Egg lovers would delight in Tamago-EN, a new Japanese restaurant at NEX mall in Singapore that serves up a range of dishes made with fresh Okinawa-imported eggs.
Unless you frequent NEX mall at Serangoon, chances are you have not heard of Tamago-EN. Well, just so you know this newly-opened Japanese restaurant on the mall's second level is the new buzz at the mall and has been attracting queues with its charming concept. The restaurant uses eggs (that’s why my corny headline) in all its dishes - not just any eggs, but according to the restaurant, the freshest imported from Japan’s Okinawa!
Seeing the queue and their yummy-looking ad display, and also given that my kids and I are egg-lovers, we had to see if Tamago-EN is as egg-citing (hurhur) as it seems.
We arrived slightly after Tamago-En opened at 1130am on a weekday school holiday and the restaurant was already half-filled. The manager who served us told us the wait for the food could be at least 20 minutes. Well, given that there were already hordes of people there before we arrived, I’m not surprised.
The menu has an interesting selection of dishes, all of which looked extremely appetising. One of its highlights is the Ultimate Egg Rice which is Japanese raw egg with rice and condiments ($5.80).
It is really quite plain on its own so it's a good idea to add toppings like marinated salmon and/or tuna sashimi at $3 each, Teriyaki chicken and/or meatballs at $2.50 each, or half an avocado at $1.50. I opted for the marinated salmon which went really well with creamy egg-y rice. The only downside was I waited 30 minutes for this.
Our other orders came faster, like this Mentaiko Salmon Cream Rice with Omelette ($15.80) from its Omu rice selection, which came in just ten minutes. The sauce was rich and tasty, though Big E wasn't big on the spinach in it, which was fine, Mama can eat it.
The Omu rice selection also has a Beef Stew Rice with Omelette and Seafood Tomato Cream Rice with Omelette (both at $16.80 each) which looked pretty yummy too.
There is also a Donburi selection which had the common Japanese fare of Oyako Don ($12.80), Ebi Don ($13.80) and Pork/Chicken Katsu and Egg Don ($13.80).
Little E ordered the Ebi Don which came in 20 minutes. We both felt it was quite run of the mill (Little E is quite the Ebi prawn connoisseur by the way) and probably would go for other more interesting dishes in the future.
The menu has all-day breakfast sets which looked really good like the Smoked Salmon Egg Benedict set ($13.80) and an Eggslut set ($11.80) which comes with a coddled egg on pureed potatoes ($11.80).
Ala carte dishes included Omelette Skewers, Omelette with Dashi, Chicken Nanban and Hashimaki with Cheese and Mentaiko ($4.80-9.80).
It also has pretty looking desserts like Mousse Parfait ($6.80-7.80) and Souffle Pancakes ($8.80-13.80) which unfortunately we didn't get to try as we were already stuffed.
All in all, we enjoyed most of our orders and would come back to try other items in the menu.
Just a note that we noticed some items in the menu were listed as 'sold out' sometimes when we passed by the restaurant, and also by 12pm on the day we dined there, there was already a queue outside. So if you really want to try Tamago-EN, do come earlier or during non-peak hours!
Find Tamago-EN at NEX mall at 23 Serangoon Central #02-K5/K6. Daily opening hours at 1130am-10pm.
Disclaimer: We paid for our meals, and my opinions and reviews here are strictly my and my family’s own.
©Vivian Teo. All content and photos are copyrighted to Vivian Teo unless otherwise specified.