Botan Japanese Restaurant

Last wkend, brother-in-law treated me to this restaurant.  I had tried their sake Sashimi, very fresh, I love it!  I had the Kaisen Don which is tuna, salmon, squid and flying fish roe, very yummy! We also ordered Kani Karaage Maki and Ebi Tempura Maki.  This wkend we will go again!

I really like this place, it was so cosy and comfortable when I had a nice lunch with my friends while it rained outside.

The food portions are very huge, one bento can feed two without an issue.

The food isn't that great at least for my Chicken Teriyaki, I found the chicken too hard and the sauce while sweet, lacks depth.

There was a side dish that has a gooy texture but still tasted alright.

I like the fact that some of the sides change with each visit. This time round the hot dish and 'salad' side dish was a bowl of noodles (that reminds me of achar) and the gooy dish respectively.

The service is very good, I like their attitude. They are very friendly and were kind enough to allow me to keep my cakes in their fridge.

http://the4moose.blogspot.com/2010/04/images-of-botan-japanese-restaurant.html

I went with my hubby to this small unremarkable shop on Friday after reading a lot of good reviews. We spent a long time looking for this shop as it was completely over-shadowed by the boisterous pubs surrounding it. When we finally found it, we were welcomed warmly by the staff in the restaurant. Service was prompt and food was served rather quickly.

I had the Katsu Kare Set while my husband had the Pork Tonkatsu set. My first thought when my hubby's set arrived was "Wow, the serving is really huge". His set contained a medium sized Tonkatsu (Fried to perfection, though a little bland inside.), 1 bowl of rice, a chawan mushi, some fish skins pickle?(very nice), a miso soup, raw sashimi, a slice of grilled chicken and 2 slices of watermelon. My serving looked more modest. It came with the tonkatsu plus curry on rice. Some salad and the watermelon.

I must say that the sashimi is really really good. This coming from me who dislike eating sashimi.(thus my choice in the only set without raw fish). It was fresh and so yummy with a tinge of lemony scent.. The rest of our food are all very well executed and i feel that this is the best japanese food place i had ever went to. It is very value for money for the quality of food.

Overall i highly recommend anyone to give this place a try. =)

At 1st sight, the Umaki Tamago ($8++) looked dry and I was ready to condemn it. But oh boy, how deceiving looks can be because this was really juicy! The tiny pieces of unagi was secondary to the sweet moist omelette yum. This is off the menu so do ask the waitress for it.

Soba & Sushi Set ($18++) seems like the best choice since I get variety in a set. Also included is the ubiquitous Chawanmushi which I thought was a tad too salty. A rather skinny ebi tempura completes the set.

There are many other bento sets on the menu such as the Tonkatsu Bento ($16++) and the Salmon Fry Bento ($16++). I always think it’s a shame waste to deep-fry fresh fish but this was quite good. It had that light, golden, crispy batter and the salmon wasn’t dry at all.

So many reviewers have mentioned about the big portions here. And indeed, portions are more than adequate for a filling lunch! Bentos are very good value for money as a set comes with sashimi, chawanmushi, simmered tofu, miso soup, rice and fruit. Phew, that’s a long mouthful!

For photos/reviews, do drop by My Food Sirens =)

As all the other reviewers have mentioned, the portion is huge.

However, the standard of their rice is really poor.

Their sushi rice was so sticky and in such large quantity per sushi that it is scary!

Their bento sets and sushi and udon sets are roughly around $16 - $25 and they come with rice or udon (soba), sashimi, tempura, charwamushi and some grilled sides.

It's quite worth money based on what is given but the quality is really left begging.

I don't think it is as good as the rating states it to be though.

Spotted this place while trawling HGW for a National Day eve dinner; it sounded like an excellent choice to avoid the ION crazy crowd downtown and traffic snarls.

Far East Square is really quiet during weekdays :I A pity coz I think there are some really nice places for food. The small eatery was not packed at all on the evening, and throughout dinner there were including us 5 tables filled.

A menu without pictures and without the name of the place is something I don't see everyday; but it actually kind of makes the place seem more authentic :D

The set dinners were the orders of the day, I deliberated for abit and decided on the udon and sushi set. And my goodness the portions were really huge!

Udon & sushi set ($20) - Half udon, sushi, salad, chawamushi, mixed tempura, fruits. *pant* I felt the sushi rice was a little dry and hard, everything else was quite tasty, albeit a little too much carbs in this particular set.

Things I didn't get to taste was chicken teriyaki set, katsu set, and cold tofu. But it all looked quite good. we tried, but we really couldn't finish what was on our table.

Service was okay, nothing much to fault. Still feel its quite a pity for the place to be so empty on a weekend though. Prices are not cheap as per say but with the amount of food they give, its more than value worth.

This place is very "cosy", tables are set pretty close to each other. Obviously a popular makan spot for the office lunch crowd. Tables were quickly filled. Lucky I made reservations.

I had a fried salmon set. By the way, the waitress not very good in making recommendations. Food was good but I felt the fried salmon was a bit hard. I was hoping for a lighter and crispier crust.

The set was quite standard but very filling. I admire those ladies who ordered extras on top of their set!

Noisy place when it gets crowded as people talks and laugh loudly but all this contributes to the buzz of the place! ;)

There has been a proliferation of Japanese food in the past couple of years, most of it ranging from bad to eye wateringly awful - Sucky Sushi anyone?

I'm happy to report this is not the case. Botan is actually my default Japanese place because of the value - for about $25 per head, you are going to eat until you cannot move.

Lunch is frightfully busy - don't bother going unless you've got a reservation or are sneaking in. It's strictly cheek to ear splitting jowl with everyone else in Raffles Place.

The head waitress and chef are always courteous, if a bit harried. Go for dinner - service is more attentive and the clientèle is usually 1/3 Japanese.

I reckon the quality of food here is generally on par with Tampopo at maybe about 20-30% discount to the cost. Not an apples to apples comparison per se - but yakitori and sashimi here are better, whilst the romankan cutlets, curries, ramen and dessert are better over there.

Depending on which dishes your family (and wallet) favours.

Chirashi Zushi - of the restaurants in town, this has the most variety and pieces of sashimi.

I have left out my favourite sashimi/sushi - not spoiling the market, but it is the best I've had in Singapore.

Bacon Aspara Yaki Tori - let it rest and crisp up - it's really quite nice.

Agedashi Tofu - unimpeachable. Tasty. Not the best ever, but decent.

Botan bento - be prepared to eat until you drop.

Ladies' set - decent, but why bother when you have sashimi.

Gyu Tataki - The seared raw beef is about the best I've had in town. Flavourful beef, thinly sliced, fresh, fresh accompaniements.

Take it with a pinch of salt though - I'm a regular there - the staff recognise us on sight or sound and we do get good service and value. Obviously, I'm going to get better service because we spend a lot more money there on a regular basis and we bring friends too.

We came here on a Saturday night. Why Saturday night you ask? Well, actually we wanted to go to Oosters for the mussels, but unfortunately they were out of mussels that night. *sad*

Fortunately, there was this restaurant just across the pathway. And the bf had been enticing me to come to this place for a bit, although I hadn't taken him up on his previous offers because I don't work in the area.

So anyway we ordered the dinner sets - he got the tempura and sashimi set for S$25, while I got the tonkatsu set for $18.

You know what? Both our sets appeared to be about the same size.

My set came with one plate of battered pork cutlet (with radishes and all), one plate of assorted sashimi, one bowl of miso soup, one bowl of chawanmushi, one bowl of steamed white rice, one mini bowl of ramen, a bowl of pickled beancurd and mushrooms, and two slices of watermelon for dessert.

And that, my friend, is for $18.

The bf got what I got, except that he got the tempura instead of the pork cutlet.

So you can imagine that value wise, the dinner set is *really* value-for-money. For $18 (for me at least), it really is an enormous amount of food!

Oh, and taste-wise, the sashimi was pretty decent too. I got pretty fresh cuts, so no complaints. Probably my only complaint is that the pork cutlet is a little too dry and tough; I don't like dry. I remember the pork cutlet at Tampopo being yummier.

The bf informs that his tempura is pretty delicious though, so perhaps tempura could have been a better bet than tonkatsu.

At the end of the day however, can't complain. This much food at a decent quality for this price? Can't find it at many other places, especially not in the city. Good prompt service too, and a nice rustic ambience. They've even got Japanese TV playing in the background; but only if you can understand the serials without subtitles.

Botan's one of my favourite Japanese places in the Shenton Way area for lunch. Good quality Japanese food and efficient service, very commendable. Sometimes the troops trundle over after a round of drinks after work for dinner.

Food: Well, the bento boxes are good value and the sashimi's pretty decent. As are the tempura and sushi etc.

Service: Prompt and efficient.

Ambience: Quite a noisy lunch crowd, go early to avoid waiting.