The Midtown over at Upper Serangoon Road is fast-becoming another foodie haven with the exponential setting up of new eateries within its premises—a godsend for nearby residents and office workers.
Otoko is one of the newest additions to this Hougang enclave. This humble Japanese eatery first started out as a stall in a coffee shop at Sultan Plaza offering quality and comforting Japanese Donburi at affordable prices.
The menu at their new branch at The Midtown features a wider spread of items, like tendon as well as a mix-and-match menu for their Japanese curry rice in which diners can choose to stack on more of their preferred items. Otoko may not rank as high up as the greats but considering the affordability and the quality of the food they serve, this makes it an ideal spot to get your fix.
As with most eateries located at The Midtown, the kitchen and order counter is situated on the ground floor, while the dine-in area is upstairs.
The menu is pretty straightforward. On the left is essentially the customisable Japanese curry rice, along with all the many goodies you can add to pimp it up and on the right are the various donburi, sides and specials.
Otoko’s Classic Tendon (S$10.80) comes preloaded with the usual battered suspects of your average tendon bowl—prawn, fish and an assortment of vegetables.
The tempura pieces do come rather crisp, although the prawn was slightly lacking in crunch. The rice was actually rather ordinary but the addition of the crispy tempura bits, along with the lightly sweetened sauce drizzled over top made it heaps better.
To be honest, the tendon here is forgettable, but considering that it is just a fraction of the price of those at other places, we would say that this is still a pretty decent option.
The Japanese Curry menu begins with you choosing whether you would like to have it with rice (S$2.80) or udon (S$3.80) and after which you can proceed to pick and choose your ingredients. We went with the usual pork cutlet (S$2.80), potato salad in bacon wrap (S$1.80) and for good measure, a fried egg (S$1.80).
Otoko’s recommendation is to pick three toppings with a base. But if you pick just one topping (S$1.80), the Japanese curry rice can be as cheap as only S$4.60.
Taste-wise we were really impressed. The luscious curry was sweet and savoury with a subtle hint of spice. The pork cutlet was outrageously crispy and slathered with the delicious curry, made it such a joy to eat. The potato salad in bacon wrap had a smooth, velvety, mashed potato-like texture and the bacon gave it a more robust and smoky quality.
Otoko
1187 Upper Serangoon Road
#01-20 The Midtown
Singapore 534785
Daily: 11am – 10pm
Nearest Station: Hougang