Tori Sanwa (#B1-75 Raffles City, 252 North Bridge Road) from Nagoya opened up a while back. They're of some repute from what I've gathered, with more than a few dozen outlets in Japan, a half dozen in Taiwan and a couple now on our sunny shores.
The restaurant here didn't have the vibes of a Japanese joint. It felt local. The service from a particular wait staff was atrocious with an A.
If you would believe it, this was their aburi okayo don. Did not look or smell aburi-ed. We asked wait staff A to confirm that this was the correct order and she insisted so. We were quite sure this either a mistake or was poorly done.
Had a couple of spoons and didn't taste any of the smokiness. Decided not to put up with the shit so we asked that wait staff if we could have the bowl torched again. She did not bother to inquire with anyone if it was possible while looking uncomfortably unsure before claiming that there was a procedure the kitchen had to follow and nothing could be done.
We reached out to wait staff E who immediately explained that it was possible that they didn't aburi for long because there were people who complained about the char. I think little of restaurants that engage with such excuses. And I'm of the opinion that those who don't like a bit of bitter and are deathly afraid of cancer shouldn't be ordering aburi-ed anything.
To her credit, wait staff E recovered immediately by offering to replace our bowl with a fresh one that was "more aburi-ed".
Not bad tasting oyako don with the smokiness. I wouldn't mind eating this again.
There's a chicken teriyaki hitsumabushi. Not excessively glazed and flavour was pleasant. But the chicken was obviously frozen from the texture of the meat. Not sure how this was a showcase of these guys being a chicken specialist. Or maybe they aren't.
To be fair the tori karaage and their sweet vinegary tori nanban was quite nice. Chicken was crisp on the outside and pretty tender. The tartar sauce for the latter....we've definitely had better.
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