Ootoya

Today was my second visit to Ootoya, a Japanese restaurant chain which I believe has outlets in Japan and Thailand.







It serves dishes reminiscent of home-cooked food - and they come either a la carte (just the main dish) or in a set.

The set costs about $3-5 more - and it comes with rice, pickled cucumbers, an appetiser, and miso soup - unless your set already has a soup dish.

The appetiser was yummy. It reminded me of the one at Sushi Kikuzawa at International Plaza, except it was cold. It consists of steamed slices of white radish, carrot, lotus and a small piece of chicken. And the miso soup is filled with tiny slices of white radish, carrot, yam, and pork. Its definitely a new take on miso soup - but tastes very wholesome!

Unfortunately, I didn't take photos of the appetiser or miso soup (:

Here's what we ordered:



Charcoal grilled pork slices set - I've stopped eating pork so I didnt try this, but the portion, as with most everything, was decent and looked delish!



Pickled cucumber (:



I think this was the Chargrilled chicken with orange sauce.



Chargrilled chicken with basil sauce and salad (about $16 for a set): I had this on my first visit to Ootoya (: The chicken was grilled till tender, and one can taste the full flavour of chargrilled meat! The slices were very thick and juicy. But it's a pity they don't put much sauce - on all three chargrilled dishes. It also comes with slices of hard-boiled egg, which complements the crisp, generous serving of salad very well (: But this doesn't taste Japanese at all - the drizzle of basil sauce made it more fusion-like. But still tasty.



I didn't quite fancy the staff recommendation of scallop on rice with chicken tofu soup (about $20 for a set). The rice (above) was topped with miso sauce and three small scallops - I do wish it had more scallops - the portion wasn't in proportion to the other three sets ordered. Then again, it was served with a huge bowl of soup, filled with tofu, chicken and cabbage slices. The texture at first was a bit like that of shark's fin soup - but the starch soon dissolved and it tasted like normal clear soup after a while. For this, the flavours just didn't appeal to me.



Why a photo of rice? Because my sister was such a big fan of it, she wanted a photo taken of it! She actually asked for a refill (free) of rice - and finished 2/3 of the second bowl. Impressive. She usually eats 2/3 of one bowl of rice. And M, who I went with the first time, finished his whole bowl of rice although he usually doesn't eat much rice. It is that good (:



And what meal would be complete without dessert (: Ootoya offers quite a selection - I think about eight choices. But we got all excited only to have the waiter tell us there were only two choices available - the egg pudding with caramel sauce and the green tea ice cream in soya milk syrup ($5).

I of course chose green tea ice cream (: It was fantastic, I spooned up every drop. The scoop was surrounded by two pieces of plain rice balls, lots of red beans, and green tea jelly! It was really really good - the ice cream was bittersweet, the rice balls were soft and chewy, the red beans sweet, and the green tea jelly melted in my mouth - it was a bit mousse-like. I would definitely return for this, and it's only $5! Unfortunately I couldn't make out the soya milk syrup at all (: But still bang for the buck.

So would I return? Yes most definitely. But I wouldn't have the tontoroni set (scallop on rice and chicken tofu soup) again.

Try it for yourself (:

Ootoya
#08-12
Orchard Central

It can be quite crowded, and unfortunately they don't accept reservations. They also don't allow you to get a table unless half of your party is present - ie table for four, two people have to be present.

Hope you like the place too!