It does seem that while most are talking about Mr. Onigiri’s second outlet, there is yet another spot serving up Okinawa Onigiri that has just opened its doors. One of the newest openings at Hillion Mall in Bukit Panjang, Onigiri Planet is a new takeaway establishment that had just moved into the basement of the mall — it takes over the former premises of the outlet of Lee Wee Brothers that is situated in the mall in Basement 2, located just right beside the outlet of Mr. Coconut there whilst also being opposite the outlet of King of Prawn Noodles at Hillion Mall. Unlike Mr. Onigiri which is a local brand, Onigiri Planet is a brand with a global presence — hailing from Taiwan with multiple outlets in operations in the peninsula, Onigiri Planet also has stores in Macau and Hong Kong as well; the Hillion Mall outlet would be their very first outpost in Singapore, with a second outlet that is currently in the works that is coming soon at Tampines1. Onigiri Planet joins the likes of Mr. Onigiri, Onigirazu Don and the now-defunct Hitokuchi Onigiri — these are all concepts which serves up Okinawa-style Onigiri in Singapore. Operating from a kiosk-style setting, Onigiri Planet is a strictly takeaway setup. As what one would expect, Onigiri Planet’s menu focuses very much on their Okinawa-style Onigiri offerings — patrons can also find various side dishes and also drinks as well, with the ability for patrons to opt for a set where one can have an Onigiri with a Side Dish, or an Onigiri with a Drink.

We visited Onigiri Planet on the day that the opening promotion whereby the second Onigiri is charged at $1 was brought forward to end. Onigiri Planet does serve up quite a number of variations of the Okinawa-style Onigiri here, with the most simple offering being the Okinawa Classic Okinawa Onigiri. After skimming through the menu, we decided to go for the Ebi Tempura Okinawa Onigiri, as well as the Grilled Mentaiko Okinawa Onigiri. Between the two, we have a slight preference for the Ebi Tempura Okinawa Onigiri. It is not being described in the menu of what are the elements that are included in be Ebi Tempura Okinawa Onigiri, but it is observed that elements include Ebi Tempura (i.e. Japanese fried prawn), Tamago (i.e. egg), Spam (i.e. Luncheon Meat) and Thousand Island dressing(?) that comes in between the Japanese short-grain rice that is lined above the Nori (i.e. Seaweed Laver). Taking a bite into the Ebi Tempura Okinawa Onigiri, it is noted that the Okinawa-style Onigiri here seems to be tightly packed; there wasn’t much shifting around for the elements that came with the Onigiri as one chews through it — the short-grain rice being sufficiently sticky, while the Nori provides a good chew without being too difficult to bite through. The Ebi Tempura comes with a crispy golden-brown fried batter and a bouncy prawn within; no doubt the batter being more dense that what one would expect out of a Tempura specialty store, but was also noted to be not particularly greasy. The Thousand Island dressing helps add a creamy texture while the Tamago was more omelette-like though added somewhat of a fluffiness to the dish. In terms of flavour, the Ebi Tempura Okinawa Onigiri came with a slight hint of umami from the Nori, whilst accompanied with a light note of sweetness from both the Ebi Tempura and the Thousand Island dressing; all that matching up against a bit of egginess from the Tamago and that saltish note from the Spam — quite appealing.

Having tried not only the Ebi Tempura Okinawa Onigiri, but also the Grilled Mentaiko Okinawa Onigiri during our visit to Onigiri Planet, we found the Grilled Mentaiko Okinawa Onigiri to be a little overwhelmed by Mentaiko Mayo — the Grilled Mentaiko Okinawa Onigiri comes with pretty much the same composition of elements as the Ebi Tempura Okinawa Onigiri that we have also had, though comes without the Ebi Tempura while the Thousand Island sauce is replaced by Mentaiko Mayo that has been flame-torched for an added smokiness above the usual umami-ness that it carries. While there isn’t much of a situation where anything would go wrong when one gets too much Aburi Mentaiko, we felt that the other elements such as the spam as well as the more subtle components like the Tamago, short-grain rice and Nori were being overshadowed by the Mentaiko Mayo; there was a lack of balance amongst all of the elements as compared to the Ebi Tempura Okinawa Onigiri. Nonetheless, the Okinawa Onigiri at Onigri Planet do feel pretty well-executed — we have had quite a number of rather messy Okinawa Onigiri that falls apart immediately when one takes a bite into it; this has never been the case for both Okinawa Onigiri which we have had at Onigiri Planet. We also felt that there was effort in nailing the details of the texture and flavour that goes into their Okinawa Onigiri offerings — especially so for the Ebi Tempura Okinawa Onigiri. That being said, it does require some time for the Onigiri to be prepared upon order — so do have some patience should there be a queue formed for it; this was also an issue that Mr. Onigiri had dealt with in their early days situated at Upper Thomson Road as well. The Okinawa Onigiri at Onigiri Planet is priced between $4.90 and $6.90; most of the offerings are being priced at the highest price point of the range, with only the Grilled Mentaiko, Classic Okinawa, Double Cheesy and Truffle Mushroom being the Okinawa Onigiris priced below $6.90. A stall that Bukit Panjang residents (and Tampines residents soon) can look forward to visiting in their ‘hood once the initial hype starts to die down!