Nanbantei @ Far East Plaza

The only Japanese restaurant I used to frequent at Far East Plaza was Wasabi Tei, but we would always pass by this little Japanese eatery once you come up the escalator. You can't see the interior 'cos it's mostly covered up, and the entrance covered by the Japanese cloth. I always thought it looked rather mysterious. 

The sis and I were planning to go to Wasabi Tei, but we didn't know (or maybe we forgot) it was closed on sundays, we were too hungry and tired to hunt for another restaurant, and coincidentally this place had 2 seats left, so we decided on this.

We are always craving for sashimi, so we ordered salmon sashimi. We do know that it's not always very wise to order sashimi in a restaurant that's not known for fresh sashimi or specialises in other types of food, but we still went ahead anyway. Let's just say the taste was only as good as the picture suggests - pale oily lines, not succulent, leaves much to be desired.

 Nanbantei Yakitori Bento - This was quite value-for-money, it cost $14 if I'm not wrong. 5 skewers which included quail's eggs, chicken meatballs, some pork etc, with really delicious mushrooms and minced meat over the rice.

Mushroom with minced meat - Can't remember the price, but probably along the lines of $2 - $3 per mushroom! 0.0 But it was good.

Grilled Beef Tongue 牛タン($15) - Some parts were more tender and juicy than the rest, but in general I did enjoy this (or at least the more tender pieces). Although it got a bit "je lad" towards the end 'cos the sister didn't take to the taste and only took 2-3 pieces and I had to finish them off 0.0

Chawanmushi - Taste of the parsley was too strong, I still prefer Chikuwa Tei's version which had prawns, mushrooms and clear noodles in it. The ingredients in this one was meagre.

 

 Unagi Kabayaki - The sister loves this and would always want to order this in Japanese restaurants. This was an additional order and by this time I was very, very, fully already. A bit too salty and a bit over-charred, but all in all still a good choice to order. If we did away with the sashimi and the chawanmushi, I wouldn't have felt like I was going to burst any moment...

If you like yakitori, this place serves very decent fare. The food was good, easy to catch service staff's attention, and you could look at the chef at work too! 

How much was spent per pax: Not cheap, at least $30 per pax
Would I come back again? Once in a long while, not because it's not nice, but because I don't particularly fancy yakitori and as a poor student I can only afford a $30+ once in a while! :)


Address: 14 Scotts Road #05-132 Far East Plaza Singapore

Tel: +65 6733 5666

Opening Hours

Lunch 12 pm – 2.30 pm
Dinner 6 pm – 10.30 pm