Fukuichi

This is going to be a short post and a supplement to my earlier Chiraishi (see link) entry.

I’ve loved Fukuichi since it was in PSA building and I’m happy to report that it has maintained its standards after moving to Triple One Somerset. I love love love the Kani Tofu (tofu with crab mayo inside drizzled with century egg sauce) and the almond crusted tempura prawns there!

B lives right near by so it’s now the “perfect neighbourhood Jap joint”. That night I ordered the Chiraishi don and B ordered the teriyaki (I think) beef set. I can’t speak for him but my chiraishi was simply lovely. It’s less hearty than Botan or Matsuo’s but the quality of the sashimi was fantastic. If I remember correctly it’s a bit pricier – but note: I am comparing the former two’s lunch set prices to Fukuichi’s dinner ala carte menu.

I imagine we will be making many more repeat visits here, woot!

Kumo

I’m flying to Tokyo with the new boss for work next week but we decided on Jap for my welcome lunch anyway. Kumo is a (year + old?) Japanese restaurant at Icon Village, Tanjong Pagar which looks interesting but unfortunately also intimidating (read: atas and expensive) from the outside.

But like I said, this was a welcome lunch and on corporate account so….

I had the $38++ set and it comprised a few courses:

First, we had a simple salad. Second up was the sashimi course. Hmm. Yes, fresh indeed. But serving was a bit small – such a tease, I was left wanting more.

Luckily, the bento set more than made up for the petite appetizer portions. From left upper corner clockwise, there was the goat cheese salad, the prawn and vege tempura, two pieces of grilled saba fish and a small hill of beef sukiyaki (dried stir-fried, not soup). These came with rice and soup too.

We were stuffed but the sorbet dessert was very refreshing so we polished that off anyway.

Overall, a good meal. I can’t complain, since this was a treat. But objectively, Kumo’s set lunch was Tatsuya/Aoki pricing and the experience just fell short. The restaurant was packed with similar “business lunch” types though so I’m guessing it’s good if you have an expense account.

I doubt this will be a regular lunch joint for me. If the Jap craving hits, I’d walk (and mind you it’s a long walk now that I’m at Chartis Building) all the way to Botan for my chiraishi fix.

Takashimaya Hokkaido Fair

Yes, it's on again! I received a mailer and once I saw the pictures of this (see below) little beauty I knew I had to go get it.


Crab Chiraishi. Doesn’t it sound sexy? And it looked utterly tantalising. It ain’t cheap - $23 a bento - but there was no stopping me. What Lizzie wants, Lizzie gets. (Ok, that sounded wrong. Disclaimer: I am only referring to food.)

Also on sale were the famous Maruamami cream puffs, as well as some fried croquettes (selection of crab/corn/scallop cream). They looked so good my eyes kept straying. Focus on your Chiraishi, I willed myself.

For once, resistance worked. I walked away, found a nice seat in the foodcourt and savoured my crab chiraishi. I love how sweet and fresh the pieces of shredded crab were. And the ikura (fish eggs), ooohh once you pop, you can't stop. The rice was a tad dry though, could have done with more vinegar.

No matter. I was one happy girl. The fair ends this Sunday. Go try this!

Sangokai

I have a weakness for Japanese food. I crave it all the time. Which bores my friends at times, “Jap again?!” they’d say. Indulge me please. Well at least I suggest a different Japanese place each time right…

I read about this Jap joint on some other blogs so last Friday I gathered some of the homies to check it out. Sangokai is located on Beach Road near Sultan Gate Road, quite non descript so look out for it. Simple décor, almost like dining at home. For some strange reason I felt encouraged simply because the place just felt so erm homely.

We zoomed in on the mixed sashimi platter straight away. For $50, I’d say it was good value for money! A good variety of fresh, succulent cuts of sashimi very prettily laid out, we couldn’t wait to tuck in. Yum. Sashimi cravings satiated. For now.

We also ordered the signature “flaming dragon roll” ($19.80) , aburi tuna and salmon sushi and a grilled squid. Nothing not to like about the dragon roll, tempura inside with aburi (can’t get enough) fish rolled outside, topped with sinful mayo – best. The aburi sushi was kind of disappointing though, it lacked the taste of the torch, bummer. The salt grilled squid was nicely done, very tasty. I can have it with sake all night haha.

The waitress also suggested we order the “special” Hokkaido tofu. At $12 for a small slab of plain tofu? Sorry, I wasn’t impressed. Felt a bit ripped off even.

Prices here are very reasonable. Well, except for that tofu, anyway. I don’t mind coming back for more sashimi though.

Yoyogi Restaurant

The amount of sashimi I have been having is kinda an overkill but what the heck, I love my fatty chunks of raw fish and no, I am not sick of Japanese food (yet)!

Tonight’s fix was at Yoyogi, this Japanese joint along Mohammed Sultan Road which was recommended by my dinner date B. The reviews on hungrygowhere were not encouraging as they seemed to suggest the place was over-priced but I decided to check the place out anyway.


The sashimi moriwase platter wasn’t cheap at $88 but it did look pretty. There was a good variety of fish, but only 2-3 small slices of each –Fish Mart Sakuraya has spoilt me with their gianormous portions. Interestingly there was a “squid with roe” sashimi which had a really good bite and texture to it. It’s presented as the cross-section of a white squid and there’s white roe inside. I forgot to take pictures and I haven’t been able to google what is. If you know what it is PLEASE let me know..

The teriyaki cod and shioyaki salt we ordered was ok, nothing too challenging or impressive. I needed to get my carbo fix so I ordered a bowl of garlic fried rice to fill my stomach. Bad choice, it was dry and unflavorful. The two skewers of chicken we ordered were also mediocre, bland and a bit charred.

I’m usually very forgiving with my food reviews but $200 for the bit of food we had (including two bottles of biru) – very average tasting – was definitely not worth it. I’m sorry, but I am not going back.

Fish Mart Sakuraya Parkway Parade

It was moving day into the new Shoebox (affectionate name for my new apartment) and I was tired out from packing, moving, unpacking, and unpacking some more. To reward myself, I met up with fellow Katong Kia Kaisan for a nice celebratory dinner at Fish Mart Sakuraya Parkway Parade. "My treat", he said, “Order whatever you want”.

Uh oh. Those are dangerous words to tell me in a restaurant.

When we got there, I realised that Fish Mart Sakuraya had moved from a retail shop with just 3-4 seating tables, into a much bigger space with a proper seating area. They now have proper wait staff and a full menu comprising not just sushi and sashimi items, but also grilled and other cooked items – impressive! There was a queue on a Sunday night, but luckily, it moved pretty fast. Excellent, I was starved.

After we ordered some cooked items – cold salad tofu, edamame, inari sushi and grilled mentai salmon, we left our seats to pick out the sashimi at the counter. I’m not kidding when I say I went berserk over-ordering. Thick slab of kanpachi (yellowtail) please. Oh, and two thick slabs of maguro (tuna) and mekajiki (swordfish) too. Oh oh, and let’s not forget a generous serving of our favourite ohtoro (fattiest tuna)!

They weren’t big on presentation but I love how fresh, thickly sliced and creamy the sashimi was. Paired with a smooth bottle of junmai daiginjo, it was a hearty (I braved took responsibility for finishing up the copious amount of sashimi we ordered) and thoroughly enjoyable meal with a newly-discovered-old-time friend. Damage for all that food with a 750ml bottle of sake came up to $140 for the two of us, not the cheapest but it’s respectable, given the generous servings we had and how fresh they were.

Easties, lucky us, we know where to head for our sashimi fix *burp* Shiok to the max!

Kaiho Sushi

Ever since Sage closed down, I have been on the hunt for good BYO free corkage restaurants. Places such as Saint Pierre, French Kitchen and Table 66 offer free corkage on Mondays or Tuesdays which are schoolnights, so that's hardly convenient. The chinese restaurants fare better - many of them such as Cafe de Hong Kong, Ming Kee and Wo Peng offer great value for money food, air-conditioned comfort and good stemware, even on weekends.


Last saturday I found a gem of a Japanese restaurant which also waives corkage charges. Kaiho Sushi omakase dinners has had good reviews so we gave Chef Benard a budget of $80 each, requested aburi sushi as part of the meal and left him to decide the other courses.



First up was a generous serving of sashimi, followed by a very flavourful bowl of mushroom soup. The third course was the highlight of the meal (for me at least) - 4 different types of aburi torched sushi. I took a bite of the hotate sushi and immediately went "omg this is so good.." Mental note to self to get another piece if stomach permits at the end of the meal (we did haha).


After the sushi came a whole grill fish (don't know what fish it was) for each of us. Shiok! We demolished the fish in record time and looked expectantly at Chef Bernard. "What's next?" we smiled gleefully. The next course was a daikon radish and carrot dish, which was simple but enjoyable. This was followed by light fluffy fish tempura served with mustard, which I enjoyed very much. By this time, us 3 girls were quitwe stuffed. Luckily, there was only dessert to go - strawberries with cream :) All in all an excellent meal and pretty good deal, considering we can bring our own wines.

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.

Fukuichi

I remember the first time Elaine brought me to Shinobu Dining at PSA Building for lunch and I was impressed with the great lunch bento sets. The following week I dragged K down for dinner and again, the food wow-ed us. Imagine how bummed I was, when the restaurant closed down last year and (sniff), I didn't even get to say goodbye!

By a stroke of luck I found out recently that the ex-Shinobu has moved to TripleOne Somerset. Since that precious bit of discovery, I have been back not once not twice but three times, in the past two months (which for me is saying a lot).

Their sashimi is freshly flown from Japanese and very good. But I usually just attack the cooked food - highlight being my kani tofu! Fresh crabstick encased in smooth tofu and smothered in creamy century egg sauce and topped off with more finely diced century egg. My kind of heaveeen..

Another must-try is the the mentaiko cod. Yums. I love everything with mentaiko so this dish is right up my alley. Great balance of salty creamy (oops the cholesterol) mentaiko with sweet oiliness (double oops) of codfish. Best for sharing with another person as it can get a bit jelat.

Then try the almond crusted ebi tempura. I've never seen it anywhere else and they really do it very well at Fukuichi. So generous with the almonds too. Lastly, if you are like me and need some carbo to complete a meal, order the aburi salmon maki. I don't have a pic here but it's good, trust me.