Dining Out - Sun with Moon

I was caught in a bit of jam at Newton Circus, trying to get to town, where I was supposed to meet a friend for lunch at the new Japanese cafe Sun With Moon, at Wheelock Place, at 130 on a Saturday.


He called at about 130. I was still on Bt Timah Road, he said to take my time as the wait for a table was about 20 minutes. I finally reach the bus stop at Far East Plaza, brisk walk my way to Wheelock and rush up the escalator to discover that the table still wasn't available.

Another 10 minutes or so later, we finally got to step into the place.

My sister had been raving about it, especially since she reckons Singapore has been devoid of a place which has Japanese desserts - and by desserts we dont mean green tea ice-cream or mochi ice-cream. Those you can easily get at any convenience store these days.

I liked the way the cafe is divided into different sections, all decorated in a unique way. Unfortunately we were seated in the less interestingly done-up area, but next to the window - which was always why I'd liked Olio Dome, which Sun With Moon is replacing.

I settled on the Hime Chirashi, ($21.50) which came with some udon soup and beef rolls with enoki mushrooms. It was a good variety of sashimi - including the sweet ebi, scallop, salmon, yellowtail, swordfish and roe. The sauce covering the beef rolls was a bit sweet but tasty, although the beef could've been a bit more tender. I liked the udon, which had a good bite to it.

His beef sukiyaki and tomato salad set ($17.50) was given the thumbs-up, although the tomato salad wasn't really worth highlighting as it was just a simple side salad with tomato slices on top. The sukiyaki was hearty and chockful of ingredients, but I thought it was a bit too much on the sweet side. (correct me if i'm wrong yah)

We also ordered a softshell crab roll, which came after we were more than halfway through our sets. The table was barely meant for more than two dishes, so the waitstaff had to pull over a side table to place the sushi, which came on a really large glass plate. Pretty yes, functional no. The softshell crab in the sushi tasted like it had been left out a bit too long though - no longer was it crunchy.

The sets came with a choice of Suzuki coffee or Earl Grey tea. And we decided to order a dessert. As it was past 3pm, they'd switched to their afternoon menu - which had a wider variety of desserts.

The Kyodango and Warabi Mochi ($7.80) looked ohso pretty with its pink, white and green Kyoto dumplings but they were accompanied with a shockingly bad-tasting syrup which really is an acquired taste. It tasted like a syrupy soy sauce, with maybe some sugar thrown in - a little like the sugar/soya sauce mixture I used to love eating with jambu, but seriously worse.
The warm squishy squares of yellow bean that were part of the dessert had a slight jelly-like texture and were very tasty.

I'd love to go back and try their other desserts and ice-creams, like the black sesame pudding I'd been eyeing, and having a relaxingly sinful afternoon staring out at the passers-by below, much like what I occasionally did at Olio, except without good coffee...

Sun With Moon Japanese Dining & Cafe
03-15/16/17
Wheelock Place
Tel: 6733-6636

(Here are some pictures of Warabi Mochi)