Teppei Shokudo (Syokudo) @ Pickering Street

A good kaisendon or chirashidon always makes me happy, and the opening of Teppei Syokudo (or Shokudo) in the Raffles Place / Chinatown area made me even happier.

This is a branch of the famed Teppei Japanese restaurant at Orchid Hotel (minus the crazy wait), and is located in "Five", an upmarket, semi-automated "food court" on Pickering Street (Great Eastern Building), where Hans used to reside. There are five stalls including Teppei Shokudo, a Korean stall, one selling noodles, another selling Western food, and one selling pizza and Tapas. There is also a fruit juice / cut-fruit stall. The ordering and paying is done on machines, and an SMS will be sent to your mobile once the food is ready, for pick-up. All very high-tech for someone who is used to doing direct interaction with the stall-holder.

So on to Teppei Shokudo.

It sells a number of different dishes, but I do believe that the Kaisendon is the most popular among all, judging by the way the chef is preparing bowl after bowl after bowl of it without stopping.

Here's how the finished product looks ($16). You can add extra toppings like uni (sea urchin), scallops, chopped tuna etc for another $8, but personally, I think the base product is more than enough... to the point of me not being able to finish the fish.

Honestly, the bowl of kaisendon looks a little small and "shallow" in the dish when you first get hold of it, but that turns out to be really deceptive.

Look at how lusciously thick the salmon slices are. It's not even a slice... it's a chunk! The amount of fish practically covers the entire bowl of rice - definitely very generous and worth the $16.

It also comes with a bowl of miso soup to help wash it down and add some savoury kick to the meal. You might also want to get extra wasabi (50 cents) to balance the oiliness of the fish.

The seared and sashimi salmon don ($16.80) also seems to be popular, with a generous serving of six very large salmon slices, though by taking a quick look at the plates of diners at Five, the kaisendon seems to be on almost every other table.

Teppei Shokudo is also at Millenia Walk and Takashimaya. I'm not too sure what the average waiting time is elsewhere, but the one at Pickering Street takes about 10 mins during the peak lunch hour.

If you are feeling super full after the meal and need some help to take away the oiliness, I recommend some good, strong green tea after the meal, like this one here from Nakamura Tokichi, which I managed to get from my trip to Uji.

I also read that Nakamura Tokichi has just opened its first overseas branch in Hong Kong, which is great news as it's nearer than Japan!