Food Review: 4 Deli Set Meal @ Cafe&Meal MUJI Singapore

To celebrate 20 years in Singapore, MUJI has opened a brand new retail store and cafe concept at 100AM, Tanjong Pagar.

Located in the centre of Singapore’s Central Business District, the new outlet is set to cater to working professionals and tourists, with its product range catered to this target audience.

This is MUJI’s 11th outlet in Singapore.

Said Katsushi Onishi, Managing Director, MUJI Singapore, “For over 40 years, MUJI has not promoted consumerism. We are always encouraging the use of our products eternally, and you will realise over time, that MUJI products are actually relatively inexpensive.“

Within the new retail concept is the Cafe&Meal MUJI, serving simple and healthy meals aimed at bringing out the natural flavours of the ingredients.

Cafe&Meal MUJI

The Cafe&Meal MUJI prides themselves at presenting dishes that are cooked as simply as possible to bring out the ingredients natural taste, in line with MUJI’s brand values of simple, natural and quality living.

With the usage of fresh and healthy in-season ingredients made with hearty recipes to enrich the original taste in nature, diners get to enjoy different types of vegetables in a well-balanced meal.

100AM as a Japanese concept store

100AM has built a reputation as a shopping mall with a wide range of exciting Japanese brands, and the new cafe is set to offer the business crowd a brand new range of Japanese flavours to excite their palettes.

Occupying 230sqm of dining and kitchen area to accommodate up to 70 diners at a time, Cafe&Meal MUJI will immerse you in a relaxing and calm ambience.

At the new Cafe&Meal MUJI, you can customise your set meal with your favourite combinations of hot and cold deli dishes prepared daily from nutritious seasonal ingredients for a well-balanced meal of natural great taste.

Checking out the cafe at a food tasting session

Members of the media were invited to check out the new Cafe&Meal MUJI for a food tasting session.

At the media tasting session, we were served the Cafe&Meal MUJI’s 4 Deli set meal comprising of two hot and two cold dishes accompanied by 16 Grain rice and carrot cumin soup.

What dishes we had

The dishes that we were given, were as follows.

Prawn couscous salad with Yuzu sesame dressing (cold)
Roasted butternut squash, sweet purple potato and kale salad (cold)
Sakura chicken with curry miso and dried chilli (hot)
Golden sesame crusted salmon with Shoyu sesame leek sauce (hot)

The 4 Deli Set Meal with the rice and soup is priced at S$19.80. For a single dish, the Hot Deli section is S$4.80 each and the Cold Deli section is S$2.80 each.

The four selections that we were served are customers’ top favourites at the Cafe&Meal MUJI. However customers can choose whatever items you fancy.

4 Deli Set Meal

Out of the selections we had, my favourite one was the Sakura Chicken with Curry Miso and dried chilli. The chicken had a unique flavour profile. I could detect both subtle curry and miso notes, with both blending very well together.

As curry and miso are usually quite strong flavours, I was afraid at how this combination would turn out. So I was pleasantly surprised that it tasted really good, with none of the flavours overpowering the other.

At the same time, I had felt that the natural flavour of the chicken was not drowned out.

The balance of flavours was just right and I would definitely want to eat this again.

However, as this dish has quite a strong flavour profile as a whole, I would recommend that you pair it with lighter flavoured dishes if you are going for the 4 Deli Set Meal, as I had.

The Prawn Couscous Salad with Yuzu Sesame Dressing was also yummy. This came seeved with broccoli, tomatoes and onion.

The prawns were slightly translucent, and perfectly cooked to al dente. The Yuzu sesame dressing added a delicious citrus note to the dish which I felt balanced it out very well. The vegetables added a nice crunch.

Overall it was very light and fresh tasting and the dish would make a very nice, healthy lunch on its own, for those who are watching their weight and carbs intake.

The Roasted butternut squash, sweet purple potato and Kale salad was also nice, light and refreshing. The butternut was soft and squishy yet did not lose its shape. The sweet purple potato added a sweet note to the dish and the Kale salad was very refreshing, with the crunch it provided.

Topped with white balsamic glaze, the choice of dressing was very light and enhanced the natural flavours of the salad ingredients

Finally, we come to the Golden Sesame Crusted Salmon. This was accompanied with braised hairy gourd and topped with shoyu sesame leek sauce. The flavour profile of the salmon was definitely agreeable to my palette.

The sauce was mild with some slight savoury notes, bringing out the natural flavours of the salmon very well. It tasted very fresh and light.

Unfortunately the salmon texture was a tad dry and overcooked though – this was my only gripe about an otherwise delicious dish.

The Carrot Cumin Soup was creamy and thick, with a lingering sweetness to it.

I had originally been afraid that the Cumin would overpower the soup, but to my surprise, it didn’t. Instead, the Cumin notes were very subtle, blending in well and gently enhancing the flavour profile of the soup.

The 16 Grain Rice isn’t Thai-style rice, as I had originally expected. It is the short-grain Japanese rice and pairs very well together with the dishes. As well, it’s easy to eat the rice with your chopsticks.

Dessert

For dessert, we tried mini portions of four different desserts available at the Cafe&Meal MUJI. These are as follows.

Lemon Yuzu Tart
Strawberry Hokkaido Cheese Roll
Guanaja Hazelnut Mousse Cake
Hokkaido Burnt Cheesecake

All desserts are priced at S$8.90 each.

My clear favourite was the Hokkaido Burnt Cheesecake.

This is a silky, smooth and rich cheesecake with a balance of bitterness from the burnt exterior and sweetness from the custard interior.

I really enjoyed how yummy abs refreshing this was. The cheese was light and creamy, and the texture was smooth, almost melting in the mouth, and very easy to eat.

As well, I thought I could also pick up some very subtle citrusy yuzu notes from the cheesecake. I would definitely not hesitate to go for this dessert again.

The Lemon Yuzu Tart, a lemon yuzu curd tart which comprised of a creamy strawberry filling topped with a drop of torched meringue, was richer to the palette. The citrusy sour yuzu notes here was pretty strong and that was basically all I could taste, when I ate this tart.

However I enjoyed the change of textures, with the smooth yuzu custard combined with the crunchy crusty exterior.

The Guanaja Hazelnut Mousse Cake was another rich dessert, comprising of chocolate sponge with layers of hazelnut cremeux, nutty praline and chocolate mousse, with a crunchy base.

This dessert offered a nice combination of textures which I enjoyed – from the crunchy notes to the sweetness and nuttiness. These all combined together well, blending very nicely inside the mouth.

The texture of the cake is squishy and creamy, like your typical mousse cake. The creaminess melts in the mouth.

However the combination of hazelnut and chocolate, both being rich flavours, may be quite overwhelming after several bites. So I would recommend this dessert is best to be shared rather than trying to eat a full-sized cake on your own.

To round off the meal, we were served a Iced Hojicha Passionfruit Tea (S$6.90). This drink consists of a sweet aroma of passionfruit and full-bodied hojicha flavour complete with the added crunch of passionfruit seeds.

I found the drink to be very refreshing and cleansing on the palette. The sweetness from the passionfruit nicely balanced out the more bitter tea flavour, a combination that surprising goes together very well.

The passionfruit seeds, in my opinion, were also a pretty unusual addition, reminding me of a healthier version of the pearls found inside a typical cup of bubble tea.

50% Off Desserts

Customers who complete their Deli set with a drink will enjoy 50% off desserts at Cafe&Meal MUJI. Terms and conditions apply.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would say that the Cafe&Meal MUJI offerings definitely live up to the brand’s values. They serve simple yet tasty foods and definitely do not compromise freshness.

Moreover the central business district is the perfect location for office professionals who want a quick yet healthy lunch yet don’t want to comprise on flavours.