**review done by a pal of crushice.

Having read reviews of this place, I was a tad apprehensive, seeing that many had commented on the less than desirable service and mediocre food.

Went down anyway, along with another 3 friends. Was curious about the 'Japanese Marche' concept. Besides, with more people, we can sample more varieties of the food here, which is what this place is all about.

We did get a tad excited going around the food counters. I had to stop my friends from getting too comfortable with ordering anything they fancy. "Remember, this is NOT a buffet! You will be paying for this later."

I also warned my friends about the people who might give that 'less-than-happy' face when we make our orders. Not surprisingly, my warnings came useful. This was despite the slower pace on a Wed night.

Got the plain rosti (this is SO unoriginal), mixed sushi set, seasoned jellyfish, cha soba, seafood hotplate, vegetable & mushroom hotpot, beef teriyaki, unagi & asparagus cheese pizza, squid teppanyaki and mix tempura.

Yes, the table was full.

The downers are the rosti (a tad dry - Marche's definitely better). The sushi, well it doesn't seem that fresh and the rice crumbles easily. The mix tempura looked limp. The small bowl of seasoned jellyfish had a bed of lettuce underneath, meaning I got only HALF a bowl of it. The cha soba seemed to lack that kick. The squid teppanyaki, though with the right texture lacks the right taste, despite all that garlicky bits.

On the other hand, the unagi and asparagus cheese pizza is quite a pleasant surprise. Portion is a tad small but it felt like eating savoury snacks. The hotplate, despite being called 'seafood' had only thin slices of salmon and a couple of prawns but the sauce is pretty tasty. The hotpot is quite a delight with the thick tang hoon (similar to the korean one), tofu, cabbage and multi-varieties of mushrooms. The soup stock was alright.

The winner has got to be the beef teriyaki. The meat medium-done, it was tender and juicy. The sauce, despite being a tad diluted, was tasty. We ordered a 2nd helping of this seeing the the portion is pretty small.

The concept is nice but if you want a variety of japanese food to share, which taste wayyy better and is more value-for-money, just go to restaurants like Hanabe & Minori and get their ala-carte buffet instead.

...I agree with all the previous reviews that I've read, about this place.

Fresh idea, Japanese food with Marche style of operating. Really, you won't know how big you had burnt that hole in your pocket until you pay up.
Food-wise
standard as per normal Japanese restuarant or slightly lower but do offer some items that are rarely available elsewhere e.g. prawns and quail eggs wrapped in thin slice of pork belly etc.

Ambience
finds it rather crowded and rowdy. Remember had asked to sit somewhere else as I was brought to the same area for the 2nd visit. But all I got was "oh, the rest of the tables are reserved"...the waiter didn't bother to check...

Service
sorry...lousy...especially the checkout counters...I encountered this cashier, swiping my cards for 3 times, didn't bother to check things out with me until I asked and deliberately turn my bill away from where I stand when they are ready for signing...
My colleague's (a pregnant lady) encounter is even worse, 1 manager and 2 waiters, checked her bill before letting her out of the restuarant...

This place has been one of the eateries i wanted to visit this month as everytime i shop at the Raffles City, the shopfront looks so alluring.

Here, it is like Marche (Jappo-style) with an access card thing to register all the food which you ordered. This way you will walk around, get so fascinated with the wide array of food and order non-stop w/o knowing how much damage that you cause to your wallet till the bill footing moment. Hahah SMART eh?

Once i was in, Yup! Every stall looks so inviting, wanting me to try each of them. i was lost in the foodie wonderland. After walking rounds n rounds n making really tough decisions, we decided on
1) Pork katsu curry rice
2) Unagi Omu tomato Rice
3) Yakitori: Beef wrapped Enoki, Pork Belly, Tako Balls
4) Green tea
Total Damage: $43+

All tasted really good and comforting. But the one i wanna highlight is the beef wrapped enoki. A chunky stalk of enoki wrapped with thin wide slice of beef, grilled to perfection and brushed with yakitori sauce. I just can't get enough of it! I will come for more of this next time man!!!

Do come with more people so you can share and try more variety. The 2 of us almost got stuffed to the brim after eating all the above.

Another interesting thing i wanna comment is.. Checkout the toilet at the newly extended mall!! (beside Shokudo) Not only are the interiors soo posh and exquisite, the toiletseats are auto-heated!! No more cold butt! AWESOME!! v(^.^)v

Interesting pseudo Marche concept - went in with apprehensive yet fairly high expectations because im always excited when there is Japanese food ;]

They had a wide variety of food such as:

Thin crust pizzas that comes in a amalgam of flavours e.g. ham & mushrooms + terriyaki chicken & cheese + eel + seafood etc. I tried the terriyaki chicken as my bf could not take mushrooms but found it to be quite dry and not that appetizing. So i'll only give it 5/10. It was the cheese and thin crispy crust saved the day.

They also have a grill section of which we tried the quails eggs wrapped with bacon, prawns wrapped with bacon and beef fillet with mushroom. The quails eggs and beef fillet championed over the prawns thats for sure as the latter tasted rather blend - not worth my $2.80 if you ask me :S

The bf had the Chicken Katsu curry rice while i went for the bacon & cheese omelete and both were not bad. The curry rice taste like your normal 'from the packet' mix but the omelete was our favourite - oozing with cheese and quite salty (the way we like it) and of course he finished most of it :p

Thats all we managed to eat cuz we were quite full but i believe for that price, i'll be able to get better tasting food elsewhere! (Not to mention my tiny can of orange juice with pulp that costs $3.50) My bf's rationale was that i love orange juice (yeah how sweet and true but for such a tiny thing, i rather drink water!) I guess at the end of the day, only the ambience was purfect, everyting else NOT.

P.S The only thing that i wanted to try but didnt get a chance to was the ROSTI but owell.

Verdict: SO - SO only (wont be seeing me anytime soon)

It's the Japanese version of 'Marche' & 'Village', wide variety of food choice, however service is going downhill. The waiting is atrocious, even if we start early dinner. Visited thrice and same result.

I like to emphasize on the BBQ & hot pot counters. The server will asked you to wait and return about 10 mins. When my husband returned to the BBQ counter, he witnessed the server gave the plate of a BBQ squid to another and claimed that his is too done and needed to prepare another for him. So another 10 mins wait! They offered to bring.
On the second visit he ordered the same dish (I warned him on the previous encounter), well I guessed the food surpassed the opinion. But this time it's another excuse, they gave the wrong order, by the time the squid arrived, it was cold.

Hot pot counter minders could not keep up with the orders, he forgotten to cook mine after 15 mins, even I kept watch very close by.

My kids loved the tempura, pizza, omelette & chawanmushi.

Food - I would say so so, you get better ones in any Japanese outlet.
Ambience - like food court,very crowded on weekends, never been there on weekdays.
Value - equivalent to a mid-high end Japanese restaurant. I rather go to a place rendered with better service.
Service - I would only gave the kudos to the foreign cleaners & local aunties, they were very polite when clearing your empty dishes.