Ootoya Japanese Restaurant

I don't normally have lunch alone, but it was just after an interview, barely noon and my friends were either busy studying or busy at work. I decided that I wanted somewhere peaceful downtown and I knew immediately where I could count on: Orchard Central. And hey, since so many food bloggers have been raving about Ootoya, it seemed like an automatic choice as well :)

Grilled Chicken Oyako Don: 4.5/5


I was trying to make sure that I got the name of this dish right, and I came upon this interesting find on Wiki that "Oyako Don" literally means "parent-and-child donburi" (donburi is a type of Japanese rice bowl dish) because of well, the chicken and egg! Ootoya's Grilled Chicken Oyako Don is the best of its type that I've eaten here in Singapore. The chicken was grilled to perfection (no wonder there was a bit of a waiting time) while the eggs and onions completed the full flavour of this dish. At first I was a bit concerned that parts of the eggs were still runny, but I mixed it around and it wasn't a problem at all. Simple, but oh so delicious.


I didn't expect this to be so filling, because I was aiming the desserts as well. I only heard recently that the dessert servings are pretty small, so in retrospect I should have gotten something sweet to wrap it all up. Maybe soon. I'm open to any invitations from anyone who wants to head there for lunch or dinner in December :)

Price
$11++.

Service
Free flow of cold or warm green tea. The green tea had a "smoky" flavour to it, but I got used to it after a while. I was willing to accept that anything here was authentically Japanese, in part because majority of the customers this afternoon were Japanese haha. How nice to hear their words and exclamations.

As I waved for the bill, the (cutest) waitress came up to me with a shy smile and slipped her hand into her apron - I thought she was going to take out her handphone, a small notepad to write her number maybe... oh, a wet towel. Gee. That aside, service here is excellent.

Place
Orchard Central, #08-12.