Located in the west side of Singapore at Hong Leong Garden Shopping Centre, is this piece of gem that's tucked away from the city life and reflects none of the bustling acivities of the AYE close to it. When we arrived at HLGSC in the evening, the area was sleepy and just dotted with a random few people walking around. This place seems to specialise in Japanese eateries as there were a quite a handful around and we saw quite a few Japanese in the area too.
Sliding open the door, you will enter into what looks like a tiny and cosy dining room, filled with artifacts, trinklets and Japanese comic books. Its a very authentic feel. The kitchen is right beside the dining tables and separated by a curtain. I remember sitting there and feeling as if I was right at home sitting at my own dining table, waiting for dinner while my own mother fussed about in the kitchen.
Look, even the menu is the same from the first day they opened which has been like more than a decade ago. Its mostly in handwritten Japanese with English pronunciation but not English meaning.
If there is no one in the restaurant, you can try asking the very sweet and lovely daughter of the chef (it is after all only a mother and daughter's affair here) to kindly explain to you.
A very special tea is served here.
Instead of the usual green tea, its roasted barley tea. Yup, you read it right. Its called Ocha in Japanese. Other than the make up of the tea which is quite special, its taste is surprising too. If you smell it, it gives out the aroma of coffee. Its a light tea which was quite good to wash down your dinner with at the end.
We ordered two appetisers. The first one we had was chicken gizzard. Its some organ part of the chicken.
Its chewy in texture if you're wondering what its like. Not smelly or anything so no worries there. The gizzards were nicely pan fried with onion, green capsicum and sesame. The onion nearly stole the show because it was downright delicious. It honestly the best cooked onion I've ever ate. It was kind of sweet and maybe it was because all the ingredients really complimented each other that made this dish become one of the highlights of the evening.
Another appetiser which we greedily ordered after eating the first (because it was so damn good and prices were affordable) was the above. That's squid cooked with butter. As again, sesame was generously sprinkled on it. There was also some lemon taste to the squid. A well done dish, but it was nothing special. At this stage, I was starting to think I should also add sesame into the food I cook next time because it goes well with almost anything!
For our "main course", we ordered their chicken katsudon, which is deep fried chicken cutlet lovingly coated with egg on top of a bottom layer of warm rice. It comes in a set, so there's those pickled stuff, tofu and a bowl of miso soup.
Looks like those Japanese drama whereby you eat your food (which always looked very heartwarming and delicious)from a square box! The whole dish was drizzled with some sauce so if you eat the soft egg with onion and the rice, its almost like pringles - once you pop, you can't stop. Its dangerous for those on a diet. The chicken cutlet is deep fried well and the meat was thick and wasn't tough. It seems to be those bread crumbs cutlet though. Overall, above average, but not exactly mind blowing.
This is their unagi (eel) set. Its beautiful this dish. The colours made it look very inviting and it tasted as good as it look. The unagi expertly poses on the bed of soft and slightly runny egg which is supported by the firm foundation of warm rice. This is how you eat it. Dig from the top to the bottom and eat all three layers in one scoop. Oishi, I tell you. The eel was very soft till it seemed to be able to melt in your mouth. It was just the right hint of sweetness and its the sesame again I tell you. Everything with sesame is good. That must be their secret. This dish is an enormous obstacle if you're on a diet.
Chako serves home made (fresh!) ice cream too. There's fruit kinds such as mango, strawberry, pear and usual favourites like black sesame.
Their ice cream are the most health conscious ones I've tried. Its really low in sugar and made with yogurt too. So overall taste was very light. However, it seems to have tiny ice bits in it... Not very sure if it comes with authentic home made ice cream. Not horrible at all, but its those kind that one serving is enough. But you can order it just to know how a healthy ice cream is supposed to taste like! I'm not saying that the flavour is not there at all. In fact, its quite strong. So that's good.
In conclusion, Chako felt extremely homely, cosy and warm. It really felt as if my mummy was right in the kitchen cooking dinner for me while I laze around reading comics or magazines. They cook everything on the spot so nothing is made in advance. Expect to wait quite a while. Even though we were the only customers that night, we had to wait around 20 -30 minutes for the first appetiser to appear because Madam Chako is the only chef. But the wait is worth it. This meal cost about $70 in total and for such quality, I give my thumbs up.
Please make reservations as they have limited seating and who knows that day she might have a full house.
Restaurant Chako
134 West Coast Way (Hong Leong Garden Shopping Centre)
Opening hours:
Lunch - 12.15pm to 2.30pm (Only available from Mon - Friday)
Dinner - 6.30pm to 10.30pm
Tel: 67763919 (Reservations required)
Neighborhood
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