En Dining Japanese Bar, River Valley

It is well known that Okinawan has one of the longest life expectacies in the world. Many have attributed the longevity of the Okinawans to their nutrient-rich, low-calorie diet.

The Fiance and I had dinner at En Dining Japanese Bar, a late night izakaya styled eatery that specialises in Okinawan cuisine. We had high expectations for dinner, having had a very good meal at Z'en, their sister restaurant. We should have tampered our expectations way low, as there were more misses than hits.

The Tsukune ($9), skewers of grilled chicken meatball with egg yolk, didn't quite satiate our tastebuds. Some kind of herb or raw celery was added, which threw the taste of the meatball off.


The Enoki Bacon ($7) skewers of grilled enoki mushrooms wrapped with bacon, was nice but really quite idiot-proof. A very simple dish of the winning combination of delicate golden mushrooms and fatty salty decadent bacon.


We particularly liked the Shitake Nikuzume ($7.50) skewers of grilled shitake mushroom with minced chicken, fat juicy mushrooms stuffed with freshly ground chicken, seasoned with a quick brush of teriyaki sauce that gave off a smoky accent during grilling.


The Fiance thought the Yose Tofu ($9.80) handmade silky sweet tofu served with soy sauce, wasn't too bad, because it had a clean refreshing flavour. I thought the tofu could have been softer and silker, this had a very thick semi-hard texture that I didn't like.


The Fiance liked the Yaki Mantaiko, Okura ($8.50) grilled mentaiko roe with lady's fingers for its palate-cleansing and clear flavours.


The Soft Shell Crab Temaki ($6) handroll was fairly alright but ordinary. We didn't take to the mayonnaise in the handroll. Even with the 50% discount on the handroll, this was still really pricey and not worth the discounted $3 pricetag.


The Yaki Udon ($11) stir fried noodles with pork and vegetable was waaaay too sweet. I expected a savoury dish, but this turned out ridiculously sweet. We didn't finish this.



En Dining Japanese Bar
207 River Valley Road
#01-57 UE Square
Tel: 6735 2212
Open Sundays to Thursdays from 6pm to 12midnight
Fridays, Saturdays, eve of Public Holidays from 6pm to 3am
Website: www.endiningbars.com/en/

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