Ted and me visited the
Ministry of Food (MOF) at Marina Square for dinner the other Friday. This was not our first visit there. Probably our third or fourth visit. We recalled the delicious Japanese food we had and even signed up as members then so we definitely had to go back!
There was a long queue outside MOF that evening. In a while we were shown a seat for two at the side of the restaurant. The restaurant was quite crowded and appears to be a little noisy. Probably it’s the weekend crowd! We quickly ordered our food. I liked the Salmon Shabu-Shabu set (S$16.80) and had to order it. We also tried the chawan-mushi, going at a discount of S$2.80 that evening. In addition, we ordered some Ala-Cartes like the Tori Karaage 6 pieces (S$6.80) and the Pork Rice (S$4.90).
What a letdown this time! I suspect the chef might have been changed as the quality of the food appears to have slipped. The Salmon Shabu set which was served with specially made Apple sauce along with a plate of fresh greens was quite different this time round. We were served very huge pieces of cucumbers and tomatoes on the plate of greens and the slices of salmon also appear to be prepared in a hurry. Vaguely recalled the previous times we were served very delicately and nicely cut pieces of greens and salmon pieces. Somehow we just could not feel the quality we expected and experienced previously. The Pork Rice was not what we expected either. The pork pieces looked like they were prepared in a rush. Luckily for the chawan-mushi, it was great though. Soft and hot! The tori karaage (fried chicken pieces) was quite the usual.
To end the meal, we had to go for the heavenly Macha Imo dessert (S$3.00) offered as a discount to the Salmon Shabu-Shabu set. Macha Imo as the name suggests, consists of Green Tea Milk Ice-Cream served with Red Beans paste and pieces of nicely fried Sweet Potatoes. This is a very nice treat, especially so for the sweet-tooth! The dessert was served with a small instructional sheet teaching you how to savour this heavenly ice-cream! Basically, you have to mix a little bit of each thing i.e. take a little bit of hot fried sweet potato and eat with a little bit of the cold green tea ice-cream together with some sweet red bean paste. Hot mix with cold. Experience is great! YUM! Thankfully this saved the day!!
I wish the other main dishes could be better improved to the standard I used to remember. I will visit the place again because I am still a member and maybe it could have been a bad chef day that the food quality went *poof* or maybe it’s due to the heavy crowd building up these days at the place... though I strongly believe quality of food should never be compromised in any way no matter how. Well you let me know if you get a chance to visit the restaurant next time!
Ministry Of Food My Izakaya is located at 6 Raffles Boulevard, #02-138E Center Stage, Marina Square, Singapore 039594 Tel: 6334 2202.
