Shimbashi Soba at Great World City
July 10, 2017 |
| Shokutsu Ten Japanese Food Street in Great World City |
Great World City Shopping Mall, a rather unknown mall located in River Valley around the outskirt of Dhoby Ghaut and City Hall. Within distance is Liang Court which features Meidi-ya, the full fledged Japanese supermarket and likewise for Great World City features a Japanese food street at Basement 1. Although only featuring 5 restaurants - all under RE&S Group, the Japanese Food Street has a variety of japanese food available, from fresh Japanese seafood (Kuriya Japanese Market), family-style restaurant (Ichiban Boshi), robatayaki style (Ami Ami), noodles like ramen (Men Ichi) and soba (Shimbashi Soba).
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| Shimbashi Soba Entrance |
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| Showcase with display of food |
Today, I went to try out the Shimbashi Soba restaurant in the Japanese Food Street. At the entrance of the restaurant I was greeted by a display of food in the showcase and their brightly lit up sign.
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| Placemats |
Together with my friend, we are welcomed by the friendly service staff and then brought to our table. The restaurant is rather small considering the fact that they are sharing space with two other restaurants in the food street. On our table placed two menus together with a placemat that is an introduction to how to enjoy eating soba.
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| Healthy Benefits of eating soba |
The first page of the menu features the healthy benefits of eating soba. And within the menu features different styles of soba, from tsukemen style - dipping of soba in a warm broth or cold broth and soba in warm broth. The menu also features a limited selection of desserts available.
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| Chicken Chikara Soba (SGD 17.80) |
Very quickly after ordering, about 15 minutes only, our orders came. First to come was the Chicken Chikara Soba. The Chicken Chikara Soba came together with the garnish of sliced scallion. The toppings that came with the soba was rather too simple - two slices of beancurd, two pieces of rice cake and some shimeji mushroom with only two pieces of chicken. The broth was not hot and only warm, and from the time taken for them to serve us - it is likely that the dish was put together by simply reheating the items in the kitchen and poured over with broth. The soup was tasty - with a good balance of sweet and saltiness, however it did not have a complexity to the flavour which made it feel like it was just a simple soy broth added with sugar instead of the sweetness that was brought out by fresh ingredients such as raddish or carrot.
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| The two pathetic pieces of chicken in the Chicken Chikara Soba |
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| Warigo Soba (SGD 21.90) |
The Warigo Soba arrived shortly after the Chicken Chikara Soba was served. Warigo Soba is a set of five mini bowls of soba that each has a different topping - salmon salad soba, mushroom with grated raddish soba, beef soba, nori with a lemon soba, ebi tempura soba. The soba set also comes with sliced scallion and a small dollop of wasabi. I was expecting that each bowl of the soba would taste different from each other however it did not. They all had the same salty flavour that was rather similar to the broth of the chicken chikara soba. The salad green from the salmon salad soba was rather yellow and wilted and the ebi tempura was cold and not crunchy. As per the serving time and the quality of the food, it is evident that the whole soba set was taken out directly from the chiller storage after making for a long time.
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| Grilled Eggplant with Sweet Miso (SGD 8.90) |
For sides, we ordered the grilled eggplant with sweet miso. The texture of the eggplant was rather strange which was not what I expected if it was grilled as it was rather greasy as if it was deep fried. The scoring marks on the eggplants was also rather strange as though it was mimicking the grill marks that you might get from actually grilling the eggplant. The sweet miso has a tangy and metallic aftertaste that was not pleasant. I would not recommend ordering this the next time.
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| Mizu Manju (SGD 5.80) |
After the meal, we had to call for the service staff to clear our plates and bring our dessert because they have forgotten that we have ordered dessert. For our dessert, we ordered the mizu manju which is japanese jelly. The mizu manju came in three, and between the three of them there are two different filling - black sesame paste and a sweet red bean paste. One of which is covered in bean powder similar to injeolmi of korean desserts. The texture of the mizu manju is rather interesting, a tender texture similar to mochi but not chewy and it breaks off like agar but not crunchy. The fillings were not too sweet which gives the dessert a good balance.
Overall, the dining experience was just okay. Having dined at the other outlet at Paragon a few years back, the dining experience at their outlet in Great World City is rather disappointing. The quality and taste of the food fell below expectation and was probably only salvaged by their interesting dessert.
Expected damage per person: SGD 15-30
Overall, worthy of a ‘Expecting More’ One Ninja Star
Operating hours:
Monday - Friday 11:30am - 10pm
Saturday/Sunday/PH 11am - 10pm
Great World City #B1-01 (within Shokutsu Ten Japanese Food Street)
1 Kim Seng Promenade
Singapore 237994
Tel: +65-6835 9052
Website here
Here is where Shimbashi Soba is located:
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1 comments
Thanks for wwriting
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