Shokudo

Mum discovered this new restaurant in the basement of Raffles City. It's a Japanese version of Marche. She was very excited about it when she saw this place last week and couldn't resist going in to check it out. She loved their steak which she felt was very well done. That is after having visited Delifrance the week before and being thoroughly disappointed in their so-called 'steak' which tasted like rubber even though having ordered a medium-rare. However, we didn't order the steak last evening.

Just like Marche, we were issued a card each, as well as a little sign saying the table was 'reserved'.

I wanted to try the salmon bamboo rice (which was a disappointment as it was way too bland). Other than the salmon and a few miserable pieces of mushrooms, there wasn't any taste to it. Princess had a chicken and asparagus spaghetti in tomato cream sauce. She didn't enjoy it much and I tried a piece of chicken which didn't taste too cooked. Mum got some skewered stuff and those were nice. There were mushrooms, prawns, beef, salmon, and bacon with asparagus.

We also had gyoza as well as both waffle and a crepe to share amongst us. The waffle was so-so but the crepe was really nice. It had a nice crunch to it and not soft like Marche's when it cools down. Basically this dessert is very similar to what you get at Marche, with caramel bananas as a topping, or ice-cream.

Mum tried the garlic rice and she said it was nice. There's also a play area for the kids to be entertained while you eat in peace. It's very basic but it keeps them happy enough. However, one drawback is that the place is not very clean. Although it was pretty empty when we were there, we found biscuits, crumbs, and spilled coffee on the flooring. There were dirty tissues with foodstuff on some other table which weren't cleared and service is practically non-existent even though they slap a service fee on the total bill. Nobody cleared our dishes as we emptied them and I had to move them elsewhere in order to clear more space on the table.

All in, it was an ok experience. I would go back for the crepes. I would try some other 'safe' food the next time. Sometimes it doesn't pay to be adventurous.