Here's Why You Won't See Chicken Rice On The Menu At This Singaporean Cafe In Tokyo

During the Chinese New Year period early this year, the cafe also provided patrons with the traditional lo hei experience, which was a heartwarming moment in Mark’s book.

So too, was “seeing Singaporeans making friends with fellow Singaporeans at the cafe, as well as with locals”.

Little Merlion’s recipes were from Melissa’s family, with some trial and error involved to perfect the taste.

They were also bolstered by the enthusiastic feedback whenever they served some of the dishes, especially the crowd-favourite laksa, to Mark’s colleagues at parties.

The bestsellers at the cafe, according to the couple, are their prawn laksa and nasi lemak.

Other items on their menu include roti prata with curry, sambal nasi goreng, fried carrot cake (both black and white) as well as curry puffs.

One can even wash down their prata meal with a spiffed-up Milo dinosaur. But being the land of Gojira, we think having Milo Godzilla (which comes with a scoop of ice cream) on the menu would be pretty apt. 

Which is better: Singapore or Malaysia food?

With Mark being half-Malaysian and a Singapore PR, we had to put him on the spot and ask: is Singapore or Malaysia food better?

Mark admits it’s a question he gets grilled about “all the time”.

“To be fair, I have to represent both a little, although I’m always more biased towards the Singapore taste,” says Mark, who grew up eating at Bukit Timah Food Centre and Ameen Makan House opposite Beauty World Centre.

“For example, I prefer Singapore laksa like Katong laksa over Malaysian laksa or Penang laksa,” he adds.

Of course, being located in Japan means prices at the eatery, once converted to SGD, lean more towards hotel than hawker.

Little Merlion’s prawn laksa goes for 1,280 yen (S$15), while their carrot cake costs 550 yen — perhaps still a reasonable price to pay for a taste of home.

Just ask the many Singaporeans who left glowing five-star reviews online, many of whom have been stuck in Japan since the start of the pandemic.

For those puzzling over the absence of signature Singaporean dishes chicken rice and bak kut teh on the menu, there’s a reason behind it.

Turns out, Mark and Melissa are long-time pescatarians, consuming only fish and seafood for their main source of protein. Hence, their cafe focuses only on dishes that do not use chicken, pork or beef.

“We wanted dishes that most represented Singapore, but without using any meat,” says Mark of the diet they adopted “for health and environmental reasons”.

Not that their absence has been sorely missed. If there’s one criticism that Mark has received though, it’s that their dishes are less spicy than the hawker standard.

Singapore food in Tokyo’s ‘Punggol’

With their restaurant located in the rather obscure northeastern part of Tokyo, which Mark helpfully explains is “like Punggol”, they see more locals on weekdays and Singaporeans on the weekends.

But against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, the couple share that there are some “really quiet” days where there’s “only a handful of customers the whole day”.

“Because of Covid, people eat out a lot less. And also we’re new, and Singapore food is unfamiliar to locals in the neighbourhood,” Mark shares of the low volume of customers.

Fortunately, however, their business has been aided by the Japan government’s grants and subsidies.

In the face of uncertainty, the Namikis are still ploughing full steam ahead with the next stage of their plan — opening a food truck.

The truck has already been purchased, Mark shares, with the kitchen box currently being fixed up. “Hopefully, it can run by November.”

To expand their revenue streams, the cafe has also started doing catering for birthdays and office parties, as well as offering merchandise designed by Melissa on their website.

The family have no complaints about living in Japan so far, especially with its temperate climate and lifestyle, but there are definitely things that they still miss about Singapore.

Food is one of them, but of course.

For Mark, it is a plate of “this one and that one“, i.e. cai fan, that he longs for, while Melissa misses vegetarian beehoon the most.

But now that Melissa is in Singapore for a break with their daughter to visit family, it is definitely something that she can indulge in — for the both of them.

While Japan is where they’ll likely stay put for the foreseeable future, the couple do not discount the possibility of returning to Singapore for good at some point in their lives.

“Home is where family is, so right now we have two homes,” they share.