Chiraishi Porn

I often order Chiraishi when I’m at a Japanese restaurant. To me, it’s the culmination of all sashimi goodness - thick slices of salmon belly, tuna, kanpachi, tai, hirame, cooked prawn, fishcake, tamagoyaki, tobiko…..you get the idea. My absolute favourite has to be the one from Matsuo, which also happens to be the best deal at $20 nett (lunch set on Mondays and Fridays). My gawd they are so generous! Look out for the precious slice of otoro encased in the bento treasure box. The big slice of bbq eel rocks too.

First runner-up is shared by Botan and Aoki. The $25++ chiraishi from Botan is topped with a dollop of sweet pink fish floss and OMG I love the medley of sweet from the pink fish floss, saltiness from the ebiko, seaweedy-ness from the shredded nori and fragrance from the sesame seeds scattered over the rice.

Aoki's $35++ maze chirashi is a bit more expensive but it's an upmarket place and the lunch set comes with a trio of desserts which makes it excellent value for money. So pretty! Generous portions of chopped up salmon, tuna, swordfish, mackeral etc. The highlight for me is the tamago castella scattered liberally on the rice - love the sweetish egg with sponge-cake texture.

Finally, a discussion of chiraishi would not be complete without the $25++ one from Chikuwa (ex-Wasabi Tei fame). Thickest slices of salmon/tuna/swordfish/scallop /uni/tamago I have seen. Very fresh and shiok but sadly, the rice is lacking - a bit loose, not sticky enough.