Ellie's Birthday

On Wednesday, Cheryl, Zoe, Gin and I celebrated Ellie's birthday at Shokudo Japanese Food Bazaar at Raffles City Shopping Centre. We decided to dine at this particular outlet because of two reasons - one, Ellie wanted to eat at this restaurant and two, it was a brand new dining experience for us. Since we met each other in school a year ago, we have been trying out different eateries on this sunny island - ranging from Japanese to Buffet-style food.

Anyway, the Shokudo Japanese Food Bazaar has the similar concept of another Swiss restaurant called Marche where people are able to purchase their food in a market place style. So the entire restaurant will have a spread of scrumptious food and that is when the patrons are totally spoilt for choices of what they want to satisfy their grumbling stomachs.

The minute Ellie and I entered the place, we were given a card each to purchase our food during our dining experience later on. As the place wasn't packed (we went after the office lunch hours and before the peak dinner period), we got the luxury of choosing our desired table. However, that wasn't the case. We wanted to sit on one of those cubicle tables which is usually located next to the wall but the wait staff advised us to sit on a six-people table. Blah! Since it was my first time dining at this restaurant, I decided to take a trip down the food lane to see what was cooking.

In every corner that I turned into, all the food seemed so tempting to me. In regardless of the various cooking styles - steaming, deep-frying, pan-fried or grilling - I felt like I could almost eat everything in that bazaar. Of course I didn't.

Eventually, I ordered the Tonkatsu Curry Rice (S$6.80++) from the Curry Rice station. Compared to the other Japanese Curry restaurants, this dish cost much cheaper and reasonable. However, the pork cutlet failed to melt in my mouth and it even lacked of its crunchiness. I didn't really finish my plate of curry rice.

Ellie, Gin and Cheryl ordered the Japanese Omelette (S$5.80++) but different flavours from the Omelette station. Ellie told me earlier that she had tried the Omelette previously and it wasn't too bad after all. From the picture, it looked really appetising.

Tofu Steak in Hotplate. Ellie ordered this for us to try and I must say that with all the crispy fish shavings, mayonnaise and the sweet sauce, it is quite tasty.

Crabmeat in Crabshells. Yes, Ellie ordered this as well. The three small pieces of crab shells are filled with crabmeat, mushrooms and other ingredients. The dish is accompanied by sweet and sour sauce. I didn't managed to try any of it as I was busy eating my curry rice.

Gin also ordered some grilled food but I forgot to take photos of it as I was practically busy eating and yakking at the same time.

Some time later, Zoe joined us. Likewise, she walked down the lanes of the food stations and everything looked so tempting to her. She had no idea what she wanted to eat until she saw a chef cooking fried rice.

Unsurprisingly, she ordered Salmon Fried Rice. Everyone instantly wowed when her plate of pippin hot fried rice arrived on our table.

After our meal, the four of us went over to Cedele Depot to surprise our birthday girl with a slice of Strawberry Divine Cake (sorry, no photo).

Oh yes, before I left the restaurant, I took a picture of a Samurai armour. It reminds me of the Choya (a Japanese drink) advertisement.