The friend wanted Japanese for lunch so we ended up at Sakurazaka, well known for their shabu shabu and sukiyaki. The place has been around for some time, but the location at Greenwood is quite a walk from the nearest downtown station. The place serves shabu shabu for lunch as well, despite having a lunch menu on their website

Senshomasamune Junmai Daijingo (300ml) $40

Light, sweet and very clean. Perfect to go with a hearty meal

The menu is straightforward. You can either choose one of the 4 sets or go ala carte. We went for the shabu shabu pork set $48 and the shabu shabu beef set $64

Each set comprises of a stone grilled pork/beef, shabu shabu and Japanese shaved ice kagigori

Stone Grilled Wagyu Beef Ishiyaki

Stone Grilled Pork Ishiyaki

Lay it over the piping hot stone and watch it sizzle. Dip it in the egg and eat it like this. I love the marinate on the meat and how sweet, tender and juicy the meat is when grilled nicely

(Top down) Sesame, Lime Ponzu, Miso Ponzu

Sesame and miso is recommended for the meat while lime ponzu for seafood and vegetables. I thought the meat tasted pretty delicious by itself without the sauce, but if you would like a little more salt on your meat, dip it with the miso sauce which is a little citrusy

Kyushu Shirobuta Pork  – Belly/Loin

Amori Japanese Rice-Fed Beef – Stripling/Red Eye

The set also comes with vegetables and choice of egg noodles or udon

Egg Noodles

Udon

Squid (200g) $6/100g

We add on some ala carte items since there is a minimum cover charge of $48++ per pax and also, I doubt we would be full with 2 sets (among the 4 of us)

Shirobuta Pork Tsukune $14

We preferred the chicken tsukune to the pork just cos the latter is a little too salty. The texture on the chicken is also firmer and sweeter

Ago Dash/Beef Consommé Soup Base

Love how tender the pieces of meat are

It totally tasted like wanton mee. We preferred the udon. The udon when cooked in the stock was sweet and smooth and has a nice chewy texture

Matcha Kakigori

Hokkaido Milk Kakigori

Both the kakigori were good. The flavour of the matcha stood out and the icecream in the middle was icing on the cake. The milk pudding was nice, smooth and melts in your mouth, topped with chewy mochi and fragrant peanut powder

The shabu shabu was pretty good, with high quality cuts of meat though the whole bill didn’t come up cheap after adding on more items to the list. But I think with limited choices of shabu shabu places in Singapore, Sakurazaka probably serves one of the better shabu shabu around. I wouldn’t mind going back, if someone gives me a ride 😉

Sakurazaka

24 Greenwood Ave, S(289221)