Singaporean (again) @ Hainan Chifan, Tokyo

So it was New Year's eve, with a dinner somewhere planned with Rob, bub and Kim. We actually wanted to try another Singaporean restaurant recommended by one of Rob's collegues which is supposedly much better than Hainan Chifan, but unfortunately many restaurants, including the one we wanted to go to, were shut on the eve of New Year. Now here's something about the restaurant culture in Japan: you don't bring kids along. There are 'restaurants' that do allow children like the many fast food and so-called 'family' restaurants like Denny's, but even these places are not so warm towards uncooperative children, especially crying infants. That's one thing I miss about Australia, where there are many restaurants that accomodate children with a kids' menu and a play area. Anyway, I wasn't keen on the idea of eating take-away food at home on NYE, so we needed a fairly casual restaurant that wouldn't be too fussed with our 2.5mth-old joining us for dinner. Hainan Chifan happened to be open on NYE, and it is a fairly casual setting, and it is in the same building as Rob's office which makes it convenient for him to drop in after work for dinner, so we settled on bringing Kim there who was eager to try Singaporean food. It was a good meal, and Zak behaved really well, but carrying bub in the baby carrier in front of me made it for awkward eating - a small sacrifice for dining out again! Yay for a successful first dining experience with baby!

Since we've eaten here a few times before, and I've blogged about Hainan Chifan twice before, I won't say much except to show photos of more dishes which are also worth ordering. Apologies for the poor quality of the shots - I took these photos with my crappy phone camera, and no amount of editting can improve the quality so I didn't bother.

Chicken and Pork Satay ~700yen; Roti Pratha with Curry ~400yen:


Chicken Rice set ~1000yen - apparently this is something that Rob's Japanese colleagues always order whenever they come to this restaurant - I guess this dish is very friendly to the Japanese tastebuds rather than the more greasy and fiery fare that characterises Malaysian/Singaporean cuisine; Prawn and Vegetables Sambal Belachan ~1300yen:


We'd love to try the other Singaporean restaurant one day soon.