徳 本格居酒屋 Toku (Authentic Japanese Izakaya Sake Bar ) Singapore - #B1-06 Midpoint Orchard

Ignore the poor reviews here. This is a real izakaya. You come and you drink. Every single one of you. Not one person drink one glass the whole night. And if you’re lucky, you get to taste his food. While drinking even more Japanese alcohol. This is the real deal and is as close to a real izakaya experience as you can get. Right down to the grumpy owner (who is really a sweet man inside). Like I said. Come here and expect to drink heavily. Otherwise find another less authentic place.

Cute little Japanese place which have wide range of sake and shochu. Nice and cute owner. And oh, it is a MUST to drink when u dine here. I'm serious.

Nice selection of nihonshu in this tiny izakaya. The motivation is clearly to enjoy drinks with small snacks. Don't expect to have a full meal there.

Friendly and authentic Izakaya! No kids as meant to drink Each person must drink (alcohol) Yummy small dishes food Feels at home!!

Best Izakaya place in all of Singapore. Friendly one man show that serves up amazing food and the vast selection of sake and shochu that is imported from Japan is unbelievable! Must place to go if you love Japanese izakaya. ?

this is a very old school snack-type bar and not a restaurant. a great place to go for a before meal or post meal drink. the owner is colorful and always keen to chat. just don't think of it as an izakaya.

A tiny bit of Japan in this cosy authentic izakaya! Convivial atmosphere with Japanese expats here. Reservations are a must! Very smooth and refreshing sapporo on tap and an extensive sake selection that leaves you spoilt for choice. In true Japanese style, you have to order a drink here. The bad reviews here are from people who don't seem to understand that you have to drink here - and everyone drinks, not just one drink per table and stay there for hours. Food is a selection of tapas type small bites and accompaniment to the drinks. The owner was a hotel chef Shangri La! Toku's service is also on point, always attentive and asking if you want a refill.

Ok lets start off with the most important thing here. You must drink. Being a local, i can understand that this rule might seem a little boorish or a tactic to get people to spend. However, an izakaya like this is supposed to be a relaxing place to drink and the shop owner, aka master-san has the right to run his own place as he pleases. If this does not suit you, well you're out of luck here. Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, this place is a hidden gem tucked away in a corner contrasting the orchard area. I only found this place purely by chance as i had missed my bus and thus wandered around. Stumbling past here felt as if i had returned to japan which i miss dearly due to covid. It had all the charm of a cozy neighbourhood izakaya that i knew i had to come try it out. While walk-ins are allowed, it is typically advised to make a reservation beforehand to avoid dissapointment especially on busier days. Their opening schedule for the month can be found on facebook. Ok so i phoned in and made a reservation for last tuesday and came in just as the shop opened. The first thing that hit me was that the place was absolutely gorgeous. The second was how unprepared i was for how i was going to be able to converse with master-san. The shop clientle was mostly japanese and it shows. While master-san knew english, he was clearly and expectantly not fluent in it. While my nihongo was most defintely not jozu. Ok it is not exsist. However, despite the languague barrier he was warm and friendly and it shows. With the obligatory question of "do you drink?" out of the way, we are in business. Honestly, i've never had good sake and would really like to learn more about it. So when asked if i would like to have sake, shochu or beer, i went with sake. I told him that i am new to sake, would like to learn more about it and asked for his recommendation. He proceeded to ask a few questions such as do you prefer sweet or dry, what alcohol do you drink? He then recommended me with some difficulty this bottle of sake (see picture). It was understandable that it was kinda a diffcult thing to do as it was his first time seeing me and everyone taste is different. But i have to say, his judgement was spot on. The sake was smooth and delicious! He then proceeded to explain to me the sake making process and other facts about sake that made what i read online suddenly more understandable. To list some: not only is rice very important in sake making, the quality of the water matters too. Generally, higher the polishing percent, the sweeter it will be while the less percentage, the greater the umami. I hope i understood him correctly as like i said language barrier. Next i asked him to recommend some drinking food. He recommended me to try "bonito cheese". Ok basically it is tuna guts on top of cream cheese. While it may sound more gross this way and taste how you would think it is, fishy, salty and creamy, i got to say it is absolutely delicious together with the sake. That being said i can understand if this is not palatable for everyone. They do serve more normal? food such as edamame and macroni salad. After a while, a japanese regular came in and sat beside me(with social distancing of course) and we chated a bit over alcohol with master-san and overall have a pleasant experience. Overall, this place is polarising with reference to local bars, but as long as you do and will drink, this place is amazing and will transport you to japan with japanese hospitality and atmosphere. :)