Gyoza Ya, The Heeren

When I was (much) younger, the Heeren used to be the place for teeny boppers and you will find lots of teenagers in their school uniforms hanging out in the area on Friday afternoons. On weekends, you will find the same teenagers clad in fashionable outfits hiding in the neoprint booths taking countless neoprints because selfies were not the in thing back then. Heck, we did not even have smartphones in those days. Most of us were still using our parents' phones which were the Nokia 8250 brick while the lucky (richer) ones paraded around with their colour phones.

That was easily more than 10 years ago. The Heeren fell from grace shortly after and went through a major face lift. It now houses Robinsons which only appeals to me when they are having sales. So I enter for the sake of Gyoza Ya which I read from other reviews that they serve good food. This is another place where I wonder how they received such awesome reviews when it was really pretty meh. 

The menu at gyoza ya.

We had Nasu Miso Gake ($4.80) which was grilled eggplant with sweet miso. Unfortunately, I have no idea how this could pass off as being grilled. How is this grilled?! It was served cold and mushy, without any hint of being grilled, with a scoop of miso and some spring onions on top. Did the kitchen forget that they were supposed to grill this and end up boiling it for me? I have no idea, and I finished this in an extremely confused state. 

I had the Jya Jya Men ($6.50) which was thick noodles with minced pork and special miso. This tasted like the Chinese Zha Jiang Mian. If I were to compare it with the Chinese equivalent, I would say that this bowl of noodles was sorely lacking. But since this was much like a confused mix between the Chinese Zha Jiang Mian with Japanese influence, I do not have anything comparable to compare it with, so I shall leave it as that. We could add white vinegar and chilli oil into the noodles as we wished and the result was a rather ordinary bowl of noodles. 

The boyfriend's Tokusei Tonkotsu Udon ($6.80) which was special pork bone soup with thick noodles. There was nothing special about the soup. It tasted like they poured a copious amount of MSG into a pot of hot water, added some milk, stirred the mixture and served. The soup base was flat. I could not describe it further. Pork bone soup bases are usually very robust and rich, but the soup base here was flat and bland. I applaud my boyfriend for not wasting food. Then again, I applaud myself for not wasting food too. 

And this is the highlight of the meal. Definitely the saving grace. We had the Pan Fried Dumplings with Pork ($4.80 for 5 pieces). The gyozas were crispy on the outside with a juicy pork filling. The pork was very fresh and there was a light broth oozing out of the gyoza when you bit into it. This is good. If you do come to Gyoza Ya, I would suggest you only order the gyozas.

OCBC Robinsons cardholders get 5% off the Bill. Good for me since my mains were so sad, I was rather happy to enjoy a discount.

260 Orchard Road

#B1-02A Robinsons Orchard

67375581

11:30 am - 10 pm