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Food Review: Raku Japanese Restaurant

October 5, 2008 – 8:15 pm by wiffy

Within the idyllic and rich neighbourhood of Greenwood Avenue where its vicinity are prestigious schools (Raffles Girls Pr, Nanyang Girls School), mega huge private houses (some comes with never ending driveways and tennis courts) and the Singapore Botanic Gardens, lies a great find for Japanese food lovers - Raku Japanese Restaurant. Given its more upmarket surroundings, the eateries in the vicinity are naturally more high end to cater to its richer cliente. As with the somewhat higher prices, it usually also means you are paying for better quality food which we certainly had at Raku.

We first visited Raku for Foodbuzz special 24,24,24 feature and we had the buffet.  Weeks later, we re-visited Raku after our foodbuzz gig coz B & I miss the food and this time round, we ordered the bento sets. This food diary features food piccies from both our trips to Raku (the buffet as well as the bento sets).

Besides the good food, the service was wonderful and the wait staff was attentive. We were the only customers seated outside (so that there is natural light for photography and less distraction =P) and we can see that the staff made an effort to come out regularly to check if we needed anything/tea refills. It being an ala carte buffet (which I prefer over buffet counters), they certainly didn’t give us the impression that we ordered too much and they were patient with our endless orders.

Raku Japanese Restaurant

Address: 10 Greenwood Avenue Singapore 289201

Operating Hours: 12pm - 2.30pm, 6pm - 10.30pm

Buffet Price: S$59+ or S$99+ menu per pax

Promos: 15% for Amex/DBS Amex (Mon-Sat, excluding Sundays & PHs) for ala carte (excluding bento sets and buffet), till end 2008

The First Trip - Raku Buffet

The first time we went to Raku Japanese Restaurant (read here about our experience), we ordered the Raku buffet (priced at S$59 per person; you can upgrade to the S$99 buffet where you get 1 serving of Uni/Toro sashimi and one beer, among other stuff). The food we had was simply fantastic.

The pictures shown below are what we feasted on that day. Some of them are bigger photos of what was featured previously, while some are new photos. I don’t just adore Japanese food because they are yummy, I adore the aesthetically beautiful presentation as well. I think one of the key enjoyable factors of Japanese (and French) delights is the aesthetics ^o^ Not convinced? Lookie at the close ups of our buffet feast =D~

Sashimi - Maguro (Tuna), Salmon, Hamachi (Yellow Tail), Mckajiki (Sword Fish) and Tako (Octopus). This is the serving that comes with each order, and you can order unlimited amount of sashimi. Mmmm… but we only ordered two rounds, because there are still many other dishes to sample… such as …

Grilled Mackerel with Salt/Sweet Sauce … this was sooo incredibly yummy-licious.

Raku Agedashi Tofu. The rich yellow hue is really what it looks like, so unique. This is possibly the best Agedeshi Tofu I had tried. Love the crispy lotus root garnishing on top, as well as the spicy sauce over the deep fried tofu. So heavenly.

Raku Special Chwanmushi. Love the light and fine texture of the steamed egg, as well as the salmon roe garnishing on top. How blissful.

Soft Shell Crab done in two ways - with (front) and without (background) spicy sauce. A must-order for every soft shell crabby fan.

Assorted Sushi. We ordered the Tobiko (Flying Fish Roe) and the Hotate (Scallop) sushi. I really really love the sushi rice used in their nigiri sushi … and the rice is very little (as compared to many places which tend to give huge stabs of rice … in Japan when I had sushi, the rice is usually very little too) hence you won’t be too full from eating sushi. Next time I go, I will order more nigiri sushi because I simply love eating sushi rice =x

Fish Porridge. Really good and flavourful with chucks of cooked salmon. They have other types of porridge but the staff recommended fish.

Cod Fish with Spicy Roe. They also have two other versions (served with miso sauce and sweet sauce). Yummy =D

Kaki Furai (Deep fried oysters)

Raku Special Salad

Ebi Fry with Wasabi Mayo

Horenso Goma Ae (Spinach with Black Sesame Sauce). Lovely sauce.

Osuimono (Clear Soup) … looks light and bland … but yet … so full of flavours!

Raku Special Maki (Salmon Skin with Fresh Salmon Roll). Beautiful and delicious.

Left - The starter salad and Right - the ending miso soup and fruits.

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The return trip - Bento Set

After stuffing ourselves silly with glorious Japanese food at the buffet, B and I decided to return soon after because we missed the food so much! B said that he wants to come back every month. Great idea, if our pocket and eating out allowance permits =P

This time round, we ordered the bento sets priced at S$25 each. We wanted to order ala carte initially because they have 15% discount for Amex credit card holders, but we realised that the ala carte menu is quite pricey, and we had tried most of the food at the buffet anyway. So we decided to give the bento sets, which seemed more value for money, a try.

The starters for the bento set. Pleasantly surprised to see this cute tray of starters (consisting of tofu, salad and sashimi) instead of the usual compartmental bento boxes. Nice touch.

Close up of the starter dishes - Salmon and maguro sashimi, thick slices of them. Goodie.

Close up of the starter dishes - Pitan Tofu - Tofu with century egg & tobiko (flying fish roe). Yum yum.

Close up of the starter dishes - Salad … loved the Japanese sesame sauce dressing as well as the bits of fish.

Our main course. I ordered ebi tempura set (above) while B ordered the beef teppanyaki set. Comes with garlic fried rice and miso soup.

Close up of main course B ordered - beef teppanyaki.

Corny convo during mealtime
Me: Hey why isn’t this served in a hot plate. I think they served you teriyaki instead of teppanyaki!
B: It’s cooked on a hot plate and then transferred to a bowl, you noob!
Me: … (ya ya, you so clever but dunno a thing about cooking =P)

Close up of my main course - Ebi Tempura. Three hugemongous prawns so I only ate 2 because of my prawn allergy hee =x Don’t worry, I didn’t waste the remaining prawn, it’s fed to B the garbage bin (^o^)

Garlic Fried Rice that came with our main course. I only ate half (coz I am on a diet =P), so the other half went to B the garbage bin again. I’m drooling now just by looking at the photo. Regret didn’t eat the whole bowl now ;p

Miso soup that came with the main course.

That’s all! Hope you enjoy feasting on the food photos and reading this little food diary of mine

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Related posts:
- Foodbuzz 24,24,24: East meets west in  a tropical garden city (aka Singapore Botanic Gardens Food Trail)
- NoobCook’s Food Reviews

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Tags: ala carte buffet, bento, food review, greenwood avenue singapore, japanese food, photography

Posted in Food Reviews, Singapore

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