Shokudo Japanese Food Bazaar

I had dinner with friends from overseas at Shokudo Japanese Food Bazaar this evening. It's the third time I've eaten at this restaurant which has borrowed the "card" concept from Marche. If I recall rightly, Marche was the first restaurant in SG to issue a card to each diner and have the purchases made by the diner at the various food stations recorded in the diner's card. The diner has to give the cashier the card at the exit point and pay for the items consumed and if the card is lost, the diner has to pay a penalty of SGD 200. I read somewhere that this concept encourages spending by diners because they do not feel the pinch when ordering dishes unlike in the foodcourt where one has to pay for each dish ordered right away.

Shokudo has at least ten food stations and various types of Japanese food ranging from ramen/soba/udon to teppenkayi to porridge with unagi/crab meat etc to various types of dons to jap omelettes at the various food stations. However, I elected to have rosti with sausage (is that even a Jap dish?) at Shukodo because that's what I usually have at Marche and I wanted to compare the two. For my drink, I decided to try something different - ice yozhu honey tea.

The Slog Reviews: 6.5/10 for the rosti dish (SGD 10+) and tea (SGD 3.50). Definitely not worth the price - marche's rosti and suasage is far tastier. And, the sausage at Marche's doesn't crumble under the pressure of the knife - it was almost impossible to slice this sausage neatly because it kept giving way. This rosti is also far too dry and tasteless, even with the sauce at the side mixed in. And no, don't get me started on the tea which was supposed to be pomelo mixed with honey in tea but tasted so sour I left most of the drink untouched. My friends who had ordered Japanese food did not have much to say about their dishes either. I guess it's true that a Jap restaurant that isn't patronised by Japanese isn't a "must-try"