SUN with MOON Wheelock Place Review

SUN with MOON Japanese Dining & Cafe at Wheelock place is one of my favourite Japanese restaurants in Singapore. I was introduced to SUN with MOON many years ago and my first visit was to their 1st restaurant located at CHIJMES. Business was good and SUN with MOON expanded rapidly and at 1 point had 3 restaurants. Then it became 2, and they are now left with the restaurant at Wheelock Place 3rd floor. I’ve gone there many times over the years, but this post is about my recent visits before the restaurant underwent a renovation in March 2021

 

Lunch with Mum

Mum’s choice

Mum had Salmon & Avocado Yukke Don Set (S$26.80) and she chose the Pork Yanagawa Nabe for the choice of side dish. A choice of drink is included for SUN with MOON’s lunch menu and Mum usually choose the Hot Coffee to be served after the meal. Mum enjoyed the Salmon and Avocado Rice bowl and the portion was just nice for her.

My choice

My lunch choice was Buta Don Set (S$24.80) and I chose the Crab Chawamushi for the side dish and a refillable cold Green Tea. The Buta (Pork) in this dish was fried, thus had a bit of coating on the meat. They had drizzled too much of the salty sauce so the rice at the bottom was swimming in sauce.

I also ordered a Buri Roll and a Warabi with Soy Bean Powder and Black Sugar to share with Mum, though I ate majority of these 2 dishes. Hehe 🤣🤣 The Buri (Yellow Tail Tuna) was fatty and the Tobiko and Radish pickles added a nice crunch and pop to the sushi roll. I love Warabi (Braken dessert) and this Warabi was really soft and went well with the accompanied condiments. 😋

 

Lunch with family

Brought the family out for lunch on a weekend. We visited many times as a family as everyone enjoyed the food there, though not as frequently as just Mum and me.

Mum’s choice

Mum went for the Unagi & Salmon Chirashi Set and chose the Mini Beef Udon as the side dish. She must really liked this set as she chose it again on another visit.

My choice

There was a Hokkaido Fair promo, so I decided to try the Hokkaido Bento set, though I can’t remember the exact member price. This was a good set to order as it had a bit of each of the different dishes in the promo menu. A good way to try all without having to order the full portions. I had my breakfast late that day so shared some dishes with the family as I couldn’t finish it all. I liked everything on this Bento. The standouts were Wagyu Beef Steak which was soft and tender and Hotate Fry & Asparagus Tarabangani Roll covered with delicious crab meat. 😋

Brother & family’s choices

The beef in the Sukiyaki set didn’t look as good as in the menu photos, but luckily my brother still enjoyed it and the top up side dish of Salmon Sashimi that he chose. My brother ordered an ice coffee with his meal and said it was good.

The kids both chose the Yakiniku Kamameshi Set with 3 mini side dishes and both added on a Mini Udon too. Didn’t get a chance to take photos of the Yakiniku Kamameshi before they started eating. My SIL went for a simpler choice of Chicken Teriyaki Set.

For sharing

I ordered the Ma Ika (Squid Legs) Tempura and 2 orders of Teriyaki Cheese Imo (Potato) Mochi, from the Hokkaido Fair Promo menu, to share with the family. Both kids said my homemade Imo Mochi tasted better! 🥰

 

Dinner with friends

Went for dinner with my friends, it’s been awhile since I had dinner there too. Looking at the photos, didn’t seem like we ate much as we ordered the food to share. I ordered the Ika Somen (Raw Squid) again as we wanted to train one of my friends up for our 2022 Japan trip; she still didn’t like raw squid. The Surume Ika Teriyaka (grilled squid in teriyaki sauce) was delicious. As for the Dashi Maki Tamago, my friend was rather disappointed and said she made better ones. We wanted to order one of the special rolls but it was out of stock, so went for the Salmon Pink Dragon Roll instead, that tasted pretty good too.

I really liked the Aomori Apios Hoku Hoku having tried it previously, so ordered for my friends to try. I was told Apios was wild potato and a superfood; it had a really nice potato/peanut texture and taste and my friends enjoyed it too. We decided to try the Wakadori Hanmi Age (Fried Chicken served with Green Tea Salt) and discovered it was quite good. The green tea salt added a slight bitter taste and complimented the fried chicken quite well. I saw a cheese bake dish and decided to order it as it also had some vegetables in it. The Tofu & Horenso Negi MisoOven Yaki was full of stretchy mozzarella cheese over tofu; it felt like a healthy (tofu) and unhealthy dish (loads of cheese) at the same time. Absolutely scrumptious! 😋

Drinks & Dessert

My friend said the Apple Beer was quite light with a slight Apple flavour. She also had a Plum Soda which was nice as well. As for the Concord Grape juice, it was delicious though very sweet; I added some water to dilute it and it was still sweet! We were quite full from dinner and decided to only have 1 dessert, so I ordered the Homemade Kurogoma Pudding (Black Sesame pudding). My friends didn’t try that before and thought it was good.

 

Lunch with Mum and friend

Mum’s choice

Mum ordered the same thing again – Unagi & Salmon Chirashi Sushi Set. She must really had enjoyed it the last time. If you can’t decided Salmon or Unagi, this is a good option to have.

My friend’s choice

Look at that fatty Salmon belly in my friend’s lunch choice of Hotate (Scallop), Salmon Belly & Unagi (Eel) with a side of Tempura Mori. My friend didn’t say much, but I think she enjoyed her lunch. I might try that the next time. 😋

My choice

I decided to try something new and went for the Obihiro Style Buta Don and Mizuna Salmon Tataki Salad from the Hokkaido Fair Promo Menu. The pork in this dish is not fried or coated with a layer of batter. I liked this better than the Buta Don I had on the other trip with Mum. The Mizuna Salmon Tataki Salad balanced off the heaviness of the pork and the Vinegared Fried Salmon helped to cut the oiliness.

Desserts

Felt like having some desserts, so from the Hokkaido Fair Promo, I selected Hokkaido Milk Kuzu Mochi and Omocheese & Strawberry Parfait. I like Kuzu and thought this was an interesting take with milk added. The texture was nice but the dessert was a tad too sweet for our liking. The Omocheese & Strawberry Parfait was a little sweet too, but quite delicious. I had initially thought the square mochi was covered in red bean (not my fav) but it turned out to be chocolate power instead (much better!). 😋

 

Membership

Do consider signing up their SUN Privilege Card if you’re planning to visit more than 1 time. It cost S$20 but new members get S$20 worth of SUN Points that can be use at next visit and an immediate 10% off dining on day of sign up, which means the membership is free in a way.

Each S$1 spent earns 1 SUN Point and a minimum of 200 SUN Points is required to redeem S$10. SUN with MOON has removed the cap on how many points can be redeemed per dining. Birthday month privilege of 20% off the bill for both food and drinks, is valid for 2 months – your birthday month plus the month after that.

I usually dine more often during the birthday months to make full use of the 20% discount. For your birthday months redemption, you will need to show your photo ID with your birthday information for verification against your SUN Privilege Card. Other months’ dining only gets 10% discount, and members can either use 10% discount or redeem points but not do both together.

 

Prices & Service

Prices at SUN with MOON are quite reasonable for the food quality, restaurant setting and service provided, though some dishes did seem a tad expensive. Over the years, prices have definitely gone up but that’s to be expected as rental, operational and food costs have gone up as well. That is why getting the SUN Privilege Card is a good idea to help lower the cost of eating there.

 

Final Verdict

I highly recommend SUN with MOON for casual Japanese dining with family and friends. There’s lots of choices for everyone and all will surely find something that suits their taste. SUN with MOON often updates their menu and have promotional Japanese Region Food Fairs, so there’s always new things to try.

Do make reservations especially for weekends as SUN with MOON gets packed with customers. Walk in customers may have to wait quite awhile for a table especially if it’s a big group. Check their website for an idea of which Japanese Prefecture/Region food is being featured for the month. I always find it interesting to try out the special menu where possible and some dishes have special member’s price too.

 

Read Ling’s other Singapore Food Reviews.