What strikes me when I visited Waraku was the place was packed, cramped, noisy and dark. Dim lighting goes well with a quiet and peaceful atmosphere, but definitely not in a noisy and crowded place like how Waraku was.

Food was decent. But in view of the points above, give me Sushi Tei and Sakae Sushi anytime.

This place was pretty noisy, but i guess this aspect can go both ways, one to heighten the atmosphere, another to ruin one's mood. the service though was great, efficient and they met our requests to the best they could.

Love the Cha Soba and the little flower foil cups they serve the wasabi in.

the Udon bowls are huge, though i can't say much about the portion, as i didn't have a serving.

Sashimi wise, i don't what went wrong because it was bad. really bad. like worse than supermarket sashimi bad. i think it had to do with the fact that it wasn't fresh, there was totally no bite - kinda mushy in fact.

Went dinner with a client some time back. Choose Waraku as they seems to offer rather generous portion. As a big eater, Japanese cusinie is normally out of my preference. Cos i usually end up buying other snacks 1-2 hours after dinner; as the servings are rather small.

There seems to have a long queue everytime i walk pass. Maybe its the food that is nice. So try it out anyway.

The place is rather crampy and it is pack with lots of patrons.

I would say that the food taste quite normal but it is value for money for its dinner set meal.

Nothing great, not worth to queue and wait for 15 mins to get into the place. There are other places worth visiting.

Visit eateatenate.blogspot.com for a full review with pictures.


We chose the branch at The Central © over the one at Cuppage in hope to catch a glimpse of Singapore River through the window seats, but our hopes were dashed due to the overwhelming crowd during dinner time.

Oh well, the interior (without the window seats) wasn't too bad - warm and friendly. Moreover, the food and company made this dining experience an enjoyable one.


Beautiful Lady, S$6.80++,
We've never dared to try Sake, 'cos we've heard how unbearable it could actually taste for some. However, we fell in love instantly upon the first sip of this strawberry flavoured Sake. Sweet and subtle, the alcoholic taste wasn't too hard on us.


Matcha Float, S$3.80++,
We were expecting thick milky Matcha kind of drink, but this was the fizzy soda kind, with a scoop of Matcha ice cream on top. It's subjective, but we didn't like it.


Cha Soba, S$9.80++,
The memory of Waraku's Cha Soba has always been very vivid from the day we first tried it. Still as impressive as before, this simple plain dish never fails to leave us in great satisfaction.


Yakitori Don (Regular), S$9.00++,
Yakitori (grilled bird) is a Japanese type of skewered chicken, and I usually enjoy Yakitori by biting the meat off those wooden sticks. But here, the bite-sized chicken pieces were presented in a gob together with Japanese rice, stir-fried onions, cabbages, and seaweed. Something we felt lacking was some sauce, to make the dish less dry and more appetising.


Sakura, S$18.80++,
The Sakura set comprises of a massive bowl of creamy soup Udon and Hotate (scallops), plus a hefty bowl of Japanese rice topped with shredded egg and salmon roe.

We sure ate to our fill as we savoured every thick chewy strand of Udon with the concentrated cream sauce, whiffing the strong aroma of the cheese. Hotate were sweet tasting, but the freshness was quite unknown due to the heavy masking by the sauce. On the other side, rice bowl bacame boring once the juicy fish roe ran out.


Potato Mochi Cheese, S$8.80++,
Even the name itself sounded tempting enough. Hot cheese oozing out with every bite of the deep fried Potato Mochi. Simply celestial!


Tonpei Yaki, S$6.80++,
Sliced pork meat with Japanese white cabbage, covered in soft golden omelette, dressed in Okonomiyaki sauce and mayonnaise. The Tonpei Yaki turned out to be a mix of appropriate sweetness and saltiness, and it served as a modest side for sharing.


VERDICT
Just by judging from the crowd inside and queues outside, Waraku is no doubt one of the popular Japanese restaurants in Singapore. Delicious authentic Japanese cuisine, sizable portions, that comes with affordable prices too.

We had dinner at waraku one weeknight, because I borrowed my room mate’s waraku card and I figured we would just have like a routine after work dinner and still get 10% off. The stupid thing was that I forgot to use the card while paying, so I totally wanted to kick myself after I realised long after the bill was paid.

Anyhow, waraku is a really big restaurant, but I think a little too dimly lit, and too noisy. The manager (this dude in charge) kept shouting dam loudly all those Japanese greetings (which my partner and I have no clue as to what they mean) and when he starts shouting, his staff takes it as a cue and they also start shouting. So the entire restaurant is filled with deafening random cries, and its difficult to talk to your partner, and in general, not too pleasant an experience. So thumbs down there.

We had:

Katsu Don - Pork Cutlet topped with egg on rice
Oyako Don - Chicken Topped with egg on rice
Ika Maruyaki - Grilled whole squid on heating pan
Yakitori - Chicken

The katsu don and oyako don were both very filling, and great one dish meals. But I was greedy and insisted on ordering other things. In any case, both the katsu and oyako don came with a runny egg - which I thought would be not very good (because I don’t like raw-ish runny eggs) but my partner loved it. He thought it went very well with his oyako don. I wouldn’t say that the katsu don was like some kind of culinary work of art, but its good value for money because its decently sized, the katsu doesn’t have much fat, and you get quite a fair bit or rice, and miso soup and pickles! I love pickles. Waraku also seems like the place which will replenish the pickles at no extra charge, although I didn’t ask them for it. I just ate my partners.

The ika maruyaki was rather bad. To begin with, it wasn’t fresh. So despite having cooked on the pan for quite long with some kind of gingerish, dark gravy like thing, it was hard, and tasted stale. What a let down. It was fishy. And not good.

The yakitori was served a little cold. It was terribly average. A lot like something you can buy from yakitori q, but the latter might actually taste better! The only redeeming factor was that there was not a lot of fat on the chicken. But it could have tasted a whole lot better I suppose.

Waraku has an extensive menu. Really a ton of things in the menu. but that may not be to their benefit if they cant get everything done right.

It was an okay enough dinner, but I think id go to other places the next time.