The other day, I found myself hanging around the Tanjong Pagar area with my entire family – including the kids. It’s rare for me to bring the children into city area because they usually have no business being there, so I wasn’t well versed on which restaurant would be family-friendly here.
Originally, we were going to Japan Rail Cafe around the corner because we’ve been there before and found it to be quite decent, but while walking around the area, we passed by nana’s green tea. I glanced at the menu and decided that we’ll try something new today.
About nana’s green tea
nana’s green tea (yes the brand is spelled with all lower caps like this) is a cafe that originated in Tokyo, from Jiyugaoka to be exact, in 2001. Since 2012, they have expanded to Singapore and other international locations like Thailand, Taiwan, Canada, and the US.
In Singapore alone, there are three Nana outlets – in Plaza Singapura, Duo Galleria, and the one I visited – Guoco Tower.
I haven’t been to nana’s green tea before because I’ve always thought they serve only beverages or cafe food (which I think tend to be too small of a portion). But I was surprised to know that they offer quite a range of mains as well.
What we ordered
We were there for lunch, and quite hungry as we only had a small breakfast. So even though I knew my son would not finish his own meal, we ordered three mains. Here are my thoughts on our order:
Chicken Nanban
A la carte price $15.80
This was my pick! I’m a sucker for fried chicken and I won’t say no to whenever it’s on the menu. Chicken Nanban is a kyushu specialty, originating from Miyazaki prefecture in the southern part of Japan. It’s a fried chicken dish served with tartar sauce made with boiled eggs. To me, the sauce tasted more like egg salad.
At nana’s, the dish is served with purple rice, green salad and potato salad. Quite a balanced meal I think?
I loved this dish. The boiled egg tartar sauce was divine combined with the green onion. It gave a really delicious umami flavor to the dish. They’re also not stingy with the chicken – there were four large pieces on my plate.
Sukiyaki Beef Udon
A la carte price $15.80
This is my son’s order. I had a taste of it and it was good, however, I couldn’t ignore the fact that I could definitely make this at home for way cheaper 😅 While I’m happy to order it for my son who loves noodles, I don’t think it’s worth the price tag.
Curry Chicken Karaage Udon
A la carte $14.80
This was my husband’s order. The portion is big, but my thought on this dish is similar to the sukiyaki udon – while it’s good, it’s something that I could easily replicate at home for way cheaper. Except the fried chicken, because I don’t like deep frying at home.
Set Drinks
They have set lunch on weekdays for $15++ and $16++ for weekends, so we ordered two sets which came with a drink.
We got cold brew Ujicha and Apple Juice. This was really nothing to write home about – I think the Ujicha was great but the apple juice probably came from boxed juice. But, there was nothing to lose since the price of the set was almost the same as the a la carte price of the mains we got.
Dessert
After we finished our meal, we ordered our dessert! I wanted to treat my son to his own dessert instead of making him share with me, so we got two things: Vanilla Softserve ($6.00, his pick) and Matcha Warabimochi Sundae ($9.80, my pick).
Both desserts pretty much meets my expectations.
There was a little hiccup in getting our dessert order to the table. At nana’s, you get a number after ordering which you place on your table. However, when we ordered the dessert, we were given a new number while the order was tacked onto our old table number which was taken away after our mains were delivered, so the waiter could not locate us for awhile. Because of this mixup, I noticed the soft serve had already melted. However, the manager was quick to catch it before the soft serve got served to us and replaced it with a new one, which I thought was a really nice gesture!
In Conclusion
Our order above came out to be exactly $75.00 total after GST and service charge. Quite steep at $25 per person, but we were in the city after all. And this price does include dessert and drink, so I suppose it’s not too bad for Singapore standard.
Would I come back? Yes, I would! The other dishes didn’t impress me much, but the Chicken Nanban was great. If I happen to be in the city and crave fried chicken for lunch – I would come back here.