Wasai-Ya Japanese Mixed Rice : Not quite Japanese and so so taste

Wasai-Ya, which means The House of Japanese Cuisine, is the first Japanese mixed rice concept in Singapore. They are located in the food court at Junction 8 in Bishan, just next to the Bishan MRT station. It mentioned on their Facebook page that 'we serve authentic Japanese cuisine the Singaporean way.' It also mentioned right there that their menu is created by Executive Chef Sahashi that has over 27 years of experience preparing traditional Japanese food. It has also indicated there that such a dining concept is by Dining Innovation Pte Ltd which also manages Sumire Yakitori & Izakaya and Shaburi. 

There is a poster which stated Set Menu and clearly listed out Set A at $3.90 (2 green dots), Set B at $4.90 (1 green dot and 1 red dot), Set C at $5.90 (3 green dots), Set D at $6.90 (1 red dot and 2 green dots) and Set E at $7.90 (2 red dots and 1 green dot). Each set menu is served with Miso Soup and rice. I did ask what is the difference between red dot and green dot? The server pointed to those dishes displayed and said, every dish has either a red dot or a green dot to indicate its value. I decided to go with Set E, which means i could choose 2 dishes that has a red dot and 1 dish with a green dot.

There is also a Curry Promotion for Pork Katsu & Vege Curry Don at $4.90, Beef Suki Cheese Curry Don at $6.90 and Crispy Chicken Katsu Curry Don at $5.90. 

The 2 red dot dishes that i have selected were fried cereal chicken and dory fish with spicy sweet sauce. As for the green dot dish, i went for chicken with egg and onion. I did not bother to remember those Japanese sounding names for these dishes. I was asked whether to have it with curry sauce. The overall presentation reminded me of the Hainanese curry rice. 

The dory fish with sweet sauce did not manage to impress. The texture of the fish was quite soft after soaked in the curry sauce for a bit and it did not have much taste of the spicy sweet sauce that it supposed to have. 

The chicken with egg and onion tasted equally ordinary, it was nicely cooked with a slight sweetness likely from the mirin. 

The fried cereal chicken tasted just like those that are commonly available at those economical mixed rice stalls, though still have a slight crispiness but the skin was a bit too dark and a little tough.

I am absolutely not convinced that this is Japanese style mixed rice as i did not taste much of the Japanese factor in it. I would rather go to a usual economical mixed rice stall that offers better dishes at a cheaper price. The menu may has been designed by some experienced chef but if it is not nicely executed, it would not deliver the supposedly authentic flavor after all. This is probably the case here.

WASAI-YA JAPANESE MIXED RICE

Junction 8 Food Junction Stall #MR4 SINGAPORE

Operating Hours: 10.00 am to 11.00 pm