The friends wanted to eat and drink sake at the same time, so we went to Tomo Izakaya (Clarke Quay) to have our dinner.

Tomo Izakaya captures the essence of the traditional izakaya with its chic, minimalist Zen-like décor while injecting youthful fun in its overall vibe. In Japanese, ‘tomo’ means ‘friend’ and izakaya means ‘to stay in a sake shop’. Hence, the focus of Tomo Izakaya is for friends and families to have a relaxing meal of fine Japanese food and drinks while entertained by jazz music nightly.

 

The origins of izakaya are the traditional pubs in old buildings frequented by Japanese, who would, after a long hard day at work, unwind over large amounts of sake, wines and spirits together with snacks and still go home for dinner. There are more and more izakaya-style dining is getting more popular among executives, as they look for a relaxing meal after a day of hard work.

The food from Tomo Izakaya is prepared with the freshest ingredients air-flown twice weekly from Tokyo’s famed Tsukiji Market. You may think that the Salmon ($18.50) is too expensive, but the fish used for sashimi is very fresh and of the highest quality.

Tomo Izakaya offers small plate dishes such as robatayaki, yakitori, sushi, ramen, soba chazuke and karaage which can be paired with sakes, shochus, beers, wines and spirits. The Gobo Chips ($6.50) was deep-fried strips of burdock chips which was very crunchy and addictive.

Tori Karaage ($10) was deep fried till golden brown and served with mayonnaise.

 

I am a fan of grilled items so I ordered Aspara Maki ($7). The asparagus was wrapped with pork belly which was very delightful.

Instead of having a usual grilled salmon with cheese, we chose Salmon Wasabi Mayo ($16) instead.

The salmon was grilled with original wasabi sauce, which gave an extra punch to the dish.

If there is one dish I would recommend in Tomo Izakaya, it would be the Gyu Nikomi ($15). Beef and vegetables were stewed in miso stock. The beef was tender and the vegetables makes the stock very sweet. It sure goes will with a bowl of rice.

For something light and more refreshing, have a bowl of Ochazuke (Sake, Umi, Mentai, $8). This Japanese style porridge comes with salmon/plum/spicy roe. Too light for me, I prefer my beef stew.

The Ninniku Jyako Fried Rice ($10.50) did not disappoint. The garlic fried rice with Japanese whitebait was very fragrant and I can just eat this alone.

 

One of my friend is a vegetarian and he can’t anything on the menu. The helpful waitress offered to ask the chef to prepare a plate of vegetarian fried rice. Thumbs up for their service!

 

 

Address: 3A River Valley Road, #01-04 Clarke Quay

Tel: +65 6336 0100

Website: www.tomoizakaya.com