1st Look At Don Don Donki JCube: $0.90 Sweet Potatoes, Salmon-Only Sushi Bar

Japanese discount chain Don Don Donki opens its sixth outlet at JCube’s basement today (November 29), and the usually-deserted Jurong mall is crammed with bargain hunters. It’s exciting for a few reasons: the sprawling food-centric outlet boasts a 360-seat food court with eight stalls (four of them new-to-market) and a supermarket with its own dine-in 25-seat sushi bar. There’s also a Sweet Potato Factory kiosk, which offers the chain’s famous baked tubers and all kinds of sweet potato-themed treats. The shop is open till midnight here, instead of 24 hours like the Orchard Central flagship store.

Come January 2020, Don Don Donki will also open another outlet at Jem, just a stone’s throw away from JCube. While the JCube outlet is a “food specialty store” that sells only fresh produce, deli meals and packaged snacks, the Jem shop will offer lifestyle products such as Japanese cosmetics, household items, plus another (bigger) sushi bar, a drinks bar serving alcohol, and a sweet potato station.

In the meantime, 8days.sg susses out what’s good to eat at the latest JCube store.

Other than the first Keisuke Tonkotsu King outlet in the west, the food court also houses live okonomiyaki stall Do-Ton, and the comeback kiosk for popular Tokyo takoyaki chain Gindaco, which has over 500 outlets in Japan and 46 overseas branches in countries like Malaysia and Singapore. The brand shuttered its direct outlet at Ion Orchard’s basement in 2014 due to “manpower shortage”, according to its overseas development manager Yoichi Masuda.

Gindaco returns to our shores, albeit as a franchised branch owned by Japanese tech company Pise Corp. To overcome Gindaco’s previous labour crunch woes, the process of making the octopus-stuffed balls is more automated now — the takoyaki pans feature a roller mechanism that can automatically flip the balls as they cook. There are plans to eventually open more outlets in Singapore.

Gindaco’s famous takoyaki come in two flavours: Original ($5.90 for six; $7.90 for eight; $15.80 for 16), and Cheese Mentaiko ($6.90 for six; $8.50 for eight; $17 for 16). We’re pleased to report that the octopus orbs are as yummy as ever, with a light, crispy shell and creamy filling loaded with tender octopus chunks. Other than its famous takoyaki, Gindaco has also brought back its Yakisoba ($6.50), and introduces another popular Osaka street snack: a new Okonomiyaki ($6.50). Grab a 360ml glass of Tiger beer ($8) to wash down your takoyaki.

This direct import from Tokyo’s erstwhile Tsukiji Market (which has since moved to a new site and is renamed as Toyosu) serves up a small, focused menu consisting of grilled unagi rice bowls in varying sizes using frozen eels from Japan.

If you’re hankering after a simple bowl of unagi over rice, prices start from $13.90 for a small Tsukiji Don, medium-sized Tsukiji Special ($19.90) and the large Tsukiji Daioh (promo price $39.90 till December 8, usual price $53.20). There’s also unagi rice served in ohitsu (Japanese wooden bento bowl) like the Tsukiji Tasukemeshi, which comes with decent unagi and four springy scallops slathered with a sticky umami teriyaki glaze.

You can also get unagi on a skewer ($5.80), or prawns, scallops, mackerel and squid on a stick ($3.80 per skewer).

This offal specialist offers “beef small intestines” in a teppanyaki, ramen or hotpot set, and you can zhng your meal with more a la carte toppings like pork belly ($3), butter corn ($3), kimchi ($2) and onsen egg ($2). For its opening special from now till December 8, get a free topping when you order any of the teppanyaki, ramen, rice ball and hotpot sets.

For ramen and hotpot orders, you get your choice of either a shoyu or miso-based broth, and you can also customise its garlicky intensity (mild, strong or extra strong). We order a strong miso hotpot set with beef small intestines, which comes with rice and a small serving of aji moyashi (marinated bean sprouts). It’s a little too overwhelming for us though; the thick, oily miso broth is too salty, while the intestines taste like chewy beef fat. The stall’s Pork Donburi (from $8) with sukiyaki pork looks more promising.

Hotto Motto has its roots in Japan as a fast food chain selling takeaway bento sets and packaged meals. Its Singapore outlet, however, offers just donburis like Chicken Namban ($9.90 for regular; $13.90 for large). Its staff tells us they are working on serving bentos in the future.

This bowl of succulent grilled pork in a ginger sauce with cabbages and mayo is homely and pretty satisfying. Hotto Motto’s opening special: get two free pieces of fried gyozas with every order of a Shogayaki, Karaage Curry ($8.90 for regular; $11.90 for large), Japanese BBQ Beef ($9.90 for regular; $13.90 for large), Saba Chazuke ($8.90), Chicken Namban or Teriyaki Chicken ($6.90 for regular; $9.90 for large) bowls.

At this 10-seat live teppanyaki station serving some eight types of okonomiyaki, you can watch the chefs prepare your savoury pancake a la minute. Fun. Prices start from $8.90 for a Pork Okonomiyaki to $13.90 for a Japanese Oyster Okonomiyaki with Noodle.

Ramen king Keisuke Takeda opens his first Tonkotsu King ramen outlet in the west here. A basic bowl of tonkotsu ramen starts from $9.90.

Japanese ramen chain Marutama also opens its first Westside outlet, with the most basic bowl of char siu ramen going for $9.50. Though not halal-certified, its kitchen does not use any pork or lard in its dishes.

This saba (Japanese mackerel) specialist, which has an outlet at Wisma Atria’s Japan Food Town, also makes its Westside debut. It’s known for using only large, 38cm-long mackerels, which explains its dramatically-named signature Grilled Mega Toro-Saba set ($13.80) with rice, okras and “mega size fatty mackerel”. It’s value-for-money; a similar set at Japan Food Town costs $25.

We spot a cute Japlish sign at Sabar earnestly promoting its opening special: a free piece of grilled saba sushi for the first 100 customers every day, till December 8.

Singaporeans’ obsession with Don Don Donki’s baked sweet potatoes show no signs of waning here — at lunchtime on its opening day, there was an almost hour-long queue for mini yakiimo (Japanese sweet potato), which is going for a promotional price of $0.90 each (usual price $1.90 each, maximum five pieces per customer). A fresh batch is baked on-site and served every 45 minutes or so.

There’s also a separate, much shorter queue for the Factory’s drinks like the new Avocado Milkshake ($4.90), a deliciously thick, creamy concoction made with avocado puree and Hokkaido milk.

To give customers a little taste of the Toyosu Market (formerly known as Tsukiji) experience, Don Don Donki set up this adorable, though slightly cramped, 25-seat sushi bar in the middle of its supermarket near its fresh seafood section. It offers a small selection of salmon-only sushi and sushi ‘burgers’ (see below), all prepared upon order by chefs. You can also get customisable oden bowls (a Don Don Donki mobile foods staple) here, with ingredients like chikuwa (Japanese fish cake, $1.50), konnyaku ($1.50) and daikon ($1.50).

Opening hours: 11am-2pm; 5pm-10pm (last order at 9pm).

This sushi burger comes with rice ‘buns’ and a salmon sashimi ‘patty’ wedged with a slice of tamago (you can also order an unagi, shrimp, mackerel or shrimp with crabstick version).

The cheap and cheerful salmon sushi platter sold at Don Don Donki outlets get a slight upgrade here; you can zhng your takeaway-friendly platter with four types of sauces (choose from the six sauces available including mentaiko mayonnaise, sriracha and teriyaki).

There are some attractive opening promotions at the supermarket this weekend, like $12.80 Japanese strawberries (usual price $19.90) on November 30. A one-litre bottle of Kikkoman Sesame Dressing is going for $2.90 with minimum $50 spending till December 1 (usual price $12.90 for one litre).

You can also find the usual wacky Japanese food products at Don Don Donki, such as Nissin’s Shark’s Fin Rich Soup-flavoured cup noodles ($3.90). No real sharks were harmed in the making of this cup noodles; synthetic flavouring only lah.

#B1-12/18/19 JCube, 2 Jurong East Central 1, S609731. Open daily 8am-12am (supermarket) and 10am-10pm (food court). www.dondondonki.com.sg.

PHOTOS: KELVIN CHIA