Tampopo Grand, Ngee Ann City

We were up on the third floor of Takashimaya tonight when it dawned on me then that Tampopo had opened a new outlet up (391 Orchard Road #04-28, 6735-2959) on the former grounds of Chikuyotei. We just needed a quick and easy meal, and Tampopo seemed to fit the bill.

Or so we thought. It was only when we sat down and opened the menu did we realize that this wasn't Tampopo. It was Tampopo Grand, which basically meant an upscale and much pricier version, going so far as to serve things like kaiseki. It wasn't what we wanted, but we stuck around as we were still able to find a couple of reasonably priced items hiding in the menu, like this S$15 (US$12.50) salmon negitoro don (it was on the list of specials - not to be confused with the more expensive tuna-based one on the regular menu).

The good thing was that this was delicious. The fish was fresh, fatty, and tender, while the freshly grated and salted (!) wasabi made this thing even more interesting. But this place was clearly meant to be a borderline fine dining establishment instead, serving up multiple courses at a very leisurely pace, thus taking up much more time and money than we had wanted. We should have just gone downstairs to the basement where the cheaper Tampopo sat instead.