It has been a while since we last had a post.
Tora Shabu @ Ebisboshi Shotengai (Iluma @ Bugis)
I was at Illuma last Saturday, Illuma is a ghost town even on Saturday, thus is a good place for my gf and myself as we hate crowded places. One of our friends told us that there is a good place for Shabu Shabu, so we decide to check that place out for lunch not knowing where it is located. We went to the fourth floor and found this huge Japanese restaurant corner, and walk forward and the menu was presented to me, it was a la carte steamboat set, Pork Set for $20.90, I think I got the place, then the hostess told us that they are actually serving buffet for lunch @ $18.90, so I ask for the Menu, it has Scallop, Prawns, Crab, Loin Meat, Pork Belly, golden mushroom, chicken thigh just to name a few and these are also mainly what we ate, therefore “It’s a Bingo!!”
There are only a few other tables in the restaurant, and on the table there is this electrical stove, unlike other places that uses gas. The setting is a mix of country and Victorian, not bad. One thing that caught my eye, there are no waiters, only waitress, and they are dress in French maid uniform… Lolitas in French maid uniform, I think you get what I mean, if you watch enough Japanese AV.. But you cannot compare the waitress with those AV Idol, they dun come close.. Back to the topic, for buffet, we are presented with the order chit which you write how much you want for that particular items, the same as those steamboat buffet at Liang Seah St. For drinks, they serve soft drinks at $2 and Green Tea (Hot/cold) at $1 non refillable, I dunno about Sake.. The maid, no, I mean the waitress ask us, “are you students”, so I reply “Uni student?” she says “Can”, so I show her my Murdoch student pass, then she told me they have student price for the buffet.. Wooh, I am almost 30 and I get to enjoy students privilege.. Power Sia!! By the way, the F&B Industries employs mainly foreign workers, same goes for this place..
There are about 5 choices of soup base, Chicken, Paitan (I think is Pork rib), Miso, Spicy Miso, Spicy and Tom Yum. At first I ask for Chicken and Paitan, the maid says that, these soup base do have not have much taste so we change it to Paitan and Spicy.. The interesting thing is the condiment, you only sees light soya sauce and sesame oil on the table, the rest is at a counter, where you can rojak your sauce, for eg. You can put chilli oil, garlic and wasabi and mix them together if you are happy, but too bad there is no vinegar… Nothing much to comment on the food, except the Prawns is of good size and fresh, the scallop came with shells and the Pork Belly is a must try. The spicy soup is not really that spicy, you can add chilli oil and chilli sauce if you want to spice it up some more. While I was eating, one of the waitresses came and top up our drinks, which I was confuse, I thought it was non refillable, so maybe it was part of the student package.
Overall, I find this place to be quite a good place to dine as compare to other steamboat buffet, but they do not have large tables, most is 4 seats, not sure about joining table though. Final bill was $40 net for the 2 of us, quite reasonable for a tonne of Pork Belly, prawns and 1 glass of cold green tea and coke. By the way I think student price is $15, cool huh..
Atmosphere – 7
Service – 9 (Nice uniform and good enuff to give us advice, change my plates when it was full with prawn shells and top up my drinks)
Food – 9 (I would say the best place for steamboat buffet)
Damage – 9 (Student price!! What more can I say!!)
Return value – 9 (I intend to go there for lunch every Saturday!!)
Toilet – 3 (There are suppose to at least have a sink… but no.. you have to walk all the way outside and use the toilet there to wash your hand when you hands are dirty from peeling the prawns shell..)