Teppei Syokudo (Takashimaya)

Went to Teppei Syokudo at Takashimaya which provides only take-aways. I heard a lot of good reviews about it so I brought Ed with me to try.

Kaisendon "Bara Chirashi" ($16)- Big chunks of marinated raw fish with sushi rice. The marinate was not really to my liking as it was too salty. What I did like was the texture of the fish which was firmer than your usual sashimi (most likely cause of the marinate). I was kinda disappointed about it. For me, non marinated raw fish is better or maybe a less salty marinate. 

Rate:
Kaisendon "Bara Chirashi": 6/10 ☺

Senmi Sushi

Went to Senmi Sushi with Ed cause I wanted to eat Chirashi don.

Here you can create you own chirashi don which is a bowl of rice topped with seafood and vegetables.

Here is our creation ($22). We added Ikura, Chutoro and Amaebi. It was really good. The sashimi was quite fresh and went well with the sushi rice, seaweed and (my favourite) ikura! But if you're too lazy to create one you can just go for their standard chirashi don which can be found in their menu.

Uni, Hamachi and Ebi Fry Bomb ($22). Deep fried coated prawns wrapped in seaweed and sushi rice with yellowtail fish topped with uni, spring onions and yellow flowers and drizzled with a pink sauce and garnished with more tobiko and ikura. It was really good. You get crunch from the prawns and tons of flavour from all the ingredients. What I didn't like though was the uni which was more on the strong sea smell side then I would like. Lucky Ed liked it so I gave it to him.

Dynamite Maki ($16.80). Prawn and avocado roll with flamed-seared wagyu beef slices topped with cheese, tempura bits and spring onion. First time having beef with sushi rice. The maki on the inside was quite mushy luckily there was the tmepura bits that gave it some crunch and the sauce which provided flavour for the sushi roll. I would say this is quite a unique maki.

Aburi Selection Platter ($18.80). Amaebi foie gras, scallop with mentaiko and salmon all flamed-torched. The salmon was good with the sweet sauce drizzled on top. The scallop was meaty and went well with the slightly spicy cod roe and mayo topping and the sweet shrimp with the creamy foie gras was a good match. My favourite was the scallop followed by the amaebi and lastly the salmon.

Rate:
Our creation: 8.5/10 ☺
Uni, Hamachi and Ebi Fry Bomb: 8/10 ☺
Dynamite Maki: 7/10 ☺
Aburi Selection Platter: 7/10 ☺

The Tuckerbox Lunch

Went to The Tuckerbox Lunch for some cheap bara chirashi don (yummmm....)

Premium Bara Chirashi ($12.80)- Sushi rice, salmon, salmon belly, kingfish, swordfish, prawns, avocado,ikura & tobiko. It was good. Besides the sushi rice, they topped it with furikake (a dry Japanese seasoning usually sprinkled on rice) and sweet inari skin which added more flavour the the sushi rice. The sashimi was good for the price that you're paying. The only one I didn't like was the ama ebi which was not fresh. Miso soup and green tea are free, self-service. I forgot the price of the salmon sashimi as ed was the one who ordered it.

Taken from their FB page

Here is their menu although it's super hard to distinguish the words.
They also have 2 other bara chirashi on their menu and if you don't like raw food you can try other options like teriyaki chicken don.

Rate:
Premium Bara Chirashi: 7.5/10 ☺

Sushi Airways

Went to Sushi Airways with Zq for lunch. At the entrance it was quite awkward. We arrive around 5 minutes after their opening time and did know if they were opened. We walked up the stairs and opened the curtain to see an aircraft and a busy waitress on the phone.

What's special about this place is their theme. I like the whole aircraft feel you get when you enter the place. Even the waitress is dressed as an air stewardess. The only thing missing is the aircraft engine noise which I like absent.

Their menu. Inside it there are also pictures of different section of the plane in accordance to your meal category like for starters they will show the front of the plane. Zq and I ordered the lunch set which is available even on weekends.On the lunch menu are items such as Salmon Teriyaki, Cold Goma Soba, Kurobuta Katsu and Bara Chirashi set.

Salad. All set lunch comes with a salad, miso soup and dessert of the day. The salad surprised me as it was not stated in their menu but they did showed a picture of it. The salad was dressed with (my favourite) sesame dressing.

Miso soup which tasted tasty like what you usually get.

Airways Bara Chirashi Sushi Set ($17). A combination of chopped sashimi with shoyu wasabi over sushi rice. There were tuna, salmon, some white flesh fish, cucumber, shredded eggs and lime in the bowl. I like the sushi rice but I wished the sashimi was marinated cause it's already chopped up into small pieces so Zq and I kind of pour shoyu on top of it so that it tasted better. Sashimi standard was okay for the price I paid.

Dessert of the day was soya milk pudding, I think from what I tasted. Zq said it tasted like the premix one which was not bad, it tasted good.

Sawagani ($17)- Fresh water crabs found in Japan. This was on their special menu and we decided to order it. They were really alive before they were sent to the deep fryer. Zq saw them in a bowl moving before they met their demise. The crab was yummy. Crunchy and tasted like crab (duh! hahaha). My favourite.

Rate:
Airways Bara Chirashi Sushi Set: 6/10 ☺
Sawagani: 8.5/10 ☺

Sushi Jin

Went to Sushi Jin with Gf and Dj for lunch. All set lunch are served with salad & dessert.

Top view

Side view

Salad. Mixed salad with roasted sesame dressing and sliced cherry tomatoes.

Bara Chirashi Don ($32)- assorted sashimi cube over sushi rice. The sashimi was tasty and fresh. There was tuna, salmon, some white fish, tamago, cucumber, tobiko and ikura on top of a bed of well seasoned rice. Overall I really enjoyed it cause I LOVE ikura! Th tuna was really good as well.

Wagyu to Foie Gras Don ($39)- glazed foie gras & wagyu beef over rice. The foie gras was really good- soft and melts in your mouth. The beef on the other hand was very average. Such a big contrast. They should just have a foie gras don on its own.

Unagi Don ($29)- grilled freshwater eel over sushi rice. In case you're wondering what's the yellow strips, they're shredded tamago (eggs). There was nothing special about the eel. This dish overall was very average.

Dessert. We had watermelons, grapes and a jelly. The jelly tasted like corn jelly with waterchesnut bits.

Ebi no Mentaiko Tempura ($18)- deep fried prawn with cod roe mayo. Sounds so good- mentaiko! However it was super dissapointing. Somehow the ebi wasn't as crisp as expected maybe the mentaiko made it soggy? Mentaiko taste was not to my liking as well. Wasn't as creamy as what I wanted and was more towards the spicy side. Felt like I was eating stale crispy spikey tempura with a slightly spicy sauce and a touch of lemon. Not a nice way to end our meal.

Rate:
Bara Chirashi Don : 7.5/10 ☺
Wagyu to Foie Gras Don: 7/10 ☺
Unagi Don: 5.5/10 ☺
Ebi no Mentaiko Tempura: 5/10 ☺

HAHA Sushi Restaurant

Went to HAHA Sushi on Valentines day with ED for lunch! Surprisingly there wasn't many people there. They offer a wide variety of Japanese food just like your usual casual Japanese restaurant.

We were shown our seats and the waitress informed us about their fish that just came in the morning. We could get it either sashimi style, grilled or both.

We wanted the yellow tail but they only have it grilled thus we chose the sea bream ($32) instead. The Kodai sashimi was REALLY GOOD. It was mildly flavourful with hints of lemon taste. You do not even need to dip it in shoyu when you eat it.

For the Kodai grilled one it was good as well, taste like a normal fish. Well seasoned with a side fish dip provided. I regretted not getting the entire fish sashimi-ed.

Golden Soft Shell Crab ($12.80)- Deep-fried soft shell crab, drizzled with crab roe & salted egg yolk sauce. ED and I didn't like it because the sauce was more towards sweet than savoury but the crabs were crispy.

Dragon Mentai Roll ($10.80)- Giant prawn roll, topped with flame-grilled marinated cod roe. Deep fried prawn, rolled with sushi rice, seaweed, topped with mentai and lightly flamed. Prawn was cripsy and the mentai was oh so yummy.

Salmon Mango Roll ($10.80)- California roll  wrapped with salmon & fresh mango slices. Super refreshing cause of the acidic mango. Good way to wash away the soft shell crab.

Ikura Chawamushi ($6.80)- Chawamushi with salmon roe. You can never go wrong when you match chawamushi with ikura! The custard was smooth and went really well with the salty ikura.

Salmon Head Shio ($5.80)- Salmon head grilled with salt. We decided to get the salmon head since it was on offer ($7.80 U.P.). It was well seasoned and oily cause salmon is an oily fish.

We also had green tea ($1.20) which is refillable. Do look out for the HAHA SPECIALS on the walls when you dine in. There might be something that interest you.

Rate:
Kodai sashimi: 8.5/10 ☺
Kodai grilled: 6/10 ☺
Golden Soft Shell Crab: 5/10 ☺
Dragon Mentai Roll: 6.5/10 ☺
Salmon Mango Roll: 7/10 ☺
Ikura Chawamushi: 7.5/10 ☺
Salmon Head Shio: 6/10 ☺

Pepper Lunch (Hougang Mall)

Went to PepperLunch for the Student Meal available from 10am - 6pm on weekdays that's inclusive of a drink. There's also the normal Weekday Lunch Special from 10am to 2pm that's inclusive of a side dish and drink.

Cheese Hamburg Steak w/ Brown Sauce ($9.90)- A Japanese Classic featuring tender Australian Steaks smothered with the selection of brown sauce , and complete with a sunny side up egg. I love hearing the sizzle of the hot plate plus the fragrant aroma of the beef. Hamburg and cheese are a good combination. Mashed potatoes was smooth and buttery. Tasted a little like the one at 7-Eleven. Brown sauce was okay. For drinks I had mineral water since they didn't have Iced Lemon Tea.

Rate:
Cheese Hamburg Steak w/ Brown Sauce: 7/10 ☺

Kinsa Sushi (Hillview Rise)

Went with nia to Kinsa Sushi for dinner since the DT line is finally opened! Easier access to HillV2 Shopping Mall.

Green Tea ($1). Freeflow green tea.

Salmon Mentai ($15.80)- Crabmeat and cucumber maki topped with aburi salmon mentai, garnished with salmon roe. Torched, charred and creamy tasting salmon with mentai maki.

Grilled Prawn with Cod Roe Mayo ($9.80). Rich prawn taste with tender meat, topped with a delicious and creamy cod roe mayo.

Tenzaru Cold Udon ($11.80). Cold, chewy, plain thick udon with tempura (prawn, red bell pepper and carrot).  Even though I dipped the udon with the dipping sauce, it still tasted plain. Quite weird. Tempura didn't have any tempura dipping sauce.

Gyu Don ($13.80). Medium rare beef on a bed of warm rice with a half boiled egg. Nia ordered this. The beef tasted quite mild, rice was plain. Overall could use more seasoning for nia's liking. Miso soup was good.

Japanese Steamed Egg with Salmon Roe ($7.80). Silky smooth steamed egg with firm yet soft, salty salmon roes that burst in your mouth. Definitely a must try!

Rate:
Green Tea: 6/10 ☺
Salmon Mentai: 7/10 ☺
Grilled Prawn with Cod Roe Mayo : 9/10 ☺
Tenzaru Cold Udon: 5/10 ☺
Gyu Don: 5/10 ☺
Japanese Steamed Egg with Salmon Roe: 9/10 ☺

Maccha House (Orchard Central)

Went to Maccha House with gf since we both love matcha. Maccha House offers bitter matcha like the ones in Kyoto. They not only sell match related items but also the usual Japanese food affair like oyako don (chicken and egg with rice).

Taken from their FB page

Order any 2 main courses + 2 drinks + 1 dessert and get $10 off your total bill. We thought it was a good deal so we ordered 2 main, 2 drink and a dessert.

Matcha Float Latte ($5.40)- Cold bitter matcha with sweet soft serve ice cream. I like the soft serve with the matcha cause it made the matcha less bitter since I don't like bitter matcha.

Matcha Ice Cream Latte ($5.40)- Cold bitter matcha with sweet matcha ice cream. I love the matcha ice cream, it's the perfect sweetness.

Chicken Oyako Plate ($11.90)- Cute flower-shaped(?) rice with egg, chicken and onion. The egg and chicken were not overcooked and tasted average. The miso soup was flavourful. The salad was good with my favourite sesame dressing and they even have a small cup of dessert- 2 chewy mochi ball, topped with slight sweet red bean, finely crushed peanuts and a sweet dark sugar sauce. I love the sides provided a lot more than the main dish.

Teriyaki Chicken Plate ($11.90). Well cooked chicken with sweet teriyaki sauce and a beautifully poached egg with the same sides. The chicken was tasty with the crispy skin and I like it as much as the sides.

Banana Dorayaki ($7.40). Dorayaki is a Japanese pancake usually filled with red bean. Here we have dorayaki with sliced bananas, whipped cream, nuts, caramel sauce and a side of soft serve matcha ice cream. The sauce helped brings out the bland pancake and banana while the nuts gave it some crunch. I didn't really like the pancke but the soft serve was really good.

Here's a short video of our mains.

We were full after our mains and wanted to cancel our dessert but the service staff said the dessert was already being prepared. So we said okay. The plus point was that our overall bill was cheaper because of the dessert since we got a $10 discount. I think the place sells food that are not bad and it's worth looking at their fb page to see their monthly specials.

Rate:
Matcha Float Latte: 7/10 ☺
Matcha Ice Cream Latte: 7/10 ☺
Chicken Oyako Plate: 7/10 ☺
Teriyaki Chicken Plate: 7.5/10 ☺
Banana Dorayaki: 5.5/10 ☺

Koji Sushi Bar

Came to Koji Sushi Bar with gf for lunch. Koji Sushi bar is a casual place to dine with most diners at the sushi counter seats. The have a small, simple menu that actually covers a wide range of food (or at least food that I would try).

Yuzu tea ($3) and Matcha latte ($5). The yuzu tea was your average yuzu that you get everywhere. Citrus-y, slight bitterness and sweetness. The matcha latte is actually unsweetened matcha with milk which is good since some people would like it without sugar. The gave a bottle of sugar which gf added quite a lot since she felt it needed it to be balanced.

Beancurd with Century Egg ($4). The beancurd was like chawamushi, soft and silky. Topped with a delicious century egg yolk  mixture, springy century egg bits and tobiko.

All donburi and sushi set comes with soup and salad. The salad with the tangy, sweet and fishy dressing was a nice start. The soup was clear, hot and flavourful.

Salmon Avocado Tartare Rice Bowl ($17). Creamy avocado and fresh raw salmon tossed in some sort of dressing with wasabi on the side. Gf really liked it since she loves salmon but the wasabi was quite spicy.

Sashimi Rice Bowl ($17) with Uni (+$9). There were small chunks of a number of sashimi like salmon, swordfish and yellowtail. There were also jellyfish strips, tempura bits, ikura and uni on top. Having the sashimi in small chunks instead of slices were good as you could taste more of the sashimi flavour. The crunchy jellyfish added a nice springy texture while the tempura bits gava it some crunch. The uni was really nice. Fresh, sweet and had a taste of the sea.

Gf and I really enjoyed our meal here and might come back again soon.

Rate:
Yuzu tea: 6/10 ☺
Matcha latte: 6.5/10 ☺
Beancurd with Century Egg: 7/10 ☺
Salmon Avocado Tartare Rice Bowl: 7/10 ☺
Sashimi Rice Bowl with Uni: 7.5/10 ☺