Tag Archives: sashimi

Carousel @ Royal Plaza on Scotts: Birthday Treat Pictorial

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Self-shot

Hello all! This is misterchewy doing some simple updates for a long overdue pictorial post on behalf of the missus. On a Saturday evening in March, we had a family gathering with the wifey’s family, before BIL’s NS overseas training and also to celebrate the MIL’s birthday. Thanks to them, I finally had the chance to try out Carousel, award-winning buffet restaurant at Royal Plaza on Scotts!

Us @ Staircase

We took some photos outside the restaurant. Got the grand staircase feel from Titanic. Haha.

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The seafood station featured Atlantic Salmon, Alaska King Crab (weekends only), fresh oysters, mussels, boiled tiger prawns (weekends only), Pacific lobsters etc.

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An international buffet is not complete without the Sashimi and Sushi station. Ingredients were fresh and we could not stop going back for more servings. There was also a live station for Somen cold noodles to cater to people who enjoy the Japanese style cooked noodles.

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Moving on to the main courses.

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The Carousel has a reasonable selection of desserts for diners to indulge in after a hearty meal. From local hot desserts to western pastries to chocolate fondue, there’s something for everyone.

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Here’s Bertrand who is already back from his month-long overseas training. Haha.

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The missus and I sprang a surprise for the mom-in-law by requesting the Carousel to prepare a small cupcake for the her. The staff were all very willing and they even sang a birthday song.

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The total bill came up to about $400. Thank you Daddy for the awesome treat at Carousel!

Carousel
Royal Plaza on Scotts
25 Scotts Road, Singapore 228220
Tel: (65) 6737 7966

Opening Hours:
Daily
Breakfast: 6.30am – 10am
Lunch: 12pm – 2pm
High Tea: 3.30pm – 5.30pm
Dinner: 6.30pm – 10.30pm

Weekdays
Meal
Breakfast S$33.00++ (Adult) S$20.00++ (Child)
Lunch S$46.00++ (Adult) S$28.00++ (Child)
High Tea S$33.00++ (Adult) S$20.00++ (Child)
Dinner S$62.00++ (Adult) S$37.00++ (Child)

Weekends
Meal
Breakfast S$33.00++ (Adult) S$20.00++ (Child)
Lunch S$50.00++ (Adult) S$32.00++ (Child)
High Tea S$38.00++ (Adult) S$24.00++ (Child)
Dinner S$75.00++ (Adult) S$42.00++ (Child)

Seki Japanese Restaurant: Freshest Sashimi From Tsukiji Market

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Seki @ Rendezvous Hotel

Japanese food is one of my favorite cuisine. I constantly crave for sashimi and this can happen anytime of the day. To be honest, I was very thrilled when Seki Japanese Restaurant opened its doors at Rendezvous Hotel on 31 December last year but I never had the chance to sample some of its offerings. Sashimi is flown in directly from Tsukiji Market, Tokyo Japan, on Tuesdays and Thursdays so we are talking about ultimate freshness and quality at Seki.

Rendezvous Hotel

Sashimi

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Seki follows a traditional Japanese restaurant layout where preparation of one’s food is in full view of the customer.

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At Seki, enjoy fine fusion cuisine without the stiff and cumbersome feel associated with fancy restaurants. With a casual, pleasant and inviting environment coupled with impeccable service, patrons can indulge in the best dining experience.

Sushi

The Chewys

The husband and I were invited to try out Seki’s Omakase menu. In Japanese, Omakase entails entrusting the chefs and leaving the selection of dishes to them. As I was still recovering from a recent surgery, I had some dietary restrictions. I wasn’t allowed to consume seafood especially prawns and cuttlefish. Not supposed to eat chicken either but… 😛 Anyway, please note that the dishes we had were served in tasting portions.

Fugu Mirin Boshi

This starter of Fugu Mirin Boshi was served to misterchewy only. *Pouts* Ok but I took a tiny bite 😛 Essentially blowfish seasoned in sweet sake, it kinda tasted like a cross between cuttlefish and bak kwa. Very interesting dish. I didn’t know that fugu can be prepared in such a manner. Having said that, I finally had my first bite of fugu. Haha! But I would really love to try raw fugu liver soon!

SEKI Kamo Salad

I don’t think anybody mentioned this during the tasting session but I personally thought that the order of the dishes served was a little bizzare. My Japanese sensei (from my ‘Food in Japan’ module in NUS) told us that typically, light dishes such as sashimi are being served first and the dishes get richer as we go along, so as not to cover up the taste of the light dishes. The Seki Kamo Salad was quite flavorful, given the homemade dressing drizzled over it.

3-Kind Sashimi Moriawase

Again, I didn’t have the luxury of devouring this 3-Kind Sashimi Moriawase on my own 🙁 I was told that I can eat salmon though so I koped a thick, fat slice from misterchewy! Ohmygod. It’s like so super awesome melt-in-the-mouth salmon!

Bacon with asparagus

This Bacon with Asparagus was part of my special menu. Nothing to shout about but I liked that bit of crunch from the asparagus.

Foie Gras Chawanmushi

I have been forbidden to eat eggs but I forgot to make that known to the chefs so for some reason, they gave me Cheese Chawanmushi which tasted a little odd. The husband had the Foie Gras Chawanmushi and it seemed clear that he was enjoying it a great deal.

Teriyaki Chicken

I thought that the Teriyaki Chicken was a bit overdone. Didn’t quite enjoy the charred bits of chicken skin. Apart from that, the chicken was well-marinated.

Sushi Moriawase and California Roll

See what I mean about the order of dishes being served? By now, I don’t think we can judge the Sushi Moriawase and California Roll as accurately as we all want to, although I can safely say that the ingredients used are of optimal freshness.

Miso Soup

Pretty standard Miso Soup.

Watermelon

Chef and keith

Seki is having a Mother’s Day Promotion and also a value for money 1-for-1 lunch set for a limited period of time. Do check them out!
Thank you Juliana and Seki Japanese Restaurant for the invite.

Seki Japanese Restaurant
Rendezvous Gallery
9 Bras Basah Road #01-02
Singapore 189559
Tel: 6336 3806 / 6336 3807

Opening Hours:
Daily
Lunch: 11.45am to 3.00pm (last order 2.15pm)
Dinner: 6.00pm to 11.00pm (last order 10.15pm)

Nadaman: Mini Kaiseki.. Itadakimasu!

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The Kaiseki menu at Nadaman was altered to suit the budgets of most students taking a particular module in my university.

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Instead of a maybe 10 course menu, we were offered a Mini Kaiseki ($45) which features 7 courses and this is available only during lunch.

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We were served two types of appetizers. The Egg Mousse is actually chawanmushi in disguise. It came in a diced shape and had a very rich flavor.

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Upon my first mouthful of the second appetizer, Boiled Spinach and enoki mushroom with sesame sauce, I immediately thought about the peanut gravy used for satay beehoon! That was exactly how the sauce tasted like. The boiled spinach was slightly spicy and both went well together. On top of that, there were bonito flakes which are usually used as a form of natural flavoring for Japanese food.

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Next on the list was the Clear soup with seaweed fishcake and vegetables. The soup served at the beginning of the kaiseki is supposed to be quite bland because we will be served another bowl towards the end. I love the seaweed fishcake because it of its texture. It does not taste like the rubbery kind of fishcake that we usually eat.

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The raw fish served was the Chef’s selection of Tuna and Yellowtail. There were two pieces of each. Everyone oohed and ahhed as they bit into the succulent slices. I think I’d have liked the raw fish even better if they were slightly more chilled.

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The simmered dish consists of Simmered pumpkin, eggplant, yam and green bean with minced chicken meat sauce. Our sensei who was with us at that time told us that all these are autumn foods in Japan. All of us liked the simmered dish a lot. On the overall, it was tastefully simple for our tastebuds.

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What’s a Japanese blue fish? We thought to ourselves when we were looking at the menu earlier on. It is actually a type of tuna. We learned that more and more restaurants in Japan are dropping bluefish from their menus as environmentally certified fishing and seafood products become popular in the country.

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The Grilled Japanese blue fish with teriyaki sauce has a meaty texture easily mistaken for that of a cod fish’s and it has a smooth buttery flavor. It warranted a thumbs up from everyone.

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The Japanese seem to enjoy adding flavor to plain, boring white rice. The Steamed rice mixed with dried shrimp was very fragrant and it was served with pickles and soya bean paste soup.

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Dessert at last! Now now, you must be wondering what’s a Red bean, black sugar panna cotta doing in a Japanese restaurant!

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Yeah it’s an Italian dessert but nobody really cares when you can have gooey black sugar trickling down your throat! We all wish we could have more!

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According to Nadaman, traditional cuisine such as kaiseki is described as ‘the art of transforming the blessings of nature into food’. And boy, we sure are blessed.

The Mini Kaiseki is $45.

Nadaman
22 Orange Grove Road
Lobby Level Shangri-la Hotel
Tel: +65 6213 4571

Opening hours:
Mon to Sun
12pm – 2.30pm (Lunch)
6.30pm – 10.30pm (Dinner)

Rakuichi: My very first Kaiseki in Singapore

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Thought I should share my experience at Rakuichi now since the Rakuichi Course Special ($68) which my friend and I both had is only till March 2010. You need to have a minimum of two orders before they will serve you this. Although they call it the “Course Special”, in reality it is known as Kaiseki – a traditional multi-course Japanese dinner. The food is served in a certain order beginning with appetizer and ends with dessert.

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Appetizer (individual portion) was served on a rectangular plate consisting of four items – river shrimp, salmon roe, semi-grilled salmon and tamago.

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Next came the Sashimi (sharing portion) – thick slices of assorted raw fish. Extreme freshness and quality guaranteed!

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The Grilled scallop and mushroom served in foil (individual portion) was also very fresh and juicy. The dish by itself looked interesting enough.

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Wagyu Beef served on hot plate (sharing portion) was a wee bit disappointing after having tried wagyu in Hokkaido! I half expected it to also melt in my mouth but sadly, it failed to produce the same results with the wagyu I had previously 🙁 Well, I guess it’s foolishness on my part.

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After having oily fare, Steamed Tenaga prawn with egg custard (individual portion) was served. Steamed egg custard never looked so good with that huge a prawn lying on top of it! But we were tricked. We were actually given a cross section of a prawn each. Haha! Nevertheless, I still love this very much. I’m an egg custard fan!

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And now comes the rice part, Grilled spicy tuna cut roll & Raw tuna sushi (sharing portion). I learned that rice is served towards the end of a kaiseki but in the past, it was served at the beginning. The reason for such a change is so that people can have room for the other dishes. And how right it is to implement this change!

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We were already filled to the brim when the last dish (before dessert) arrived! The Snapper soup served in claypot (sharing portion) didnt leave much of a lasting impression probably because we were really too full. Didnt manage to finish up the entire thing.

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Dessert was just fresh fruits but it was beautifully decorated on top a bowl of crushed ice. There was some vanilla ice cream in the strawberries as well.

For more information on kaiseki: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2348.html

Total bill was $160 after GST.

Rakuichi Japanese Restaurant
10 Dempsey Road
#01-22 Tanglin Village (Dempsey Road)
Tel: +65 6474 2143

Opening hours:
Mon to Sun
11.30am – 2.30pm (Lunch)
6pm – 10pm (Dinner)