Shirokiya

After returning from our Tokyo foodie trip, the boy and I had major major withdrawal symptoms!!! We had a great shabu shabu in Tokyo and I heard about this new Japanese shabu shabu place in Singapore with a menu that completely seduced us to try it that very night.

They're situated at cuppage terrace the Japanese food enclave and so we had a good feeling about it. We were led to the seats upstairs. The restaurant's feel was q Japanese with all the wooden furniture and walls. 

iPad ordering system

You are also given the menu so dont worry! Their menu can be found online here

Charcoal grilled chicken

$13.80

This chicken was superrrrrr normal and totally not worth the price tag. It was a bit too salty for me and oily. The accompanying sauce went well with it, made it less salty + oily. 3.4/5

Chicken & Vegetables served in tomato pot

$38.80

(for 2-3 people to share)

I felt this was good for 2 instead of 3 cos honestly it isnt a lot. The tomato soup was a bit diluted but it was tart and a little sweet. Ingredients in the soup: chicken, prawn, veg, mushrooms, cheese sausage, tomatoes, tofu, cabbages, leeks and I cant rmb/see if there's anything else!

This was q normal. OH! It came w cheese as an option of adding to your soup. There was also a bowl of collagen to add to your soup as well, felt like this doesnt change the taste of the soup! 3.9/5

The Sushi Falls

$19.80

We had an AMAZING rendition of this in Tokyo and when we saw this in their menu online we knew we were ordering this. Sadly this wasnt what we were craving for. Firstly their sushi rice was sticky and wasnt fragrant at all, didnt like the cucumber maki rolls below at all. Secondly the crabmeat topping felt like it was the frozen kind. The ikura was okay. Negitoro (minced tuna) was okay only as well. Sigh was quite disappointed with this dish! 3/5

Freshly Made Hot Tofu Served with 3 kinds of salt or fish stock

$7.80

This was recommended by our waitress and I'm glad we ordered it! The tofu actually made in a box that they'll bring to your table and then scoop up the home made tofu into the bowl for you. Then you're supposed to mix it w the 3 things on the side - bonito flakes, grated ginger & spring onions. I liked the tofu mixed with the 3 things!! Never thought this combi would work. Super fragrant! Had a warm, homey feeling to it as well. 4/5

Service was q okay there. Atmosphere wise, there was this big group of Japanese at the table opposite us so it felt kinda authentic! Food wise so-so. I think if you go there as a pure ladies group, you should order their ladies set menu which is really value for money imo!

Shirokiya

43 & 43A Cuppage Road, Cuppage Terrace

Singapore 229463

Mon-Sunday 3pm-2am (bar), 5pm-2am (restaurant)

67328588 

New Restaurant: Sushi Kuu

Please like my FB page for updates!

Sushi Kuu is a famous Japanese restaurant in Hongkong and they've recently set up a branch in Singapore. Their doors opened on 26 August but when the boy and I visited on 29 August for lunch, there were still many many congratulatory flower stands outside the shop so much so that we couldnt even see the entrance!

On its 3rd day of operations, there were about 2 other tables of customers when we entered at about 1.30pm. Relatively ok in terms of seating capacity, like maybe 20ish to 30 kind. So how did the food fare? Do note that prices here aren't cheap though there are some affordable lunch sets as seen below!

Sorry its not very clear! Most of these are from their ala carte menu just that I think set comes with miso soup! I think they should state clearly what each set comes with because I ordered the Assorted Sushi Set (Deluxe) and I didn't know that it comes w miso soup + a small bowl of udon!

Some photos of their ala carte menu:

The first item is sushi served in a cocktail glass!

Sushi rolls available! Whats Kuu house roll you ask and why is it $100? Read on to find out!

Foie gras roll is rolls topped w foie gras and in the middle of the roll is some veggie!

Their ala carte menu also has stuff like:

- Seafood onsen egg

- Sea urchin (uni) black truffle chawanmushi

- Steamed/grilled/fried items

- Desserts (green tea/black sesame/and one more flavour ice cream, seasonal fruit, and somemore but I cant rmb!)

There's also omakase menu at $150 which is relatively average!

Now on to what we ordered!

Assorted Seafood on Sushi Rice

$55

The boy ordered this and we were slightly wowed when they brought it to our table because the bowl is huge! Presentation and all definitely scored lotsa points. Plus the variety of seafood was just wow! 

- Scallop (super super good the boy said! V sweet!)

- Yellowtail

- Tamago 

- Ikura

- The small tiny fish eggs idk what they're called

- Crab claw (not much taste!)

- Ebi (aka prawn. Super hugeass thick piece!)

- Tuna (normal cut, red tuna)

- Otoro (no tendon and melts in your mouthhhh. Not much taste though!)

- Uni (sweet! Smooth and creamy goodness. No smelly yucky taste)

- That white slice of fish in front, idk what that is!

Plus you also get seaweed, pickles, fishcake, and toasted white sesame seeds to accompany your large bowl of rice!!! The boy was super happy, needless to say and we both felt that it was really value for money! The seafood was fresh and good so he had a really nice lunch :) His set comes w a miso soup! 4.4/5

This is the thick prawn!! Cant really tell here cos of the angle but it was at least 2x thicker than the chopstick width wise!

 Assorted Sushi Set (Deluxe)

$55

I ordered this! I told the server that I wanted some pieces to be aburi sushi but in the end I didnt get any. He even repeated what I said and asked if I wanted more pieces of aburi so I know he knows what I want, idk why I didnt get any :/ Anyway on to the sushi! I felt that for the same price as the boy's chirashi, mine was less value for $$ vs his. 

Otoro - no tendon, melt in your mouth kinda feel but not much sweetness but still good!

Rest of the other fish - quite normal

Prawn & scallop - fresh & q sweet

Ikura & uni - super super goooooood, v sweet too :)

Tamago - okayish

Sushi rolls - basically cucumber + tamago + crab stick inside topped w those small eggs haha idk what they're called. V normal too! 3.7/5

Udon

My set came with udon + miso soup and I totally didnt know about that but it is a blessing in disguise of sorts! If I knew, I'd prolly tell them that I dont want the udon cos I'd be too full and can't finish it but luckily I didnt know about it! Why? Because its the best udon I've had thus far!!!! Okay disclaimer: I havent really had a lot of udon to say this but in my experience, yes this is the best! Why? 

1st - the broth is SO good, so flavourful! Nothing can describe it, too complex a flavour profile

2nd - the nooooodles. Idk how they cook it and how they know how long to cook it for but yknow how most udon places, the udon still tastes & feels really starchy? I dont really like that taste/feeling so I generally stay away from it but this one was so soft and had only small traces of that taste that I finished almost everything! I didnt finish all because I was too stuffed else I would've! The boy was also amazed at this seemingly simple bowl of udon. I would go and try the udon at Liang Court to see which is better and update y'all! :) 4.4/5

Kuu House Roll

$100 for 4

Uni, salmon roe, toro, caviar

We originally wanted to get the cocktail sushi but that was $40 for 1 and this is $100 for 4 with almost similar ingredients just that this has toro instead of snow crab! Look at these little devils :) 

Can you imagine the bliss when you put that whole roll into your mouth? Trust me your mouth will be big enough and is big enough :) Its not just topped with these ingredients, the middle of the roll is stuffed with it too!

Upon putting the whole roll into your mouth, you'll taste a mixture of flavours! Sweet salty uni, sweet ikura, and ok no taste from the toro hahah but it adds texture to this roll! Overall, you get this mushy yummy goodness exploding in your mouth :) the caviar is more for the wow factor and you wont taste it unless you eat it on its own. 4.4/5

Overall I'd say food here is definitely not bad with new innovative dishes catered to the latest food fads like uni, truffle, toro, ikura, foie gras and it is done rather well. Food is fresh and that's what's important isn't it?

Service is a bit splotchy though, I had to ask for my green tea to be refilled, staff didnt really know the menu well, but they were all polite and smiley! Ambience is good too, nice spacing between tables and nice comfy chairs :)

Might be back to try some of the affordable lunch sets or to try their other rolls/omakase!

Sushi Kuu

Palais Renaissance #01-06/07 (its near the chocolate shop/toilet)

390 Orchard Road Singapore 238871

Mon-Sun 12pm-3pm, 6pm-10.30pm

67360100

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Pasarbella: Oceans of Seafood

So I heard there was a sushi restaurant in Pasarbella with fresh shipment from Japan, but sadly the food failed my expectations and I wouldnt go back for sushi anymore but I would go back to try their seafood!

Avocado Salmon Maki

$7

For 4 pieces, I thought this was a bit on the expensive side since this is hard to go wrong and well tastes like how all the other makis taste, not bad! 4.3/5

Toku Jyou Jyuisshu Sushi Mori

11 kinds of special sushi item

$43

I expected lots from this plate of sushi since there were my favs of otoro, uni, ebi & scallop but I'm sad to report that all of the sashimi wasnt cold enough! It was lukewarm which made it q gross to eat imo. We were seated at the counter in front of where the sashimi was kept and the boy and I both thought that the chiller holding the sashimi wasnt cold enough. Somehow when its lukewarm, I can barely taste the sweetness or what I am eating, just the texture which I thought was not what I paid for.

Rather New Restaurant: The Flying Squirrel

This restaurant can be a challenge to find because its not facing the road like all of the other shops along Amoy Street. Instead, you have to turn into a lane and there it is!

The entrance

So the menu consists of mainly Jap food with some fusion/inspired dishes.

Uni Shot

$16

You get sake with uni and well I think the combi kind of works? Its not something I'd try again though. We had it in a mouthful just like how you'd have a shot so you get a mix of sweet, slightly bitter taste from the sake but slightly salty taste from the uni 3.5/5

Truffled Ebi Fry

$15

These are prawns deep fried w truffle bread crumbs and served w truffled mayo. Honestly, the breaded prawn was kinda bleh, tastes like something outta the frozen section tbh. Sorry if this sounds kind of harsh. The truffle mayo was good though and went well with the prawn. Unless you're really craving for some breaded prawns, I suggest you skip this. 3/5

Unagi Don

(about $20? Not sure cos I lost my receipt sorry! And its not on the menu they sent me)

The boy said this was really normal, nothing to shout about. 

Sashimi platter

$42

Swordfish, prawns (amebi), scallops, salmon and tuna. All of them didnt have much sweetness but were fresh. 3.4/5

TFS Signature Maki

$28

I thought this was the best of the night! Nice mix of ingredients atop the sushi and a good variety across the different makis! I really like that you can try diff types of maki unlike many oth places where all them are the same! 4.3/5

Their lunch and dinner menus are different! With lunch being more of set/bento style while dinner has more ala carte options. Here's the dinner menu that they sent me:

The Flying Squirrel Dinner Menu

Ambience: the place is really small but tables arent cramped tgt which is good but it also means its hard to get a table during lunch hours when its apparently quite packed! Dark lighting and some nice decor.

Service: At the restaurant - friendly, prompt, no complaints. However I emailed them on a Monday asking for the menu and they took 2 days to reply me. I dont expect you to reply immediately but if you're running a service business, I kinda expect a next day reply. 

Well I'd probably not come back unless I'm in the area and wanna eat the signature maki.

The Flying Squirrel

92 Amoy Street

62262203

Lunch: 1130am-3pm, last order 2pm

Dinner 6pm - 11pm (Mon-Thurs), 6pm-12am (Fri-Sat), last order 10pm

Closed Sunday

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New Restaurant: Ezoca & Quayside Isle restaurants

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR! :)

Hope CNY has been good for y'all! Dont feel too guilty about eating too much CNY food, but do make sure you work it off somehow!! Ok let's talk about this Jap restaurant.

The chef helming this restaurant is Chef Morihara. Some may find his name familiar, and that's because he was head chef at the now defunct Inagiku at Fairmont Hotel Singapore. His previous stints include a few Japanese hotels including Marriott, then Four Seasons HK then Marriott Shanghai, and all as head chef. But now, he has his own restaurant to helm, residing in Quayside Isle in Sentosa. The waterfront is amazing at night really. So romantic :) and its kinda good now cos its not terribly crowded? Plus the cold weather now makes it even better!

Our menu for the night at $200/pp

I called to make a reservation and the person who answered my call, if I'm not wrong, is called Kenny. Anyway, he asked if we had any allergies/restrictions then asked if we wanted to pre-order a menu first. And my dad decided on this omakase menu. They also have a beef set or a sushi set menu or alacarte  menu which can be found on their website.

Japanese Fruit Tomato, Asparagus & Steamed Abalone

The tomato tastes normal, isnt as sweet as what I've had. Everything else tasted normal, nothing special. The abalone had this jelly thing on top that was slightly sweet but generally neutral in taste. 3/5

Seared Fatty Tuna Sushi

I'd say this was the best dish of the night for me. Quite good aburi going on here. Nice amt of fat so it really melts in your mouth! 4.5/5

Very cute chopstick holder!

Chef Sashimi Selection

There was red meat tuna, hamachi, amebi, otoro, king salmon, scallop, and forgot what else

Sashimi is supposed to be the chef specialty but my parents and I think that its average. None of the sashimi screams amazing, all relatively neutral in taste. The amebi (prawns) stood out a little more. I enjoyed the pieces of crunchy bamboo shoot more. Decent, but nothing to shout about. 3/5

Steamed Pacific Clams w Sake Broth

Apparently there's no alcohol content in this haha dont ask me why its called sake, Idk. 2 fat juicy clams were given and this soup was a clear tasting, slightly sweet one. Not bad to warm your stomach! 3.7/5

Decor + interior of the restaurant

Charcoal Grilled miso marinated Black Cod

I LOVE cod so I may be biased but this was done quite well imo! The meat could have been a tiny bit softer but overall, I liked it! Its firm but not overly firm (I mean the texture of the fish), miso taste doesnt overpower the fish, so all's good in this one! 4.4/5

Sake + choose your own sake cup (I like this and most authentic Jap restaurants have this!)

Crispy fried Sea Shrimp with American Eggplant

This isnt exactly tempura style cos the batter is thinner and doesnt cover all parts of the prawn. This is more like a soaked tempura in the radish sauce thingy but with a little bit of crispiness still. Interesting new style instead of the usual. 3.4/5

Snow crab & radish steamed with rice and miso soup

Lobster soup

It says on the menu miso soup but the guy told us its lobster soup. Anyhow, this is totally different from the usual miso soup and though I couldnt find lobster bits in it, I think its quite nice!!! Flavourful with miso taste but not v strong like how its like in some Jap restaurants. 3.9/5

I really like eating these!!! So appetising :)

This fried rice was the best dish of the night for my parents but I thought it was um v normal? It barely had any taste for me haha. Okay it did have a subtle aroma that made me finish the bowl of rice so I guess it does have some magic :) The rice is not sticky like how you'd envision Jap rice to be. Crab meat's shredded and distributed quite evenly throughout. I guess this dish is more about clean flavours! 3.5/4

Champagne flavoured chocolate, mixed fruits, ice cream

The chocolate is kinda like the nama chocolate from Royce, totally soft with a layer of "champagne" but honestly the champagne taste is not strong at all though the choc is quite good.

Mixed fruits -> all of the fruits were quite good, rock melon was acceptable, strawberries didnt have much taste though

Ice cream: can choose from a few flavours - green tea, black sesame, salt, cheese, vanilla (?) not sure about the last flavour. But we chose green tea, black sesame and salt. Black sesame as shown here, doesnt have a strong sesame taste at all, its quite muted though there were specks of black sesame here and there.

Salt ice cream

This was only slightly salty so no worries! Do try :)

Green tea

Not a very strong matcha taste

The view at night!

How the row of restaurants look at night

Sabio by the Sea has a nice atmosphere

Here's a list of restaurants there:

European

Brussels Sprouts 

Kebab House

Note di Sicilia

Picotin express

Sabio by the Sea

Solepomodoro Trattoria-Pizzeria

Asian

Ezoca

Others

Cove Stadium (American - opening soon)

Grillado

Kith 

Museo

Paradiso Restaurant & Bar

Quayside Fish Bar & Bistro

Lunchtime parking is free and there's a shuttle bus, Sentosa Bus 3, from Beach Station (drop at Cove Arrival Plaza). Parking there is per entry basis daily and costs $3.21 if I'm not wrong.

Follow the signs to Sentosa Cove/Quayside Isle when you enter Sentosa (ie the blue colour font on the signboards) and then when you reach the Sentosa Cove "entrance" that looks like entrance to a condo, keep left for visitors then turn left at the roundabout! Continue straight down until you see W Hotel then lookout for the carpark on your right!

Ezoca

#01-12 Quayside Isle