Koryori Hayashi Review: Cheap Japanese Hawker Serving Mentaiko Pasta And Katsu Don In The CBD

Affordable Japanese fare at Koryori Hayashi

Joining the 9 to 5 grind last year made me understand the importance of “me time”. After hustling to wrap up year-end projects, I was ecstatic for my family trip to Japan. The amazing food definitely spoilt me, and returning back to Singapore meant limited affordable options for a legit Japanese meal. When Koryori Hayashi popped up on our radar, I had to check out if it was the real deal.

Opened in 2017, this humble Japanese hawker stall is run by Samuel Lim and his mother. I managed to catch his mother for a few questions while Samuel was busy preparing for the lunch crowd. She filled me in that Samuel’s past stint at a Japanese restaurant left him worn out, especially with the odd working hours. The silver lining of leaving the stable job was the culinary skills he picked up and applied when setting up Koryori Hayashi.

Food at Koryori Hayashi

Koryori Hayashi’s succinct menu offers a quick fix for office workers who are buzzing around for a fuss-free meal. A standout from the limited options of rice and noodle bowls was the Mentaiko Pasta.

For just $7.50, you get a decent serving of spaghetti tossed in the signature pale pink mentaiko sauce. The dish is topped with copious amounts of seaweed and a heavy-handed sprinkle of fried whitebait. 

I was starting to wonder if this was just a carbs-dense dish. However, mixing the pasta thoroughly revealed blanched prawns, which cleverly blended with the pink sauce.

As the al dente pasta was left untouched till we were done shooting, the otherwise velvety mentaiko dried up. Despite this, the umami-rich mentaiko flavour coated each strand of noodles. 

Salty notes from the whitebait helped to balance out the creamy sauce, keeping it from being too heavy on my palate. I could easily go for more bites without feeling jelak. A bite of the naturally sweet prawns was a nice break from this savoury flavour action. 

Noodle lovers can opt for the Sukiyaki Beef Udon ($8). This is the most expensive dish on the menu, but you get a bang for your buck as this bowl of udon is overflowing with beef slices, shreds of wakame, chopped spring onions, bonito flakes, and an onsen egg.

Cooked to perfection, the firm egg white gave way to a runny yolk. Stirring in this egg added creamy notes to the robustly flavoured beef broth.

From the chewy udon to rich soup, this dish is definitely slurp-worthy. The flavoursome broth was a melange of sweet and savoury hints. Slices of meat soaked up all the tasty soup’s goodness, resulting in tender beef strips packed with a bold, meaty flavour.

飯桶 (rice buckets) out there can satisfy their grains craving with Chicken Katsu Don ($6.50). This egg-covered rice was accessorized with a crispy chicken cutlet, and the addition of fried pumpkin came as a nice surprise.

Despite its crispy exterior, the cutlet was surprisingly not soaked with oil. The ratio of breading to meat was well balanced, with neither overshadowing the other.

Thanks to a tenderising process, each bite of the succulent chicken was bursting with flavour. The simmered rice was subtly sweet and savoury, playing a supportive role to the flavour-packed meat.

Each order of dry noodle or rice comes with a complimentary bowl of miso soup. You’ll get chunks of tofu and wakame pieces in an umami broth. A spoonful of this soup acts a palate cleanser for the more robust dishes.

Ambience at Koryori Hayashi

Amoy Street Food Centre is just a mere five-minute walk from Telok Ayer MRT Station. Koryori Hayashi’s short opening hours definitely cater to the lunch crowd from neighbouring offices. Unfortunately, this means you have no choice but to deal with the swarm of office drones. A tip is to visit when they just open, and you’ll get to dine at a more relaxed setting.

The verdict

Considering how pricey dining options are in the CBD, Koryori Hayashi is on my list of value-for-money lunch spots. It’s easy to assume that an economical price for Japanese food means skimping on quality or quantity. However, this was not the casefor Koryori Hayashi; it is a great place to satisfy a Japanese food craving without causing a dent in your bank account.

Since you’re at Amoy Street Food Centre, head over to Craft’B and Kinobe for some delicious beef bowls.

Address: 7 Maxwell Road, #01-11, Amoy Street Food Centre, Singapore 069111
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 11am to 2pm
Koryori Hayashi is not a halal-certified eatery.

Photos taken by Jia Yan.
This is an independent review by Eatbook.sg.