The perks of being a student in Singapore are endless: with bus concessions, special memberships and the like, getting by with our hectic schedules and heavy workload gets a wee bit easier when we have perks like these to look forward to. C:

And the best student perk of all?

STUDENT MEALS! Hey, since we are a nation that’s well known for her rich cuisine and dynamic eating culture, why not? I’d say bring on the grub! 😀

Famished and wanting to escape the post-exam crowd in school, my friends and I headed over to Star Vista after we heard about Watami Japanese Casual Restaurant’s Student Meal, which offers ala carte items from their lunch sets for half the price!

Since we arrived at the start of the lunch hour, Watami was still pretty empty and we wasted no time choosing our food. Efficient much? 😀

Luckily, the same could be said for Watami’s service; the staff were attentive and the food reached us quickly too! Or maybe we were just lucky enough to have been there before the lunch crowd really started.

Wanz’s choice of a Chicken Katsu Toji Teishoku set; I’m not a fan of katsu toji (I prefer seafood in Japanese cuisine!), but it looks appetizing nonetheless. C: And that runny egg looks like it would go great with a bowl of piping hot rice! 

If you’re unfamiliar with the popularity of Korean cuisine in Japan, you’d probably think that the Ishiyaki Bibimbap set sticks out like a sore thumb.

It turns out that ishiyaki  is a Japanese term for hot stone cooking which is a traditional method usually used for seafood.What happens is that your food is served in a hot stone pot that’s been heated to a really high temperature (think somewhere in the triple digit range!) so that you can do the rest by mixing it around. It’s the same concept that Pepper Lunch Singapore uses. How cool is that? 😀

But I digress. Even though it has its roots in Korea, Watami still did a pretty good job, presentation wise. Don’t count on it to fill you up if you’ve a big appetite, though. Fion’s verdict is that there was a tad too little rice, almost similar to the bibimbap that we have in school.

As for me, I went with the Ishiyaski Black Pepper Beef with Rice set. When it arrived at our table all sizzling and sending out all kinds of inviting aromas, the rumbling in my tummy turned into full fledged growls. I’m not kidding. There’s enough beef, corn, and garlic to make anyone’s day.

Like Fion’s bibimbap set, my dish had to be mixed properly for the beef to be cooked. Maybe it’s the child in me that still loves games like Cooking Mama, but mixing that bowl of goodies was the best thing that could happen after a grueling morning of exams. 😀

Oh, and who can forget the best part of a student discounted meal? There’s always room in your wallet (and tummy) for dessert!

Watami doesn’t have the widest range of desserts, which is a good thing, otherwise I’d be really spoilt for choice. A small serving of Sumiyaki Coffee Jelly rounded up the meal. I found the mix of bitter and sweet flavours just right, although the portion was a tad small for the price. 

For the standard and the amount of grub served, Watami’s student meal deal is good value for money. Also, it’s located just a couple of stops away from school on the Circle Line, so really, why not head out during your lunch break to check out this awesome deal? 😀

Address

1 Vista Exchange Green #02-16
The Star Vista

Contact: 6694 3643

Operating Hours: 1130- 2000 (no reservations)

chueonit.