I was on the hunt for a good lunch today. I rarely go out of the house since giving birth a few weeks ago, but today I had plans to be in the city for an appointment. And, I was in possession of some mall vouchers that I received from renewing my home internet contract.
These days every time I do go out, I feel the pressure to justify the time away from my baby – I think this is something that only mothers with newborns can understand 😉. So, I wanted to use the voucher for lunch to make the outing even more worth it! Don’t ask – it made sense in my head.
Anyway, while scrolling through the list of F&B retailers that accept the voucher, I spotted a familiar name – Koji Sushi Bar. Ah, yes. When I was working in Telok Ayer a few years ago, I often had lunch at their Pickering Street outlet. But it has been years since the last time I swung by. So that was it – lunch plan was set and I made my way to City Hall.
Koji Sushi Bar is located on the third floor of Raffles City Mall. Their location is quite inconspicuous – in a corner of the mall that you wouldn’t normally pass by unless you know what you’re after. Even though this branch was opened five years ago and I’ve been to Raffles City multiple times since then, I had no idea this place existed.
But once I stepped in, I was pleasantly surprised. This branch is bigger than the Pickering Street branch. Arguably the Pickering Street outlet felt more vibey with its izakaya-like, almost claustrophobic atmosphere, but the openness of the Raffles City branch is a welcome change. They don’t just have counter seats, they even have tables!
I arrived early since my appointment was just slightly after noon. I was the first guest to walk into the restaurant at 11:40 AM on a Tuesday, but as soon as I sat down, more patrons started streaming in. By the time I left 30 minutes later, the place was half full.
The most popular item at Koji is the Sashimi Rice Bowl, which comes with tuna, salmon, swordfish, and jellyfish, and is reasonably priced for Singapore standard at $23. However, I didn’t feel like having swordfish so I ordered the Salmon Avocado Tartare Rice Bowl ($22) from the donburi menu and a Yuzu Iced Tea ($5), which was not on the regular menu, but it was on the board.
All of their donburi came with miso soup and salad with sesame dressing.
I love grains so every time there is an opportunity to have multi-grain rice, I would always take it. The multi-grain rice is an additional $2. It’s worth noting that the other option for donburi is plain white steamed rice, not sushi rice.
This was my first time having raw food in possibly a year due to my pregnancy. When I was pregnant, for some reason I was weirdly turned off by eating raw food. Yes, even when I spent two months in Tokyo earlier this year and took a trip to Hokkaido, I still did not eat anything raw. It’s out of character for me since sushi is normally one of my favorite food!
Even on my way to Koji today I had half mind to not order any raw stuff since the thought of it still puts me off. Not to worry though, I’m back – one bite of the salmon and I was reminded that I still do like this stuff.
I really did enjoy my salmon avocado donburi. The salmon sashimi was marinated but not too overpowering such that the flavor of the salmon still shines through. They are also not stingy with the portion and certainly not stingy with the fish. I polished off the bowl in less than ten minutes and felt sufficiently full.
My bill came out to be $34.77, which I thought was acceptable for a good lunch in the city.
Would I come back to Koji again? Well yes, I’m already a repeat customer so if I was in the area, I would come back. I think they’re still reasonably priced, the restaurant is well managed, and even if you can argue that their stuff isn’t exactly authentic Japanese (and they don’t claim to be), I still think they’re delicious.
While perusing the menu, I noticed they have an omakase set at $158++ per person. Maybe, I would come back to try that next.