Following the introduction of Darno by Ministry of Food (MOF), it has come out with another new Japanese-Italian cafe concept called Dolce Tokyo located at 313 Somerset in the heart of Orchard Road. For the small cafe on the third floor of 313 Somerset, it is quite amazing that it has an extensive menu covering desserts, drinks, sides and mains with all day breakfast sets.
Mixed Crostini 4.2/5
For light snack, a good choice will be the Crostini where the bread is baked fresh daily. The Mixed Crostini ($18) comes with a platter of grilled bread topped with their signature tomato concasse, chilled shrimps, salmon roe, tamagoyaki egg, smoked salmon, unagi and okaka.
Hiyashi Chuka 3.5/5
If you prefer something light and refreshing, go for the Hiyashi Chuka ($17). The cold somen noodles with strips of tamagoyaki egg, sliced cucumber, sliced carrot, sliced ginger, sliced gammon ham, nori and wolfberries some what resembles the Chinese Yusheng in presentation. We even did a Loi Hei toss to mix the all the ingredients and somen noodles together. During my visit, I felt that there was a bit too many gingers slices throwing the balance a bit off.
Unagi Fried Rice Set 4/5
If you are someone that needs your daily carbo intakes, Dolce Tokyo has a couple of rice dishes on their menu. The Unagi Fried Rice Set ($17) comes with homemade fried rice, boiled egg, daily sides accompaniments and a choice of skewer (grilled garlic shrimp, teriyaki pork belly or pork chorizo). The fragrant fried rice served in hot stone like a bibimap hence it also came with a nice crisp for the burnt rice grains. The unagi was also well seasoned and fat.
Omu Curry Rice Set 4/5
Since it is a Japanese influenced cafe, it can't be short of curry rice. I tried the Omu Curry Rice Set ($17) that came with carrots, onions, potatoes stewed in Japanese curry served with rice, daily side accompaniments and a choice of skewer.
Pork Belly Skewer 3.8/5
If you can't get enough of the delectable skewer that comes with the set, you can also order them from the ala carte menu. The Pork Belly Skewer ($17) comes with a side of salad and miso soup. Beautifully marinated and grilled, the pork belly had a smoky flavour and fork tender.
Unagi Belly Toji 4/5
The Unagi Belly Toji ($16) was pretty good with a medley of flavours that has unagi, cherry tomato, wolfberries, egg toji sauce and spring onion.
Smoked Salmon Benedict 4/5
Dolce Tokyo also offers all day breakfast on the menu. One of the items is the Smoked Salmon Benedict ($22). The toasted bread is topped with cheese, smoked salmon and poached egg drizzled with Hollandaise sauce. Lovely flavours but just a tad disappointed that the poached egg was a bit over, no runny egg yolk.
Macha Black Sesame Cake 3.5/5
Chocolate Fudge Cake 3/5
The Matcha Black Sesame Cake ($11.50) and Chocolate Fudge Cake ($13.50) was light, fluffy and not too sweet. The cakes were all freshly made with high quality ingredients and come served within a cute bird cages.
Mango Kakigori 3/5
Complete the meal on a sweet note with the Mango Kakigori ($8.90) that comes with homemade mango sauce on crushed ice, kanten jelly, konnyakyu jelly, wolfberries and white fungus topped with fresh mango slices and vanilla soft serve.
Dessert Bento 3.5/5
For those that can't decide what to order for dessert, the Dessert Bento ($19.90) allows you to have a try of everything. The dessert bento comes with shiratama, panna cotta, gelato, gyuuhi and cake of the day served in a bento box.
The new concept of Japanese-Italian cafe by MOF sounds interestingly but most the items in the menu are still vastly Japanese cuisine inspired. Nothing really unique in their dishes that I have not seen or tried in other local restaurants/cafes, probably except for the bird cages. Nevertheless the food is pretty good and worth a visit. I prefer their savoury more than their sweet stuff.
Dolce Tokyo
313 Somerset
313 Orchard Road
#03-23
Singapore 238895
Tel: +65 68365612
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DolceTokyoSG
Website: http://www.ministryoffood.com.sg
Nearest MRT: Somerset (NS Line)
Opening Hours:
Sun-Thu: 1130am - 1030pm
Fri-Sat & PH: 1130am - 11pm
Direction:
1) Alight at Somerset MRT station. Take Exit B. Take escalator up to level 3. Journey time about 3 minutes.
