Hi,
Remember how I raved about Misato?
They were the Japanese Restaurant I frequented when they were still open at the basement of The Cathay. They closed for what seem like a long time to me, because their food were the freshest you can get while being stuck here in our island nation.
I was counting the days since their closure, and when they finally reopened at Centrepoint Orchard, I’ve been asking Claire when are we going down to Misato on a daily basis.
She finally relented and we made the trip to Misato at Centrepoint.
They were located on the first floor, all the way to the back of the new foodie section of the mall. As usual, you would see all their iconic lacquered ware imported from Japan. Friends, this is passion for excellence I see here.
The menu looks atas too, can’t help but feel their attention to details. 
Here it is here it is!! This is my favourite dish of all time from Misato! Their Ebi Donburi is seriously good!
I feel so nostalgic I feel my eyes are tearing up. Ok maybe I exaggerated a little here. But seeing the same mixed eggs/roe and that 3x Ebi fry standing and greeting me in a premium looking lacquer bowl. It just screams QUALITY!
Even the chopsticks stand looks so awesome. My goodness.
And Claire ordered the Seafood Kaminabe. Sounded really like some vulgarities but I’m so full of expectations I’m sure once I put their food in my mouth I would start spilling vulgarities everywhere from the sheer joy of tasting delicious food.
Soup for the nabe, the soul of the nabe. Nabe.
Only the freshest ingredients in Misato’s dishes, check out the blemish-free vegetables and the glistening salmon and prawn. Freshness your eyes can see.
And so we start eating, ITADAKIMASU!
While I can’t say I’m disappointed, because they were still awesome! I missed the wet eggs in my Ebi Donburi from the previous Misato. Maybe they overheard wifey’s talk about the Donburi’s eggs were too wet. So this time round at the new Misato, my Misato Ebi Donburi’s eggs were slightly drier compared to the last time. Well, that’s just my preference you see, because I’ve met a few people who hates it when their rice is wet. LOL. I like it wet though. But as usual! The Ebi fry does not disappoint! See all the exclamation marks I’m using to end my sentences! I always wondered how they always managed to make such beautifully crafted Ebi Fry, are they artisans or chefs. Are they even different? I don’t know what nonsense I’m sprouting now but just know that they were very good.
Claire’s Nabe dish, well its a hotpot, it all depends on the freshness of the ingredients. Many hotpot dishes we had, they always bulk buy their ingredients therefore the freshness of it always has an impact to the taste. But as expected of Misato, they only use the freshest ingredients imported from…… well you guessed it.. Japan!
I mean, what do you expect, they imported everything from Japan. Except maybe the furnitures, because even the furnitures also import from Japan is overkill man.
And guess what. I’m not sure if they remember me, but Misato gave us a free treat! Offered to give us both a dessert dish but because Claire is too stuffed, so we decided to share one. I picked the Matcha Zenzai Mochi.
Basically matcha x red bean paste topped with grilled mochi.
Really sweet and really tasty this is, I wonder if I can create this dish using Japanese canned red bean paste and matcha. Don’t know about the grilled mochi. Opps distracted by the cute utensils. LOL.
Conclusion: Misato remains my favourite Japanese restaurant, even though the owner is as local as it gets. Singaporean owned restaurant that bring us the best of Japan. I would love to try their Katsu sets next time. Well I firmly believe that everything they make is good. The pricing increased a little, probably due to the location here in a shopping mall. Last time they were just a little stall in The Cathay. Importing everything from Japan must’ve put a burden on the owner financially, but that goes to show how much passion he has for this venture, and just this point is reason enough to justify support from us fellow Singaporeans who loves Japan.
IMO, food from Misato is worth every cent, and every minute of the wait. They are worth it.
Do go visit them. Please note that the full menu is not available at the time I visited. But hey, if everything is good, you’ll still be spoiled for choice, unless you’re a spoilt brat.
Misato:
176 Orchard Road #01-33E
The Centrepoint (Level 1, inside Gastro area, next to Coffee Bean)
Looking forward to my next visit.
Simon Tey
*P.S. Photos of the menu for your reference.
