Entree Kibbles: Yonehachi - Grill Chicken Saikyo Scallop Okowa (Mixed Sticky Glutinous Rice) Set @ Takashimaya Food Hall [Orchard Road, Singapore]

In the Southeast Asian food culture, rice is a basic staple and many of us couldn't do without rice for an extended period of time; even for me although I am always on a carbohydrate-restricted diet.

When it comes to the different types of rice, the one that loads to your calorie count excessively is glutinous rice; hence, I would normally reject such rice in my food unless it is inevitable like in the case of rice dumplings.

But, the above display at the always-crowded Takashimaya Food Hall caught my immediate attention; thinking it might be fried rice in various forms, I walked closer for a better look.

Hailed from Japan with more than 140 shops, Yonehachi specialises in Okowa which is, simply put, sticky glutinous rice and there were five types for us to choose from that day; red bean, chestnut, salmon, gomuku (seaweed, chicken, carrot) and scallop.

If you want to try every single of them, do consider buying the pack as above that would give you all five mixes. Not exactly my cup of tea as that seems like a lot of rice; suicidal for anyone who wants to cut down on carbohydrates.

Anway, my friend and i decided to give it a try as Yonehachi offers more than just grains. There were sets with grilled/fried chicken/fish that would appeal to the meat savage in us.

As with Nakajima Suisan Grilled Fish in the same food hall, you need to order and make payment before proceeding to your assigned seat. It's an efficient method as we can be extremely indecisive in what we want to eat and this would deprive others of seats when they honestly need it with the food trays in their hands.

The waiting game.

Less than ten minutes later, my chicken saikyo set was placed on the table. The set comprised of miso soup, the grilled chicken, the okowa, pickles, salad and a cup of houji tea (roasted green tea). There were two seasonal okowa; scallop and gomuku and I opted for the former as seafood would always be preferred for their supposedly higher value.

Mixed in with seaweed and green soybean, the scallop okowa was chockful of ingredients and tasted somewhat like my mom's incredibly popular Hokkien style glutinous rice except hers was better with a generous sprinkling of fried shallots!

I was more impressed with the chicken saikyo and would in fact gladly pay for it without the glutinous rice which was too heavy and filling for me!

Lightly grilled with just a bit of charred skin, it had a flavor similar to teriyaki chicken and the meat was very tender and juicy! I almost thought the meat was undercooked.

Despite my initial intention to leave maybe half the rice intact, I couldn't throw away the fact that it would be a waste of my money and hence, devoured everything!

My friend had the salmon okowa and I got a bite with his permission; the rice was steeped deeper in flavor compared to my scallop and it was better tasting.

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