Lunch at O-an Japanese Restaurant @ Raffles Quay

16 Raffles Quay #B1-16 Hong Leong Building, Singapore 048581

Tel: 6221 7781

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/O-AN-Japanese-Restaurant/158231907567111

Located at the basement area of Hong Leong Building in bustling CBD area, this enigmatic and quaint little Japanese restaurant holds its own rather well, especially during lunchtime.

It offers bento sets, assortment of ramen and rice bowls, as well as delivery of party sets. the sets are very reasonably priced as well, ranging from SGD$13.90 to SGD$35++.

It seems that they even have accumulation of points system for redemption of gift items, how interesting.  Oh, and there is a bowl at the reception counter for dropping namecards - because they would send you (I quote) "special vouchers".

I like the dimly-lit settings with mirrors and muted tones, big round tables and rather courteous service here. The interior was spacious as well, ideal for business discussions.

We ordered two set lunches to share, as everything seemed tantalising and we could not decide on what not to try.

The first was the Chirashi Don set (SGD$20.00) , comprising of a bowl of Japanese filled generously with small pieces of raw fish (sashimi), a cold tofu starter, pickled vegetables, Miso soup, and two slices of water-melon.

The. Sashimi dices were quite fresh, with buoyancy that bounced with every bite. We spotted salmon sashimi, tuba sashimi, swordfish sashimi and salmon roe etc. It was delicately delicious, a satisfying set for lunch a la an adult's version of "happy meal".

Next, there Gyu Don set (SGD$13.90) and we turned it into Gyu Tama Don (beef with egg and rice) by adding egg at an extra cost of SGD$2.00.

There were sweet onion strips, lightly flavoured, as well as tender beef pieces that melted in the mouth readily after a few chewy bites. The addition of eggs gave it a smoothness as well as hint of sweetness and more moistened

While these reasonably-priced sets are not deeply impressive, they make for a rather decent lunchtime indulgence. Head down here for some Japanese food and non-crowded conditions sometime!