Lilyan Singapore, Tokyo’s famous soba restaurant opens at Boat Quay with a Singapore-exclusive flavour

If you’re on the hunt for the latest eats in town, there’s an all-new soba restaurant at Boat Quay, in the form of Lilyan.

Some eagle-eyed readers who travel frequently might recognise the brand: The soba spot is a perennial-favourite among the Japanese, ever since it first opened in Roppongi, Tokyo, back in 2021.

Its specialty is traditional soba noodles crafted with 100%, gluten-free buckwheat flour, as Lilyan takes the quality of its noodles seriously, believing in serving diners only the best. (Most run-of-the-mill soba stores tend to use a mixture of buckwheat and wheat flour instead.)

Even if you haven’t been to its stores in Tokyo, fret not, because you can now get its signature soba right in the heart of bustling Boat Quay — no flights needed!

Lilyan’s Singapore outlet, which opened on August 27, marks the brand’s first foray outside of Tokyo, Japan. We also hear that the team intends to open a second outlet here sometime next year.

Authentic vibes at Lilyan’s Singapore store 

When we swung by Lilyan Singapore on a weekday afternoon, the place was already packed with the lunch crowd. 

We weren’t bothered by it, though — despite it being peak lunch hour, service was quick and efficient. In fact, we were directed to our seats within minutes of queuing in line.

However, if you prefer to secure seats before heading down (which we strongly recommend if you’re coming in a bigger group), Lilyan Singapore does accept reservations online. And yes, you can also make reservations during peak hours — it’ll save you time, trust us.

From the moment we entered Lilyan Singapore, we noticed that the staff and the patrons were mainly Japanese.  

According to one of its crew, the chefs at the Boat Quay outlet had trained at Lilyan Tokyo, where they honed their culinary techniques and knowledge of soba recipes, before they were flown over to work at the Singapore branch. 

However, you needn’t worry about getting your orders across — all of its staff spoke fluent English, so placing our orders was a breeze. 

As we listened to the Japanese chatter around us (across the staff and patrons) while we dined in this quaint Japanese spot, it almost felt like we were transported to Japan itself, visiting a food gem that only the locals know about.

The menu at Lilyan Singapore

Lilyan Singapore’s menu is quite extensive: For lunch, it serves up soba and rice bowl dishes only. However, by night, there’s tapas and hako soba (a customisable sharing soba platter), too. 

If you’ve only been to Lilyan in Tokyo, here’s a reason to visit its Singapore outlet: There’s also a Singapore-exclusive flavour that’s only available on our shores — the cold shiso with herb tsuyu (S$19), a refreshing dish best enjoyed on a hot day. 

The silk-smooth soba noodles come with a tantalising herbaceous shiso herb tsuyu sauce that you’re supposed to dunk the noodles into (as with all cold soba dishes).

On its own, the creamy green shiso dip is fresh and vibrant with subtle grassy notes. But when taken with the soba, it takes the noodles to another level, imbuing them with a rich, umami-forward flavour that’s irresistibly fragrant. 

The cold shiso with herb shoyu is a straightforward dish that’s very light on the palate, and an ideal classic choice if you’re trying cold soba for the first time. 

In Japan, soba is traditionally savoured cold, but if you prefer a dish that’s hot and soup, there’s the hot butakara soba (S$19), which means “spicy pork” in Japanese. 

This dish came highly recommended to us, with one of the staff chirping excitedly that it’s one of the crowd-favourites on Lilyan Singapore’s menu, so we knew we had to try it, even as non-spice eaters. 

Admittedly, we were a tad intimidated by the deep-red hot butakara soba when it first arrived. Served in a piping hot bowl, the soba and pork slices were steeped in a fiery broth tinged with chilli oil — we were almost positive that it was going to be too spicy for our tastebuds.

Thankfully, we were proven wrong — the broth was surprisingly mild on the spice front. Even for someone who can’t take spice at all, I found the soup to be pleasantly palatable.

The hot butakara soba also had a rich, sweet-salty profile, which contrasted with the savouriness of the tender pork slices well.

If you’re still feeling peckish, how about ordering a rice bowl to share? These are only available as an additional side if you’ve already ordered a bowl of soba, with a top-up fee. (Soba is the main focus here, after all.)

The dons, which come in six different flavours, are well worth the extra cost, though.

We had the classic salmon and avocado (additional S$7), though we were pretty enticed by the baked eel and yam (additional S$16) and shrimp tempura (additional S$10), too. 

For the quality of Lilyan Singapore’s fare, we do think that its prices are more than reasonable, and the vibes there are immaculate. 

Even though we only tried a handful of dishes, and just two soba ones, Lilyan Singapore easily made its way to our list of go-to soba spots in town. You best believe we’ll be back to try its other signatures soon.

For the latest eats, read about the newly launched Homm Dessert Singapore at Raffles City Shopping Centre, or artisanal sourdough pizza restaurant, Paradise Pizza, at Holland Grove. Alternatively, check out the newest openings in Singapore here. 

Enjoy up to 50% off when you dine with GrabFood Dine Out.

You can also book a ride to Lilyan Singapore to try its signature soba.