A friend mentioned of a Japanese restaurant at Grand Copthorne that does Japanese omelette (okonomiyaki). And she highly recommended the place. Since then, it has been stuck in my head. But I didn’t head down (soon after) cause I couldn’t think of who to check out the place with.

But when I came across photographs of the place on instagram recently, it dawned on me that the place was ideal to bring my family. It has been a while since we last had a family outing too.

And with that, I called to make a reservation on a Sunday evening. The staff asked if we wanted outdoors seats or seats with the hot plate. We went for the latter, naturally. =p

We would normally drive, but we took a cab instead as our car was at the garage. Besides taxi, one could also commute by bus. Bus 16 from Orchard MRT station or bus 123 from Tiong Bahru MRT station. Walking from Clarke Quay MRT station is another option, but that would take 18 to 20 minutes.

The restaurant faced the Singapore River. So after we alighted from the taxi at the drop off point, we made our way to the back of the building. And upon arrival, the staff checked our reservation before leading us to our table.

If one decides to dine in after walking by and chose to sit at the alfresco seats, one wouldn’t have guessed the restaurant is famous for omelette. Cause while the menu was filled with pictures, the 1 page for ordering their Japanese omelette was full of words. It took me a while to realise the wordy page was for the Japanese omelette. And Nanjya Monjya does the omelette in 2 different styles too; Tokyo and Osaka.

And from the menu (pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7), we ordered:-

  

1) Yaki gyoza, $12 (above) – Pan fried dumpling. This was good although the dumplings were on the small side. The filling within was juicy and flavourful. Yum.

2) Salmon avocado aburi roll, $18 (above) – Avocado & cucumber roll topped with half roasted salmon.

3) Tori garlic, $15 (above) – Grilled chicken with garlic. And this was ordered upon the staff’s recommendation. The serving was again on the small side, but the chicken was finger-licking good! The sauce was addictive too. A must try.

4) Cream stew, $18 (above) – Chicken, cream stew in bread. This was really good. The bread was perfectly toasted with its crust being crisp, which was a good contrast to the bread’s fluffy texture. And the bread paired well with the stew which was creamy and rich. Divide the stew into individual bowls before requesting the staff to assist in cutting the bread up.

  

5) Yaki udon (seafood), $20 (full) (above) – With 4 flavours (pork, seafood, vegetables, or combo of pork, seafood and vegetables) and 2 types of noodle (soba or noodle) to choose from, we went with seafood and udon. The staff assisted to cook the dish for us on the hot plate. And I appreciate the staff’s initiative in further dividing the noodle onto our respective plates after cooking it. This is also available as half portion at $12.

6) Japanese pancake with options of:-

  

(A) Monjya-yaki (buta), $15 (above) – Tokyo-styled Japanese pancake (pork belly). The staff knowing that it’s our first visit assisted us with the cooking. And for the Tokyo-styled omelette, we noticed the staff would top the omelette with mayonnaise, BBQ sauce, seaweed, fish powder and bonito flakes which were placed on every table. Do note that the cooking for this takes longer, so one should definitely consider ordering some side dishes to eat while waiting.

  

(B) Monjya-yaki (mochi), $15 (above) – Tokyo-styled Japanese pancake (rice cake). This was ordered because we wanted to try more flavours. And we went with the rice cake since we already had the pork and seafood flavours. But frankly, I rather one try the other items on the menu like the fried rice instead as this wasn’t spectacular. In fact, if one really wanted the rice cake, one could add this as an additional topping instead.

  

(C) Okonom-yaki (seafood dama), $21 (above) – Osaka-styled Japanese pancake (mix seafood pizza). This was definitely a first for me. The preparation time for this was shorter than that of the Tokyo-styled one. And to eat this, we were given small flat spoons. The staff kindly showed us how to consume the dish when she saw the confused look on our faces. Haha. We were to take out a small portion, flatten it before scooping it up. Interesting. It’s almost like eating porridge. But because every mouthful was small, it didn’t feel like it filled me up much. But one should definitely order at least one Osaka-styled pancake to try if one hasn’t had one before.

7) Vanilla ice cream, $8 (above) – With brown sugar topped with red bean & rice flour dumpling.

My family and I certainly enjoyed our time at Nanjya Monjya. One could opt to cook their Japanese omelette or pancake, and have it as a bonding activity. You know, like cooking together. Haha. Although I strongly recommend having the staff to do the cooking on the hot plate, even if one is on their repeated visit.

And a tip for ordering Japanese omelette or pancake from the menu… If one is sharing between 2 to 3, it would be a better choice to add on toppings for 2 than to order 3 different ones. As we shared every omelette / pancake, we realised the ingredients (like the number of prawn given for the seafood flavour) were not enough to split among the 4 of us. So yes, one may want to add on toppings instead. I spied our neighbouring Japanese family adding noodles to their egg omelette, and that looked really good.

Of course, if one choose to sit at a non-hot plate table, one could still order the Japanese pancake / omelette. The staff would just cook it before bringing up to one’s table.