Wakashachiya - Central, Singapore

Lunch today was Japanese. My father thought of going to this place as he wanted to relive his experience of the unagi he had in Tokyo, two weeks ago. He happened into what appeared to be an old, traditional unagi place after an afternoon of shopping at Yodobashi in Akihabara. The huge camera and electronics store - one of the largest in the world had a whole floor dedicated to restaurants. The unagi kabayaki bento he had there was the best in his experience.

We started with teba chicken wings, they offer three different types - original, spicy and some other thing. We had the original one, which was the middle part of the wing.



It was nicely and lightly fried, the skin was crisp and not very oily with a hint of shio (salt). The meat was succulent and juicy. It was very enjoyable.

My mother ordered the set which comprises of curry udon, rice, and a pork katsu.



Frankly, the pork katsu could have been better. The one she had in Tokyo at Katsukura was still the best she has had. This pork was tough and fibrous although the crust was nice, light and crispy. The udon however, was fantastic. It has a nice firm bite and the curry was gorgeous. The curry gravy tasted like it was made of finely ground potatoes and featured leeks and a piece of fried tofu. She gave the rice to me.

I had the ebi tempura udon which came with two huge prawns perched atop a bowl of steaming curry udon. The curry udon had was the same as the one in the set menu.



The prawns were magnificent, large ebi delicately and lovingly tempura-ed. The batter was light and crispy and the crunchiness provided an excellent counter point to the firm but juicy ebi within.

My father had the piece de resistance: Hitsu-mabushi. This was a huge bowl of finely grilled unagi resting on a bed of rice. The Hitsu-mabushi is the speciality of the Nagoya city where Wakashachiya is from.



It came complete with eating instruction which instructed the diner to portion the dish into four equal parts. Serve the first part on the small bowl and eat it as it is. The second portion is then served onto the same small bowl, obviously after you finished your first portion. Sprinkle it with the chives/spring onions/wasabi and dried seaweed with has been finely cut into strips. Proceed to enjoy the second portion. For the third portion, use the dashi soup (fish stocks from bonito flakes) provided, and the same condiments. This was like a rice porridge. And for the final portion, you may consume the Hitsu-mabushi in any of the above that you prefer. Both my father and me preferred the second.



The unagi was very well grilled and served kabayaki style, covered with just the right amount of sweet sauce. It tasted very fresh, and the meat was soft, smooth and creamy without any hint of any bones which may appear in unagi of lower quality. My father felt that it was almost as good as the one he had in Tokyo, and certainly one of the best in Singapore.

All in all, we enjoyed ourselves very much and the bill came out to a total of about $80 for three persons.

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Wakashachiya
The Central
6 Eu Tong Sen Street
#03-92 to 95
Singapore 059817

http://www.wakashachiya.co.jp