Somehow this feels like the right season to have some steaming tasty Japanese hot pot, and I found my way to Danro under the Ministry of Food (MOF) hybrid at NEX. Not a big fan of buffet though, since I am a small eater (*cough cough*) and you don’t usually get much quality food at all-you-can-eat places.
My table of four was first very surprised at the pricing – $16.90++ for weekday lunch, $22.90++ for weekend dinner, and $24.90++ for weekend dinner. Danro also offer very special rates for senior citizens and children. (I wonder how they earn!) Well, having hot pot is a great way to bond together with family and friends yah?
The food here may not come in large massive quantities, but had quality ingredients such as salmon, prawns, shabu shabu beef and pork. Sushi, deep fried items, fresh fruits, soft serve ice cream, assorted daily desserts and drinks are ALL-IN. Though I can probably skip all the seafood, and just spend my time shabu-ing away and dipping the thinly-sliced meats into home-made ponzu sauce and sambal chilli. Oishii!
Danro is the 1st hot pot restaurant in Singapore serving specialty hot pots from different regions in Japan – nine in total. Each pot is a half-half ‘yuan-yang’ with two choices of soup. That also meant we managed to try four soup bases. Great since Singaporeans love variety.
Our favourite was the Chicken and Milk Broth from the Nara region, a light and popular tasting soup with balanced savour of chicken, tofu and mushrooms. While I hear that many locals do not fancy the lighter Wafu soup from Akita, this was my next favourite as it brings out the flavours of the dory fish slices and beef.
The soups here are cooked for at least 10 hours and are therefore richer than the usual steamboat soups. Most should enjoy Chicken Spicy Broth while ramen soup lovers would also like the Tonkotsu Miso. (The other choices are Chicken Paitan, Tonkotsu, Chicken Miso, and Wafu Miso.)
Somehow Japanese style broths just taste more delicate and refreshing, without the overpowering heavy MSG-filled soups offered in some steamboat restaurants. If you are a fan of nabemono, this is warm comfort food. As with all hot pot, the soup just gets better and tastier with time. (I just spent most of my time drinking the soup rather than eating the ingredients.)
Our table was presented with 4 sticks of rice which looked rather strange, like carb sausages. Call us mountain tortoises. The rice skewer is Danro’s signature food called the Kiritanpo. It was slightly and sweet-salty carb, not bad when the rice absorbs the soup. The Kiritanpo is a traditional rice stick, a must-have with Japanese hot pot which the head chef Kazunori Sonoda insisted on including. “This is Japanese culture!”
Danro Japanese Hot Pot Vouchers Giveaway!
Danro Japanese Hot Pot Vouchers at NEX will be giving 10 sets of $20 vouchers to 10 blessed Daniel’s Food Diary readers to enjoy the delicious buffet!
All you need to do is to
Step 1: LIKES the FaceBook page of Daniel’s Food Diary and DANRO Singapore
Step 2: SHARE this post on Facebook or RETWEET the post on twitter
Step 3: Leave a comment below to name your favourite DANRO broth and WHY
Results will be announced 30th Jan (WED)
DANRO Japanese Hot Pot Buffet by MOF
Serangoon NEX #02-04/06 (Serangoon MRT) Tel: +65 6634 4608
FaceBook: www.facebook.com/DanroSingapore
Operating hours: Mon-Thurs, Sun & PH 11:30am-3:30pm, 5:30pm-10:00pm; Fri-Sat & Eve PH 11:30am – 3:30pm, 5:30pm – 10:30pm
*The above entry is an advertorial.
