Botan Japanese Restaurant

Date Visited :
100310

I had a sudden craving for Japanese food, Sushi Tei didn't satisfied me so after hearing about Botan Japanese restaurant and its Bento sets, I decided to head down to Raffles Place with my friend, Rui Yang to look for it.

 AMBIENCE
This small little gem can be found next to Shin Kushiya and other sleek looking restaurants and cafe. The place feels like a cosy little Japanese inn or cafe. It features. The restaurant employed a traditional Japanese style for its interior decoration using motifs of the famed Mount Fuji, bottles of sake, Japanese ceramics and porcelain, lanterns, wooden furniture etc. Little details were given to the the placement of cutlery with nice colourful 'ribbons' to rest place our chopsticks and the bottles of conditments with motifs of sakura flowers.

The overall effect is a warm cosy atmosphere in the heart of the urban jungle. For ambience, I would award the restaurant high scores.

As it was a week day night around 8-9 plus, the restaurant was quite empty save for a couple and a group of white collars at one corner of the restaurant. I reckon that it would be more packed during lunch hours and weekends.

FOOD
The menu features a lot of bento sets, the usual Japanese items. There isn't any fanciful pictures or photos for you to take reference, just the name of the dish with a brief description of what you are ordering. It comes with Japanese translations too, which I could not read.

While Ruiyang had the Yakiniku Set (which is a Bento featuring Beef), I had the Yakizakana Set featuring Grilled Fish. Both of us didn't expect the bento to features so many other little dishes and I must say, portions wise. For $21 (GST, Svc Charge included), the bento is quite good for value.

My Yakizakana Set, features a bowl of Miso Soup, a cup of Chawanmushi, a bowl of Sashimi, a bowl of steamed rice (not a small bowl), a plate of 2 watermelon slices, a tiny bowl of salad?, a bowl of cooked food, a plate of Grilled Fish with other stuff on it, two tiny dishes of condiments including soy sauce and Japanese pickles.

The Sashimi is quite okay, it has both salmon and tuna sashimi.

There is this dish that is sweet, spicy and a little bit sour (probably due to the inclusion of lemon juice) with bits of salmon inside, I have no idea what it is but I quite enjoy the mixture of flavours. Quite refreshing.

The Chawanmushi has chunks of meat, mushrooms and Japanese fish cake inside. It tasted rather alright to me. The stock is not overwhelming, the texture of the egg is just nice for me. Sometimes the chawanmushi can be too salty but for Botan's case, its just nice.

The ceramic bowl of cooked food features some kind of fish-cake like item and an egg covered with bonito flake. This dish is quite nice, I enjoyed the egg with a bonito 'crust' the most. The sauce is abit sweet and salty.

The rice is Japanese short-grain rice, just nice for me. Quite a big portion, it was served in a lacquer bowl with cover.

The miso soup also served in a lacquer bowl with cover is generous with the tofu chunks and seaweed.

The grilled fish is delicious. I like the tiny cripsy skin. Abit difficult to eat with chopsticks though. I thought it was rather good, no fishy taste, the flesh is just nice for me.

The slice of omelette is delicious, abit sweet with a smooth, springy texture. The other items that came along with the grilled fish include carrot, sweet potato?, corn, something that resembles meat ball and japanese fish cake. The grated white radish which adds alittle spice to the dish.

2 Slices of watermelon to clear the palate.

My only complaint about the food would be that the food are slightly cold. Tastewise, I have no issues with the food.

There is an attempt to present the food nicely too, as seen in the arrangement of the sashimi and the main dish. Even the plates and bowls used makes use of a range of colours. The colourful presentation gets me excited. 

SERVICE

The waitresses were quite friendly and thumbs for taking the initiative to refill the green tea without any prompting. They were also quick to clear the plates but not before asking politely whether they could. When we asked for the bill, they are quick too. I would give Botan high scores for service attitude and efficiency. Another point to take note is that the restaurant serve warm towels before and after the meal, normally I only find this in the higher end restaurants and the waitresses would raise the those door 'curtains' for you too.

VALUE

$21 dollars for one such bento set, it is very good for value together with the Japanese street-side inn setting and friendly service. Pricewise, it is a huge contrast to Shin Kushiya next door. If you want to have something sashimi to udon within one set without burning your wallet, this is a nice place to have it. Moreover, the green tea is complimentary and free-flow.

Overall, I would highly recommend this place for after-work, a mini gathering, lunch and dinner because it is really good for value, with affordable Japanese food, generous portion, friendly service and a nice atmosphere to enjoy. I hope the Botan Restaurant would keep it that way if not improve further.

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.

For busy people who are looking for a good food fix in a fuss-free atmosphere at reasonable prices, there's no better place than Botan.

i won't talk about the food, because it speaks for itself. What i like about this restaurant is it's homey feel. Like what most reviewers have already mentioned, the decor is passable and ambience is more functional than aesthetic. There are no fawning waitresses in faux hairdos, no fancily-attired, over-the-top maitre'd to escort your party to the table. these extra gimmicks bloat up the dinner bill and i'd rather have the money go towards the quality of the food.

at Botan, what you see is what you get. And that includes the real-life, born-in-Japan chef behind the counter who bows at the hordes of regular customers who worship religiously at the shrine of authentic Japanese food.

He obviously loves his restaurant. I see him come in early most mornings, puttering behind the counter when I walk past for my morning coffee nearby. There's a special pride he takes in all his various creative side dishes that go with the regular bento sets. He uses seasonal foods to vary these tiny little morsels of delights that go with the familiar main courses. And then there's the chawan mushi that sits at its place of honour, in the top corner of the tray, wobbling as delicately as the soft mounds cresting over the top of an ample woman's decolletage.

To say that the servings are generous is an understatement. Here's where the value for money proposition shines like a beacon against all the other wannabe, fake Japanese restaurant chains with local chefs trying to pass off as the REAL thing...

unlike other restaurants that follow a formula to the "T", the staff here are so well-versed with the menu that they are willing to accommodate individual requests to change items on the bento. sometimes, i want all salmon for the sashimi, sometimes, i want the curry sauce for the tonkatsu bento, sometimes i want the fruit instead of the green tea ice-cream. how many places do you know would allow you to mix and match to that degree?

The bottom line: a good restaurant must serve good food. And that's what Botan excels at.

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.

On the strength of your recommendation, I brought a valuable contact to lunch. I ordered the Sashimi Set and my friend the Yakizana Bento (which had some salmon sashimi).

2 types of sashimi (the salmon and the other I'm not able to identify)on my set tasted bad. I thought it was my imagination. But as it turned out, the sashimi pieces on my friend's plate were bad too!

I brought this to the attention of the waitress but she barely understood me. Nothing came out of that. Not wanting to make a scene nor make my friend uneasy about continuing with the meal, I let it go.

I certainly would not re-visit this place again!

You are free to censor this but its the honest truth. I have no financial interest in the food business and have no reason to sabotage Botan. If I wanted to, I would have kicked up a scene there and then.

Maybe its just a bad day for them but I certainly hope, with your clout, you will let them know.

I will certainly update this review if I end up with a bad tummy today. Or worse, if my important friend ends up with a bad tummy!