Jia Jin Low
Google
Friendly chef (who was really cute when he was concerned that I’d burn myself and tried to mime “hot” at the crab croquette), and comforting food. Was worried that the course meal was pricey at first, but it turned out to be a reasonable value given the generous portions.
Starting with the appetiser platter of seared scallop, wakasagi in saor, and a crab-fennel salad, you can already tell that they are one step up from normal yoshoku restaurants in terms of ingredient quality. An everyday-priced yoshoku restaurant might have attempted to bulk the crab salad up with more mayo or fennel (or even use crabstick), but here it’s generously filled with real snow crab.
The hokkigai “bourguingon” gratin — so called because it’s stuffed with the same bourguignon butter as escargots — was my favourite dish, the chunky clam bits being perfectly cooked.
Even in dishes where cooking isn’t as precise as in fine-dining environs (e.g. the beef katsu was slightly more cooked than I’d have liked), ingredient quality prevailed. For instance, the kagoshima wagyu used in the beef katsu elevated it to a comparable standard of tenderness with the katsus you get at top-tier nikukappo and yakiniku joints, doneness notwithstanding.
The most ordinary dishes were the hayashi rice and pudding, which are of a similar standard to many yoshoku restaurants. If ordering a la carte, I’d skip these, but it’s included as a nice bookend to the course.
Yoshoku Ogata would be their closest competitor. I’d say the food here is more comforting and old school, while the other is a bit more ingredient driven in their sourcing (esp the fish). You won’t have a bad meal at either.