Sandaime Bunji – Delicious Mountain of Wagyu Roast Beef Rice

Stepping into Sandaime Bunji makes you feel as though you’ve been transported to an authentic eatery in Japan. Boasting al fresco seats, counter seats, as well as, Zabuton seats (Japanese cushion for sitting on the ground), this Japanese eatery exudes a relaxing vibe. Furthermore, you wouldn’t feel suffocated and stuffy when dining inside as there is an open space by the “window” where you can chill while people watching.

The impressive item that brought us here was their Wagyu Round Roast Beef Set ($19.90), a towering bowl with 250grams of beef slices stacked on top of the rice. The beef was executed to perfection and my dining partner found it to be succulent, tender, yet a little chewy. However, we felt that the beef might be too raw for some people. Our set came with salad, tofu and Ox Tail soup, which was surprisingly very flavourful. The soup had a natural sweetness to it and we didn’t feel that MSG was added to enhance its taste. The tofu was very soft and smooth while the salad was a very crunchy appetizing starter that whetted our appetites.

As we’re beef-lovers, we also tried the Wagyu Sukiyaki ($15.90), which features items such as carrots, an assortment of mushrooms, cabbages and the main star of the dish – wagyu beef slices. The broth was too saltish if you slurp it on its own, but when eaten with steamed rice, the pairing is perfect. The wagyu beef slices were more cooked and sliced reasonably thin for easy consumption. It managed to soak up the savoury flavours of the broth, making each bite heavenly. Furthermore, this piping hot dish was perfect due to the rainy weather at that point of time.

Lucky us also stumbled on the Sashimi Promotion – Unkai (Sashimi 6 Kind with Ootoro) is going at $29.90 per bowl, instead of its usual $68.80 but do note that there are limited quantities each day to ensure freshness of the sashimi. “Ootoro” is a Japanese word, meaning “the fattiest part of the fish” so of course, our sashimi assortment included the most expensive cut of tuna, taken from the lowest part of the belly next to the head, which is very high in fat. There were also hotate sashimi, kanpachi (amberjack) sashimi, mackerel and our favourite, the salmon sashimi!

Sandaime Bunji is a place worth checking out due to its delicious food and great ambience. Furthermore, it’s affordably priced and their level of service is commendable. Towards the end of our meal, a Japanese couple arrived and took their seats beside our table. That’s when we found out that one of the waitresses, Madam Jenny Wong, speaks fluent Japanese. Later on, she shared with us that she used to study in Japan, hence picked up the local language. This is a restaurant that we would return to without doubt on days when we crave good Japanese food.

MissTamChiak.com made anonymous visit and paid its own meal at the stall featured here.