Cheap authentic Japanese food - Wasabi Tei

If Sumo House has "the cheapest Japanese food in town", then Wasabi Tei must have the cheapest authentic Japanese food in town.

Located on the fifth floor of Far East Plaza, in a tiny shop that seats only 16 persons (and that's already a squeeze), a typical visit to this place during meal time will see a wait in a queue lasting at least half an hour. The trick, we've found, is to come outside of regular meal hours. For example, when we came at 3.30pm one Saturday, an hour before they closed for a break, we had to wait only five minutes to get a seat.

This is what the shop looks like from the outside:

You're looking at the full width of the shop. It's that tiny.

The interior setting is a U-shaped bar counter where sashimi is taken from the freezer on display (only because the shop is so small), sliced before your eyes and served in generous portions.

Manned by only one serving lady and one authentically Japanese chef, who incidentally are so confident in the quality and price of food they serve that they do not bother giving you a smile when they take your order. Not that they are stuck up or anything, but they do tend to look quite intimidating if we should dare to change our order. We didn't even dare to take a photo in their presence, so this was a quick snap of Ms Budget's salmon sashimi.

Seats are so valuable in this place that they charge you $2 just for sitting there. Of course that comes with japanese tea, a soft drink or mineral water, but you must order a dish.

A plate of salmon (or assorted) sashimi costs $15. If you're going for something more filling, such as a meal that includes rice, you can try the $10 teriyaki grilled salmon or $9 grilled mackerel. Mr Budget has tried the latter two (he's not a fan of raw food like Ms Budget is!), and he says that he kind of feels like a cow after eating the huge pile of veggies that come with it. That's not to say the fish is small or anything. He wishes he had a photo of it to show you.

Ms Budget who has had both thinks that the sashimi served at Ministry Of Food (MOF) in AMK Hub is better, but she thinks the grilled fish is fantastic!

The outlet also has pricier dishes for those with more expensive tastes, but that's not us, otherwise we wouldn't be blogging about this no GST, no service charge, budget date. Payment by cash only though, so make sure you bring enough.

Wasabi Tei is located at:

Far East Plaza, #05-70

It is easiest to find if you go up the lift that faces Scotts Road.

Opening hours:

Mon-Fri: 12.00nn-3.00pm and 5.30pm-9.30pm

Sat: 12.00nn-4.30pm and 5.30pm-9.30pm

Closed on Sundays and public holidays

Where to go for cheap and good pasta

A friend of ours, Regina, recommended to us this place at Liang Court called Saizeriya. We wanted to blog about this earlier, but we couldn't find the photos till now.

First of all, where's Liang Court? It's not a place that we've visited before, so we had to find a way to get there. Fortunately, Mr Budget has a direct bus to the place, which is along River Valley Road, at Clarke Quay, just beside the Singapore River.

Our first impression of the building was a reminder of a shopping mall we visited during our holiday in Bangkok earlier this year. That shopping mall was called... The Mall. Liang Court reminded us of it, because its architecture is really old-school.

Even the building interior is old-school. We remember there is an exit to a carpark inside the building, and the walls are covered with the little brown square tiles from the 1980s. It's a nostalgic building, and our parents speak fondly of it... they probably used to go there for their dates!

Today Liang Court looks like any other shopping mall, except emptier. We're told that this place gets really crowded on weekends, especially with families. Lots of parents bring their kids here. Maybe for that nostalgic feeling. The impression we got on walking around the first level was, "Here got cheap food meh???" But yes, there is, as we are about to share with you.

Regardless of whether you're coming to Saizeriya on a weekday or a weekend, be prepared to queue. The queue is not normally that long, at least not on a weekday night, but of course the larger the group, the longer the wait.

Once inside, don't expect to have a romantic date. Save it for later, because Saizeriya is a really noisy place. Most of the time, you have to shout to make yourself heard, which is something Mr Budget really dislikes. But don't worry, the food more than makes up for that.

Saizeriya is a Japanese-Italian budget restaurant. This means that you're going to get some strange combinations. But the prices at this place are quite unlike other restaurants. Pizzas here cost somewhere between $7-9. We haven't tried these yet, so we shall not comment on it. Friends who like six escargot find the $5.58 price a steal.

Steaks (actually patties) come at $8. They come with a fried egg, a few potato wedges, and some veggies. But where else can you get a scrumptious rib-steak for $13.38? Yes, the prices are weird.

The Hamburg steak and pork, priced at $7.98 is mucho yummy too! We shared this and we shared a pasta. We don't have a photo of the Hamburg steak and pork, but we have one of the Hamburg steak:

Hamburg steak


Ms Budget ordered a seafood chowder soup ($2.98), which wasn't very nice, but the grilled spicy sausages, five of them, which came with four potato wedges (haha!) were pretty good. If you're feeling thirsty, there's a free-flow drink bar at $2.58, but we thought that was not worth it - how much were we going to drink anyway? So we had plain water which was free.

Our main course was pasta, which is usually about $10-13 at other restaurants. Saizeriya gives you pasta at about $5-7, which is about food court price. The difference is, the pasta here is absolutely yummy!

We had the spaghetii 'tarako' sauce with pollack roe, which was $5.68, and oh so yummy! Another time, Mr Budget had the spaghetti carbonara, which he frequently uses as a taste test to measure the standard of pasta at a restaurant. This dish, which cost him $7.18, passed with flying colours.

Spaghetti carbonara

Like all restaurants, there's GST and service charge, and a really great dinner for us amounted to... $19.60. The portions were just nice. Though they look small at first glance, the meals here are pretty filling, and you don't find yourself overstuffed.

As mentioned above, Liang Court is located at Clarke Quay, so a romantic walk alongside the Singapore River is in store for you when you leave the place. You'd probably have to walk it if you're heading for the NEL anyway.

Saizeriya is located at:
Liang Court, #02-22

Because it's crowded, what you can do is to call 6337 9001 for reservation. It's open from 11.00am-10.00pm daily.

Next week, we tell you how to have a meal for two at Cafe Cartel for $10.