IPPIN

IPPIN Cafe Bar is a place located in Mohamed Sultan Road serving unpretentious real Japanese food that taste truly from home since October 2014. The business is run by Miss Ayumi Fujishiro, daughter of IPPIN's owner. At the first sight of this lady, I have totally no clue that she is a Japanese as she speaks perfect Singlish and in fact before that I have asked if she is a local.

IPPIN

Besides serving home cook meals, IPPIN also serves as a one stop shop with a section on the merchandise whereby people get to find goods directly imported from Japan like rice, noodle, tea, beverages as well as kitchen essentials. At a closer look on those items, I could not remember seeing them in Japanese marts like Isetan or even Mediya thus it marked all the differences.

Interior

Place was rather cozy and ambiance has given us a "feel at home" feeling. If you want to hook onto the cyber world, free WIFI service is available here.

Merchandise

Besides having merchandise and serving Japanese Food, IPPIN also catered a cooking corner for those who want to learn more about Japanese dishes.

Cooking Corner

Up the little steps to somewhere near the kitchen, you may get to see this little space artistically decorated by these art pieces from Children age 4 to 15. Interested in getting one of them or even creating one of them? They are actually located along the same road too in Mohamed Sultan.

Art Corner from the Children

More information on the children art classes and name cards are found here.

Children Art Classes

Since IPPIN is more towards the classic home based food in Japan, you won't find typical Singapore Japanese Food chains here like, bento, sashimi, sushi or Katsu here. They kind of opened up a bigger picture to my dictionary of Japanese Food and saying this, they have a condiment rack with

Condiments

Hiroshima is the number one landing of oysters in Japan and here we are, welcoming such big, thick and tasty oysters grilled in ponzu (yuzu vinegar) butter sauce achieving such refreshing taste. Besides being popular in size, these oysters were actually raised in clean ocean to attain such a clean taste. The set comes with rice (with barley), Hatcho miso soup, yummy Nikujaga pork and potato stew, salad and houjicha pudding (roasted green tea dessert), totally worth the value.

Grilled Oyster & Veggies in Ponzu Butter Sauce Set - $20

Love this side dish, it was a good comfort dish with tender sliced pork and the combination of potatoes with carrots gave a sweet starchy taste to the dish. Glass noodle was included and had well adsorbed the stew. It goes very well with a bowl of plain rice or even good enough to be served as a dish.

Nikujaga pork and potato stew

Another way of serving oysters was to have them deep fried! Likewise, these Oysters are originated from Hiroshima.Comes in 5 on a plate, these oysters were lightly battered and deep fried into its attractive crispiness. Apart from the way of serving the oysters, the sides in the set remains the same. On a good note, the egg mayonnaise and wasabi dip was very refreshing for the fried oyster, what I like about the dip was that you can actually get to see the ingredients of the dip like hard boil egg whites and cuts of cucumber.

Deep Fried Oyster Set - $24

Just take a closer look at the deep fried oysters, aren't they beautifully done up?

Deep Fried Oyster

Chicken pieces was plump and tender, well accentuated by the dashi (stock). Having Oyakudon for a Japanese meal is usually my favourite out of their rice dishes for it tasted so fragrant with its mild sweet stock with eggs and chicken.

Oyakudon Set - $15

Wettness level was abit high, nevertheless it was still a good tasty bowl of Oyakudon. This set comes with miso soup, hojicha pudding too.

Oyakudon Set

Miso Soup

Fried Soba aka Yakisoba is unique and had caught hold of my appetite during dinner. No doubt it is any Japanese comfort food, it is seldom found in most Japanese restaurant and the secret to this dish is none other than their savoury sauce.Yellow onions, carrots, cabbages and meat were mixed in giving additional texture to the tasty noodles.

Yakisoba Set - $12

Having said this, this dish is remind Miss Ayumi Fujishiro , owner of the IPPIN's daughter, on her dad's home cooking, so feel at home! The set also comes with small dish (Kobachi).

Yakisoba

Having tea after meal is good and its tea appreciation session. We had the chance to try out the most popular green tea, Sencha which has a perfect balance of refreshing aroma, delicate sweetness and mild bitterness. In order to have good tea served, server has to seized the right timing and temperature of water. GEnmaicha and Hojicha area also available.

Sencha - $6 per pot

For those who don't really take Sake, do try out this fruitty flavoured drinks and rest assured that you may get hook to them. In fact, this was the best recommended by one of the service staff. With 17% alcohol content and you can even taste the pulps among the drink. The taste was both sweet with a little sour just like the taste of Ichigo, strawberries in Japanese.

Ichigo

Besides having Strawberries Flavour, there is also Yuzu. It tasted both as great but my vote will goes to the former.

Yuzu - $34 per bottle

These peanuts are totally driving me nuts, coated and available in 3 flavours, serious coffee, creamy strawberry and grassy matcha. They are not only addictive but also something interesting to take note of.

On the right, the wobbly Hojicha pudding. The style did not fit me as I find that the Tea taste was a little too strong here which turned out to be bitter.

Rattsu Nuts

Overall,  IPPIN did really stand up in terms of serving classic hearty Japanese home style food with  competitive pricing. It is an absolute spot to hit if you want to enjoy something different from the usual Japanese fare.

Thanks Hazel & IPPIN Team for inviting and the great hospitality during our tasting session.

Rating: 3.25 / 5

IPPIN Cafe Bar 
Location: 18 Mohamed Sultan Road Singapore 238967
Opening Hours: Mon to Sat 11:00 am – 11:00 pm
Tel: 6733 4794