the chirashi don as not only does it taste excellent on its own already, the chef even went further by introducing two other ways of eating it that makes the experience even more wholesome and fun!
Verdict: An excellent restaurant for lunch. 4.6/5.
