Food Review: Gaijin Japanese Soul Food at #01-40 KAP Mall, Singapore 598332

Affordable Japanese food alert! If you are staying or studying near King Albert Park, this might be a place you want to check out for a casual lunch or dinner. Located inside the very oddly-shaped KAP Mall, Gaijin is a casual Japanese eatery that builds vertically upwards to seat about 12+ peeps upstairs at max capacity. There's a bar that connects to the "open kitchen" of sorts below. Small outfit but hey, there really is some soul to be found!

There's a variety of drinks to be had, be it umeshu, beer or sake. Here's the owner/founder, the OG "Gaijin" himself. 

Here's the menu on what to expect at Gajin. It is surprisingly diverse despite the small cook area and mains are split between 10 Donburis and 2 Ramen. There are also 6 sides to pick from. 

Straight up we sampled their famous Gyu Don (S$14) which was very flavourful. I liked how that translated to a good sauce and complement to well-cooked sushi rice as well. At this price, no complaints!

Then there's the Gaijin Tendon (S$13). Price aside, I felt that this was decent due to the freshness of the ingredients that got tempura-ed, though the sauce could afford to be a bit more generous. Still a good option if you don't eat beef.

Then there's my favourite, a sleeper hit called the Katsu Curry Don (S$15). I didn't expect it to be good but the pork was surprisingly tender and well battered! This with the sweet, not-spicy Japanese curry sauce went super well with the rice. Simple, comforting. 

For those looking for something soupy, there's the Gaijin Udon (S$10). However this was probably the least impressive dish we tried - the soup was super salty and concentrated even though we didn't take too long to take pics, so order at your own risk. 

On the bright side we gave feedback, and this problem can be fixed somewhat with just some hot water. The service upstairs is kinda spotty though - we couldn't get any attention since the server (not the owner) only comes up to give us food. That was the not so good part - perhaps something you get with the low prices is to put up with non-existent service.

Other than the 3 dons and udon, we also sampled both their ramen - the Shio and Shoyu Tonkotsu Ramen (both S$12). They were decent enough and uses thin ramen noodles. The broth is nothing to write home about though. Feeling rather ambivalent about it. 

What I liked was the Fried Chicken, or Gaijin Karaage (S$8/3 pieces or S$12/5 pieces) that was over-fried so there's minimal grease. They are also available as Karaage Curry Don (S$12 with 3 pieces). Fans of fried chicken will definitely enough it, as I did.

I'd say go check it out if you are in the area and didn't want to travel all the way to town. And if you would like some home-style Japanese cuisine without breaking the piggybank. However I am definitely not going to rave about this due to the service and food quality inconsistency so.. visit at your own discretion.

Gaijin Japanese Soul Food
9 King Albert Park, #01-40, Singapore 598332
Mon-Fri noon to 3pm and 6pm-9pm, Sat to Sundays noon to 9pm
+65 69040400

Thanks to Gaijin for the invite!