In recent months, we've been hit by a Nippon food wave with numerous semi-fancy multi-resto enclaves opening up around town, such as Eat at Seven at Suntec City, Emporium Shokuhin at Marina Square and the new Japan Food Town at Wisma Atria. Now it seems like the mall food courts are gearing up to jump on the bandwagon, starting with the Food Republic at Shaw House.

The brand new Japan Foods Garden, located at Food Republic Shaw House, houses five affordable Japanese food stalls. The vibe is pretty casual, though there are nice touches like blond furniture, lanterns and Japanese banners. Foodwise, there's Bear’s Curry Café & Bar which offers lip-smacking Japanese curry that comes in two spice levels, beers on tap and whisky highballs to cool yourself down, the latter a nice classy touch; Banzaiya brings you a super-affordable medley of home-style dishes like sushi and chawanmushi, ranging from $1.50-5; Gyu Tetsu Tokyo Teppanyaki is where cuts of meat and fish such as their beef lemon steak ($18.80) are grilled right in front of you; Akasaka Yuku is a specialist when it comes to unagi (eel), glazed in a secret house sauce that is supposedly generations old. 

Japan Foods Garden is at #B1-01, Shaw House, 1 Scotts Rd. and opens from 10am daily.