Butahage Is Opening At Century Square

For those of you who think the name sounds familiar, you might have known of them back in the early 2000s when they were located at the now-demolished Liang Court at Clarke Quay. The brand left Singapore in 2018 but made their return to our little island just this month.

Helming the Singapore operations is Chef Hitoshi Yano, who belongs to the third generation of the original Butahage founders—the brand has a history of more than 80 years, dating back to 1934, and they claim that it tastes exactly the same today as it did back then! Butahage at Century Square is slated to open on the first floor of the Tampines mall, so Easties, you won’t have to travel all the way downtown to get your hands on their butadon!

The menu at Butahage in Century Square is reportedly going to be the same as at Suntec City, with their signature Obihiro Meibutsu Japanese Pork Loin Don priced at $24.80++ for a large bowl and $19.90++ for the regular. Obihiro, in case you aren’t familiar, is a city in Hokkaido that’s said to be the birthplace of the butadon, or pork bowl—thanks to the thriving pig farming industry in the area. However, you’re not going to get Hokkaido pork in your butadon here, but pork sourced from Kyushu instead.

For a more budget-friendly alternative, consider ordering the Obihiro Meibutsu Pork Loin Don, for the same dish but with Canadian pork. This is priced at $11.80++ for the regular, and $14.80++ for the large version.

Butadon as a dish is fairly simple: it comprises rice, grilled pork slices, and a tare sauce. Butahage’s claim to fame is this tare, which is slow-cooked in an old-fashioned cauldron, resulting in a sweet, smoky, and savoury sauce that we loved for its well-balanced flavours.

It goes supremely well with the Hokkaido Nanatsuboshi rice that’s served here. Instead of butadon, you might also consider Tendon ($9.50++), which comes with prawns, crab stick, Japanese mountain yam, pumpkin, and long bean.

Otherwise, Hokkaido Special & Noodle Set ($19.80++) is an udon-based alternative, served with more seafood including salmon and scallops. Singaporeans love mentaiko, so grab your cod roe-loving friend to have the Salmon Mentai Avocado Don ($17.80++) while you enjoy your butadon.

P.S. This comes with salmon sashimi under the blanket of mentai mayo!

Butahage isn’t the only Japanese brand that’s set up shop here recently; Tori Sanwa is an oyako don chain with over 120 years of history that’s just opened in Raffles City! If your palate leans more Chinese, then try YAO YAO Sauerkraut Fish, a famous suan cai yu brand from Shenzhen in China.

Address: 2 Tampines Central 5, #01-11A, Century Square, Singapore 529509 Opening hours: TBD

Tel: TBD

Butahage is not a halal-certified eatery

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