I have a feeling you might be thinking - that "I thought this was a Japan-guru website where you review everything Japanese. Why are you reviewing this Chinese restaurant!?"
I'm telling you, this is Japanese food. Not Chinese.
Yes, I know that if you find their Facebook page, they categorize themselves as a "Szechuan/Sichuan restaurant" and not a Japanese restaurant.
Yes I get that.
Chen's Mapo Tofu is a "Japanese localized" Chinese restaurant. It really is, and that's why the Japanese Guru is going to review!
And of course, I'm going to review this as a Japanese food - not a Chinese!
Chen's Mapo Tofu at Starvista
1 Vista Exchange Green, #02-08
Let's get right into it.
Starting off with the beer.
The beer here is just a canned beer. Nothing to review about. However, a beer is a beer is a beer :)
The food here is served quite fast. Here it is.
The Mapo Mien looks like this up close.
The way the serve it is like... the noodles and sauce are so hard to mix because the noodles are like a big lump under the sauce and sticks together. It's a bit of a struggle to get this thing mingling with the sauce.
The taste is nice though. It's a nice and "Japanese localized" mapo.
The fried gyoza from the appetizers. This one is just normal.
In Japan this is called the "Chuka Soup" or the Chinese soup. Not sure what it's called in the Chinese restaurant. Curious to know!
Here comes the rest of the order. (No, this is for 2. I didn't eat all of this by myself!)
The Nasu Miso don looks like this.
It's a simple yet nice dish.
The Nasu is nice and soft. The miso sauce and the ground meat matches perfectly.
And the other side dish, the banbanji chicken.
This Banbabji chicken is an incredibly delicious dish. It's a cold and refreshing dish that you can almost eat like an appetizer salad.
Guru Rating
As a Chuka-restaurant (Or a Japanese localized Chinese restaurant) 8.2/10
You might be surprised at the high score, but yes I would actually recommend this place as a Chuka restaurant. (Not just go by myself)
For the Gyoza 6.2/10
I picked up the Gyoza because I like to compare different Gyoza. But let's face it, you don't really come here for the Gyoza. It's a nice choice if you're going for that 3-side-dish set which I went for as well, but it's a normal decent deep fried gyoza that is not too special.
As a Japanese Mapo place 7.9/10
I'll definitely go myself for Mapo dishes due to its affordability and taste. I might recommend this occasionally as well.
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