A Family Japanese Restaurant – Hoshigaoka {Review & Giveaway}

Restaurant Hoshigaoka which boasts more than 40 years of rich history in serving only authentic Japanese cuisine has been a popular family Japanese restaurant for years since it first opened its doors at Apollo Hotel in 1972 under the name of Hoshigaoka Saryo (renamed in 1986).

With the Japanese-style decor, the restaurant offers a comfortable and homely ambience to gather with friends and family.

Launching their newly redesigned ala carte menu and a new kids’ menu, diners can look forward to a more enjoyable and nutritious meal with their families.

The kids menu looks very impressively packed with food, a steal for $9.90++ per set. As you know, other restaurants’ kids menu for that price would usually consist of a main dish + at most a drink for that price. Unlike other kids’ menus which serve up only unhealthy nuggets and fries or a skimpy dish of spaghetti sans ingredients at that price, Restaurant Hoshigaoka certainly outdoes its competitors with an assortment of food, even though they do still serve less healthy food with a small side of fries for some of the set meals.

The kids both decided to order Set B, so we got two sets of that plus a Set D (which the adults eventually helped to finish up) so I could show you more than just one set 🙂

Even though my boy is a panda fan, he didn’t choose Set C which features a Panda Bento Box. The tableware for the kids’ meals are really kawaii!

The kids loved their food! Who wouldn’t?

With the kids occupied with their food, we also quickly tucked in to our food. First up, we had Mentai Potato Salad. I love potato salads so I found this very satisfying. I thought the spicy cod roe mayo added a special touch which distinguishes itself from other potato salads.

This Goma Beef Houba Yaki was our absolute favourite of the entire meal. Served on a magnolia “Houba” leaf, the slices of the 30 days Aged New Zealand Rib Eye Beef were truly outstanding and extremely delightful. The beef was super tender and flavourful, abundantly marinated with sesame sauce and complemented with garlic. I found myself finishing every single morsel of food on the leaf, and just for garlic lovers, you really have to try the garlic! 😀 If there’s any dish you need to try at Restaurant Hoshigaoka, this is IT.

The Black Pepper Gindara Teishoku features a tender codfish drizzled with homemade black pepper sauce, served with asparagus, sliced onions and carrots. The set is also paired with fresh salmon sashimi, deep-fried chicken, silky smooth chawanmushi, miso soup and fruits amongst others.

My hubby loved this cod dish but I found this a little too salty personally. Nevertheless, the crispy skin of the cod with wonderfully tender melt-in-the-mouth flesh were still commendable.

The salmon sashimi was very fresh and the deep fried chicken paired well with the sauce it was served with.

The Hoshigaoka Zen set offers a wide variety of food – appetiser, sashimi, salmon sashimi salad, tempura, gindara teriyaki, beef misoyaki, rice, miso soup, chawanmushi and matcha ice-cream. For those who love variety, this is the set that would satisfy.

I was quite stuffed by the time I ate the Salmon roll so I didn’t find it particularly outstanding. But like I said, the salmon is really fresh.

Dessert wasn’t too overpowering. In fact it was rather refreshing –

Matcha ice-cream with red beans is pretty common in Japanese restaurants. But this tempura ice-cream was something new to us.

The tempura ice-cream was drizzled with strawberry jam and the combination of the hot and cold and the sweetness of the jam blended beautifully. Regrettably, I could not eat more than two slices because I was really very full.

If you like what you see here, here’s the good news!

JP Pepperdine is kindly sponsoring ONE lucky reader – 2 set lunches + 1 kids meal voucher (worth $50) at Hoshigaoka! You can win by simply leaving a comment on this blog post and remembering to click ‘I Commented’ in the Rafflecopter widget to qualify. The rest of the options are optional, but would render you more chances to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Terms and Conditions
– Valid at any Restaurant Hoshigaoka outlet, dine-in only
– Voucher is not exchangeable for cash and is valid for 3 months
– Extension of voucher is not allowed
– Not valid on eve of/and on PH and festive occasions
– Not valid for use with Diners Club / Jack’s Place cobrand credit card
– Subject to any additional changes and conditions by JP Pepperdine

Restaurant Hoshigaoka’s full menu can be found here. Daily set lunch menu can be found here.

P.S. Chinese New Year is not over yet so it’s still not too late to toss some Yu Sheng! Order yours and collect it at your nearest outlet. Available in 3 sizes. Order online here.

Restaurant Hoshigaoka is located at:

• Shaw House / Tel: 6734 9725
• Safra Toa Payoh / Tel: 6258 9050
• The Grandstand / Tel: 6466 3716
• Woodlands Civic Centre / Tel: 6363 2315

Disclosure: We were invited for the food tasting session for the Hoshigaoka review. No monetary compensation was received. All opinions are mine.

If you’re searching for a place to dine, you may be interested in these other food reviews:

• Arossa Grill & Wine Bar
• Beanstro
• Museo @ Quayside Isle
• Latte e Miele
• The Line Buffet
• Straits Cafe Buffet
• Rise restaurant @ MBS Buffet
• Tim Ho Wan
• Dian Xiao Er
• Port Belly Sentosa
• Jack’s Place Hearty U.S. Premium Selection Menu

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