Dining

Benten Café – Shrine of Happiness

By Veron Ang | Tags #Bugis #Iluma #Japanese

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It may be less than a month old, but the business at benten café is already flourishing.

If the sound of yaki soba or grilled chicken steaks makes you salivate, mark down this place in your “list of restaurants to check out”. The prices are affordable and portions huge too! With its prominent location along the main entrance, this casual Japanese eatery is one of the first tenants you would see at Iluma, the new mall in town.

Like many other Japanese restaurants, eye-catching plastic replicas of dishes are put on display. Just look at that amazing tub of colorful ice cream! It’s an actual menu item that costs $38-ish. Okay, now that they’ve had our attention, it’s time to head in for an actual meal.

(and no, we’re not having that gargantuan portion of ice cream!)

The dishes here bear a deep Western influence while still remaining chiefly Japanese. Page after page of vivid photographs adorn the menu, with dishes like ebi fry or Hokkaido croquette with hamburger steak. The latter is quite simply a plump patty of minced beef that is juicy and full of flavor.

Ever a fan of chicken (and my friend, of beef), we got the best of both worlds by having the teriyaki chicken and hamburger steak combo.

Teriyaki chicken & hamburger steak

Teriyaki chicken & hamburger steak
SGD13.80++

With the hamburger steak, you get to choose your preferred sauce — demi glace, black pepper or curry. Demi glace is a classic French sauce that we hardly come across anymore these days. The flavorsome rich brown sauce complements the beef extremely well. We simply couldn’t get enough of it!

Other than selecting the sauce, you can also choose either rice or bread to go with the dish (which already comes with fries). Between the two I would always go for the bread by default. Over here they serve you a stick of freshly baked garlic bread. Yum.

Teriyaki chicken curry baked rice

Teriyaki chicken curry baked rice
SGD10.80++

Besides the grilled meats, the baked rice is also commendable. When you compare the portion here with what you get at most places, Swensen’s for example, it is easily thirty percent bigger. We like the curry flavor of our baked rice too. Some may say they can taste the distinct curry powder, but I couldn’t exactly detect it.

It looks like benten café has done a good job in offering big portions at affordable prices. During this economic downturn, that sure is the perfect formula to woo the mass market. They have other outlets too, including one at Jurong Point, although I can’t confirm if the menu is similar.

Benten Café
Iluma
201 Victoria Street #01-14
Singapore 188067
(65) 6884 7077
Service:

www.bentendo.com.sg

Bus services: 7, 12, 63, 80, 175, 197, 851, 960, 980
Nearest MRT: Bugis

Opening hours: 11:30am – 10pm daily

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About the Author

Veron Ang is the founder and chief editor of Sparklette. She lives in Singapore and has dined and traveled across the world. She also runs Sparklette Studio, a web design and WordPress development firm. If you'd like to connect with her, head on over to the contact page or follow her personal updates on Twitter: @VeronSG.

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16 responses

Leave your comment

vinsion
April 15, 2009

i was expecting to see you reviewing the icecream. ha
they look extremely appetising.
im interested in the Demi Glace sauce now. will head down soon nxt week.
Reply
- Veron
  April 15, 2009
  
  Yes, please go for the demi glace! I haven’t tried the other two sauces because they seem rather common.
  Reply
py
April 15, 2009

I have yet to visit Illuma…..looks like the Cafe a good place to check out. Will it be crowded since the outlet is fairly new?
Reply
- Veron
  April 17, 2009
  
  Oh it was fully packed when I visited over the long weekend. The restaurant is pretty small, and there aren’t that many dining options at Iluma itself. So I would think it’s crowded most of the time.
  Reply
py
April 18, 2009

Thanks for sharing. I suppose I will check out Iluma when it gets less crowded….
Reply
Benjamin
April 19, 2009

Oh you got us excited about the ice cream but you didn’t review it! Why?? =(
Reply
homieboy
April 27, 2009

ice cream ice cream, its the best no people will beat the resttt goooo icecream !!! hahahahah….
Reply
iris
May 5, 2009

esta comida es deliciosa
Reply
limpehsong
September 21, 2009

omg .. it sux.
got a glass of cold water which has some particles inside… and have to change for a new glass which happen to have particles in it too.ZzZ

the food wasnt tat great imo and the dessert was just too sweet ..
hmmm, i think mof would be better
Reply
- Veron
  September 21, 2009
  
  I have to second your point on the contaminated glasses/water. Our glasses had food stains near the rims, and we had to ask for replacement glasses. The guy from whom we made our request even made a big show, right in front of us, of asking another waiter to rewash all the glasses. Then I saw the staff washing the glasses by hand.
  
  It is disappointing to hear that you have a similar experience, because it shows that the dirty glasses we had wasn’t a one-off incident. Thanks for sharing.
  Reply
Serene
October 13, 2009

Jurong’s point Benten is better I felt. In terms of food & svcs. Can try ^^
Reply
- Veron
  October 13, 2009
  
  Thanks for the recommendation. Is the menu similar?
  Reply
fauzy
April 24, 2010

is it halal??
Reply
- Veron
  April 26, 2010
  
  I very much doubt so, but I may be wrong.
  Reply
Edwin
May 8, 2010

review:
nice ice cream… everything else is bad.
poor service, food isn’t tasty.
the hamburger steak i order had very strong corn beef odor, the service stuffs don’t bother to clear my table nor serve my ice cream.
i had to tell them 15mins after i am done with main course to serve my ice cream.
they where just standing around chatting.
Reply
jason chew
July 25, 2010

I came in a group of 9 pax to iluma’s branch on 240710 at 1800H, and i experience the worst customer service in my life. My pasta was served half an hour later since the last main course my friend recieved and all my friends had consumed more than half of their main course. and i asked for the manager asking why was my food took so long to be served and he can simply tell me that they are too busy therefore caused the delay which i think it’s just simply a lousy excused and it definately not acceptable. Next, my friend had to ask for 4 times from 4 different server just for another serving of the garlic bread when we were having our desserts already. and also the servers were not impromt enough to refill the ice waters. lastly before i was leaving, i wish to talk to the manager after i paid my bill, and the manager made me waited for him and did not show any interest to hear me. i am sad to say that this shall me my first and last time to patronise this restaurant.
Reply