The Public Izakaya is definitely a great place to wind down for dinner, especially since it's located in Tanjong Pagar.
We visited during lunch hours and they offer a lunch set that is simply fantastic. I can already picture myself chilling there with friends after work.
Their oden is incredibly flavorful; you can tell it's been slow-cooked for hours yet remains delightfully bouncy.
For the lunch set, they offer a variety of rice bowls. I opted for the Wagyu Nikomi Onsen Tamago Don, featuring Wagyu beef in cube style—it was truly delicious. I particularly enjoyed how well the thick brown sauce complemented the onsen egg and rice. The set also includes miso soup and a side dish.
Rating:
Food Quality: 5/5
Price: ~$25 per person
Location: The Public Izakaya
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literally what the title says, it was really crispy. adequately coated with a golden batter, it was the perfect balance of crisp to tender chicken ratio. i enjoyed it the most with a dip of that creamy mayonnaise! will reorder this or get the karaage that i’ve seen people ordering.
the best part of oden - hot piping soup, where you’ll taste hints of sweetness from the dashi stock, and that savoury note once you let it linger a little longer in the mouth. i’d get a refill if i could. out of all the ingredients (all tasted good by the way), my favourite was definitely the daikon. such a simple ingredient, yet made so well. it was the just right softness, not too mushy yet not too hard. the best part of it all, was that in a single bite of the daikon, you’ll get the soup too as it has absorbed all of the dashi stock.
A blend of finely minced ingredients, including pork, garlic chives, spring onions, cabbage, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, sugar, and sesame oil, is formed into a large round ball, then coated in panko bread crumbs and deep-fried.
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This renders the croquette crisp and crunchy on the outside, while being tender and juicy on the inside, with a satisfying meaty vegetal savoury salty sweet flavour.
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Served with a light ponzu dipping sauce, with fresh white cabbage and diced tomatoes on the side. So yummy.
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The Public Izakaya By Hachi
More details:
https://ivanteh-runningman.blogspot.sg/2016/08/the-public-izakaya-by-hachi.html
This features a medley of chopped ingredients, including fresh squid, cabbage, egg, and soba noodles, held together with wheat flour pancake batter, and grilled to perfection.
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Served topped with worcestershire infused okonomiyaki sauce, Japanese mayonnaise, katsuobushi / bonito fish flakes, spring onions, and pickled ginger strips.
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With a combination of creamy moist chewy crunchy soft wispy textures, this pancake has a complex blend of flavours, being vegetal eggy sweet savoury salty earthy in taste.
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Almost a small meal on its own.
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The Public Izakaya By Hachi
More details:
https://ivanteh-runningman.blogspot.sg/2016/08/the-public-izakaya-by-hachi.html
A one-bowl meal that's soulful and a pure comfort delight.
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The warm dashi soup / broth of the oden carries strong earthy savoury sweet flavour, and is served with a 6-piece selection picked by the kichen team.
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There's bouncy hard boiled egg with eggy sweet flavour, juicy tender braised daikon radish with vegetal earthy salty sweet flavour, and soft silken tofu beancurd with mild grainy sweet flavour.
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Also chewy chikuwa / bamboo ring fish cake with mild savoury sweet fishy flavour, bouncy satsuma-age / fried fish cake with meaty savoury sweet flavour, and springy wobbly konnyaku / konjac with earthy vegetal salty flavour.
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Served with a dip of dijon mustard, which lends a sharp sour spice flavour. Shiok.
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The Public Izakaya By Hachi
More details:
https://ivanteh-runningman.blogspot.sg/2016/08/the-public-izakaya-by-hachi.html
The large, plump, succulent juicy raw oysters are seasoned with momiji oroshi / grated daikon radish, ponzu sauce, spring onions, but now also includes juicy ikura / salmon fish roe.
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Meant to be slurped up in a single mouthful, you get a big burst of fresh clean-tasting vegetal sweet briny salty flavour that is so refreshing.
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The Public Izakaya By Hachi
More details:
https://ivanteh-runningman.blogspot.sg/2016/08/the-public-izakaya-by-hachi.html
Also known as Grilled Vinegared Mackerel Fish, this features a medium sized fillet of boneless mackerel fish, which has been marinated in rice vinegar, then grilled.
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The fish retains a juicy flaky tender texture, carrying robust meaty smoky savoury salty flavour.
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An optional dressing of lemon juice lends a tangy zesty sour note, while the bed of crisp white onions complete with its vegetal sweet spice flavour.
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The Public Izakaya By Hachi
More details:
https://ivanteh-runningman.blogspot.sg/2016/08/the-public-izakaya-by-hachi.html
Also known as Fried Chicken, this is as excellent as ever.
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A huge ball of tender juicy chicken meat, nearly the size of a fist, is coated in a crisp golden batter, which crunches lightly to release enticing bold savoury sweet salty flavour.
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Served with a salty savoury usukuchi shoyu / light soy sauce, and a creamy mayonnaise with milky sweet notes. Completely satisfying.
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The Public Izakaya By Hachi
More details:
https://ivanteh-runningman.blogspot.sg/2016/08/the-public-izakaya-by-hachi.html
This features Chef's choice of 7 skewers.
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The Skewer Shishito (SGD $4 per skewer) features these peppers skewered and seasoned with sea salt crystals. They're juicy with a light crunch, releasing a pleasant smoky vegetal earthy salty bitter spicy flavour, nice.
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The Skewer Bekon Aspara (SGD $5 per skewer) has strips of tender moist pork bacon wrapped around large crunchy stalks of asparagus. Lovely combination of smoky vegetal meaty sweet salty flavour.
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The Skewer Bekon Eringi (SGD $5 per skewer) has medium sized chunks of king trumpet mushroom with pork bacon wrapped around it. Has a distinctly tender moist texture, with bold smoky meaty earthy savoury flavour.
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The Skewer Buta Tontoro (SGD $5 per skewer) is so good. The thick chunky pork jowl has a nice juicy crunch, releasing the smoky meaty salty savoury fatty flavours within. Not gamey at all.
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The Skewer Tori Tebasaki (SGD $4 per skewer) has 2 pieces of chicken wings, lightly seasoned with shio / salt. The chicken meat comes clean off, being tender but bordering dry, with prominent smoky salty savoury flavour.
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The Skewer Tori Momoniku (SGD $4 per skewer) features thick chunky fresh chicken thigh, juicy and tender and moist, with enticing smoky meaty sweet savoury flavour. Seasoning is a little lighter than elsewhere, so you get more of the natural taste.
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The Skewer Tori Tsukune (SGD $5 per skewer) has tightly packed chicken meat ball, juicy and tender soft in texture, with bold smoky meaty savoury salty sweet flavour. Decent enough.
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The Public Izakaya By Hachi
More details:
https://ivanteh-runningman.blogspot.sg/2016/08/the-public-izakaya-by-hachi.html
Also known as Braised Yellowtail Fish And Daikon Radish is a soulful, comforting dish.
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In a robust gravy of braising stock, big with meaty salty sweet savoury herbal flavour, are cubes of tender flaky yellowtail fish, large slices of soft daikon radish, and crisp spring onions.
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Picking up the deep notes of the gravy, each bite makes you crave more. Practically calls for a bowl of white rice to accompany.
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The Public Izakaya By Hachi
More details:
https://ivanteh-runningman.blogspot.sg/2016/08/the-public-izakaya-by-hachi.html
Both average, thank god we didn't order any ckn skewers
Overall:
Average food and extremely expensive. There's no reason to come here anymore, better izakayas are everywhere. Entire staff is not japanese the day we went, and no Japanese customers as well. Service wasn't very helpful either, we asked the Filipino lady if they could cook the hotaruika for us somehow as it was really too difficult to stomach, she said there's no procedure for cooking it...
Oh gosh this was difficult to eat
Honestly i don't rlly eat raw food normally but the aftertaste was revolting. It's fermented too which contributes to that.
The flavour was q decent tho, and there's a sweetness within(coupled w a red oil). I don't think the sliminess is optimal at all though
Ika and noodles
It's not crispy at all but otherwise it's passable. Again nth special tho
The pic is like this cos my friend took 1 piece, there's a total of 3 pieces
Overhyped, and the price keeps hiking as well. Not to say it's not good, cos how bad can braised pork belly be, but it's not impressive. It's unique, as you can tell from the colour there's a lot of dark flavours, but the pork itself was still a bit stringy. Not too intense
Sucks. It tastes exactly like a normal tomato. The shiso pepper didn't taste like anything either. I almost thought I had covid
loveee the rosti with the mentaiko sauce. while the texture of it wasn’t the flat and crispy kind but rather just crunchy strips, it was the mentaiko sauce that keep me reaching out for more
the various skewers were also really good esp the chicken balls
First time dining here despite having worked in the hood for ~4 years? Had always walked pass them without a second glance even though there's always a crowd here after working hours. Imagine my surprise when I finally dined here at my friend's suggestion, to find out what I had been missing out on. At a loss on what to order so we decided to leave it to the chef by getting the Omakase Skewer Set and it was bombz! Flavourful, juicy and succulent, every stick of yakitori was well glazed and I bet there's bound to be 1 that'll tickle your fancy. Apart from the yakitoris, we also ordered oden and various other dishes to go with our highballs which were equally good. Prices here are a little steep though, but the ambience, personable staff and flavourful food more than make up for it. I would definitely come back here again!
We tried the 10 sticks Omakase Skewer set and Tori Soboro Don from The Public Izakaya and needless to say, they were perfect complements for our sake! The skewers were a solid mixture of tender, gamey and crunchy, although some were slightly too salty for my liking. The Tori Soboro Don had a pretty good rice-meat ratio, and the combination of juicy chicken thigh and ground pork made it a savoury explosion of flavours in your mouth. Simply a great place to enjoy above-average izakaya food and alcohol together with friends at decent prices!
