Tempura Makino Suntec City - New Singapore Outlet Restaurant Chain From Japan

Tempura Makino Suntec City is the first Singapore outlet by Japanese tempura specialty restaurant chain, Makino. It is said to use “the “Tsudoage” style, when the tempura is made to order, and served one by one”.

Hand crafted tempura at an affordable price point is the selling point of Tempura Makino Suntec City. With the long counter and the big tempura stoves. we thought that this could be a dream come true. We like the personal attention from a tempura chef that serves each piece of tempura fresh from the stove. In Singapore, this type of service is only available in expensive tempura restaurants such as Ippoh and Tenshin. We chose an off-peak hour to visit Tempura Makino Suntec City and plonked ourselves at the counter.

Tempura Makino Suntec City Singapore Review

For a tempura restaurant associated with reasonable prices for ordinary patrons, I must say that the decor is quite impressive. Finished in light wooden panels, the restaurant looks better than the average Japanese restaurant. Comparison with the other new affordable tempura chain store from Japan, Tempura Tendon Tenya comes to mind. Makino is a clear winner in terms of accomodation – decor, space and comfort of seats.

Tempura Makino Suntec City Menu

Here are pictures of some sample pages from the Tempura Makino Suntec City menu. The prices seem reasonable – starting from $1.50 per piece for vegetables (a la carte). A quicker way to order is to go for the platters and the set orders. We started with a Prawn and Vegetable Platter ($16) and an Anago and Seafood Platter ($23).

Tempura Platters

Tempura Makino Suntec City - Singapore Prawn Tempura Platter — Prawn and Vegetable Platter

Both platters were nicely presented. They were not personalised and prepared by the chef in front of us. Instead the orders go through the usual order system and were served by the waitresses. The Prawn and Vegetable (picture below) was made up of 3 prawns and one piece each of eggplant. pumpkin, maitake, French bean and lotus root. The Seafood Platter (picture above) contained pieces of anago, squid, kisu fish, prawn, eggplant. pumpkin, maitake and lotus root.

We thought that the quality of food was not bad. The seafood items had an excessively crunchy texture for our liking but the vegetables were better. Once again, comparisons with Tendon Tenya came to mind and we thought Tenya’s seafood was better. However it should be said that when viewed in terms of the overall package of food, service, location and restaurant, it was still good value for money.

A La Carte Orders

We decided to order more a la carte tempura items, this time restricting ourselves to vegetable items (picture below). Our order went through the restaurant process and the food arrived as a platter a few minutes later. Regrettably we did not get a chance to interact with the chef which would have been nice when dining at a tempura counter.

The other items that we ordered were an Inaniwa Udon and Asahi Super Dry beer. The udon was average but the beer was very cold and fresh which goes well with the heaty deep-fried food.