Tamoya - Japanese Udon Restaurant @ Chinatown Point, Singapore

Address: 133 New Bridge Road, Chinatown Point, B1 floor, Singapore 059413

Price: $

Brought all the way from Japan, Tamoya set up its first overseas outlet in Singapore. The Sanuki udon is hand crafted from Tamoya unique flour mixture and is served with their "golden dashi" broth. The udon restaurant has seen set up three outlets at Chinatown Point, United Square and Liang Court. 

Tamoya adopts a self-service style that allows customers to arrange the udon to their liking. Here are the steps:

1. Choose the type of udon from the menu
2. Choose a side menu from the counter. You may take as many sides as you wish. 
3. Make payment for the udon and sides you have taken. However, all condiments are free of charge
4. Add the condiments like green onions, ginger, grated radish, seaweed, and tempura to your liking
5. Lastly, return the trays, and other cutley  to the Return Box

13 March 2014

Rating: 2/5

Previously, I had a wonderful dining experience at Tamoya. So, I decided to introduce this food joint to another friend. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed by the food quality and entire dining experience. The sides were cold and limp. How I wish that the sides were hot and tempura crispy. Worst of all, there were small flies flying around us when we ate our dinner. It was very distracting and frustrating. Although the place looked clean, I could not figure out how the flies could be flying in the restaurant.

This time, we added two new udon and sides for review. The entire experience cost us about SGD30.00.

I hope that the restaurant would improve its food quality and dining experience.  Otherwise, I may not dine the restaurant in the near future.


Udon

The dining experience with the udon was great as the standards were still maintained. The noodles were perfectly prepared and they were chewy. The broths and dipping sauce blended very well with the udon noodles.

Kake Udon
We ordered the usual Kake Udon served in rich "Golden Broth" taste. (see below for the comments).  The broth was still light and rich and the noodles are chewy.



Sanuki Udon (above) is udon noodles served in thick soya sauce. The difference between Kake Udon and Sanuki Udon is the broth. The broth for Sanuki Udon is thicker and is made from a type of dashi. This broth is richer in taste than Kake Udon. The quality for the noodles was consistent as it equally chewy as Kake Udon in hot broth. (Food rating: 3/5)



Zaru Udon is chilled Udon noodles served on a zaru, a sieve-like bamboo tray. The noodle is accompanied by a chilled dipping sauce, usually a strong mixture of dashi, mirin and shoyu. I was completely blown away by this noodle dish. The udon were more chewy than the other two dishes. The dipping sauce was light but yet had a nice aroma. This was the best noodle dish among the three I have tried. (Food rating: 4/5)

Sides

It was disappointing when the quality of the sides were not consistent with the noodles. They were all cold. It was around 6.30pm when we ate our dinner at Tamoya. The sides were cold and were not crispy, particularly the tempura.



[Image above from right]: Prawn Tempura, Asparagus Tempura and Kakiage

Prawn Tempura was nicely cooked. The prawn was fresh.

Asparagus Tempura was limp and cold. It tasted normal. 

Kakiage (mixed vegetables of onions, carrots and burrock) was cold and chewy. I wished it was hot and crispy.




[Image above from right]: Sweet Potato tempura and Fried Chicken.

Fried Chicken was like Karaage Chicken. It would taste better if it were freshly prepared.

Sweet potato tempura was sweet.




[Image above from left]: Shitake Mushroom on stick, Shitake Mushroom on stick and Chikuwa Tempura

Shitake Mushroom was limp and was normal in taste.

Chikuwa Tempura is made of a fish batter. It tasted like fish ball.

21 February 2014 

Rating: 3/5

My friend and I met at Tamoya for lunch. It was a great selection. We ordered two sides and two udon noodles at around SGD18.00. I recommend that you try it too.

I chose the Kake udon noodles, chicken cutlet and assorted vegetable tempura.

Kake Udon is Tamoya's most popular udon. The udon noodles was smooth and chewy. The golden broth was light and absolutely delicious. The portion was just nice for one person. (Food rating: 4/5)

Assorted Vegetables Tempura is a great choice. The tempura had sweet caramelized onions, green peppers, sweet potato, and egg plant. The tempura was freshly prepared and I did not taste stale oil at all. The onions were so sweet. It is appetizing. (Food rating: 4/5)

 

The chicken cutlet was not made of minced meat. Instead, it was in chunks like the whole piece of food. The cutlet was nicely marinated. (Food rating: 3.5/5)