It has been an exciting couple of months in Tanjong Pagar as new cafes and shops have been opening in the new Tanjong Pagar Centre near the MRT.
When we first saw Japan Rail, (located near the new lift and above the station, street level 1) we thought it was just a place to buy train tickets for Japan, which in itself seemed a bit weird for Singapore. After deeper investigation we were pleasantly surprised to find that it was also a Japanese cafe and retail outlet.
The menu, as you can see in the photos, is cleverly incorporated into a mini newspaper with interesting articles to read about Japan whilst your food is being prepared. There is an adequate amount of food to choose from the menu, although they have run out of a few ingredients on occasion which is hopefully just teething problems.
We’re a bit of a sucker for chicken karaage, so we went straight for the Watashino Curry Rice (red rice, rich mince curry sauce and side salad) with choice of 2 sides (crispy chicken and fried egg) and the Crisp Chicken Don (crispy chicken on a bed of red rice, two sauces and choice of soup), which were both delicious. We have been back since and unfortunately it seems other people are fans of chicken karaage too as they had run out, so the pork is another good options to choose with the curry rice.
It seems they are also known for their burgers, but we are yet to try them as we can’t get past their delicious chicken karaage and also don’t feel burgers are very Japanese, so it’s an odd choice to make.
Drinks wise they have a few interesting options to choose from including their healthy yogurt fruit drinks and iced tea (both of which change seasonally) and their drip coffee which are all good.
There’s quite a few tables available within a nice bright environment but I would recommend visiting on the weekend when it will surely be much quieter than during the week with the city crowd.
They also seem to have quite a good selection of Japanese beer so could be a good place to hang out for drinks after work too.
Japan Rail Cafe
Tanjong Pagar Centre, 5 Wallich Street, #01-20 Singapore 078883
http://www.japanrailcafe.com.sg
DanyaFood 
LOL this is interesting! Mel walked pass and thought it was a place to buy tickets! Ok, so it IS a cafe then…