Muji Cafe & Meal in Paragon shopping centre on Orchard Road is Singapore’s first Muji restaurant. Opened last September I went there for the first time last week as it’s a lot quieter now that the crowds have died down since it’s busy opening period. As you may all well know Muji is a Japanese store with branches all over the world that sells “no-brand” household and consumer goods distinguished by it’s minimalist design. There are nine branches of Muji in Singapore and I love their furniture and tableware and often go there to pick up Japanese snacks.
The Muji Cafe in Paragon which is connected to the Muji store there, is fairly spacious and simply designed in line with the decor of it’s shops. It is a self-service style restaurant and they offer a variety of hot deli items, cold deli items, desserts and drinks. You can choose a selection of 3 deli items (1 hot and 2 cold) with white rice for $12.90 or 4 deli items (2 hot and 2 cold) with white rice for $16.90. If you prefer to get the deli items individually, hot deli items are $5 and cold deli items are $2.70. Alternatively they also serve butter chicken curry with rice and salad for $14.90. They have a nice selection of hot and cold drinks including Japanese favourites such as Matcha Latte and Iced Yuzu Squash and desserts including cakes and puddings. If you get a drink and dessert you get a discount of $1.
When I was there last Thursday the hot deli items that they had available were Fried Chicken with Sweet Chili Mayonnaise, Black Vinegar Sweet Sour Pork, Spinach Hamburger with Minced Chicken and Bacon, Hokkaido Croquette, Almond Cream of Chicken and Potato, Saba (Mackerel) with Sweet and Spicy Miso Sauce, Oven Baked Chicken Drumette with Various Vegetables (love how they say “various” vegetables lol – it’s probably translated directly from the Japanese sentence) and Gratin with Local Vegetables and Cheese.
The cold deli items that they had available were Carbonara-style Potato Salad, Pickled Salad and Sakura Chicken with Yuzu Flavour, Sliced Pork Salad in Sencha Tea Flavour, Prawn and Edamame Salad with Spiced Mayo Sauce, Sliced Pork Salad in Yuzu Mayonnaise, Hijiki Salad, Vegetable Omelette and Tomato and Cheese Salad with Japanese-style Broth Jelly.
I didn’t feel like having rice so I chose not to go for the deli set and instead got a Spinach Hamburger with Minced Chicken and Bacon and a Sliced Pork Salad in Sencha Tea Flavour but unfortunately was given the Pickled Salad and Sakura Chicken with Yuzu Flavour by mistake as at the time of ordering the wrong salad had been placed in front of the Sliced Pork Salad in Sencha Tea Flavour sign. I also got the dessert and drink set and chose to have a Roasted Tea (Houjicha) Pudding and Iced Matcha Latte. My bill only came up to $17 and then my friend and I carried our trays of food to the table we had saved beforehand with our bags just like the Japanese do haha! Muji Cafe also have reservation signs which you can use to reserve your table if you don’t feel comfortable leaving your bags unattended. But like Japan, Singapore is pretty safe so you probably don’t have to worry too much about leaving your bags or you can simply leave a tissue packet on a table like the Singaporeans do!
The hot and cold deli portions are very small and the food is very simple and home-style. The Spinach Hamburger with Minced Chicken and Bacon was juicy with a delicate soy sauce flavour but had very little bacon in it and the Pickled Salad and Sakura Chicken with Yuzu Flavour had a strong yuzu flavour but there was only two tiny pieces of chicken in it and I couldn’t taste the sakura either. The Roasted Tea Pudding had a very mild houjicha flavour – I would have preferred if it was stronger but it was nice and the texture of the pudding was soft and creamy. The Iced Matcha Latte was also surprisingly good, similar to the standard matcha lattes that you would find in Japan but not like the super strong bitter matcha lattes that you can find in Nana’s Green Tea or Tsujiri in Singapore that I actually prefer.
Overall I didn’t think much of the food at Muji Cafe although it’s quite healthy but I would possibly go back again for the desserts and drinks and it’s quite a nice place to have a quick lunch or stop for a drink before/after shopping in Muji. As it’s quite quiet there now it would be nice to bring a book to read there or even a laptop to work on as they have free Wi-Fi.
Muji Cafe & Meal
Address: #04-36 Paragon Shopping Centre, 290 Orchard Road, Singapore 238859
Tel: 6735 0123
Opening Hours: Daily 10am – 9.30pm (full menu available after 11am, last order at 8.45pm)
Hope you’ve enjoyed my review, please feel free to leave a comment below with your own review of Muji Cafe in Paragon or if you have any questions!
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