Nihon Mura 日本村 (Tampines)

part of the suki sushi's group, it had the wealth of experience in f&b. the 'nihon mura' strategy is targeted at value-for money customers & high traffic areas, yet low renting cost (compare to shopping malls).
on weekends & public holidays, it is usually crowded. but on weekdays, it'll be a great place to have a secret rendezvous.

i've been into this outlet several times (always in the weekday afternoons), not that i was drawn to its delicious food here, but because it's convenient for me to dine at, after the gym & a swim.

it was a sense of curiosity when i first visited the outlet. i ate about 5 plates of sushi, 1 katsu don, 1 chawanmushi. my friend ate 5 plates of sushi, 1 plate of shitake mushrooms, 1 plate of chicken karage...

the way you 'order' your food in the kitchen area:
1) pick up your sushi at the conveyor belt... (by the way, what's the plural for sushi, huh?)
2) pick up those 'ice cream' sticks of your choosen dishes- from drinks counter, udon counter, grill counter, etc... (beware, you tend to order too much food this way), then the servers will collect from you & serve you at your table.

personally, anything that i asked the 'chefs' to cook/ grill are VERY BAD. the chawanmushi is REALLY BAD- bland. the sushi (what's the plural for sushi again?) are tastier compared to the food you ordered. that doesn't mean that the sushi(s) are 1st class.....it's just, slightly better than the rest.

the next time i go for the gym & a swim, i'll still eat some sushi to fill my stomach before i go home.

Where do I begin?

A warning to all who come here expecting value for money upon hearing that they serve sushi for 99cts a plate, be prepared to be disappointed.

Food quality aside, the 99cts plate is in equivalent proportion to a $1.99 plate from Ichiban (that is, 2 from Nihon = 1 from Inchiban). The servings are so pathetically tiny that it killed my appetite just by looking at it. Moreover, the 99cts plate selection were few and most of the other items' prices were jacked up. For example, I have to pay 3.90 for a temaki which I could have cheaply gotten from Sakae for half the price and taste better.

The food is so-so considering its price and absolutely terrible if you compare it with the more expensive and authentic jap places in town. The way the sushi was rolled were amaterish and definitely not the standard u expect from a proud japanese chef. I was sorely disappointed with their Jumbo roll that cost $10 which is essentially the $8/9 Dragon roll from Sushi Tei. In fact, the Dragon roll from Sushi Tei is made from a much bigger and fresher prawn which taste yummier.

I wanted to order the Salmon Sashimi Sushi but I had carelessly left out the word "sushi" resulting in some misunderstanding between the "Chef" and I. He told me to check out the ordering sticks and when I saw the word Salmon Sashimi, I realised the miscommunication and corrected myself BEFORE I MADE MY ORDER. But guess what? He SCOLDED me for not making myself clear. Like excuse me? I am the customer here and I am paying for your food which indirectly translates to your salary. I was the one who suffered by walking up and down looking for the correct ordering stick and I have not even raised my displeasure yet but there he was, already talking to me in the kind of tone like I was his servant.

I did not argue with him lest he spit in my food but I was in half a mind to speak to the manager on this matter until I saw the "manager" (or team leader) who looks like a sec/jc kid. I abolish all thoughts of any complaints when the team leader himself, set down our food in haste - his body was already fully turned away before the plate even touched our table. Because our table was quite full with empty plates (which they should have cleared), the team leader instead tried to push the plate down by squeezing for a space in between the mess, all this time with his head and body in another direction and his legs already walking towards another table.

I understand that this place is targeting those garbage collectors kinda patrons who just want cheap food to fill the stomach. I would have let this poor attitude go until the bill came and I saw to my horror that they actually charge us 10% for their service. My bill came up to $50+ and I cannot believe that I paid $5 to be scolded by the chef on top of other things.

The ordering system as mentioned by the previous reviewers was totally stupid. At first one may find it interesting. But after we encountered picking the wrong stick from the correct stick holder and thus messed up our orders, we knew better. The stick ordering system is nothing but a lousy gimmick that adds no value.

I truly cannot find any reason why I would come back to this place again. If I want cheap sushi, I would rather go to the supermarket and buy. I think the auntie there would probably be more polite.

actually this is quite a good place to go if u are a sushi lover and u only wanna spend a small amount for a good meal. this is because all the sushi there are 99 cents for each plate.

previously i don't like to eat raw fish. but after going to nihon mura, i started eating raw salmon. their raw salmon are very fresh and very big piece too. their tamago are also in very big piece as compared to outside and quite delicious too. the sushi rice is still hot when i eat it.

but there are still some bad points about this.
1. it is quite inconvenient to go there.
2. the sushi conveyor belt chef can only make a certain kind of sushi at one time. thus there seems to be not much choice (but u still can make a request to the chef)
3. one will have to be very patient when waiting for the sushi to get onto the conveyor belt.
4. don't order stuff other than sushi as they are quite costly.
5. no refill of tea.
6. all the waiters and waitresses looks too young to be professionals.
7. no service but yet got to pay for 10% service charge. (still got to go and get sushi yourself, no refill of tea. practicaly u have no chance to call on them for service.. hahhahahaha....)