Singapore Web DesignerMogu Mogu Japanese Self Service » AEN—Designer & Consultant

I’m getting another LG KE850 Prada for Vivi so we went to Orchard for the hunt. After we managed to place an order with a mobile phone shop we dropped by this “Kitchen Mogu Mogu” restaurant for dinner. Its slogan is “Japanese Self Service”. There are no counters and you have to make orders and pay for them with 2 vending machines, similar to the concept of QB House. I don’t know how long has it been opened but it is definitely new to us.

The vending machines were pretty cool and easy to use but needed some learning. I don’t really think it is a good business idea though. They only have 2 machines. People need to learn how to use them and therefore may most likely end up taking longer time than ordering at a counter.

Another interesting thing about it is the single waitress there is a teenage girl dressed like a Japanese school girl, who was helping customers with the machines. As the machines only accepted $2, $5 and $10 notes, she had a pouch fill with $10 notes for customers with no small change, like me. She was kind enough to allow us to take a photograph of her. We didn’t ask for her name though.

The concept is similar to maid cafés which originated from Akihabara, Tokyo, Japan. The Singaporean version is less adventurous though. The restaurant was quiet and there were only a handful of customers.

I ordered a “Steak Patty Don” (S$8.90) with Coke (S$1.10). Vivi ordered an “Ocean” (S$5.90) with Iced O-Cha (S$1.00) and a Chawanmushi (S$2.90). The meal including GST totaled to S$19.80. That’s pretty expensive for what tasted like instant-noodle quality. My “steak” patty was in fact a small lump of over-salted corned beef. Vivi’s “Ocean” was like seafood fried rice. The little prawns and scallops were good but surprisingly there was no fish. The Chawanmushi was pathetically small, watery and tasteless. I was disappointed, despite the interesting concept which is new to Singapore. The food is just too expensive for what Vivi and I considered “instant-noodle quality”. You could get much a better meal at Yoshinoya for much less.

I wasted my money on this restaurant.