Cha Han Garlic Fried Rice

The re-opening of the revamped Food Junction at Junction 8 had certainly got quite a fair bit of talk around social media — the food court itself having seen quite a bit of a refresh considering how it is now a themed food court that sees not only the use of a design theme that follows closely to that of a retro American-style diner, but also a separate zone that is dedicated to Japanese / Korean fare that attempts to target the more hipster audiences. The food court also had seen a refreshed tenant list, with highlights including that of stalls such as Zhang Ji Yun Jiao 张记云饺 (operating its own individually-run dine-in establishments at Grantral Mall @ Clementi and Holland Village) and Myung Ga Il Minipress; an offshoot of Myung Ga Il in Beauty World / Tanjong Pagar. Another stall that is mentioned quite a fair bit on social media that is making its first appearance in the F&B scene is Cha Han; a concept by the folks behind the Akashi Group that has also brought us other brands like Akashi. Cha Han is a stall that is relatively easy to spot around the food court; numbered Stall 18 in the food court, the stall is situated beside the outlet of Lobster King Pao Fan • La Mian there. For those whom can understand Japanese, the namesake of the stall translates into English as Japanese fried rice; the menu lists out a number of fried rice dishes, egg fried rice dishes and fried rice with scrambled eggs — patrons also get to choose to go with Egg Fried Rice, Garlic Fried Rice, Spicy Miso Fried Rice and Truffle Fried Rice.

The mention of Garlic Fried Rice and the Akashi Group does remind us quite a fair bit of the now-defunct Gyoza-Ya concept that Akashi Group used to run that first originated being an individually-run dining establishment in the basement of the-then Robinsons The Heeren (now Courts Nojima) — that was our first experience of Garlic Fried Rice from an Akashi Group establishment early on in the days of writing. There were a number of dishes already sold out during our visit made to the establishment on a weekday dinner service and we ultimately went with the Wagyu Fried Rice whilst opting for the Garlic Fried Rice as the variant of the fried rice to come with our order. This was quite a decent rendition of the Japanese-style Garlic Fried Rice that sees the use of short-grain rice that comes all pearly with its grains distinguishable from one another — all that whilst being glistening having been lacquered with oil that gives it sufficient texture as a fried rice dish. The garlic fried rice does come with a distinct hint of savouriness coming from the garlic, though does feel lacking of a smoky hint of flavours that some might be expecting out of Japanese-style Garlic Fried Rice. One can observe that there are chunks of egg that are wok-fried with the garlic fried rice which provides a fluffy yet firm bite amidst the grains; meanwhile, the Wagyu takes a form that is similar to the beef found in Gyudon. These do seem to be prepared ahead in advance and definitely had a temperature contrast with the garlic fried rice; something that we were not quite a fan of. That being said, the Wagyu beef was tender and came stir-fried with a sweet sauce that does provide a flavour contrast with the garlic fried rice and elevated the flavours of the dish further.